NaNo, and Buffy

[rivendellrose]

NaNo Count: 15,038

Buffy progress: Watched Phases and Passion tonight. One cute adorable Oz and Willow episode, and one angst-tastic Angelus episode. (Uh, that'll probably make obvious to you, althenesanguis - I got my seasons wrong. I'm watching 2nd season right now, not 3rd. Oops. Like I said, before I got all stubborn about the Giles/Jenny thing, we were all over the place.) Joss Whedon is such a bastard. I think I'll be over here being glad that Firefly didn't last long enough for him to kill people off in the long, horrible, truly angsty ways that he seems, from Buffy, to truly favor.


Why is it always my favorite character who gets screwed by the killing-ness? Why is it that every time I'm like "ooo, I love this character! And they have a really cute relationship with someone!" that seems to be a siren-call to Joss saying "here, here, kill this one!" Wah. I was even prepared for this one. I knew they'd do the cute semi-reconciliation thing... and there it was... and there was cuteness... and Giles smiling... which is so wonderfully rare... and then with the roses and the note and the taking off the glasses, and he looked so happy. And then, body. My stomach kept doing the clenchy thing all through the bit with Jenny and Angelus (agh, that name! It really doesn't help that she has my name!!!), and then all over again when he found the rose in his door. And then... okay, must admit, I liked the brief look at Scary-Vengeance!Giles. And him and Buffy. Very cute. But... agh. Stupid Joss. Smart Joss, but stupid Joss. *Pouts* I shall commence being mad at him. Again. And probably writing angsty fic. ...Again. I sense another of my Fic Quests - where once I was determined to get Joe (from Highlander) some happy, I am now flat-out convinced that I must find a way to give poor Giles some happy. I don't know how the hell I'm going to do it, but I'll think of something. Even if it's just writing a bunch of random little fics about... tea, and books, and... hell, I don't know. And I shall have to try very very very hard to keep from writing any random!OFC fics. Eep. But if I managed to get Joe a girlfriend and a whole frigging extended family (a fucked up one, granted, but... hey, that's okay, right?) I can manage to give Giles at least some shining moments of contentment.

...Yes, now you all know the deep dark secret of why I really write fic. I become determined that a character needs something (reconciliation, happiness, a stern talking-to, getting laid...) and take into my head to Do It Somehow. Grr. ...Usually it takes me forever, but I eventually manage it somehow!

I find it highly ironic that I finally find a character who makes me half-sort-of-like the dimunitive of my name (how could I not, what with Mr Wonderful Voice over there saying it all the time?!), and she gets horribly killed off. Figures.

Oh yeah, and even shitty bad-90s-sfx werewolves look better than PoA werewolves. At least they vaguely resemble wolves.

...Argh, at this rate, I need a Buffy icon. Well... specifically a Giles icon. *Headdesk* Remember how I used to say it was a good thing I'd never seen this series, because it'd just cause me to crush madly all over Giles? Yup. I'm nothing if not predictable. Kaaaaaaaari, is your 'tea high' available for stealing until I manage to find pics and make my own? I haven't worked up the courage to dig for screencaps just yet... heh. I hope it is. 'Cause I snagged it. ♥?

For the moment, this is my "Joss, you suck" icon. :P

Comments

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I'm a horrible person. I was so happy to see her go. She just grated me wrong for some reason. Maybe it was the actress, maybe it was her voice, her mannerisms, I don't know. The character just really irked me for some reason. Then again, I'm the person who would have really enjoyed 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ten times more if it didn't actually, you know, have Buffy in it. Probably why I stopped watching it and switched over to Angel when Angel premeired. Though Angel still had Annoying!Generic!One-D!Tough-Cop!Lady.... But a certain spoilery character's presense totally made up for that. Mmmm, Wolfram and Hart....

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Lol. Okay, we're totally even for the Byron thing now. I really liked Jenny! ...Although that whole Giles-has-a-not-girlfriend-with-my-name thing probably biases me somewhat. *g*

I think everybody would've preferred Buffy without Buffy, but she's kind of a necessary part of the equation - you have to have the hero to be the center of the whole thing.

I've seen one episode of Angel, and I liked it... but so far I'm enjoying working my way through Buffy. Even Buffy herself is grating on me a lot less than she used to - I'm sort of fond of her by default, whereas I originally completely hated her. ;)

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Heheh, we are. :D

She just got on my nerves. Especially in later seasons. The first 3 weren't so bad but once you hit 5... ugh. But that pretty much sums up the whole thing for me, honestly. I really lost a lot of my love for it when it went a whole different direction and lost the funny and the quirky. :/

I liked Angel because it kept the funny and the quirky, for obvious reasons. And, well, I take great delight in watching Angel stomp around and brood. Nobody broods like Angel.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, apparently the whole thing goes downhill after 5 - I'm figuring I probably won't even see the rest, honestly, since I'm just watching what maymargaret has on DVD. And I've already seen "Once More With Feeling" (many times!), which is apparently the only good thing about S6.

