:::wondering if pepperlandgirl’s answer will be some variation of "he’s not nekkid in my bed:::
Anyways,
Specifically regarding the “magic as crack” thing, I think it was pretty clearly established in S7 that it is not “magic” that’s the problem, it’s power. My feeling is that the show always went to some lengths to distinguish between ritual magic (the bell, book and candle stuff) and the wholesale manipulation of magickal power or energy. I had no problem whatsoever with the magic addiction storyline because I always viewed it in those terms and it always made perfect sense to me.
Well, I never had a problem with the Magic As Crack story, but for a different reason.
I just figured - That’s life on the Hellmouth.
After all we’ve seen that the Hellmouth screws up all sorts of normal everyday things. Feeling invisible? Then you will be. Part of a clique? Then hyena spirits are for you. Foget about having any kind of normal love life.
Thus the Hellmout takes normal innocent magic and turns it into something dark and addictive.
Hmmmmm, when James takes pictures with fans, he never smiles, he kinda glares. So instead of getting a pic with James, you get one with Spike. Which is ok, but I like his big smile, and Spike never smiles. (Unless the fan happens to be a six foot blonde who looks like Amber Benson, then he’s nothing but smiles grumble grumble)
James never changes his pants. He wears the same ratty pair of blue jeans to every con and concert. He makes about 60 grand a convention, he can afford to buy a new outfit for each convention—or a new pair of pants at least.
I was slightly annoyed two weeks ago when I went to his concert and he was supposed to be on stage at 8, but didn’t show up until 8:45, and then only played for like 45 mins. But I don’t know how much of that was his fault.
I would say he smokes too much (smoking on top of the patch…) but when I met him, he didn’t reek of smoke, so I don’t mind.
Ooops, I was just informed that James has pretty much given up smoking this year, which probably explains why he didn’t reek when I met him.
So, good on him.
For whatever reason, placing Cordelia on the back burner presents a double problem. First is that we have a flock (a gaggle? a lair?) of sexy, strong “leading” men (Angel, Wesley, Gunn and now Spike) paired with…who? Lilah is strong and intriguing but they’d have to work minor miracles, and destroy her deliciously evil character, to transform her into a love interest. Fred is cute but I don’t want her to turn into the Melrose Place woman (where she ends up sleeping with every man on the show). Gwen (Electra) started out promising enough, but then they pulled the plug on her. (Sorry.) I liked Kate from S1 but then Elisabeth Rohm is on L&O.
So the show is seriously lacking in a strong female lead for the numerous strong male characters to play off against.
Secondly, CC was THE humor in the show for a long time. David is such a straight player and Spike has gone and grown up on us. The show needs some humor or it will fall prey to the disease which robbed Buffy of its last 2 years. I don’t know how they’re going to get by without the sarcastic CC but I hope they find a way.
Not for a while actually- she moved into love interest and defacto champion status. Lorne has been, and will continue to be, filling that role in general. Plus Wes fills the dry british wit quota. Spike is sure to add in the sarcasm factor. Fred has her silly humor moments as well.
So humor wise, they are stacked. I agree as it stands now it is a bit of a sausage fest on paper, but lets see how it works out. Hopefully they have Gwen and Lilah around for a start.
And I’m still wondering if Gwen was set up to play a bigger part next season. She was a bit too fleshed out (sic!) for a plot device, especially since it really didn’t move any plot. So maybe Charisma’s leaving has been clear for a lot longer than we thought…?
They’ve been to the old offices, sure. I seem to recall the season finale took place in a “new” office building. I certainly didn’t recognize any of the sets: the lobby, lab, and library all looked new to me. Only the boardroom was at all familiar, and then only vaguely.
That’s all speculation, I assume. And really has nothing to do with saving money, which was the original point. I don’t think they’ll be using natural sunlight except when absolutely necessary, because that tends to cost more money in the long run, in terms of cutting down the hours available to shoot. Imagine that they decide they need to reshoot a scene that takes place at sunset. With real lighting, they have maybe an hour a day, tops, in which they can get that shot. If they miss it, which is more than likely, they have to send everyone home and start again the next day. And if it’s raining the next day, but the scene they’re shooting calls for it to be sunny… and so on and so on. But if they fake the sunlight, they can shoot any time, day or night, wether it’s blazing hot or the middle of a blizzard. And you know how nasty those LA blizzards can get. This is the entire point behind soundstages in the first place: control over the shooting enviroment, which ultimatly means cheaper shoots.
I hadn’t heard that at all. I had heard that Charisma Carpenter was filming a movie at the time and that’s why she wasn’t around as much. In any event, I enjoyed Cordelia’s journey. She wasn’t a scaredy cat and went after what she wanted.
FYI, CC did an interview in March, in which she basically complains (emphatically) about this season, and about he fact the Big Three (Whedon, Greenwalt and Minear) weren’t present. She sounded Very Not Happy. I wouldn’t be surprised if she left on her own. The only place I saw this article was on a private message list. Thea, did you read it on BAPS?