Random BtVS screencap #16
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Archive for the ‘BtVS’ Category
Comics update
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #4-16 (Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Drew Goddard, Georges Jeanty, Paul Lee, Cliff Richards, Karl Moline)
I blogged about the first three issues and then stopped. I’m not clear why. Ahem, several issues later, I’m not actually convinced that I really like them though I wouldn’t for a minute consider stopping reading them. Buffy’s relationship with Satsu felt off to me. I know I am negatively influenced by the media coverage that Dark Horse encouraged and this definitely makes me sway towards thinking it was a cheap and sleazy gimmick except I love how they broke up which was nicely done.
The Renee thing? I’m bored now of this sort of thing, really bored. And please do something with Dawn, she is not a joke.
Jo Chen’s covers continue to amaze.
Runaways #25-30 - Dead End Kids (Joss Whedon, Michael Ryan)
I have at long last read Joss Whedon’s run on Runaways. I say at long last as if it’s my fault that it dragged over many months but I suppose it is true that in years to come no one will care what delays there were unless it is poor stuff anyway. Which this isn’t. By the end it was pretty darn good.
Xavin’s constant appearances as a man really bugged me so I was delighted when JW dealt with the issue across two superb pages. I am pissed off we didn’t see them kiss particularly since we saw Victor and Lillie (the one I think of as Caitlin from Heroes) kiss at least twice. I must say that Xavin as a woman drawn by Michael Ryan was gorgeous.
However, the run was messy and abrupt in parts but much better than I ever thought it was going to be when the delays hit.
Serenity: Better Days (Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad)
The least said about Adam Hughes’ covers the better though I give you the “Once More, With Feeling” soundtrack cover and rest my case. This was messy (again) and confused and frankly not very good. Shame.
Good God, that’s a lot of shake
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008Smashed (Drew Z. Greenberg)
We find out immediately that Willow is in a bad place when she complains to Amy-rat that Tara left her “for no good reason”. That makes it clear that she is in no state to change her behaviour particularly when the next thing she does is de-rat Amy. And that was stupidly and lazily easy: Amy should not have been a rat for so long. No wonder that later, when she has had time to think, she gets vengeful.
(Bloody hell the Mac advertising was unsubtle.) I can hardly bear to watch Willow’s behaviour in the denial scene. People do behave badly but it’s so horrible to watch.
The conversation about Willow in the Magic Box reminds me of this entertaining tangled synthesis. I love conversations that are either about something else or two things at the same time (not in real life mind because that sort of thing is seen whizzing miles over my head) and Buffy’s horror at the “seductive” word is very funny: “but we can’t assume that everybody’s getting seduced, you know, sometimes…” [they are]
My least favourite five minutes of BtVS consist of Willow and Amy being unspeakable in the Bronze and Buffy and Spike smashing up a house (and, OMG, you can hear the zip! – somehow that makes it all even ickier). It pains me to see Buffy enter this (literally) destructive and rather vile relationship.
Sooo, if I don’t like Willow and I don’t like Buffy and Spike’s relationship then I don’t like the show? Hell no, it’s still BtVS, it’s still as funny as ever, it’s still as fabulously acted as ever (for example, SMG on the phone to Spike is hilarious), it is still as involving as ever and Amber Benson is still in it – from now I was a credit hawk – ironically I almost missed the credit sequence when I rushed upstairs for a wee – Andy paused it for me because he was delighted and he didn’t know (but I did…).
They really slapped the make up on Amber in the lot of shake scene and in her brown/beige clothes she was borderline orange. However, hold the front page, but I genuinely like Willow’s outfit at the Bronze. The vest is particularly nice. Finally on the shallow notes, does Spike wear that chain all the time? It’s not nice.
I have said before and will say it again: Elizabeth Anne Allen is great, notably in her line delivery; as in one of the best delivered exchanges on BtVS :
“How’ve you been?”
“Rat. You?”
“Dead.”
“Oh.”
My problem with the Trio isn’t the actors who are super in their roles or their banter (which is geekily entertaining) it’s just that the concept is, as Anya says, “lame”.
