'Twilight' vs. 'Buffy'...it's on!
Denise Martin has a fun piece on our sister blog Show Tracker about this great bit of bloodsucker creativity...
On June 19, Jonathan McIntosh vanquished “Twilight’s” undead heartthrob Edward with the help of one Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
It was something that needed to be done, McIntosh said in an interview, calling Edward “a creepy stalker guy.” After the vampire’s obsessive pursuit of his teenage love Bella in last year’s “Twilight,” McIntosh was driven to act.
“Bella is not weirded out by his behavior at all, which made me think, ‘What would Buffy do to this guy if he was into her? What would she do if he snuck into her room at night watching her sleep without her knowing?’” McIntosh said.
As realized by McIntosh, he’d get rebuffed, mocked and, ultimately, a stake through the heart.
McIntosh, 30, a freelance Web designer and owner of RebelliousPixels.com, took it upon himself to pit the two characters against each other in a video he created using footage from the “Buffy” TV series and the “Twilight” film to show, well, an alternative -- and fatal -- ending for the love-struck Edward.
"Buffy" executive producer Marti Noxon said in an interview, "I'm a sucker, so to speak, for any vampire story so I'm a fan of the 'Twilight' saga, but it's true that Edward hasn't come up against a kick-ass woman like Buffy."
"I'm really glad that she didn't end up doing the smoochies with him..."
--Denise Martin
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Photo: Robert Pattinson. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times
No. 1 sci-fi woman of all time? Ripley, believe it or not
I'm a big fan of lists, so is Jevon Phillips, a star contributor here at Hero Complex. Here's his take on a recent tally of the women of sci-fi....or is that sigh-fi? -- G.B.
As usual, there's a lot to dispute about anyone having a top so-and-so list, but Totalscifionline.com's 25 women who shook up sci-fi isn't too startling. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Star Trek" are the only franchises with multiple entries on the list (and rightfully so). Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley of "Alien" fame was named First Lady of Sci-Fi.
Of course, there were parameters, which the site laid out like so:
We've limited ourselves to TV and film - SF and fantasy literature probably warrants a further list all of its own - and in those instances where multiple actresses have portrayed a character, we’ve written who we believe gave the most definitive performance in brackets. No doubt there are many characters you feel we’ve left off.
Yeah, yeah -- and the site does include a more in-depth examination of each choice. There will be debate over ones who didn't make it. I really like River Tam on "Firefly" -- but it was short-lived -- and the women of "Cleopatra 2525" and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity in "The Matrix" and ... well, let's stop there. And there may be some on the list who deserve to be higher. Wonder Woman and Xena, 22 and 23? Hey, I like Leeloo and Claire bear, but not over those two icons.
Again, it can be debated (Lois Lane! "Bionic Woman!") until we're all breathless, but give the site credit for taking on the task. Here's their final list. Let the comments flow.
The 25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi:
1) Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, "Alien" series)
2) Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")
3) Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff, "Battlestar Galactica")
4) Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson, "The X-Files")
5) Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, "Terminator," "T2")
6) Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, "Star Wars" series)
7) Rose Tyler (Billie Piper, "Doctor Who")
8) Sam Carter (Amanda Tapping, "Stargate SG-1")
9) Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols, "Star Trek")
10) Leeloo (Milla Jovovich, "The Fifth Element")
11) Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere, "Heroes")
12) Storm (Halle Berry, "X-Men")
13) Pris (Daryl Hannah, "Blade Runner")
14) Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer, "Batman Returns")
15) Barbarella (Jane Fonda, "Barbarella")
16) Sarah-Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen, "The Sarah-Jane Adventures" / "Doctor Who")
17) Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox, "Transformers")
18) Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian, "Babylon 5")
19) Number Six (Tricia Helfer, "Battlestar Galactica")
20) Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew, "Star Trek: Voyager")
21) Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")
22) Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter, "Wonder Woman")
23) Xena (Lucy Lawless, Xena: "Warrior Princess")
24) Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner, "Alias")
25) Marina (Stingray)
-- Jevon Phillips
Photo credits: "Aliens" - 20th Century Fox. "Star Wars" - Lucasfilm Ltd. "X-Men" - 20th Century Fox. "Xena Warrior Princess" - Reuters.
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Here's hoping that whoever or whatever comes next lives up to the show. Surely, many of you have ideas and opinions on this development so leave 'em in the comments section.
'True Blood' is draining experience to some
Not long ago I wrote about how much I like the new HBO series "True Blood," which premieres Sunday night. It turns out that not everyone was equally intrigued.
Mary McNamara, one of my favorite writers and the television critic for the Los Angeles Times, has a "True Blood" review that says the show, well, pretty much sucks, and not in that good vampire way.
Borrowing heavily from many genres, "True Blood" aspires to transcend them all but instead quickly deposits the viewer waist-deep in a literal and figurative swamp.
Vampire fantasy, murder mystery, star-crossed love story, political satire, "True Blood" is all and none of the above. Not quite funny, not quite scary, not quite thought-provoking, the show's attempt to question the roots of prejudice is continually undermined by its own stereotyping.
Seriously, isn't it time to stop portraying every small town below the Mason-Dixon line as populated by drunken, racist, testosterone-charged lunkheads? Apparently not. In Bon Temps, the tiny Louisiana town where "True Blood" opens, all the men seem obsessed with booze and sexual assault while their wives quietly devour fried foods and despise them.
Early in the review, McNamara expresses disappointment that executive producer Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under") has "decided to take Charlaine Harris’ light, fun series of Southern Vampire Mysteries and turn it into a heavy-handed political fable with vampires." I haven't read the books at all, maybe that is one of the reasons we had such different takes on the show.

