Buffy S1, Please tell me it gets better! (1 Viewer)

[DaveGTP]

Yeah, I must say, the last 2 eps were really good. They seemed quite different in atmosphere to the other episodes. Hope to see more eps of that quality in the future.

 

[Ryan_Guah]

IF you liked the last two, "Nightmares" and "Prophecy Girl", then you'll REALLY love the second season. There is such a huge quality jump.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

I think both S2 & S3 are better than S1. They also take themselves a bit more seriously where as S1 was quite dopey, dumbed down, & too child friendly IMO.

If you liked the last two episodes of S1 (also my favs of the season. You could tell the tone was starting to shift), you should have fun with S2 and S3.

Season 4 has the ultra cool episode Hush with the scary demon voicebox guys. You will see later. COuld of made a horror film with them. Creepy.

S1 is not the worst season of the show (you have some stinkers ahead of you in the future), but it's not the best either.

Both S2 and S3 do have some stinkers though (like all the seasons), but in general both seasons work. If you can make it past the stinkers (the mummy episode comes to mind), you should be fine.

Buffy S1 falls in the same class as Smallville S1 to me. Both can be tolerated, but I am definately into a more serious tone and a show with Arcs and things happening all the time.

Thats why I was pleased as both shows progressed.

Angel is the same way. S1 focuses on stand alones for much of the first season (still worth watching as you need S1 to follow the future ones), but S2 is when things pick up more. It also starts to deal with darker subject matter and the tone shifts.

Definately worth following the seasons in order though. Until you near the end of Buffy and start to realize the best days are behind you.

Angel was really very dull during the first half of S5 for me, but the second half picks up and we get some very fine episodes.

Buffy? Well, season 7 was overkill and was a weak way to go (show should have died before it ran out of steam), but thats just my opinion.

 

[Brian Co]

Just wanted to jump in quickly and reiterate that you both hang in there as S2 is when things really start rolling.

Additionally, a quick aside to Dave. As you appear to be a rapid fan of B5, I'd highly suggest you invest in Farscape. Many of us who adore B5 are also tremendous fans of this series. Don't forget about the Twin Peaks set either. A truly fantastic experience.

 

[DaveGTP]

I've considered renting a few discs of farscape, but the show turned me off with its apparent sex appeal (made it look empty). Plus, honestly, I don't really like a lot of scifi produced for TV or movies - spoiled by book sci-fi.

On the Buffy front (because I post here more than Stacey) we watched the first few eps of Buffy S2. Seems better than the last season. Still tunin' in!

 

[Daryl Stovall]

Dave, just wait until you and Stacey get to eps. "Surprise" and "Innocence"

 

[Brian Co]

Which is exactly why I recommended it. It's not to be grouped in with the lot of your typical scifi produced drek. It's one I feel should be mentioned, along with B5, as one of the best representing the genre. Don't be turned of by however you felt it was marketed. It's certainly not a show I'd ever classify as being remotely "empy", nor one that emphasized "sex appeal" over character or story.

 

[Stacey_B]

Dave: That's just cause you're more of a computer geek than me!

Yes, the first 2 eps. of Buffy S2 seem to be improving. I hope they stay good....looking forward to watching more soon!

I see Alias S3 is out tomarrow...along with Angel S4. Sigh...if only I had all the money to buy everything I wanted!
My list for tomarrow would be:
1. Alias S3
2. Angel S4
3. American Dreams S1
4. Sex and the City S2
5. Kiddy Grade V6
6. Ai Yori Aoshi V2
7. Saikano V3
8. R.O.D. Tv V2
Ah, if only I was rich.
Stacey

 

[Paul_Scott]

i finished off my set of S2 last night.
the series does seem to make a subtle shift in tone in the last 1/4 of the season, but there are also still plenty of the isolated monster of the week epsiodes...even going all the way up to the third to the last episode (with 5 minutes devoted to the running subplot).
i always find Buffy entertaining, even when it was formula, but don't be expecting a major difference w/ S2, from what you've already seen.

most of the time , S2 still has that 'reset the counter back to zero for each new ep' feel.

good season.
more substantial/exciting/satisfying than the first.
and with the exception of S4, imo, things only get better.

just don't expect things to be that much different than S1.
there are basically 3-4 major episodes in the season where you will get a taste of how good the show can be.
the future seasons will be more like those.
seems like Wedon and crew were still getting their 'sea legs' with the season arc stuff.
S3 will be a major improvment in that respect.

however, you should know by the time you start watching the last episode of this set (which is the last half of a 2 parter) if you're hooked or not.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The only Buffy Season One Episode I really hated was "I Robot, You Jane". That was a real stinker whose only redeeming quality was the introduction of Jenny Calendar. The fact that it was followed by one of my favorite standalone episodes of the series, "The Puppet Show", helped put me in a forgiving mood, though.

