Description: Join us with author/actress Amber Benson for a guest vlog, chat and contest at http://bittenbybooks.com/. She will also be talking about her newest release Cat’s Claw.

She is also giving away some AMAZING prizes to several lucky contest entrants.

Prize 1: A personal phone call from Amber where you get to ask her your own 5 questions about Cat’s Claw and the writing process! Open to readers worldwide.

Prize 2: A full read and critique of someone’s unpublished manuscript! Open to readers worldwide done via email.

Prize 3: Five copies of Cat’s Claw – Open to readers with addresses in the US and Canada.

RSVP HERE: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=20679
and get 25 entries to the contest when you show up on the day of the event. If you don’t show up and mention your RSVP AND ask a question, you won’t be entered into the contest.

Check out her website here and get your questions ready for her event.
http://amberbensonwrotethis.blogspot.com/

Be SURE to give your friends this link: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=20679 so they can RSVP too!

Alex looked sad and said, “really?”

The question asker confirmed as well as several members of the audience.

Bob made the funny comment that, “well, we didn’t think it was possible… until we came up with an idea on how we could do it.” (Referencing early conversations about how they were a bit reluctant to take the Transformers movie because they weren’t sure about the storyline.)

Alex then said that it would take someone who had a passion for the property to really do the script justice. Both Alex and Bob were very aware of the fandom when they went to write Star Trek, and they realized they were also accountable to the iconic-ness of Star Trek. And if someone could do that for Buffy, it could be awesome.

This from, what could be considered, the Kings of the Reboot: Alex and Bob.

Sorry it’s Mr. Alex Kurtzman and Mr. Robert Orci (inside joke from their talk).

The link above will take you to the full article about Joss Whedon’s comments about the previously reported Buffy movie.  Joss has not been approached to help with the film as far as we know.  Whedon’s comment: “I hope it’s cool.”  The author ponders the meaning of the four word comment and expresses outrage of the possibility of a Buffy film without Whedon being involved.  Sound off in the comments section!

Reboot fever is running rampant in Hollywood thanks to the success of the new Star Trek movie. Up next on the docket: Buffy. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Fran and Kaz Kuzui are working with Vertigo Entertainment to relaunch Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

Kuzui Enterprises were the executive producers of both the 1992 movie and the TV series, as well as its spinoff, Angel. As we all know, there have been rumors flying for a long time about a possible Buffy movie. They have surely wanted to bring their property back to life, and with the interest of Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Doug Davison, they have something to run with.

Vertigo has its ties to Buffy in that they produced Sarah Michelle Gellar’s horror flicks, The Grudge and The Grudge 2. What this also shows is that Vertigo has been successful with remakes, like The Grudge, The Ring, and other horror movies that Vertigo remade for Hollywood.

This could, in my opinion, bode well if they can give Buffy a real reboot. If they take our beloved Slayer in a whole new direction, I could be willing to forgive a lot. I could even consider this a good thing if Joss Whedon was involved, but he has not been approached as of now. Further, the blasphemy continues in their suggestion that none of the Scoobies from the long-running TV series would be in the movie. Well, in my humble and unrequested opinion, that would be like a remake of Star Trek featuring Kirk but without Spock, Scotty, Sulu, Bones and the rest of the crew. Not just a J.J. Abrams-induced recast and retcon, but a whole new universe to play in.

I’m torn. For I am a Joss Whedon fan to the core, but I’m also a Buffy fan. I say give Fran and Kaz enough celluloid to hang themselves or to prove fans wrong. I’d personally rather see a Season Eight influenced movie with Joss and the TV cast back, but I think we’ve all heard (repeatedly) that just isn’t gonna happen. Maybe this old beastie just needs some fresh blood to bring her back.

These types of articles are always fun because fans love to debate the rankings and what shows did or didn’t make the list. Of course any list like this that leaves off Farscape needs to closely scrutinized.

You can check out the article here…

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/25greatestscfishowsever.html

They graduated high school.

The creators of the Buffy Sing Along are staging an all new event that celebrates those glory days: THE SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS REUNION. We are checking our where-are-they-now file to find out what happened to the graduating class of 1999 (and, for that matter, what happened to the entire town of Sunnydale), with an evening of Buffy contests, enlightening Buffy trivia, and special tributes to all of the dearly departed Sunnydale classmates. Plus, everyone gets their own alumni name badge and we’ll party like it’s…you know…with music and videos from the end of the century. Plus other surprises!
Costumes from the show and/or the late 90s are encouraged – but you are also welcome to come as you are. And at the end of the night, one special fan will be awarded with their own “Class Protector” award.

Find out more here!

Anyway, that got me thinking.  How would I convince someone to watch Buffy today?  It might help if that someone were already a fan of some of Joss’s recent work, like Dollhouse or Dr. Horrible.  If not, how do you suck someone into the World of Whedon?

I found the list Jane created a bit surprising.  I mean, most Buffy fans I know would list “Once More, With Feeling” in their top five!   That doesn’t mean, however, that my faves would make good choices for an “Intro to Buffy” course.  I had one rather pathetic attempt to create a Buffy fan that involved “Hush” (my second favourite episode).  There is a moment that was a bit too much for my friend where someone’s head explodes.  I obviously hadn’t thought that far ahead.  Hmm.

So, after some thought, here is my list of introductory episodes.  Please don’t yell at me.

