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Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel First Impressions [Spoilers in tags]
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Hello everyone! I wasn't really sure where to put this so hopefully this is the right place...
Anyway, on to business, and a few months ago now I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the very first time thanks to the SyFy airings. Somehow I'd managed to avoid it all these years and aside from picking up random titbits here and there - I didn't realise Sarah Michelle Gellar was Buffy until late last year
- I started watching it completely and totally unprepared.
As it stands, I've just finished watching the Season 3 Finale a few days ago now and I must say I'm really, really enjoying it thus far. The characters are all really well defined (Xander, Giles, Cordelia and Faith are my favourites) and it's extremely well written. I'm just about ready to start Season Four but here's where I need your help.
I'm well aware that there's a spin-off called Angel which I need to watch but apparently there's a special order you need to watch them in seeing as how it aired in conjunction with Buffy. Like, you need to watch both at certain points in order to fully get the most out of the story? I don't know - am I making things up? I've since reverted to watching Buffy on Netflix and now I have Angel Season 1 on DVD so it's not so much a matter of when can I watch but...when can I watch? O.K that sentence made no sense but hopefully you know what I mean
Something else I'm also wondering is whether or not anyone would be interested in reading my opinions on Angel and Buffy Season 4 and beyond? The reason I'm asking is because I always enjoy these sort of threads (I'm a big fan of the Mark Watches/Reads website for instance) and have always wanted to do something similar myself. I'm also really interested in behind the scenes stuff but don't really want to go snooping around the internet for fear of spoilers so maybe as I post the reviews you could also chime in with the relevant info? I know posting this sort of thread on an internet forum might well be a massive risk but I'll trust you Digital Spy. I'll trust you this once
Thank you in advance for any help I receive. Next stop: Sunnydale University or Los Angeles (I see what they did there :cool:) depending on which one I'm supposed to watch first
Anyway, on to business, and a few months ago now I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the very first time thanks to the SyFy airings. Somehow I'd managed to avoid it all these years and aside from picking up random titbits here and there - I didn't realise Sarah Michelle Gellar was Buffy until late last year
- I started watching it completely and totally unprepared.As it stands, I've just finished watching the Season 3 Finale a few days ago now and I must say I'm really, really enjoying it thus far. The characters are all really well defined (Xander, Giles, Cordelia and Faith are my favourites) and it's extremely well written. I'm just about ready to start Season Four but here's where I need your help.
I'm well aware that there's a spin-off called Angel which I need to watch but apparently there's a special order you need to watch them in seeing as how it aired in conjunction with Buffy. Like, you need to watch both at certain points in order to fully get the most out of the story? I don't know - am I making things up? I've since reverted to watching Buffy on Netflix and now I have Angel Season 1 on DVD so it's not so much a matter of when can I watch but...when can I watch? O.K that sentence made no sense but hopefully you know what I mean
Something else I'm also wondering is whether or not anyone would be interested in reading my opinions on Angel and Buffy Season 4 and beyond? The reason I'm asking is because I always enjoy these sort of threads (I'm a big fan of the Mark Watches/Reads website for instance) and have always wanted to do something similar myself. I'm also really interested in behind the scenes stuff but don't really want to go snooping around the internet for fear of spoilers so maybe as I post the reviews you could also chime in with the relevant info? I know posting this sort of thread on an internet forum might well be a massive risk but I'll trust you Digital Spy. I'll trust you this once
Thank you in advance for any help I receive. Next stop: Sunnydale University or Los Angeles (I see what they did there :cool:) depending on which one I'm supposed to watch first
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Comments
http://josswhedon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/buffy-and-angel-episode-viewing-order.html
I presume it's correct, sometimes people don't always agree on these things
Actually looking at the comments there are some disagreements but it seems ok for the most part.
I think there was a Buffy watching thread on here fairly recently, possibly still going but feel free to post your review/thoughts in your own thread.
http://josswhedon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/buffy-and-angel-episode-viewing-order.html
The red episodes are the crossovers.
