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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Buffy season6 uk spoilers

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06:32 / 25.02.02

quote:Last night was slightly pants, trying to make the Kitty Economy is a bad idea, and a loan shark... who is a shark! Do you see?!

I agree that the kitty economy isn't the greatest idea ever - although it did get a cheap laugh from me - and that the loan "shark" was a little ham-fisted, but surely these were only minor details in a much more interesting plot.

Thursday's Buffy allowed the characters to renegotiate their relationships without any baggage. The result was charming, innocent and funny - the threats felt slight, the characters fresh.
As far as I am concerned it was pure genius to juxtapose a light-hearted and surprisingly complex hook with the actual state of affairs. The resulting tension made the tragedy all the more difficult to bear.

quote: I really wish they'd thought harder about getting rid of (as it appears) Giles and Tara. They both appear to be deserting someone when the more logical thing to do would be to stand by them and offer support, especially in the case of Tara and Willow

Logical? Since when are emotional relationships logical? All we need here is motivation and we have that in spades. Willow has betrayed Tara in the worst possible way. Its worth remembering where Tara comes from: an autocratic family that utterly dominated her will. Its also worth remembering what Glory did to her: melted her mind. Methinks I would freak out in a similar situation.
As for Giles, he's made his reasons for leaving abundantly clear. Far from leaving Buffy in the lurch, he feels that he is doing the best thing he can for her: making her take control, and therefore reengage, with her own life.

Ah, there's nothing like discussing the emotional lives of fictional characters.

The Natural Way

07:06 / 25.02.02

And Buffy certainly needs to get w/ the reengaging.

The Natural Way

11:11 / 25.02.02

And someone, please! Answer Hindermate's question! I HAVE TO KNOW.

11:30 / 25.02.02

Hindermate back to answer his own question - at least in part.

Just perused the latest issue of Dream-Watch. It contained an interview with SMG. According to Geller she's contracted for another year but has no idea what the future will hold beyond that point. She didn't seem negative, or that she was holding something back - she just didn't know.

Also, spoke to a spoilerfied Buffy freak last night, she hadn't heard that series 7 would be the last.

11:34 / 25.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Hindermate:

Also, spoke to a spoilerfied Buffy freak last night, she hadn't heard that series 7 would be the last.

Why didn't you just ask Laura earlier?

The Natural Way

11:45 / 25.02.02

He was in Burrish.

11:48 / 25.02.02

I was enjoying the idea too much.

Runce and I created a pretty plausible final-arc storyline.

Jack The Bodiless

15:53 / 25.02.02

Buffy is - relatively speaking - monumentally shit right now.

'Once More With Feeling' was fucking wonderful. Old school 'Buffy' - oodles of character, good acting, oddish, genuinely funny...

And then it all went to shite again. The gimmick for this one was really poor... amnesia, huh? Kerrr-rist. That's an old 'TNG' device, and it didn't work very well then, either.

'OMWF' aside, most of the actors appear to be just doing impressions of their characters, and not very good ones. The stories have been ropy as fuck - a bad Hallowe'en episode?! Nooooo...

Tara's leaving Willow made sense for the character, although I didn't like seeing her go, because she and Spike were the only two characters still engaging my interest. Spike's creating drama, tension, conflict, always on the outside of the (far too) cosy group... Willow's 'addiction to magic', or whatever the hell it is, is being really poorly handled. She appears to only have a problem when it's convenient for the plot, and then she really has a problem... if it was that bad, everyone would have noticed months ago.

It's just shitty now. Really shitty. And I'm saying that as a die-hard fan who owns all of the video box sets currently available.

Disappointed...

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

16:18 / 25.02.02

I think I disagree. Not that Tara and Spike are the most interesting characters, because to a great extent they are (and you're assuming that Tara breaking up with Willow means no more Tara, which is possible but not necessarily true), but that at the moment Willow's problem with magic is focalised rather well - the subjective lens being one fo the joys of Buffy. Willow doesn't see what she is doing as a problem, except insofar as it upsets Tara. She is supposed to feel bad about having bought Buffy back from Heaven, but in fact she wants her around, so her focus is on how to resolve the probloem of Buffy's unhappiness, not Buffy's presence.

Also, bear in mind that one of the reasons that Willow suddenly seems to have a problem with magic could be 1) she *needs* to use it less, now - the everyday patrolling that we don't see is now being handled by Buffy rather than Strike Force Rosenberg, so it is more obvious that she is using magic to do things that don't actually need it - party decorations and changing clothes and 2) tying into that, until fairly recently her use of magic has been tied to her understanding of her own limitations; it was bringing Buffy back that led to her realising the extent of what she could do, both in terms of what she was able to effect through magic and what she was prepared to go through in order to create that effect.

