Buffy / Angel question (1 Viewer)

[Matt Thompson]

Well, just to jump onto the ranking bandwagon:

Buffy -- 2, 3, 5, 7, 6, 1, 4.

Angel -- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

In all honesty, I believe Angel improved with each season. S2 and S3 are pretty comparable in terms of quality (and some of S3's filler episodes are painful), but I loved the emotional story with Holtz, and actually found myself tearing up at its ending. And Season 5? It starts off light and fun... but develops into what I consider the greatest season of television ever.

"Lineage," "Destiny," "Soul Purpose," "Damage," "You're Welcome," "A Hole in the World," "Shells," "Origin," and (especially) "Not Fade Away" are episodes that stand head-and-shoulders above the rest, Whedonverse or otherwise.

 

[Joel C]

Buffy only displayed the title, like, three times (Conversations with Dead People, the musical... maybe Hush). Neither show did it regularly.

The problem is Angel titles tend to be one word, whereas Buffy's are more catchy. And Angel was generally more serialized. I can name a particular episode of Buffy pre season 7 and describe the plot, but that's tough for S7 when so many episodes consisted of "Buffy gives a speech to the potentials and the first talks."

 

[Ray H]

I just finished Buffy Season Six. I was expecting to hate it with such negative fan reaction, but I quite liked it. Out of the lot, the only episode I really hated was "Wrecked." Also not a big fan of the magic for drugs metaphor, but aside from that episode, I didn't really mind it too much.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to rewatching Season 7 (even though I've seen the last half twice already). Lucky for me, I've been watching the show from Season One off of FX. I slipped during Season 5 so I started to use Netflix. Despite their break neck pace of showing two episodes a day and the postal service messing up the # of discs I got each week, I managed to catch up with them. It looks like Season 7 starts on Tuesday so I won't have to wait for the DVD in December.

 

[Ray H]

Also, I'd rank Buffy:
3, 5, 2, 1, 6, 4, 7 but 1, 4, 6 are just about even in my book.

And I also have the song "I'll Never Tell" from Once More With Feeling stuck in my head.

 

[John McM]

my rankings

B: 3, 2, 6, 5, 4, 7, 1
A: 4, 2, 1, 3, 5

together... B3, B2, B6, B5, B4, A4, B7, A2, A1, B1, A3, A5

 

[Ray H]

Together, I think I'd rank 'em:

B3, B5, A3, B2, A2, A5, A4, A1, B1, B6, B4, B7

 

[Michael Reuben]

In the waning years of a series with continuing story arcs, it's almost impossible for the writers not to end up doing riffs on their prior work. Sometimes they do it in such a way as to enrich the drama, which I'd say Buffy season 7 achives more often than not. And sometimes it's just a nod to the fans; for numerous examples, see Angel season 5.

M.

 

[David Dennison]

I think Buffy is far superior to Angel and probably my favorite show ever produced for tv. Angel still is a very solid show, but I was disappointed with Season 4. I have not seen Angel season 5 or Buffy season 7 because I did not start watching until the DVDs.

I always thought Buffy was some corny kid's show on the WB and was never willing to try it. My wife and I finally decided to rent the first season on Netflix about this time last year. We stuck with Netflix through Season 2 until we decided we could not stand the wait. Then we purchased all the Buffy (1-5) and Angel (1-2) we could get our hands on and spent the week after Christmas watching about 4 seasons between the shows. The second half of season 2 is still far and away my favorite.

Here's my rankings:

B2, B3, B6, B5, B1, B4 (minus Hush of course which was awesome), A3, A1, A2, A4 (really thought this one went way downhill)

Looking forward to Buffy season 7 despite poor reviews (I loved Season 6). Will definitely purchase Angel season 5, but I hope it improves over season 4.

 

[John McM]

I think Buffy is far superior to Angel and probably my favorite show ever produced for tv. Angel still is a very solid show, but I was disappointed with Season 4. I have not seen Angel season 5 or Buffy season 7 because I did not start watching until the DVDs.

if you honestly cannot wait 2 more weeks for the DVD's... FX starts on season 7 Tuesday.

