Buffy - Season 1 impressions
Oct. 9th, 2005 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodIn a time when everybody seems to be talking about Firefly and Serenity it seems slightly anachronistic to talk about the first season of Buffy . However, I'm a newcomer to the show. I knew, of course, that the show existed, but I never watched it on TV.
Anyway, last weekendselenak introduced me to the show and kindly lent me season 1 and 2.
So here are my impressions so far. I'm still basically unspoilt for other seaons and the spin-off Angel , so maybe reading my thoughts will bring back fond memories to some of you.
Overall impressions
So far the show is mostly a fun romp, however, I'm pleasantly surprised that some of the plots have surprising twists. E.g. "The Witch," "The Puppet Show" and "Nightmares" all managed to surprise me at one point by having something unexpected happen.
My biggest reservations were the frequent deaths of other pupils or teachers that were often shrugged off. "Oh, Dave is dead. Ah, well. Cant' be changed." This bothered me not only on an emotional level, but also on a logical one. Would parents still send their children to a school with such a high death rate?
Apparently, Joss also saw that as a probem, because soon after I was bothered by it, the topic was brought up in the show. And I really liked the way it was done, i.e. having the new director Snyder talking up it.
Quotes from "The Puppet Show"
Snyder: This place has quite a reputation. Suicide, missing persons, spontaneous cheerleader combustion... You can't put up with that. You've gotta keep an eye on the bad element.
Snyder: Kids today need discipline. That's an unpopular word these days, 'discipline'. I know Principal Flutie would have said, 'Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.' That's the kind of woolly-headed, liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.
It was also nice to see in the last show that Willow was affected by what's going on and had a temporary breakdown. Sure, by the end of the episode all is back to the cheery "And now let's have a fun-night!", but it was good that the death of several fellow students wasn't totally ignored.
On the plus side of the show is also the fact that the characters have the right chemistry, e.g. Buffy and Angel have some delightful tension, Buffy and Cordelia have potential-future-friends chemistry.
I also like the quirky humour, especially the cheerleader tryouts in "The Witch" are hilarious.
Another bonus is the continuity. Things that have happened in past episodes are mentioned again, so you get the feeling that all the characters are learning from what has happened before.
Favorite characters
My favorite character so far is Cordelia, because she's so very, very entertaining. I would despise her in real-life, but in a TV show it's delightful to watch her self-centered antics.
I also found it interesting to compare her to Draco Malfoy, another snobby character.
The big difference between them is that Cordelia is still the star of the school and not threatened in her popularity by Buffy. Therefore she can be a prat to Buffy, but most of them time just ignores her.
Draco, on the other hand, never gets the chance to take his "rightful" position at Hogwarts, because from the beginning he's overshadowed by Harry Potter. He also actively seeks out friendship with Harry and gets rejected, something he can't forgive. Because of this the relationship between Draco and Harry is a much more actively aggressive one.
I also liked it that we get to some depth to Cordelia in the episode "Out of Mind, Out of Sight".
I like Giles, because librarian!!! Librarians are good. When I'm grown up I want to be one, too.
Am sure I will become very fond of Buffy. By the end of season 1, we've seen a whole range of emotions from her, so it will be interesting to see her grow.
Acting
Sarah Michelle Gellar is good: She is definitely able to portray a complex character. My favorite moment with her so far is her refusal to fight in the last episode.
Favorite Show
"Out of Mind, Out of Sight": Loved the way the episode started with the analysis of the play "The Merchant of Venice" and Cordelia's very different views for this play. It was nice to see how the episode developped the theme.
It was also nice to see behind Cordelia's facade and see her and Buffy interact.
Worst Show
"I, Robot -- You, Jane": Couldn't stand it. But even this episode had some highlights.
Other comments
The German titles for the show are bad. Very unimaginative and never ever witty or clever. They obviously didn't try at all to find good titles. I don't get why they couldn't just properly translate instead of making up awful titles.
And now on to watching season 2.
Anyway, last weekend
selenak introduced me to the show and kindly lent me season 1 and 2.So here are my impressions so far. I'm still basically unspoilt for other seaons and the spin-off Angel , so maybe reading my thoughts will bring back fond memories to some of you.
Overall impressions
So far the show is mostly a fun romp, however, I'm pleasantly surprised that some of the plots have surprising twists. E.g. "The Witch," "The Puppet Show" and "Nightmares" all managed to surprise me at one point by having something unexpected happen.
My biggest reservations were the frequent deaths of other pupils or teachers that were often shrugged off. "Oh, Dave is dead. Ah, well. Cant' be changed." This bothered me not only on an emotional level, but also on a logical one. Would parents still send their children to a school with such a high death rate?
Apparently, Joss also saw that as a probem, because soon after I was bothered by it, the topic was brought up in the show. And I really liked the way it was done, i.e. having the new director Snyder talking up it.
Quotes from "The Puppet Show"
Snyder: This place has quite a reputation. Suicide, missing persons, spontaneous cheerleader combustion... You can't put up with that. You've gotta keep an eye on the bad element.
