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beccaelizabethSenseless timewasting questions fewer people read than answer, ie meme:
Characters:
Buffy or Faith? Faith. More stories still untold.
Willow or Fred? Fred is my hero, and we need to see the whole Illyria thing play out. Willow got gradually derailed with the whole crack magic rubbish until I really dont even want to write her. No more stories until that mess is detangled. Blah.
Cordy or Harmony? Cordy. Harm makes no stories in my head at all.
Xander or Andrew? Andrew. Xander got all mature and well balanced. Andrew can put anyone else off balance and plausibly quote all my favourite lines from anything. Way more useful in stories.
Spike or Angel? Spike. Angel makes me want to throttle him. Which I am aware wouldnt do permanent damage, but really. Whap him upside the head and tell him to stop it with the big dumb plans! But in terms of story to tell they both have so much left to say. Best together.
Giles or Wesley? Giles. So many stories I'm planning on writing at least 22 of them. But I love Wesley too and if a different muse had taken up residence could easily write a season about him too. Huge numbers of stories the both of them. And developed into such distinct people from very similar caricatures.
Joyce or Jenny? Joyce. Because Buffy and Dawn need a mom. I have no stories for either though.
Darla or Drusilla? Drusilla. Lovely crazy lady.
Lorne or Lindsey? Lindsey. Pretty and morally ambiguous. Trying to figure out what on earth he was up to last season is like a whole parallel season's worth of story.
Eve or Lilah? Duh, Lilah. Eve was necessary for the power dynamic because Lilah would have walked all over everyone and not played with Lindsey at all, but she sucked as a character. Wimp playing at bitch queen. Sad to watch.
Chip or soul? Difficult. Soul said something about the nature of beings in the Jossverse that seemed rather boring to me. But going to get the soul, and being the man who would do that, and who he becomes with soul, very interesting. So, soul.
Pig or lamb? mascot piggy, that'll do pig- no lambs anywhere
Jonathan or Warren? cute or icky, cute or icky, gee let me think... Jonathan had an interesting story arc and turned out to be a nice guy who'd made bad choices. Warren was a git. Not a tough one. J.
Most annoying character? Eve.
Worst character? As in not particularly interesting? Once again that would be Eve. Lots of screen time only made me like her less.
Favorite:
Buffy Episode? Has to be an Ethan ep.
Halloween has added Spike, utterly classic magic spell, and beautiful Ripper/Ethan interaction.
Dark Age has many good moments of Giles and Ethan, and Willow saves the day, and Buffy gets a tattoo (I have a thing for ink *shrugs*), and Jenny is all over Giles, and Angel being dead is a good thing. So lots of good points.
Band Candy has Ripper, but only 133 words of Ethan if you count stutters and uh as seperate words. Like an Ethan drabble. So, not quite favourite.
But I think the best is A New Man. Okay, so Giles spends large parts of the episode in demon face, but that is so funny. Theres Spike, theres the gang doing research, theres everyone caring about Giles, theres Buffy recognising Giles, which is so sweet. But mostly theres Giles and Ethan, Giles/Ethan in fact, as close to canon as Willow/Tara was at the time. Its subtext by the barest of thin margins. The whole episode keeps switching around between these two canonically romantic couples and Giles/Ethan. And okay, the whole Giles happily watches Ethan get carted off to be tortured by evil soldiers thing puts a dent in the romance, but that just ups the angst quotient and the potential stories to spin out of it. So basically its perfect.
I'm sure there are non-Ethan episodes that are good. I dont have them memorised in quite the same degree of detail. Ethan, good.
Angel Episode? One from season 5 I think. I mean In the Dark, with visiting Spike, Oz, still alive Doyle and snarky still herself Cordy, is a gem from early on. But season 5 had so many classics in a row they kind of pile up in my head wanting me to pick them all at once. Smile Time is funniest of course, but funny isnt favourite with me.
Not Fade Away kind of ruled too, even though theres things they need to get the movies so they can fix. I have every confidence they are intended to be fixed.
Okay, so I cant pick one. NOT 'The Girl in Question', because while the Wesley and Illyria-Fred part was tragic and exquisite, the other parts were ghastly. Not Numero Cinco, because blah. Not Life of the Party.
One from- Lineage, Destiny, Damage, You're Welcome.
Lineage was utterly perfect Wesley but not a team ep.
Destiny was Spike and Angel at their best but not a team ep.
