Worst. Idea. Ever.

There's this concept that gets thrown around in creative circles. It's two little words. Easy to say, easy to remember.

Artistic integrity.

Two little words. They sound good together. They sound good apart. Artistic. Integrity.

I can't think of a person who would turn down artistic integrity if some guy was handing it out for free. "Want some artistic integrity? Won't cost a dime?" Sure. Hand it over. I would love some, thanks.

The trouble is artistic integrity does cost a dime. Often, more than a dime. And there are easier ways to make a buck than toiling over a personal vision.
Why be limited by your own minimal talent or effort? Why let artistic integrity get in the way when you technically own the rights to someone else's creation?

Yes, I did see today's news. And, yes, I'm winding up to talk about Fran Rubel Kuzui, a.k.a. the hack director who screwed up the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and now plans to "reboot" Buffy with a new movie. Without Joss.

Perhaps I'm being too tough on Kuzui. All she did was take a chance on a young Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer idea, use her directorial power to warp his vision into a campy cheese-fest, retain the rights to the idea, disappear while Joss resurrected his vision turning it into a 7 year TV series and a 5 year spin-off TV series, and then show up out of nowhere with plans to "reboot" the buffyverse.

Is hack too strong a term? Am I wrong to suggest that Kuzui has no artistic integrity? Look at Terminator or Star Trek. "Rebooting" a franchise is trendy at the moment. But it's Buffy. It's Joss. It's a series I love. So I can't help but wish Kuzui would find another bandwagon to jump on (or bridge to jump off).

Joss spent 7 years breathing life into the buffyverse. He's continuing season 8 in comic book form. He created 5 seasons of Angel. He's created Fray - the slayer of the future whose timeline intertwines with Buffy's own in season 8. Joss is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There is no Buffy without Joss.

What has Kuzui been doing in the time since she twisted young Joss' vision into the 1992 flop that was the original BtVS movie? Apparently, not much.

According to IMDB, the 1992 BtVS movie was her second and last directorial endeavor. She and her husband did retain some rights to Buffy and were Executive Producers of both the Buffy and Angel TV series.

Does that give Kuzui the right to recreate the Buffy world without its actual creator ? From today's response it seems clear that Joss Whedon's fans don't think so. (Yes, that includes me!)

I don't know Kuzui. I don't know what prompted this idea. From the outside, I imagine her having this inner monologue:

Gee, the economy's bad. Vampires are hot at the moment... and franchise reboots are hot, too... Hey! I still own those Buffy rights. And, thanks to the TV series, BtVS has a fan base now. (I never thought that would happen after the movie bombed!) Hmm... I can't strong-arm Joss the way I did when he was just starting out... Oh, wait, a "reboot" means I can cut Joss out, come up with my own vaguely related idea with the same name, and have a ready-made fan base to peddle it to. That's brilliant!

So far, Joss' only response has been, "I hope it's cool." Since I'm already imagining what's in Kuzui's head, I'll presume to assume Joss's comment means he's willing to take the high road because he knows how his fans will feel about a buffyverse without him.

I can't speak for any other Whedon fans, but personally, I will not pay a penny to see any Buffy endeavor that isn't created by Joss.