Rating: 
Summary: Joss, one awe-inspiring genius.
Review: I received this book yesterday afternoon and before hitting the sack, I had read pretty much over half of the book. It is written well, it keeps you interested and draws you into the world of Joss Whedon. We learn more about Joss growing up, his struggles as he tried to make it in Hollywood. We learn of his work on movies like Speed and the fourth Alien film. I love this book and I recommend it to all Buffy fans! There is so much more to the man behind Buffy and there is no one like Joss. So, buy! buy! buy! this book, you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Almost everything you ever wanted to know about Joss Whedon
Review: It is interesting to read "Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy" at the same time I am working my way through the essays in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale." The tone of this tribute volume by Candace Havens to the creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," and "Firefly," is informal rather than scholarly. More importantly, the goal of this volume is primarily to supply behind the scenes information for fans of these shows, although there is some critical insights offered in the chapter devoted to "Secrets of Success," which enumerates the seven elements that make "BtVS" a cult television series. Havens is working from various articles and websites about Whedon and his creations, and although it does not explicitly say so I assume she conducted interviews with various people quoted in this book. Since she shares with us impressions about her tours of the sets for Whedon's three television series I assume she took time to talk to some of these people; however, there are few references to specific interview (e.g., with Whedon's film professor, Jeanine Basinger) as to how much access she had to the cast and crew and I am rather curious as to how much of the material here is from primary sources (without going through all the secondary sources and doing a process of elimination). "Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy" is called a biography, but the focus is clearly more on his career than his life. The first chapter looks at his life through college while the second covers his work early work in television writing episodes of "Roseanne" and as a "script doctor" on films like "The Quick and the Dead," "Speed," "Waterworld," and "Toy Story." More importantly, this is where we learn about the key formative experiences Whedon had with his two major screenplays, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Alien Resurrection." That sets the stage for "Buffy: Round Two" in the third chapter, where Whedon gets a second chance at bringing his vision of "BtVS" to life. The rest of the chapters are devoted to the secrets of the success of "BtVS," a review of the seven seasons of the show (okay, six and a half seasons when this book went to press), a look at "Angel," Whedon's foray into comics and other screenplay ideas, his new show "Firefly" (now on eternal hiatus), a look at "Joss the Mentor," and a summary chapter on "The Real Joss." Throughout the books there are sidebars focusing on various actors (e.g., Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head), most pages have choice quotes emblazon in white on black, and there are scores of black & white photographs, mostly by Sue Schneider (yes, I am curious her prominent role in this effort as well). All things considered, this book is a quick and enjoyable read. The main complaint, such as it is, would be that once Havens starts dispensing tidbits you want more of it; I was particularly interested to know more specifics about what lines from Whedon's script doctoring efforts were left in the films he worked on (I am always interested to hear what Whedon lines work there way into episodes of "BtVS" for which he was not the listed writer). The timing of the book might be considered problematic given the fate of "Firefly" and the impending end of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but not if you consider it as part of an effort to promote Whedon's late but not particularly lamented new series. The main point is that in terms of its target audience, the legion of fans of Joss Whedon, this volume is on target and there are enough one-liners from the man himself to appease most of them. This book does not intend to be a scholarly effort, and of the various "pop" volumes devoted to the "BtVS" phenomenon this is one of the better efforts. Final Note: I was surprised that the title of a book honoring Joss Whedon would violate his disdain for abbreviating his cult television series other than as "BtVS." I just want to point out that I have done very well at avoiding making that particular mistook in my reviews of all things "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" related.
Rating: 
Summary: The dangers of deification
Review: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy is so lacking in any healthy cynicism about its subject as to render itself totally useless to anyone who is not already a full-blown devotee.
