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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I think the nerd trio is definitely the weakest aspect of the season. While things the main characters do in reaction to various things the nerd trio does are fun viewing, the nerd trio in and of themselves honestly bore me. Their presence could honestly be what makes many Buffy fans less pleased with this season than others.

I'm glad to read that you enjoyed the musical ep. I didn't know what your opinions on musicals period was, so I was actually wondering if you might would end up not liking the episode at all. I remember watching the first several episodes on tv, and every episode they'd advertise the upcoming musical episode, and I hadn't heard that they were doing a musical episode, so I just didn't get it. And then I saw the episode and loved it. Which is why when I found out Joss was doing Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, I knew it would be good.

And admiraldave is right, the follow up episode after Once More With Feeling is good too; it's possibly one of the most funny episodes of the show.
 
I can't deny that my tastes in most things are rather cisgendered and no, musicals are not generally my thing. But, like pop music and romantic comedies, it's not the very existence of such things I don't like, it's just that most of the popular examples seem dumb.

Singing In the Rain is an undeniable classic. I've been to a number of Broadway shows (I do live here, after all) and enjoyed a couple to some degree. More importantly, as a jazz fan, I appreciate the connection of musical theater to the Great American Songbook.

It's the stuff like Cats and Mamma Mia I can't stand. I mean, come on, that is some pretty lame-ass shit right there.

Either way, one has to have no joy in their heart to have been watching for 5 seasons and not get a big grin on their face when an episode starts with a Honeymooners style credits and Buffy singing while patrolling (the visual style, with Buffy walking towards the camera while singing, and the scene acting like an overture from the heroine's point of view, is exactly like how a Disney movie would start, like Cinderella or Beauty & the Beast).

Yes before it started I was all "oh I wonder if this is gonna be corny" and I dropped that stupid idea like 30 seconds into the episode.

Funniest sequence: Xander and Anya walking down the street with Giles. Anya complaining that their number was a "retro-pastiche, not a pop crossover hit" and then the goddamn street cleaners doing their dance... holy shit that dance made me lose it.

Speaking of Xander and Anya's number... damn that girl does some sit-ups, eh? And in the Halloween episode before that, as a Charlie's Angel on roller-skates... I know at some point I observed she's not as drop-dead gorgeous as some of the other women on the show but I guess I was wrong about that.

Amazingly, Anya in red lingerie wasn't the sexiest part of the show.

"You make me com... plete."
Um... er... *coughs, loosens tie* uh.. yeah... mmm

Tara's singing was so strong and sensual that I assumed they got someone else to do it. I also thought Spike was faking it because the lips seemed slightly out of sync but I looked it up and all the actors were singing their parts. Maybe it was the quality of my video, then. And maybe that's why Willow didn't have her own song, if the actress can't sing well.

I also thought it was funny that Spike, the punk rocker, got the rock-musical song (the kind of thing real punks would scorn). But then Spike has never been a very authentic punk (the only bands he references are the big three of the genre. Come on, Spike, pick up a record by The Damned at some point!).

I'm not saying this was a "perfect" episodes- some of the lyrics were pretty weak, Giles' song was kinda lame, the villain was corny, whatever... but the ambition was a joy to see. Maybe most impressively, they managed to incorporate important story stuff, leading up to Buffy's crushing revelation at the end.

Mostly what I love is that, while there were some meta jokes and self-mocking, it was done with real enthusiasm and an attitude of "you know what, we're doing this, fuck it, whatever." They could have done it mockingly, or where only the audience "interprets" it as a musical but it's normal to everyone else in the show, but no, they just went for it. And that, in itself, is a key appeal of musical theater- the suspension of reality and allowing yourself to except a story in which people break out into perfectly choreographed and harmonized song and dance.
 
I agree, the Nerd Trio being all spooky and dangerous was silly, but, the tree scene is awesome (That is this season isn't it?)
 
The reason there was differential between the audio and the video (i.e. lips not exactly matching, etc.) was because the audio was recorded in an actual audio booth and was dubbed over the video, so there were some inconsistancies. But like you said, they actually sung it themselves. Part of why it was recorded in a studio was so that they could sell it as a soundtrack, which if I remember correctly also includes suites of the film score used in Hush, Restless, and the music of Buffy's sacrifice at the end of season five.

As for Spike specifically, I believe James Marsters has his own band, though I know of none of what it sounds like or what the band's called.
 
I actually just acquired the soundtrack album. Will listen @ work tomorrow.

Wikipedia says that there was a comic book about Angel and Buffy's off-screen meeting. Anybody read that? Is it good?

Also that there was a comic book called "season 8." Seriously? Look I like this show well enough but ain't gonna start buying shit.
 
I have not read the comic of Buffy and Angel's offscreen meeting; I didn't even know one existed.

