Bollocks. It’s about vampires, with a mostly teen-to-20-something cast. You can’t get more demographic. Not that I am thinking in statistics, but I normally like fantasy-based shows that have well-written characters and stories. I fit within that audience, most of my friends love it, it should be something I would like.
Semi-watched means several times (at least ten) I sat down specifically to watch and enjoy and appreciate this show, not because of recommendations, but because it seemed to be all about the things I normally like in TV. And every time I came away from it thinking “Meh. I just can’t get into this.”
Joss Whedon is not a God. He doesn’t cater to all tastes; some people aren’t going to like what he makes. I am one of those people.
Yeah, I refused to take it seriously for the first four seasons too, because I made exactly the same assumptions. THen I actually watched it and discovered I was wrong.
Yeah. Again, wrong assumptions. It’s a coming of age story, like Great Expectations or Jane Eyre; the surface trappings are just postmodern context-tweakers, not at all what the show is about. It’s a show for people who love Great Expectations, not for people who love Red Dwarf.
Yeah, which I’ve acknowledged, that it’s not for everyone. But it’s especially not for people who give more weight to their assumptions than, well, than they should.
Again, I watched scattered episodes here and there for the first four years, rolling my eyes all the while, because I had no time for a show about a cheerleader who killed vampires. Only when I saw *The Body *did I suddenly get an inkling that it wasn’t about that at all, and watched it with a receptive frame of mind.
I justed finished watching all the episodes Buffy of Angel. I just can’t get enough of the Buffy universe.
I read a few threads on Buffy before watching it and they all mentioned that season one wasn’t so good. I am also unable to skip episodes if I watch a TV series so I was patient with season one. The evil hyena episode had to be the worst, but I loved the episode Angel which comes right after. They stay true to that episode even till the end of the Angel series.
It becomes more believable in season two, not to mention that the danger becomes more realistic. Stick with it.
You guys made me decide to see what this Buffy stuff is all about, so I’ve spent today working through Season One. (I’ve just finished I Robot, You Jane) I am getting really sick of the fakey vampire faces and the ludicrous times various vampires take to dust.
I love Dickens and Red Dwarf. And everything Joss Whedon has done.
Now that you mention it, Baldwin, Xander had many, many good reasons to hate vampires (including killing his best friend and persistently messing around with the girl he was always crushing on).
ETA: I just watched the entire Angel series over the last year or so, and was so bummed out when it was over. I loved that show so much. I loved all those characters so much. I bawled like a baby when {spoilered for the newbs}
Actually, It might be bacause I didn’t sleep yesterday, and spent the morning pissing everybody off. Sorry I took your remark the wrong way - written medium and all that.
Ok, I’ll go watch Teacher’s Pet and get back to you guys. If antything, talking about Buffy turns out to be a lot of fun.
Yup. And one of the really awesome things about that sequence, the first one we ever saw in this universe, is that - without giving anything away - it will have very, very different resonance if you re-watch it after seven combined seasons of Buffy/Angel.
As time goes on, the human/vampire morphing gets better. Keep in mind that the show first aired eleven years ago (IIRC), and it had a fairly cheap budget. But after a while they started using CGI to morph between human/vamp, and it even started looking pretty good.
At the same time don’t expect miracles. The transitions get better but they chose a vampire face design at the series outset and they had to stick with it for continuity.
Sigh. It’s a good thing I didn’t say, then, that people who liked Red Dwarf wouldn’t like it. Only that if you assume that’s the show’s intended demographic, you’d be wrong.
Ha ha. I mean the fact that when Buffy’s out slaying for fun and profit, she stakes them and they go poof. If the vampire is actually important to the plot, they get to stumble around and look surprised and maybe even give some dialogue before the poof.
You know, she really should have looked into that angle. The city of Sunnydale probably would have slipped her a paycheque under the table if she had asked the right people. There’s a recurring character in the current vampire show, Moonlight* who makes her “living” cleaning up the messes of other vampires.
*Which, by the way, is totally growing on me. It could just be that it’s the only show on tv showing new episodes, I dunno.
I think she should’ve told the council she wasn’t slaying another vampire until they started depositing a salary into her checking account.
“Buffy, you’ve been chosen. You’re to slay vampires and rid the world of evil.”
“Okay.”
“And you have to go to school.”
“Okay.”
“And you should really consider going to college if you live long enough to graduate.”
“Um, okay.” Does college teach you improved slaying techniques now? Demon physiology?
“And you also have to hold down a job.”
“Um, ok–wait, what? You expect me to do your dirty work for you and you don’t even pay me for it? Are you planning to make sure no apocalypse occurs while I’m on the job, or will you talk to my bosses when I have to run out in the middle of the day? Screw this destiny crap. I’m going to use my superior strength and reflexes and make a killing on the pro wrestling circuit.” *Cheapass council members. *
Anya suggested finding a way to get paid and Saint Buffy was horrified at the thought. I guess she’d be really angry if she knew that was Angel’s entire business model for awhile.
