Geoff's homepage -> Buffy and
Angel comments
For seven seasons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer transcended its daft title and a rather peculiar concept to provide me with some of the best televisual entertainment I have ever enjoyed; it's the first TV show I've seen which sustained such a high level of quality for so long. I could take forever to elucidate the reasons why, but here a few anyway:
Cynical readers may be surprised that I've omitted:
Of course, I'd be lying if I said that this didn't help, but as the great Joss Whedon himself says in his commentary on the season 1 DVD, "This is TV, get over it". If that was my only reason for watching Buffy, I'd have been be just as happy with Beverly Hills 90210 or Friends - which I wasn't.
If nothing else, Buffy the Vampire Slayer in both its cinematic and televisual incarnations will be remembered as an object lesson in the value of having the original creator in ultimate creative charge, something which is much easier in TV than in film. A lot of TV serieses of comparable or almost comparable quality have appeared in the wake of Buffy whose writers would testify to this: Alias, 24, and Six Feet Under are three of the most successful.
Another part of Buffy's legacy is evident in the supernatural-flavored-serieses aimed at the 18-34 demographic (assuming that the likes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch don't count!), many of which suffer for the lack of a similarly gifted brain behind them. Typical of these is Charmed, a passable idea which cries out for Buffy's wit or vision in its execution. More successful were the now defunct Roswell, which took a promising concept a bit too seriously, and Smallville, which sometimes works but too often stretches its Superman heritage too thinly.
All of these are beyond what is possible in Britain; there was talk a while ago of something called Sithside, which was supposed to be a six-parter set somewhere near Paisley, and inspired by Buffy but "without the glamour"; however, the only reference to it on the Web seems to be this page! Eventually, it took Sky One to come up with Hex, which deserves mention.
I find it fascinating to compare and contrast these critical opinions, particularly where they differ from my own. To take one example, Keith Topping describes 3.15 Consequences as "really awful", while Loey Lockerby ranks it amongst the "brilliant episodes" and my opinion of it is middling. Readers interested in comparing my critical opinions to others might wish to investigate in the following sites, some of which have more detailed reviews of each episode. They were originally listed in approximate decreasing order of levity.
The Concrete Elephant "Trunk team" have some nicely irreverent reviews... a pity there are so few of them.
The BBC's "cult television" pages contain short reviews from a somewhat detatched point of view.
Buffyguide.com contains a very large amount of information and a sizeable links database, with impressive amounts of trivia relating to each episode. The reviews, which live in the episode guide, are generally written from a degree of levity roughly equal to my own.
The TV Guide Ultimate Buffy Episode Guide has short reviews of each episode in a nice compact format.
Pastor Steve's favorite show has interesting reviews from a Christian perspective, some of which pick up on things you wouldn't expect. "The adults count on the 18-24 year olds to fight their wars for them" is a good example. It's nice to see Buffy being admired by someone who, by rights, should condemn it; compare Focus on the Family, this site, or this article in Watchman Expositor.
The Watchers' Web reviews the video box sets individually, a format not entirely unlike the one I follow here.
The Sunnydale Slayers website is run by a group of people who take their Buffy *very* seriously. Very detailed and interesting episode reviews, many of which find far more to say than you'd think possible. The Slayers also have an Angel website with its own episode guide.
Loey Lockerby has many interesting reviews of both Buffy (unfortunately, missing many episodes in the first three seasons) and Angel.
Futurenet's reviews of all the episodes.
Meanwhile, those who've been wondering about exactly what's up with Buffy and Faith will have all of their questions answered at Slayer Pride. For Eliza fans, here's an interesting essay about Faith.
Sacrelige!!! Here's a English parody of Buffy, which is actually rather funny despite the zero budget! The Buzz review summarises the show's appeal quite nicely. And don't forget the official website.