Yeah, the "Season 8" comic is still running. I bought the first trade paperback collection of the first 6 issues or so, I was seriously underwhelmed. I've since read really detailed synopsi of the issues on the Buffy wiki (if you choose to do similarly, wait until after watching all of Buffy and Angel). Reading the synopsi reconfirmed to me my decision to not buy/read any more of the comic than I did. In my opinion, it really isn't good, despite being officially sanctioned by Joss. In some of the more recent issues, they literally gave Buffy more traditional superhero powers, like flight and invulnerability, because she was on her way to becoming some god born in the destruction of the world, or some stupid shit like that.

There is one Buffy related comic that I would recommend though, provided that you enjoy the comic format for stories. It's a limited series that's available in a single trade paperback. It's called Fray, and is about a slayer 500 some years in the future.
 
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After losing their memories Giles and Spike think they're father and son. In one of the dreams in that dream episode, they're calling each other father and son (and I think Spike is wearing the same ridiculous suit).

I just want y'all to know I'm paying attention.

"A vampire with a soul? Oh my god, how lame is that?"

I was never a big comic book fan but I found the B5 trilogy about Babylon 4's re-appearance because it was "canon." If a Buffy comic is considered canon I'd like to read it but not enough to pay a significant amount of money. If there are links and wikis, sure, I'll go through them when I'm done with the show.
 
The end (for now?) of Tara and Willow's relationship is the only so far to effect me emotionally, because it's the only one that felt "real" to me.
 
I put on Once More With A Feeling this morning while doing my morning routine, but had to sit down and re-watch the Anya/Giles/Xander sequence and caught a line I missed last time, about the police taking "witness arias."

I didn't make the Joan of Arc connection... so she was a slayer and fought the British? Not a bad resume.

Wikipedia confirms that, though, and points out that in France the reference didn't work, ironically, because it's "Jean d'Arc" there, so hearing "Joan" wouldn't have meant anything to them. Also that Xander was always called Alexander in the French translations so the joke of everyone calling him Alex in the episode didn't work for them.


About the relationships, I just remember another one that felt more believable than the others: Willow and Oz. Willow's love life is the only one in the show that is effective, so I'm going to credit Hannigan's work for making that happen.
 
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Added to my digital music library, under Soundtracks, joining Amadeus, The Blues Brothers, The Harder They Come, Pulp Fiction, Singles, and O Brother Where Art Thou. It's a good group.
(Purple Rain, Shaft and Superfly are, of course, listed under their respective artists)

Even though it's the same recordings as from the TV show, it sure "sounds" different without the visuals. Spike sounds better, almost everyone else sounds worse, Tara still sounds fantastic. There's also a demo of Whedon's singing Buffy's revelation song from the end of the ep. The suites from other episodes are nifty, especially Hush.
 
Ow my head hurts- it's just been beaten over the head with the magic-as-addiction metaphor.\\

So now that I'm about half-way in, can someone explain- WITHOUT SPOILERS- why this season is so hated? Yes, the nerd villain trio is lame, as discussed. But that's really a small part of the season so far. It's mostly around Buffy dealing with being brought back from heaven, acting out by sleeping with Spike, and Willows plunge into darkness. This is actually pretty interesting stuff, why the hate?
 
I never hated season 6 - I tought the overall seasonal arc was a bit daft, but I found it enjoyable enough.

I didn't *hate* season 7, but I found it dreary and dull. Season 4 of Angel is the only Buffyverse season I truly disliked, IIRC.
 
My problem with season 7 of Buffy is that it feels in some spots like they just didn't have enough time to give the story the room it deserved, and in other spots it feels like they're spinning their wheels waiting until the ending finally comes.

There are many parts of season 4 of Angel that I really enjoy, but there are some aspects to it that are too forced; they just didn't adapt the planned story to real life circumstances all that well.

But I guess that's what happens when Joss is busy doing Firefly and leaving Buffy and Angel more in the hands of his lieutenants.
 
GKarsEye said:
Ow my head hurts- it's just been beaten over the head with the magic-as-addiction metaphor.\\

So now that I'm about half-way in, can someone explain- WITHOUT SPOILERS- why this season is so hated?
Click to expand...

I think that which hurt your head is a good part of why season 6 isn't as liked as other seasons. It has some good moments, but there are times when it feels like the show is a bit too blatant with the metaphor. And looking at the list of episodes in the second half of the season, there really just isn't much happy or funny to punctuate the pain; the season's pretty depressing.
 
But the show's always been blatant and heavy-handed with metaphors. Isn't one of the things that the show got attention for was that teenage problems were represented by literal monsters? Let's face it, if this show were any more subtle, it would be at all subtle.

I'm expecting the rest of the season to be heavy because addiction stories are never light-hearted romps. The reason I look forward to it is that it will center around the strongest actress in the show.
 
Angel is Pete Campbell's father! Boy that sure explains a lot.

Loved the Buffy as a mental patient in an alternate universe thing, especially the ending in that universe, not the show's "real" one.

Now that I'm nearing the end of season 6, I think I get why this season is disliked despite its many enjoyable moments and themes: without an adversary as menacing as evil Angel or Glory, there is no sense of larger stakes. Everything is basically about internal weaknesses, relationships, personal issues, that kind of stuff.
 
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