Damage was close to a team ep, plus presence of Andrew.
You're Welcome did everything it set out to do. So, I'll choose that.
The 100th episode was deliberately crafted to have everything, and it hit perfectly. First time we'd seen Cordelia being herself in years, Spike, Angel, Lindsey, shirtless fighting, *gorgeous* stunt scenes, everything.
With a bit more perspective I'm sure other seasons will get back in the running, but I'm still kind of ringing from season 5.
Buffy Season? 2. Spike and Dru, and Ethan, and Angelus. Perfect.
Angel Season? 5. Without doubt, shiny from beginning to end. I may find flaws eventually, and some half episodes I loathe, but as a season, it ruled.
Buffy Plot? Spike's journey. If that counts as a plot. Its more of a series.
Buffy Death? Today I'll say Jonathan. Usually I'd say Jenny. Her death changed everything. But Jonathan had got to a good place, so died well. Jenny just died.
Angel Death? Doyle. Always. Miss him.
Angel Plot? For sheer scope and the way it weaved together, season 4. And yet, no part of what happened to Cordy after the episode where she chose to be a demon was even close to the right way to use the character. So, Darla. Or maybe Connor. Or... okay, so choosing any one segment is currently beyond me. I love the overall effect, you know?
AtS Character? Wesley. And Spike.
BtVS Character? Giles. And Spike.
Baddie? Ethan. And Spike. And Angelus.
BtVS moment? "I'd like to test that theory"
AtS moment? Either Wesley feeding Angel, or Wes smashing the box.
Sacrifice? Spike. Laughing as he went.
Episodes:
What Buffy episode made you cry? The Body. Every single time. And Chosen. Every time. Even though I knew even before the first time I watched it that Spike wasnt going to be gone for good.
What Angel episode made you cry? Hole in the World. Not Fade Away.
Funniest episode from Buffy? too many, brain overload... Something Blue.
Funniest episode from Angel? Smile Time.
'Ships:
Buffy w/: Xander
Angel w/: Wesley
Xander w/: Spike
Andrew w/: Xander
Spike w/: Angel
Cordy w/: Doyle
Dawn w/: nobody. its still disturbing she got all girl shaped.
Giles w/: Ethan. always. and also Oz, but a grown up version.
Wes w/: Angel. always.
Fred w/: Willow. or Gunn, if he grew up and let her be dark. I dont think she is what Wesley needs, and I think what he mostly sees in her is himself, which is not so helpful. But in canon, they should have had time to have an actual relationship and have it fall apart plausibly. Bring them both back, let them try the star crossed love thing, then have them break up because of his love for Angel.
Lilah w/: Wesley. But he'd dump her for Angel.
Lindsey w/: Angel. But he'd get dumped for Wesley.
Faith w/: Buffy
Harmony w/: whoever. I could care less.
Yes I know most of my pairs arent reciprocal. Relationships in this 'verse just never get simple.
Finally:
If there was one thing you could change in the entire BtVS/AtS world - what would you change and why would you change it?
AtS, Cordelia got so badly screwed. Her choosing to become part demon was a perfect moment and had so much potential. Unfortunately after than everything went wrong.
BtVS, Willow's arc got sidetracked by crackmagic messes. Should have stayed about power corrupts. Also, axcalibur annoyed me hugely. Power is in people.
But the single moment I would want to go back and erase is Tara's death. It was totally unnecessary, did the cliche thing again with insane-evil-dead lesbians, and just made a huge great mess of something that had been good. It even gave a creepy slant to Xander's big moment, because the love of a good man saved the evil lesbian and brought her back to being good. Which is totally screwed up. There were ways to write the story to arrive at Xander's moment and make it be about how friendship can save you without all that sex politics crap mucking it up.
And while I'm ranting, it would have been nice to give us one serious homosexual relationship on AtS, as a balance to all the laughing at the gay. Because while I love the slashy subtext, if its only amusing because its gay then after a while it feels like mockery. Make Spike/Angel serious instead of funny canon. Make Wes/Angel canon, let them be each other's reason and head off the suicidal plunges. Hell, make Lindsey/Angel canon and let the love of a good man bring the ambiguous one into the path of righteousness. Something. Theres all these juicy subtexts and it never pays off as anything but a joke. Gets frustrating.
But that is what fanfic is for, so god bless the fic writers.
huh. well, that wasted a solid hour. Yeesh. Time. Theres so little and so much.
