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Post by shmeep on Mar 2, 2007 9:35:21 GMT -5
Forgive me, those of you who never got into this show, but I'm going to do it! I'm going to start a Buffy thread over here. Krissie, you inspired me so I blame you. (  ) You a Buffy fan? I love Buffy! Your "FNL is more bizarre than vampires" statement cracks me up. I wouldn't say that I'm a fan so much as someone who will happily spend an hour with the show if I find that it's on. I never really got into a routine of watching it. Mind you, I have been pricing up box sets recently, so that must say something! And I really want to see Once More With Feeling all the way through.  I only watched Buffy once while it was on TV and that was the one when Xander's real-life twin was on with him. Nicky and Kelly Schultz used to date two of my friends back in high school and I knew Kelly well and Nicky slightly. Nicky (now called Nicholas Brendan when he's acting) went on to be Xander but, since I didn't watch the show, I never even knew he was on it until I heard his brother Kelly was going to be on. I enjoyed the episode, but didn't keep watching. A few months back, a member of this board and very good friend of mine, Kenina, decided it was about time I saw what it was all about and she slyly loaned me Season One. That did it. I watched and got drawn in and rapidly went through all seven seasons of Buffy and all five seasons of Angel and loved it all. It's hard to explain what one thing about these two shows make it all so much fun and so compelling, but...it's just so well done. The writing is superb and the storytelling is even better. Any show that can make Vampires and demons and tiny strong Slayers all seem like something that could happen in everyday life is okay with me. I came to love just about everything about these shows. I never thought that would happen. I'm pricing box sets myself, Krissie. I must have them all and I must get my husband to watch it all with me because I know he'll love it. I watched Smallville from the beginning and now I see that it was just a pale imitation of Buffy. So many things I've seen on Smallville were done better on Buffy and I never even knew it. And the action on most shows falls flat after what I've seen them do on Buffy and Angel. Now I watch fight scenes (and I never even cared about fight scenes before) and can't stop the comparison from coming to mind. Nothing lives up to it and I find myself missing the vampires when I watch other shows. Veronica Mars has often been compared to Buffy. Joss Whedon, who created Buffy, is a fan of VM and has even appeared on the show. Now that I have seen both, I can see why there is a comparison. Buffy and Veronica are both tiny blond heroines who are much more than they appear to be on the surface. Both shows are witty and full of a type of banter rarely seen, but there's not much else in common. VM is firmly based in a non-supernatural setting while Buffy...well...lots of surprising things happen in that world. I know most of you will probably never get into Buffy, but if you ever get the chance to watch a few episodes, I highly recommend it. Now that I see what the fuss is all about, I'm completely on board. And Krissie...Once More With Feeling is amazing. I hope you do get to see it all. One of the best. Kenina showed it to me out of context before I watched the whole show straight through and I liked it then, but loved it more after I knew what was going on. Brilliant. Kenina has the music and the CD for that episode. Only Joss Whedon can make a musical episode that completely makes sense in that setting. It was perfect. I love that guy standing in the street holding up his drycleaning and singing "They got the mustard out!" |
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Post by kenina on Mar 8, 2007 13:57:25 GMT -5
Okay, let's get this thread up at the top of this list, where it should be!!! Everyone on this board who has never watched Buffy should run to their computers and order it off Netflix, or go to Blockbuster or Best Buy and pick up Season 1. Of course, Season 1 isn't the best season, but it's where you have to start to understand this wonderfully complex show. Yes, I am an avowed Buffy proselytizer, as shmeep and many others have learned. I'm happy to report I have won another convert just in the last few weeks--my friend Jen from grad school, who had always resisted my efforts to turn her onto Buffy, finally watched and quickly devoured the whole series, as shmeep did. I always say that the only people who don't like Buffy are those who haven't watched (enough of) it. Shmeep has done a great job of talking up the show, but I highly recommend anyone who is the least least least bit curious, to read the following: www.reason.com/news/show/28867.htmlwww.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2003-04-28-buffy-main_x.htmscifi.about.com/library/weekly/aa082602.htmAnd of course, to drive home the point, I should quote New York Newsday, in an article about the final episode of Buffy: "All great epics come to an end. The Iliad. The Odyssey. War and Peace. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just kidding. The Tolstoy book is a ringer. Doesn't belong on this list. Too literal. Not enough monsters." |
