LOL!

[shipperx]

Check out this site before the crazy $cientologist lawyers make them pull it down:

http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/


Oh, and two interesting tidbits from the Buffy CON in OZ this weekend.

Con Report

Fury Quote on LOST

"There is no clear plan", David lamented. "They basicaly write from week to week, and unlike a Joss show, the writers don't have ownership of the work, so that a Director may alter lines without consulting the writers, who are based in Hollywood."

"Also", he continued," There is no clear plan, so the writers still haven't figured out what is 'in the bushes' either!"

JM on the continued Movie Rumors posted by Gottarhyme:

Previously, David Fury said that a Spike and Illyria movie was being discussed with the WB and Joss (David had revealed this earlier that day, much to all of our surprise.) I asked James if he had been approached about the Spike/Illyria idea. Was it a possibility?

This was James' answer:

"Now it's Spike and Illyria? Man! Joss keeps talking about doing a Spike movie, and I am happy to do that. He knows I would. But I have a stipulation. All the years I played Spike, I loved the character, but sometimes I would turn up, and I had less than 1 and a 1/2 pages to do. Remember when I died at the end of BUFFY? Joss was pissed that the WB chose to reveal that Spike was returning in Season 5 of ANGEL. I know that a lot of fans tuned in to see Spike come back."

At this point, interupted, and said, "Actually James, I know a LOT of fans that only started watching ANGEL because you were on it.."

James nodded. "I know...so you can imagine how I felt when after all that build up, I came back in the last five seconds, Joss had me hanging around and then he said..'Oh, we didn't give you much to do, did we?' Well, if there is going to be a Spike/Illyria movie, I think thats great, but I want it to be at LEAST 50% Spike, and that's my answer. I will do it, but it has to be about SPIKE. The fans want that, and they would feel cheated if it wasn't like that. But having said that, I think Spike and Illyria would be cool. I love working with Amy"

Comments

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

"There is no clear plan", David lamented.

You know, this really doesn't surprise me, but it does make me kinda sad. I was pretty sure they had no clue where they wanted to go with things, but it sucks to hear it confirmed. I was already losing patience with the show... the finale was fine, I guess, but it can't just be all tease and no follow-through. Meandering can be perfectly acceptable, if it's still heading toward *something*.

Sounds like Fury misses working for ME a bit, too. If there's one thing I can say about how JW ran his shows, it's that he at least made an effort to give the writers some control over how their work showed up on screen.

"Now it's Spike and Illyria? Man! Joss keeps talking about doing a Spike movie...

*snerk* You know, if Joss keeps dicking around (okay, I did actually try to find a more socially acceptable way to say that, but nothing was coming to mind) with things like this, he's going to get a point where he's got some brilliant idea and JM will be all tied up with other projects and won't give him the time of day.

And bravo to James for being willing to put his foot down... and for finally starting to speak up about some of the crap he had to deal with. That, more than him saying he's lining up a project he can't talk about, makes me think he really DOES have something in the works. He seems to be feeling a bit more free to complain about "the boss" (or, in this case the ex and potential future boss).

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had a similar reaction to the LOST stuff. I always suspected they were making it up as they went along, but they kept insisting on having some answers. I'll give DF a few points for bitterness because he is an emotional/defensive guy. But I also suspect that they really are making a lot of it up on the fly. Of course I think DF is full of crap when claiming that ME stuff was planned. Planned, how? On a paper napkin at lunch and then someone spilled a bottle of Mountain Dew on it so it blurred the entire outline into something illegible?

And, yeah, Joss is poking around wasting time until it will be too late... of course I also suspect that's his plan. Then he can blame the studio instead of his shiftless, disinterested self.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

"There is no clear plan", David lamented. "They basicaly write from week to week, and unlike a Joss show, the writers don't have ownership of the work, so that a Director may alter lines without consulting the writers, who are based in Hollywood."

"Also", he continued," There is no clear plan, so the writers still haven't figured out what is 'in the bushes' either!"

Ahhh, this sounds more like pure sour grapes than anything else. And if he thinks we're buying the idea that Joss and his minions themselves ever had any clear plan from week to week, he's sadly mistaken. Oh, I buy that each BtVS writer had "ownership" of his/her script (well, until Joss or Marti changed it to suit themselves, that is), but that doesn't mean anything had any real continuity. I think Fury is just pissed because Abrams didn't buy his usual bull and/or kiss his butt, so now he's getting some back.

And, ha! I said over and over that Joss and the rest of them had absolutely no respect for the character of Spike or JM, and it seems I was right. I knew it -- it was all over the way Joss treated JM at that Paley panel in 2002. If I were JM I wouldn't hold my breath about this movie happening anytime soon. By the time they get around to it, no one will be interested anymore anyway.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Er sorry to butt in, but hw did Joss treat JM at the Paley panel?

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

With extreme condescension. Actually, when JM went off on one of his usual little hyperactive spiels, all of the other castmembers (Hannigan, Brendon, even little Trachtenberg) and Noxon all sort of rolled their eyes (don't know if I blame them, though). Whedon was the worst though, and it was obvious he was a little annoyed at the anxious "What's going to happen to Spike next year?" questions.