So, yeah - I think Willow and magic is one of those things that could go either way. At the moment I am worried that it will be allowed to fizzle out, which will be a bit shit, but we'll see.

At the moment I think Series 6 is teetering awkwardly between the very dark subject matter and attempts to recapture the lightness of touch (especially after the sheer Hell that was the last 6 episodes or so of Series 5) of the first two series. It is certainyl taking a while to hit stride, but I think that, although probably not as good in many ways as some of the other series, it's still superior television.

Then again, I could just have a massive crush on Spike.

16:23 / 25.02.02

I can actually kinda look at a Buffy thread now, not too much but a little, I watched the last 3 episodes on series 5 at the weekend...ever since I've been on Barbelith I've never been able to read Buffy threads but now I can kinda - so um just thought I would share that....

19:20 / 25.02.02

Personally I think this could be the best series so far, and, while I know it hardly counts as an argument, so do most of my friends.

It seems to me that there's some pretty low-level criticism going on on this thread. This series simply oozes subtext and imagination. Okay, a cursory analysis of the ostensible details isn't very rewarding, but let's get below the surface, people.

Season six's theme is internal apocalypse. Buffy's death? Pah! Simple super-hero fare (super-heroes always come back) and the obvious resolution of an external cataclysm taken to its logical conclusion.

This time around Buffy's really suffering. Her best friend's poised to become this series's big-bad; her watcher, and surrogate father, has left, as has another core member of the Scooby-Gang; her mother's just died; she's been dragged out of heaven; it even looks like Anya and Xander are on rocky ground; Oh, and let's not forget that our favourite vampire slayer is getting it on with one of the nastiest blood-suckers in history, and this one ain't got no soul.
Christ, they couldn't be making it any clearer. Just look at the final song in "Once More With Feeling" - "Where Do We Go From Here?" Anybody notice the choreography? No-one's looking at each other. Every character is isolated, alone, lost. The Scooby-Gang is falling apart, the unthinkable is happening.

Talk about fucking miserable.

As I argued above, the last episode was an attempt to deepen the tragedy befalling our heroes. We had the chance to see them all together, happy, one last time. They didn't merely lose their memories, they lost their baggage, their inhibitions, their hang-ups. We were being led by the hand back to the good old days before it all went to shit.

Jesus, a bloody TNG gimmick? Give me fucking strength.

I will take all you naysaying bastards on, for you are weak!

The Natural Way

07:49 / 26.02.02

Indeed they are.

Maturity, self-awareness and responsibility, this time around. Apocalypse? You bet.

Yeah, I honestly don't know what the moaning's about.

And Joss and the gang are simply developing the Willow thing slowly....she can't be all pained and upset every episode. Willow's addiction isn't just some weird, arbitrary plot device - it's there for a reason. Buffy has left some threads hanging before, but it's not big on fluff.

Anyway, I KNOW the Willow thing's going somewhere....

08:04 / 26.02.02

Is too much magic as dangerous as too much crack?

And do stop moaning. The only character in Buffy worth his salt is Spike and now he's in the ascendancy the programme has improved no end. They just need to clear the rest of the dead wood out and everything will be happy as a demon in a Hell's Mouth. Will Xander please die soon?

The Natural Way

08:09 / 26.02.02

A big man who just doesn't understand. Yr Sister just hasn't forced you to watch enough, you evil, lumpen eyething.

08:13 / 26.02.02

I'm coming down there to Burwash to bounce you in a minute Runcey. Do explain the deal with Xander then- educate me in the way of the geek.

The Natural Way

08:31 / 26.02.02

He's Whedon - a composite of all his geekery. But you can't really understand any of the characters in islolation... I suppose, if you want to get all silly, he's the body...the heart of the team. If you don't have much invested in the series/scoobies then you probably are going to find him irritating. But, then again, Xander's also a bridge for the viewer: the *normal* one - the blundering layman who finds himself caught up in the weird, dangerous Buffyverse.

Kay?

08:39 / 26.02.02

No, when I go to Brighton I am forced to watch at least four hours of Buffy a day with my weed-lord of a sister. I dig Buffy, I like all the characters.

But a geek builder? Pur-leese. The only positive about being a geek is that one has a brain the size of one of Jupiter's larger moons. This fucker bangs nails into prefab yanky houses for a living.

The Natural Way

08:42 / 26.02.02

He's a geek in the "give me comicsex" way. Not the mega-brain type.

And Laura knows all.....

08:45 / 26.02.02

But even comic geeks are clever. Boab, Dan, yourself, the mighty Haus.