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Post by shmeep on Mar 16, 2007 12:51:51 GMT -5
I just found this in the "Ask Matt" column over at tvguide.com and couldn't resist posting it here:
Question: This week marks Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 10-year anniversary. (The show debuted on the WB on March 10, 1997). Looking back at those 10 years, it's difficult to ignore the show's remarkable influence on other shows, on all genres and on the industry itself. Just to name a few: Alias, Smallville, Lost, Heroes, Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, and even shows like Gilmore Girls, Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. (The creators of those three shows have declared in recent interviews their undeniable love for Buffy.) Moreover, Buffy created a genre of its own: "the multigenre," a mix of a few genres in one show — fantasy, horror, comedy and drama, for instance. Looking at some of the shows on TV right now, it's easy to see shows that embraced Buffy's special multigenre: The O.C., Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Veronica Mars. Another interesting aspect of this influence is the writer. Joss Whedon surrounded himself with a fabulous group of talented writers who were almost kidnapped to other productions as soon as Buffy said her goodbye. They can be found all over the industry, from Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Alias and Lost to 24, Gilmore Girls and even on Dexter. My question is: Can you think of any other show (scripted show, that is) that has had as much influence as Buffy had during the course of these 10 years? Because I certainly can't. Sure, Lost had its influence for a short period. The O.C. was thought to be innovative (but just to a certain extent). 24 pretty much created the "serialized" genre, but this genre took a huge hit recently. But none of them, to me, had the effect that Buffy had. So, can you think of any other show, Matt?— Nadav
Matt Roush: Wow. Thanks for making me feel old. Buffy is 10 years old? How time flies. (This question came in on the same day I got in the mail the second season DVD of Twin Peaks, which also took me back. Way back.) Anyway, without taking on your specific genre generalizations (or we'd be here forever), I agree that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had an impact on the culture that far outweighed its meager ratings. My love for Buffy is pretty well known and hasn't faded in the years since it went into repeat/syndication/DVD heaven. The way it fused genres was both remarkable and a clear influence on many shows that followed. And whether you liked it or not, Meredith's sweeps-month journey into limbo on Grey's Anatomy showed the touch of Marti Noxon, who has been upped to executive producer of that megahit. Buffy spawned good writers, who've migrated onto other good shows. That's a plus for the industry, but hardly unprecedented. To address your basic question, I can think of one show that has had at least as profound an impact on the industry and culture at large: The Sopranos. Without it, you don't get the risk-taking of FX, you probably don't get the renaissance of Showtime, and you probably wouldn't have seen the networks get as adventurous with the drama format as they have been in recent years. But I see no reason to make absolute statements about the legacy of one groundbreaking TV show over another. Let's just all do a Scooby Gang group hug and declare, "Happy birthday, Buffy!"
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Post by krissie on Oct 29, 2007 16:15:40 GMT -5
I'm so excited... and I feel the need to share. Back in March I said I'd been pricing up Buffy box sets. Since then, I've been checking Amazon (and other places) regularly, hoping against hope that they would have an offer on the seven season box set. Today, my perseverance and my patience have finally been rewarded! All seven seasons, available to pre-order (presumably because this is packaged differently than the previous box set) for... wait for it... 62% off the recommended price! Roll on 19 November (plus a few days), when this should reach me. Suddenly all those long, dark winter nights that are stretching out ahead of us aren't looking quite so bleak and dismal after all!  Krissie |
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Post by shmeep on Oct 30, 2007 9:00:02 GMT -5
You're in for a treat! I just got the boxed set used at a discount not too long ago (a gift to myself when I moved--I deserved a present after all that) and I'm now on Season 4 and loving every minute of it, even the second time around. Don't forget to start pricing Angel DVDs as you near the end of Season 3 Buffy. I forgot if you ever said you watched it, but Angel turned into a series that was possibly even better than Buffy (or was a perfect complement to it).
Have fun--and karma for being a Buffy fan!
