Good eye. The group shot is at the very least altered, at the most a total fake. If you enlarge it, it has all the marks of being a manipulated pic, though there was a group photo session and the individual shots are real. James Marsters has been quoted as having said at a recent convention that he and Nicholas were looking at one another at the photo shoot, joking about needing more testosterone since they were so outnumbered. When asked where Tony was, James said that he had been unavailable for the photo shoot but would be in at least some of the Buffy episodes.
The question at this point is how involved Tony will be. He’s already set to start a new show with Joss, focused entirely on Giles that will be done with the BBC. It’s no secret that he’s tired of being away from his family, a little put out by lack of Giles stuff recently, and can’t see much point in staying on. All reports point to Tony being involved minimally in the beginning, and leaving mid-season. sniffle
All I want to know is: WHAT THE HELL happened to Amber, and WHAT ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH has Alyson done to her hair???
-BK (who’s beginning to wonder when she started being on a first-name basis with these people)
Did anyone else think that Anya look terrible in both of her pics, but especially the group shot. Ack! I guess she just isn’t very photogenic or something, becasue she doesn’t normally look that bad.
I’m not an avid Buffy fan, but those pictures are rather nice. Willow is… blonde, which is just -wrong-, but that’s ok. As people said, Anya doesn’t seem to photograph well. Tara looks good, thankfully. I think the mild rocker look suits her better than the dumpy ‘the costume people are trying very very hard to make me look unattractive’ look. Not that she ever looked bad, even in the non-flattering clothes.
Well, Legomancer, I think we’re just going to have to agree to disagree. I didn’t think that Willow got pushed to the side (although I’ll kinda go with you on Xander). IMHO, Willow and Tara have spent as much time developing their relationship as Willow and Oz had. A lot of people preferred Seth Green. That’s fine. I thought that we did see Willow develop her powers somewhat, as in being forced into situations where she needed to be more powerful (like when she was hiding from The Gentlemen). Plus, it was implied that since Tara and Willow are both witches, they spent time working on it offscreen. We did see Willow grab the books of black magic to fight Glory, which seems to have boosted her power quite a bit as well.
And, of course, we disagree on the whole Glory thing, and the sister thing. I’m fine with the sister storyline, so not much to debate there. Just a matter of preference.
It was covered earlier in the season as to why Glory wasn’t trying to kill Buffy. Her object was the key, not killing Buffy. She thought that Buffy probably knew who or what the key was, so why kill her? Yeah, maybe she could have kidnapped Buffy earlier to make her talk, I’ll give you that. Of course, she had that whole “Ben might show up and let her go” thing happening too, which is the explanation I gave myself.
The season wasn’t perfect, but then again, you can find stuff wrong with any season. I liked the last season, hell, I liked them all, for various reasons. That’s why I’m a fan. Overall, I was quite pleased with the way the season went. You weren’t, so that is that.
I don’t think it was a “decision.” It was a realization.
In “Hush” we see it happen. Willow and Tara are running from the Gentleman and end up in that lounge area. Willow tries to move the soda machine to block the door but can’t. Tara grabs her hand and together they are able to not only move it, but pretty much hurl it across the room. I thought this was a pretty neat metaphor for Willow and Tara’s relationship and also Willow’s realization of her lesbianism. When Willow was playing at being str8 her powers were limited and bigger things tended to go wrong. When she came out and began being true to herself she became more powerful. Nifty.
Releasing/utilizing the Key’s energy was the key. When in the form of a human, evergy translated into blood. Had the Key been made into something without blood, the release would take some other form (burning the chair, melting the steel, etc.). “They” meaning who? The monks? Don’t know. They menaing Buffy and friends? They didn’t know how, and they were also emotionally attached to Dawn and would not “kill” her by turning her into something else.
In the season finale Glory says something about how the gang should be grateful to Ben, as his influence is the only thing that’s kept them alive. Presumably Ben’s influence mitigated in these other instances.
Which is not to say that the season finale didn’t bug me. Did I miss earlier in the season where the monk said that Dawn was made out of Buffy’s essence? I remember the monk saying that they sent the Key to Buffy in a form that she would protect, not that they took a piece of Buffy and shaped it into a vessel or somesuch. This struck me as a really cheap way to set up the Big Dive. I think maybe Joss was hoping we wouldn’t notice? I have a feeling that this also was the set-up for Buffy’s ressurection. After all, if part of her essence or being is in Dawn, then Buffy’s not completely dead and that essence can maybe be used to rekindle her.