Sarah Michelle Gellar’s made it official – she’s not returning for another season. So Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as we know it, will be wrapping up this season.
Season Six was pretty weak, but this season has been fairly decent, though more on a par with four and five, rather than the groundbreaking first three seasons. Still, it had a good run, and was immensely good fun for the most part.
As ever,
Loyd Case
She’s starting to look like an old hag anyway. Everyone wants to bone her little sister on the show now instead. I almost vomited the last time I looked at a picture of Sarah Michelle Ghastly. Ugly whore.
Yeah, last year only had a couple really good episodes. This year started out pretty strong, then started dragging ass, but last week’s episode was great again. It’s about time they put the series to bed, though. I looks like we might get another year out of Angel, though, which has been really solid. I don’t think they’re going to get another spin-off out of the franchise, besides maybe a run of Ripper from the BBC.
Hey, but we’ll always have DVDs. I heard they may even release a DVD of the produced episodes of the Buffy Animated Series that never found a home. But that’s just a rumor.
I’ve really been enjoying this season, and I’m sad to see it go. I do wonder how many times she can save the world and still keep it fun and new, but they haven’t failed yet.
And I still think she’s hot.
Yeah, I think she’s still a cutie, too. If she looks like an ugly whore, I’d hate to know what I look like. Heh.
We kind of got out of the loop during season 4. Now, I’m just waiting for them all to come out on Australian DVD to pick them up for cheap. We’ve only got seasons 1 and 2 so far.
We get Season 4 in July. I started watching it on and off during season 5, and I’ve seen most of 6, and of course this season we’ve watched it religously. Looking forward to getting 4 on DVD, as that’ll be about the only season I haven’t seen much of.
The only sad thing about Buffy getting killed is that I couldn’t be there to do it personally. DIE! DIE! DIE!
Season 4 was actually one of the weakest for the show. One episode was spectacularly bad. But there was some good as well. The show just started to suffer from character creep (like feature creep, only with characters). Seson 5 got better, then 6 wasn’t so good, 7’s been better again. But seasons 2 and 3 were definitely the golden age of the show.
The only sad thing about Buffy getting killed is that I couldn’t be there to do it personally. DIE! DIE! DIE!
She’s died like four times. I don’t think you’re even trying.
Two, I thought. I only remember her dying twice.
I’ve heard that 4 wasn’t that great, but just the same – lots of story gaps need filling in. That’s where Spike got his chip, right? Who else enters the story in season 4? Was that when Dawn showed up, or was that 5? Then, let’s see – Riley, Tara…Oh, well. I’m still lookig forward to it.
I think this season has been more than just “better.” I think it’s been pretty great.
And season 6 was not so good? But…But…The musical??
musical was great if your a fan of the show. FX reshowing the series from the begining has been really nice, since I din’t have either of the networks the show has been on. We have started getting upn recently, but the show is preempted for hockey most of the time.
I think there were some very good single episodes in season 4. However, the overall story arc, while attractive at first, seemed to have “cheapened” the whole demon/vampire mythos that the show created. After all, if there are hundreds of demons running around, and a secret government organization to combat them, how could the citizens of Sunnydale NOT notice?
One of the best single episodes in the series, Hush, is in season 4.
I do think season 6 was the weakest. It became way too much of a pure soap opera.
The Buffy crew, prodded by Joss Whedon, likes to stretch in one or two episodes a season. So you have Hush, in season 5, The Body, and the musical in Season 6.
As ever,
Loyd Case
The episodes Joss writes and directs himself are easily some of the very best. Like Hush, the Body, Once More With Feeling, etc. My personal favorite episode was actually the one from season 5 about Spike’s past called Fool For Love, but it wasn’t written or directed by Joss.
She dies at the end of season 1 and at the end of season 5. She also dies in an alternate universe during an episode in season 3 which I’m counting. Oh, and she gets turned into a vampire during an episode in the first season as well, as part of a nightmares come true thing. So there. But lots of people don’t count those last two as real deaths, it’s still Buffy getting killed 4 times though.
This is getting me nostalgic for seasons two and three :0. Without further ado, my list of top 3 episodes:
#3 Becoming - a startlingly powerful end to the classic 2nd season. Although most fans love the Angel/Buff stuff, I truly loved the great Spike scenes, especially his scene with Buffy’s mom and his speech about things in the world worth saving. It was the ret-con changing of Spike into a totally different character that ruined seasons 5+ for me and why I havent watched six or seven.
