How does Buffy rate along side of Firefly?

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 7, 2005 17:40
VIEWED: 13602
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CHRISISALL

Monday, April 18, 2005 4:14 PM

I thought I'd take it to the Buffy afficianados,
Is Buffy better than, not as good as or equal to Firefly? ( I saw the movie of Buffy, but never actually saw an episode, in part because Howard Stern raved about it, and I thought if HE liked it, it had to be like mostly almost naked chicks with no story or something)
Now that I realize the genius that is Joss, I'm thinking I might have to get into Buffy...

TV Buffy virgin Chrisisall

STEVETHEPIRATE

Monday, April 18, 2005 4:22 PM

Stern raved about Buffy? Wow. Just ... wow.

I'd say Buffy is on the underside of equal to Firefly. You'll find the dialogue is similar, as is the humor. Most people will point to a certain season as their favorite (many will say 2, some will say 3, far less will say any other). Past the first season, I tend to like them all almost equally. The last season drug on a bit, but it was still better than 90% of the rest of what TV offered us that year (and in years after).

And, even though you didn't ask, I'd say Angel is equal to Firefly. Watched any Angel, have you?

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Have a pancake.

DACUTE1

Monday, April 18, 2005 4:34 PM

Depends on your genre. The writing is fantastic, it has the same sense of humor as Firefly. However; Buffy is general geared towards a younger crowd and it's much more fantasy based wheras Firefly is more sci fi. The characters are good and it works as a great ensemble cast, but there isn't the same depth in the characters as he has in Firefly. Also, because it was his first and he wasn't sure if a TV show based on a failed movie was going to work the story arch doesn't really develop until later on in the series.

Kaylee: Wash, tell me I'm pretty
Wash: Were I unwed I would take you in a manly fashion
Kaylee: 'Cause I'm pretty?
Wash: 'Cause you're pretty

CHRISISALL

Monday, April 18, 2005 4:35 PM

No, I'm ashamed to say, I've never seen Angel at all.
I even had a old friend who worked on Buffy as a stuntman, and yet still never took a good look! I only tuned in for a few minutes once during a fight scene and thought," these fight scenes are no better than the junk I saw in the movie!"
I have a hisory of giving commercial episodic television like all of 120 seconds to hook me.

Pre-judgemental Chrisisall

CAPTAINCDC

Monday, April 18, 2005 7:00 PM

In my opinion you cannot compare Firefly to Buffy since it was axed so early on. Buffy and Angel are my two favorite shows of all time. Don't get me wrong I love Firefly. And if Firefly had been given a chance it had the potential to be better than the first two series. But Firefly was killed and I'm left feeling grateful for what we were given and pondering what might have been if it had been given a fair shake. If we are just comparing first seasons, then Firefly is easily better than Buffy season 1. Do yourself a favor and check out Buffy.

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The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason!

ZEEK

Monday, April 18, 2005 7:27 PM

Buffy is not as good as Firefly in my opinion. I can watch every single episode of Firefly over and over again. However, Buffy has episodes that were just worthless for the most part. As has been said about all Joss's works they're still better than most anything else on tv.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't check out Buffy. You really should. It's a great show and I'll eventually own all the episodes on dvd. However, since I own through Season 3 I find it hard to buy Season 4 which I think is one of the worst.

DIZ

Monday, April 18, 2005 7:53 PM

I've been a Joss fan since the Buffy movie. It wasn't my favorite movie in the world, but the basic idea captured my imagination. When it became a TV show, I was excited. So I have been with Buffy from day one. Most of the years it was on, it was something I looked forward to with excited withdrawal symptoms. As soon as each episode ended, I hungered for more. The writing was snappy, fun, and sometimes quite profound. The characters were likeable and I could relate to most of them (oddly enough, Buffy herself, in later years, became less compelling, but it didn't really effect my enjoyment of the show).

Season 2 is generally considered to be the best, but that's subjective, and many will contend some other season took the top prize. Also, every season had several episodes that fairly soared. So they are all worth checking out.

As far as being compared to Firefly, I would rate it very slightly below. It might be that I am several years out of adolescence, but I felt Firefly was more adult in its writing and themes. I love Buffy, but I am passionate about Firefly. But if you love Firefly, you'll almost certain to like Buffy.

ETA: Cheesy effects and bad stunts are to be expected. Don't let that turn you off. With the lower budget and tight production of working on TV, they did the best they could. I think they only had 10 days to work on each episode. By the time Firefly came out, computer effects had been perfected, but for Buffy, not so much. :)

CHISBO

Monday, April 18, 2005 10:02 PM

Buffy is probably the 3rd best show of all time, really, it's very good. Angel is the 2nd best show, better than Buffy because the fighting is better, the stories are more epic, usually, and more complex, and the production values were a little better, in my opinion, although not in a way that I can explain (so some people would probably tell me I'm wrong about that). Both shows have the same humor as Firefly, and Joss Whedon really is the master of tight, funny, meaningful dialogue. Angel was an improvement on Buffy, as it came later, and it was a more fully realized vision, and Firefly was an improvement on Angel to a similar degree. Every episode of Firefly is awesome, every episode of Firefly would be the best episode ever of any other show. There were some outstanding Buffy episodes (and no bad ones, in my opinion, Joss Whedon gets the job done) like Hush and the musical episode, and a bunch of others, but even the best Buffy episodes aren't better than Out of Gas or Objects in Space. Even the worst Firefly episodes(which is a phrase that barely makes sense) are as good as all but the very best episodes of Angel and Buffy. If Firefly had gone 7 seasons, like Buffy, or 5, like Angel, things would have developed even better than they did on those shows.

SICKDUDE

Monday, April 18, 2005 10:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
I even had a old friend who worked on Buffy as a stuntman, and yet still never took a good look! I only tuned in for a few minutes once during a fight scene and thought," these fight scenes are no better than the junk I saw in the movie!"

Sorry, have to disagree with that bit. One of the things I really liked about Buffy was the fight choreography and stuntwork. Almost every fight had a new or unusual move, making much better than the usual 'left-right-left-right' fare. In particular, there's a scene during season 4 in the hallway of the dorm when she uses a chair quite innovatively.

I recall reading that somewhere around season 5 the stunt choreographer (I forget her name) left, and at that point you notice a very slight drop-off in the fight scenes. Always felt that stunt lady did a great job!

Getting back to the thread, I like Firefly more than the others, but somehow rate Buffy and Angel as equals.

"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson

ECGORDON

Monday, April 18, 2005 11:59 PM

IMO, Firefly is the best episodic tv show ever. I had never seen more than five minutes of any Buffy or Angel until earlier this year. I bought the first seasons of Buffy and Angel when amazon had them on sale. I rented Seasons 2 and 3 of Buffy through Netflix, then I bought season 4 just a few weeks ago during another amazon sale.

I was not that impressed with season 1 of Buffy, but it was better than the movie by a large margin. Season 2 and 3 improved quite a bit. I have watched the first four discs of Season 4, and other than the first episode I would say it is the best I've seen so far, but just the first ep of Angel impressed me more than any of the Buffy I had seen up to that point, and it has continued to impress me through disc four as well.

On a scale of 10 here is how I would rate the three series:

Firefly - 9.9 (just misses perfection because it is not complete)

Angel - 8

Buffy - 7

There are a few other series I might rate at least as high if not higher than Angel right now, but remember I have only seen a little more than half of its first season. Sports Night, Wonderfalls, and Freaks and Geeks rate very high with me too.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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