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Post by Chris on Oct 30, 2007 17:15:38 GMT -5
I'm so excited... and I feel the need to share. Back in March I said I'd been pricing up Buffy box sets. Since then, I've been checking Amazon (and other places) regularly, hoping against hope that they would have an offer on the seven season box set. Today, my perseverance and my patience have finally been rewarded! All seven seasons, available to pre-order (presumably because this is packaged differently than the previous box set) for... wait for it... 62% off the recommended price! Roll on 19 November (plus a few days), when this should reach me. Suddenly all those long, dark winter nights that are stretching out ahead of us aren't looking quite so bleak and dismal after all! Krissie Enjoy!!! I loved Buffy!!! Every time she slayed a vampire and he disintegrated into dust I was cheering. Loved that surprised look on their faces...  Don't forget to start pricing Angel DVDs as you near the end of Season 3 Buffy. I forgot if you ever said you watched it, but Angel turned into a series that was possibly even better than Buffy (or was a perfect complement to it). I agree. Usually I don't care much for spin-offs but Angel was terrific. - Chris |
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Post by krissie on Dec 15, 2007 8:09:40 GMT -5
I just wanted to post a brief update on the Buffy front.
I got my boxed set a few weeks ago and, since then, I've been working my way through the episodes in their proper order. And I'm impressed!
I'd obviously seen more episodes or bits of episodes than I had thought, but even though I'd known the broad sweep of the story arcs, I'm getting so much more detail now. And, boy, there is so much lovely, gorgeous, carefully crafted detail to savour! The Buffy / Angel relationship... Wow. How wonderful and powerful is that when seen in its proper order and entirety?
And Willow: so that's how she got into magic... And Spike! I like]/b] Spike! And, and...
I'm not going to go on and on. All I really wanted to say is that the box set is everything I'd hoped for and more.
And I see that Amazon have The Angel box set on offer now, too. I think I may have to abuse that credit card again...
Krissie
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Post by shmeep on Dec 15, 2007 11:32:33 GMT -5
Krissie, I gave you karma for talking about Buffy--and for being generally cool. It makes me happy that you like the series so much. And yes, you HAVE to get Angel and then you have to watch season four Buffy with Season One Angel, alternating episodes so you'll catch all the crossovers. There are a few, especially dealing with Faith and the whole Darla/Spike/Drucilla storyline. It's so cleverly done and I love it. Which season are you on now? I'm just starting season seven Buffy and season four Angel and I'm still loving it. A lot of people out there didn't like Season Six Buffy, but now that I've seen it twice, I realize that I still think it was pretty darn good. I remember when I was watching for the first time, Kenina (who got me into Buffy) told me season six is pretty bad for Buffy but still better than 95% of what's on television and she's right. I tried to get my husband into Buffy, but he dropped off somewhere in the middle of season two. His reason? He HATES Angel. Thinks he's depressing looking. Um...If THIS is depressing...  ...then I'm fine with it. I know. It's a silly picture. Couldn't resist. But...depressing looking? That guy? His character is angsty and mopey and everyone on the show mocks him for it constantly and it's one of the best running gags in both series. I think my husband was also a little squicked by the concept of a 240-year-old man lusting after a sixteen-year-old girl. Yeah, there's that...He also thought Giles gave off a creepy child-molester kind of vibe. I love giles but...okay. I can see his point. I always assumed he would like Buffy because he loves Smallville and just about every cool storyline on Smallville was done first and done better on Buffy. Turns out my husband just likes Smallville because of the Superman mythology and isn't much into vampires. Enjoy going through it all. I'm on trip number two and I'm enjoying it as much as I did the first time. Maybe even more. And please let me know how you like Angel. Have you watched any of that? In many ways, it might even be better than Buffy, although it's difficult to compare. I prefer to think of it as two sides of the same coin. I was recently watching a Moonlight with Kenina and it struck us that what was missing is all the humor that fills the whole Buffy universe. No matter what was going on in Buffy, the dialogue was sparkly and well-written and you could find yourself laughing and crying in the same episode because of the peculiar take the Buffy writers had on the world and how in touch they were with the absurd--those little moments that pop up in real life and make us giggle at very innappropriate times. The Moonlight we watched was very flat in comparison and Kenina and I groaned over their feeble attempts at humor because those writers just don't get it. But there's no sense in trying to make that comparison, anyway. Moonlight and Angel may have the exact (and I mean EXACT) same premise, but they are doing to entirely different things with those shows. I know which one I prefer, but if there's no Angel to watch anymore, I'll settle for Moonlight and get my David Boreanaz fix watching him on Bones (which I quite enjoy). |
