This Show is Rated: TV-PG
Well I guess it only makes sense for my first blog entry to be about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (see the about me page for further details). I have to admit that I never had any desire to watch the show because of the name. I just thought it would be lame. I know it’s ironic considering my favorite band at the time was The Goo Goo Dolls, go figure. Anyway, I’m glad I finally gave it a chance as it turns out I loved the show.
If you haven’t heard of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” … where have you been hiding? Just kidding! Anyway, the gist of the show is that a teenager named Buffy Summers has been chosen to be the next vampire slayer (there is only one, when they die a new one is chosen). It’s a destiny thing that you can’t get out of. Although, bonus, you get super strength. So in addition to being a regular high school student she has to protect the world from vampires, demons and various other scary things.
I have never found a good way to describe this series that doesn’t come off sounding hokey. However, it is anything but that. The show is a great blend of drama, horror and humor. It takes a look into the world of teenagers, using monsters as metaphors for real-life situations. The dialog is clever and the make believe world of Sunnydale sucks you in. At times you will love Joss Whedon (the creator of the show) and at times you will hate him. He certainly doesn’t mind throwing heartbreak at us. Basically, the show is a great ride.
Today will just be about Season 1 (which is only 12 episodes long). I will be the first to admit that it isn’t as strong as the other seasons, but I think it is necessary to set up the characters and what their life is all about. Bear in mind that I didn’t discover the show until the 7th season, so I had to backtrack from there. I’m not sure how that influenced my feelings about this season, would I have liked it more or less if I had seen it first. Who knows?
My favorite character from this season is Willow. I love how she is geeky, shy and unsure of herself. Then she gets pulled into this incredible and scary world that she didn’t even know existed. I enjoyed watching her adapt and become a part of Buffy’s tight knit group. Alyson Hannigan did a wonderful job of portraying her. She played all the emotions well and really was Willow. Which brings me to Buffy herself. Oddly enough she ends up being one of my least favorite characters. Maybe it’s because I just can’t relate to her character as well as I can relate to someone like Willow. Part of it may be Sarah Michelle Gellar herself, although she is a good actor in the technical sense, I always feel like I am watching someone act when I see her. Whereas, with Alyson Hannigan I always feel like I am watching Willow (not someone pretending to be Willow). Hopefully, that makes sense.
My favorite episodes from this season are:
Witch – Buffy tries out for the cheerleading squad only to find out someone is trying to get rid of the cheerleaders. So much for trying to get some normalcy into her life.
The Puppet Show – A ventriloquist’s dummy that may be harvesting organs from students … need I say more.
Nightmares – Welcome to the nightmare world of a comatose child. Where Buffy and her friends worst nightmares become reality. A clown is involved at one point … what can I say, clowns just give me the creeps.
Make sure to listen to the audio commentaries that Joss Whedon does on a couple of the episodes. They give some good insight into the show and he is fun to listen to. You can tell he really loves what he does.
Jan
Following is additional information about the show that contains spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.
I also think one of the reasons that I don’t like this season as well as the others is that my favorite characters of the show are Spike, Oz and Willow (in that order). Guess who’s not in season 1; both Spike and Oz. Since I watched the seasons out of order, I got the chance to know those characters and definitely missed them during season 1.
Interesting stuff from season one:
The guy that plays Danny Messer on CSI New York gets killed by Darla within the first 2 ½ minutes of the 1st episode … then he is just another dead body.
Steven Smith a host on the FUSE music channel is in two episodes of Buffy; The Harvest and The Pack. He is the surfer type guy with shoulder length hair.
The Master is played by the yelling guy from the Twisted Sister videos.
Is it wrong that I am more upset by Herbert the pig being eaten by the hyena students than the fact that the principal was also eaten by them.
The puppet trying to stab Buffy with a big butcher knife just cracks me up.
Joss seems to really like to put Willow in danger. I think she was facing imminent death in at least 4 of the 12 episodes.
