Worst aspects of Buffy: the entire series.

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 18:55
VIEWED: 7570
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CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 18, 2007 10:19 PM

1) Slayer strength changes according to weekly plot requirements and stunt budget.

2)Music for seasons 5 & 6 were weak.

3)Glory was not a villain to die for.

4)The whole 'key' thing with Dawn was thin.

5)Killing off Joyce was dramatic, but a mistake IMO.

6) SMG was subject to the random bad haircut; lucky it grew fast.

7)Adam had a tendancy toward excess verbiage.

8)First two seasons looked shabby in 16mm.

9) REALLY low budget for first season, hence the rubber monster syndrome.

What's your opinion?

Love the show Chrisisall

DEEPGIRL187

Thursday, January 18, 2007 10:59 PM

1. The episodes in season seven tend to run together (heavy on arc, stand-alone, not so much).

2. The arc in season two took too long to develop (then again, the second half of the season more than makes up for it )

3. With the exception of a few episodes (Graduation Day, Pts. 1 & 2, Earshot), season three didn't have the same depth of emotion as other seasons.

4. Seasons one, four, five and six had weak big bads (The Master, Adam, Glory, and Warren).

5. Certain issues were never really resolved (yes, I know there were time restraints, but certain things should have been addressed more than it was, like the Scoobies feelings toward Spike, and the issue of a certain hero's self-righteousness).

That would be about all I can think of right now.

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

"I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life."

REGINAROADIE

Friday, January 19, 2007 12:27 AM

I know Joss is pro-feminism and it's great that the show has positive female role models and all that, but at times it could be really preachy to the point that all of the non-vamp male characters seem like eunuchs. A man can be strong without having to be a sexist jerk. At times, Xander just seemed emasculated until the season 6 finale.

Season 2 or 3:
Willow: I cheated on you with Xander.
Oz: That's OK, I forgive you.

Season 5:
Oz: I was tempted by an evil female werewolf and had a one night stand during a full moon.
Willow: Fuck you, I'm going dyke now.

Does this make sense to you? That it's OK for Willow to cheat on Oz, but Oz loses control once and she suddenly up and decides to switch teams? Seems a bit hypocritical.

The whole Angelus thing that was introduced in season 2. I know some people said this was a turning point in the show and it was what made the series the series. But Angel pre-ANGEL was a pretty bland character. And BUFFY should have picked up on the signal that something had happened to him when all of a sudden he starts acting like a complete dick. Than again, I never really bought the whole Buffy/Angel romance to begin with.

Seasons 1 and 2 were good, but had it's flaws, Seasons 3,4 and 5 was when the show hit it's stride, and seasons 6 and 7 while it had good eps in them, it was clear they were starting to run on fumes.

Plus, Joss's obvious hatred of biological fathers and biological families started to show itself at times, although I think this is a problem overall with his shows than just an isolated issue.

And the ridiculous amount of praise heaped upon the show is another thing that bugs me. Yeah it was a really good show, and used metaphor really well and all that. But it is by no means THE GREATEST TV SHOW OF ALL TIME like Entertainment Weekly and a bunch of other people have said. It did not pave the way for 24 and LOST. 24 is it's own thing. And it is not the heir to the original TWILIGHT ZONE like some gal on the season 7 DVD extras has stated. TV wasn't invented so that 47 years later it would create this. Get over it.

**************************************************
"Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air?"
"No."
"Have you ever fired ONE gun whilst jumping through the air?"

CHRISISALL

Friday, January 19, 2007 12:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by deepgirl187:
season three didn't have the same depth of emotion as other seasons.

DG, I would agree to your list except for this; I feel Buffy was going through an interesting identity crisis due to Faith's appearance. But yeah, it wasn't a "showstopping number"...heh heh

What about Angel? If he hadn't gotten his own series, do you think his stay-aroundness would have enriched Buffy, or did Buffy NEED to move away from him to grow? Certainly her spiral into Spike's arms wouldn't have happened, or not the same way at least...and Joyce's death and Giles leaving wouldn't have made as big a hole in her world.
You think it all played out as it needed to to tell the tale?

Analyzing demon Chrisisall

ARCADIA

Friday, January 19, 2007 12:43 AM

I agree with:

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
1) Slayer strength changes according to weekly plot requirements and stunt budget.

2)Music for seasons 5 & 6 were weak.

6) SMG was subject to the random bad haircut; lucky it grew fast.

7)Adam had a tendancy toward excess verbiage.

8)First two seasons looked shabby in 16mm.

9) REALLY low budget for first season, hence the rubber monster syndrome.

Especially #1. I would add:

1) Putting Willow with Kennedy was a mistake. It cheapened Tara's death, plus the actress kind of sucked.

2) Whenever Angel made a guest-star appearence after he left at the end of season three he just seems out of place, especially in "Forever" and "Chosen".

3) Bad and/or badly done monsters of the weak often cheapened otherwise moving episodes, espcially in season five ("Shadow" and "Listening to Fear" come to mind).