Whedon's accomplishments merit attention; at his best, he is a good producer and director of television, a supremely talented writer and gifted creator. A distressing amount of Joss Whedon's fans, however, seem unable to conceive of their hero ever making a mistake, doing a not-so-nice thing or sometimes being a not-so-nice person. An independent-thinking writer could make much of questions such as: Is Whedon "the Charles Dickens of the New Millennium", as some would have it, or "just" a talented writer who plays to a passionate niche audience? In its final seasons, did Buffy prove the truth of David Mamet's comment that "If we watch any television drama long enough... we will see the original dramatic thrust give way to domestic squabbles?' Is the story "God" as Whedon has sometimes claimed to justify unpopular plot points? Or do the desires of fans, networks, or series stars ever affect it, for the better or worse, as increasing evidence seems to suggest? Someone who is awed by their biographical subject ought to choose another line of work. Good biographers, even flawed, sensationalistic ones like Randy Taraborrelli or Bob Woodward, approach their subjects as reporters, not fans. Here, author Candace Havens seems to have embraced every utterance from Whedon's mouth as some sort of universal truth. Any controversial questions, such as those raised by fans who objected to the death of the character Tara on the Buffy series, are answered only by Whedon's stock replies, without the author having to devote a moment's thought to the validity of any of the issues. One could hope that if Havens were writing her book now, at the end of the seventh and last season of Buffy, she would question some of Whedon's statements quoted here. Like: If 'blood is kept to a minimum' on Buffy, then what about the demon tearing big hunks of Willow's flesh off her body? If "one or two vampires is just as good as 100 if the story is good," what are we to infer about an interminable, 22-episode story featuring an army of "Ubervamps" as its rousing conclusion? Havens' writing is so over-the-top gushy and fawning that one is sorely tempted to ask (appropriately enough for Buffy's high school fixation), If you love Joss Whedon so much, why don't you marry him? When Havens finally admits there might be a teensy flaw in the "Jossverse" (the drug addiction metaphor of Willow's falling into dark magic was "not very subtle") one is dumbfounded. It's as if Bill Clinton endorsed George W. Bush. It might be impressive, as Havens believes, that everyone she quotes has only the nicest things to say about Whedon. Until you reflect that almost without exception at the time they were interviewed, those quoted were employed by Joss Whedon. Not content to let Whedon's statements raise unanswered questions, Havens raises more herself through sloppy writing: At one point she appears to equate Willow's lesbianism with her magic addiction, but Havens' writing is so unclear I honestly can't tell if she meant to make that point. If "no writer, however talented, can write 22 episodes a year," what are we to tell J. Michael Straczynski, who wrote 60 episodes of Babylon 5 in an unbroken streak? If "most things Joss is involved with are successful" what about Firefly, Alien Resurrection, or the original Buffy movie? Actually, for that question, at least, Havens does provide an answer. As a rule, judging from this book, everything worthy is to Joss Whedon's credit, and any unworthiness is the fault of others, the not-Joss. Meanwhile, Havens gives the impression Whedon produced, directed and wrote Buffy almost single-handedly; he developed the special effects and choreographed the dance numbers of the musical episode himself. He created the Angel series alone too. A Joss Whedon written and directed episode is automatically one of the Standouts of All Time. Joss is Right About Everything.
Rating: 
Summary: Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy
Review: Read this one in an afternoon and it kept me entertained throughout. It has a lot of highly amusing Joss quotes. The guy is genuinely funny. It was nice to learn about his movie career because I didn't know too much about it. It has a lot of great Buffy information but it could have used more on Angel. It has a section on Firefly even though it was written before the show aired. The section on Joss' Fray comic convinced me that I need to go buy it now. My only major complaints are that the writer misspelled a character's name and the lack of Angel information. Despite those flaws, any fan of Joss Whedon will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Opens your Eyes
Review: The only reason I bought this book was to put it in my Buffy Book collection. But when I recieved it three days ago, I could not put it down. It has all the regular Buffy anidotes that most non-fiction Buffy books have, but then it had much more. The realy biographical chapters have so much information that I have never known before (and have read every published Buffy book, and as many buffy web articles that i can get my hands on). This book is the perfect addition to the perfect Buffy Library.
Rating:
Summary: Opens your Eyes
Review: The only reason I bought this book was to put it in my Buffy Book collection. But when I recieved it three days ago, I could not put it down. It has all the regular Buffy anidotes that most non-fiction Buffy books have, but then it had much more. The realy biographical chapters have so much information that I have never known before (and have read every published Buffy book, and as many buffy web articles that i can get my hands on). This book is the perfect addition to the perfect Buffy Library.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This book is great. I've been a fan of Joss since the first time I saw Buffy. This book isn't all about Buffy though. It covers Buffy, Angel, Firefly and more. Funny as hell too.
I couldn't put the book down. I read it straight through in one afternoon. A lot of insight into Joss and all of the cast members of his show are interviewed. It's part biography and part, well, everything else.
Best book I've read in a while. Buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have Book for Buffy Fans
Review: This book is wonderful. It takes Joss from his childhood (he was a very sad kid) to the present time, with everything in between. There are lots of quotes from Joss, who is always got something funny and brilliant to say about everything. There's also a great analysis of Buffy that explains exactly how Joss turned Buffy into a fan phenom. Also, Firefly, Angel, Fray, Toy Story, Speed etc. Also lots of great pics.
