What is THE Joss Whedon scene?

[TaboriHK]

Personally, as someone who soured pretty heavily on Whedon, I think the opening scene of Dollhouse is the most Whedon-esque, albeit in the wrong way. It's especially serendipitous that they cast an actress so bad that she's practically reading his schtick directly into the camera, without the filter of charm. You can see all of his beats, all of his setup teases that he wants to intrigue you, along with his banter as play-acted by the high school drama class. It's the most unintentional dissection of his style that I've seen, and it colored how I saw everything of his afterwards.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Wow, as someone who's just starting Buffy for the first time, this was the wrong thread to visit.

That really sucks!

It's only one major spoiler but it's still an amazing show.
I'm actually in the middle of rewatching the final season, you're in for a treat!

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Wow, as someone who's just starting Buffy for the first time, this was the wrong thread to visit.

That really sucks!

It's only one major spoiler but it's still an amazing show.
I'm actually in the middle of rewatching the final season, you're in for a treat!

Oh, I'm definitely enjoying it so far. Just got past Spike's introduction, he's fun. And he earned big points with me for getting rid of the Annoying One.

Actually, there's a Joss scene for you: "Hmm, my current Big Bad sucks... I know, I'll introduce a badass new one and have him kill the current one and hijack the entire story arc."

YES.

 

[spartan231490]

Go watch firefly again. You know you want to. Then pick one.

 

[Trunkage]

Wow, as someone who's just starting Buffy for the first time, this was the wrong thread to visit.

That really sucks!

It's only one major spoiler but it's still an amazing show.
I'm actually in the middle of rewatching the final season, you're in for a treat!

Oh, I'm definitely enjoying it so far. Just got past Spike's introduction, he's fun. And he earned big points with me for getting rid of the Annoying One.

Actually, there's a Joss scene for you: "Hmm, my current Big Bad sucks... I know, I'll introduce a badass new one and have him kill the current one and hijack the entire story arc."

YES.

I never really liked Spike. Pretentious and annoying. He did do everything for his own benefit though - like everyone would actually respond in those situations.

He's become more annoying because his arc may be a model for someone in SHIELD, and I so dont need that to happen

 

[Crispee]

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys.

The walkthough of Serenity at the start of the movie Serenity. both humor and seriousness combined with some clever tricks with the camera and shot positioning...........

I think this is one of my contenders at the moment. It demonstrates both his unique manner of dialogue, as well as his ability to effortlessly set up a scene.

The part where Captain Reynolds returns from the mission off the ship in the first episode of Firefly and shoots the guy who has taken the crew hostage like it is no big deal.......

That IS pretty funny, plus it does what some people have mentioned as a Joss Whedon trait, and subverting the expectation of a mexican standoff happening.

The one where Buffy finds her mum dead. Done so well, especially being that people died all the time in Buffy but the impact of that scene is so well done.

"The Body."

Written and directed by Whedon and it really is one of the best episodes of any show I've seen. It's also rather well-known for its lack of any music, incidental or otherwise. It's a standout for anything Whedon related.

If you had to pick a scene from that episode, I believe there's a moment with Buffy sitting in a waiting room go for the scene near the beginning of the episode when the EMTs pronounce Joyce dead and Buffy has to deal with the news by herself.

I do love that episode, and it's a fair suggestion, but it only demonstrates one aspect of Whedon's writing style very well, rather than several at once.

First you've got to define what Whedonesque even is. Generally, he'd be known for; humour, focus on character narrative, and using expectations and genre conventions to invert or recontextualise.........

It's very tough to find a single scene under 2mins, but several of the Buffy/Holden scenes would surely qualify. They feature genre expectations/awareness (Buffy vs hostile vamp), which are then subverted (vamp used to know her from school), humorously (Buffy doesn't remember him, but tries, badly, to pretend like she did) for the purposes of furthering the character narrative (vamp turns out to be a psychology student, and he begins to give her an ad hoc therapy session. in the process, Buffy is forced to reflect, sincerely on her egoism and insecurities).......