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Post by krissie on Dec 16, 2007 11:10:28 GMT -5
Shmeep, thank you for the karma and for the compliment! I don't think I've ever been described as being "generally cool" before, so your words have left me with a very warm and fuzzy glow.  Well, I placed my order for the complete Angel box set last night, so hopefully I'll get the package soon... before Christmas with luck. You've definitely whetted my appetite with mentions of Spike and Dru. I'm not so sure about Faith and Darla, but we'll see. I like Spike, for reasons I can't quite pin down. Must be the way he's written, as well as the way he speaks. Dru... Horrible character, but a fascinating one, and I would really like to know more about her. I'm three episodes shy of the end of the third season at the moment. I've seen the final season three episode before, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it in its full and glorious context this time around. I saw a fair amount of season 4 and 5 episodes a few years ago, so I know, broadly speaking, what will happen in their major story arcs. I don't think, though, that I've ever seen an entire season 6 episode of Buffy, and I don't think I've seen even part of a season 7 one. Interesting... You see, I've never thought of Angel as being depressing. Brooding, yes. Tragic, yes. Rather pleasant to look at. Yep, that too. But depressing? No, not really. One of the things that I like about Buffy is that, while the show makes the angst surrounding the characters clear, it doesn’t beat the viewers over the head with it. I've seen episodes of American teen angst shows that are full of meaningful looks and developmental crises, and I can barely stand to watch them. Buffy has angst by the truckful, but somehow its not overpowering. The snappy dialogue and the humour really helps. Yes, I can understand where your husband is coming from with regard to Angel and Buffy, and I have to say that I got a bit of the same feeling myself. However, if Buffy had been older and if Angel had not been her "first", she wouldn't have been so traumatised by subsequent events. I didn't get the child-molester vibe from Giles, though. Plus, the writers had the good sense to put in a one-liner about how he had paternal feelings for Buffy. (I'm quite surprised, though, that ol' ultra-suspicious Snyder didn't have anything to say about his students hanging out with a musty ageing bachelor kind of guy, especially after hours, even if Giles wasn't doing anything wrong. Snyder makes such a big deal about everything else, why not that?) Wesley, now. Now, to my mind, he's the one giving off the molester vibe. How old is he supposed to be, anyway? I personally find his reaction to Cordelia pretty disturbing as, apparently, do the characters, themselves, as evidenced by several references to jail-bait. Now, I've never managed to get into Smallville, and it's not that I don't like the Superman mythos. (I loved Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.) But Smallville Clark has never been convincing to me as a proto-Superman. All those meaningful angsty teenage looks I mentioned above? The few Smallville episodes I've seen had them in spades. And Smallville doesn't have snappy dialogue, which I want in a show. I'm not into vampires as a general rule, but Buffy is different. I've only ever seen about one episode of Angel, so watching the series is going to be quite an adventure. I'm looking forward to it! Yes! A thousand times "yes" on the dialogue front. The dialogue does sparkle, and the writing definitely makes me laugh. There have been a couple of episodes where I have been thinking, but this is so bleak and blech, how can I be laughing this hard? The balance between the darker storylines, the angst and the humour is supberb. Without the latter, I don't think I don't think I would be bothering with the former. What can I say? Fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously... Perfect telly viewing. At least for me. I don't think Moonlight has shown up in any of the schedules over here, so I can't comment. If it does, I'll probably check out an episode or two, just out of curiosity. I know Bones is on over here, but I confess that I haven't ever seen the show. Maybe one day... Krissie |
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Post by shmeep on Dec 16, 2007 15:33:49 GMT -5