Prophecy Girl
Surprise
Band Candy
Earshot
Fear, Itself
The Gift
Normal Again
Help

Let me know your choices and if you have had any success sucking people into the land of Buffy.  Also, if you could only pick one episode, what would it be?  That question was too hard for my brain.

Scifiwire.com

As far as I can tell, this round of rumors originated when Showbizspy.com reported that SMG was in talks to reprise her role as Buffy in a movie, perhaps as a mother.  According to Scifiwire, Joss Whedon responded, “Not gonna happen.”

The responses to the Scifiwire post were immediate and passionate.  Some responders told us to ‘read between the lines’ of Whedon’s comments.  Others are sick of the rumors all together.  Still others comment that there is too much bad blood between SMG and the other Buffy team members to put a project like that together.

In my heart, I have been waiting for a Buffy movie since 2003.  However, my head keeps reading updates about busy Joss has been.  In his most recent appearances he discussed how difficult it was to finish the commentary for Dr. Horrible because of his work on Dollhouse.  The guy is busy.  Also, he’s been pretty forthcoming with the public in the past about his upcoming projects.

So, naive as it may be, I’m going to … wait for it … believe him!

“I appreciate your thoughts on the matter. In fact, I encourage you to always challenge me when you feel it’s appropriate. You should never be cowed be authority. Except, of course, in this instance when I am clearly right and you are clearly wrong.” – Giles

If you listened to our episode #032 of Joss’d you know Kim and I had a great discussion about Angel vs. Spike, it continues on Upside Down & Halfway to Happyland.

This part 2 of 3, so if you’d like to hear us get a little more indepth about Angel and Spike and which vampire is “better” make sure to listen to Happyland!

Whedon ‘Verse artist, Jo Chen, has been nominated for the prestigious Eisner Award for Best Cover Artist for her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Serenity, and Runaways. The award winners will be announce at San Diego ComicCon.

Best of luck to Jo from everyone here at Joss’d!

EW makes a list of 26 shows that were cancelled too soon and obviously Firefly makes the list.  Check it out here.

EW has another list of the 20 Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture and Buffy makes the list.  Find that one here.

SFX has a list of the 25 best and worst TV episode titles, including titles from Buffy and Angel.  This one’s really fun.  Find it here.

And lastly, this is a list of 5 reasons why TV Guide loves Eliza Dushku, which is just great.  It’s kind of a mini interview as well.  Read that here.

The official Dollhouse Wiki is now running a contest where you can win one of five Dollhouse prize packs here on the wiki: http://tinyurl.com/chqzkd

The prize drawing is only eligible for US Residents and runs between Monday, March 16 at 8:59:59AM PDT and Friday, March 27, 2009, at 11:59:59 PM PDT

This video probably has 50 or so different fandoms represented. Fantasticly, I might add.

Keep your eyes open for Buffy, Faith, River and others. Isn’t it great to have so many strong female characters?

Also on ign.com you can find out about another Buffy game that could be very interesting.  It’s a Buffy MMO, an online RPG and social networking thing.  It could be very cool, or it could be done poorly and swept under a rug.  Lets hope for the former.

I would like to see a new Buffy game come to the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii with next gen graphics and interesting gameplay.  I think a format similar to the 360’s Dead Rising would be a nice fit.  The major thing gleaned from this game could be that you can use everything not nailed down as a weapon.  Who would not love to be playing as Buffy and get jumped by a vamp; caught off guard you pick up a board, break it over your enemies back, and use the remnant to stake him.

While I loved playing as Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike, Faith, and even Sid the Dummey in Chaos Bleeds, I would love to play as myself.  Why not make it an RPG and before you start the game, you create a character.  You choose their outward appearance, their back story, their back story, etc.  Then you get inserted into Sunnydale and can interact with the Scoobies, maybe even join them.  Or, you could go against them.  You could try to become a vampire, or maybe even create your character to be a vampire, or a demon, or a werewolf, or numerous other creature and demons.  The possibilities are many in this type of format.  With an RPG, there is often an over-arking story, but the game never really ends and characters grow and change as you do.  The game could potentially follow the Scoobies through high school and college and beyond.    Of course the story might not be the same as it was in the show because you have the power to change things.  For example, what if you managed to save Jessie from the first episode?  How would that affect the gangs dynamic?  What if you were a demon and killed Willow during senior year at Sunnydale High?  The ways things could go are interesting to think about and give this game ample re-play value.

If the game were to come on the Wii, how cool would it be to use the Wii Remote as a stake?  Or maybe hooking up the blaster and using it as a crossbow?  It would be a whole different experience and help gives fans what they have all wanted: to be part of the world.  To hang out with the characters, to slay the evil, to just live in the rich world Joss created.

So, what are your thoughts?  Does this sound fun or like total crap?  Do you have any ideas for your fantasy Buffy game?  Start commenting!

I love a good crossover or mashup and this video delivers. The selection of clips, the video filters used and even the timing of the clips captures the feel of the Dollhouse credits… only with Buffy instead of Echo. Major kudos to PJBUFFYFAN on a masterfully done vid.

Clever fan video featuring Buffy’s entire 7 seasons to the William Tell overture. Warning, the scenes fly by fast sometimes and (obviously) there’s spoilers for ALL 7 seasons.

Fancast.com has a lovely Joss Whedon retrospective. The series of articles is pretty indepth (and the graphic is really nice too).

Check it out over at Fancast.com.

Click here to visit the sale.