4) Willow's season six arcs ("magic = drug" & "Evil Willow!"). Interesting and potentially moving concepts. Poorly executed.

5) The show didn't know what to do with Anya after "Selfless". In fact, it had some trouble knowing what to do with all its secondary leads (Willow, Xander, Dawn) in season seven.

6) In season two especially, the show didn't always know when it was okay to have a completely throw-away standalone and when it wasn't. Episodes like "Killed by Death" and "Go Fish" and "Him" in season seven are jarringly out of place.

8) Conversely, the show also sometimes completely forgot about its season arc/big bad for several episodes at a time, leaving you wondering "hey, where did the villian go?"

8) Characterizations are often bent for the sake of the plot, especially in humor-oriented episodes like "Intervention" and "A New Man".

Arcadia (aka Greyfable and/or Katie)
www.stillflying.net -- picking up Firefly were Joss left off. We will hold 'til he gets back.

CHRISISALL

Friday, January 19, 2007 12:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Arcadia:

2) Whenever Angel made a guest-star appearence after he left at the end of season three he just seems out of place, especially in "Forever" and "Chosen".

I liked him in Chosen; I actually wanted more interplay 'twixt him and Buffy.
But I see what you're sayin'.

Defender of the table lamp Chrisisall

CHARLIETHEBLOODY

Friday, January 19, 2007 1:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by reginaroadie:
Does this make sense to you? That it's OK for Willow to cheat on Oz, but Oz loses control once and she suddenly up and decides to switch teams? Seems a bit hypocritical.

that wasn't at all how it happened though was it? willow kissed xander a few times, and oz didn't forgive her just like that. oz had sex with veruca more than once, the first time admittedly accidentally, the second time deliberately. and willow wanted oz to stay but he decided to leave to sort himself out and then she met and fell in love with tara... she didn't know when/if oz was coming back, and she didn't switch teams because of him.

my worst bits:

1)riley & the initiative, he got better at the end, but most of the time he was just annoying.

2) kennedy, that relationship had no truth about it, unforgivable.

3) the potentials in general, seemed like a desperate attempt to introduce some new blood, except with flooding so many of them in they forgot to give them actual 3D characters

4) buffy with curly hair, :shudder: I like curly hair but hers was (nearly) always soo fakely over-sculpted.

5) amber benson's acting, made me cringe quite often.

that's about it really...

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"I'm an artist, with an e and a beret."

SINGATE

Friday, January 19, 2007 6:51 AM

I only have two major gripes:

1. First vampries were described as humans who had been possessed by a demon, no humanity remains, but this idea gradually evolved into the vampire being a person who just happened to suck blood.

2. The dialogue on the show is fantastic but it is very rare to find one person who is as witty and articulate as almost every character on the show appeared to be.

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We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.

LEXAN

Friday, January 19, 2007 7:02 AM

The first and last seasons...

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Friday, January 19, 2007 11:57 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by reginaroadie:

Season 2 or 3:
Willow: I cheated on you with Xander.
Oz: That's OK, I forgive you.

Season 5:
Oz: I was tempted by an evil female werewolf and had a one night stand during a full moon.
Willow: Fuck you, I'm going dyke now.

Does this make sense to you? That it's OK for Willow to cheat on Oz, but Oz loses control once and she suddenly up and decides to switch teams? Seems a bit hypocritical.

In fairness that's not exactly what happened.

Willow cheated on Oz, sure. And Oz was very, very mad about it. He did forgive her, but it took a bit of time - an episode or so of her grovelling and him avoiding her until he could figure things out. After that he decided that he still loved her and was willing to trust her. Happy days.

In season 4, Oz cheated on Willow. Willow was just as hurt, but crucially she never considered breaking up with him. She only ever considered casting a spell to get her rival out of the way. It was Oz who decided to leave, because he realised his wolf side was out of control and he was a danger to others, especially to Willow.

That's the real problem - Oz left Willow. Immediatly. With barely a goodbye, nothing to say when he'd be back and no word from him at all while he was gone. For months. And Willow mourned and cried and cast the funny spell that made 'Something Blue' such a joy to watch and eventually started to heal. And then she fell in love with someone else.

She hadn't rejected Oz. He'd rejected her. He did it for the best of reasons, but people don't stand still. As Willow herself said (and this is purely from memory so the quote may be slightly off) "I wrote you so many letters, but I didn't have anywhere to send them. I just... I couldn't live like that." She never stopped loving Oz, she just started loving Tara in the meantime.

As for "switching teams" the writers had hinted for a while that Willow might not be as straight as she thought she was. My all time favourite being this exchange in 'Dopplegangland'

Willow: (looking at vampWillow in the bookcage) It's horrible! That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil! And... skanky! (quietly to Buffy) And I think I'm kind of gay!
Buffy: Willow, just remember, a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.
Angel: Well, actually... [Buffy glares at him]... that's a good point.

Hee hee hee!

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