Buffyverse

Funny Review from Someone who didn't get the show at all.

POSTED BY: Whisper
UPDATED: Friday, April 14, 2006 18:48
VIEWED: 9519
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Tuesday, November 1, 2005 4:13 PM

I found this user review on the Amazon site. I was just shaking my head at the ridiculousness of what he thinks the series faults were. I'll bold out my favorites.


Quote:

Somewhat Enjoyable But Ultimately Weak Series, October 14, 2005
Reviewer: Mark Moore (Homosassa, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
Buffy The Vampire Slayer" started in early 1997. It was created by Joss Whedon as a sequel to his 1992 movie of the same name. However, according to Joss, the movie's script had been heavily rewritten prior to filming. The series is a sequel to his original script, not the finalized movie, so, if you've seen the movie, there are some changes that you're going to have to get used to. If you haven't seen the movie, then there's no need to see it to understand the series.

The series starts with Buffy Sommers, a teenager, moving from L.A. to a small town called Sunnydale with her mom, Joyce. Buffy's got a secret: she's a Slayer. She hunts and kills vampires to keep the world (or more often just her neighborhood) safe. Every time that a Slayer dies, a new Slayer is called. Buffy's school librarian, Rupert Giles, is her designated Watcher. The Watchers train the Slayers. Buffy learns that Sunnydale sits on top of the Hellmouth, sort of the nexus of evil in the world or something like that. Buffy soon forms a group of friends that help her in their own way. I'll give you a rundown of the major developments and Big Bads (main villains) that Buffy ultimately fights in each season:

1: Sophomore Year: The Master (a vampire)

2: Junior Year: Spike and Drucilla (vampires); Spike later gets his soul back and becomes (somewhat) good

3: Senior Year: The Mayor (a human turned immortal turned dragon); Sunnydale High School is destroyed

4: College Freshman Year: Adam (a type of Frankenstein's Monster)

5: College Sophomore Year: Glory (a valley girl God); Buffy gains a sister, Dawn; Joyce dies; Buffy dies

6: Three nerds and Buffy's friend, Willow, who had turned evil; Buffy is brought back to life but doesn't confront her; her friend, Xander, does and brings her back to the side of good

7: A minister named Caleb and then the entire Hellmouth; Sunnydale is destroyed; all potential Slayers become true Slayers, making Faith and Buffy nobody special; all of the important characters and Willow survive

This series is okay, but I've got numerous problems with it:

1) Sex - All of the characters have sex at one point or another. It's done rather freely with no thought to the consequences of pregnancy or STDs. This is a bad message for children.

2) Buffy dies temporarily in Season 1 and is brought back to life by Xander through CPR. In Season 2, a new Slayer shows up. She's killed, and a new Slayer, Faith, shows up. Faith is the true Slayer. Buffy isn't, but she still has Slayer powers. Basically, by Season 2, the series' title was no longer accurate.

3) Shoddy vampire physics - In this series, vampires immediately turn to dust when staked. This was probably done to avoid gore, but it's still dumb. What's worse is that the vampires' clothes turn to dust as well. Why? The vampires are harmed and killed by sunlight. This is not part of any vampire mythology.(what vampire myths is he reading?) Vampires don't cast reflections. This makes no sense at all. The origin of this myth is the idea that the reflection is of the soul, which vampires were thought to not have. On Buffy, vampires don't have souls, and they don't cast reflections, but they can still be video-taped and photographed. Also, Angel, a vampire that had his soul restored, doesn't cast a reflection either. Vampires on Buffy also have these weird foreheads whenever they "vamp out" (bear fangs). It looks ugly.

4) Humor - While the humor on Buffy is often very clever and funny, there's also a lot of sexual humor, which gets annoying after a while.

5) Buffy The Everything Slayer - It's not enough for Buffy to kill just vampires; she goes up against witches, demons, dragons, gods, etc. It doesn't stay

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Tuesday, November 1, 2005 4:53 PM

Wow, that is ridiculous (and funny in the mocking sense). The only truly valid complain he has is that with the death and mayhem in Sunnydale there should be more people asking questions as to what the hell is going on there.

Everything other complaint is simply downright false or dumb. That was a good laugh, thank you. :)

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Tuesday, November 1, 2005 5:50 PM

That writer is an actual, factual moron.

"The title was no longer accurate" Hahahahaha!

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Tuesday, November 1, 2005 5:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lovok:
[with the death and mayhem in Sunnydale there should be more people asking questions as to what the hell is going on there.



Yeah, you'd think, but usually people just see what they want to see.

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Tuesday, November 1, 2005 6:15 PM

yeah so much sexual humour! tch! Sex should never be funny and this sort of disgusting and perverted behaviour just encourages kids to enjoy themselves and answer back - this Mr Whedon must be stopped!!

***************************************

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

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Friday, November 4, 2005 3:49 AM

First thing I've got to say is, Way to go with spoilers for the entire show!

Second: I was trying to figure out why I couldn't take this guy seriously, and then finally it hit me: he's criticizing the show for not living up to the movie! ...There, that's an example of his taste. I have the sudden urge to go out and buy anything he trashes.

Also, he has some odd expectations of realism from a show about a bunch of teenagers in California fighting vampires they recognize by their fashion sense.

---------------------------------------------------
Early: Where'd she go?

Simon: I can't keep track of her when she's NOT incorporeally possessing a spaceship, don't look at me --

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Wednesday, November 9, 2005 3:40 AM

Boy howdy, someone's lost the clue bag but good. he kinda sounds like my brother.


Quote:


1) Sex - All of the characters have sex at one point or another. It's done rather freely with no thought to the consequences of pregnancy or STDs. This is a bad message for children.



Hmmm...that's not what I remember. Let's see, Buffy has sex with Angel, and he gets all evil and stalkery and this wasn't a Bad Thing? What planet is this guy from?

And then, hey, she has sex with Parker the user-loser, who was just wanting a bedroom trophy and dumped her like a sack of potatoes. This was apparently not a bad thing.

And the bad magick sex-marathon thingy with Riley that fed the bad kid ghosts wasn't bad then either, huh?

And now the pregnancy thing. Funny, but I remember Cordy having sex three times (okay, this was on Angel but still in the Buffyverse) and two of them she ended up pregnant with hell-spawn. This wasn't a bad consequence? Wow, I'd hate to see what this person does consider a bad consequence.

**********
Join the few. The clueless. The spoiler-free.

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Wednesday, November 9, 2005 6:42 AM

You see, this is why some people shouldn't be taught to read and right: to save the rest of us the hell of reading something so idiotic. Anyone else want to pop this guy's sex and morality bubble?

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... 'This Land'."

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Wednesday, November 9, 2005 6:14 PM

Wow. Lol. This reminds me of a bad Serenity review I read where a guy ACTUALLY said that Into the Blue had a much more interesting premise. Some people juggle geese I guess. And sex has nothing to do with real life at all. Oh no.

I give to you the Seeker of Serenity, the Valkyrie Warrior, the Gourmet Cook and the Truth Scoper.

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Sunday, February 26, 2006 6:08 PM

While that review is ridiculous, the third part ("Shoddy vampire physics") does make some very good points.

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