The Obligatory Buffy thread

[Young Val]

...so i was in Best Buy last week.... and Buffy was on sale.

all of it.

$15.99 per season.


and...i owned all of Angel and NONE of Buffy so...so i HAD to buy it.



nevermind the fact that i really, really, really couldn't afford to spend that much money on things that are not New Apartments, but, i mean, $15.99 a season?! that's SO GOOD.


i've watched seasons 1, 2, 4 and i'm in the middle of 5 now. (i just watched 3 a month or two ago at a friend's house, so i felt ok about skipping it).


validate my financial choices, please.

[eriador]

My mother once said "if you don't have anything positive to say, don't say anything at all." I remembered that saying the moment I saw this thread...

[Rei]

Oi... for sixteen bucks a season you should feel very validated. I wish it were that cheap here...

[Young Val]

now all i need is Firefly and Serenity and i'll be all set.

that will have the be put off for at LEAST a year, though. no more impulse buys!

(who's your favorite Big Bad, kids? as much as i dislike season 5 of Buffy, i always did love Glory).

[Yebra]

Totally the Mayor.

[Jayelle]

16 bucks a season! Quite the steal. I'm only missing Season 7.

As for Big Bads... I think it's a tie between the Mayor and Angelus.

But I also really like Dark Willow. And Glory. Oh Bother, I can't decide.

[eriador]

http://thepiratebay.org/

[Jayelle]

...what's your point?

[Young Val]

*bump*

all the Dr. Horrible stuff has revived my love of all things Whedon. While poking around on the net for news about The Dollhouse (HOW EXCITED AM I?! I LOVE ELIZA DUSHKU!) I stumbled on this little blog entry that linked to a song called"I Miss Buffy The Vampire Slayer." Listen. It's HILARIOUS.

[Gravity Defier]

*bump*

I was given Seasons 1 and 2 as a gift yesterday, which I haven't seen before. I came in much, much later...whenever it was that Spike and Buffy were sneaking around, I think after Buffy was brought back from the dead? Hell, I don't remember because even that was around 2001, 2002.

Anyway, I've liked what I've seen -both then and now (two episodes watched...I'm trying to pace myself). Angel is quickly becoming a favorite character. Cordelia is a bitch. Giles still reminds me of a professor I had, who looked and sounded just like him, English accent, glasses and all. The slang is annoying in parts.

Erm, that's about all I have on the subject at the moment.

[Young Val]

Yay Buffy!

Seasons 1, 2, and 3 are my favorites! Cordelia is a bitch, but she's also hilarious and she definitely has a character arc. Later on she becomes my absolute favorite character on Angel.

[neo-dragon]

*BUMP* (To remind people that it's here)

Also, I want to be Spike when I grow up.

[Janus%TheDoorman]

Why thank you, neo.

So, in this more appropriate forum, was I the only one that couldn't stand Buffy at the end of the series? I mean, yes it's understandable - Joss put her through hell in S6, but... her sheer presence makes you feel guilty for being happy about anything at the end. Giles bursting into laughter at her during the Willow crisis was rather vindicating for me at least.

And then, as if Joss was aware of it, along comes S8, Buffy decides to be a lesbian for a bit, and everything's hunky dory again.

[ValentineNicole]

*BUMP* (To remind people that it's here)

Also, I want to be Spike when I grow up.

If you succeed, we will need to talk LOL

[Young Val]

I, too, dislike Buffy as a character in season 7.

[neo-dragon]

*BUMP* (To remind people that it's here)

Also, I want to be Spike when I grow up.

If you succeed, we will need to talk LOL

How about if I just become Gunn? At least he's human, and black, so I'm practically there.

[CezeN]

Angel > Buffy

[Janus%TheDoorman]

Is anyone else reading/read Season 8 and After The Fall/Aftermath?

[ValentineNicole]

*BUMP* (To remind people that it's here)

Also, I want to be Spike when I grow up.

If you succeed, we will need to talk LOL

How about if I just become Gunn? At least he's human, and black, so I'm practically there.

