"Rupert Murdoch is the Hellmouth": Buffy fans

by Kaitlin | October 12, 2007 at 03:33 pm

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Rupert Murdoch should know better than to cross Super Fans--a powerful legion of fandom has proven far stronger than any one rich dude many times in the past few years (see: Snakes on a Plane, Lost, Heroes, et. al). Still, that didn't stop him from halting the Buffy the Vampire Slayer singalong, a simultaneous live and screened performance of the long-running TV show's musical episode "Once More with Feeling." Think Rocky Horror Picture Show:

Fans dressed as their favourite character and sang from the audience as a group of aficionados took to the stage to play the principal roles and lead the singing.

The single musical episode, written and directed by show creator Joss Whedon, was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Although Criterion Pictures had granted a licence for the singalong events, Fox, a division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has stepped in to demand "significant payments" for showing the episode in movie theatres.

I can understand the desire for renumeration (it's just business, and Murdoch certainly knows business), but can't he have a wee bit of prescience, here? This is the kind of stuff that will give Buffy an eternal afterlife of DVD and merch sales. When you're dealing with a show that's already over, why not let the masses help you keep the undead alive?

Ah, well--something tells me that Buffy fans won't be slayed so easily, and that "Once More with Feeling" will keep rising from the dead for years to come, come hell or Fox lawyers. Stake that, Rupert!