Which brings me to Anya who is Anya great in this episode, the one who is forthright, honest and right. I wish she was always as well written.
Spike thinks he’s fixed and the first thing he does is try to kill someone. A real hero. I’m afraid I didn’t spot any attempt to wind himself up for the kill – he was just monologuing.
But you’re helping yourself now. Fixing things to your liking. Including me.
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008Tabula Rasa (Rebecca Rand Kirshner)
“I hate Willow now” – Adam.
I’m sad that a character who was so lovable and delightful in high school grew up so wonky. Willow’s behaviour up until now has been consistent with her development over the years (she has always been a fixer: “I can fix it. I know a spell”) but knowing it is all going to be reduced to a drugs metaphor makes it sadder. However, I am getting ahead of myself and “Tabula Rasa” is a great episode.
This is the episode that marked my obsession with BtVS but more importantly with Amber Benson. This is when I became a fan(atic). If BtVS had ended with “The Gift” then it would have been a favourite series like The X-Files was or Battlestar Galactica is now but I would have put it aside as I did with The X-Files and moved on. So why? What happened? Tara happened. A character who I had just liked suddenly become not just Willow’s girlfriend but a person in her own right. The heartbreaking conversation about betrayal and violation and her anger and sadness made me feel so bad for her and I realised I totally loved her and that she had inched her way into my heart.
Tara gets a backbone and tells Willow that she knows what she did and that it’s all too much and she should leave her. It is a tremendous scene from the Birkenstocks to the cut to Buffy and Giles.
Giles’s leaving is less satisfactory. We know that ASH wanted to cut his hours but the reason Giles gives knowing that Buffy was in heaven and is struggling with her mission and her need – big need - for guidance it just makes no sense for him to leave. And if you add in his fears about Willow then it is even more inexplicable.
I just adore that Anya and Tara are thumb wrestling and when Anya gives Tara a sympathetic look when Willow arrives, I find myself once again appreciating Emma Caulfield’s performance.
“Tabula Rasa” is an episode of BtVS that encapsulates the writers’ ability to mix laughter and tears because the next twenty minutes are hilarious. I could pick out all the great bits (like “Oh God, I’m English”, “A vampire with a soul? Oh my God, how lame is that?” and “Oh, bugger off, you brolly.”), but I’ll stick with emphasising two of my favourite BtVS lines and delivery thereof: Buffy’s “I don’t know but it was cool!” followed by “I think I know why Joan’s the boss. I’m like a superhero or something!”
Well, I wish I knew who to attribute the following thought to but I can’t remember where, when, who made the point that Tara without a memory is a “take charge” Tara. She insists they ought to go to the hospital (I’m not entirely sure why though) and she is the one that leads them through the spacious sewers. It’s as if she has forgotten she is shy and retiring and a bit of a sheep. She has forgotten her ill-treatment from her youth (fill in back-story as per favourite fan fiction) and leads by example. You could also add she has forgotten the literal way she pursued Willow in “Hush” but since that was the only time she was ever “forward” then that was a blip in her character akin to Spike once being evil.
There is one line (“…King Ralph…”) that I so wish had been omitted or rewritten because it is just awful and comes close to breaking the spell cast by the spell being broken. The last few minutes with Tara and Willow’s relationship coming to an end, Giles’s leaving and Buffy succumbing to her unhealthy attraction to Spike (who is evil despite how much we are made to love him) is superbly put together.
For me this is the last great BtVS episode though I am looking forward to re-watching “Normal Again” in an attempt to refute that statement.
“Once More, With Feeling” revisited
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
In July 2006, I made my first attempt at admitting my addiction and I thought I’d do another montage to see if there was a marked difference in the images I chose from Screencap Paradise.
Oh my God. I’m cured! I want the boys!
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008Once More, With Feeling (Joss Whedon)
“Going Through the Motions”
“She ain’t got that swing” “Thanks for noticing!”
“How can I repay you?” “Whatever!”
Sarah Michelle Gellar looks lovely when she sings that she “just wants to be alive”.
“I’ve Got a Theory”
Jazz hands!