LOL, yeah, I'm slightly in love with Gunn, too. That'd work for me. He's so cute with Fred!!

I am SO sad that I'm halfway done with season 7. I think I'm gonna stretch it a few more days... Why didn't I watch these shows when they were on the air??

[Mich]

I am SO sad that I'm halfway done with season 7. I think I'm gonna stretch it a few more days... Why didn't I watch these shows when they were on the air??

As usual, oh Buffy twin, that's where I'm at, too. Ten episodes left... and then... it's over! I'm somewhat relieved and somewhat sad. But, yeah... Buffy's kind of annoying this season. It's everyone else I'm sad about.

Even Dawn. She grew on me. I'm a sucker for younger sibling characters, though.

[neo-dragon]

Is anyone else reading/read Season 8 and After The Fall/Aftermath?

Not directly, but I sometimes read about what's going on in them online.

LOL, yeah, I'm slightly in love with Gunn, too. That'd work for me. Wink He's so cute with Fred!!

Yeah, they're a cute couple.

[ValentineNicole]

I am SO sad that I'm halfway done with season 7. I think I'm gonna stretch it a few more days... Why didn't I watch these shows when they were on the air??

As usual, oh Buffy twin, that's where I'm at, too. Ten episodes left... and then... it's over! I'm somewhat relieved and somewhat sad. But, yeah... Buffy's kind of annoying this season. It's everyone else I'm sad about.

Even Dawn. She grew on me. I'm a sucker for younger sibling characters, though.

Hehe, I totally love that we're always on the same episode.

[Satya]

Angel > Buffy.

Just saying.

[Jayelle]

Is anyone else reading/read Season 8 and After The Fall/Aftermath?

Spoilers in spoiler text:


I read Season 8 up to Buffy being a lesbian for a night, which was just too fanfic-y for me. Then I started again, but stopped at one of the recent issues with all the ridiculous galactic sex, because it was stupid.
I sold all my issues in our garage sale.

[Janus%TheDoorman]

The next story arc, Last Gleaming is the last for Season 8, so I'll stick it out through that, but I definitely agree that it comes across like weird fanfiction a bit too often. Some of that is, I think them not having to worry about a special effects budget or the family-friendly demographics of the WB (And their fanbase being a bit older now), but yeah Buffy and Angel having supersex being the universe's sole purpose? Riiiiiiiiight.

[Mich]

Finished it! Bam.

It was definitely worth the year that it took, and I guess that's all I have to say, for now.

Season 8 is on my comics-to-read list.

[ValentineNicole]

Okay, I finally gave in and watched the Buffy series finale.

God, I cried SO hard. I am such a baby!!

But...how can they kill off Spike?? That is so not cool!!

All in all, a brilliant show and one I greatly enjoyed. I will now finish Angel, and possibly read season 8. And begin either Dr. Who or Veronica Mars. LOL

[Janus%TheDoorman]

Dr. Who actually puts in an appearance in Season 8, and IIRC Joss has hinted at a big comic crossover between the two coming along at some point.

[ValentineNicole]

<fangirl>
Oh my god. Oh my God. OH MY GOD!!!

SO EXCITED, HAPPY, RELIEVED, ENAMORED...

Spike is alive!!!! Or at least, I think he is :p He's totally credited in Angel Season 5, and that makes me SO f****** EXCITED. LOL

</Fangirl>

[neo-dragon]

Dr. Who actually puts in an appearance in Season 8, and IIRC Joss has hinted at a big comic crossover between the two coming along at some point.

Um, yeah... I really hope that you're joking. Buffy and Dr. Who go together only slightly better than Star Trek and X-men.

[Janus%TheDoorman]

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer

Nope, at least not about the cameo. The talk of a crossover was going on in 2008 when that issue came out, but then the writer's strike happened, Joss went and made Dr. Horrible and nothing came of it. Now, with Matt Smith and the shift in show control over to Steven Moffat, it's impossible to say where if anywhere it'll go.

