The Melbourne Science Fiction Club is holding a Whedonverse night on 15 April, which will be hosted by us! So come along for a lively night of Whedon fun!

There’ll be some very cool videos screened, a shiny round of trivia with cool prizes, and lots more … you won’t want to miss it!

MSFC meets at:
St. David’s Uniting Church Hall
74 Melville Road, West Brunswick
Hall opens at 8pm for a 9pm start (usually finishes by 11pm)
(Melway ref 29 C5, or catch a 55 tram from William Street in the city, to tram stop 36).

Friends, visitors and guests are welcome – gold coin fee on your first visit, and $5 door fee for second and subsequent visits. The Kitchen serves hot and cold drinks and snack foods for a small cost.

PopMatters has posted Part 2 of their indepth interview with Firefly co-creator, Tim Minear.


In this second and final installment, Tim Minear muses on a wide range of topics. We discuss the rise of reality television and how Minear sees his own work in relationship to the phenomenon. He considers whether or not Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a viable model for the future of small-screen narratives, especially in light of Whedon’s talent and very loyal fan base, then talks about the succession of canceled shows he has experienced over the last decade. We spend a little time on his personal writing habits and what he enjoys about conducting writers’ workshops before Minear offers his perspective on fandom and how he feels about having his work studied and taught by academics. Next I invite Minear to comment on his unrealized project Miracle Man and how the Writers Guild of America Strike derailed the penning and filming of the pilot. To close, Minear discusses his latest project The Chicago Code and what excites him—and should excite audiences—about the new series.

Read Part 2 of the interview here
Read Part 1 of the interview here

With just under a month until Christmas, there’s just enough time to get crafty with these great gift ideas!
Serenity iPod Case
Can you believe that’s made out of polymer clay? Wow!

It was created by craftster Kimmermonroe.

“It’s meant to look like it came off the ship. The outside is made from polymer clay that I dinged up and burned. Yes I took a lighter and burned it. The ipod holder is made of brown leather. It represents the “Brown Coats”. Yeah I lost my mind a little on this project.”

More photos of the project can be found here.

Quotable Wash Embroidery
You can never have enough dinosaurs, especially when they’re done so well!

This cute-as-a-button embroidery is courtesy of Tilt Creations and was inspired by Wash and his dinosaurs. You can find more Firefly themed goodies from Tilt Creations here. Among the many gorgeous items are a messenger bag with an embroidered Firefly logo, felty “two by two, men in blue” gloves, embroidered Fruity Oaty Bar girls and lots more!

Firefly Amigurumi Dolls
Can you believe these are crocheted?

Courtesy of Geek Central Station, the whole crew of Serenity have been miniturized and made extra adorable! Check out the link for lots of detailed photos, and prepare to drool. Particular highlights are Kaylee & Simon, Zoe & Wash, Mal & Inara, and of course Jayne (complete with guns and grenades!).

How about crafty-goodness from around the rest of the Whedonverse?
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Armageddon Expo is back, and is bringing the Whedonverse to you! Join Juliet Landau, Miracle Laurie, Georges Jeanty and Jason Palmer at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on 16-17 October.

Juliet Landau is best known for portraying Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and spin off show Angel (the latter appearance earning her a Saturn Award nomination). Steve Vinberg of The New York Times hailed “The wildly gifted Juliet Landau plays Drusilla like an acid-addled cross between Ophelia and Cassandra.” In 2009 Juliet Landau co-wrote two issues of the Angel comic book series for IDW Publishing, in collaboration with Brian Lynch. The issues (#24 and #25 of the series, appearing in August and September 2009) feature Drusilla, the character she played on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. In addition to writing, she contributed numerous ideas and references for both the cover and interior art of the issues. She has stated that she would like to write more comics set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe.

Miracle Laurie has been a fan of Joss’ for years and auditioned for – but never booked – any roles on his other shows. Finally, it was the right part at the right time – Dollhouse. Her dream had come true and she was cast as “November”. The audience, however, would get to know her first as “Mellie”.

Georges Jeanty is one of the current artists on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. After majoring in the Fine Arts, at Miami-Dade University, he considered a career in acting, but decided to use his artistic talent to pursue a career as a commercial artist. Inspired by the comics he read as a kid (including 70’s comic book superhero icons like Luke Cage, Fantastic Four and Saga of the Swamp Thing) Georges made comic books his focus. After breaking in at DC Comics, on titles like Green Lantern, Superboy and Superman, Marvel Comics offered him, a new title they were starting up- Bishop: The Last X-man. His early Marvel work also included the Gambit series and a few Deadpool issues. Georges received rave reviews for Deadpool, and continued his Marvel-mutant-mania with the Weapon X monthly series. Georges was hand-picked by Joss Whedon to be the regular artist of the highly anticipated Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic book series.

After becoming a huge fan of the Firefly series, Jason created a print of the show’s cast for a local LA convention. Encouraged by Joss Whedon, Jason has since been working together with Universal Studios, producing licensed artwork for Serenity, the movie that was made, in no small part, as a result of unprecedented efforts of Firefly fans. These works include a line of popular limited edition Serenity collectible portraits, which are now available as an album set, including exclusive character sketches and convention slipcase tote carrier and more recently, a line of Serenity T-shirts which premiered at San Diego Comic Con in 2009 and are available through Melbourne Browncoats and other fan friendly retailers.