 

[Tony_P]

I also prefer Buffy over Angel. To me, Buffy was the "warmer" show, with more (and better) humor and more heartfelt relationships. In a lot of ways, Buffy was much more about how the hero characters interacted with one another than with how they defeated the "Big Evil" every season.

Angel was a more introspective show, with Angel himself a character obsessed with angst, self-loathing, and redemption (many would say Buffy went this way in Seasons 6 and 7 as well.) Those are interesting concepts to explore, and I think one of the reasons Angel was so sucessful as a spin-off was that Joss was willing to do something different with AtS than what they had done with Buffy.

This is not to say that Buffy was all about the Scoobies or that Angel was all about Angel. Buffy had some GREAT villians and big story arcs. Angel had some equally great supporting heroes in Gunn, Fred, and Wes and a boatload of meaty interpersonal relationships. I just think that the overall tones of the show were different. To (inadequately) sum up, I would say I think of Buffy as a show about a family and Angel as a show about a loner.

 

[Alex Wagner]

i'd rank them

Buffy: 6,3,7,2,5,1,4

Angel: 4,3,5,2,1

 

[Holadem]

All right, I just finished S2 of angel, and found the Pylea arc more painful than anything in S6 of Buffy, including the Three Idiots . Heck, I think it even beats the Initiative from S4. Hmmm maybe not.

--
H

 

[Michael Reuben]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of people complain about the Pylea arc, but to me it's the high point of season 2.


I assume you mean Warren, Jonathan and Andrew? They're among my favorite Buffy characters. Why, you may ask? Six years on HTF, a lot of them spent in threads like this.

M.

 

[TedT]

To each their own...

I loved the Initiative!

Loved Warren, Jonathan and Andrew too! Among my favorite Buffy characters too.

Also thought Season 6 was one of the best seasons! (Season 4 was probably my favorite!)

Anxiously awaiting season 7!

 

[Scott_F_S]

Agreed. That Pylea arc was just silliness, felt to me like filler. In fact, some have speculated that that arc was tacked on at the end of S2 because Julie Benz wasn't available for the last few eps, and they decided to wait until S3 to continue the real storyline.

But still, Angel S2 was so good up until the Pylea sidetrack that I still rank it as the best season of Angel and right up there with the best of Buffy.

Also agree on your viewpoint of the Three Idiots in Buffy S6. There were some things to like in that season, and I wouldn't mind going through S6 again to catch up before S7 is released. But I doubt that I will be able to do it because the nerds were just too painful to endure.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I think the explanation was that Mutant Enemy tended to try to have "up" episodes of Buffy when Angel was "down", and vice versa, especially when they were on back-to-back. The end of Buffy season five was the start of the Unending Descent Into Misery, so the somewhat goofy Pylea storyline was meant to contrast with it.

 

[Eddy-C]

Yeah but both Buffy and Angel were having "down" episodes around fall 2000(joyce having the tumor, angel trying to save darla, riley getting ready to leave)

 

[John McM]

I also prefer Buffy over Angel. To me, Buffy was the "warmer" show, with more (and better) humor and more heartfelt relationships. In a lot of ways, Buffy was much more about how the hero characters interacted with one another than with how they defeated the "Big Evil" every season.

I agree with that totally, I never really thought of it that way but you hit the nail on the head perfectly.

One of the things with Angel is that I never truly felt the same way about the characters (sans Angel, Wesley, Cordelia... people we met first through Buffy) as I did about the characters on Buffy. I know a lot of people who were so upset when (something) happened to (someone... since some people are waiting for DVD to see Angel s5) on Angel last season, but to me, it was nowhere as upsetting as when (something) happened to (someone else) on Angel just a few episodes earlier, as well as when a character (no names again) met a shocking end in Buffy's last episode. The characters from Buffy were made up to be your friends, people you cared about. Whereas the only Angel characters I felt that way about were those that were transported over.

 

[Ray H]

While I did take the losses of the Angel characters badly, the loss of that character from Buffy S7 in the last episode just infuriated me! What was the point of that when you had a bus full of other kids you never liked to begin with?!

 

[Michael Reuben]

I think you just answered your own question. The point was to make you feel the loss.

M.