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Post by TheLuckyOne on Jul 30, 2007 21:17:12 GMT -5
So after writing my article for Whedon Week, I decided to do a little digging into all things Buffy. (You see, I like to research my articles after writing them... they're less intelligent that way.) Since Buffy is the only nerd show in the known universe that my wife likes more than I do, she was able to answer some of my questions, but I still had a couple. And if anyone else has any Whedon-related questions, feel free to ask 'em in this thread.
1) So, the Hellmouth. I see the elegant simplicity of it as a means to explain how evil stuff keeps happening to the same people every single week, and I get that evil creatures are drawn to it. Okay. But is anything ever said about why beasties keep coming after the first few seasons? You figure word has to get out, though the Inter-Demon Network or whatever, that hey, everybody who goes to Sunnydale dies. I mean, I really, really want to go to London someday, but if I heard there was a guy with an Uzi picking off every blond-haired, blue-eyed American of Norwegian/Irish descent who set foot in the city, I think I'd still take a raincheck. So, did that ever come up?
2) Television Without Pity informs me that Dracula appeared in the 5th season, was staked but didn't actually die, and essentially just left at the end. Was that story ever followed up on, either later in the show or in the comics? Ever explained why he had "classic" vampire powers (shapeshifting, flight, etc.) when none of the other vamps do?
That's all I got for now, but as more come to me, I'm sure I'll ask. Thanks in advance for any answers.
-D
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Post by Head Mutant on Jul 30, 2007 22:01:45 GMT -5
(1) No idea. I suppose the easiest answer would be that whatever the risks above, it was preferable to staying below.
While the show was ongoing, I kept thinking that it would be cool and a logical progression if Buffy ended up invading the Hellmouth -- and set part or most of a season inside there. But, alas, nobody consulted me.
(2) It's a funny episode (Xander falls under Dracula's sway), and all I remember is that Drac himself is a bit of a cheap celebrity in demonic circles -- nothing to be taken too seriously or threatening.
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Post by aargmematey on Jul 30, 2007 23:33:59 GMT -5
2) Yeah, Dracula gets his powers from some simple (and affordable!) gypsy magic. Also, in the Tales of the Vampires comic series, there is a reappearance by Drac. It turns out that he made Xander his mind slave again because he was lonely. Buffy and some other new slayers show up to rescue Xander, and Dracula is sad.
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Post by kylerexpop on Aug 3, 2007 22:22:07 GMT -5
i have a whedon question: what exactly makes him so great? I MUST KNOW!
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Post by Spiderdancer on Aug 3, 2007 23:35:28 GMT -5
Well, speaking as a person in the he-had-me-but-he-lost-me category: Great: -Interesting characters. He's good at giving them some dimension without doing it merely by adding one or two "quirks" to an otherwise cookie-cutter WB attractive person. -Interesting relationships. Some episodes of Buffy actually do explore her relationship to her mother, and how many shows have ever done that - especially sf/fantasy ones? Ditto her "sister" Dawn and her father-figure Giles. -Creative concepts. Vampire slayers prior to Buffy were more along the Van Helsing line, which is easy to forget with that concept having become such an icon culturally. And there is nothing, anywhere, like the Firefly series for worldbuilding. It's very unique in its setting. -Knowing when to angst and when to quit. Whedon fans know that sometimes there is nothing more cathartic than watching a character just get the living crap kicked out of them in every possible way - and he delivers. And he knows, or knew, when to give that a rest and reward the viewer with a big positive payoff (though that doesn't last long most of the time). -Humor. I'm reminded particularly of a conversation Willow has with Spike about whether or not he has ever considered biting her (and why), and the episode that essentially just skewers Anne Rice fans. Yes, this is a vampires-are-bad-except-this-one universe like almost every other non-John-Carpenter continuum, but it's done in a fresh way (at least at first). And of course the whole Mal-always-shoots-first thing was always good for a laugh for me. -Strong women. Much as I was inclined to mock the Buffy concept when I first heard of it, the more I watched, the more I was impressed with how not just Buffy, but other women on the show were written. The same is equally true of Firefly's Zoe and Cailey. (Kaley? Kailie? Dang.) They're mostly not just pretty clotheshangers with guns, nor bikini warriors who strike poses, unlike the usual tv/cinematic