Buffy Geek - Season 8 Review
Technically, I'm 10 issues in and the storyline is terrific so far(and extremely surprising- as per Joss Whedon form). All in all: Two very enthusiastic thumbs up, fine holiday fun.
I love the opening!, "Everyone calls me Ma'am nowadays..."
1) In my opinion, even though Joss is not the writer of all the scripts, the others are doing a pretty good job. I was able to tell that he wrote the script for "Anywhere But Here" though, and I do miss Marti Noxon. I was insanely happy that the other writers were able to master the Buffy-lingo accurately enough, although some of these specific comments would have been delivered much better had they been spoken. Perhaps I'm just too used to the show.
2) I've always been very indifferent towards comic books. I don't dislike them, nor do I take any particular interest in them. I do, however, think Buffy just fits as one. There's just so much more they can add to the series now that it's not a television show! Near two thousand slayers set up in ten international squads? Channel nine would have refused and the show would have needed very generous donations from it's cult following in order to pull all this off. I'm also pretty sure that Joss and the Production Director would have lost their minds with all the set changes. Don't even get me started on Special Effects costs.
- In addition, all the actor's from the show have said that the later season's(particularly season 5 and 6) pushed them past their own emotional limits to more darker places. Comic book form lends more for their reactions in this way. One can't rely on just what the character's are saying or their facial expressions in order to understand the depth of their emotions. Now it can lend itself a step further through shading and the like. Buffy's reaction of betrayal after Giles chooses Faith to do a mission he wants Buffy to have no part in, for example, really cuts. Also, in Buffy episodes, a lot of times the character's true emotions to something may not come to surface until another episode - to add to plot twist for a one hour broadcast... but in the comic, there's much more inner-reflection going on that allows the reader to know exactly what the character's feelings are as soon as they feel them. No more hidden reflection! Overall, it is a very well-suited series to this style of literature, and I don't harbor any knowledge of comic books, just Buffy.
3) There is much more they can do in this style... however, I think they were going for a reach in the way they had sent Faith to England to take down Gigi, the misguided Slayer. Don't get me wrong, her actions and feelings suited her character to a "T," but I can't picture Faith pulling off an undercover British bourgeois well enough to fool a wealthy heiress. Then again, maybe Genevieve was too surprised/elated that Faith was another Slayer to see through her guise. *shrug*
4) I'm a little confused in the way that Giles states, "For all intents and purposes, I am the Watcher's Council." I didn't think anything of it, but it appears that a lot of fans are speculating that Giles could have a separate organization from Buffy's. True, he is one of few Watchers left(as far as we know), so he would be the only person who could resurrect the order, but I doubt he would do that, given his and Buffy's history with them. And I highly doubt Joss would have made it any sort of rival... Or would he? I guess it would certainly explain why Giles didn't want Buffy to be apart of issue 6's mission, but why is he handling the dirty work underground and behind the scenes?... NO. I won't except it unless it's stated clearly. For now, I'll just stick to wondering. If he is, in fact, one of the ten squads then why has Xander been so closely in contact with Andrew and his squad rather than Giles and his? Why didn't he check in with Giles after the encounter with Amy and Warren? Giles also sets up a partnership with Faith after the end of issue 9, and Faith hasn't played a part in any squad other than helping out Robin's once in a while.
-Sidenote: It's really cool how she's in Cleveland, the other Hellmouth.
5)Shifting focus from less mind-hurting things, and onto making with the shallow, I was really happy that they decided not to vary too much from the way the actors who portrayed the characters from the show looked, but I suppose it could not have been any other way. A slight variant I guess would be that Buffy's chest size has gotten noticeably larger(Faith's have too, which I didn't think would be possible since she has always been well-endowed in that area). In the end of the fifth issue, for example, one slayer who has been chosen to act as a Buffy decoy has a chest similar to SMG's, but the woman in charge tells her that she'll need to pad her bra. I just thought that was amusing. Xander has gotten surprisingly fit(especially since I'm assuming it's only a six months or more separation from the end of the show's seventh season, in which he was more "filled out" than muscular). Willow's body still looks like Allison Hannigan's and Giles looks exactly like Anthony Stewart Head. But this is all just prattle.
6) Buffy's decoys. In Angel Season 5, which was the year following Buffy's last season, Angel and Spike go to Rome where "Buffy" is supposedly hitting up the party scene pretty hard and dating a vampire called, "The Immortal." AND in the very first issue of Buffy Season 8, a full 4 years after the Angel episode, Buffy mentions of her decoys, "One's in Rome, partying pretty publicly -- and supposedly dating some guy called The Immortal. That part of Andrew's idea. He did research on the guy and thought it would be hilarious for some reason." I don't remember the episode of Angel very well, but I just thought that was such an awesome interwoven detail.
There are so many other Whedonverse things out there too, like "Fray(which takes place in the future in New York City after magic has been dead for a few centuries)," "Tales of the Vampires," and "Tales of the Slayers" which I have yet to read. I'm thinking about "Angel Season 6" as well, which is the continuation of that series, but I was no where near as big of a fan of Angel as I am of Buffy. Although I do want to see what happened to Angel's gang, since the series ended with Angel and his group about to fight the Senior Partner's of Wolfram and Hart(as well as myriad demons).
In that last scene of Angel's series finale, the large dragon that flies over head is remarkably similar to the one that came out of the portal Glory opened in Buffy Season 5's finale, "The Gift." Coincidence?
