Buffy The Vampire Slayer (And Spinoffs)

[songwithnosoul]

Astronauts, they have laser guns.

Didn't they agree that the astronauts don't have weapons?
I'm a huge Angel fan, although I've never actually watched Buffy.
Seconding Spike

Spoiler:

with a soul-- without it he sort of flip-flops between "Angelus" to "Cool but scary" but I don't really like him that much

and Wesley as cool characters, although I only really started to like Wes after he

Spoiler:

kidnapped Connor

and took a level in badass. Lorne is also quite awesome, but Angel himself is my fav by far. Broody, cute, re-ensouled vampires FTW!
Oh, and Doyle. Too bad he

Spoiler:

died in the ninth episode.

[Ryom]

The whole series was a lie, the Buffy universe is all in her head. She's just a crazy person in an asylum, it all makes sense now!

Should've ended the series right there

[Ryom]

Also, shouldn't there have been a 3rd slayer spawned...

Spoiler:

...after she jumped into the portal off the tower for Dawn and died yet again?

[michaelandjimi]

Also, shouldn't there have been a 3rd slayer spawned...

Spoiler:

...after she jumped into the portal off the tower for Dawn and died yet again?

I assumed that

Spoiler:

The latest Slayer is the one that had to die, meaning that Faith had to die to make a new Slayer. And they're just silly and didn't notice that.

[Adacore]

Also, shouldn't there have been a 3rd slayer spawned...

Spoiler:

...after she jumped into the portal off the tower for Dawn and died yet again?

I assumed that

Spoiler:

The latest Slayer is the one that had to die, meaning that Faith had to die to make a new Slayer. And they're just silly and didn't notice that.

That's the conclusion we reached as well. Nothing else makes sense, really.

[Ryom]

I may be misremembering but didn't

Spoiler:

Buffy die twice (spawning two slayers, Faith and the black girl who's name I can't remember)

[setzer777]

When Buffy dies in season 1 it awakens Kendra, and then in season two Drusilla kills Kendra which awakens Faith.

[Ryom]

Yep, remembered the chronology shortly after posting.

[Ryom]

Hey, it's Nathan Fillion, and he sounds just like Captain Malcom Reynolds!

Almost through the entire series now.

[eSOANEM]

I haven't seen any buffy yet but am looking at getting into it (really enjoyed firefly/serenity and Dr horrible so I'm chasing up Whedon's other stuff) so I was thinking of starting with season 1 (obviously) but I've heard from some friends that it's one of the less good series. So I was wondering how important it would be to watch the seasons in order or whether I should do it in awesomeness order, or if you disagree about season 1.

Thanks in advance.

[Ryom]

Watch them in order.

[setzer777]

Yeah, in general you want to watch them in order. You could probably do just fine only watching the important season 1 episodes though (I'd have to look them up to get a good list).

[eSOANEM]

ok, I'll probably watch them in order then, I trust you guys' judgement.

[Adacore]

Season 1 is considerably lower budget and quality than the rest, but it's where the core cast are introduced and is only a half-length season anyway, so won't take too much longer to watch - around 9 hours, compared to the ~100 hours for the remaining 6 seasons, plus ~80 hours of Angel (which really needs a solid grounding in Buffy seasons 1-3).

Of course, if you want to do it faithfully then you should start alternating Buffy and Angel episodes from season 4 of Buffy onwards. It only matters a few times, but there are a couple of cool crossovers, and if you keep the seasons in sync they make more sense.

[Ryom]

Muhahaha, linger!

[sanguine]

Hi there. De-lurking.

BtVS pretty much defined my mid-to-late teenage years, in fact, I think it was the driving force behind my English grades to skyrocket from "slack-jawed yokel" to A grades (English is my second language, a fact I usally don't blurt out with my first post. Or my twentieth, or hundreth).

Due to the Sparklies-hype I've recently started rewatching some of the episodes, and I'm hooked once again. Oh, the dialogues. Oh, the characters.

I'm also liking Season Eight, especially the artwork. I remember having been quite disappointed with the first comic spawned by the franchise.

Further, I'm with michaelandjimi about the Slayer succession thing.

Spoiler:

not that it matters anymore after the tv finale.

[sanguine]

No comments on the current Season Eight development?

