Amph The Buffyverse Thread

Loved Buffy. Didn't think I would. I decided to break down and watch it after, 1) the praise it had been given and 2) Whedon was going to directing AVENGERS. I figured I'd watch some of his work. Let me add that I'm a 25 year old male by the time I begin this journey.

FIRST SEASON SUCKED. I can say that now. When I first saw it I liked it for what it was. I figured I'd give it credit for being okay. Maybe I was just being kind since I wanted it like it better than I did. Zander got on my nerves. There are a few good episodes like the Angel episode and he Dummy episode. However the best episode of the entire first season has to be it's own finale. A perfect episode in my opinion. Just great all the way through. It's the episode that got right to the core of what Whedon was trying to say with this series. Probably one the best performance of Buffy by Gellar in the entire series if you ask me. The only time I actually felt for her. That episode was enough to have me hooked to jump right into the second season.

Season 2 was an instant improvement. Stories were better, acting was better, better villains, and of course the dark Angel Saga. Just really good and compelling TV. It has a few iffy episodes, but other than that it was pretty great all the way through.

Season 3 was pretty much about as perfect as the show ever got. Everything worked, and IMO the Mayor is still the best Villain of the show. He was so much fun. Wesley was a great addition too.

Then we go to Season 4. This should have been great. These were the college years, so much potential. It wasn't horrible, there was some good stuff. Spike became a regular, but we lost OZ. Yet at the same time we got Anya and Tara. And I don't hate Riley. I knew what kind of character Riley was supposed to be, and thus got why he was there. Main story was all over the place, and never really clicked. The beer episode and the sex episode during the college party have to be some of the worst of the entire series. Silent episode is a big winner for the season though.

Season 5 things get back into focus. Lots of good stuff here. Better villain, and one with a nice little twist. Lost of stand out episodes. Dawn was perfectly fine with me, and a great idea on top of that. Season may be a little overrated now, but it was definitely a breath of fresh air after Season 4, and would have been a good ending if the show had been cancelled.

Season 6 isn't that bad. When I think of it, I think of the big missed opportunity it was. IMO, I think Buffy should have been the big bad of the season. I think it would have gotten the whole depression thing over better. Way I see it things get to much for Buffy and she just loses it, and becomes an Evil Slayer. Worse than Faith. The 3 morons get dealt with earlier in the season, and it goes from there. Willow still goes bad, as does Anya. That way in the end it's 3 Evil Big Bad ladies. Lots more possibilities for great story's I think than what we got.

Season 7 was good, but a little annoying. Great idea, but it got a little long winded. Buffy is at her most annoying as a character here. In all honesty it was more the supporting cast instead of our main hero that made the show, I think. Glad Andrew become a regular. Good season, not great. Finale was great though.

So all in all a pretty great show. One of the few I binged on Netflix. STtill took me about 3 months to get through it, but it was worth it. Made me a big fan of Whedon too.

Angel I've only seen the first Season of. Didn't really think much of it. Wasn't bad, but hasn't made me want to check out season 2. I did find it interesting the big change Wesley goes through right in the middle of the season. The transformation just happens pretty much. When he jumps in he's the same old goof ball he was in season 3, and then just a few episodes later he becomes way more serious character all of a sudden. I guess they figured Cordelia was more than enough comic relief. I know the series apparently gets better when Gunn and Amy Acker become reg's, but I just haven't gotten the energy to jump into it yet.

Really isn't until the second season of a Whedon show that everything really starts to click.

 

right around the time the show was ending FX was already re-running it and i watched it all the way through. Angel too. i liked it, i wouldn't necessarily watch it again.

 

I watched Buffy when I was a teenager and really enjoyed it. I never got around to watching Angel though. One if my favorite parts was Spike watching that soap opera with Buffy's mother.

 

Spike had some great moments in Buffy and Angel, particularly when he had the chip, he was given some of the best comedic stuff on the show. (The episode where everyone loses their memories and Spike thinks he's Giles was comedic genius!).

I guess I prefer Angel probably because I prefer the characters. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the Buffy characters also, but characters like Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Doyle, Fred and Gunn were just much more compelling IMO. I think another reason I gravitated more towards Angel was because it didn't have the same Big Bad narrative as Buffy did. Buffy had some great villains (Angelus himself being among the best), but some just missed the mark, Angel had a constant antagonist in Wolfram and Hart which I really dug. But yeah, I kind of see both series, despite their differing tones, as one big super series, and I think the narrative flows best when its treated as such.

 

He didn't think he was Giles; he thought he was Randy, and Giles was his dad.

