Television retrospective review- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
August 14th 2007 08:07
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
This is arguably the most popular of Joss Whedon’s television creations. And the longest running, too. A critical and commercial success, and a multiple Emmy Award nominee, it kick-started the career of Sarah Michelle Gellar (but then again, where is she now? ‘The Grudge’? ‘Scooby Doo’?) The series, despite its title, is intelligent, literate, and excellently written. The performances are all top-notch. See, I don’t necessarily like SMG. But I can’t deny she does a good acting job in this. I am not even a big horror fan. But I don’t know what it is. There’s something about this particular show. The key is the characters. They are very entertaining to watch, and their character arcs are well planned out. See, unlike ‘24’ or ‘Lost’, the season arcs in ‘Buffy’ are actually pre-planned. The writers have an idea where the season is going to end up when they begin.
Furthermore, the show has some of the tightest continuity of any American series. Whereas the Simpsons writers cannot remember if the family live across the street from the nuclear plant, or on the other side of town; Buffy’s writers have episodes, characters, even minor lines of dialogue referenced in much later seasons. It’s not just a show like CSI (solve a different crime every week) or ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ (come to a new alien planet every week). Buffy has season-long arcs, which develop and transform the characters. Essentially, its like watching a play or reading a novel. Events are revealed to the characters, and the audience, every week. Even the rare stand-alone episodes have allusions to the season arcs within them.
The show is a metaphor for the struggles of life as a teenager, and in later seasons, a young adult. In each episode, there are demons to be fought, both physical, and in their personal lives. The show refuses to compromise, to be purely a horror show or purely a fantasy show. It frequently, nay, constantly plays around with, and blends genre conventions. The television guides used to list it as a, and I quote, ‘fantasy/horror/comedy/action /sci-fi/drama’. One moment, you’re laughing, along with the characters. The next, you’re moved almost to tears by tragedy. It’s a comedy. But it’s also a drama. Why must a show be one or the other when you can have both? Neither is better or worse. The comedy episodes are done brilliantly, but so are the serious ones.
The show also defies the assumed restrictions of the television medium. There have been episodes without dialogue (Hush), and episodes without music (The Body). There has even been a musical episode, with not a great deal of spoken dialogue (Once More, With Feeling). It is often these highly inventive episodes that are the highlights of the series. ‘Hush’ earned series creator Joss Whedon his first Emmy nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation. It’s one of the best-scripted episodes of prime time TV, and I urge everyone to check it out.
Several other outstanding episodes received serious notice from awards ceremonies. The wonderful ‘Once More, With Feeling’ was accidentally left off the Emmy voting forms, although it had been scheduled for nomination. The magnificent ‘Conversations With Dead People’ in season seven won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The fact that the superlative ‘The Body’, in season five, not only didn’t win an Emmy, but wasn’t even given the dignity of a nomination, is one of the most criminal acts of negligence on the part of the Emmy board in TV history. ‘The Body’, along with ‘Hush’ and ‘The Gift’ is one of the best episodes of the series. I don’t think any other show, including mainstream naturalistic dramas, has portrayed death, and the shock it delivers to the loved ones when they find out, as well as this episode. There is not a note of music to be heard in the ep. An eerie silence penetrates every scene. A true masterpiece, and perhaps Joss’ finest hour. Anyone who doubts this show has to check out at least that episode.
Every so often, a milestone in popular culture comes along, which is copied and imitated by everyone else. Be it developer Rockstar’s videogame GTA III, (which revolutionised what was possible in that medium by giving players access to a gigantic, non-linear, free-roaming world to explore); with all its many competitors and knock-offs (True Crime, Driv3r); or the original Star Wars movie, with its deluge of copycats (Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole). ‘Buffy’ inspired a tonne of try-hards who followed in its wake (Charmed, Smallville, Roswell, etc), but none had the same writing calibre.