Damn you, Joss Whedon. I'm only 10 issues into Season 8, for goodness sake.
I love the opening!, "Everyone calls me Ma'am nowadays..."
1) In my opinion, even though Joss is not the writer of all the scripts, the others are doing a pretty good job. I was able to tell that he wrote the script for "Anywhere But Here" though, and I do miss Marti Noxon. I was insanely happy that the other writers were able to master the Buffy-lingo accurately enough, although some of these specific comments would have been delivered much better had they been spoken. Perhaps I'm just too used to the show.
2) I've always been very indifferent towards comic books. I don't dislike them, nor do I take any particular interest in them. I do, however, think Buffy just fits as one. There's just so much more they can add to the series now that it's not a television show! Near two thousand slayers set up in ten international squads? Channel nine would have refused and the show would have needed very generous donations from it's cult following in order to pull all this off. I'm also pretty sure that Joss and the Production Director would have lost their minds with all the set changes. Don't even get me started on Special Effects costs.
- In addition, all the actor's from the show have said that the later season's(particularly season 5 and 6) pushed them past their own emotional limits to more darker places. Comic book form lends more for their reactions in this way. One can't rely on just what the character's are saying or their facial expressions in order to understand the depth of their emotions. Now it can lend itself a step further through shading and the like. Buffy's reaction of betrayal after Giles chooses Faith to do a mission he wants Buffy to have no part in, for example, really cuts. Also, in Buffy episodes, a lot of times the character's true emotions to something may not come to surface until another episode - to add to plot twist for a one hour broadcast... but in the comic, there's much more inner-reflection going on that allows the reader to know exactly what the character's feelings are as soon as they feel them. No more hidden reflection! Overall, it is a very well-suited series to this style of literature, and I don't harbor any knowledge of comic books, just Buffy.
3) There is much more they can do in this style... however, I think they were going for a reach in the way they had sent Faith to England to take down Gigi, the misguided Slayer. Don't get me wrong, her actions and feelings suited her character to a "T," but I can't picture Faith pulling off an undercover British bourgeois well enough to fool a wealthy heiress. Then again, maybe Genevieve was too surprised/elated that Faith was another Slayer to see through her guise. *shrug*
4) I'm a little confused in the way that Giles states, "For all intents and purposes, I am the Watcher's Council." I didn't think anything of it, but it appears that a lot of fans are speculating that Giles could have a separate organization from Buffy's. True, he is one of few Watchers left(as far as we know), so he would be the only person who could resurrect the order, but I doubt he would do that, given his and Buffy's history with them. And I highly doubt Joss would have made it any sort of rival... Or would he? I guess it would certainly explain why Giles didn't want Buffy to be apart of issue 6's mission, but why is he handling the dirty work underground and behind the scenes?... NO. I won't except it unless it's stated clearly. For now, I'll just stick to wondering. If he is, in fact, one of the ten squads then why has Xander been so closely in contact with Andrew and his squad rather than Giles and his? Why didn't he check in with Giles after the encounter with Amy and Warren? Giles also sets up a partnership with Faith after the end of issue 9, and Faith hasn't played a part in any squad other than helping out Robin's once in a while.
-Sidenote: It's really cool how she's in Cleveland, the other Hellmouth.
5)Shifting focus from less mind-hurting things, and onto making with the shallow, I was really happy that they decided not to vary too much from the way the actors who portrayed the characters from the show looked, but I suppose it could not have been any other way. A slight variant I guess would be that Buffy's chest size has gotten noticeably larger(Faith's have too, which I didn't think would be possible since she has always been well-endowed in that area). In the end of the fifth issue, for example, one slayer who has been chosen to act as a Buffy decoy has a chest similar to SMG's, but the woman in charge tells her that she'll need to pad her bra. I just thought that was amusing. Xander has gotten surprisingly fit(especially since I'm assuming it's only a six months or more separation from the end of the show's seventh season, in which he was more "filled out" than muscular). Willow's body still looks like Allison Hannigan's and Giles looks exactly like Anthony Stewart Head. But this is all just prattle.
6) Buffy's decoys. In Angel Season 5, which was the year following Buffy's last season, Angel and Spike go to Rome where "Buffy" is supposedly hitting up the party scene pretty hard and dating a vampire called, "The Immortal." AND in the very first issue of Buffy Season 8, a full 4 years after the Angel episode, Buffy mentions of her decoys, "One's in Rome, partying pretty publicly -- and supposedly dating some guy called The Immortal. That part of Andrew's idea. He did research on the guy and thought it would be hilarious for some reason." I don't remember the episode of Angel very well, but I just thought that was such an awesome interwoven detail.
There are so many other Whedonverse things out there too, like "Fray(which takes place in the future in New York City after magic has been dead for a few centuries)," "Tales of the Vampires," and "Tales of the Slayers" which I have yet to read. I'm thinking about "Angel Season 6" as well, which is the continuation of that series, but I was no where near as big of a fan of Angel as I am of Buffy. Although I do want to see what happened to Angel's gang, since the series ended with Angel and his group about to fight the Senior Partner's of Wolfram and Hart(as well as myriad demons).
In that last scene of Angel's series finale, the large dragon that flies over head is remarkably similar to the one that came out of the portal Glory opened in Buffy Season 5's finale, "The Gift." Coincidence?
Damn you, Joss Whedon. I'm only 10 issues into Season 8, for goodness sake.