Following the release of the YouTube videos (What's Wrong with Buffy's HD? and, more recently The Great Tragedy of the Buffy Remaster), a few members of the show's original team shared their thoughts on the Buffy remaster. Previous reactions from Joss Whedon, David Fury and Steven DeKnight can be found in the videos linked above. Screencaptures are provided when available.
The now late Director of Photography Michael Gershman wrote to us twice via private messages, the second time in a more moving way.
I shot Buffy for five years, and directed many episodes. Buffy needs to remain in its original format. The frames were composed for a TV format, 4x3, and should remain so.
It's a shame to have all of my work thrown in the garbage. I tried to give Buffy a texture that would turn a teenybopper show into a serious dramatic presentation. Alas, once any piece of art leaves the artists hands, control is lost. Sorry everyone can't see the work in its original incarnation. Thanks for keeping me up on the look of the show.
The "behind the scene team" insisted that Fox never made contact with them. Some of them even reveal that 16:9 (SD) masters were made at the time, free from all errors and "goofs"! For more information, read the next two messages.
This one is from Aaron Miller (Firefly, The Good Place) one of the post-production coordinators on season 5.
I was the post coordinator for Season 5 and we actually made a list of 16X9 fixes for every show that would need to be done when the show was remastered for HD. They definitely did not contact me at any time.
Now, the post-production supervisor Brian Wankum who is know for his work on Buffy and Once Upon A Time.
I am a little torn. The true purists should only ever watch the 4:3 standard def original release versions (exception being the "Once More With Feeling" which was intended to be shown widescreen). Not only is the framing as was originally intended, but i suspect that there will be lots of details in sets, props, costumes and makeup that might not hold up in HD. That's for the purists. BUT... Right or wrong there is a large population of average Joes who just want the picture to fill their frame. The same group who 15 years ago would have preferred the center cut to the black bars on top and bottom. Would be a shame for a whole new generation to miss out just because they (or their local TV station which is more likely) got turned off by black side bars. I agree that if it must be done there's a better way to do it. Season 1 was 16mm 4X3 so there is no way to make it 16:9 without blowing up the image. One of the things that bugs me the most about the ones I have seen is that top of show credits appear over peoples faces. We always had a rule to keep credits below the chin in closeups.
He added:
Starting with season 2 we shot 35mm composed for 4X3 but protecting for 16X9. After we delivered the 4:3 air master I would sit down and watch the 16:9 version and take notes and do blowups and repos where necessary to avoid crew, equipment and ends of sets in shots. We called these the "16X9 safe masters" and archived them with everything else. I thought these were pretty cool to watch, the problem is when they went back to negative for the HD rexfer in this latest release it looks like they did not consult the original for either color timing or re-framing reference. I'm sure the stories and characters will hold up but it's too bad more care was not taken. Nobody asked me, but if they did I would have loved to have consulted on this. Probably could have organized a crowdsourcing effort of comparing the originals to the re-transfers. Lots of crew alumni with lots of love for the originals would have likely participated. Maybe for the 4K/3D version?
Note that he probably meant they started shooting 35mm with season 3. Season 2 was still Super 16mm.
Jeff Pruitt, stunt coordinator for seasons 2, 3 and 4, also shared his opinion without mince words.
I was surprised when you showed me the comparison shots. Mike Gershman (our Director of Photography) worked extremely hard to create a dark look for the show and the people who did this transfer really ruined that. Not only did the darkness help to hide stunt doubles, but it gave the show a creepy feel that was needed to carry the stories forward. They should have consulted him about this. I'm not trying to put anyone down here. I'm only saying that turning over color correction to a gang of spider monkeys is not the way I would go. They don't seem to care about the look of anything and they leave the room smelling like monkey urine. Just sayin'. :)
The videos were also shared on social media by Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), James C. Leary (Clem), and writers David Fury, Tim Minear, Marti Noxon and Nancy Holder.
Hey. People are angry about the piss poor widescreen transfer of BTVS that airs on Pivot. It's an embarrassing mess.
Somebody should be indicted.
I probably should know more about this before I open my big mouth but from the little I do know Fox has made a mess of remastering the great work of Joss Whedon and Sarah Michelle Gellar and all the other actors, directors and technicians who worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show and the work were important to me at the time and there are fans throughout the world that still get inspiration from the little girl with the big wooden stake and her struggle for justice and a simple dinner date in a nice black dress. This is worth a look.
I had read about [the HD version] yes. I'm very surprised to read about the messiness of the conversion that has been done. I agree with Joss [about the aspect ratio].
Later, he added during an interview with the website Buffy Angel Show:
As an actor I always respected the hard work the crews and filmmakers put into their work. As a filmmaker now I appreciate it that much more. Filmmaking is a collaborative art form that requires thousands of hours of planning, writing, shooting, and finally editing. Dozens to hundreds of people have put their mark on a project in small and large ways and it’s a labor of love. I feel, respectfully, that based on what I’ve seen from the HD versions that the changes in color tone, framing, and other strange additions have tarnished the original footage. Instead of cleaning and updating a classic, they did a quick scan and tossed it on a disk. It’s unfortunate, perhaps one day a classic version will be released in HD.
Hey #BTVS purists: What's wrong with Buffy's HD upgrade? How about a new remaster, #Fox?
And more tweets from the original team:
DAVID FURY: HERE
We want to thank all of them for taking the time to read about Buffy's HD issues and for talking about it on social media. Now... let's hope for a real comment from Joss Whedon soon.
To learn about the remaster's issues of seasons 1-3 read this article, and the second one for the later seasons. And please check our latest video, The Great Tragedy of the Buffy Remaster, available on the Passion of the Nerd's channel:
Header : ©Graphuss