Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.buffy
Titolo: The Day the Buffy Music Died (ENG)(LUNGO)

_The Day the Buffy Music Died_
Fox's legal department saw the light and now the Buffy the Vampire
Slayer sing-along has turned to dust.
After learning that fans of the canceled cult favorite have been,
horror of horrors, demonstrating their undying love for the show by
attending theatrical screenings of the Emmy-nominated musical episode
"Once More, with Feeling" for the past year, 20th Century Fox's
attorneys started sharpening their stakes.
The studio, which owns the rights to the former WB (then UPN) dramedy
red-lighted the dress-up and sing-along tour this week, canceling all
future screenings-including a three-night run scheduled to kick off
tonight in St. Louis at the Tivoli theater, which had already sold out
for Friday's show.
Instead, the Landmark-owned spot will host three free screenings of
Serenity, the feature-film spawn of another beloved Joss Whedon
creation, the short-lived sci-fi drama Firefly.
"Notice for this was very sudden and unexpected, and I sincerely
apologize for the inconvenience it will cause," event founder Clinton
McClung announced on the Buffy Musical Website.
"Basically, the idea of presenting television shows in a theatre is so
new that there are a lot of details that still need to be resolved
around payments of residuals, deals with the guilds and unions, etc (I
don't know any specifics, but these are some of the issues that
usually come up). Both Fox and Criterion [Pictures] need to fix some
of these issues before they can continue to do any theatrical
screenings."
20th Century Fox spokesman Chris Alexander said that "significant
payments" would be owed to the unions to compensate for the
screenings, adding that TV shows rarely are shown on the big screen
anyway except under special circumstances, like charity events.
"We have to protect our interests, and that's what we're doing,"
Alexander said. "There are plenty of legal ways for fans to enjoy
Buffy, but this particular event is not going to be possible at this
time."
Criterion is the theatrical distributor for Fox's back catalog of
television shows and the outfit with which McClung says he made the
appropriate licensing deal, to make the venture "completely
legit." (20th Century Fox, however, has informed Criterion that it
overstepped the bounds of the show's licensing agreements by signing
off on the deal.)
The Brooklyn-based film programmer told New York Magazine's Website on
Thursday that he hadn't yet received anything in writing from Fox or
Criterion, but that the studio is apparently laying down the law with
regards to all screenings of their TV material.
But the hardcore Buffy fans out there who are all dressed up like the
Slayer, Giles, Xander, Willow and Spike and now have nowhere to sing
their hearts out surely aren't going to go quietly into that good
night.
In fact, the scorned fans' feelings might be summed up by this one
message board post, on 
www.uncoolkids.com/buffy
: "Please don't take
our joy," wrote Jessa Boudreaux.
An online petition to save the Buffy Musical posted by McClung on
Wednesday currently has 1,534 signatures.
The last show was Sunday in San Diego. In 2007, "Once More, with
Feeling," a sixth-season episode in which a demon has turned Sunnydale
into a musically emoting machine, touched down in U.S. cities ranging
from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Bangor,
Maine. Hawaii and returns to L.A. and New York were in the works.
Once the ticket has been bought and the makeup applied, attendees are
handed a goody bag replete with bubble soap, champagne bottle-shaped
party poppers, vampire teeth and a list of rules-namely, sing.
"We might be a victim of our own success," McClung told NY Magazine.
"We've toured around the country for a year and gotten a lot of press.
I think the issue is something to do with the back-end- someone who is
supposed to get paid when these things get screened wasn't, and they
heard about my show, and got upset."
In the meantime, fans can sink their fangs into Buffy the Vampire
Slayer: Season 8, Whedon's U.K.-set comic book series that picks up
about a year and a half after Sunnydale turned into a large smoking
crater.
The first issue debuted in March and immediately sold out. Whedon, who
penned the first five issues and then picked up again with number 10,
originally planned a 22-episode/issue run, but kept coming up with new
plot devices and now might produce as many as 50.
Or more.
"Joss will write something in one panel that will suggest a new
direction and we're able to go with it. That will keep the story
fresh," series editor Scott Allie told the comics Website Newsarama in
March.
"He has a planned ending, and certain beats he needs to hit along the
series, but it will be flexible.The series has lots of wiggle room.
Still, there is a threat that will build throughout the series that
will come to a climax at the end."
Issue number eight, "No Future for You, Part 3," is scheduled to start
flying off the shelves Nov. 7.
Fonte:
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=93f4e91a-823f-450b-9c98-111d2301f0b2&entry=index&sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Da Whedonesque:
This is hugely depressing. I will do everything in my power to find out
the exact reasoning for this and try to convince those responsible what
a mistake it is. Of course, the words "my power" might confuse my gentle
readers into believing I have any. I don't know what I'll be able to do,
and I've no idea even where to start. Nor do I think this was done
maliciously or capriciously. But it's lousy news and it's bad business.
I'm hoping the latter element might prevail. I'll keep you posted.
As ever, -j.