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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Sarah Michelle Gellar recently shocked the world when she declared her readiness to return to the world Buffy. The actor has traditionally said that she would not want to return, but recent projects like Dexter: Original Sin convinced her that there are clever ways to bring back beloved characters and their worlds. That still leaves the question of how to bring back the series, but that question was actually answered decades ago with a failed pilot: simply, Buffy the Vampire Slayer need to return as an animated series.
The First Animated Buffy Attempt
Back in 2004, a year after the live-action show ended, Joss Whedon released a four-minute intro for Buffy: The Animated Series designed to help him sell a cartoon to any networks that might be interested (you can watch it in the video above if you’re interested). He had been working on the project since 2001, and hoped that the cool animation and returning actors such as Anthony Stewart Head could help him sell this show, which was intended as a prequel set when the characters’ n still in high school.
The series never sold and Whedon said the project was dead in 2005, but with Gellar’s willingness to return, it’s time to bring up the idea of Buffy the Vampire Slayer animated show back to life. Notably, she did not return to voice the character for that 2004 introduction, nor did she reprise the role of Buffy Summers in the excellent Audible original. Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. Now that she’s ready to make a comeback, it’s important for the future showrunner to decide how best to make that happen.
Why Animation Works Better
If Buffy the Vampire Slayer It came back as a live-action series rather than an animated one, the biggest concern for any network would be the high production costs. In addition to all those nice sets and special effects, they would have to pay for the return of the legacy actors, some of whom may not like the idea of returning to a difficult production schedule. Badly done, live act Buffy reboot would be like the Frasier revival, which notably brought back the main character but relegated the original ensemble cast to very occasional cameos (mercifully, that changed with the solid presence of Peri Gilpin for Season 2).
Fortunately, it did Buffy the Vampire Slayer into an animated series solving both problems by making production even cheaper as it makes production much easier for the talent. One of the reasons why Audible has blocked so many veterans Buffy stars for Slayers: A Buffyverse Story is that most actors find it better to simply record lines than spend hours worrying about hair and makeup before shooting scenes into the wee hours. A Buffy A cartoon would be just as easy to record lines for, and the flexibility of the format leaves things open to some creative writers.
Joss Whedon originally tried to create a Buffy the Vampire Slayer animated prequel show, and that idea could still work if creators and fans wanted to use this cartoon to flavor the Scoobies’ earlier adventures. However, it would be just as easy to set the cartoon today and explore how the world changed when Buffy gave her superpowers to every possible Slayer in the world. If they wanted to go the X-Men ’97 path and turning great comic arcs into episodes, Dark Horse’s Buffy the Killer comics created as new “seasons” of the original show would be a great place to start.
Speaking of X-Men ’97that demonstration is proof that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer an animated show could be successful while still exploring some very dark subjects. Quality always wins out, and if we get high quality Buffy cartoon (with or without Whedon’s controversial contribution), fans will run. Sarah Michelle Gillard is set to return to the role that made him famous, and a cartoon adaptation may ultimately be our best bet to get some of the old magic back from one of the most innovative franchises in history television.
Source: Variety
