Reply To: The Random Post Thread (Game Potential)
Expanding on what Bry said earlier, beyond being a writer, he was creator and executive producer of several TV series. That being the case, he had a lot more creative control than most television writers, and that control brought him greater influence and visibility. Most screenwriters who gain public name recognition do so after moving on to some other, more visible role. Woody Allen (best known as a director and actor) and Conan O’Brien (best known as a talk show host), both of whom spent many years as television writers, are obvious examples.
There are several trademark characteristics of his work. A Dr. Who analogy might be appropriate. Female companions fall roughly into two categories: hapless screamers who are constantly in need of rescue, and capable sidekicks who can hold their own in a fight. Joss Whedon much prefers the latter. He likes to turn the tired “rescue the princess” motif on its head; in that regard, he’s a feminist. Also, the sexuality in his work is not entirely vanilla; there’s a lot of experimentation going on, at the very least. I’ll let those who are more familiar with that aspect of his work go into greater detail if they like.
Toy Story is different from most Joss Whedon projects in that it wasn’t his personal project, that he was one of a group of writers, that it’s rather unlike any of his subsequent work, and that it was made relatively early in his career (after the Buffy movie, before the Buffy TV series), before he’d achieved the notoriety (“cult following” might be a better description) that came with the later TV series; hence, it comes as something of a surprise to some of his fans that he was involved.
(I’m aware of this factoid chiefly in my capacity as a computer graphics nerd.)