As a concept, though, it's at least... passable. Aside from being the person who asks the questions that the audience needs clarification on, the companion's primary functioning role in the story is to be the person the Doctor has to save, and the basic premise of Buffy was to have that character type be empowered to the point of not needing saving. Late Series Buffy could cause a whole lot of havoc with the Doctor's worldview and his perception of his relationship with humanity at large. Most of the times the Doctor and the Whoniverse in general deals with us "mere mortals" taking matters into our own hands, it's Generals and Ministers and all other sorts of very adult characters who we despise because they're usually doing what they're doing for more abstract "King and Country" reasons, not willing to give the Doctor's way a shot. Their violence and cruelty is born out of fear.

Buffy, on the other hand is fighting tooth and nail for her life and to protect those closest to her. She has more ground to stand on than anyone the Doctor's encountered when throwing his ideology back at him and asserting that when you're threatened, you kill what's threatening you and start looking for the next guy. Buffy is the theme of the 10th Doctor's companions - "People turned into weapons" taken to the logical extreme. For me, this dynamic between the Doctor and the people he travels with is never explored with any real depth, it would shake the Doctor to his core and be a very different Doctor Who, but a confrontation with Buffy or a similar stand-in character in a side-story would be great.

[neo-dragon]

That's all well and good, but I'm more hung up on the issue of magic and demons vs. science and aliens. It makes about as much sense to me as a Terminator/Lord of the Rings crossover. Having contrasting themes isn't really enough.

[Janus%TheDoorman]

Well, yeah, especially given certain recent goings-on in the Buffyverse, dumping the Doctor in there would very quickly unravel well, just about everything about that universe, unless they went the route of the Shakespeare Code and basically said "Science is just another form of magic that uses electrons and whatnot as its basic constituents". And on top of that, it'd just be weird. The Doctor's ideals can't really challenge Buffy's notions without completely unsettling the Buffyverse, Buffy can do a lot more to/for the Doctor without completely resetting the rules of the Whoniverse.

Dumping Buffy into a Whoniverse story would be much cleaner.

[starlooker]

Quick rant re: my Angel-watching experience of this morning. I know all of the spoilers. I knew what was going to happen. I knew.

BUT DID THEY LOSE THEIR EVER-LOVING MINDS?

(Season 4 Spoilers Ahead)

Cordelia and Connor having sex? NO. Just -- NO. I know why. I know it's not really Cordelia. I know Charisma Carpenter was pregnant and so there was no time to let the storyline develop more naturally (if you could ever call that "natural"). ICK. The two of them in bed, just YUCKY. Bleagh. Wrong wrong WRONG. YUCK.

I did enjoy the high school episode, though. Mainly because I was getting tired of broody dark Wesley. I'm enjoying the Lilah storyline, though.

I've got to say, though, watching Cordelia and Connor together was the first time I've ever thanked God that Firefly got cancelled after thirteen episodes. That way Whedon couldn't end up having Mal and River sleep together or something gawdawful pseudo-incestuous like that just to throw everything into a twist and prevent anybody from being happy.

In other news, courtesy of Netflix and Wikipedia's episode guides, I have taken to watching Buffy crossover episodes, a couple of episodes from the beginning to get an idea of what Cordelia was like, and random famous Buffy episodes/scenes (including parts of the musical). Fun, but I'm still preferring Angel. Maybe I'll start at the beginning someday and see if that changes anything, but I doubt it will. Although I'm not saying it's bad, it just doesn't really grab me. (Although The Body made me bawl my head off, surprise, surprise. Excellent, excellent show.) Whereas with Angel, I jumped in towards the end and had no idea who anyone was or what they were doing, but I was interested and enjoyed it all the same.

[Young Val]

UGH, I KNOW! Season Four of Angel squicks me out, too!

But overall, I'm with you; I prefer Angel to Buffy. I LOVE the first three seasons of Buffy, but it just slowly declines for me after that. I mean, I still love it, and some of the best single episodes occur in later seasons, but the first three seasons are definitely my favorite. And I've rewatched Angel far more than I rewatch Buffy. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I never watched either show until I was already in my mid-twenties...