Notions of genre should never supersede notions of quality. The producer of the new Doctor Who series, Russell T. Davies says of ‘Buffy’ maestro Joss Whedon:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons and end-of-the world isn't hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer—not just genre/niche writers, but every single one of us
Comparisons with Shakespeare are actually not all that sacrilegious, believe it or not. Shakespeare was considered a popular entertainer in his day, and not a bastion of the highbrow literary canon that he is now made out to be. And the Bard often worked within the conventions of the fantasy genre (‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘The Tempest’ , and the three witches in ‘Macbeth’ being great examples). Ditto Oscar Wilde (with his ‘The Canterville Ghost’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’). Will Shakespeare introduced the world to a plethora of neologisms and and phrases that have now passed into the language institution. Joss and his team of writers do precisely the same thing here. There have been sociological studies into the colloquial ‘slanguage’ of ‘Buffy’. I see no reason at all why it shouldn’t be treated with the same academic respect as old Willy. In some circles, it already is. There’s a lot of academic discussion, and critical readings of the show. This very reviewer analysed ‘Buffy vs Dracula’ in a university Gothic Literature class. Joss himself said:
"I think it's great that the academic community has taken an interest in the show. I think it's always important for academics to study popular culture, even if the thing they are studying is idiotic. If it's successful or made a dent in culture, then it is worthy of study to find out why. Buffy, on the other hand is, I hope, not idiotic. We think very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we're writing it... it really is, apart from being a pop-culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode."
Even though the storyline was not completely set in stone from the outset (writers had to be aware of real life constraints such as the budget, actors schedules, and possible cancellation threats), the production team did an impressive job of weaving it all together into a seamless whole. You get the impression whilst watching it that the story is leading to a point; it is actually evolving and growing into a new form as the years go by. The real joy of watching ‘Buffy’ (and Joss Whedon’s other shows Firefly and Angel) is that there is no status quo. No ‘reset buttons’ are employed between episodes. A little bit of clarification may be necessary for that last statement. In a lot of TV series, particularly in sci-fi shows, the characters lives return to normal by the end of each episode, regardless of what catastrophes befell them. It’s as though someone pressed a reset switch. The episode may as well never have happened. By the next week’s instalment, they’ve completely forgotten about it. In ‘Buffy’, events in prior episodes almost always have major fallout in the succeeding ones. Nothing in life is static, and neither is this show. Apart from spotting a few changing hairstyles, you could pretty much watch ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ in any order. Apart from obvious improvements in the animation process, the eighteen seasons of the Simpsons all seem to blend into each other. Each season of ‘Buffy’ presents the viewer with a completely different situation, a new evil to be faced, a new dynamic amongst the characters.
The character arcs are phenomenal. Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) is a shy, reclusive computer nerd when we first encounter her in the first episode, but by the end of season seven, she’s almost a different character, and is now the most powerful witch in the Northern Hemisphere! Spike (James Marsters) was originally intended to be little more than a two-bit vampire thug, whose purpose was to menace our heroes (or rather, predominantly, heroines) for a couple of episodes, and then get killed off. The producers didn’t bank on his immense popularity with the fanbase, though, and he was not only allowed to remain as an antagonist for the remainder of Season Two, but he became in later years, an integral part of the series. His transformation from ruffian bleach-blond Billy Idol lookalike punk; to the lovelorn martyr he was by ‘Chosen’ (the final episode), was extraordinary.
It’s more than just a pop culture phenomenon. For many, it changed their philosophy on life. It’s a religious cult, to be honest. But it’s also a ruddy good show, and its well worth watching from beginning to end, preferably without spoilers, if you’ve not experienced it before. The first episode I saw was fortunately a very, very good one (season two’s ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’). I dismissed the show when it first aired, thinking it looked silly. But after viewing that episode, my mind was entirely changed. I thought ‘You know, that was pretty damned great. I’m going to start watching this’. I suggest you do the same.
All seven seasons are now available on DVD and VHS
This is arguably the most popular of Joss Whedon’s television creations. And the longest running, too. A critical and commercial success, and a multiple Emmy Award nominee, it kick-started the career of Sarah Michelle Gellar (but then again, where is she now? ‘The Grudge’? ‘Scooby Doo’?) The series, despite its title, is intelligent, literate, and excellently written. The performances are all top-notch. See, I don’t necessarily like SMG. But I can’t deny she does a good acting job in this. I am not even a big horror fan. But I don’t know what it is. There’s something about this particular show. The key is the characters. They are very entertaining to watch, and their character arcs are well planned out. See, unlike ‘24’ or ‘Lost’, the season arcs in ‘Buffy’ are actually pre-planned. The writers have an idea where the season is going to end up when they begin.
