A Career in Review: Joss Whedon

"I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, then a show that 1000 people want to see." - Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon is the mastermind behind the cult favorite television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, which were both originally broadcast on the WB Network (although Buffy eventually would move to UPN). Having written several now classic animated films Toy Story, Titan A.E., and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Whedon got his original start on the highly successful sitcom Roseanne in 1989.

On the sitcom Roseanne Whedon was a story editor before he wrote several of the episodes. It's unique to point out that Whedon is a third generation writer in which his grandfather and father wrote for sitcoms (The Donna Reed Show & Leave it to Beaver and The Dick Cavett Show & Benson, respectfully). None of this would prepare him for the success that would follow him once the Pizar animated Toy Story took the world by storm by realizing the first fully 3-D animated feature length film in 1985. This was a departure from his previous efforts including the ill-fated original theatrical version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1995).

Whedon's other big screen endeavors are spotty at best having contributed the treatment for Atlantis: The Lost Empire and having written the screenplays for Alien: Ressurection (1997) and Titan A.E. but it wasn't until the television version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997 that Whedon become a driving force in television. The show became an instant cult classic erasing the memory of the feature length film from the public's subconscious.

The television incarnation of Buffy would become so popular that it would create a successful spin-off in Angel and have an enormous influence on the toy and comic book industries where it still thrives even after the cancellation of both shows.