It's true - he has brooding down to an artform. It's a talent, really. Although... I'm ashamed to admit it, but I find evil!Angel so cute! He's all happy and not at all broody! So perky and smiley. And evil. Besides, him being evil makes Drusilla happy and Spike snarky, and both of those are very good things. I love those two - they're sooooo very messed up, but so horribly cute about it.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I pretty much hated Angel until he moved to LA. In fact, I felt like they took the three most annoying characters (barring Buffy) and sent them to LA and turned them cool.
The default Joss setting is 'Being Evil makes you way cooler'. Witness Evil Willow. Witness Angelus. Witness Spike, especially once he becomes ambiguously not-evil. Mopey brooding Angel made my nose hairs curl with annoyance. But Angelus rocked my world.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Mopey brooding Angel made my nose hairs curl with annoyance. But Angelus rocked my world.

Pretty much, yeah. I mean, broody Angel is still interesting, but only in a kicked-puppy kind of way, and that's only entertaining for so long. Whereas Angelus is just... wow. And the same goes for Drusilla and Spike. *g*

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Yeah I wandered away sometime after that. It's not worth it, unless you want to beat your head against the wall repeatedly. You want to see a case of a writer trying to beat the audience over the head with a point? You have seen nothing until you have seen the infamous Spike vs Riley arc. *twitches*

He does! He broods like no other, and he's crazily adorable while brooding. And everyone makes fun of him broody. Angelus.... eh, I am of two minds on him. On one hand, yes, he's awesome and evil. On the other.... it gets turned into a pulled-out-of-the-ass plot device over and over again at one point.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Is this the one where one of the writers decided that Spike was a Bad Human Being (uh, hello, vampire?) and figured she'd go right ahead and prove it via his relationship with Buffy? I've heard... interesting stories about that arc.

Oh, fun. See, so far it's been totally reasonable in terms of plot, albeit easily interpreted into what some people claim is Joss Whedon's (hopefully subconscious and unintentional) "Sex = Death" equation. Which... I'd love to be able to refute, but there sure is a bit of evidence for it.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

That's... part of it. Basically, the writer wanted to prove that 'bad boys' weren't good for young women, because she'd been traumatized IRL. Riley was introduced to represent the 'good boy', the one that all young women should want. So when fan reaction to Riley was poor but towards Spike was positive, she...er...well, decided to try and make it impossible for Spike fans to justify his actions any longer and made him wildly OOC to prove her OOC point.

Well, that shows up in a lot of shows, and I can understand why. Sex and death are often linked together in the human subconsious - something Buffy the series actually touches on, at one point. It's been said that the plot of every piece of literature ever written boils down to sex, death or both. LOST follows the pattern ridiculously regularly. It's kind of disturbing.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is the one I heard about. *Shakes head* I wish writers would hurry up and learn that you can't force people to like or dislike a character by being ham-handed about it. You can either write them as interesting, or not. If interesting sometimes equals bad, that's not a terrible thing - I think most girls (most people) are fully aware that the bad boy (or girl... uh... but that's usually a totally different story) isn't necessarily a good idea in real life. But in fantasy, why the hell not? I wouldn't date a guy like Spike, but I sure don't mind looking at him. ;)

*Nods* In symbolic terms I understand it (and that's why I don't throw a fit whenever it happens, because I recognize that literature and, for crying out loud, pretty much the whole human mythos, supports the idea. It's frustrating from a feminist/modern standpoint, but it's hard to argue with the subconscious.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

I think that's why I kept watching Angel. Because it got dark, but there were still funny moments. And Angel brooding. And then everyone making fun of Angel for brooding. XD

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Yes! It filled that void that Buffy left when things just got... um. Yes.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Joss just sits around, laughing his evil genius laugh, like "how can I mess with my fans now?" That was one of the saddest episodes for me, because awwww, Giles! He was all happy and adorable! Seasons 2 and 3 were probably the show at its best. I just couldn't get into a lot of the post-season 4 plotting.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly! That poor man - he just can't catch a break! He's all happy and cute and in love, and then BAM! Joss decides that the best way to fuck with Buffy is to have Angelus kill his not-quite-girlfriend! Right after the fuzzy-cute reconciliation!

He's so mean. *Pouts* Giles needs some happy, for crying out loud. The poor man gets no love.

[pussreboots.livejournal.com]

I lost my love for the Buffy series when Dawn showed up. I can't rant now, must spent my energy on Nanowrimo instead.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Pats* That was one of the first eps I saw, by accident, many years ago. Confused the living daylights out of me. "So... wait, Buffy randomly has a sister, now? Wtf is this show on?"

Also, I feel you on the NaNo pain. I am so very with you on that.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Hearing about it the summer before S5 I had no faith that they were gonna pull it off well, but they actually did a remarkably good job (IMO) and Dawn ended up being one of my favorite characters (an unpopular opinion, I know).

