Buffy/Harry Potter Parallels (Spoilers)

[Worm of Despite]

There were times when I felt kinda bad for Glory. She really wanted to give Dawn a smooth transition into the whole blood-draining-ritual thing. Poor hell-goddess! And that was awesome--when the Buffybot got its head knocked off. The thing about it, though, was this: right before it happens, there's a sort of change in the actual image of Buffy's head in relation to her body that's kind of, I dunno, just 'not right'. I sort of knew right then, "Uh oh, something's about to happen." When her head got lopped off like that, I instantly thought, "whelp, there went a great television show."

[CovenantJr]

When you like something do you avoid it like the plague? Or do you vote for the candidate you don't want in office? By any chance, do you say "Hello" when leaving a room?

LOL

If you're looking for a good, character driven (sci-fi) show, try Farscape. Yeah, it's cancelled, but there are DVDs out there and you can DL the eps if you were so inclined

I loved Farscape! It just got better and better as time went on... Dark Skies was also good, but extremely short-lived

[Skyweir]

LOL .. well I am with you F&F .. I love Buffy and Angel .. and endeavour never to miss an episode .. though i have a very few

we went to Perisher this weekend and I missed some re-runs and forgot to tape them ..

my goal <readily admits to being a geek> is to own the entire series on dvd .. but when i am rich and more able and have paid off my car LOL

and never been able to get into Farscape .. it just looked soo silly lol ..

am prepared for the response to that

but Muppets??!!

Sesame street is cool .. and Oscar is cool .. but mmm ...

[[Syl]]

Well, Sky, did you like the original star wars? same concept (Yoda even being voiced by Frank Oz, IIRC) as far as production goes. The story line itself I'd rate as about as serious as you can get in Sci-Fi television or movies (granted, there are a lot of rather unserious moments, but overall...).

[Skyweir]

[birdandbear]

Wow! How did I ever miss this thread? Oh I see......Sky's last post here was a full year before I decided to take the Buffy plunge. And anybody who knows me knows how I feel about her now.... So, instead of launching into an impassioned Buff defense (which was my first instinct.....but all that's in other threads) I'll stick to the topic at hand, which I find fun...

Well.....

The sixth season of Buffy deals largely with her bitterness and sense of disconnection resulting from her ressurection. Harry, of course, did not die at the end of OotP, but he did lose the closest thing he had to a parent, and it's just becomming clear to him what a pivotal role he will play in the coming war. He was angsty and hormonal for much of book 5 anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if the tone at least, of HBP correlates closely with B6. I'm expecting an even darker, angrier Harry for book 6, personally, at least until he learns to cope a little. He may become self destructive in a similar way to Buffy (a la Spike) although in a different form, I'd presume (these are still technically kids books after all).

As for other things.....

Will we see a spell gone awry, causing all of Hogwarts to burst into song and dance to unseen orchestral accompaniment?

Will Hermione fly into a killing, world-ending rage when some dark master wannabe (Malfoy?) kills Ron? *hoping NOT*

Will Dumbledore push even further away from Harry in an attempt to make him stand on his own two feet?

Will there be dorks?

Will this be the book in which Snape (Spike) will risk everything to reveal his true colors to the world at last? Possibly with an ugly, ugly catalyst? I think this one is likely, whichever way he finally falls. I hesitate to speculate on anything 7th book until I've read the 6th, excepting this: I think that by the end of the HBP almost all loyalties will have been finally decided. I think all battle lines will have to be drawn clearly by then so as to get on with the war in book 7.

In the end I think that any paralells between the two story lines are purely coincidental, and if they are a bit similar here and there, it's only because most good stories share common elements. I've never cared if it's a rehash of a story I've heard a thousand times.....what I care about in the end is can you make it fresh again? Can you make me feel it? Joss can, and so can Ms. Rowling. And if the stories are parallel, then maybe the things that make them so are the marks of a great story.

[taraswizard]

OK, as lots you know I am a huge BtVS-Jossverse freak, and my first comment is "What Birdandbear said!!"

FWIW, I was reading, for the very first time, the LotR triology during the beginning of season 7 BtVS and interestingly saw parallels between Tolkien's epic and Buffy. IMO, this further confirms B&B's statement good story telling share common elements and B&B already mentioned LotR.

[Sunbaneglasses]

I have never once heard any reference to Voldamort on any episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.Looks like ole he who must not be named would have come up at least once,Salem's big mouth and all.No wait I get it Salem was a death eater yea it all makes sense now...............

[BT Shire]

I really have nothing to contribute to this discussion, but I felt it necessary to put in my 2 cents.

I LOVE BUFFY AND HARRY POTTER!!!!

They are both great stories. When I get right down to it, the reason I love Buffy so much is the same reason why I love Thomas Covenant... both sagas totally F*** with my emotions. When an author can do that, I'm helpless to pull away.

BT

[Roland of Gilead]

I'm late to this dance, but count me in on the side of the Buffy lovers.

I didn't watch until the middle of Season 3, convinced it was just the latest silly teeny-bopper craze. I was immediately hooked with the clever combination of teenage problems, reluctant super-heroine, superb dialogue, intricate mythology, great humor and movie-level fight choreography. It pretty much invented the use of popular culture references that are so prevalent in tv and film now. I never missed an episode after I became a fan, and eventually caught up on all the previous eps I had missed.

I rank it one of the best speculative tv shows ever aired. Perhaps THE best, if it stands the test of time. And I'm in my fifties.

[birdandbear]

I'm late to this dance, but count me in on the side of the Buffy lovers.

I didn't watch until the middle of Season 3, convinced it was just the latest silly teeny-bopper craze. I was immediately hooked with the clever combination of teenage problems, reluctant super-heroine, superb dialogue, intricate mythology, great humor and movie-level fight choreography. It pretty much invented the use of popular culture references that are so prevalent in tv and film now. I never missed an episode after I became a fan, and eventually caught up on all the previous eps I had missed.

I rank it one of the best speculative tv shows ever aired. Perhaps THE best, if it stands the test of time. And I'm in my fifties.

It's amazing how complete the conversion is, isn't it? I avoided the show until it was off the air, I was so convinced it was Dawson's Creek with Vampires (complete with lame special effects, no doubt). But there were all these people in my theatre who were huge fans, as well as my best friend.....so last summer I sat down with season one to figure out what on earth was going on here.......and the rest is history. I'm now a rabid buffy fan with a proudly displayed collection of dvd box sets, two smile time angel puppets on pre-order (yeah, DORK ), and a strong internal debate going on about the pro's and con's of spending $800.00 to go have dinner with James Marsters, Amber Benson and Andy Halleck (among others) in Houston.
(I'll never be able to go, but my brain keps coming up with "yeah but's....")

And I'm only grateful to my friends for introducing me to one of the greatest stories, with many of the most unforgettable characters I've ever had the priviledge of falling in love with.