Characters:
Buffy or Faith? Faith. More stories still untold.
Willow or Fred? Fred is my hero, and we need to see the whole Illyria thing play out. Willow got gradually derailed with the whole crack magic rubbish until I really dont even want to write her. No more stories until that mess is detangled. Blah.
Cordy or Harmony? Cordy. Harm makes no stories in my head at all.
Xander or Andrew? Andrew. Xander got all mature and well balanced. Andrew can put anyone else off balance and plausibly quote all my favourite lines from anything. Way more useful in stories.
Spike or Angel? Spike. Angel makes me want to throttle him. Which I am aware wouldnt do permanent damage, but really. Whap him upside the head and tell him to stop it with the big dumb plans! But in terms of story to tell they both have so much left to say. Best together.
Giles or Wesley? Giles. So many stories I'm planning on writing at least 22 of them. But I love Wesley too and if a different muse had taken up residence could easily write a season about him too. Huge numbers of stories the both of them. And developed into such distinct people from very similar caricatures.
Joyce or Jenny? Joyce. Because Buffy and Dawn need a mom. I have no stories for either though.
Darla or Drusilla? Drusilla. Lovely crazy lady.
Lorne or Lindsey? Lindsey. Pretty and morally ambiguous. Trying to figure out what on earth he was up to last season is like a whole parallel season's worth of story.
Eve or Lilah? Duh, Lilah. Eve was necessary for the power dynamic because Lilah would have walked all over everyone and not played with Lindsey at all, but she sucked as a character. Wimp playing at bitch queen. Sad to watch.
Chip or soul? Difficult. Soul said something about the nature of beings in the Jossverse that seemed rather boring to me. But going to get the soul, and being the man who would do that, and who he becomes with soul, very interesting. So, soul.
Pig or lamb? mascot piggy, that'll do pig- no lambs anywhere
Jonathan or Warren? cute or icky, cute or icky, gee let me think... Jonathan had an interesting story arc and turned out to be a nice guy who'd made bad choices. Warren was a git. Not a tough one. J.
Most annoying character? Eve.
Worst character? As in not particularly interesting? Once again that would be Eve. Lots of screen time only made me like her less.
Favorite:
Buffy Episode? Has to be an Ethan ep.
Halloween has added Spike, utterly classic magic spell, and beautiful Ripper/Ethan interaction.
Dark Age has many good moments of Giles and Ethan, and Willow saves the day, and Buffy gets a tattoo (I have a thing for ink *shrugs*), and Jenny is all over Giles, and Angel being dead is a good thing. So lots of good points.
Band Candy has Ripper, but only 133 words of Ethan if you count stutters and uh as seperate words. Like an Ethan drabble. So, not quite favourite.
But I think the best is A New Man. Okay, so Giles spends large parts of the episode in demon face, but that is so funny. Theres Spike, theres the gang doing research, theres everyone caring about Giles, theres Buffy recognising Giles, which is so sweet. But mostly theres Giles and Ethan, Giles/Ethan in fact, as close to canon as Willow/Tara was at the time. Its subtext by the barest of thin margins. The whole episode keeps switching around between these two canonically romantic couples and Giles/Ethan. And okay, the whole Giles happily watches Ethan get carted off to be tortured by evil soldiers thing puts a dent in the romance, but that just ups the angst quotient and the potential stories to spin out of it. So basically its perfect.
I'm sure there are non-Ethan episodes that are good. I dont have them memorised in quite the same degree of detail. Ethan, good.
Angel Episode? One from season 5 I think. I mean In the Dark, with visiting Spike, Oz, still alive Doyle and snarky still herself Cordy, is a gem from early on. But season 5 had so many classics in a row they kind of pile up in my head wanting me to pick them all at once. Smile Time is funniest of course, but funny isnt favourite with me.
Not Fade Away kind of ruled too, even though theres things they need to get the movies so they can fix. I have every confidence they are intended to be fixed.
Okay, so I cant pick one. NOT 'The Girl in Question', because while the Wesley and Illyria-Fred part was tragic and exquisite, the other parts were ghastly. Not Numero Cinco, because blah. Not Life of the Party.
One from- Lineage, Destiny, Damage, You're Welcome.
Lineage was utterly perfect Wesley but not a team ep.
Destiny was Spike and Angel at their best but not a team ep.
Damage was close to a team ep, plus presence of Andrew.