And I'm assuming the thread you were talking about was the person who was starting from Buffy Season 1? I was considering bumping that up but then I thought it might be bit awkward to hijack it especially when there's such a big jump. I guess the two threads could peacefully co-exist?
Oh, and Sunnydale University it is!
buffy s4e1
angel s1e1
buffy s4e2
angel s1e2
and so on they really did connect alot of cool stuff in that year because I guess it was all new to them at the time buffy s5 and angel s2 dont really connect in the same way there is connections but noting as good the previous yeart hen of course buffy moved to UPN so the spin off connections are even thinner in the later years
anyways after those seasons continue buffys S5-7 till its over then watch the rest of angels S2-5 it will help with the big ol buffy gap that will be empty once its all over:D:cry:
you could try watching it all in the proper order and timing where the links fit in but I think you would really just confuse yourself with all the hoping around and in the end its not worth it
That makes me wonder - just how popular was Buffy back in the day?
In my experience, it's something everyone's heard of. Like, if you say Dalek or Batman then people will know what you mean. But what channel was it on before UPN (that became the CW right?) and was it axed in the end? I'm sure I read that Angel was. Then again there was a recent episode where Buffy talked about graduating during 2003 which is when the series ended so was it planned or was that just a freaky coincidence?
Anyway, I think I'll probably wind up watching the first episode of either season tonight and then post some of my thoughts tomorrow if that's aright. My reviews aren't going to be that long and I probably won't rate them out of 5 or 10 but I'm likely just going to write down notes as I go and then just post my genuine reaction to things. Like 'It was the lunch-lady planning to kill them all!' which by the way was probably my favourite twist of the series so far
That, and 'Oh my God! They killed Jenny!'
Buffy (and Angel for it's full run) was originally on the WB Network, it moved to UPN for it's final two years.
A couple of years later WB and UPN combined to make The CW.
Buffy ending was down more to SMG not wanting to do any more rather than any other reason.
Angel was indeed cancelled.
Much to everyone's annoyance Charmed had lower ratings on the same channel but survived, due to them going after female demos, if I recall correctly.
You need to watch Angel season 1 with Buffy season 4, Angel season 2 with Buffy season 5, Angel season 3 with Buffy season 6 and so forth. Make sue you watch the Buffy episode first and then the Angel one right after so for instance:
Buffy Season 4 "The Freshman" and then Angel Season 1 "City of"
Buffy Season 4: "Living Conditions" and then Angel Season 1 "Lonely Hearts" etc
and you know what im really glad she decided to hop off the buffy train because it was time to end it these type of shows only have a limit before things start to feel very tired
with buffy its great for me all the way through but you can see some lazy stuff starting to creep in during S7 still a great season though but it more than likely would have started to get worse after S7
it happened to X-files and now its happening with supernatural if im ever doing a rewatch of that show down the line now I will dread sitting through S7-9 where as with buffy I loved it all the way through and it had a great ending its like proper book with an ending.
And of course, the fantastic Faith four-parter. Best of Season 4/Season 1, IMHO.
The Freshman
- It has to be said, I really love the Buffy theme song and is it bad that towards the end of every season I always look forward to seeing what the next one will look like? Is it just me though or did they change it a bit (in terms of music) in between Season 2 and Season 3? I'm also somewhat surprised they didn't add any new characters to the titles this time around.
- Wait a minute...why is it called Sunnydale University when just about everyone else calls it a College? I know they're both technically the same thing but still.
- I know they're only joking about Giles being the librarian but I'm sort of convinced that's still gonna happen. I mean as much as I would like to see it unfold I really don't think he'll become a 'Gentleman of Leisure' which by the way is almost certainly going to become one of my favourite expressions in the history of ever.
- You know, the moment I first saw Kathy I became so convinced that she was gonna die. Dunno why, but I guess it's something to do with the fact that I saw Heroes not-so recently and that's exactly what happened to Claire Bennet's roommate. I guess I also expected Buffy and Willow to lodge together. Come to mention it where is Xander? I don't remember him saying that he wasn't going to College.
