I was watching some old episodes of Buffy recently, and I realized once again how much I miss having something in the "Buffy Universe" on television. Joss Whedon mentioned recently that we haven't seen the end of his Buffyverse creations, likely refering to the Spike TV movie we've heard about. While I was watching those old episodes, it suddenly hit me: what the heck happened to the Ripper series, once planned to air on BBC? It seems the idea of the series just simply vanished.No "pre-production" status on Anthony Head's IMDb entry. No status reports from Joss on Whedonesque. Nothing. Maybe Anthony Head decided he was too old for the series. If that's the case, I'd love to see the series reimagined as a flash-back to Ripper's younger days with Ethan Rayne -- we all know there's a goldmine there. Has anyone heard the final word?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-22-2005 @ 12:45PM
Michael said...
I figured Joss got busy with Serenity and now he's working on Wonder Woman and doesn't have time to develop the series.
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11-22-2005 @ 1:23PM
Nick said...
Plus, the BBC have got a lot of sci-fi/fantasy projects either in production (Doctor Who, Life On Mars) or in development (Robin Hood, Merlin and others) that they either can't find a slot for it, or the production team to make it.
Oh, and if you didn't know already, Anthony Head will be guest-starring in an episode of Doctor Who next year.
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11-22-2005 @ 3:19PM
Kay said...
I think JW just can't be bothered with it to be honest. It's a real shame as ASH is fantastic. JW is doing the same thing now with the supposed Spike movie with JM. Says bits and pieces adding up to a big fat nothing. Too much in love with Firefly. Unfortunately.
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11-22-2005 @ 3:58PM
Keith McDuffee said...
I swear, I did not see the interview mentioned in Buffy Magazine! Pure coincidence! But, how cool is my mind reading?
Is there any possibility of Ripper, or a Watcher spin-off of some sort still happening?
Tony Head: "We should do Wesley and Giles..."
Alexis Denisof: "The dancing Watchers!"
Tony Head: "To be honest. I communicated with Joss a couple of times recently, and it hasn’t been mentioned, but up until that point, he would regularly come up with new ideas for how it would happen. But it’s gone from, being a series to a two-hour movie that might be part of a series of DVDs that we were talking about doing for the different characters from the shows. It’s got a lovely story, and I hope he does something wonderful with him."
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11-22-2005 @ 6:54PM
Jennifer said...
I think the news on Whedonesque.com is that now they're looking at more of a 2-hour movie or some such for Ripper.
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11-23-2005 @ 9:07AM
David said...
Well, a lot of these TV projects that get tossed around never actually end up being made. Also, at the time Joss was dreaming this up, he was deep into being a TV producer, but since then he's basically been kicked out of that arena, with all three of his shows ending/cancelled within a span of about 18 months. Now his plate's kinda full with movie projects, as he's currently working on Wonder Woman, by far the biggest project of his career, and next up he's got a project of his own called 'Goners' that's been greenlit by Universal. Those projects alone will probably take the next three or four years, and he's also got comics he's writing on the side. I think JW has also made a statement recently about the Spike TV movie going forward, but I think it's going to be handled more by some of his collaborators than by Joss, if it goes forward. If Joss were to do another TV series, it would be several years down the road.
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11-23-2005 @ 2:00PM
The Jeremy said...
ASH is going to be in next season's *Doctor Who* episode supposedly entitled "School Reunion" which will also mark the return of the Doctor's old robot dog K-9 as well as former companion Sarah Jane Smith (both from the 70s era of the show). ASH supposedly plays the Head Master of the school in the episode, but the net is still buzzing that he's really playing the Doctor's arch enemy appropriately named The Master. Of course, that would be a return from death for that character (last portrayed onscreen by Eric Roberts) since he was last seen defeated by the 8th Doctor (Paul McGann) and sucked into the Eye of Harmony (a self-contained black hole) in the Fox/Universal/BBC telefilm that aired back in 1996.
In other news, the 1996 telefilm is still unavaible on Region 1 DVD from Universal, and the current series (2005) is now available on DVD for Region 2 (Europe) but not here in the States (although a Canadian Region 1 DVD release happens in February).
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