Even if you and I are the only people looking at this thread (and that may very well be the case), I’m enjoying it quite a lot. I love hearing your impressions of Buffy after getting to see it in its entirety. You’re at such a fun point in the series. Don’t get into Season Four Buffy without having Angel first because you’ll really want to go Buffy/Angel/Buffy/Angel the first time through. Now that I’ve seen them all, I’m alternating disks rather than episodes this time, but there are several stories, especially during the first and second season’s of Angel, that are started on one show and completed on the other and you might get a bit lost if you don’t alternate. You've definitely whetted my appetite with mentions of Spike and Dru. I'm not so sure about Faith and Darla, but we'll see. I like Spike, for reasons I can't quite pin down. Must be the way he's written, as well as the way he speaks. Dru... Horrible character, but a fascinating one, and I would really like to know more about her. You’re going to see a lot of background on the whole Angel/Darla/Spike/Drucilla saga. I don’t know how you’ll feel, but I think Darla is an amazing character. I agree that Dru is horrible, both as a character and as an actress. Really quite painful to watch, but her story is relevant. I agree that Spike is great and just gets better as the series goes on. Does his accent sound right? He’s quite a yank, you know. When he was on Smallville as Brainiac, I missed the accent. Interesting... You see, I've never thought of Angel as being depressing. Brooding, yes. Tragic, yes. Rather pleasant to look at. Yep, that too. But depressing? No, not really. Oh, I know. I don’t think he’s depressing, but he did pour on the angst in the early Buffys and that’s all my husband sees when it’s on. I think David Boreanaz is actually a pretty sunny person in real life and he has great comedic timing, as he proves repeatedly in Angel. Buffy has angst by the truckful, but somehow its not overpowering. The snappy dialogue and the humour really helps. Exactly! It’s a brilliant combination of writing and acting that keeps Buffy from going down that angsty path. No matter what horrors the characters are experiencing, there’s always something funny that happens to lighten the mood somewhere. I didn't get the child-molester vibe from Giles, though. Plus, the writers had the good sense to put in a one-liner about how he had paternal feelings for Buffy. (I'm quite surprised, though, that ol' ultra-suspicious Snyder didn't have anything to say about his students hanging out with a musty ageing bachelor kind of guy, especially after hours, even if Giles wasn't doing anything wrong. Snyder makes such a big deal about everything else, why not that?) It was a tricky thing the writers did, managing NOT to make Giles creepy while hanging out with high school students at all hours. My husband just didn’t watch enough to appreciate the true nature of the relationships. Giles is obviously Buffy’s “father” in many ways—and the only decent adult role model Willow and Xander have as well. I think he was very well placed in the series. I had a bad feeling about Season Six when I first saw the credits and he wasn’t in them. But don’t worry. He’s always a part of the show, just not as much during the last two seasons. Wesley, now. Now, to my mind, he's the one giving off the molester vibe. How old is he supposed to be, anyway? I personally find his reaction to Cordelia pretty disturbing as, apparently, do the characters, themselves, as evidenced by several references to jail-bait. I can’t wait to see how you feel about Wesley after watching Angel. His character goes through the biggest transformation of anyone in either series, in my opinion. I adore him. Yes, it was creepy when he went after Cordelia, but you’ll have a different take on him later on. Did you know he’s married to Willow in real life? They fell in love on the set of Buffy and are still married. Now, I've never managed to get into Smallville, and it's not that I don't like the Superman mythos. (I loved Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.) But Smallville Clark has never been convincing to me as a proto-Superman. All those meaningful angsty teenage looks I mentioned above? The few Smallville episodes I've seen had them in spades. And Smallville doesn't have snappy dialogue, which I want in a show. I like Smallville, but some seasons are better than others. I like Tom Welling as Clark (maybe just looking at him) and I like Chloe. It is lacking in genuine wit, though. And it is very angsty at times. Not a great show, but I’ve kept with it. This season is particularly good but last season was particularly bad. One thing I do like is that they are good at keeping the Luthers and even Lana very ambiguous. At times they seem to be on the side of good, at times they’re evil, and most of the time I just don’t know. Even when they seem good, I don’t trust them. When they’re bad, I see that some of their intentions may be good. It’s hard to maintain that lack of certainty after all these years, so I’ll give them credit for that, whatever else