So yesterday I had to format my computer and restore from back ups, all from a virus I got back in April from a bad link in my French New Wave Film class. Had I done that from the getgo, I'm sure the issue would have been resolved easier than what it turned into. But the important part is I'm back online and ready to serve up blogoriffic action.
I haven't written much since the 2-fer last week, and that's mostly from a cavalcade of events that sprung up last week. My life has been event and milestone filled for the last couple of months, and the general shape of things makes me look like I'm doing things right. I finally secured a, "real job", and don't have to languish in a retail environment anymore. I just got engaged to my girlfriend of 6 and a half years. No date set, but everyone has ideas for plans. One of those things I suppose comes with the turf.
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| Where everything is colorful and fabulous. |
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| Now Kith. |
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| Machete doesn't do rides. |
So in lieu of playing Fallout, I'm playing another Post-Apocalyptic FPS. I'm in the last third of Metro 2033, which I've been meaning to play for a while but kept buying other games first. I was doing a Fallout 1 playthrough, but with having to reformat, I have to redownload it from Steam, so until then, I'm getting my irradiated Russian mutant killing ya-ya's out. It's a pretty fun game, nothing ground
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| Moscow in 17 years. |
In case you were wondering about my abandoned Resident Evil playthrough, I'm stalled out on REvelations 2. The game really does a great job of bringing the series back to its survival horror roots, but it also means I'm constantly out of ammo and healing supplies. Until I get better with the dodge and melee mechanics, I can see myself cursing at the TV much more next time I fire it up. I'm only halfway through episode 2. I still have episode 3 and the two DLC episodes to play. On top of RE6, which I've still yet to play more than Leon's opening missions. And now Resident Evil 7 is on the horizon, and the trailer looks pretty freaky.
For writing, I'm staring down the barrel of a fun car chase scene, and a complete scene rewrite/addition. It's been daunting, but during the rewrite process I've taken to rewatching one of my favorite shows of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And with this in mind, I'd like to invite you to follow me past the dog picture and page jump and I'll let you in on the results of the start of this rewatch.
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| You like what you see? |
Before you begin, there's obvious Season 1 spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with minor spoilers for Angel and later seasons of Buffy.
The year was 1997.
KROQ was Skankin' it up with Nu Metal still graciously underground (though we were about to be exposed to Limp Bizkit's Faith which would kick the manhole cover off the open sewer). Titanic was moistening eyes and panties while Batman & Robin put the franchise on ice. Millions of late night internet crusades in forums and chatrooms began with this glorious sound. And for the original PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII was blowing everyone's minds, and forever solidifying the story/cutscene structure of modern gaming. Entertainment-wise, '97 was a pretty sweet year, which was sort of par for the course in the '90s.
On television, we were experiencing the fruits of what was a sitcom renaissance, ending with the passing of the torch of Cheers to Frasier, Seinfeld in full stride with some of the greatest episodes, and six F.R.I.E.N.D.S. were hanging around a really nice apartment across from a considerably worse one somewhere in Backlot, New York. But all of those shows were for grownups that laughed at things grownups knew. Teenage culture was approaching its apex of eXtreme, and in response to that, Warner Bros. television station, The WB (now the CW) was catering to the youth of America. Both with after school cartoons for the 7-12 crowd, and every Tuesday night with teenage aimed programming. The WB's new Tuesday really took off after the unexpected popularity of one show in particular: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
My own experience with Buffy began with seeing the commercials and bus stop ads for the movie back in '92. Riding along in the back seat of my mom's car, watching Southern California slide by outside the windows, I would see the posters for it and think, "Whoa, that sounds funny and cool." I've been a fan of vampire movies since I watched The Lost Boys when I was five, and in 4th grade when asked to draw yourself as what you want to be when you grow up, I drew myself as a vampire. So seeing that there was a movie out about a cheerleader that slays vampires like Van Helsing and The Frog Brothers, my interest was piqued. Of course my mom, being lame, refused to take me to see it because, "That looks stupid." I would finally see Buffy a couple years later with my cousins on VHS, and loved its over the top and goofy antics. Sure it was nothing like what Joss had wanted when he wrote the script, but much like every bad episode of Buffy there's redeeming qualities to it.