Furthermore, the show has some of the tightest continuity of any American series. Whereas the Simpsons writers cannot remember if the family live across the street from the nuclear plant, or on the other side of town; Buffy’s writers have episodes, characters, even minor lines of dialogue referenced in much later seasons. It’s not just a show like CSI (solve a different crime every week) or ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ (come to a new alien planet every week). Buffy has season-long arcs, which develop and transform the characters. Essentially, its like watching a play or reading a novel. Events are revealed to the characters, and the audience, every week. Even the rare stand-alone episodes have allusions to the season arcs within them.
The show is a metaphor for the struggles of life as a teenager, and in later seasons, a young adult. In each episode, there are demons to be fought, both physical, and in their personal lives. The show refuses to compromise, to be purely a horror show or purely a fantasy show. It frequently, nay, constantly plays around with, and blends genre conventions. The television guides used to list it as a, and I quote, ‘fantasy/horror/comedy/action /sci-fi/drama’. One moment, you’re laughing, along with the characters. The next, you’re moved almost to tears by tragedy. It’s a comedy. But it’s also a drama. Why must a show be one or the other when you can have both? Neither is better or worse. The comedy episodes are done brilliantly, but so are the serious ones.
The show also defies the assumed restrictions of the television medium. There have been episodes without dialogue (Hush), and episodes without music (The Body). There has even been a musical episode, with not a great deal of spoken dialogue (Once More, With Feeling). It is often these highly inventive episodes that are the highlights of the series. ‘Hush’ earned series creator Joss Whedon his first Emmy nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation. It’s one of the best-scripted episodes of prime time TV, and I urge everyone to check it out.
Several other outstanding episodes received serious notice from awards ceremonies. The wonderful ‘Once More, With Feeling’ was accidentally left off the Emmy voting forms, although it had been scheduled for nomination. The magnificent ‘Conversations With Dead People’ in season seven won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The fact that the superlative ‘The Body’, in season five, not only didn’t win an Emmy, but wasn’t even given the dignity of a nomination, is one of the most criminal acts of negligence on the part of the Emmy board in TV history. ‘The Body’, along with ‘Hush’ and ‘The Gift’ is one of the best episodes of the series. I don’t think any other show, including mainstream naturalistic dramas, has portrayed death, and the shock it delivers to the loved ones when they find out, as well as this episode. There is not a note of music to be heard in the ep. An eerie silence penetrates every scene. A true masterpiece, and perhaps Joss’ finest hour. Anyone who doubts this show has to check out at least that episode.
Every so often, a milestone in popular culture comes along, which is copied and imitated by everyone else. Be it developer Rockstar’s videogame GTA III, (which revolutionised what was possible in that medium by giving players access to a gigantic, non-linear, free-roaming world to explore); with all its many competitors and knock-offs (True Crime, Driv3r); or the original Star Wars movie, with its deluge of copycats (Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole). ‘Buffy’ inspired a tonne of try-hards who followed in its wake (Charmed, Smallville, Roswell, etc), but none had the same writing calibre.
Notions of genre should never supersede notions of quality. The producer of the new Doctor Who series, Russell T. Davies says of ‘Buffy’ maestro Joss Whedon:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons and end-of-the world isn't hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer—not just genre/niche writers, but every single one of us
Comparisons with Shakespeare are actually not all that sacrilegious, believe it or not. Shakespeare was considered a popular entertainer in his day, and not a bastion of the highbrow literary canon that he is now made out to be. And the Bard often worked within the conventions of the fantasy genre (‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘The Tempest’ , and the three witches in ‘Macbeth’ being great examples). Ditto Oscar Wilde (with his ‘The Canterville Ghost’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’). Will Shakespeare introduced the world to a plethora of neologisms and and phrases that have now passed into the language institution. Joss and his team of writers do precisely the same thing here. There have been sociological studies into the colloquial ‘slanguage’ of ‘Buffy’. I see no reason at all why it shouldn’t be treated with the same academic respect as old Willy. In some circles, it already is. There’s a lot of academic discussion, and critical readings of the show. This very reviewer analysed ‘Buffy vs Dracula’ in a university Gothic Literature class. Joss himself said:
"I think it's great that the academic community has taken an interest in the show. I think it's always important for academics to study popular culture, even if the thing they are studying is idiotic. If it's successful or made a dent in culture, then it is worthy of study to find out why. Buffy, on the other hand is, I hope, not idiotic. We think very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we're writing it... it really is, apart from being a pop-culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode."
