Mythology: Buffy-Galactica-Teen Wolf
By Martin Felipe
August 22, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Six is now my favorite number.
With the Colorado shooting over a month in the rear view mirror, I feel a little more comfortable with the topic I was going to discuss at the time, darker versions of established mythologies. You see, many folks trumpeted Nolan’s Batman as a grittier, more realistic take on the character. Then, of course, came the tragedy, and how it impacted the reception of the conclusion of the Gotham trilogy looks to become a topic of debate for years to come.

Of course, it’s still far too early to determine if bleaker retellings will make way for cheerier adaptations. The new Oz movie is coming soon, and it promises a look at the magical land from a grimmer perspective, one more in keeping with the source novels, and we still have the new Spider-Man series, wherein Peter Parker’s costume is less bright, but one assumes that, whichever direction Hollywood takes Batman next, he’ll probably be a little less dark of a knight.

Alternate interpretations are all well and good, and certainly dark is not intrinsically superior to light, but I do hope that the new storytellers bringing fresh perspective to existing stories do so with inspiration, not trepidation. As I focus these pieces more often than not on TV as opposed to film, let’s take a look at a few shows that relaunched what came before in a darker direction, to both creative success and failure.

I think the poster child for this, as he is with so many of these columns, is Joss Whedon. Yes, I'm talking about Whedon, the man now renowned for having given us the fun superhero movie alternative to The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers. Way back in the bygone era known as the '90s, a silly looking little film came out called Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Sure enough, the film delivered what it promised, a frivolous blonde cheerleader and her zany vampire killing antics.

The thing is, writer Whedon never intended it to be so light weight, despite his heroine’s preposterous name. He saw it more as an allegory for growing up, not to mention a somewhat feminist take on horror clichés. The studio wanted more of a winking romp. The dissatisfaction Whedon felt is now Hollywood legend. In the wake of the film, Whedon created a TV show far more to his liking.

The show maintains some of the cheek of the movie, but explores the weightier themes that interest Whedon. It became one of the most acclaimed series of its time and maintains a rabid following to this day, even as the movie slips into obscurity.

Now it’s easy for me to slide into some Whedon worship as I often do, so I’ll back off a little from the gush. Bottom line, a light movie set in the Buffyverse could exist. It’s not that the movie’s atmosphere is the issue so much as it is that, for a film promising a flighty romp, it’s really just boring. In this case, the darker version proves to be the superior one.

One can feel the influence of Buffy’s run in its wake. Dense mythology and serialization remains a staple of scripted drama in 2012. In addition, the supernatural as metaphor for growing up theme has been particularly popular. One show that seems almost as if it were a Buffy copycat in this respect is MTV’s Teen Wolf, just concluding its second season. Itself a dark take on a silly teen film takes a look at coming of age from the perspective of, of course, werewolf lore.

Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a more serious approach to the Michael J. Fox flick. However, the show comes across more as wannabe Whedon than its own distinct entity. While Whedon takes his vampire mythology seriously, there is a sense that the Teen Wolf folks are trying to take lycanthropy seriously despite themselves. They certainly expand on the film’s mythology, bringing in all kinds of back-story and werewolf rules, but there is a sense that they are catering to the supposed MTV crowd, a mythical demographic who loves the weightiness of Buffy while swooning over the sparkle of Twilight.

Look no further than the casting. Though, by no means perfect, Whedon’s cast favors talent over appearance, individuality over hipness. Wolf’s cast is largely generic and nondescript. Though competent, none rise above as folks like Alyson Hannigan or James Marsters do. Even the stronger Teen Wolf actors seem like copies of someone better. Dylan O’Brien (Stiles) comes off as a poor man’s Dominic Monaghan. And please don’t get me started on the lead, Tyler Posey. Whedon may get some flack for Sarah Michelle Gellar, but she’s Meryl Steep next to this generic version of the Fox character.

And then there's the mythology. I love that they expand the bare bones framework of the movie, but where Whedon’s world building flows logically, Teen Wolf’s is just confounding. I’m a sucker for the details of fictional universes, but this one loses me. Wolf bites sometimes turn you into wolves, other times into lizard things, other times make you wander town naked. You’re immune to your own venom, except when you’re not. Alphas become betas, become omegas, and back again. I try to keep it all straight, but it seems as if the rules change to fit the story, not the other way around.

I could go on and on, but I think I’ll have plenty more to say about it when season three kicks in. It’s not a bad show, just one that misses the heights of its ambitions. So I’ll move on to what may be one of the best dark reinterpretations ever, Battlestar Galactica.

Much like Buffy, Galactica’s story is a bit legendary. Eager to capitalize on the Star Wars craze back in the late '70s, ABC and creator Glen A. Larson gave viewers a post-apocalyptic sci-fi extravaganza which, to contemporary eyes, seems slow, episodic and campy. So along came Ronald D. Moore and David Eick to give the concept the weight and gravity that it begged for.

You see, a story about the few thousand survivors of a 12 planet holocaust isn’t a topic to be taken lightly. Moore, himself a veteran of the Star Trek world, wanted to take the strong central idea, and strip it of sci-fi cliché. The result is one of the most acclaimed shows of the 2000s.

Unlike the other properties I address, few stories are as dependent on a bleak vision than that of the survivors of an apocalypse. Moore realizes that the winking wit and epic declamatory verbiage of the original doesn’t jibe with the theme of end of the world survival. This isn’t to say that Moore’s Galactica lacks for humor, but the light moments are tinged with tragedy. The funnier characters, Baltar, Starbuck, etc., maintain layers, never dismissing or forgetting the stakes.

The series’ final episode proves to be one of the more controversial, with some fans decrying its vague resolutions of some storylines and spiritual musings, valid critiques, even if I don’t necessarily agree with them. Again, however, love it or hate it, Moore resists the simple resolutions, and gives viewers an ending stimulating discussion for years to come, a far cry from the silly Star Wars knock off from which Moore’s version springs.

Of course, though Teen Wolf lives on to pretty solid ratings success, Buffy and Galactica have entered the history books. Rumors have circulated around Galactica and Buffy remakes. My guess is that, in order for them to work, they’ll have to be at least a bit lighter in mood than their predecessors, if they even come to fruition. My hope is that this will be a natural progression, not an attempt at playing it safe, post Colorado shooting. However, if one of the unfortunate consequences is an overall lightening up of Hollywood, at least we’ve got the upcoming Oz movie. Here’s hoping that that one turns out as awesome as it looks. In the meantime, let’s all go see The Dark Knight Rises one more time. What do you say?