A sampling of Jason’s amazing work is below…
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Did you miss Joss Whedon at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival? The wonderful Melinda Dean from OMG Squee! has been slaving away over these past few weeks to give you a special treat. She has provided a detailed transcription of the event, for your reading pleasure!

Joss Whedon’s Keynote, 27/08/2010, 9:30pm

[Out come Sue Turnbull (leading the interview) and Joss Whedon and the audience goes wild.]

Sue: Well isn’t this cosy. How intimate can you get. Whoo. Um. About a month ago, a friend of mine emailed me and said, Did you know, God, is coming to Melbourne? To which I replied, yeap, and what I actually should have said was, and I’m the angel Gabriel or something like that. Um, Joss, how does it feel to be God?

Joss: Well, when I made the mountains, I thought…they’re good, but, um, they’re uh, I don’t believe in me.

[much applause and laughter]

Joss: Which is actually awkward.

Sue: Lack of belief in yourself, God, is a bit of a problem. However, you know, there are god-like qualities that you have obviously aspired to. Indeed becoming a screenwriter some people might argue was a bid for god-dom?

Joss: Um, I think it was a bid for obscurity and pain. A successful one.

Continue reading…

You should also check out Sci-Fi Channel Australia’s interview with Joss, which includes this little relevation…

Firefly Season Two – you want to know what would have happened – we all do. Joss answered this point blank with “Serenity pretty much covered it” (Firefly Season 2). “Finding the truth about Miranda, the origins of River, that was all going to be told over Season Two.” He was quick to point out that Firefly was about ‘moments’. The richly textured worlds of the ‘verse were a backdrop to small human moments that revealed character. John Ford storytelling, as he put it. This of course makes sense to fans of the show who know that Firefly was a little more episodic than serialised.

Keep an eye out on Sci-Fi TV for the full interview.

Buffy’s creator turns a new page at Melbourne Writers Festival
The Australian, 28 August 2010

Michael Bodey geeks with Joss Whedon out at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Joss Whedon is a modern master of film and television, as big a geek hero as Batman or his own creation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So what’s the American film-maker doing headlining the Melbourne Writers Festival beside authors of tactile, bound pages of literature including D.B.C. Pierre, Alex Miller and Cate Kennedy?

“I feel very distinguished, and intend to wear elbow patches and smoke a pipe now,” he jokes.

“I will first and foremost always be a writer. I love directing and everything I do, but writing is what really defines me.”

Read the rest of the article here

Bloody good show as Buffy creator slays ‘em in the aisles
The Australian, 4 September 2010

Emma Tom talks Joss Whedon’s appearances at the Melbourne Town Hall and the Sydney Opera House for The Australian.

If television is a religion, then Joss Whedon is its god. Not a particularly physically imposing god (the American creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly is a small and imperfectly formed ranga). But a deity nonetheless.

Whedon creates worlds and fills them with extraordinary, flawed beings.

He leaves trails of holy texts, sacred languages and exotic fetish objects.

And yea verily do his devotees prostrate themselves at his feet crying: “We are not worthy” and sometimes also: “But must thou smite quite so many of our favourite characters?”

Whedon, whose earthly miracles include an unholy blurring of the lines between high and low culture, has just made a pilgrimage to Australia to sermonise from the mounts of the Melbourne Writers Festival and the Sydney Opera House concert hall.

Both gatherings were sold out and prompted rapturous nerdgasms from his devoted disciples. “How does it feel to be god?” media academic Sue Turnbull asked him in Melbourne.

“Awkward,” Whedon replied, “because I don’t believe in me.”

Read the rest of the article here

Announcing veteran television writer and producer Jane Espenson as the keynote speaker for Film Victoria’s Arresting Audiences, 23-24 September 2010

That’s right, Jane Espenson – she of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, FIREFLY, ANGEL and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fame and one of the most talented and prolific television writers this side of Sunnydale – is heading to Melbourne for Film Victoria’s screen audience summit.

She’s joining Winter Mead, Product Marketing Director for Coincident TV, the company responsible for Superfan, the hugely successful social media campaign for the GLEE television series. Winter will reveal how the Superfan campaign took GLEE to new levels of interaction and audience engagement and led to new marketing and commercial opportunities.

Arresting Audiences is the first summit in Australia to focus specifically and entirely on audience. It will explore the importance of connecting with audiences, and how to best use that connection to make great product. The sessions, held over 2 days, have been designed to cover a broad range of issues relating to screen audiences.

Date: 23-24 September 2010
Time: Thursday: 8.45 am – 5pm followed by networking event, Friday: 9am – 4.30pm
Venue: Rendezvous Hotel, 328 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Tickets: $75 available from Greentix (incl 2 day access to summit, lunch, refreshments and networking event)

Who should come: Established and emerging producers, directors, screenwriters and script editors.

What you’ll get: Specialist speakers, international and national practitioners and the latest research into audience behaviours, trends, perceptions and attitudes.

Jane will be the keynote speaker on Thursday from 3.30pm – 4.45pm on “Capturing Your Audience – Confessions of a Screenwriter”.

If you missed seeing Joss last weekend or you just want to relive it, here’s a 15 minute video recap with some of the highlights. Enjoy!
Continue reading »

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