Dan Morris: Slay bells ring; are you listening?

I’m not normally one for TV reboots, but hearing the recent news that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on the cards for a comeback, I rejoiced.

Like most of the international nerd herd, I was a huge fan of the gothic teen drama, and during my adolescence devoted a truly unreasonable amount of my time to its teachings.

Running from 1997 to 2003 and starring the immortal (genuinely) Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy was one of those shows that broke the shackles of its cult roots to become incredibly popular with the masses.

Sure, it dealt with supernatural baddies, occult mythology and various instances of apocalypse that just so happened to always be localised around one Californian town.

But it also dealt with relationships, abuse, PTSD, and was very much ahead of its time in the representation it gave to the LGBTQ community.

Buffy was made for a world more modern than the one it inhabited, and so, with Gellar confirming her support for a revitalisation, I’m genuinely excited to see how the Buffy of the 2020s will feel.

However, as I said, I’m normally very wary of such projects. In my previous life as a musician, I used to hold to the principle that you should never do the same gig twice.

This has become a philosophy for life that I try to stick to, as – in my experience – simply attempting to repeat something because it was good the first time (from a great holiday to a star-spangled night out) will usually lead to disappointment. At worst, it can also tarnish your memory of the original.

When it comes to telly and film, no truer words were ever spoken. From Auf Wiedersehen, Pet to Open All Hours, Cold Feet, Magnum P.I, Ghostbusters and, yes, the Star Wars sequels, reboots of treasured titles tend to leave a bitter taste in my mouth because it is so rare that they recapture the magic of the first time round.

And, indeed, they have often made me look back at said originals with tainted spectacles (the O.G. and sacrosanct Star Wars Trilogy very much being the exception here).

I understand why reboots are made, and not all fall victim to the curse. But I often find myself wishing that production companies would just concentrate more on creating great, new series and flicks rather than rehashing and potentially ruining something beloved that may have had its day.

That said, my philosophy has its flaws. There are, of course, plenty of things in life that deserve repeating.

Pepperoni and peach pizza (try before you deny), spending a couple of months completing video game paragon Red Dead Redemption 2, and blowing raspberries on your toddler’s tummy topping the list.

I suppose, to clarify, where repetition doesn’t work is when you might be attempting to recapture the ‘glory days’.

Things happen at certain points in your life for a reason, and if you find yourself in any kind of a rut, I think it’s better to do new things rather than simply do the same things you did before said rut arrived. 

I remember celebrating my 19th birthday with a train of Sambuca shots. I certainly won’t be celebrating my pending 38th in the same manner (remind me of this in October though… I get excited). 

In my time as the aforementioned musician, I was lucky enough to travel the States with my guitar, busking for my supper.

The temptation to repeat said tour has called to me strongly recently, yet it would be heartbreaking to do so and feel flat – even more heartbreaking to tarnish some of my most treasured memories with a half-baked re-run.

Perhaps, as a general rule, it’s best to look at fantastic past experiences and not repeat them, but build them into future ones.

I loved the freedom of the road, with only my guitar and lively American well-wishers for company.

Perhaps I could pick and grin in Australia instead.

The spiders and the snakes may not make for such an adoring crowd, but maybe that’s the point.

When you’re lucky enough to have lived a truly lovely life, it’s important to remember that it is the new challenges that will continue to keep the flame burning.

Think fondly of those great gigs; use them as a compass – but never be scared of the next one.

As once was said on Buffy, “the hardest thing in this world is to live in it”. It’s also the most exciting.