#2 Anne - an underappreciated episode. After the “death” of Angel at the end of season 2, being the Slayer is too much for Buffy. She hitchhikes to the big city and becomes a waitress using the name Anne, until she inevitabitly gets dragged into Hell (literally) and faces a crew of evil slave-running demons who keep their slaves cowed by forcing them to admit “I am No One”. When they try to subdue Buffy she re-asserts her Slayer’ness and and whips the snot out of the whole joint. Classic stuff in the Spider “with great power comes great responsibility” way. (Side note when Buffy deviated from this theme after season 3, the show began to suck).
#1 Graduation Day - best girl vs girl fight Evar! The long awaited, much built up, knock down drag out, fist, foot, hair, knife, crowbar and handcuff fight between Buffy and Faith is one of the best choreographed fight scenes ever. Plus the Mayor. Plus blowing up the high school on Graduation Day. How can you go wrong.
Dan
#1 Graduation Day - best girl vs girl fight Evar! The long awaited, much built up, knock down drag out, fist, foot, hair, knife, crowbar and handcuff fight between Buffy and Faith is one of the best choreographed fight scenes ever. Plus the Mayor. Plus blowing up the high school on Graduation Day. How can you go wrong.
Back when stunts were stunts on Buffy. They fired the stunt coordinator from season 2 through 4 at the end of that season. I still think it was a huge mistake. The fights haven’t been very good ever since and are always better on Angel these days. The old stunt guy was named Jeff Pruitt, he was a cool guy, and really good at his job.
I can’t remember the name of the episode, but it’s the one narrated by David Boreanaz after Angel loses his soul–the one where he kills Jenny Calendar. Still one of my all-time favorite episodes.
I loved Hush too, conceptually, though it bothers me how much the demon guys feel like ripoffs of the floating evil doctors in Dark City (which came out just prior to that episode, IIRC). Still, a great episode–it was impressive that they were able to pull off ~45 minutes of show with no spoken dialog.
Season 6 was a bit too depressing, overall, for my tastes. It had one hell of a finale, though.
I’ve been liking the new (and last :() season quite a bit.
I just got done watching the Season 2 DVD with my 12-year old daughter and a friend of hers. As an overall story arc, it’s easily the best of the series, replete with both a heroic and tragic ending.
Is it just me, or has Sarah Michelle Gellar’s acting range actually narrowed over the years? Or maybe it’s just that the writers don’t allow her to have the range that she demonstrated in the second season.
But my all time favorite episode is still “The Wish” from season 3.
As ever,
Loyd Case
I completely agree with that assessment of season two. It and season three were fantastic. But as much of a fanboy as I was at one time, I’m very glad that the show is ending. Last season was horrible. This year’s is much stronger overall, though there are some real problems. Mutant Enemy doesn’t seem to be trying anymore. We’ve been getting the same story arc stretched over numerous episodes. We see Buffy’s leadership angst, Spike’s struggle to become a bad boy, the mysterious Principal Wood, and Willow’s cartoony battle with her dark side on top of plots that don’t go anywhere. And the First Evil is lame. Having it always change shape doesn’t give you anything to latch onto as a villain, and the threatened end of the world seems goofy when all the thing’s done is summon a single big vampire and talk a teenage girl into suicide.
Angel, on the other hand, has been great. It seems like every episode ends with some sort of cliffhanger that advances the plot and doesn’t seem cheap and manipulative. I didn’t like the dream episode of a few weeks back, but overall the show’s been much better than Buffy for at least two seasons now, maybe three. The fighting sequences are a lot better, too. The fight between Angel and Faith this past week was the best I’ve seen on either show.
I can’t remember the name of the episode, but it’s the one narrated by David Boreanaz after Angel loses his soul–the one where he kills Jenny Calendar. Still one of my all-time favorite episodes.
Passions. Awsome episode, written by one Ty King, who’s a really cool guy.
But my all time favorite episode is still “The Wish” from season 3.
Yup, another absolute classic.
I’m just getting into Angel, starting with Season One on DVD. So far, I really like what I’ve seen, though (at least, based on the first few episodes) it doesn’t have the personality of Buffy. So many great “side” characters – Spike, Oz (back when he was on it) Willow, Anya, and Xander – heck, even Andrew, these days – really add a lot of character. But I’m really enjoying Angel.
For some reason, I feel like you guys are being too hard on Season Six of Buffy. I didn’t see the whole thing, but the episodes I saw were great episodes – approximately half. But, then, when it comes to that show, I’m pretty easy to please, I guess.
I miss Oz.
Angel gets more characters (and some of the best ones, like Lorne) in the second season. It’s a great show–as much as I like Buffy, I’d have to say that I currently like Angel better.