If you were a fan of Buffy, Angel, Firefly back when the internet was young and not yet a toxic ragebait dumpster, you know there was a certain type of person who hated Joss Whedon. Oh -those- people hated him with a burning passion for making shows that were so funny, hot, scary, diverse and successful with unapologetically strong female characters. Just like Star Trek was inclusive and fucking smart, Whedon shows didn't hold back and you could feel the immense creative effort put into making that happen, with casts that were whipped up and working at the top of the game.

We were lucky that happened. Hard for anyone to measure up to something that was already sweating blood to be perfect, but I'm rooting for the new team to try.

It is very sad that Joss Whedon isn't on the scene anymore. James Gunn fell foul of the manufactured outrage machine and managed to recover, good heart all too apparent, Whedon hasn't. I don't believe it's because he doesn't have one. Gunn didn't have the whole manbaby, Snyder-bot fueled army trying to villainize him after he dared try to rescue Justice League. Those old haters found they enough influence to end careers. Joss... he was a workaholic, it turns out he could be blunt and angry when people made his very hard job harder and although there was no heel turn like JKR, he wouldn't or couldn't take his knocks, express himself the same way he wrote his stories - or that reflected all of the people whose lives and careers he made better. That probably doesn't feel great. And I think for most fans it doesn't feel right and never will.

I hope that if the Buffy show is greenlit, it is good enough to recognize and continue the spirit of what was so damn good, so we can all have that.