[el_loco_avs]

Nope. Confession: I LOVED the angel and buffy series.
but never saw either's last seasons, for some reason they lost me. Just... randoms episodes during reruns that I've seen a gazillion times. Almost like... MASH or something haha.



I've just finished watching Buffy season 1 though. I'm planning on doing the whole thing, including Angel, alternating eps and all, until I know how it ends and jump onto the comics from there.

I still love this series. Even season 1.


edit:
I fucking love the theme songs to these shows. I had to find Angel's theme song after posing. Still gives me chills.

[Dave_Wise]

I'm enormously keen on the music from buffy the vampire slayer. I'm in the process of finding out what it all was.

[el_loco_avs]

Nerf Herder

[sugarhyped]

buffy is on netflix instant. yaay. its giving me a chance to rewatch...

[doglover2010]

I really liked Angel. But I think I've seen every episode at least 5 times over the past couple of years. They have it on TNT in the mornings. Usually 2 or 3 episodes. Once in a while I check out which episode they are on to see how far they have gotten.

The episode where Angel turns into a muppet though is a little ridiculous. That is when I think the show jumped the shark.

[Jesse]

Are you kidding? That's awesome. Season Five was the best thing about Angel.

[Adacore]

The episode where Angel turns into a muppet though is a little ridiculous. That is when I think the show jumped the shark.

While I didn't particularly love the episode, I think you'll have a hard time finding many Angel fans that agree with you. The general consensus is that Smile Time (that ep) was one of the best episodes of Angel ever, and season 5 (especially the second half thereof) one of the strongest seasons.

My favourite episode is probably Five by Five, then the Salvage/Release/Orpheus sequence, but that's because I'm a total Faith fanboi (and even moreso Willow; Orpheus is an awesome episode). Not Fade Away was also good, but would've been far better if it had actually been followed by a season 6.

[Ryom]

Smile Time was hilarious! Good episode

[crystal_owl]

I loved Buffy so much when it first aired and it's always been a source of disappointment to me that it hasn't been repeated on UK freeview channels - they showed it once, repeated it all once, and that was basically it. I'm now systematically borrowing the DVDs from a friend and rewatching it all from the beginning - I'm part way through series two but am having to brace myself to continue as once again I've become to involved in the Buffy-Angel romance that I kind of don't want him to turn into Angelus, good as that story arc is. I've been paused just before Kendra's arrival for about a month now, I really should carry on...at this rate I'll never get to the end! I'd forgotten how much fun the early seasons were when they're all still at school, before Willow's a witch and Xander's a...builder?
I haven't ever seen Angel, which horrifies my friend so he is also going to lend me those DVDs when I get to the point in the Buffyverse where it begins. I know they don't fit together seamlessly, but I'll try and watch them in as logical an order as possible.

[el_loco_avs]

End of Buffy season 2 is so sad.


Season 3 up next


After that! Season4+Angel season1 intertwined watching!!! I WILL DO IT

[Aikanaro]

Fact: Playing the opening credits theme to "Angel" at 1.5x speed turns it into the dance remix.

Fact: There should have been another spin-off of nothing but Wesley and Lorne, as a buddy-cop show. Spike may make occasional appearances, because he is awesome....but Wesley just

Spoiler:

becomes the goddamn batman.

[Gopher of Pern]

Fact: Playing the opening credits theme to "Angel" at 1.5x speed turns it into the dance remix.

Fact: There should have been another spin-off of nothing but Wesley and Lorne, as a buddy-cop show. Spike may make occasional appearances, because he is awesome....but Wesley just

Spoiler:

becomes the goddamn batman.

One is an ex-watcher, haunted with the fact that he betrayed his best friend by kidnapping his son. The other is a singing demon from another dimension, who can read minds. They Fight Crime!

[crystal_owl]

One is an ex-watcher, haunted with the fact that he betrayed his best friend by kidnapping his son. The other is a singing demon from another dimension, who can read minds. They Fight Crime!

I cannot think of a single person who wouldn't watch that show.

[Chen]

Fact: Playing the opening credits theme to "Angel" at 1.5x speed turns it into the dance remix.

Fact: There should have been another spin-off of nothing but Wesley and Lorne, as a buddy-cop show. Spike may make occasional appearances, because he is awesome....but Wesley just

Spoiler:

becomes the goddamn batman.

