Why do people like this show???
POSTED BY: RiveR6213
UPDATED: Monday, January 1, 2007 20:10
VIEWED: 20375
PAGE 2 of 8
River, that sounds a lot like what I was saying a year or so ago. I had only caught random scenes of Buffy and Angel over the years and thought it was all too silly for my tastes. However, after Firefly, and what a lot of other people were saying here and other places, I decided to give it another chance. You have to watch the series from the beginning, and you have to complete the second season, before making your final decision. There are some weak episodes in there, but overall the writing and character development is solid. After season three then you can start watching Angel in conjunction with Buffy, because they share a common history and have several crossover eps. I like Buffy a lot, but I like Angel even more, and eventually I will purchase all the seasons of each series on DVD.
But Firefly still rules. Not only is it Joss' best show to date, IMO it is the best tv series ever created in spite of its limited run.
wo men ren ran zai fei xing.
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I had a hard time getting into Buffy myself. Part of it was just the superficial 'target audience'. As a middle aged man, I had a hard time imagining how I'd relate to a show about the tribulations of teen girls. Plus, I've never cared for 'monster' movies.
But... the show is so much more than that. It gets more obvious in the later seasons, but the monsters and most of the situations they face are thinly veiled metaphors for struggles we all face. Under the latex and kung fu, the show is really a soap opera with well developed characters struggling to find a place in the world, struggling to find 'family'. It's not that much different than Firefly in that respect.
You should definitely give it another chance.
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
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Quote:
Originally posted by VisitingMyIntentions:
Hey, I hope you're not talking about me, because I'm not a member of the minority sex.
OMG! How sexist of my brain! Bad brain, bad!
....at least I wasn't visiting your intentions
Thanks to viral marketing...SERENITY: reopening soon in a theater near you.
Shiny Trees! Yavanna made Shiny Trees!
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Okay, you HAVE to see Buffy through the end of Season 2 before passing judgement. An episode in S2 called "Innocence" changed the direction the series was to take and turned into a show that could tell important stories. The string of episodes from "Innocence" to "Becoming Pt. 2" is probably the best chunk of television I'll ever see in my life. If you finish S2 and still don't like it, then you can definately drop it because you won't ever like it.
Also, the show isn't just about sex and drugs. My word, that's just *part* of the main theme of *only* Season 6.
Season 1, while not terrible, isn't great and has a lot of corny stuff in it. The plots are all pretty much horrible, but the character development it still fantastic (if you can see past the dumb plots). The middle of S2 is where the show takes off and never looks back all the way through S7.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Eleanor:
I started watching Buffy because of people on this board--I thought it would be worth a shot since it is from Joss, after all. I find that I can enjoy it as long as I don't take it seriously. Every episode leaves me with a "yes-but what about----?" question, and it's pretty easy to find plot holes. But I just take it as lightweight entertainment and don't worry about that. The dialogue is great, and if some of the actors aren't exactly perfect, they improve over time. (I'm only on season 2 right now, though.)
Admittedly, it doesn't compare to Firefly at ALL. I can react to Firefly as though it were real. I can't really get that into any story based on a supernatural premise, and I always found vampires the least interesting of all nonexistant beasties. But I can enjoy Buffy on a shallow, fun level.
Well you are only midway through S2 right now so the best is certainly yet to come.
I would like to say however that two descriptions that definately should NEVER be applied to Buffy are "shallow" and "lightweight entertainment". I'm not saying everyone should love Buffy as much as I do (but it'd be a lot cooler if you did
), but if you think it is shallow and lightweight then you are not paying close enough attention. Buffy tells stories that all people can relate to at one time or another through metaphor. No episode is as it seems on the surface. If you think it is then you are not seeing the forest for the trees.IMO, Buffy is the best show of all time. It's smart, funny, witty, dramatic, and touching on an emotional level unlike any other show I've ever seen. Give it a chance. Trust me everything you love about Firefly is present in Buffy in one way or another. Joss would not have had it any other way.
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The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason!
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by "my show" I assume you mean firefly, which is joss's third series, one might assume someone hits their stride by the third series and is better at hooking people. But is we are doing my show, your show, my show lasted 7 seasons has gazzilions of comics and books and yet more books, and sheets,and thongs and weapon replicas made out of it so =P
I love firefly too, duh i'm here, I love all joss, joss could read me the phone book and i am sure i would love it.
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I watched Buffy and Angel both on DVD, start to finish, starting when both were in their last seasons (By the time I finished season 6 of Buffy, season 7 was out on DVD, if that makes sense--did have to wait a few months for the final season of Angel). Both were great. Yes, season 1 of Buffy is a little on the too humorous side, but it's also got a sweet innocence that's fun to watch again...after you have seen the events of later seasons. Season 3, especially the season finale, was great. I think Joss also had Buffy as a forum to try out new and cool things (an episode almost totally silent? A musical? Very forward thinking stuff).
Buffy is about growing up and becoming an adult. Angel is about what to do once you ARE an adult. I love them both for different reasons. Yes, overall, from what we have, Firefly is probably the "best" of the three overall (thinking writing, concept, etc.), but do give Buffy and Angel a fair try. If after watching 3 seasons of Buffy, you don't like it, fair enough--but do give it a chance.
Oddly enough, a couple of my favorite Angel episodes were in the last season. It was still great when it got cancelled. Grrrr.
Mal: "See, morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with. Long as she does it quiet like."
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Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
People like shows about sex and drugs. Those people that get BtVS is about sex and drugs like it -- those that don't, don't.
??? Are you talking about season 6 of Buffy?
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Quote:
...Well you are only midway through S2 right now so the best is certainly yet to come.
Buffy tells stories that all people can relate to at one time or another through metaphor. No episode is as it seems on the surface. If you think it is then you are not seeing the forest for the trees.
Well, I'll keep that in mind as I watch. I hadn't considered any of the events/characters metaphorically.
Quote:
Trust me everything you love about Firefly is present in Buffy in one way or another.
That's the thing. What drew me to Firefly in the first place was politics--the appeal of a story about independent and self-reliant people trying to escape an oppressive bureaucracy. I don't really see that in Buffy, although I do see alot of stuff about friendship and family which is certainly reminiscent of Firefly.
I think the reason Buffy feels shallow to me (the show, not the character) is that it is so often concerned with high school crap which, thank God, I don't have to care about any more. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I were younger.
"Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out." –Cardinal Wolsey
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The first time I saw the BTVS movie was on TV and I thought it was ok, nothing great. Many years later, at the Flashback Convention in Park Ridge they played the movie at the Pickwick Theatre, where I saw it again. It was very bad.
As for the TV series, I enjoyed both Buffy and Angel. The episode "The Pack" is my favorite episode of the first season. I knew it was going to be a different show, with what happen to the Principal
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