Joss Whedon

Template:Actor

Joss Whedon (born Joseph Hill Whedon on June 23, 1964, in New York) is the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series, also known for his productions Firefly, Dollhouse, and Serenity. In addition to writing and directing, Whedon has had a couple of cameos in his shows Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, and had a guest role in an episode of Veronica Mars.

Career

Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer filmed, Whedon revived the concept as a television show of the same name. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer series went on to become a critical and cult hit, with the episode "Hush" (written by Whedon) receiving an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000. Whedon wrote and directed the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling", which also received an Emmy Award nomination.

Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring Buffy’s vampire-with-a-soul ex-boyfriend Angel as the title character. It was created by Whedon in conjunction with David Greenwalt. Tim Minear also contributed at essential key junctures. Joss Whedon made a cameo appearance as the character Numfar of the Deathwok Clan near the middle of its run.

Whedon has written and co-written several movies including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection, and Titan A.E.. He also wrote uncredited drafts or rewrites of Speed, Waterworld, Twister, and X-Men; although, with the exception of Speed, little of Whedon’s work remained in the final drafts of any of these screenplays. He wrote and directed Serenity, based on his television series Firefly. He wrote and directed the Marvel film Avengers in 2012, and its sequel Age of Ultron in 2015, and was commissioned to create a television series based on the Marvel properties. He has also guest directed for other TV series such as The Office (U.S.).

Whedon, a lifelong comic book fan, debuted as a comic writer in Dark Horse Comics series Fray, which takes place in the far future of the Buffyverse. He also wrote an Angel short story and the miniseries Long Night's Journey with Brett Matthews, three stories in the anthology Tales of the Slayers, the bridging story and a short story for Tales of the Vampires miniseries, as well as several arcs for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight. After the comic issue Freefall, Part One, he returned as a co-writer to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics with the miniseries Giles: Girl Blue with Erika Alexander, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve with Christos Gage, despite never leaving as the executive producer of all seasons. Whedon is also known for writing the comic titles Astonishing X-Men, Runaways, Serenity, Sugarshock!, among others.

Whedon also wrote and co-produced the undeveloped animated television show Buffy the Animated Series.

Episodes written and directed

As creator/co-creator and executive producer of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Whedon was essentially involved in all episodes of both shows, often contributing concepts or lines of dialogue to episodes without specific credit. However, he is credited as being immediately involved in the following:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 1

• "Welcome to the Hellmouth" (writer)
• "The Harvest" (writer)
• "Nightmares" (writer, with David Greenwalt)
• "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" (writer, with Ashley Gable and Thomas A. Swyden)
• "Prophecy Girl" (writer/director)

Season 2

• "When She Was Bad" (writer/director)
• "School Hard" (writer, with David Greenwalt)
• "Lie to Me" (writer/director)
• "Ted" (writer, with David Greenwalt)
• "Innocence" (writer/director)
• "Becoming, Part One" and "Becoming, Part Two" (writer/director)

Season 3

• "Anne" (writer/director)
• "Amends" (writer/director)
• "Doppelgängland" (writer/director)
• "Graduation Day, Part One" (writer/director)
• "Graduation Day, Part Two" (writer/director)

Season 4

• "The Freshman" (writer/director)
• "Hush" (writer/director)
• "Who Are You?" (writer/director)
• "Restless" (writer/director)

Season 5

• "Family" (writer/director)
• "The Body" (writer/director)
• "The Gift" (writer/director) 

Season 6

• "Once More, with Feeling" (writer/director)

Season 7

• "Lessons" (writer)
• "Chosen" (writer/director)

Angel

Season 1

• "City Of" (co-writer, with David Greenwalt; director)
• "I Fall to Pieces" (co-writer, with David Greenwalt)
• "Sanctuary" (co-writer, with Tim Minear)

Season 2

• "Judgment" (co-writer, with David Greenwalt)
• "Untouched" (director)
• "Happy Anniversary" (co-writer, with David Greenwalt)

Season 3

• "Waiting in the Wings" (writer/director)

Season 4

• "Spin the Bottle" (writer/director)

Season 5

• "Conviction" (writer/director)
• "Smile Time" (co-writer, with Ben Edlund)
• "A Hole in the World" (writer/director)
• "Not Fade Away" (co-writer, with Jeffrey Bell)

Others

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot (writer/director)
• Buffy the Animated Series pilot (with Jeph Loeb)

Comics written

Due to the amount of his involvement with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight and following seasons in the process of plotting their stories, Whedon is considered executive producer of these comics. With the Angel comic series After the Fall, he explained his vision of where he wanted to take the television series had it continued, but then left it in the hands of the other writers. Although, his specific credits as writer include:

Fray

• Big City Girl
• The Calling
• Ready, Steady...
• Out of the Past
• The Worst of It
• Alarums
• The Gateway
• All Hell

Angel (Dark Horse series)

• Untitled (with Brett Matthews)
• Long Night's Journey... (with Brett Matthews)
• Rock and a Hard Place (with Brett Matthews)
• Thicker Than Water (with Brett Matthews)
• The End of the Beginning (with Brett Matthews)

Tales

• "Prologue"
• "Righteous"
• "Tales"
• Tales of the Vampires, Part One (bridging story)
• Tales of the Vampires, Part Two (bridging story)
• Tales of the Vampires, Part Three (bridging story)
• Tales of the Vampires, Part Four (bridging story)
• Tales of the Vampires, Part Five (bridging story)
• "Stacy"

Season Eight

• The Long Way Home, Part One
• The Long Way Home, Part Two
• The Long Way Home, Part Three
• The Long Way Home, Part Four
• The Chain
• Anywhere but Here
• A Beautiful Sunset
• Time of Your Life, Part One
• Time of Your Life, Part Two
• Time of Your Life, Part Three
• Time of Your Life, Part Four
• Willow: Goddesses and Monsters
• Turbulence
• Last Gleaming, Part One
• Last Gleaming, Part Two (with Scott Allie)
• Last Gleaming, Part Three (with Scott Allie)
• Last Gleaming, Part Four (with Scott Allie)
• Last Gleaming, Part Five

Season Nine

• Freefall, Part One

Giles: Girl Blue

• Girl Blue, Part One (with Erika Alexander)
• Girl Blue, Part Two (with Erika Alexander)
• Girl Blue, Part Three (with Erika Alexander)
• Girl Blue, Part Four (with Erika Alexander)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve

• One Year Later (with Christos Gage)
• Future Shock (with Christos Gage)
• The Reckoning (with Christos Gage)
• Finale (with Christos Gage)

Roles and cameos

• Whedon had an uncredited acting role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "I Robot, You Jane" as a radio announcer.
• He played Numfar of the Deathwok Clan in Angel episode "Through the Looking Glass".
• He appears as a playable character in the multiplayer mode of Chaos Bleeds video game, where he voices himself.
• His likeness appears in The Long Way Home, Part Three as a vision in Buffy’s dreamspace.
• His likeness also appears in comic issue Doppelgangbang, as a victim of the Japanese Smile Time.
• He also appears in the meta comic story A Blessing and "The Curse".

Gallery

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External links

• Joss Whedon on Wikipedia
• IMDb entry
• Comic Book DB entry