My ego demands that I mention this thread on whedonesque.com, the first entry in which I was very touched by even though it's the wrong game (Jet Set Willy, not Manic Miner!) Nobody seems to have noticed that I had my commentary for 7.22 Chosen up within 24 hours of its first broadcast in the USA, however...
Be warned: it's impossible for my reviews not to include spoilers.
The film is essentially a blend of teen high-school comedy and horror, with the horror coming from the vampires and their Master; unfortunately, the horror is hardly scary and is frequently undermined by the comedy, which isn't particularly funny. Obviously made on a low budget, it has a perfunctory plot with mostly cartoonish baddies and banal dialogue which is only occasionally relieved by Whedon's trademark witty one-liners. Moreover, some of the acting is terrible - such as the vampire in the fairground who flaps his arms and leers at Buffy in a vain attempt to appear scary shortly before being killed. And surely they could do better than a miserable five vampires threatening the party? (Compare 1.12 Prophecy Girl, 1.2 The Harvest, or 3.21 Graduation Day 2.)
Buffy and friends spend far too much of the beginning talking in annoying Valley-Girl speak (later done to much better effect in Clueless), and the characterisation is correspondingly shallow. Only Kristy Swanson's Buffy is drawn in anything approaching detail; clearly too old to still be at school, she's slightly prettier but a lot stupider than Sarah Michelle Gellar's, and in terms of the TV series her character has more resemblance to Cordelia. This means that the film's only scene of any actual depth is the one in which Buffy's former friends fail to understand her as she changes from a vacuous Valley-Girl into a slightly more serious Girl-With-A-Purpose. Otherwise, Rutger Hauer hams it up as a formulaic comic-strip baddie, Donald Sutherland as Buffy's Watcher is appropriately mysterious but seems inessential, and none of the other characters are really worth caring about. Undemanding and uninvolving stuff, in other words.
Adverse criticism aside, the film is actually mildly enjoyable if you don't take it seriously; pretty mindless fun really, OK for passing away an idle couple of hours to see where it all started, but ultimately less than essential. In no way a classic, with little of substance to bite on (pun intended), but to be fair not a complete loss either, its value to history is principally that it did a good job of showing what was right and wrong with the concept.
Here are links to some other reviews on the internet. Opinions, as the interested reader will discover, are somewhat divided; they range from "don't bother with the film; it's crap, and the TV series is much better" to "don't bother with the TV series; it's crap, and the film is much better".
Ramblings
("far worse")
Patrick
Foley's review ("most enjoyable")
Stomp
Tokyo's review ("pales in comparison")
JoBlo's review ("flat", but
contains a few contrary reader comments).
From the Internet Movie Database:
IMDB 1464 (The
Phantom) ("shockingly literate")
IMDB 1465 (Too Fat
Guys) (inconclusive)
IMDB 1466 (Rob
Falk) ("B-")
IMDB 1475 (Brian
L. Johnson) (4/5)
IMDB 1487 (Mark
R. Leeper) ("never fails to sacrifice its intelligence")
IMDB 14303 (Joe
Chamberlain) ("not particularly great")
IMDB 17087 (James
Brudage) ("unique brand of sarcasm")
IMDB 19331 (Berge
Garabedian) the same review as JoBlo above
After contributing to the scripts of, among others, Speed, Waterworld (aka "*how* much money?") and Toy Story, Joss Whedon made at some point during 1996 this twenty-five minute presentation (more usually known as the "Unaired Pilot") of his concept reworked for TV, which was duly rejected by several networks before being accepted by Warner Brothers as a mid-season replacement. If you're lucky enough to find it, you can do what I did and download it in five parts from the Internet in RealVideo format; this is worth it if you can afford the phone bill, but don't pay for it on videotape unless you're a completeist or an obsessive. Maybe it'll be released on the season 7 DVD's?
The Unaired Pilot was never intended for public viewing and shouldn't be reviewed as if it was, although it has undeniable interest value as an early draft of the, er, revamped "Buffyverse". It's essentially a greatly-condensed bare-bones distillation of the eventual pilot (1.1 1.2 Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest) with no special effects (check out the vampire turning into chalk dust!) or soundtrack budget, nor any Angel, Jesse, Master, or Joyce Summers.