The general consensus I've seen on fan blogs, internet discussion, and some of the younger Buffy fans I've spoken with, is that Season 1 is mostly skipable. From the fans who grew up watching the series, either the original airing or through home release, many of the gripe-worthy parts from the rest of the crowd are often seen as endearing or as a part of the times. In fairness, many of Season 1's episodes--in the grand mythology of the series--are either unneeded or benign outside of catching a later references. A lot of the series is dated in terms of looks and soundtrack (so many crunchy, emotionally-charged, bands played at The Bronze), and watching something in HD that was shot for TV prior to 2008 is never going to be visually satisfying if you want full immersion. So while these are issues that could be deal breakers to certain viewers, I'm willing to overlook the poor effects, and things that would have been covered up by a worse resolution television screen, and all the '90s stuff comes across as nostalgia for me. I bring this up because the argument for Season 1's relevance to the series was in the forefront of my mind while watching. So, sorry for boring you with set up and framing.
Watching the show now, and watching the show then, I still have the same feelings: this is a show unto itself. There are plenty of imitators, and little nods in other works, but from the very beginning of the series, the show sets itself apart by being willing to fold in anything it wants and make it a part of its identity. It's strongly established in the first handful of episodes that this is a show that's going to take you places. They might not always be places you want to be, but we're going if you like it or not. All in a quest to show you that not every blonde cheerleader that walks into an ally is monster chow.
Welcome to the Hellmouth and its companion episode, The Harvest, establish the vampire mythos of the show and Season 1 Big Bad, The Master. Each season of Buffy is defined by its Big Bad main villain, and there is no better place to start than The Vampire who started a majority of the vampire love affair drama that would play out later on in Buffy's life. We also meet The Master's favorite childer he sired, Darla, who, while killed off in the middle of the season, comes back to play a much larger role in Angel's series.
We meet everyone who we'll love, laugh, and cry along with in the years to come within these two episodes. While there will be additions and subtractions from the Scoobie gang and the supporting cast, the core of Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander all in sort of rough drafts of who they will become in later years. Angel and Cordelia are introduced in the B-cast. Angel as Buffy's mysterious man she can't stop thinking about that is a part of the Slayer world somehow, and Cordie as Buffy's Flash Thompson, making life miserable at school. Welcome to the Hellmouth also drives home Season 1's theme of high school as hell. Which becomes true in a literal sense during the final episode, Prophecy Girl (The most common "Only watch this episode from season 1 if you're going to watch something").
In between our openers and closer, we are treated to a monster of the week, spliced in with mythology arc episodes, ala the successful format of The X-Files at the time. For our monsters of the week, we meet a Witch who body swapped with her daughter to be a cheerleader again (since magic will become a huge part of the series, particularly once Willow starts becoming Wicca-Curious following episode 3), a mantis lady with a taste for young flesh, evil hyenas from Africa that possess Xander and a bunch of teenage assholes (they proceed to eat the poor school mascot, Herbert the Razorback, and Principal Flutie), a corrupter demon trapped in the internet (that kickstarts the technopaganism bend that allows stuff like Buffy sex bots and vampire behavior chips), and an invisible Clea Duvall that gets taken away by men in black in the end of the episode (I have a theory that the training facility they take her to is part of The Initiative). There's also more school themed episodes, like The Puppet Show, which also introduces us to the perfect principal from hell, Principal Snyder, as a replacement for, "let's talk about our feelings," Flutie. Principal Snyder is essentially Buffy's daylight archnemesis all through her time at Sunnydale High.
Each monster of the week episode tends to be considered forgettable or laughable, which is unfair, because the first season's dialog is on point. The writing is sort of floopy regarding plot points (Angel saving Giles, Xander and Willow in Out of Mind, Out of Sight particularly), and there's a lot of lazy elements that would become series hallmarks (Giles being knocked out is a main one that sticks out. Celebrated in this supercut.). And I never understood why every time Angel states how he doesn't need to breathe, he's always hyperventilating. But even with those weaknesses, the interactions between characters through acting and dialog is real and genuine in every regard. While waltzing through the halls of school as normal teenagers, talking about staking vampires (the Scoobies were terrible with the whole secret identity thing staying secret), or having emotional standoffs in the school library or city sewers, every member of the cast brings it. Most of the weak performances come from extras and red shirts, but it usually comes off as the show's horror movie roots showing. And the Buffy-speak that was a complete made up lexicon from the writer's table, sounded so much like actual Southern Californian teenage slang that those of us in the know adopted it as our own.