I love the crickets just after Anya makes her bunnies suggestion.
“Hey, I’ve died twice.”
“Well, I’m not exactly quaking in my stylish yet affordable boots”
“Under Your Spell”
Poor Tara - she can only think in terms of reflected glory and can’t see her own worth.
I love Amber Benson’s dirty laugh sneaking through.
Those lyrics are outrageous perhaps a little too much so.
How uncomfortable does Amber look lying on that plank as she is elevated by, what exactly? Willow tickling her feet? That dress sure isn’t being ruffled.
“I’ll Never Tell”
“She eats these skeezy cheeses that I can’t describe.”
“His penis got diseases from a Chumash tribe!”
Emma Caulfield’s voice is just beautiful as she sings the above line.
“It’s just, clearly our number is a retro pastiche that’s never going to be a breakaway pop hit.”
“Work with me, British man.”
“I was able to examine the body while the police were taking witness arias.”
“Rest in Peace”
“So, you’re not staying then?”
I always skip this one when I listen to the soundtrack.
“What You Feel”
“What I mean, I’m fifteen, so this queen thing’s illegal”
Michelle Trachtenberg’s voice is so sweetly reedy.
Hinton Battle is so Broadway.
“Standing”
I’m not to keen on this either.
“Under Your Spell/Standing Reprise”
This I adore.
“Walk Through the Fire”
This is my favourite song from the musical. A great ensemble piece.
“First he’ll kill her, then I’ll save her”
“Everything is turning out so dark”
“No, I’ll save her, then I’ll kill her”
“I think this line’s mostly filler”
“Something to Sing About”
“She needs backup. Anya, Tara.”
I can’t explain but this line is simply brilliant.
Amber bangs into a pole and they don’t reshoot it. Were people watching Buffy rather than Tara? Weird.
I love the flatness in SMG’s voice as she sings “I think I was in heaven”.
I always sing (in my head) “so give us a kiss” after the line “life isn’t bliss”.
“The hardest thing in this world…is to live in it.”
This is awesome stuff. Chock full of amazingly clever and witty lines (and that is just the dialogue). It is often referred to as a standalone episode but the plot is advanced a great deal - after all it ends with Buffy and Spike kissing… I like that because Willow doesn’t sing we don’t hear her innermost thoughts. Crafty or coincidence?
I don’t like that Xander’s little summoning costs the life of at least one (two?) people and he isn’t ever called to account. I also don’t get Giles’ motivation in not initially helping out Buffy after her sister has been kidnapped and held to ransom.
Otherwise, a bona fide classic.
You know what, can, can we not do this now? I’m tired.
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008All the Way (Steven S. DeKnight)
I know that I view BtVS through my own lens so that this and “Older and Far Away” don’t elicit the response from me that many others have towards them. First, I don’t mind too much bratty teenagers doing bratty things (as long as it makes sense) and second, both episodes are significant in the stories of Tara and Willow.
Tara: I’m not really much for the timber.
I love the way that Amber looks almost apologetic for this joke which sadly enough does make me snigger unlike the wearisome “I’m a breast girl myself” from “Life Serial”.
Two fine moments from the Magic Box: The dance of capitalist superiority and Buffy’s perfectly pitched shocked tone as she watches Giles clean his glasses and she says
Is that why you’re always cleaning your glasses? So you don’t have to see what we’re doing?
It’s hard to see that Willow creating some “extra biodegradable-y” decorations is actually wrong but you can sense her arrogance and irritation at simply being challenged.
The dancing in the lounge is one of the most pitiful sights I have ever seen, except, maybe for Tara’s sad face as she watches. She must be upset or she would be in fits of laughter.
The Dawn and Justin story is strangely non-compelling mainly because he and Zack behave like children and the kissing is, erm, amateur. And my interest is elsewhere:
Tara: Do you think Dawn might have come here?
Willow: It’s where I’d be if I were fifteen and on the lam.
Tara: Really?
Willow: Well, not me at fifteen, cause, hello, spaz.
Tara: You?
Willow: Yeah. Hard to believe such a hot mama-yama came from humble, geek-infested roots.