Not sure if we're supposed to spoiler things here but for safety's sake:

Spoiler:

Kinda hard for that kind of spinoff with Wesley dying and all at the end of Angel. And not just the "well they all probably died after the hoard of monsters" but really dying midway through the last episode

[crystal_owl]

Spoiler:

Yeah...I remember being disappointed at Anya dying in the Buffy finale as at that point rumours of a film were still rife and it wouldn't be as much fun without her. I late found out that Emma Caulfield actually asked them to kill her on screen as she didn't want to be in any spin-offs, trying to avoid Mark Hamill syndrome I guess.

[Belial]

Spoiler:

Kinda hard for that kind of spinoff with Wesley dying and all at the end of Angel. And not just the "well they all probably died after the hoard of monsters" but really dying midway through the last episode

And yet it didn't stop him being in season six.

As Holland Manners said in Season Two. Contracts with Wolfram and Hart tend to extend quite some time after death...

[setzer777]

Spoiler:

Kinda hard for that kind of spinoff with Wesley dying and all at the end of Angel. And not just the "well they all probably died after the hoard of monsters" but really dying midway through the last episode

And yet it didn't stop him being in season six.

As Holland Manners said in Season Two. Contracts with Wolfram and Hart tend to extend quite some time after death...

Spoiler:

I haven't read the comics, but I don't really get that. Given that Wesley is very aware of that part of the contract (given that he finds and tries to destroy Lilah's), why would he sign any contract including that clause?

[PerryDigital]

Woo I'm glad there is a Buffy thread here. I'm just settling in to watch the end of S3 now. I love my Buff.

[Amnesiasoft]

Fact: There should have been another spin-off of nothing but Wesley and Lorne, as a buddy-cop show.

If the guy that played Lorne weren't dead, I would start spamming Joss Whedon right now.

Also, I really need to stop opening spoilers in this thread while I'm still watching the shows.

[setzer777]

Also, this is an utterly pointless rant, but it drives me crazy and I haven't seen that many others point this out:

Spoiler:

The hammer that Buffy uses against Glory at the end of Season 5 is from Anya's ex that she turned into a troll. Except then it's suddenly a troll god hammer? Where the hell did that come from? They build up Glory all season as being all invincible and then Anya calls the hammer (the same one that hit Xander without doing much harm) the "hammer of a troll god" and it knocks Glory around with ease.

[sugarhyped]

Also, this is an utterly pointless rant, but it drives me crazy and I haven't seen that many others point this out:

Spoiler:

The hammer that Buffy uses against Glory at the end of Season 5 is from Anya's ex that she turned into a troll. Except then it's suddenly a troll god hammer? Where the hell did that come from? They build up Glory all season as being all invincible and then Anya calls the hammer (the same one that hit Xander without doing much harm) the "hammer of a troll god" and it knocks Glory around with ease.

In regards to the season 5 finale.

Spoiler:

Sure but also that thing Willow did to her brain and the god repelling orb weakened her up first.
Maybe it especially hurts gods and is slightly less effective on people... like the orb. which does nothing to people.

yeah it sucks that this thread wasn't around when the show was coming out. then we'd get episode to episode commentary.

[Zohar]

I recently started rewatching the series, from season three. I'm in season five, at the episode where Riley and Buffy split up, and I have to say I really dislike the way they ended things.

Spoiler:

The whole coincidence thing is a poor way to take out a character from the show.

[Virtual_Aardvark]

I think that Joss wanted to get Riley out of the way and cause Buffy to feel guilty at the same time, but drawing out a realistic bad breakup wouldn't have been so easy or dramatic.

I'm probably crazy for this, but season six is my absolute favorite. It's a bit tough to watch them all go through shit at once but it was nice to bring home how ordinary they all are. Sure they fight vampires and cast spells and save the world and stuff, but in the end it's insecurity that takes out Xander and Anya. Willow's problems centered around magic but really, she's just a junky. Buffy was in heaven and brought back against her will but beyond that there's nothing separating her from any other depressed person trying to feel anything she can. I love how purely human they turn out to be.

My biggest problem is how the existence of bi people is ignored. As soon as Willow starts actually dating Tara she's suddenly a lesbian, no question.