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've since had the situation explained to me by a friend, and really liked the way they handled it. Dawn... amuses me, from what little bits I've seen of her. I like others better, but she's certainly not a character I actively dislike.

[razycrandomgirl.livejournal.com]

I know. I saw it when it was brand spankin' new! Joss is feakin' Evil! I don't know how many times I have to tell him! "Joss stop killing your characters!!!!!!"

This is my only Watcher/Giles icon. You can haves if ya like. just credit to the creator. :-D enjoy

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Eagh. I can't imagine seeing that without warning, it would have just killed me ded from how horrible Joss is to his characters. I know that's important for a writer, but... eagh! He's a big meanie. :P

Awww. Stuffy English men. I already stole this one from a friend, though, and since it covers not just one but two of my great loves in life (librarian-ish British intellectuals and tea! *g*) I'll just stick with it until I make my own. Or possibly just stick with it permanently. :D

[razycrandomgirl.livejournal.com]

yeah it ok. :-)

I was shocked but I love angst! And I love how it made Buffy feel horrible, cause I don't really like buffy.
Hey isn't that from the commerical her was on a while back. He's the Tea guy! lol

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I used to detest her, but she's slowly growing on me... like a mold, sort of. ;)

*Laughs* Quite possibly, I don't actually know what it's from. It was made by kathyh.

[jfrog78.livejournal.com]

http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=91

This comic I thought summed it up well. Also angel is awesome the only thing is that good ole Joss hits you in the gut several times.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Yeah... tie-in graphic novels seem to be sort of dubious at best, sometimes. Though I've heard good things about a few of the special ones for Buffy.

Joss isn't happy unless he sucker-punches his audience at least once a year, I think.

[lokapala.livejournal.com]

Wow, there are people who are even newer to Buffy than I am. I mean, wow! And I envy you, watching it all for the first time, right?

And while I'm here, allow me to present you with a minority report and say that no, not everybody would've preferred BtVS without Buffy =) And since I'm talking about minorities - not only I loved Buffy (I still love her, the height-challenged big damn hero =)), the season I loved most was the infamous 6. The later seasons aren't worse than the early ones, they're the early ones being all growed up. That might not be everyone's cup of tea, but hey, give them a try =)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I somehow completely failed to watch it when it was actually running, and have only now started. Unfortunately, since practically all my friends were in love with it early in college, I've been spoiled absolutely rotten on most of the major plot developments. :P

Thing is, I'm actually starting to like Buffy, too. I used to pretty much hate her on sight (big reason why I didn't watch the show while it was running - I was waaaaay too sensitive to the whole popular-girl thing. I have to admit, the height-challenged thing helped a tiny bit in warming me up to her - it's rare to find Hollywood actresses as short as I am!

I'll have to give the last few seasons a try, then - you and I have enough stuff in common that you've got me curious, now. ;)

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

I was going to say, "of course" but I see you could not resist the temptation.

Anyway, I'm tired but yes. Buffy is a good show, and I'm sad that you're only getting into it now, cause I've already long since left most of that show behind. Still have fondness for it, but its not the main fandom. That would be Game, but you knew that.

But yes, I agree with the whole pointless death of Jenny Calendar. D: Anything that makes Giles sad is a bad thing.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeah, I'm weak versus the cute.

Alas, that seems to be how I do things. "What, everybody else in the world is over this thing now? So I guess that means I should fall face-first into it, right?" *Headdesk* I swear, one of these days I'll catch a fandom that's actually still... you know... going. This is the one thing I hate about being anti-tv... :P

Exactly. I think I'd be upset about just about anything if it made that man pout.

[onefishjyuufish.livejournal.com]

I've only ever seen a few scattered episodes of Buffy - mostly a mash of the second and third seasons with some big episodes from later on (OMWF, Hush, Restless) - and I never felt much of a draw to it, though I liked some of the characters.

I did, however, become completely enamored of the Angel series and ended up buying it all on DVD. It seems to kind of floor people that I've seen all of that series but haven't watched much Buffy and don't intend to.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That had always been my general feeling, too - liked the characters, didn't particularly give a damn for the show, but apparently this time it hit me right. Weird how that works, sometimes.

I'll have to give Angel another shot after I've seen more of Buffy - I caught one episode, "Smile Time," and thought it was hilarious... but then the DVDs went back to the library before I had time to snag more of it. ;)

[lokapala.livejournal.com]

Oh, and of course you totally should give Angel a shot. Lots of shots. I love Buffy, but Angel? There are no words to express what that show did. Noir-Greek-Tragedy-Deconstructing-Myths with lotses of shiny piled on top =)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Noir-Greek-Tragedy-Deconstructing-Myths with lotses of shiny piled on top.

Lol. Okay, I already liked it from the one episode I've seen, but that description wins me over completely. XD

[lokapala.livejournal.com]

that description wins me over completely

Well, it was meant to. You know, Dark Side, cookies, the usual %)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, evil cookies. XD