- God that Pop Culture Lecturer was a total @!*^
- On the other hand though, I LOVE that Buffy's Stake is called Mr Pointy. The sheer brilliance of that has been lost on me till now. The way that SMG delivered that line anyone would think it was her teddy bear
- Ha Ha! Giles got laid! Again!
- Do you know I so thought that guy was Angel! That was the most misleading camera angle since the episode where they tricked you into thinking it was Cordelia's funeral.
- I think of the new characters introduced in this episode Riley is probably going to wind up being my favourite. I was going to plump for Sunday at first but I'm guessing that it's unlikely we'll see her again which is odd because the actress was given a starring credit.
- Something tells me that Xander is going to end up living in that abandoned dorm.
- One of the things I was worried about going into this season is that the original cast would be split up too much and they wouldn't really get the chance to interact with each other (sort of like what happened incidentally enough with Season 4 of Arrested Development). I'm glad that the ending of the episode seems to confirm this will not be the case.
- Had Netflix not spoiled the fact that Buffy's new boyfriend (I'm guessing that's Riley?) had ties to a secret military organisation in the synopsis for Season 4 I would have been sort of confused by what just happened at the end. Before the soldiers revealed themselves though, I thought her psychology teacher was going to be the one who sprung out from the bushes.
- To conclude, I have to say I didn't really like this episode all that much. I think my main gripe is that the existing characters didn't interact with each other enough and they probably won't in future episodes especially since they've lost the library as a primary hub. I suppose it's just going to take me a little while to adjust. Ultimately, I also think it's probably my least favourite premier to date and my least favourite episode since the one where Buffy and Cordelia were going to be sacrificed by that evil college fraternity. Hmm, I think that I'm starting to see a pattern emerging...
What did you think of the episode? Did you enjoy it?
I thought Season 7 was weak and the show lost a lot of its spark IMO. The first mistake was killing off Tara because it was clear Whedon hadn't thought it through (unusual for him). It was simply a plot device for Willow to turn evil but once she went back Willow was never the same and neither was the show. Felt like something was missing. The show never really had time to deal with Tara's death the way it dealt with Joyce's.
The second mistake was having Spike get his soul back rather than getting the chip out and having Buffy kill him once and for all. The show jumped the shark at that moment. It took away the specialness of Angel's character and made it seem like souls were just something you could buy on the black market. Not only that, it was a cop out because Spike was so popular at the time and Whedon needed to find a way to keep him on the show without the attempted rape looming over their heads.
Makes me wish Buffy had never gone to UPN so we could have got some cross overs in season 6. I'm convinced that's the only reason why they tried the disastrous Angel/Cordy thing. When Angel tried to act like the Buffy verse didn't exist it became a massive elephant in the room.
What's the point of talking about Season 7 in a thread where the OP is only watching Season 4?
At least put it in Spoilers.
Oh shit, sorry OP! I'll ask the mods to put it in spoiler brackets immediately.
This is why I can't talk about Buffy, I get carried away.
LOL your in the OPs BAD BOOKS if he reads that:o
seriously though I hope he does not see it
I think I was like this aswell its a big change for the show with angel and cordelia gone aswell as the high school/library they were iconic to buffy IMO
but it does build itself back up again by the end of S4 and into a new era for the show for S5:)
man what id give to be able to watch buffy with a fresh pair of eyes today not knowing the greatness thats about to come
Sort of. Little bit. Whoops.
Although I'm not going to pretend it wasn't disappointing, I don't really mind to be perfectly honest if only because I imagine not that much was spoiled in the grand scheme of things.
Besides, some of the upcoming stuff sounds really quite cool although I now have four seasons to figure out why sweet, innocent Willow turns to the dark side
Anyway, all is forgiven
Back in Season 4/Season 1 Land however (can we stay there please
It's part of the University of California, same as the real life UCLA, UC Berkeley, etc.
Although most (or at least many) Universities in the US have "University" in their title, "College" has long been a generic term used in the US to refer to Universities and other places of higher education.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College#United_States
What a treat!
It's one of the best things that's ever been on TV.