concept of a strong woman. Not as great: -Mary Sue much? Buffy Summers doesn't start out this way, but she gets more and more the center of her universe as the series goes on. This is why I mostly lost interest around Season Five (the one when SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER they killed her Mom). -Main character kill-offs. I think Mike's review of Serenity described this as a darkest-before-the-dawn kind of scenario, which is definitely a valid perspective and something a lot of people like about Joss Whedon - but I'm not one of them. I hate being manipulated and I hate making an emotional investment in characters only to see them pointlessly done away with. Sure, that happens in real life. Which is why I watch tv. -The angst can be overdone. There were points in later seasons of Buffy where I wanted to scream at the screen, "Get over yourselves!" and that's never a good thing. This was also a big part of what killed Serenity for me - when the angst overwhelms the humor that originally interested me in the concept, you're going to lose me. It happened with Sluggy Freelance, too (which is a webcomic, but I think the concept still stands). Again, this is all highly subjective opinion, which we all know a great many Whedon fans violently disagree with. Fortunately this site does not have a karma system, so I can express these opinions without fear of censure.  The other funny thing is that half of you have already stopped reading this to write in correcting me about what season the above spoiler actually happened in... |
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Post by TheLuckyOne on Aug 3, 2007 23:57:55 GMT -5
i have a whedon question: what exactly makes him so great? I MUST KNOW! Hot girls. Sarah Michelle Gellar + Charisma Carpenter + Alyson Hannigan = "This show is great! Because of the, uh, um, excellent plotting. And dialogue. Yeah!" -D |
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Post by StarOpal on Aug 3, 2007 23:58:48 GMT -5
First of all, everything Shalen said is a big "Me too."
But I just wanted to get off my chest something that's been bothering me since Whedon Week started and this seems as good a place as any. Exactly when Buffy the show died for me...
Spoilery McSpoilerson!
After Joyce (Buffy's Mom) dies and Riley is all "What about me? What about my needs?" Like it doesn't even matter that her mom just died, as long as he gets to whine. I always -ALWAYS- hated Riley, but that moment I actually felt my heart harden towards the show. Follow that up with Xander giving the "You're being selfish, don't let him get away." speech. Like I felt I the show was trying to force me into believing that Riley was the guy for her, and that he was right and she was wrong. I just couldn't do it.
And then she goes after him. Why?! Why would she go after him?!
Geeze! I'm getting angry right now just thinking about it!
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Post by Spiderdancer on Aug 4, 2007 0:00:41 GMT -5
Oh, come on, Drew. Lots of shows have hot girls. That's why there is a WB and all those "Oops, I'm undressing in front of the camera" reality shows. StarOpal: That was a big "WTF?  " moment for me, too. |
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Post by TheLuckyOne on Aug 13, 2007 10:24:56 GMT -5
Okay, I know Whedon Week is over and all, but I had one more question for you Scoobies out there. I was reading the Television Without Pity recap of the first episode and came across the following line:
The mysterious man -- oh, I can't play this silly game like I don't know. It's Angel, looking very callow and speaking with a pronounced lisp, despite the fact that he isn't wearing any plastic vampire teeth and in fact wasn't even scripted as a vampire at this point.
I thought that was pretty interesting, just because I would have assumed he was planned to be a vampire all along. Does anyone know anything about this, or who/what Angel was originally supposed to be? (And why they decided to change it?)
-D
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Post by Head Mutant on Aug 13, 2007 12:37:47 GMT -5
He was planned to be a vampire -- I don't know what TWOP was talking about, but we have to assume that they don't know everything. In fact, I just watched the audio commentary on the season one pilot episode, and Joss even confirmed that Angel was a vamp from minute one. A couple visual clues include his staying out of sunlight and when he tosses a cross necklace to Buffy, it's in a box.
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Post by StarOpal on Aug 13, 2007 21:48:01 GMT -5
I'm thinking what they meant was that it wasn't actually stated in the, onscreen, script. If I remember correctly they don't actually say he is of-the-fangy for a few episodes. I think. If that's not what they meant then, I dunno...
Note: The "Space" key does not funtion the same as "Shift." Dude.
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" moment for me, too.