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Delving into the inner workings of this season's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel |
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The Complete Angel, Writing for Everyone’s Favorite Vampire - Chris Golden / Tim Minear When you’re writing for a main character who’s kind of, well... dead, things tend to get a little dark. Tim gives an example in the original pilot that was never aired. "Kate was initially going to be a coke-head cop who was working undercover as a prostitute and actually prostituting herself. That was the thing that interested Joss and David (Greenwalt) initially - that it was so dark. But it was so dark that it was not fun anymore." Chris reminded us that it’s mainstream television but, Tim also offered, "We’re not afraid to go to those really dark places. Not only is he dead and he ate his family but after we come back from him eating his family, in the present day, he can’t save Kate’s father. It was
With so much attention focused on the television series Joss still gets involved with the writing of the comics and novels. "There are times in both books and comics," Chris explains, "when I know he has gotten involved because the word, sort of, comes down from him. I know Joss reads the Spike and Dru comics. Scott Ally tries to stay away from the events of the series as much as possible except for Issue #6 where two weeks pass and we deal with the issue of Doyle’s death. I’ve plotted out to Issue #25 in the comics. Joss and David have been a little bit more open minded about the things they’re letting us do. We’re getting a little bit more ambitious, more religious, more action that (they) couldn’t afford to do. Issue #19 is a ‘Phantom Dennis’ story. It’s completely from the point of view of Dennis." There are so many places to go and characters to write about, but there are always questions that remain, and sometimes even Joss won’t give up the answer. Chris shares his feelings, "The brutality of working on the mystery (as he holds up his manuscript of ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row’). A 350-page novel, main character (Spike)… no last name! (laughter) When I wrote the first issue of the comic (Angel), I hadn’t seen a script yet. Not one script. It was difficult!" Tim interjects a bit of humor, "When
The new, softer Kate. How does the main character fair in this dark world? One would think that he wouldn’t have a funny side, but Tim would beg to differ. "There’s an episode written by the very brilliant Jane Espenson. It’s like the perfect example of the humor that we use on Angel where he’s just very dead pan saying, ‘I’m a funny guy.’ And Angel: Very funny when he can’t work the cell phone." (laughter) He goes on to look at the change that Cordelia has undergone from her days in Sunnydale. "Cordelia: One note character on Buffy. You put her in Angel, and suddenly she’s a person." Chris adds, "And honestly, who knew Charisma was that good?! She’s so good at being Cordelia that it was startling as she started to develop her character on Angel." We’ve seen her grow to this point, "Cordelia: Now on a mission." Continues Tim, "Cordelia feeling ‘this is really important’ and no longer wanting to get rid of the visions. Not enjoying the drool aspect but in it for the long haul." They’ve written an amazing open door at the end of the season. But tread lightly when creating a ‘Prophecy’ or you might hinder the story line. "The problem with the Prophecy is we don’t want to say ‘this is what will happen at the end of five years, because then why watch? So what I think we’re attempting to do in the first episode of next season is resolve the question of what that means for the series and for Angel’s journey. We’re not forgetting the Prophecy but I think we’re dealing with it in a way that will satisfy you." We also get to look at an interesting aspect of Angel’s past through flashbacks as well, and Tim is eager to explain that. "What we’re trying to do with these flash backs is, if you look at the flash backs the way we’ve laid them out in the first season for instance, it’s a progression. We sort of started in the middle and then we went back to the beginning, then we went to the next piece which was the Romanian part of the story. So there’s a whole part of the story we haven’t told about Angel and Angelus formally, pre and post curse. And there were many, many years before he ran into Whistler where he wasn’t just in a gutter eating rats. There were different parts of that journey which you will see in episode two, of season two, where Angel was possibly living in a city called Los Angeles in the 50’s." Ah, always leave us wanting more! Tim finished off the panel with his view of the new season. "It’s going to get better. It’s going to be ‘so’ cool this year! We have two new writers. I’m directing Episode #7 this year. It’s just going to be exciting and fun and we love it. Keep watching and posting and ragging on us, and it’s all good!"
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