# Buffy/Angel fans: why are you hooked and I'm not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852 "2004-10-12T18:37:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/41 "2004-10-13T19:14:06Z")
Thanks for the info! I remembered the episode where Wesley “kidnapped” Connor in order to save him from Angel (that prophecy). I agree his change from nerd to tough guy was handled gradually and much more smoothly than most changes of that type. I actually liked him better when he became a little darker and more ruthless. He was more interesting. Maybe I had already answered my own half-assed question, in that if he wasn’t tough at all, he would have been killed years earlier. Most people, including me, would have never made it out of Sunnyvale in one piece. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/42 "2004-10-13T19:42:17Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Most people, including me, would have never made it out of Sunnyvale in one piece. Nah…leaving **Sunnyvale** is easy. It’s getting out of **Sunnydale** that’s hard! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/43 "2004-10-13T21:06:23Z")
That was a typo. Yeah, that’s it, that’s the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/44 "2004-10-14T00:00:10Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > Babylon 5, Buffy and Stargate SG-1 (in no particular order). Dead Like Me may well bump Stargate if it can get a few more flashes of brilliance to go with its consistently being good. Damn. I was hoping you’d say _Voyager_, _Cleopatra 2525_, and _Lexx_, and then I could mock you for your obvious lack of taste. But you had to go and name Buffy and B5, both of which are great shows (SG-1 is middling at best, but I can at least see why other people would like it more than I did) and now I have to treat your views with respect. I _hate_ that. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/45 "2004-10-14T14:59:17Z")
> [@](#): > > was hampered by a lead actress who can’t act Sara Michelle Gellar can’t act!?!?!?!? :eek: Dude, you have to be frikking kidding. Just watch “_The Body_” and say that again. BTW: I love Angel and Buffy, but didn’t think very much of Firefly. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/46 "2004-10-14T15:19:55Z")
> [@vinryk](#): > > BTW: I love Angel and Buffy, but didn’t think very much of Firefly. [Sheriff from Night of the Living Dead] OK boys, that’s another one for the fire! [/SfNotLD] ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/47 "2004-10-14T15:26:32Z")
From what I’ve heard, a lot of people who only saw _Firefly_ on TV didn’t like it, but of those who took the chance to watch it on DVD (and in order, no less), many of them came around to really love the show. Obviously, not everyone is going to like everything, and for that, I stand firmly beside **Otto** , ready to punish those terribly bad people. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/48 "2004-10-14T15:43:26Z")
> [@vinryk](#): > > Sara Michelle Gellar can’t act!?!?!?!? :eek: > Dude, you have to be frikking kidding. > Just watch “_The Body_” and say that again. > \*\* > This part of the quote deleted due to obvious typo!\*\* 😃 The Body was brilliant, and Sarah did a wonderful job, but I think her best acting (as opposed to emoting and crying on cue) was in the two-parter where she switched bodies with Faith. Both Sarah and Eliza Dushku did an astounding job of not only acting like the other character, but like the other actress playing the character playing the other character…if you know what I mean. Sarah’s mixture of glee and distain in the mirror scene (“Because…it’s wrong!”) was SO Eliza as Faith as Buffy. Yet somehow, it wasn’t parody. Brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/49 "2004-10-14T15:46:49Z")
😃 I am not saying I hated Firefly, but I didn’t think it was as good as Buffy or Angel. I have bought it though on DVD and seen it twice, and think that if it had run longer I would probably have gotten to love it. Certain things were really cool, but it just needed to grow a little more. I had the same thing with Buffy Season 1 : I wasn’t really impressed until the story-arcs got bigger and stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/50 "2004-10-14T16:45:22Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > From what I’ve heard, a lot of people who only saw _Firefly_ on TV didn’t like it, but of those who took the chance to watch it on DVD (and in order, no less), many of them came around to really love the show. I saw “Serenity” first. It was still shit. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/51 "2004-10-14T16:56:36Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > I saw “Serenity” first. It was still shit. This from someone who thinks Stargate SG1 is one of the three best SF shows of all time. Your taste, sirrah, is all in your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/52 "2004-10-14T18:05:38Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The Body was brilliant, and Sarah did a wonderful job, but I think her best acting (as opposed to emoting and crying on cue) was in the two-parter where she switched bodies with Faith. Totally agreed. (Haven’t seen the Body yet, I’m halfway through S5). But Faith-as-Buffy sold me on Sarah as an actress. Her body language, her intonation, it really made that episode shine. Eliza was good too, but didn’t have as much to do. The other great scene was Faith-as-Buffy taunting Spike. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/53 "2004-10-14T19:04:56Z")
SMG is a competent actress with a limited range. Just don’t ask her to cry. She can’t. Well, she can but it’s so unbelievably fake and awful. She has no subtlety to it, just scrunches up her face and pinches up her voice and wah wah wah. Horrid. ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/54 "2004-10-14T19:36:29Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Your taste, sirrah, is all in your mouth. Brilliant. Man, I can’t wait until I have a chance to work that zinger into an argument. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852/55 "2004-10-22T22:38:05Z")
I had to reply because I just got hooked on Buffy this year. I agree with others that you really need to start at the beginning to enjoy 95% of the shows. Story arcs go over several shows or even whole seasons. For stand-alone episodes, I like “The Puppet Master” from the first season. As mentioned above, “Hush” is one of the most fantastic horror shows I’ve seen, and one I suspect will only get better with re-viewing. Buffy is not a horror series per se. It’s a series about a teenage girl who has been saddled with this overwhelming responsibility. It’s also damn funny - to me, it compares favorably with “American Werewolf in London”. (One of my favorite bits - Buffy confronts a werewolf hunter and call him “mein furrier”) The show does riff on the standard horror plots, sometimes predictably and other times standing them on their head. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I have a major crush on Giles. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-angel-fans-why-are-you-hooked-and-im-not/268852.md?page=2)