I finished the series for the first time, 4 days ago. I've been reflecting on it, even rewatched a few episodes since then including the Musical Episode = Once More, With Feeling..., Willow's Vampiric doppelganger episode S3 Ep 16. I've not made a thread here in many years, since maybe 2019 or 2020. I'm curious about the perspectives this board would have about the series. I'm waiting on a long captcha atm, so I'll continue typing. Are people here Team Angel or Team Spike? I preferred Spike as a character and his dynamic with Buffy. My favorite of the "Big Bads" was Glory the S5 Antagonist, I liked her archetypal theme as the Mad Fallen God. The Preacher from S7 was another favorite of mine, his Misogynistic zealous devotion as an Avatar of Evil incarnate was a great final villain for the series. The first 4 seasons of the show Willow was my favorite character, but it shifted to Buffy and Spike later on. When I started the series I thought Buffy was a solid protagonist but that the show shined with its side character roster. However Seasons 5-7, I think Buffy peaked in terms of characterization.
Bump!
>>214931940I rewatched it from beginning to end back in 2017 for its 20th anniversary, gonna do it again in 2027. Love the show, one of my absolute favorites. Agree on Glory, definitely the best villain. My favorite character is and always will be Buffy herself, followed by Giles. Favorite season is S2, favorite episode is "Band Candy" from S3.Also I'd like to say I find S4 and S6 to be criminally underrated on this board.
I never watched Season 7.I'm saving it for when we hear the Apocalypse is coming. same as the Wire S5
>>214931940Tl;drWatch xena next , and if you really like.it watch Hercules also. They're companion shows and have a lot of cross overs, like angel
>>214932033Season 4 was iffy for me, I thought that the Adam and the Initiative-Military plotline was weird and didn't mesh well with the show, but I liked Willow's story arc throughout the season, also it re-introduced Spike. Season 4 was a necessary awkward phase. Season 5 for me seemed like a rollercoaster of intensity. I was fortunuate to have not been spoiled at all for the show, except knowing that Willow was gay. Nobody I'm friends with, or know for that matter, have seen the series, and I've never been in any adjacent communities for it, part of why I made this thread/to talk about it with someone. Season 6 was sort of depressing up until the Musical episode, but it was a very enjoyable 10/10 kino season. If I had to rank all the seasons rn = Season 1 is a 7/10, Season 2 is a 9.5/10, Season 3 is a 10/10, Season 4 is a 7/10, Season 5 is a 10/10, Season 6 is a 10/10, Season 7 was an 8/10. I did not like the Slayer potentials they were dry and not given enough backstory or cool personality. I did like Season 7's villain, and Buffy taking on the General/Leadership role
>>214932089I've seen both seasons, The Wire S5 sucks, its the worst season, for Buffy S7 is great
>>214931940read the comic Fray next which continues the story and shows the last slayerdon't bother with the other comicsfirefly and serenity after that
>>214932126I'm not interested in the Expanded Universe, not even Angel, the original 7 season run-time of BvTS feels complete for me.
>>214932108season 4 was great. when they lost their voices and got stuck in a lift I horghed mightily
>>214932158oh okay, you sound homosexual and that's okay, perfectly okay
>>214932158watch Angel. just do it >>214932158
>>214932175That's a great episode I forgot "Hush" was in that season I was misremembering it as season 3, another episode I liked in season 4, was the mini-arc with Oz, where he cheats on Buffy, the conclusion of that Werewolf arc felt like the end of the highschool era
>>214932182>>214932197alright I'll check out Angel, but later on, maybe during the Christmas holidays. One of the main reasons I watched through all of Buffy was being attracted to her and willow. I know that Angel has Cordelia as a MC, but I'm not as attracted to her.
The best Buffy is in the early seasons when you often see the outline of her underwear in her clothes. Seeing the late 90's style g-string takes me back to the good old days
i still need to watch buffy... and possibly angel.