Rating:
Summary: Insights into a profound pleasure
Review: This is not a biography, it's not a "making of" and it's not about the facts of the television production industry. This is a book like none other I've ever read. Candace Haven has given us a glimpse of the man who created Buffy, of where inside him this concept came from -- but even more she's given us a glimpse of what it takes to be the sort of person who can succeed in breaking all the taboos in the television industry. What taboos did he break? Well, Buffy is a strong story-arc show like Babylon 5 and Dallas -- but without the (perceived) broad audience appeal of those shows. Buffy is about a young girl who kicks [butt]-- like Nikkita -- but going for a major network. Buffy is a series about vampires -- but it has a teen protagonist. Parents don't want their kids watching "that kind of thing." (or so they believed) The list of taboos is almost endless. The genius that Havens refers to is, I think, Whedon's deliberate, pre-meditated integration of 4 distinct genres, horror, action, comedy and drama, into a single cohesive and coherent story and then finding a way to sell this package to Hollywood despite violating all those taboos. Candace Haven writes in Joss Whedon The Genius Behind Buffy: "This integration lies at the core of Buffy's appeal, but it made the show almost impossible to desribe in a way that movie and network executives understood. How do you sell a show that doesn't fall into a clear genre? For this reason, the movie version of Buffy was turned into a comedy, much to Joss's dismay. As a television show, Buffy was rejected by the major networks. Ultimately, the fledgling WB accepted Buffy as a cross-genre show. This acceptance was either a result of WB's vision or of its executives' inexperience. But the reality is that it's unlikely Buffy would have been allowed to proceed with its cross-genre approach on one of the more established networks." But WB did let the show become established as a genre-mix, and that is quite literally changing the whole fiction industry from movies, to television -- even to books. Now mixed genre novels such as my own Sime~Gen novels which are based on the vampire archetype, or my vampire romances Those of My Blood and Dreamspy, or Jean Lorrah's hot selling Blood Will Tell, abound and are beginning to find an audience among the Buffy fans. Because of the effect this show has had on the entire fiction industry, this book has become a very "important" book for those who want to enter that industry. You have to read this book if you want to know "who" Joss Whedon is that he could get this show on the air and keep it there until its audience found it. Much of that information about who he is lies within the subtext of Candace Haven's fannish point of view cast against her journalistic professionalism. Read between the lines. You have to read this book to learn where inside Whedon the Buffy material came from and why the scripts for this show are so very, VERY well written. For just how well written I think they are, see my article in Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Discuss Their Favorite Television Show edited by Glenn Yeffeth. You won't find exactly this kind of information about a producer in any other kind of book. A biography could not include this exact point of view, a fan's point of view. A making-of could not include 3-D glimpses of other people who knew Whedon when he was young and in other contexts. This book about Whedon&Buffy is a hybrid -- a kind of cross-genre biography/making-of/tribute-to book as Buffy itself is a cross-genre horror/action/comedy/drama. The very form of this book is awesomely appropriate to the subject matter. For that reason alone, reading this not-biography is a profound pleasure!
Rating:
Summary: Insights into a profound pleasure
Review: This is not a biography, it's not a "making of" and it's not about the facts of the television production industry. This is a book like none other I've ever read. Candace Haven has given us a glimpse of the man who created Buffy, of where inside him this concept came from -- but even more she's given us a glimpse of what it takes to be the sort of person who can succeed in breaking all the taboos in the television industry. What taboos did he break? Well, Buffy is a strong story-arc show like Babylon 5 and Dallas -- but without the (perceived) broad audience appeal of those shows. Buffy is about a young girl who kicks [butt]-- like Nikkita -- but going for a major network. Buffy is a series about vampires -- but it has a teen protagonist. Parents don't want their kids watching "that kind of thing." (or so they believed) The list of taboos is almost endless. The genius that Havens refers to is, I think, Whedon's deliberate, pre-meditated integration of 4 distinct genres, horror, action, comedy and drama, into a single cohesive and coherent story and then finding a way to sell this package to Hollywood despite violating all those taboos. Candace Haven writes in Joss Whedon The Genius Behind Buffy: "This integration lies at the core of Buffy's appeal, but it made the show almost impossible to desribe in a way that movie and network executives understood. How do you sell a show that doesn't fall into a clear genre? For this reason, the movie version of Buffy was turned into a comedy, much to Joss's dismay. As a television show, Buffy was rejected by the major networks. Ultimately, the fledgling WB accepted Buffy as a cross-genre show. This acceptance was either a result of WB's vision or of its executives' inexperience. But the reality is that it's unlikely Buffy would have been allowed to proceed with its cross-genre approach on one of the more established networks." But WB did let the show become established as a genre-mix, and that is quite literally changing the whole fiction industry from movies, to television -- even to books. Now mixed genre novels such as my own Sime~Gen novels which are based on the vampire archetype, or my vampire romances Those of My Blood and Dreamspy, or Jean Lorrah's hot selling Blood Will Tell, abound and are beginning to find an audience among the Buffy fans. Because of the effect this show has had on the entire fiction industry, this book has become a very "important" book for those who want to enter that industry. You have to read this book if you want to know "who" Joss Whedon is that he could get this show on the air and keep it there until its audience found it. Much of that information about who he is lies within the subtext of Candace Haven's fannish point of view cast against her journalistic professionalism. Read between the lines. You have to read this book to learn where inside Whedon the Buffy material came from and why the scripts for this show are so very, VERY well written. For just how well written I think they are, see my article in Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Discuss Their Favorite Television Show edited by Glenn Yeffeth. You won't find exactly this kind of information about a producer in any other kind of book. A biography could not include this exact point of view, a fan's point of view. A making-of could not include 3-D glimpses of other people who knew Whedon when he was young and in other contexts. This book about Whedon&Buffy is a hybrid -- a kind of cross-genre biography/making-of/tribute-to book as Buffy itself is a cross-genre horror/action/comedy/drama. The very form of this book is awesomely appropriate to the subject matter. For that reason alone, reading this not-biography is a profound pleasure!
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