Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-03-28 12:47 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2019-03-28 12:47 pm
Is He Embarrassed Because He Can't Do The Buttons Up?
Here are some notes on the early third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! I'm up to 'Revelations'.
Faith: Isn't it crazy how slaying always makes you hungry and horny?
(EVERYONE LOOKS AT BUFFY)
I really liked Buffy's counsellor in 'Beauty and the Beasts' and I was very unhappy that he only survived for one scene. What a waste of a good character!
I'm also very annoyed that the 'werewolf' is clearly some sort of were-monkey. I'm so often let down by werewolf designs. The Harry Potter films, Supernatural, Buffy: all disappointments in this regard. Say what you will about Twilight, but at least the werewolves in the films looked like wolves. That's all I ask!
Angel is so bad at wearing shirts.
Before I started watching Buffy, I really wasn't expecting this protracted will-they-won't-they-turned-infidelity plotline between Willow and Xander. I'll be honest: it doesn't really work. If you're going to have an ~oh no, we shouldn't be kissing~ scene in a work of fiction and you want viewers to feel guiltily in favour, chemistry is really important. Willow has considerably more chemistry with her actual boyfriend than she does with the guy she's kissing instead, so this was never going to work.
I can't look at the cowboy vampire without thinking of the screaming cowboy song.
When was the last time Angel wore a shirt? Has he ever worn a shirt? Was he tortured by a shirt in Hell?
I keep forgetting this Willow/Xander plotline is happening and going 'WHY' afresh every time I'm reminded.
I was thinking Mrs Post had Mary Poppins' mannerisms right before Faith called her Mary Poppins. (Gwendolyn Post was also a character who had potential and was instead killed off immediately! Stop that, Buffy.)
You'll be able to deduce I wasn't a fan of the 'Willow and Xander kiss in the library' scene, but it did give us Giles holding his glasses in his mouth, which was endearing.
Faith: Isn't it crazy how slaying always makes you hungry and horny?
(EVERYONE LOOKS AT BUFFY)
I really liked Buffy's counsellor in 'Beauty and the Beasts' and I was very unhappy that he only survived for one scene. What a waste of a good character!
I'm also very annoyed that the 'werewolf' is clearly some sort of were-monkey. I'm so often let down by werewolf designs. The Harry Potter films, Supernatural, Buffy: all disappointments in this regard. Say what you will about Twilight, but at least the werewolves in the films looked like wolves. That's all I ask!
Angel is so bad at wearing shirts.
Before I started watching Buffy, I really wasn't expecting this protracted will-they-won't-they-turned-infidelity plotline between Willow and Xander. I'll be honest: it doesn't really work. If you're going to have an ~oh no, we shouldn't be kissing~ scene in a work of fiction and you want viewers to feel guiltily in favour, chemistry is really important. Willow has considerably more chemistry with her actual boyfriend than she does with the guy she's kissing instead, so this was never going to work.
I can't look at the cowboy vampire without thinking of the screaming cowboy song.
When was the last time Angel wore a shirt? Has he ever worn a shirt? Was he tortured by a shirt in Hell?
I keep forgetting this Willow/Xander plotline is happening and going 'WHY' afresh every time I'm reminded.
I was thinking Mrs Post had Mary Poppins' mannerisms right before Faith called her Mary Poppins. (Gwendolyn Post was also a character who had potential and was instead killed off immediately! Stop that, Buffy.)
You'll be able to deduce I wasn't a fan of the 'Willow and Xander kiss in the library' scene, but it did give us Giles holding his glasses in his mouth, which was endearing.
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I wasn't thrilled with the Willow/Xander thing either. It just didn't work that well.
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That is actually a pretty solid costuming strategy. HIRE MORE FURRIES, GUYS.
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The Buffy formula:
1. Introduce cool, refreshingly decent authority figure into Buffy's life
2. Kill off as victim of the week
3. Lather, rinse, repeat
Yeah, Willow/Xander came off as really awkward and forced to me too, especially compared to their existing relationships. I guess I can at least give them credit for making teen romance as awkward to watch as it is in real life?
This is one of the best sentences I've ever read, and also my new headcanon.
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(Anonymous) 2019-03-30 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)Curious what you'd make of the Dark Shadows werewolf design! It was a 1960s show on an absolute shoestring budget (example: one episode, they paid seven actors for speaking roles instead of their usual six maximum, so to make up costs for the next episode only two actors spoke... one carried the episode through soliloquy/acting for half the episode alone xD). I always thought the face looked pretty decent for the 60s (...and that's all they really did due to budget, LOL. The werewolves keep wearing clothes... though the clothes do become tattered come morning shots!).
https://youtu.be/ggEU8ZsYpKA?t=24
(I love Dark Shadows. I can't really suggest you watch it because a) hard to get hold of in the UK b) expensive c) there's over 1200 episodes. But the official blooper videos are rather fun to watch, so I'll link in case you're interested. You'll get a feel for a lot of different storylines, haha. Oh, and all these "bloopers" aired live. Shoestring budget!.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UeZtYriyFk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEClni8J2z4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROp_u5U8POY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZHGhPhH7Pw
Come to think of it, "my cousin Uncle Jeremiah" sounds like a totally legit Umineko line rather than an error. xD)
-timydamonkey
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(This show does look sort of hilarious, though.)
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(Anonymous) 2019-04-01 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)Dark Shadows is great! It shamelessly steals ideas from all over the place, then does its own thing. I quite enjoyed the respective werewolf storylines, although perhaps not as much as the parallel plots in those timeframes!
It's rather like a theatre troupe: given budget, it basically went out as live (retakes were expensive. In one episode, part of the set is on fire off screen, and they extinguish it with a fire extinguisher, which you can vaguely hear. Did they do a retake? Hell no, the show must go on!), which must be really hard when you consider there were so few actors per episode and it went out five days a week for five years. That's a lot of lines to learn and very little time, which explains the line read flubs that occur. Also, the theatre troupe feel meant they could gleefully kill characters as they basically had an ensemble cast, and they would recast actors as their own ancestors since it also jumped back through time.
...I was trying to think of favourite storylines and characters, and then it just occurred to me exactly why Willie is my favourite character. He basically spends most of the show a gibbering wreck. Why are all my favourite characters always people pretty much having mental breakdowns anyway? John Karlen played it so well (and he had some great facial expressions).
Watch from here to the end (roughly 2 mins): https://youtu.be/GNgS9VtVK4Q?t=130 and you'll get what I mean. ...Though it's probably very confusing out of context!
(I can't believe I commented on the cousin uncle Jeremiah being a potential Umineko line, while neglecting to mention the "several of my incestors" blooper. What a failure I am!)
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Seriously!! I can't deal with the were-monkeys.
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