Wish they'd remaster Buffy. The current HD version looks terrible, way too sharp
>>214931940OK OP I'll sperg outMy season rankings6>2>5>3>4>7>1villain rankingsAngelus>Life/Dark willow>Mayor/Faith>Glory>First Evil>The Master>Adam/Initiative3 best episodes The Body, Once More with feeling, Hush1 great episode per season:Prophecy girl>Passion>Doppelgangland>Who are you?>The Gift>Dead Things>Chosenworst episode each season (not necessarily terrible episodes):Never Kill a boy on the first date>Killed by death>Beauty and the beasts>Beer Bad>Triangle>All the way>Him>Scoobies ranked (must be billed in opening credits)Buffy>>>Willow>Spike>Anya>Giles>Tara>Cordelia>Dawn>Angel>Xander>Oz>RileyOther stuff:Buffy Summers is one of my favorite TV protagonists, she's a hero who does the right thing and often pays for it, but is also very flawed and self centered (she is the chosen one after all) Sarah Michelle Gellar is amazing in the role.I don't like Angel with Buffy but he's great in his own show, however he was a top tier villain.It's not a popular opinion but I love season 6, I think it was a bold and innovative choice to show all the main heroes at their worst,most miserable and sometimes unlikeable.Season 4 has many solid episodes but the main story kind of stinksI am a Dawn defender, the way she was added to the show is very unique and she filled the role of annoying kid sister nicelyThe Body is one of the best episodes of any television series, somehow a silly show about a teen vampire slayer has the most accurate and harrowing depiction of the sudden loss of a loved one I've ever seen.Xander is the worst, and I don't just mean the casual sexual harassment and such, which was accurate for a teen boy at the time.He's just an unsupportive ass who can never see past his own anger and hate long enough to be there for his friends.I rank him above Oz and Riley because he at least has some good moments and episodes, but he sucks.x8daj
>>214933378yeah they're shit, but a proer remaster of the first two seasons would be expensive as they were filmed on 16mm, it probably won't happen
>>214933319She also wears a lot of short skirts and shows off her legs in the first two seasons, sadly beginning in season 3 her outfits become conservative mom tier and she almost stops wearing skirts entirely after season 4
3 > 2 > 5 > 4 > 6 > 1 > 7 is my season ranking. I enjoy every season, but 7 is when I think the show's weaknesses built up to a toxic level. There's just too much shit in it, and the characters and plot are worse for it. Writing aside I prefer the cinematography of the first few seasons, too. It was moodier.>SpikeI think Spike is entertaining and I love the scene where Buffy discovers that Spike's been ensouled, but in general I think the character sticking around was a mistake.
>>214931940>*Spoilers included*What are you doing?
Angel is the superior show. I have watched the series at least a half-dozen times. I dropped Buffy during the season about her freshman year of college. High school years were good.The worst season of Angel is better than the best season of Buffy.
>>214931940My opinion on the show has changed over the years. For starters i believe Buffy is at her best when she is uninvolved and just trying her best to deal with life. Monsters aside she had to deal with dropping from collage, getting a low paying job just to survive, a death in the family, depression... And it´s not just her, Giles had to deal with unemployment in his 40´s, Willow, the golden student also ended a dropout and even had to deal with addictions, Xander is a walking bag of insecurities, Cordelia had to deal with broken dreams and being pushed in a direction that humbled her for life, Weasley had as many insecurities as Xander plus daddy issues and still managed to become the guy that makes all the hard calls when nobody else can or will... If you ask me that´s what separates Buffy and Angel from most shows. The characters actually grow from their struggles. Even though the early big bads were great i think Buffy as a character (and all the other regulars) are better after they overcome their archetypes. Buffy is not just the slayer, but it´s that particular woman at that particular time and that´s what makes the show. Not the teenage with super powers but the person she becomes.