 

Oops, I somehow omitted the word "son" Yeah he was great as Randy Giles!

"Randy Giles?! Why didn't you just call me horny Giles or desperate for a shag Giles?!"

 

Forgot to mention the video games.

Eh. I think it was fine as is. Going different was a smart decision. Especially with the theme that everyone has to grow up and deal with the pressures of the real world. And the Trio being the focus gives the show a more grounded villain since Warren was just a pathetic individual who lost touch with reality. A frightening example of real evil, even though he is just ordinary. It's easy to have the typical Big Bad be someone like Angelus, or the Mayor. They're master planners and they wear their evil on their sleeve. With Warren, the evil is that he becomes more and more pathetic and creepy. When he debuted in "I Was Made To Love You", he was just pathetic. By the time of "Flooded", he's just a loser who has ambition but you could still laugh at him a bit. Then in "Dead Things", we now see the natural evolution of his debut when he mind controlled Katrina. The true nature is revealed is far more powerful than Buffy acting like Faith. With Buffy acting evil, it would feel hollow even for her. With Warren being a scumbag, we see something that's real and frightening.

 

I'm sort of in the middle ground. I dug what Whedon was trying to do with season 6, and I was onboard for the most part, and I do agree that Buffy should not have turned evil, we already saw that with Faith and it was more powerful with Willow going bad. I did find the whole depression about living in the real world thing a bit tedious after a while though, I thought Buffy began to come across as whiny, and I wasn't the biggest fan of Xanders arc either, and that soured my viewing experience. Also, less Giles is never a good thing (I know he was still around a lot, but still, his absence was more than noticable). I still enjoyed the season on the whole, an it has some of the best episodes in the entire series, but it was inferior to the rest of the series on the whole IMO.

 

I'm curious to find out who everyones favourite characters were?

I pretty much love everyone, but Cordelia, Spike, Drusilla, Doyle, Angel/Angelus, Anya and Giles are probably top of my list.

 

Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan.

 

Spike, Dru, Giles, Wesley, and OZ are probably at the top of my list.

 

Willow, Spike, Buffy, Giles & Tera were my favorites.

 

Cordie, Giles, The Host (I'd rather watch a high school production of "Cats". Priceless!), Angel and Spike. I love how Angel let loose in his series, rather than just being the broody love interest for Buffy. He and Cordie really shined after they left Sunnydale.

I decided to stop seriously watching Buffy after season 3. It was the perfect place to jump into Angel and I just wasn't interested in the post-high school stories. Not to say I didn't watch a few (OMWF was too good a premise to miss), but, to me, the show's backbone was the "high school is hell" theme. Change that and you have a different show. I also stopped watching Angel around season 4. I'm sorry, but the Connor/Cordelia thing was just too disturbing (and nearly ruined Zoe from Firefly for me to boot). Spike would have been a good incentive for me to start back up, but I found Angel and Co. suddenly working for W&H a wrong narrative turn.

 

My favorite line from the entire Buffy series was: "If the apocalypse comes, beep me." That's so Buffy Summers.

 

Totally. She's so awesome. Do you remember the episode with Spike and Buffy where the native American guy turned into a bear and Spike freaked out at her?

"A bear?! You made a bear! UNDO IT. UNDO IT."

 

I don't remember that episode.

Now, do we count the original Buffy movie as part of the Buffyverse? Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauer (plus Pee Wee Herman ).

 

That wasn't the one with all the singing was it?

 

The episode? I don't know, but I never saw the episode "Once More With Feeling." As for the movie, I don't remember any singing in it.

 

No. However, Whedon considers the comic adaptation by Christopher Golden to be canon.

 

Yeah now that you mention it, the school setting was one of the best things about seasons 1-2 of Buffy. And I completely forgot to mention Lorne/The Host! Such a great character, and hilarious to boot! I agree about Angel too, I wasn't his biggest fan in S3 of Buffy because of his constant moping, but they used his brooding to great comic effect in Angel. I actually think Angel is the more comedic of the two series, despite it often being darker too.

This guy was epic! "Do the dance of shame!" Classic! I loved those few episodes at the end of Season 2 of Angel, they were some of my favorites!

 

"That guy" is Joss Whedon.

 

Really? I'm actually kind of disappointed in myself that I didn't know that, but that's awesome! Gotta love good ol' Joss!

 

Ah! I was really hoping somebody'd post a GIF from that episode! Some of the best humor from either series. I also love Angel constantly bringing up the fact that he can walk in daylight. "Can we just not appreciate how much fire I'm not on?"