That being said, it gets much better in the second season starting with the third episode "School Hard" which introduces Spike & Drusilla, ties up the few S1 dangling threads in an amusingly blunt way, and also is one of the first episodes to make Buffy's mom an interesting character.

Regards,

 

[Ryan_Guah]

I have to disagree with Paul_Scott completely. Season 2, to me, had a HUGE jump in quality of the episodes right from Episode 1. Sure, there are SOME episodes that are of the Season 1 monster-of-the-week quality, but it isn't many.

Most episodes are fully devoted to the arc, or are stand alones that still are able to further the arc, with cameo appearances by important characters and such.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Ryan,
post Innocence
which is the point were the season arc really kicks in you have the episodes
Phases- which is totaly concerned with Oz
-Bewitched,... which is another self contained episode about Xanders love spell going wrong


then you get to another pivitol episode

-Passion -which is relevant to the story arc



then we are back to another monster-of-the-week episode
with the 'hospital kinder-monster'

the next episode, also does not 'focus' on the main season arc, although it's resolution has a nice tie-in to it
But this could have actually taken place in the first season, as it wasn't dependant on the fact that Angel was now evil, merely that he was already dead.


so that particular episodes relevance to the season story arc is very thin to non existent.

after that we have
the steroid fish monsters
which is another fully self contained MOTW

and then we end the season with the 2 parter, which is story arc related, of course.

so out of the last 8
episodes that comprise the bulk of that storyline, more than half are MOTW, and could have occured at any point in the season, sans one scene or one line that may reference 'current' events.

don't get me wrong.
i still enjoyed the second season quite a bit, (although Spike and Dru started to get on my nerves, until the end), but i was suprised that less installments were focused on the Angel plot line than i had recalled
and one thing that did bug me, was that Giles doesn't really exhibit much in the way of grief or 'issues' over what happened, save for that one episode.

after that the subject gets one or two lines for the rest of the season.
i remember the issue being treated with a little more substance in some of the 3rd season eps.
in S2 it seems a little perfunctory.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Buffy: 7 seasons
Angel: 4 seasons

Is that all there is? Are there any other seasons or spin-offs?

Also, do Buffy & Angel share any concurrent storylines? Or is it OK to watch all the Buffy seasons before touching Angel?

Many thanks.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Buffy: 6-1/2 Seasons (Season one was a mid-season replacement)
Angel: 5 Seasons

Only the last season of each series is yet to be released on DVD in R1.

Buffy Season 4-7 has some crossovers with Angel Seasons 1-4, and Angel season 5 brings over a Buffy character and has a couple of episodes dealing with what happened to the other Buffy characters post Buffy Season 7.

Both series can be appreciated without the crossovers, but there may be some spoilerage of the other series if you don't watch them "interlaced".

Regards,

 

[MaraKM]

Rob, Angel is 5 seasons, not 4, but there are no other spin-offs. (yet)

There were a lot of crossover episodes between the two series before Buffy moved from WB to UPN. I think you're better off starting to watch Angel S1 when you start to watch Buffy S4, as opposed to waiting until the end. There's one character in particular who has an extremely important arc that occurs primarily in Angel, and, I don't think that character's subsequent Buffy episodes would make that much sense without having seen the Angel eps first.

Not to mention the Buffy/Angel relationship.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Thanks, Ken & Mara

 

[Eddy-C]

Is there something wrong with monster of the week episodes? Some of my favorite episodes of the series were the stand alones that continued to develop the individual characters instead of the big-bad plot. Buffy isn't 24. Angel season 4 is though

 

[Brad Grenz]

I agree, even in episodes that do not further the macro-story very much, there is always a lot of character growth, and relationship growth. In that sense I don't think it's fair to say any single episode in the series resets the clock. The monster may be self contained, but the character arcs never are.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i just cracked open S4 tonight and watched the first three eps.
i think i'm going to like it much better this time around than the scattered eps i caught during its first broadcast run.

i think being more familiar with the following seasons, and being used to seeing major changes in the characters and settings is going to help it go down a lot easier now.
at the time i was pretty resisitant to the changes.
it was new (like college) and out of its comfort zone that it had 2 1/2 yrs to cultivate.
i missed seeing the warmth of the library, and other familiar characters and situations.
but knowing in advance that the show never jumped the shark(at least for me) i think makes me interface with the material in a different, less confrontational way.
i'm not going into it with a "ok- prove to me you won't suck" attitude.
easier to just chill and enjoy.

and i did really enjoy these, more than i expected, and i'm actually pretty excited to have the rest of the season to work thru at my leisure.

even 'bad' Buffy is still more entertaining than 80-90% of everything else out there.

i'm just hoping the same holds true for Alias S3

 

[Chip_HT]

Remember that after Surprise and Innocence, the show moved to a new night and time, which was more accessible to a large audience, so the producers wanted to keep the MOTW formula for a while. This helped people like myself, who started watching in season 2 with the two night event.