At first I thought I was imagining this, but afterward as we were leaving the theatre my sister said "Gee, none of them really like Marsters, do they?"

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Spike was always Joss's bastard, red-headed stepchild of a character. He didn't WANT the kid, but there he was, and he couldn't get rid of him and keep the kid's doting parent (or rather Spike's fans) without occasionally patting the unwanted offspring on the head. So Joss played us, long and cruelly, but Spike and his fans never actually mattered like Joss's REAL and FAVORED children.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Well, I do have to admit that I suspected that DF is a bit resentful that he wasn't given more power and was sort of kept on the work benches. DF has always had his fair share of ego and defensiveness (as do many worker drones).

And, yeah, JM is just too earnest, openly enthusiastic, and...well... goofy for Joss who seems to have a emotional hold over from high school where he desperately needs to be seen as part of the cool crowd at the cool table and JM (not as Spike) is just too much of a geek. He's a talented geek with great abs and cheekbones, but JM is really an earnest little goof and that's just not what the sarcastic self-proclaimed genius wants to associate with because Joss knows he's COOL, damnit. And he's headed to the big leagues! (Yeah, right).

[paratti.livejournal.com]

The big league at the Razzles when Anorexic, Abusive Batshit Wonder Woman's crash and burn makes Catwoman look good.
And the gloating will make todays over the French look moderate.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I've already expressed to Fen my deep, evil wish that Roger Ebert be in an extremely pissy mood when he goes to see Serenity and to give it a scathingly hilarious review... 'cause I'm evil and petty like that. :)

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Whedon only has man-crushes on big beefy guys like Boreanaz and Blucas, and "God-I-wish-I-were-as-cool-as-he-is" types like Fillion (who he just creams over constantly). For all his prettiness, JM is just too geeky and low-rent for Joss to admire. He likes 'em large and manly, because that's what he wishes he was like (the little homonculous).

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, pretty much. It's pretty consistent with Joss. He wants to be (and cast's his so-called 'heroes' as) this looming, beefy, reticent old western cowboytype. And he wants his women curiously childlike and nearly anorexic and tiny... though he claims it's feminism.

And no, small, narrow, enthusiastic, figety, excitable JM just isn't his avatar.

More the pity, Joss, though because JM is the best damn actor he had other than Alexis Denisof and ASH. Of course he also spent a lot of time trashing poor Wesley too... just not with quite the same CONTEMPT as Joss preferred squishing Spike.

It was sick, really.

[sockmonkeyhere.livejournal.com]

The Cruise site is hilarious!

Good for JM; I want Illyria in the movie, too ('cause I want Fred back after being cheated out of my Spike/Fred romance and Illyria's the closest thing to Fred I'll probably ever see again and damn you to Hell for killing her, Joss Whedon), but I DON'T want it to be another "Hot Chicks With Superpowers" show. It should be at least 50% Spike, as JM said, and it shouldn't be the cartoonish, obnoxious, self-centered moron version of Spike that the AtS writers insisted on throughout most of AtS Season 5. If Whedon's script includes anything resembling the grotesque Sparmony desk hump, I hope JM turns him down flat.

*spazzes*

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

TC has lost whatever he once claimed for a mind.

And, yeah, I like Illyria as well and have nothing against the character, but I'm 100% behind Spike not being used (as he frequently was with Joss) as window dressing and the bait to draw us in to watch Joss play out his obsessions with other characters while Spike is shunted to the corner and occasionally humiliated or beaten with a stick.

Spike deserves to be his own man and the story to be about Spike for once. Although, honestly, I don't know how much I trust Joss with Spike at this point. Too many stories of Joss and incidents like Sparm for me to trust Joss with Spike.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

TC is undoubtably batshit.

JJ doesn't plan, but wings it. But why do I find myself laughing at Fury having his words of 'genius' tamprered with. Oh yeah, he's a truly foul human being as well as a complete hack.

Applaudes James - and that's why I'll watch him in anything, which is more than I can say for many of the cast adn practically all the 'writers'.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I trust James a hell of a lot more than Joss or Fury.

[shapinglight]

Thanks for the quote. I agree entirely with James. I don't like the idea of him even taking 50% in fact.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read it and thought "Go James! I'm behind you entirely!" I'd really love for him to get a gig where Joss would actually have to beg him to come back as Spike. Hey, it's a dream.

[shapinglight]

Hey, it's a dream.

Probably, but it's a good one.

[sarahlynnl.livejournal.com]

At least James is beginning to realize he deserved more screen time than he had gotten and that Spike is popular enough to be on his own without being someone else's sidekick. JMO though!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

An opinion I totally share.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Good for James putting his foot down. Really, if there's to be a "Spike" movie, it damned well better be about Spike, not Illyria or some new character that Joss pulls out of his ass. Frankly, I'm moving on from Spike anyway and I'd love to see James in a whole new series where he's the main focus.

As for Lost, quite frankly, I'm with fenchurche. I'm really getting tired of lots of questions, but never an answer. I also find all the character backstory beyond tedious. If we don't start getting some forward momentum this season, I'm dropping Lost from my must-see list.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Spike has earned the right to HIS time on center stage.

And, yeah, I think LOST has reached put up or shut up territory. The finale was stretching it too far. They need to deliver some answers sooner rather than later.