>>214933379you have great taste, and I agree that the season 7 episode Him was my least favorite of the series, one of the dissapointing aspects of that season is how they didn't dedicate enough time to the primary threat plot-line. I haven't ranked my favorite scoobies yet. Buffy>Spike>>>Willow>Giles>Xander>Anya>Tara>Oz>Dawn>Riley. Buffy strikes the perfect balance especially later on, with having more responsibility having to take care of Dawn, I liked the serious approach to showing her having to drop out of college, struggling with employment, how her real life day to day responsibilities were just as important as the supernatural conflict. Season 6 was pure kino I agree, I think its the season that progresses character development the most, and I like how Spike-centric it was, the season did drop Willow from being my favorite character, but still it was worth it, it made me respect Buffy more. I am also a Dawn Defender, My favorite villain being Glory and their connection, with Dawn being the Key, and how metaphysical the series gets with all their memories being manipulated, its fascinating how widespread and total the delusion of Dawn being the true sister was. I do think her character improved throughout seasons 6 and 7, but I agree she was a perfect edition for the show in season 5. Xander is a favorite character of mine, I know he's the Joss Whedon self-insert, but he grounds the series in many ways for me. I hate that Xander was always skeptical/jealous of Spike and Angel, but he was a good friend to Buffy in the later seasons, especially helping out financially and fixing up the whole house, after Joyce's death. Oz as a character was one I enjoyed and Willow's personality was best with him, before she deep-dived into her power-tripping magick addiction. Buffy dating a Vampire(which was Angel at the time), while Oz being a werewolf dating Willow, was an interesting dichotomy. Riley was the most bland/boring character
This show is teen garbage with some smart writing throughout, but annoying if you're not jonesing for the hot chicks. Like most television, it's massively padded.>>214932121Season 5 of the Wire is better than anything in Buffy, in spite of being a huge step down for that show. That said, it's overly hated, and outside of the main plotline, delivers a proper ending to the series. The Wire is actually about something though - it's an adult show - while Buffy is just teen melodrama and bad metaphors.
>>214934191nah
>>214934442>muh ADULT shows for ADULTScringe
>>214934442>it's massively padded.What does this even mean?
>>214935513it means he's a zoomer retard who thinks any episode of a show that doesn't fit into an overarching narrative is filler
>>214935015Kids love to say cringe, kids love to watch Buffy. At its heart, Buffy is a teen soap opera.>>214935513It means there's a lot of filler to stretch its runtime, which was very common in those days because of how seasons were commissioned.
>>214931940Putting Buffy in college was a huge misstep. Buffy the Wagie Slayer is kino. Should have just had her working some shit job out of high school instead of rehashing some tired ass campus movie beats.
>>214935545Usually even Buffy fans will admit the show has a lot of fat. But no, filler doesn't mean simply episodes that don't move along the main narrative - in fact, the main narratives in the Buffy seasons were never that interesting to me. Filler means stuff that's there to wind its own wheels, mine as much melodrama as possible from one dull story arc. Things that could be easily resolved are drawn out, because it's clear they had to fill out so many episodes.
>>214935590>It means there's a lot of filler to stretch its runtimeNot really. There are duds in every season but I can't think of much filler. As the show became more serialized its pacing became more uneven, but that's actually a bigger problem with much of modern television for obvious reasons.
>>214932158If you liked Buffy that much you will enjoy Angel for sure. Do whatever you want to do but you’re missing some 10/10 kino.
>>214934442The only good season of The Wire was Season 2, the rest is reddit midwit slop, Buffy had some liberal aspects with Willow and Tara but it proved that Lesbian relationships are abusive even in magical fantasy with Willow manipulating Tara with dark magick so its still more based, than The Wire being about how Nigs are only bad because of the environment with Baltimore essentially as a character throughout.
>>214935893>there are duds in every seasonYeah, they're bad episodes that they shat out to fill the episode order. It's filler.>>214936407>The only good season of The Wire was Season 2, the rest is reddit midwit slopSaying midwit has become a shortcut for actual thought or criticism.>Buffy had some liberal aspects with Willow and Tara but it proved that Lesbian relationships are abusive even in magical fantasy with Willow manipulating Tara with dark magick so its still more basedI really don't give a fuck about politics. This isn't /pol/. The lesbian relationship in Buffy is written for the sake of cheap melodrama.>than The Wire being about how Nigs are only bad because of the environment with Baltimore essentially as a character throughout./pol/ brained non-sense.
>>214932104>Watch xena nextGood luck with that shit.
>>214936407>>The only good season of The Wire was Season 2Fat incels have the funniest takes.
>>214932253Angel had Fred. She's really adorable. If you like Willow I think there's good odds you'll like her.
>>214934191I agree that Angel's the superior show, but I'm not sure if the Connor saga's better than the best of Buffy.
>>214934442Why are you comparing it to the wire of all things, seems like a very different appeal, like does every single show have to have murder, criminal niggers an inner city corruption?
>>214937378>>214937432I'm going to watch Angel, considering Spike is my stated favorite character, I just discovered he's in the final season.
>>214937747I'd think it would be so hard for a writer to write something like Buffy to be appealing, compared to a realistic crime drama the genre is just so profoundly retarded, suspense action with a titular main character, meanwhile the suspense of such a drug crime setting is basically given.
