Because I'm curious - The Buffy Fandom Character Wars Poll

[shadowkat]

I got curious about this while reading a post on the internet...don't ask which one.
Weird things inspire me. Anyhoo...I left out the obvious ones, because let's face it we already know who prefers Xander to Spike, Buffy to Spike, and Spike to Angel - we've argued those to death. Really. Who cares?? But these are harder choices because in a lot of these cases, people dearly love both characters. I'm making you pick one. Roll the dice. Which one at this particular point in time do you prefer? [ETA: DO NOT OVERTHINK THIS PEOPLE. BY PREFER - I mean which character you liked or enjoyed watching on the show better as a fictional character in the series. Not who you think is the better human being, more morally upstanding, or prefer as a role model for the kiddies or to hang with or be your best bud. This is a fictional character fandom poll not who I want to be friends with or marry poll.]

Don't worry, you're not being held to it. You can change your mind next week or tomorrow as the case may be. I certainly will. Polls are anything but definitive.

I do hope more than 10 people respond or I'll look like an idiot. ;-)

[Poll #1850464]

Comments

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, AYW was devastating to Riley. It's far and away the worst of the series. I thought it was an insult to the viewers.

Edit to add: Your list of bad episodes is very similar to mine. I've reconciled myself to 2-3 of the ones you list, but the rest are all there. Don't forget Go Fish. Or better, do forget it.

And you're evil for making me choose. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Go Fish. Xander had the worst episodes. I didn't like any of Xander's episodes. Okay that's not true - I liked The Pack and Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, also The Replacement was not bad - that was actually pretty good. But The Zeppo, Go Fish, Teacher's Pet, Inca Mummy Girl, Hells Bells, ugh.

And I agree, AYW was insulting to viewers. It was like watching a really cheesy Syfy channel parody of James Bond's Doctor No, except the villain is Spike with demon spider eggs and the bond girl with a heart of gold is Buffy.
Even the dialogue was cringe-inducing.

Notable for the classic line:

Spike: Buffy, if I knew you were coming, I'd have baked you a cake.

Apparenly Doug Petrie was busy watching Lost in Space and I Dream of Jeannie reruns on TV land, along with the occasional James Bond flick.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

"Xander had the worst episodes."

Hard to tell cause and effect. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

LOL! Oh come one...there had to be something about him that you liked?

[And no, not the loss of the eye in Dirty Girls, so he actually did look like a bewildered pirate for the rest of the season and got to make gross jokes about his eye-patch.]

(I admittedly liked Xander...but I'm starting to realize I'm in the minority on my flist in that regard. Xander fans really are a disenfranchized minority. Who knew?)

[sophist.livejournal.com]

There were moments: saving Buffy in PG; his speech in The Freshman. I'm sure I can come up with some others if you give me a chance to rewatch the whole series. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Who did you argue with on the ATPO Board constantly about Xander and Spike? I think it was Mal who loved Xander and hated Spike.

We had a lot of character wars on that site.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Mal. He was very gracious about it. He even ended up agreeing with one of my Xander posts.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was Mal. I could never read his responses or posts - he always sent my blood-pressure sky-rocketing. For the longest time I thought he was female, which is hilarious in retrospect.

Actually there was a group of people that I struggled with. Nice people. But they hated my favorite character and it was so hard to read it. LOL!

[sophist.livejournal.com]

There were plenty of people there whose posts I never read. I read everyone at first, but I quickly learned that I shouldn't (or couldn't) read some of them.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

As did I. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of attempting to argue with some of them...it did not end well. ;-)

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I remember. :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I liked Xander early on. Somewhere in 5 or 6 he began being way too patriarchal/Man of the house and it became rather annoying. The thing that saved Xander for me was NOT the writing. It was Nick Brendan.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree...Nick Brendan saved that character. He was so self-deprecating. And irreverent. A better actor than people give him credit for. I liked him up until a few episodes in S5, S6 and S7...I can understand why a lot of Xander fans disliked the latter seasons, the character's writing went downhill.

And I think it was Suave Xander that began to bug me. His speech to Buffy in Into the Woods - annoyed me. But he made me laugh in CRUSH and IWMTLY.
I wanted to kill him in Entropy - Grave, which made Grave difficult to bear, actually.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I think NB's acting went downhill in S6-7. As I understand it, that's when his personal problems also began affecting his work. I think the writers had to deal with that and the fans' complaints are unfair in that regard.

Agreed on ITW. I can sort of write that off because Xander plausibly believed it even if it wasn't true. But his self-righteousness generally grated on me, and his attempts at suave came across badly too. He did loyal and supportive pretty well when called upon.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's been well documented that both NB and GQ (Doyle) had substance abuse issues. That's the reason they killed off Doyle because of Quinn's issues.
And it's why Brendan's role was reduced, I think.

That's why tv is a difficult medium - because so much of it is dependent on actors...actors die, get ill, get pregnant, have nervous breakdowns, break bones, get haircuts, lose loved ones...they aren't words on paper or drawings. I think it's something tv writers who are often frustrated actors struggle with...I know Whedon did. Dollhouse in many ways was Whedon's self-flogging and critique of how Hollywood writers and directors treat actors.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. At least, S1 was. I still have no idea what the point was of S2.