Even though the storyline was not completely set in stone from the outset (writers had to be aware of real life constraints such as the budget, actors schedules, and possible cancellation threats), the production team did an impressive job of weaving it all together into a seamless whole. You get the impression whilst watching it that the story is leading to a point; it is actually evolving and growing into a new form as the years go by. The real joy of watching ‘Buffy’ (and Joss Whedon’s other shows Firefly and Angel) is that there is no status quo. No ‘reset buttons’ are employed between episodes. A little bit of clarification may be necessary for that last statement. In a lot of TV series, particularly in sci-fi shows, the characters lives return to normal by the end of each episode, regardless of what catastrophes befell them. It’s as though someone pressed a reset switch. The episode may as well never have happened. By the next week’s instalment, they’ve completely forgotten about it. In ‘Buffy’, events in prior episodes almost always have major fallout in the succeeding ones. Nothing in life is static, and neither is this show. Apart from spotting a few changing hairstyles, you could pretty much watch ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ in any order. Apart from obvious improvements in the animation process, the eighteen seasons of the Simpsons all seem to blend into each other. Each season of ‘Buffy’ presents the viewer with a completely different situation, a new evil to be faced, a new dynamic amongst the characters.
The character arcs are phenomenal. Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) is a shy, reclusive computer nerd when we first encounter her in the first episode, but by the end of season seven, she’s almost a different character, and is now the most powerful witch in the Northern Hemisphere! Spike (James Marsters) was originally intended to be little more than a two-bit vampire thug, whose purpose was to menace our heroes (or rather, predominantly, heroines) for a couple of episodes, and then get killed off. The producers didn’t bank on his immense popularity with the fanbase, though, and he was not only allowed to remain as an antagonist for the remainder of Season Two, but he became in later years, an integral part of the series. His transformation from ruffian bleach-blond Billy Idol lookalike punk; to the lovelorn martyr he was by ‘Chosen’ (the final episode), was extraordinary.
It’s more than just a pop culture phenomenon. For many, it changed their philosophy on life. It’s a religious cult, to be honest. But it’s also a ruddy good show, and its well worth watching from beginning to end, preferably without spoilers, if you’ve not experienced it before. The first episode I saw was fortunately a very, very good one (season two’s ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’). I dismissed the show when it first aired, thinking it looked silly. But after viewing that episode, my mind was entirely changed. I thought ‘You know, that was pretty damned great. I’m going to start watching this’. I suggest you do the same.
All seven seasons are now available on DVD and VHS
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Comment by Mandy
Love of Pop
Anyway great post! I feel, ya, dawg, I feel ya. Hee hee. You put into words a lot of my thoughts on Buffy. Hope to read more soon.
Mandy
Comment by Anonymous
I completely agree that there has been nothing before or since on TV that has really captured my attention as much as that show. I loved those characters like they were my own friends!
Haven't seen the S8 comics yet, but I plan to. The pics I've seen of it look pretty good indeed. I hope Joss will return to the Slayerverse one day in another production.
Adam
Comment by MyLittleMansAnIdiot
Paul
p.s. Great retro review
Comment by AdamW
I think if you can't find at least one episode of Buffy, Angel, or Firefly that makes you feel, laugh, cry, get excited, or affect you on some emotional level, or at the very least entertain you; you don't have a soul.
No shows before or since has had such an impact on me.
I really hope Joss makes a return to TV writing soon. I think thet's where he's at his best. I hear he's working on Ripper (the Giles spin-off) at the moment. I hear, in the wake of the massive success of Dr Who and Torchwood, the BBC is interested in sci fi again.