You're Welcome did everything it set out to do. So, I'll choose that.
The 100th episode was deliberately crafted to have everything, and it hit perfectly. First time we'd seen Cordelia being herself in years, Spike, Angel, Lindsey, shirtless fighting, *gorgeous* stunt scenes, everything.
With a bit more perspective I'm sure other seasons will get back in the running, but I'm still kind of ringing from season 5.
Buffy Season? 2. Spike and Dru, and Ethan, and Angelus. Perfect.
Angel Season? 5. Without doubt, shiny from beginning to end. I may find flaws eventually, and some half episodes I loathe, but as a season, it ruled.
Buffy Plot? Spike's journey. If that counts as a plot. Its more of a series.
Buffy Death? Today I'll say Jonathan. Usually I'd say Jenny. Her death changed everything. But Jonathan had got to a good place, so died well. Jenny just died.
Angel Death? Doyle. Always. Miss him.
Angel Plot? For sheer scope and the way it weaved together, season 4. And yet, no part of what happened to Cordy after the episode where she chose to be a demon was even close to the right way to use the character. So, Darla. Or maybe Connor. Or... okay, so choosing any one segment is currently beyond me. I love the overall effect, you know?
AtS Character? Wesley. And Spike.
BtVS Character? Giles. And Spike.
Baddie? Ethan. And Spike. And Angelus.
BtVS moment? "I'd like to test that theory"
AtS moment? Either Wesley feeding Angel, or Wes smashing the box.
Sacrifice? Spike. Laughing as he went.
Episodes:
What Buffy episode made you cry? The Body. Every single time. And Chosen. Every time. Even though I knew even before the first time I watched it that Spike wasnt going to be gone for good.
What Angel episode made you cry? Hole in the World. Not Fade Away.
Funniest episode from Buffy? too many, brain overload... Something Blue.
Funniest episode from Angel? Smile Time.
'Ships:
Buffy w/: Xander
Angel w/: Wesley
Xander w/: Spike
Andrew w/: Xander
Spike w/: Angel
Cordy w/: Doyle
Dawn w/: nobody. its still disturbing she got all girl shaped.
Giles w/: Ethan. always. and also Oz, but a grown up version.
Wes w/: Angel. always.
Fred w/: Willow. or Gunn, if he grew up and let her be dark. I dont think she is what Wesley needs, and I think what he mostly sees in her is himself, which is not so helpful. But in canon, they should have had time to have an actual relationship and have it fall apart plausibly. Bring them both back, let them try the star crossed love thing, then have them break up because of his love for Angel.
Lilah w/: Wesley. But he'd dump her for Angel.
Lindsey w/: Angel. But he'd get dumped for Wesley.
Faith w/: Buffy
Harmony w/: whoever. I could care less.
Yes I know most of my pairs arent reciprocal. Relationships in this 'verse just never get simple.
Finally:
If there was one thing you could change in the entire BtVS/AtS world - what would you change and why would you change it?
AtS, Cordelia got so badly screwed. Her choosing to become part demon was a perfect moment and had so much potential. Unfortunately after than everything went wrong.
BtVS, Willow's arc got sidetracked by crackmagic messes. Should have stayed about power corrupts. Also, axcalibur annoyed me hugely. Power is in people.
But the single moment I would want to go back and erase is Tara's death. It was totally unnecessary, did the cliche thing again with insane-evil-dead lesbians, and just made a huge great mess of something that had been good. It even gave a creepy slant to Xander's big moment, because the love of a good man saved the evil lesbian and brought her back to being good. Which is totally screwed up. There were ways to write the story to arrive at Xander's moment and make it be about how friendship can save you without all that sex politics crap mucking it up.
And while I'm ranting, it would have been nice to give us one serious homosexual relationship on AtS, as a balance to all the laughing at the gay. Because while I love the slashy subtext, if its only amusing because its gay then after a while it feels like mockery. Make Spike/Angel serious instead of funny canon. Make Wes/Angel canon, let them be each other's reason and head off the suicidal plunges. Hell, make Lindsey/Angel canon and let the love of a good man bring the ambiguous one into the path of righteousness. Something. Theres all these juicy subtexts and it never pays off as anything but a joke. Gets frustrating.
But that is what fanfic is for, so god bless the fic writers.
huh. well, that wasted a solid hour. Yeesh. Time. Theres so little and so much.