is lacking in the show. I'm not into vampires as a general rule, but Buffy is different. Me too. Yes! A thousand times "yes" on the dialogue front. The dialogue does sparkle, and the writing definitely makes me laugh. There have been a couple of episodes where I have been thinking, but this is so bleak and blech, how can I be laughing this hard? The balance between the darker storylines, the angst and the humour is supberb. Without the latter, I don't think I don't think I would be bothering with the former. What can I say? Fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously... Perfect telly viewing. At least for me. Season Six is VERY dark, but it also has one of the funniest and best episodes I’ve ever seen of any show, “Once More, With Feeling.” That’s the musical one. Brilliant from start to finish. Any season that can produce such an episode can’t be all bad. Only Buffy can make everyone sing and yet continue to further the plots and have it all be a perfectly reasonable thing for everyone to be doing. Loved it. Season Four’s breakout classic—nominated for an emmy!—was “Hush.” Watch for that one. Great stuff. And I found out recently that I know one of the villains from that episode. There are these monsters called “The Gentlemen.” The lead Gentleman was played by a guy named Doug Jones and I knew him back when I lived in L.A. Nice guy. I know Bones is on over here, but I confess that I haven't ever seen the show. Maybe one day... Bones isn’t an instant classic or anything like that, but it is a fun character-driven procedural with great writing and likable characters. David Boreanaz plays an FBI guy who goes on faith and feelings and understands people and he is paired with a forensic anthropologist who is completely science driven and has almost no people skills. Lots of great chemistry between the leads and the rest of the ensemble cast is also very entertaining. It’s great to see David Boreanaz on TV so much. I got into Bones before I knew him as Angel so I already liked him before seeing him in his best role. Now whenever I see him outside on Bones, I expect him to burst into flame. |
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Post by Chris on Dec 17, 2007 17:52:24 GMT -5
Even if you and I are the only people looking at this thread You are never alone..... ;D I'm not into vampires as a general rule, but Buffy is different. Me too. Me three. I'm a great Buffy/Angel fan as well and I agree with you Shmeep, they two shows complement each other perfectly. It's been a few years since I've watched the shows. They were on Sunday afternoon. I usually taped them and watched them before I went to bed - some bed-time story.... ;D I don't think I ever got the child-molester vibe off Giles but I had a hard time getting to like Wesley. Something creepy about that guy, at least in the beginning. I loved Angel because of all those strange characters it had - Lorne, Allen Doyle, the Groosalugg, etc. the weirdest ones were Dru, Darla and Faith, no question about it. Oh, and of course Spike, LOOOOVED HIM!!!! One thing I loved about the shows, Buffy in particular, apart from the humor and angst and great dialogue, was that in some ways it seemed so real? Like I said, I used to watch it before I went to bed. I'm usually not that easy to scare, but sometimes I wondered, what if this was real? This parallel world of demons and monsters living amongst us.... OK, so I have a vivid imagination.. But to me it proves that the writers managed to make the show very believable despite it's premises as a fantasy show. - Chris |
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Post by krissie on Dec 20, 2007 15:52:45 GMT -5
Quick response here... A longer one will have to wait until I get those lovely Angel DVDs and am all caught up. To answer your question about James Marsters and his accent... What, you mean he's not English? Seriously, I hadn't realised that... and that surely says something about his accent. After that revelation, I ended up doing a search on IMDb for the guy who plays Wesley (and who's name I have forgotten). I thought the fact that he'd lived in London for quite a few years was interesting because I thought his accent sounded more fake than Spike's. Then, again, maybe that's not so surprising. Wesley's accent is posher than posh. I think it's been quite a few decades since the BBC positively encouraged those kinds of vowel sounds! One thing I had noticed is the 'British' language that gets used in the show. I'm actually pretty amazed at some of it. Don't get me wrong: I don't find it disturbing or offensive. (In fact, sometimes I find it downright amusing. And incongruous.) And I've definitely heard worse on TV over here... after the 9pm watershed. Okay, so there are less language taboos now then there were ten or twenty years ago, but to hear the characters say 'bloody' and 'sod'... and I think there were a few other words, too. I know that there are words you can't say on US TV, so I was pretty much amazed that you can say these! (Incidentally, with regard to 'bloody', I was really shocked the first time I heard that in one of the Harry Potter films. Sure people say it, but it's not something you are supposed to say in polite company!) One of my friends really likes Buffy, and she's already given me the heads up on 'Hush'. She says it's wonderful, and it frightened her. I can't wait! Like you, Shmeep, she's been telling me to switch between Angel and Buffy episodes. (In fact, we had a corridor conversation at work today in which she reinforced that message.) Those DVDs had better arrive soon! Krissie |
