Not to mention that, ok, he wasn't a fan of Buffy and didn't know the backstory when he came on as Connor. Fair enough.

But when you're an unknown coming in to an established series, I'd doubt you should expect much leverage with the script writers. And after a while, you don't have much room to complain that you don't understand the back story.

i've heard insider things about VK that made me form the opinion that he's an asshat. that interview just solidified it.

I dunno, he doesn't sound like an asshole to me. His criticisms of Connor seem a fairly honest self-assessment, he seems more critical of his own actions/acting than anything else.

I'm with Burrell on this.

If VK thinks that gender roles in 1960 are something to be nostalgic about, I say he's an asshat. It really doesn't matter what he thinks about the Whedonverse.

But also what Fred Pete said. The kid thinks he's going to have input into a character in a 'verse that he didn't bother to research?

I don't think he is saying it was better--he is saying it was simpler. Less choices for both men and women. More complexity makes things harder. Not worse, but harder.

Robin, point taken, but I got the distinct feeling that he had a fondness for simpler.

To take a specific character point from his character, I don't know if I would consider it simpler or better to be whored out by my newlywed husband over an item of ambition based in petty jealousy.

I bet VK was just trying to be clever with that "things were kinda nice" comment. After typing that I realize it's when I'm trying to be clever that I tend to reveal what a dork I actually am. Maybe failed attempts at cleverness are a window to our true nature.

Probably wasn't meant as seriously as I'm taking it. However, "Weren't things nicer then..." is a big ping for me. Because in general, yeah, things were nicer then (for any given value of then or there). For a very small, select class of people, at the expense of the much larger class of people.

I can't help but respond to the "things were simpler" comment as, well, things were simpler if I wanted to exist within a very codified structure and I didn't have any interests or desires outside of that structure. Things were simpler if I didn't want to worry my pretty little head about things like property ownership or voting rights or the ability to marry. (Yes, I'm extrapolating outside of the particular era, but that's because it's my Big Red Don't Push This Button Button.)

Things were always nicer when we didn't have to be aware of the consequences of our actions. Things were nicer when the people we oppressed were quieter about it. Things were nicer when a subservient class existed to cater to our whims and didn't complain. Things were nicer when people knew their places.

You see? That's the road I'm staring down that starts with the comment, "Weren't things nicer then..."

To me.