![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatPeople on my flist have been doing anniversary posts regarding when they first watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how they came to the online world/fandom in respect to that series. For people reading this journal, and there are a few of you, that never watched the show - it's one of those tv series that is not what it appears. And is, an acquired taste, it grows on you.
I started watching it when it first premiered in 1997. Watched the two-part premier on the WB network live. I'd seen the film version, was disappointed in it. But heard the series was casting Anthony Stewart Head in the part Donald Sutherland had played in the film. And at that point in time, I was watching whatever Head did. I'd fallen for his acting in the musical Chess, VR5 (which had been cancelled the year before) and the Taster's Choice commericials.
At first, I found the series to be a bit on the campy, cheesy side. And did not watch it all the time. It really wasn't until the episodes The Pack, Angel and Nightmares that I thought it might have a modicum of potential. But was hardly obsessed. Just found it fun and nice way to blow off time in front of the telly. Was mildly annoyed and disappointed with the black and white depiction of the monsters - vampires, who were outside of Angel, all ugly. The Master as a villain bored me. And the kid, felt like a rip off of Anne Rice.
Then School Hard happened - Spike and Drusilla, two pretty, punk vampires, with swagger and style - and a connection to Angel, Giles got much darker, Jenny was not just a teacher, but a gypsey with a connection to Angel, and the Buffy/Angel romance turned upside down. I fell in love with it. The episodes that clinched it? Innocence. Followed by Passion.
But I wasn't online, just Ain't it Cool News and random websites - but nothing else. No, it wasn't until Season 6, when the show decided to try something no other show I'd ever seen had, that I became obsessed. Before that it was more or less formulaic, good - well-written, but still formulaic television. Kids fight monster. Win the day. Heroine dies, is brought back. Boy and girl fall in love but can't be together due to outside circumstances, ie. star-crossed lovers. Risky things? They'd do as an "alternate reality" or "time warp" episode a la The Wish in Buffy or those Temporal anomaly episodes they'd done on all the tracks. You see one of these, you've seen them all - and they'd always disappointed me, because the characters remain unaffected. Or the heroine never does anything nasty - that's her bad girl double's job. Mustn't sully our heroine - because that would scare the audience. I'd seen it done so many times by now. I enjoyed it. But it didn't obsess me. Didn't excite me. It was paint by number tv, good paint by numbers, well-written, but still paint by numbers. And I did not see the series as commenting on itself or building. It felt like it was catering to the fan base, keeping them intrigued with the Buffy/Angel love - they'll never be together because we'll lose you if we did that, but we'll tease you with it forever just like we did with Sam and Diane, Laura and Remington, etc...
Then I saw Restless...which was an odd episode. And Season 5 happened, closely followed by Season 6, which pushed the envelope even further than S5 did, and I suddenly realized that they were commenting on what happened before, that it was a novel for television, that the writer wasn't just writing about a girl coming of age, this wasn't just another run of the mill star-crossed Romeo and Juliet story, or "Heroes" Journey, but that they were actually trying to do something far more ambitious and interesting here. There was a pattern and it wasn't predictable or like what I'd seen done before. The heroine was allowed to screw up and royally. The girl wasn't going to be saved by the guy, she'd save him or kill him as required, but he did not define her. She defined herself. If it weren't for Season 5, 6 and 7, I doubt I'd have come online or bought the DVD's. I would have forgotten the show after a few years.
Those three seasons proved two things to me: 1. The writers were not catering to their viewers or the network, they were writing their own story. 2. They respected the audience enough to ignore them. 3. The story was not just about a girl fighting vampires. 3. They were interested in taking risks and pushing the envelope.
So I fell in love in S2. I became obsessed in S6. And it remains the only show that this has happened with.
I started watching it when it first premiered in 1997. Watched the two-part premier on the WB network live. I'd seen the film version, was disappointed in it. But heard the series was casting Anthony Stewart Head in the part Donald Sutherland had played in the film. And at that point in time, I was watching whatever Head did. I'd fallen for his acting in the musical Chess, VR5 (which had been cancelled the year before) and the Taster's Choice commericials.
At first, I found the series to be a bit on the campy, cheesy side. And did not watch it all the time. It really wasn't until the episodes The Pack, Angel and Nightmares that I thought it might have a modicum of potential. But was hardly obsessed. Just found it fun and nice way to blow off time in front of the telly. Was mildly annoyed and disappointed with the black and white depiction of the monsters - vampires, who were outside of Angel, all ugly. The Master as a villain bored me. And the kid, felt like a rip off of Anne Rice.
Then School Hard happened - Spike and Drusilla, two pretty, punk vampires, with swagger and style - and a connection to Angel, Giles got much darker, Jenny was not just a teacher, but a gypsey with a connection to Angel, and the Buffy/Angel romance turned upside down. I fell in love with it. The episodes that clinched it? Innocence. Followed by Passion.
But I wasn't online, just Ain't it Cool News and random websites - but nothing else. No, it wasn't until Season 6, when the show decided to try something no other show I'd ever seen had, that I became obsessed. Before that it was more or less formulaic, good - well-written, but still formulaic television. Kids fight monster. Win the day. Heroine dies, is brought back. Boy and girl fall in love but can't be together due to outside circumstances, ie. star-crossed lovers. Risky things? They'd do as an "alternate reality" or "time warp" episode a la The Wish in Buffy or those Temporal anomaly episodes they'd done on all the tracks. You see one of these, you've seen them all - and they'd always disappointed me, because the characters remain unaffected. Or the heroine never does anything nasty - that's her bad girl double's job. Mustn't sully our heroine - because that would scare the audience. I'd seen it done so many times by now. I enjoyed it. But it didn't obsess me. Didn't excite me. It was paint by number tv, good paint by numbers, well-written, but still paint by numbers. And I did not see the series as commenting on itself or building. It felt like it was catering to the fan base, keeping them intrigued with the Buffy/Angel love - they'll never be together because we'll lose you if we did that, but we'll tease you with it forever just like we did with Sam and Diane, Laura and Remington, etc...
Then I saw Restless...which was an odd episode. And Season 5 happened, closely followed by Season 6, which pushed the envelope even further than S5 did, and I suddenly realized that they were commenting on what happened before, that it was a novel for television, that the writer wasn't just writing about a girl coming of age, this wasn't just another run of the mill star-crossed Romeo and Juliet story, or "Heroes" Journey, but that they were actually trying to do something far more ambitious and interesting here. There was a pattern and it wasn't predictable or like what I'd seen done before. The heroine was allowed to screw up and royally. The girl wasn't going to be saved by the guy, she'd save him or kill him as required, but he did not define her. She defined herself. If it weren't for Season 5, 6 and 7, I doubt I'd have come online or bought the DVD's. I would have forgotten the show after a few years.
Those three seasons proved two things to me: 1. The writers were not catering to their viewers or the network, they were writing their own story. 2. They respected the audience enough to ignore them. 3. The story was not just about a girl fighting vampires. 3. They were interested in taking risks and pushing the envelope.
So I fell in love in S2. I became obsessed in S6. And it remains the only show that this has happened with.