Fair idea, if there is a scene demonstrating all this in that episode in under two minutes I'd probably go for this one. I did always think he was one of the best Vampire characters in the series.

So far, I think my choices are

1. The "Kaylee's Dead" scene from the first episode of Firefly

2. The "Mal refuses hostage situation in three seconds flat" scene in Firefly

3. The opening scene of Serenity in Serenity.

4. The scenes where Buffy and Holden alternate between a fight to the death and a genuine heart to heart.

Again, thanks a huge amount for all the help guys. I've watched a lot of Joss Whedon written thigns but could not for the life of me have picked out a specific scene on my own.

 

[Callate]

For brevity, I'd go with this one:


The awareness of genre expectations and the tweaking of same is perhaps the thing that most makes Whedon stand out among his peers for me.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Wow, as someone who's just starting Buffy for the first time, this was the wrong thread to visit.

That really sucks!

It's only one major spoiler but it's still an amazing show.
I'm actually in the middle of rewatching the final season, you're in for a treat!

Oh, I'm definitely enjoying it so far. Just got past Spike's introduction, he's fun. And he earned big points with me for getting rid of the Annoying One.

Actually, there's a Joss scene for you: "Hmm, my current Big Bad sucks... I know, I'll introduce a badass new one and have him kill the current one and hijack the entire story arc."

YES.

I never really liked Spike. Pretentious and annoying. He did do everything for his own benefit though - like everyone would actually respond in those situations.

He's become more annoying because his arc may be a model for someone in SHIELD, and I so dont need that to happen

You could just let the person new to the show and the character make up their own mind.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Fair idea, if there is a scene demonstrating all this in that episode in under two minutes I'd probably go for this one. I did always think he was one of the best Vampire characters in the series.

So far, I think my choices are

1. The "Kaylee's Dead" scene from the first episode of Firefly

2. The "Mal refuses hostage situation in three seconds flat" scene in Firefly

3. The opening scene of Serenity in Serenity.

4. The scenes where Buffy and Holden alternate between a fight to the death and a genuine heart to heart.

I may be biased, but I don't think any of the other scenes in that list encompass all of the traits that are associated with, and that defined, Joss's works. Yeah, all of them contain elements - but not on the micro and macro level, of subversion of genre tropes/conventions, individual character narrative, use of comedic genre tropes to comment about the human condition, as well as elements which service the bigger picture/season arc.

The Buffy/Holden scene nails everything, and it's such a clear, bold example, too. But, if its length is a problem, then that's unfortunate. I'll fire up the DVD and see if any specific segment of that back and forth comes in under 2mins.

Oh, and referring back to your original post: I don't think you'll be able to find an example of his directorial style. I'm a complete Whedon nut, and whilst he's an auteur with obviously developed themes, I'd argue his direction isn't a major defining factor in anything. He's a strict adherent to narrative continuity on the small and bigscreen, and I honestly don't think he has a 'voice' of his own, re direction. If his direction has a recognisable trait, it's economy of visual information - which isn't exactly notable. Any camera movement or sequence that stands out is something most canny directors would've pulled, for similar narrative reasons (e.g. the stitched 'one-er' opening of Serenity, as it roams around the ship to establish spatial unity/coherence).

(if he has real skill as a director, it's in how he handles and fosters an environment for the actors to do their best work)

 

[Zombie Sodomy]

The entire scene where Dr. Horrible sees Captain Hammer at the laundromat.

I never would have guessed the hammer was the penis if it weren't for good ol' Joss.

Actually, I believe Zack wrote that line. It's still a great scene though.

 

[tangoprime]

For brevity, I'd go with this one:


The awareness of genre expectations and the tweaking of same is perhaps the thing that most makes Whedon stand out among his peers for me.

Along with the opening of Serenity, this was the first scene that came to mind. This is the scene I show to anyone who hasn't seen Firefly to show them what Firefly is about.

OP, this is, without a doubt, one of the best written and executed scenes ever to be on television, just check the comments on the youtube video to see how many others agree. For me, this is THE Joss Whedon scene.