We're all used to the mild but undeniable pain of having Hollywood eat our favourite books and then poo out the half-digested remains all over the screen our local cinema - I'm currently starting to brace myself for the arrival of the CGI-ed up movie version of The Eagle of the Ninth next year (only it seems to have been re-titled simply The Eagle, presumably because the movie-makers don't think we'll understand complicated terms like 'Ninth' and 'of the'). But almost as annoying is Hollywood's habit of eating itself, as demonstrated this week by the announcement of an all-new, re-booted Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie. I was quite a late convert to Buffy, which at first glance appeared to be a mash-up of two of the genres which interest me least - vampires (zzz) and the American high-school story. What could there possibly be for me in such a show? I used to wonder when people recommended it to me. Well, plenty, as it turned out, because although it was built from off-cuts of old horror movie cliches they were stuck together with such charm and wit by its creator Joss Whedon, the one-liners came so thick and fast, and the cast were so likeable that it was completely irresistable. Now, apparently, it needs to be made-over for a new generation (it's a whole seven years since it ended on telly) and not only will the new movie not feature Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alison Hannigan or That Nice Man Off The Gold Blend Adverts, it's not going to be written or directed by Joss Whedon either.
So what would be the point of that. we wonder? Presumably just that it's got vampires in, so it might squeeze a few extra dollars from the Twilight craze. It shouldn't really come as a surprise: we all know that the movie and TV business, like publishing, is an uneasy marriage between the creators and the hard-nosed businessmen who fund them, and when push comes to shove the interests of the money-men always win. It's just depressing to reflect that the money spent on this cynical re-boot could probably have paid for Mr Whedon to do something new. Anyway, I was pleased to see that he has made his own feelings about all this known, in the form of an audible sigh.