Xander is a false god. If he was a geek builder worth his 11 o'clock Wagon Wheel, he would have altered his nail gun so it fired stakes at vamps.

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

08:46 / 26.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Sauron:
But a geek builder? Pur-leese. The only positive about being a geek is that one has a brain the size of one of Jupiter's larger moons. This fucker bangs nails into prefab yanky houses for a living.

Not least because the actor playing Xander, who is a few years older than the other core Scoobies, got bulky and balding very quickly, so they had to cut him loose form the normal process of aging and "accelerate" him into a job, as they did with the hilariously unteenaged Cordelia.

And yes, surely time spent on Barbelith should be ample proof that you can be an enormous geek without being particularly bright...

08:46 / 26.02.02

quote:Originally posted by The Haus Red:

And yes, surely time spent on Barbelith should be ample proof that you can be an enormous geek without being particularly bright...

True, true, although I would dearly love to see you in the next series mate. You could combine the Watcher and Geek role. And wrestle and fence on the side. You would add a sparkling piece of Rushmore to the show and brighten it up no end.

17:02 / 26.02.02

Xander is not a geek, he's a dork. He's not competent in anything, really. But he's a reminder of humanity that's not a supernatural powerhouse like most of the folks on this show. If they can't keep Xander as a good guy, they've lost everything.

Remember the end of season 4, when they summoned the primal slayer? Eveyone took an aspect: hands, eyes, I forget the rest... Xander was heart.

But he's still damn annoying. Its like having Ted Ramie on board.

17:53 / 26.02.02

Agree, Xander is a dork and not a geek.

Ah, fanboy semantics.

Like all things Buffy, Xander becomes a more rewarding experience upon close inspection. The casual viewer simply won't appreciate the nuances of characterisation that go into every episode, they also won't appreciate the relatively complex and mature manner in which he has grown.

Character growth is one of the great features of Buffydom that set the series apart from simple soap-operatic fare.

Take heed lest I HINDER.

The Natural Way

18:04 / 26.02.02

You mean "simpler soap-operatic fare", surely? Buffy's a soap to the max.

Rad.

Anyway, cusm's post is definitive proof, if ever you should need it, that some people simply do not read other people's posts. Apart from the "geek semantics(tm)", I don't think there's anything in his Xander post that isn't in mine.

Nice.

18:18 / 26.02.02

I just said it better

18:36 / 26.02.02

********* OFF TOPIC ALERT *********

Runce, having an amazing time with "Audio Galaxy", fucking fantastic MP3 shit. Just found "Journey to the Dragons"!

Also, did you just log in with my fiction-suit? Can that be done? Can two people log on with the same fiction-suit simulateously? Can three? Can four? Can one-hundred? I see potential in the possibility.

********* END OF OFF TOPIC ALERT *********

Could be argued that lack of charcter growth is an important feature of soap-operas. Perhaps Buffy is better seen as light-weight drama?

Whatever, I want those naysaying cowards to make an appearance.

18:58 / 26.02.02

Xander is a wanker
He wears a wanker's hat
And he wears it back to front
He looks a fucking a dork.

19:07 / 26.02.02

Sauron

, you don't count as a naysayer, you are merely a trivial annoyance, best ignored.

However, you do qualify in the weak category!

[ 26-02-2002: Message edited by: Hindermate ]

19:10 / 26.02.02

I know where you live. And I'm coming down to your horrible seaside town at the weekend to rip your fucking eyes out. Get off that computer and stop fucking tugging; your room has started to smell.

The night of long long knives has started.

19:14 / 26.02.02

Yeah, you just try it, my best-friend Xander will kick your arse!

19:18 / 26.02.02

I just tried to ring you fucker, have you only got one phone line? I am very very annoyed.

Graeme McMillan

19:19 / 26.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Sauron:
Is too much magic as dangerous as too much crack?

Slight spoiler:

You'll regret making that analogy in a couple of episodes time. Prepare for the worst Buffy episode ever, with no subtlety or goodness whatsoever.

19:24 / 26.02.02

Hey, the drug analogy has been kicking us in the face for the last couple of weeks.

Talking of unsubtlety, what about "Wicca"?

19:33 / 26.02.02

Unsubtlety is a facet of Buffy.

A short list of transgressions from off the top of my head.

1) Wicca/Lesbianism
2) Shark Demon/Loanshark
3) "She's just escaped a hell-dimension."
4) Magic/Drugs

Too tired to think of more, the list could go on and on.

It's worth pointing out that Buffy has always illustrated its themes in a loud, bombastic manner. Every episode's hook is always reducible to some kind emotional/thematic dynamic.

The Natural Way

06:34 / 27.02.02

Yes, I did log in wearing your suit.

And cusm has a right cheek.

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