Many familiar faces are there: Xander, Giles, Cordelia and Harmony (very briefly), Darla (in a slightly different earlier version of the eventual breaking-into-school opening sequence), and the 18-year-old brunette Sarah Michelle Gellar. Most notoriously, there's no Alyson Hannigan; the role of Willow - here reduced to the "fat funny sidekick", in Jennifer Godwin's inimitable phrase - is played by Riff Regan. Her alternate Willow is vulnerable in a rather cute sort of way, but little more than that, and it hardly needs saying that Hannigan's Willow - one of the TV series's triumphs of characterisation - is far superior.
Jennifer Godwin's very funny recap is well worth reading, and the Sunnydale Slayers have their usual plenty to say. Here's another review from someone who clearly enjoyed it.
Buffy's first, half-length, season is its most conventional, being confined largely to Sunnydale High; this in turn leads to it at first glance resembling a supernaturally-flavoured parody of the likes of Beverly Hills 90210. Compared to what follows, it now looks quaint and underbudgeted, and the emotional tone is much lighter; however, it's a great improvement on the film and offers interesting and occasionally penetrating sideways looks at high-school themes which make up for its budgetary shortcomings. In particular, although the finale (1.12 Prophecy Girl) is visually inferior and less spectacular than the other six, it still packs a considerable punch both emotionally and viscerally. Finally, this is probably the most rewarding season for conoisseurs of the Gellar thigh.
For many, including this reviewer, Buffy's second season is where it peaked; indeed, the period from 2.12 Surprise through to season three's 3.9 The Wish contains many of the show's best-loved episodes. Much of this is due to the doomed romance between Buffy and Angel, which transcends mere shipper-fodder to become something genuinely moving, shocking, and ultimately tragic; it's an assault on the emotions which never becomes mawkish or saccharine, and by breaking free of genre limitations showed just what can be done with enough vision and intelligence. Against this must be mentioned that the season starts out by forgetting what it is, with at least two of the first five episodes being among Buffy's most forgettable.
Relative to season 2, season 3 is more consistent with fewer mediocre episodes, although it less often reaches the same emotional heights and goes more for the guts. Nonetheless, the episodes 3.18 Earshot and 3.9 The Wish contain some of the show's truly outstanding moments, and 3.6 Band Candy some of its funniest. A few lapses in quality aside, this season continued to reach a level of quality which Buffy would struggle to match again.
Much of this is due to the upheaval at the start of season 4. While the progression from high school to college is entirely consistent with the show's evolution, it results in a period of dislocation which is amplified by the loss of Angel and Cordelia; thus it takes seven episodes and the departure of another regular character before the main storyline appears and six more before it is developed any further. As a result too many early episodes seem like fillers - this is period as close as Buffy ever gets to jumping the shark - and one critic even dubbed it Felicity the Vampire Slayer. And despite Joss Whedon's candid admissions about lack of budget, the Initiative story-arc never threatens to realise its potential.
The fifth season, the last on WB, starts promisingly with the deft introduction of Dawn and climaxes early with 5.7 Fool For Love. Thereafter it becomes bogged down by introspection, meandering, and the energy-sapping effects of the maudlin storyline about Joyce's illness, while at the same time the main story-arc - Clare Kramer's excellent performances aside - is unsubtle and worryingly threadbare in parts. The season only really recovers at the very end; it's better than season 4, but unsatisfying compared to seasons 2 and 3.
Season 6 is Buffy's most adult season, and for many its grimmest and most difficult. The effects of UPN's larger budgets are obvious, but the lower prominence of both Giles and the supernatural removes a dimension: Sunnydale High, and actual vampire slaying as a commonplace activity, are long ago by now. These aside, there are few if any substandard episodes, and even at its most depressing this season represents an improvement over the previous two - even if its only truly memorable episode is the brave and entirely successful musical 6.7 Once More, With Feeling.