It's in that mix of smart dialog and slang on top of the evolution of character that happens in just a half season of television that is impressive about the show. In the whole season, Buffy wants to run away from her slayer life and enjoy the things she used to have before vampires entered the picture. Buffy wants to be popular again, but has changed too much from her short time with her watcher in Los Angeles to now in Sunnydale to let herself be that base again. She wants to be May Queen, she tries out to be a cheerleader, she tries to date, and be close to her mother, but in every instance, her responsibility as a Slayer comes to the forefront, reminding Buffy time and again that she isn't a normal girl. Buffy's struggle with her unwanted gift becomes a theme throughout her character arc until she accepts what it is to be a Slayer after taking every chance she can to abandon her duties as our world's protector.
Her first steps of responsibility towards accepting her inner-Slayer come forward especially in Never Kill A Boy on the First Date, where she continually attempts to have a date with someone who doesn't know she slays vampires. Buffy attempts to have it all and almost gets everyone she cares about killed all in one night. This hard lesson causes the beginning of her turn to take her slaying more seriously, though her and Giles still remain at odds. At the close of the season, Buffy again tries to run away from facing The Master, who has been trapped and cracking great one-liners the whole season, but ends up lured down into his lair regardless of her efforts to escape to the school dance at The Bronze and just be Buffy Summers for a night.
Besides Buffy's beginnings as a spirited young lady who just wants to live a normal life, even though she was born with the power and responsibility to save the world (which is a metaphor for womanhood if I've ever heard one), we're also introduced to Xander and Willow as the best friends that have unrequited crushes in a cold love triangle. Xander's constant pining for Buffy is hard to watch, mostly because it's such an honest portrayal of how teenage boys are confused, horny, and just wanting someone to notice them as something special and worthwhile when everyone around them seems so much cooler. Willow's constant fawning over Xander always seemed to be because he was the only guy around that hung out with her, and to make the love triangle happen on the show, but in hindsight, it makes her lesbian leanings later make a little more sense. The only available men in Willow Rosenberg's life were Xander and Oz, with Xander being her best friend since forever, and Oz being infatuated with her. With that, Tara really was the first partner Willow chose for herself that was a possibility, instead of someone to practice fawning over, like Xander, or the object of someone's affection, like with Oz. Seeing Willow and Xander in this cocoon state of pre-Buffy life to life as the Slayerettes, is almost like they're flat characters just meant to be Buffy's friends and not much more. The arc they take over the series grows within the parameters to their relationship to Buffy as a new focus in their lives since prior to the Buffster, all they had was each other. Granted, that love triangle will come into play over all the high school seasons, they at least grow as people both inside and outside of who they want to sleep with.
Giles and Buffy's relationship is probably my favorite in the early years, since they're still feeling each other out. Buffy's original watcher died, and on top of that, her life ended up in shambles ever since she learned of being a slayer. Giles as we know him here is a very stodgy and book obsessed proper type, even though a little bit of the ole' Ripper tends to come out of him a couple times during the first season. Nothing like what happens when Ethan Rayne comes to town in Season 2's Halloween, but there's a couple flashes of it when Giles gets serious. Even in spite of all his numerous head injuries. The salt and pepper dynamic between Buffy and Giles is always there, but in the beginning years, his annoyance with her is on the surface and their open antagonism of each other is great to watch. But even when at odds, Giles' growing attachment for his Slayer comes out especially during Prophecy Girl when he uncovers that Buffy is destined to die for her first time.
Even with all of the dated special effects, funky outfits, and monster of the week episodes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's first season manages to have something salvageable in each of its 12 episodes. Even if it's simply a litany of great lines, or establishing character moments, or the introduction of a breakout character, each episode has its place in the series for better or worse.
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