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Post by shmeep on Dec 20, 2007 17:44:51 GMT -5
I'm a great Buffy/Angel fan as well and I agree with you Shmeep, they two shows complement each other perfectly. An interpreter AND a Buffy fan? Chris, you really are my kind of person. I don't think I ever got the child-molester vibe off Giles but I had a hard time getting to like Wesley. Something creepy about that guy, at least in the beginning. I thought he was nerdy and over-the-top at first, but I love what he contributed to Angel. His character really grew on that show and he went from funny and dorky to extremely dark at times. I'm on Season Four Angel right now and he was just striking me as very human by that time. I loved Angel because of all those strange characters it had - Lorne, Allen Doyle, the Groosalugg, etc. the weirdest ones were Dru, Darla and Faith, no question about it. Oh, and of course Spike, LOOOOVED HIM!!!! Yes! I like the crossover characters and also the Angel originals. Lorne is surprisingly poignant at times, despite being green and having horns. And Groosalugg! Love him! I wouldn't have minded getting more of him. He made a nice addition to the show. One thing I loved about the shows, Buffy in particular, apart from the humor and angst and great dialogue, was that in some ways it seemed so real? Like I said, I used to watch it before I went to bed. I'm usually not that easy to scare, but sometimes I wondered, what if this was real? This parallel world of demons and monsters living amongst us.... OK, so I have a vivid imagination.. But to me it proves that the writers managed to make the show very believable despite it's premises as a fantasy show. That's how I know I'm watching (or reading) something good. It doesn't matter how realistic it is (or isn't), if I believe it, it's well done. Like you, I find myself really buying the entire Buffy universe, but half the shows on TV ring false with every line of diologue, even if they have very mundane settings. There's something so vivid about the Buffy characters, and yet they're seldom overdone. The balance shows the genius of Joss Whedon. And not to ignore Krissie! Quick response here... A longer one will have to wait until I get those lovely Angel DVDs and am all caught up. No rush. Savor them the first time through. I almost regret that I'm tearing through mine on my second run and am almost as anxious to see how it ends as I was the first time, even though I already know. To answer your question about James Marsters and his accent... What, you mean he's not English? Seriously, I hadn't realised that... and that surely says something about his accent. I always thought he did a pretty good accent, but what do we Yanks know? I've heard him say in interviews that the accent he puts on is really how Giles talks in real life and that Giles makes his accent more posh for the role so that was interesting. After that revelation, I ended up doing a search on IMDb for the guy who plays Wesley (and who's name I have forgotten). I thought the fact that he'd lived in London for quite a few years was interesting because I thought his accent sounded more fake than Spike's. Wesley's real American accent makes him seem tons less interesting. His voice gets pretty whiny, in fact. He's just much cuter as a Brit (but aren't they all?). Then, again, maybe that's not so surprising. Wesley's accent is posher than posh. I think it's been quite a few decades since the BBC positively encouraged those kinds of vowel sounds! ;D Okay, so there are less language taboos now then there were ten or twenty years ago, but to hear the characters say 'bloody' and 'sod'... and I think there were a few other words, too. I know that there are words you can't say on US TV, so I was pretty much amazed that you can say these! I would never say we Americans aren't uptight about language, but the words you cited are not offensive here. Isn't that funny? Spike even does the British equivalent of our flipping off sign--the back-of-the-hand "V" thing that's so rude over there--right on the show and it's like it's nothing. Most Americans probably didn't even notice. One of my friends really likes Buffy, and she's already given me the heads up on 'Hush'. She says it's wonderful, and it frightened her. I can't wait! Please tell me when you get there. You'll love it! |
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