Marvel's Agents of SHIELD

Before I begin let me be clear, I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. I was cheerleading for the tv version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the moment I saw an advert on a bus shelter on my way to high school back in 1997. Five years prior, I loved the movie version with Luke Perry, Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, and Paul Reubens. Paul Reubens epic death scene at the end of the flick and through the credits still cracks me up. Since I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, I was very excited for the tv show. I remember my friends scoffing at the prospect of the tv show being any good, apparently I was the only one in my group that liked the movie, and I told them to watch it; it was going to be really good. Well, I was right and as I continued to introduce friends to the magical joy that is now globally recognized as Joss Whedon, a fandom was born. A fandom not just built around a show, which happened, but a fandom built around the man. Now, Joss is only one man, despite how fervently he is worshipped as a Geek God, and as one man building an empire sometimes outsourcing becomes necessary.

In building his empire, Joss has gathered to his bosom a talented group that he has worked with over and over again through out the years spanning Buffy (both the t.v. series and the comics), Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Web Blog, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. So far, in regards to Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the big players are Joss' own brother Jed, Jed's wife Maurissa Tancharoen, Jeffrey Bell, and Paul Zbysewski. Paul is the newest member to join the Whedonite writing gang, whereas Jeffrey worked on Angel. Jed and Maurissa both worked on Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog before joining forces for S.H.I.E.L.D. They all bring strong resumes to the table, but trying to write in Joss' voice is no small feat.

From what I have noticed from the show to date is definite Joss-like qualities, and a few lines that seem to come from Joss prime, but for the show to really get the voice down I think that Joss should have more of a hand in the dialoguing which seems highly unlikely at the moment with preparations undergoing for the next Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. With that in mind, I think it would be a very wise decision to bring aboard Jane Espenson since she is the most vetted of all of Joss' writers with close to forty scripts combined between t.v. and comics done in the style of Whedon. Granted, she is a busy woman at the moment working on both Once Upon a Time, and Once Upon a Time: Wonderland, but I would like to believe for Joss she could squeeze in a spare moment or two.

Basically, what I am saying is that the show has promise but needs to be Whedoned up just a smidgeon. There is a fine gloss about it at the moment, but that gloss needs to be brought up to a solid shine. Yes, there are a lot of comic book fans, and Whedonites, and comic book loving Whedonites watching the show but I think the show will have a drop off in viewers if the vibe doesn't get where it needs to be. I do not believe the show is in any danger of being canceled, there is just too much going into this vehicle at the moment. By harvesting from the vast collection of Marvel's legacy the show is in no way going to lose in plot or arcs, but it can suffer from its writting.