Buffy had to come to an end sometime, and after seven years Sarah Michelle Gellar can be forgiven for wanting to pack it all in. In some ways the resulting season 7 resembles its predecessors - the school setting of the first three, the unusually long prelude of the fourth, the same regular cast as the sixth, and the deliverance of the finale as in the fifth - and opinion is no doubt divided as to whether this is evidence of Buffy's death throes or a triumphant recapitulation of what it was all about. Nonetheless, although the season takes a while to get going and in its latter stages stretches the storyline too far, in its best moments (7.16 Storyteller, 7.7 Conversations with Dead People) it does at least remind us how good this show can be. And the finale is everything you'd hope and expect.
Angel's first season started off on a misguided "anthology" concept, concentrating more on peripheral damsels-in-distress and less on the core characters. Only occasionally did this actually work, and fine episodes like 1.11 Somnambulist aside, much of the early part of the season is redolent of it trying to work itself out. When it does, however, it successfully establishes its own identity and becomes more than just a spinoff.
Taken in its entirety, season two, courtesy of some strong writing and depths of dramatic intensity not seen since Buffy's Becoming or Passion, outdoes every season of Buffy. Ultimately it's Angel's descent into self-absorption which stands out most; aside from the occasional weak episode, in places the season thunders along with terrific power, and it's rounded off with a whimsically silly, yet highly enjoyable, trilogy.
This is, alas, not built on by season three. The new characters are fine - Holtz, Justine and the irrepressible Connor in particular - and nobody here is going to complain about the addition of Amy Acker to the regulars. But, while the writing is up to standard, the direction is frequently off and sometimes drags down otherwise promising storylines - too many episodes have an odd, rather subdued feel which almost feels sort of filmic and not appropriate to 45-minute episodes. Note too that all but seven episodes have one-word titles. Only once, in the Whedon classic 3.13 Waiting in the Wings, does it fully reach its potential.
Season four spends most of its time following the twists and turns of one main storyline. It's a risky move, not helped by having to deal with Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy, and it comes unstuck near the end; but not before frequently regaining the intensity of the second season and rewriting many of the show's underlying assumptions.
The Watchers' Guide is the handsomely-produced official companion to the first two series. In no way a gratuitous cash-in, it contains a wealth of material: in addition to the 34 episode guides, there are interviews with almost the entire cast (except, oddly, SMG) and many of the crew, some of who provide fascinating insights into the making of the show. The mythology is treaded more exhaustively than you might believe possible, so much so that it would have benefited from some editing; some material is duplicated (to be fair, in different forms in different contexts), and a few photographs appear several times (three for both Cordy tied to the chair from 1.11 Invisible Girl and Buffy with the crossbow from 1.12 Prophecy Girl). Moreover, because it's official, there's no critical analysis; but these are small potatoes, it's worth owning. So too are The Watchers' Guide, volume 2, which isn't quite as good, and the exhaustive Monster Book.
Slayer, by Keith Topping, originally described itself unashamedly on the cover as "The Totally Cool Unofficial Guide". Its principal merits are its British perspective and its willingness to pass some harsh judgement; it also contains some interesting essays on related subject matter ("The Outsiders" and "Demonising America" are must-reads). Again, worth owning, as - for the same reasons - is its Angel counterpart, Hollywood Vampire. [Keith, if you're reading this, a world of thanks for putting in a mention for my pages!]
Slayer, by Keith Topping, originally described itself unashamedly on the cover as "The Totally Cool Unofficial Guide". Its principal merits are its British perspective and its willingness to pass some harsh judgement; it also contains some interesting essays on related subject matter ("The Outsiders" and "Demonising America" are must-reads). Again, worth owning, as - for the same reasons - is its Angel counterpart, Hollywood Vampire. [Keith, if you're reading this, a world of thanks for putting in a mention for my pages!]