Snyder: Kids today need discipline. That's an unpopular word these days, 'discipline'. I know Principal Flutie would have said, 'Kids need understanding. Kids are human beings.' That's the kind of woolly-headed, liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.
It was also nice to see in the last show that Willow was affected by what's going on and had a temporary breakdown. Sure, by the end of the episode all is back to the cheery "And now let's have a fun-night!", but it was good that the death of several fellow students wasn't totally ignored.
On the plus side of the show is also the fact that the characters have the right chemistry, e.g. Buffy and Angel have some delightful tension, Buffy and Cordelia have potential-future-friends chemistry.
I also like the quirky humour, especially the cheerleader tryouts in "The Witch" are hilarious.
Another bonus is the continuity. Things that have happened in past episodes are mentioned again, so you get the feeling that all the characters are learning from what has happened before.
Favorite characters
My favorite character so far is Cordelia, because she's so very, very entertaining. I would despise her in real-life, but in a TV show it's delightful to watch her self-centered antics.
I also found it interesting to compare her to Draco Malfoy, another snobby character.
The big difference between them is that Cordelia is still the star of the school and not threatened in her popularity by Buffy. Therefore she can be a prat to Buffy, but most of them time just ignores her.
Draco, on the other hand, never gets the chance to take his "rightful" position at Hogwarts, because from the beginning he's overshadowed by Harry Potter. He also actively seeks out friendship with Harry and gets rejected, something he can't forgive. Because of this the relationship between Draco and Harry is a much more actively aggressive one.
I also liked it that we get to some depth to Cordelia in the episode "Out of Mind, Out of Sight".
I like Giles, because librarian!!! Librarians are good. When I'm grown up I want to be one, too.
Am sure I will become very fond of Buffy. By the end of season 1, we've seen a whole range of emotions from her, so it will be interesting to see her grow.
Acting
Sarah Michelle Gellar is good: She is definitely able to portray a complex character. My favorite moment with her so far is her refusal to fight in the last episode.
Favorite Show
"Out of Mind, Out of Sight": Loved the way the episode started with the analysis of the play "The Merchant of Venice" and Cordelia's very different views for this play. It was nice to see how the episode developped the theme.
It was also nice to see behind Cordelia's facade and see her and Buffy interact.
Worst Show
"I, Robot -- You, Jane": Couldn't stand it. But even this episode had some highlights.
Other comments
The German titles for the show are bad. Very unimaginative and never ever witty or clever. They obviously didn't try at all to find good titles. I don't get why they couldn't just properly translate instead of making up awful titles.
And now on to watching season 2.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 12:37 pm (UTC)Also, season 2 is the best. And everyone's fav. You will enjoy it muchly.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:14 pm (UTC)I found it extremely disturbing that the pupils actually got away with what they had done. Only downside to this episode: The green-eyes hyenas - real hyenas would have been more scary.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 06:48 pm (UTC)I mostly had the same impression of season 1 back in the day, and didn't fall in love with the show until season 2. (But I have to say I'm among the minority who doesn't love season 2 best. Depending on my mood, 5 or 6 are my favourite seasons. This is, however, strictly a minority view.) The big change as far as the climate of the show is concerned from fun romp with occasional depth to "OMG, this is epic" happens at a very specific point in mid season 2. You'll know when you see it.*g*
SMG as an actress: oh yes, definitely. The "I'm 16, Giles, I don't want to die" is one of the early standouts. And as I told you when you were here, we see Buffy change throughout the show in ways that pay emotional realistic tribute to what she does, and what is done to her.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:20 pm (UTC)It looks as if Cordelia gets a chance to be developed sooner, i.e. she gets her first depth at the end of season 1. Draco has a much longer wait.
Regarding the wit I have to disagree: Like Draco Cordelia's wit is most of the time quite insulting.
And Draco can be quite funny, too. Like Cordelia he has a talent with words.
They both have moments where their jokes fall short and they just look stupid and selfish and snobby. But they also have some moments were they make me smile - despite the insults they are dashing out.
Tomorrow for breakfast I watched the first half of season's 2, episode 1. I was impressed. We actually get to see the emotional aftermath of the last season. Seems like Buffy has a hard time to connect to others at the moment. And I absolutely love it when characters are difficult and cranky and you want to wack them over the head. It just makes them so much more real.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:22 pm (UTC)It's nice to have something new to look forward to. :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:28 pm (UTC)I guess that's also due to the fact that we get synchronised versions of everything shown on TV. Now some German version can be extremely well done, e.g. I *love* the German voices for Mulder and Scully in X-Files. But others shows weren't done so well and I think Buffy lost a lot of its wit in translation.
Young people? American teenagers? At high school? So not interested!
Yes, exactly. Plus Buffy is just so the type of girl I would avoid at school - that is unless I got to know her better. She just looks like a "girlie" whose main purpose in life is fashion and lipstick.
But yes, they grew on me. In part because the show actually seemed to make fun of high school life, in part because the characters have layers.