Some people have a gift of reaching right into your soul
And finding the hole
And making it bigger
And finding the hole
And making it bigger
— Reel Big Fish Drunk Again
People are always surprised when Joss kills characters. Come on man, look at the history; that guy loves to kill people! He loves to get you invested, he loves to get you all worked up, and rootin' for people, and then bam.
— Nathan Fillion in the bonus features for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy.
— Joss Whedon, Whedonesque
Neil Patrick Harris: You do kill a lot of chicks.
Joss Whedon: My personal life is not the point here!
Joss Whedon: My personal life is not the point here!
— At the Comic Con panel for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Q: So, why do you write these strong female characters?
A: Because you're still asking me that question.
A: Because you're still asking me that question.
—"American Rhetoric: Joss Whedon - Equality Now Address". (May 15, 2006)
Q: So Joss, why do you write these strong female characters?
A: To get laid.
A: To get laid.
"Let's not talk to Joss. He's sad and confusing."
About killing off Giles: "I wanted to make all this matter and have something that would send emotional ripples through all the characters. Also, I’m a prick."
—Joss Whedon, in an Entertainment Weekly article. (Jan 19, 2011)
"I have had a dream my whole life... and it was not this good."
— On writing and directing The Avengers movie.
"Presumably Claudio is impaled on something sharp in the final act."
— Mightygodking on Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
"I'm, no offense, very tired of being labelled as 'the guy who kills people.' Shakespeare (he's this hot new writer) does it way more than me, and everyone's all excited about how he, as it were, holds a mirror up to nature, while I'm like the Jason Voorhees of the writing community. Unfair."
"In my world, heroes bugger each other senseless. Not all of them, but more than you'd think, and probably not who you're thinking."
"I have one particular theme ...and that's helplessness. The empowerment of someone who's helpless. And that has everything to do with how I feel about myself. Buffy was a pretty blond girl of whom nothing was expected, who didn’t try very hard at anything, and then suddenly became the most powerful person around — that theme, whether it’s empowerment or the discovery that one is powerless, that drives everything I do."
"... the only thing that matters is what we do. This is what I believe. I believe that the only reality is how we treat each other. The morality comes from the absence of any grander scheme, not from the presence of any grander scheme."
— From this video, where Joss explains his views on religion and morality in response to an audience question.
, where Joss explains his views on religion and morality in response to an audience question."We choose which meaning to give these objects. A gun can be a stick, a ship can be a soul, and a TV show can be important, even if no one watches it."
— Joss Whedon, featured at the end of the final episode of Firefly.
"If the fifties were seen as television’s Golden Age, right now we're smack in the middle of a platinum one—thank you, Joss Whedon, for kicking that off—and my tiVo and I are likethis."
—Lani Diane Rich in "Welcome to Camp Noir."
"I don't think it's a perfect movie. I don't even think it's a great movie. I think it's a great time, and I'm proud of it, but for me, what was exciting is that people don't go to see a movie that many times unless it's pulling on something from within, unless there's a need there. That's very gratifying."
Joss on The Avengers
"I don't make things people like. I make things people LOVE.
Joss on... everything.
"Sometimes it feels like "Man, I'm being written so goofy!", but then you've gotta realize, no, that's Joss. Joss is a bit Chekhovian in that way. Joss is more interested, it seems, when people are fallible and funny and foolish and dear."
— James Marsters, Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD Extra