Tara: Infested roots, trying to turn me on?
Willow: I have to try now?
Help me, what is that about? How would anything infested turn anyone on?
Tara: Willow, you are using too much magic. What do you want me to do, just, just sit back and keep my mouth shut?
Willow: Well, that’d be a good start.
Poor “Grandpa”.
I like this exchange and maybe I’ll try it out in real-life one day:
Dawn: This the part where you tell me you’re not angry…just disappointed?
Giles: Pretty much…except for the bit about not being angry.
The ending makes my heart sink and at the same time I find myself confused about how easy or hard spells are to cast depending on the mood of the scriptwriter.
Adam asides: Willow bitching at Tara in the Bronze prompted an ooo from Adam while he astutely described Dawn and Justin’s kissing as gorilla kissing (though he did mean chimps).
How did this get here?
Everybody’s in a hurry
Sunday, February 17th, 2008Life Serial (David Fury & Jane Espenson)
This a pretty funny episode but it’s surely no coincidence that once again in an episode written by Jane Espenson, Buffy’s friends prove to be not very good ones. Why doesn’t Tara question more where Buffy’s disappears to? Why does Xander seems care more about this job than his friend? On the other hand, in the light of the incomprehensible characterizations and motivations in Angel maybe I should be grateful for the sense that BtVS does make.
The trio turn up again and they are funny although the hilarity that is references to porn does my head in but otherwise amusing (‘Stop touching my magic bone!” and “You’re insane. You’re short, and you’re insane.”).
My favourite sequence involves Buffy as shop assistant which works on that irritating bell rift and revisits Buffy’s (SMG’s) finest physical comedy moment from “Surprise”.
“You play for kittens?!” “So, who’s gonna advance me a tiny tabby, get me started?”
I love Buffy getting drunk and her off screen bleaahs.
It’s very nice of Giles to give Buffy money but the Watchers’ Council are a bit naughty not to actually pay Slayers.
Knock yourself out
Friday, February 8th, 2008Flooded (Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson)
The trio make their first appearance, I’m not stressed out and I even like Warren handing the M’Fashnik demon Buffy’s address and pretending he has the Force.
The episode also introduces the freeloaders. I don’t know what the writers or executive producers were thinking of by omitting any reference to how Tara and Willow were contributing financially but we can pretend that they were but were too modest to say it out loud. I find Anya’s remarks ironic about charging (were they supposed to be?) considering Angel Investigations.
The gun - “These things? Never helpful.” – chucks it away and it goes off – oh my.
How perfect is this Anya dialogue and Emma Caulfield’s delivery? “No, no. Captain Logic is not steering this tugboat. I smell Captain Fear at the wheel! God, I hate this. This tone in my voice? I dislike it more than you do, and I’m closer to it!”
And they may forget about how close Dawn and Spike were but they continue to remember Tara and Dawn’s relationship and I love Tara’s “Knock yourself out” and Dawn’s “That’s a weird place for a horn…That’s not a horn..”
And I would like to direct people to the long shot of Amber Benson in this scene and say this woman is a slender woman and the word voluptuous cannot be applied to her.
The scenes between Giles and Buffy are very well done but his concern and tenderness is at odds with what he does to her in “Tabula Rasa”.
I remember being gobsmacked by the scene between Giles and Willow in the kitchen with the two of them being so angry. It still packs a punch particularly when you know just where it is all heading: “You’re a very stupid girl.” and “Are you saying you don’t trust me?” but the scary exchange is
GILES: You were lucky.
WILLOW: I wasn’t lucky. I was amazing. And how would you know? You weren’t even there.
GILES: If I had been, I’d have bloody well stopped you. The magicks you channelled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!
WILLOW: You’re right. The magicks I used are very powerful. I’m very powerful. And maybe it’s not such a good idea for you to piss me off.
The fight between the demon and Buffy is funny in its destructiveness and for once all that damage means something and Buffy’s “No…more…full…copper…re-pipe…” is full of more than just demon directed anger.
It is in fact a very angry and tense episode and I liked it a lot although it is uneven.