From Zap2it.com

What Free Time?
Fri, Mar 16, 2001 04:42 PM PDT
by Kate O'Hare

While helming "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" for The WB, Joss Whedon has also recently inked a hefty development deal with his current studio, 20th Century Fox, meaning more TV products from the man who never sleeps.

Last fall, with just two TV series to worry about, Whedon wailed, "I'm very tired. Oh my god, it's been a rough start."

Even then, there was talk of yet another Whedon series. He recalls, "I replied, 'Huh? Third what?' It's been broached."

Last month, reports surfaced that Sigourney Weaver has accepted a hefty deal to star in the fifth "Alien" film, to be written by, yeah, you guessed it, the ever-exhausted Whedon (he has publicly stated his disappointment with the final version of the fourth "Alien" movie, which he also wrote).

No doubt adding to Whedon's stress level is the ongoing wrangle between 20th and The WB over the "Buffy" license fee, and the speculation on whether the series will jump networks next year.

But all this hasn't stopped Whedon from branching out, following fellow writing addict J. Michael Straczynski ("Babylon 5," "Crusade") into the world of comic books (Straczynski does "Rising Stars" and "Midnight Nation" for Top Cow).

Whedon's project is called "Fray," an upcoming eight-issue series for Dark Horse that focuses on a vampire killer. This time, it's not our Buffy (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), but Meleekah Fray, a Slayer -- the one girl in each generation with the power to kill vampires, fight evil, make snappy quips, etc. -- tapped 300 years in the future, when supposedly extinct vampires have made a reappearance.

With Whedon supplying the stories, artist Karl Moline ("Vampirella" ) adds the visuals.

Just because Whedon is two-timing Buffy on the printed page, that doesn't mean that his fellow writer/producers are slacking off.

"We've talked about past Slayers," says David Fury, who wrote the recent Valentine's Eve episode "Crush." "We've showed them in a couple of episodes. Now, some of the writers are getting together and collaborating on a graphic novel of Slayers of the past.

" So, in talking about (other Slayers), we're also trying to retain Buffy's uniqueness. There's something special about Buffy, about the fact that she hasn't focused solely on her Slayer duties, that she has managed to make a life for herself. She's managed to retain friends and try to live a normal life. I think that's very different from Slayers of the past.

"So for us to do a TV episode where we show a past Slayer, we'd be very conscious of, this Slayer shouldn't be like Buffy. She shouldn't have the same kind of moral dilemmas."

Last fall, a crossover episode between "Buffy" and "Angel" -- which aired again last week -- showed how vampire Spike (James Marsters) killed two Slayers in the past, including a "Cleopatra Jones" -style woman on a New York subway in 1977 (he wears her leather coat as a trophy).

"Her backstory will be explored," says Fury. "Doug Petrie's writing that for the graphic novel."

Along with writing for both "Buffy" and "Angel," Fury, like Whedon and the other writers, also finds time to visit the busy posting boards at the "Buffy" homepage (www.buffy.com). "We're given codes to post our messages in the color of our choice," he says. "Once that happens, it becomes like throwing bread crumbs in a pond and seeing all the ducks come rushing in. It's really fascinating.

" Joss said, 'You've got to go on, it's great fun.' I went, 'Hi, David Fury, saying hi,' and suddenly I was swamped with people, all over me. For a writer to get that kind of attention, an actor's sort of attention."

The devotees of the posting boards also get together at parties, says Fury. " They have one in Los Angeles once a year, and we all go. The actors go, the writers go, and we are actually mobbed."

As for the future, Fury says of the romantically frustrated Spike, whose love for Buffy was thrown back in his face in " Crush": " There'll be some interesting things that Spike is going to do to satisfy his passions. He's going to go further."

As for Buffy's studious pal Willow (Alyson Hannigan): " There is something that's brewing, it's just been brewing subtly."

And as for big sweeps episodes in the future: " Joss' dream is to do the all-musical 'Buffy,' which I think will happen one day."

The next original " Buffy," called " Forever," airs April 17, in which Angel (David Boreanaz) returns to Buffy's hometown of Sunnydale, Calif., to be with his ex-lover, who lost her mother (Kristine Sutherland) in the last original episode, " The Body," which aired Feb. 27. That's followed by " Intervention" (April 24) and " Tough Love" (May 1).