This first bit isn't about Buffy
Random aside, I noticed there's an ancient post of mine called 'Lost Season 3 Episode 16 - Sayid for the WIN!'. I find it kind of funny that I mentioned Lost in my post, not remembering I actually wrote about it. Let's have a look when that was... Oh my god 2007?! Lost really doesn't feel that old until I picture where I was living when it was on. I can't even remember who Sayid is.
I've realised that writing this blog is mostly like a diary to me, I probably won't ever write anything very personal though. If I did, it would only be a hand full of very negative, self-deprecating things anyway. I think I've finally figured out the mixed feelings I have about writing here - I feel the need to share it with people because many things in life can feel pointless until others see them. On the other hand having no one know or care about it gives me a strong feeling of relief, the pressure to impress is mostly gone, I say mostly because it is of course online, so there is a chance someone is reading this close to now or in the future. The feeling is also one of odd defiance; writing shallow stuff here about TV shows and video games even though no on but myself may read it. If you do read this though, please leave a comment so I know!
The idea of things being pointless unless others seeing them is an issue of mine that I've been tackling for months now, it's something that effects everything and I haven't quite figured it out yet.
I'm writing a lot earlier than I did last night and I haven't even started watching Buffy yet, I'm not going to spend as long writing this time though. Today went really fast due to the fact that I've been getting up later and later each day since this virus happened. It's hard to get up when there's little to do and no one to see, well besides the few strangers that are out when I need to get food or get some exorcise. I'd like to remind everyone that going out for these two things IS allowed, there seems to be some misunderstanding going on in-which people are shamed for going out at all, this is incorrect.
The character of Spike (back on the subject of Buffy)
Spike is properly introduced in season 2 and is in many but not all episodes. Even though I haven't seen the show in ages I reckon I can give an accurate account of the four character arcs he goes through - Formidable regular villain, comically inept villain, good guy and then Buffy love interest. He's definitely one of the characters who changes the most, maybe number one. Funny thing about spike is that even back when it was newish, I remember thinking he's not formidable looking, in fact he looks kind of skinny and dorky. Re-watching the show, I still think this. I also don't like his hair all that much. For some reason I can't remember how I felt about this character besides the dorkyness, like, how I felt about him later in the series. I have a funny feeling that I actually loved him, do I have a slightly clearer memory of thinking he was awesome in Angel. It remains to be seen if these's memories come back.
Willow
I wasn't planning on writing about each character but looks like I'm going to. Willow contends with Spike for the character who changes the most throughout the series. I can't remember the arcs as clearly though. The Oz arc is just starting where I am in season 2 which is right after the two parter mid-season. After that is a big vague (not that it's important), I remember Oz leaves the show, then Willow becomes a lesbian (or bi?) but I think that's not until a while later. She also becomes a powerful good witch at some point and I think she becomes evil for a short time. This is really just me testing and pondering over what I can remember about this show, instead of giving any insight into the characters, sorry.
Buffy
I honestly don't recall her changing that much even though shes the main character. Having seen a season and a half so far, I'm reminded that the character trait of being forced into the slayer role and not having a normal teen life has been there from the start. The show tries to make it look like she changes but all the serious shit she goes through boils down to the same thing - Being a slayer is deadly, hard and stressful. Not that I'm complaining, it's fine and Buffy is great how she is, plus maybe I will stand corrected after I watch some more. I do remember her going through dark stuff but all I remember is that she hates it and then when she gets through it, she embraces the slayer role, and then later more dark shit happens and the cycle repeats.
There's other characters but I can't be bothered to talk about them and I remember them changing very little. Oh wait, there is one who isn't in it much but there's one thing I want to say about her...
Kendra
In part 1 of 'What's My Line' a second slayer is introduced, I can't remember if she ever comes back again but it's not for long if she does.What she does in these two episodes is fine but the only reason I'm bringing her up is because of her accent. She's Jamaican and has what I'm pretty sure is a really bad, fake accent. I'm pretty lame at picking up on the nuances of accents but I'm almost certain this accent is trash. That's all I have to say. Oh, I just read this on Wikipedia -
"The addition of the Jamaican accent to the character was a last-minute decision, and a dialect coach was brought in; he taught Lawson a dialect that was supposedly from a very specific, obscure region of Jamaica, and while the accent may have sounded authentic to that region, to the rest of the cast and crew (and the majority of the viewing audience) it simply sounded like a very bad impersonation of a common Jamaican accent."
Glad I wasn't the only one but sounds like I may have been wrong? I dunno, still sounds bad to me. I also accidentally saw a tiny spoiler in the line after the above paragraph -
"After her death, Kendra was succeeded by Faith Lehane."
Oops. Oh well, she wasn't that great anyway.
Wikipedia
Moving on from talking about characters - I just read that since 2018 there's been talk of a re-boot, that could be good. However reading the Wiki entry makes it sound like there's already controversy and it sounds like Whedon doesn't even like re-boots.
Reading the Buffy Wiki is interesting, looks like the series is or was used in a lot in Academia, possibly more than any other show. I get the feeling though that this started dying out about 10 years ago and the last thing of any significance was in 2014. I don't mean to put the idea down, it's just the Wiki entry makes it sound like such a big deal, while I have this feeling that it's very unlikely anyone in education is using Buffy the Vampire Slayer anymore. Not that it doesn't deserve it, it's just that I doubt many youngsters care at all about Buffy, a show which to them, is archaic.
The Comics
The last season of Buffy is number 7, I remember that they continued the series in comic book form and it's neat how they called it season 8. I'm surprised to find that there's quite a lot of Buffy comics, even ones from before both the Buffy and Angel series ended, I'd like to try to read them after I've finished the shows. I say 'try' because I may have lost interest by then. It's kind of sad for me to see how old even the season 8 comics are, they started in 2007, that's 13 years ago! I remember seeing them in Calamity Comics in Harrow, where I used to live. It makes me feel old, how time flies. However, doing a bit of research, it looks like there's a lot of continuity issues with the Buffy comics, I'm not sure if these are only present in the ones that were released before the show ended, though. Also, I never read the comics back then even though I loved the show, the idea of comic book versions didn't excite me, the idea sounds a bit fake even to me now. Without the actors, without it being an actual show, it may not work for me. Which makes me sad because it reminds me the shows (I'm including Angel) ended a long time ago. Yes, I have issues with change, it's major problem because change is inevitable.
There's a small bit on Wikipedia in-which it quotes some reactions from the actors concerning parts of the comics. Now they are positive and I hadn't even thought about the idea of the actors reading the comics, but it's clear from this insert that the actors don't read the comics. For some reason this puts me off reading them even more, I know that's stupid but yeah. I mean these quotes are from about 12 years ago so who knows, they may have read them after. Oh god... 12 years ago, why am I even caring about this?
Looks like the comics have been collected into some real cool looking books called 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight Library Edition', so it would be nice to start off with volume one of that. Of course, I could just download scans of them, but I really feel like it would be better to get it in physical form. Not that I can afford it. Hmm, £24.20, high but not bad for a hardback I guess. Looks like these volumes are really expensive on eBay, on the other hand the DVD's popped up as well when I searched, looks like I was wrong the other day, they're really cheap. You can even get the entire series for £50 including postage, that's pretty good. Each season boxset is maximum £5, they're so cheap I feel I should just get them instead of downloading them.
I just realised writing this blog isn't that different from talking to myself. Anyway I'm going, I've been on here for way too long.
No comments:
Post a Comment