Buffy Parallels

[Zahir]

Don't know if anybody else here watches <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> but I simply had to share some tidbits about this season's storyline:

--On the show they're confronting The First Evil, a non-corporeal being older than any demon that is a manipulator par excellence. So far it has excelled at playing mind games, whittling away at people's ability to hope or function.

--In particular the First Evil only appears as people who've already died, a fact it has used to viciously attack the sanity of the show's heroes. So the characters are being visited, it seems, by their Dead.

--Willow, a regular, is a witch who at one time went mad with grief and rage. Following the murder of her lover, she used her powers to torture then flay the man who did it. Still enraged, she nearly "put the world out of its misery" until a friend refused to leave her side and she broke down crying, allowing herself to grieve. This same character (who once helped defeat an evil god, btw) is now seriously conflicted over her vast powers, whether she can ever control them without destroying all she loves.

Does any of this sound...familiar somehow????

[Fist and Faith]

I hadn't particularly noticed the similarities. True enough though. I guess it's true what somebody said about there only being a few stories out there, just told differently.

I'm a big Buffy fan. Just got the second season on DVD. I'll go so far as to say that, at least through the Adam storyline, it's one of my favorite shows ever. Overall, it's just not working as well for me these days. Maybe I never recovered from the loss of Oz. Still great though, for sure.

I think they're doing a fantastic job of exploring the depths of Buffy's mood/emotions. Unrelentingly dark and depressing. Not happy about being brought back to life; mother dies; just the fact that she leads the type of life she does; not the luckiest person in love; ... Man, give the poor thing a break! Kind of reminds me of <I>Life Goes On</I>. We didn't just see an episode or two about a guy with HIV. We got the permanence of his situation pounded into us episode after episode after episode.

[[Syl]]

I prefer Kristy Swanson as Buffy. The series had too much teen angst for my taste (which probably would've been in its favor if it would've came out a few years earlier). Not bad, just couldn't get into it.

[Sevothtarte]

I just have to quote something from one of my favorite sites... From a text called "How to kill vampires":

[...] Dracula is the archetypal vampire, but from there we can derive many of the other forms of vampire:

A twenty-something vampire, dressed in today’s fashions. Has two small bumps on his slightly deformed head, and knows more Kung Fu than Bruce Fucking Lee.

This is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer vampire. They are never older than thirty-five and never younger than sixteen. They’re all highly skilled in various martial arts, and they’re ALL EVIL. Buffy vampires cannot be good, unless they somehow have a soul. Whereupon they get their own series and pollute television stations with crap once a week.

Method of capture/destruction: Pretty easy if you’re either: (a) a Slayer, or (b) friends with Buffy, or (c) friends of a character with their own spinoff series. The rest of the world’s population is FUCKED, and simply serve their purpose as cattle for vampires. This is okay though, as Buffy vampires provide a valuable service cleansing the world of fuckwits that choose to walk down dark alleys at 3 in the morning, allowing muggers and rapists to take the occasional night off. [...]

[[Syl]]

As opposed to the slightly effiminate, soulful, gothically dressed vampire of the Anne Rice books. I enjoyed the books, but I like my vampires more like Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie... the book bored me to tears. where has Gary Oldman been lately? sure, Lost in Space was horrible, but he played the part well... but i ramble). Also, Willem Dafoe was excellent in Shadow of the Vampire.

[Guest]

Hi Fist & Faith

"I guess it's true what somebody said about there only being a few stories out there, just told differently"

Hee!
Mi English Lit. teacher used to say: "There is only one true plot out there: delayed sexual intercourse. And depending on how good you manage it, it becomes a classic."
He wasn't serious. I guess he just wanted to shock us.

onions

[Vain]

I never got into the Buffy series. Somehow the name Buffy seemd to comicky

My wife gobbles up any and every Anne Rice book that happens to rear its head. She's a real Vamp freak I, however, haven't read any of the Rice novels.

Then again - she hasn't got an overwhelming compulsion to read any SRD stuff so I figure we're even

[Anomander Rake]

Yeah, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a name that's pretty hard to take seriously. It kept me from watching it for years. But a number of friends of mine were in love with the show, so when the first season came out on DVD, I thought I'd give it a try. I bought it, and it sat there collecting dust for months. Finally, about a week before the second season's DVD release, I started watching it, and was immediately hooked. It was uneven during that first season, but it had a definite charm. I bought the second season, watched it immediately, thought it was fantastic. Season's three, four, five and six have subsequently aired on FX, and I've soaked them up greedily.

By the way, has anyone else ever thought that James Marsters (Spike) would make a good Thomas Covenant? He's been playing a vampire with an abrasive attitude for years now, a tortured soul whose love for Buffy has made him hate what he is. He's got the right look, too, guant, painfully thin. The Chronicles filmed is never likely to happen, but if it does, he's one of the actors I'd like to see in it.

[Fist and Faith]

I tried Rice's "Interview..." years ago, and actually stopped reading in the middle. It just didn't do a thing for me. But her sister, Alice Borchardt, has three werewolf books that I really like. The way the wolves see and feel about life, the world, and everything is very well done, imo.

Anomander Rake,
I never thought about it, but Marsters <I>would</I> be a good TC! Excellent choice!

And congrats on becoming a Buffy fan! Witty writing, fun magic stuff, martial arts, babes (I don't know if an Anomander is male or female, so that point may be more fun for me). Not much wrong with the show.

[Anomander Rake]

Anomander Rake is, much like myself, male. And yes, I dig the babes on Buffy very much.

[Nav]

Hmm, not sure about James Marsters as Covenant. Strikes me as being too young, buff and attractive. I think Robin Sachs, who's been in a few episodes as Ethan Rayne, Giles' nemesis, would make a good TC though.

[Nav]

Ooh, and how about the Eliza Dushku (Faith) to play Lord Elena?

[Fist and Faith]

Hmm, not sure about James Marsters as Covenant. Strikes me as being too young, buff and attractive.

No prob. He could be uglied. But I think emotionally he could do it.

Ooh, and how about the Eliza Dushku (Faith) to play Lord Elena?

Yes! I love that too!!

And Oz could be Amok. Never gives you a straight answer. Yes, the cast of Buffy does TCTC!

[[Syl]]

*biting my tongue*























































maybe we can get Britney Spears to do the soundtrack
arg, couldn't help it
*snoogins*

[Vain]

Men have been hanged for lesser suggestions than that

To add - could you upload pictures of all these people to the gallery?

[Zahir]

As per your request, I just uploaded pics of Eliza Dushku, James Marsters, Seth Green--along with Amber Benson, whom I see as Linden.