Just to weigh in on the whole season 8 thing...

[deird1]

I've seen quite a few comments lately saying "They should have taken out the one-shots and focused on the main story" or "It's going on too long - why didn't they get to the Twangel bit faster?" or similar.

And it surprises me. Because, actually, I'd want the opposite.

Comments

[beer_good_foamy]

What I don't get is what you have against cyborgs. Cyborgs are awesome.

But yeah, good point. I can definitely see how that would work.

[deird1]

Some cyborgs are awesome. (Like Cameron. And Boomer.)

Personally, I was a big fan of the plotline with Betty falling in love with the Cyborg With Reprogramming - even if she did have to shut him down when his microchip got corrupted. But he was cool (in a broody sort of way).

[beer_good_foamy]

What gets me about cyborgs is this: when do you legally become a cyborg? I know people with pacemakers and contact lenses, do they count as cyborgs?

And clearly, Betty belongs with the newer, sleeker cyborg who broke his own programming just for the hell of it rather than being reprogrammed by a bunch of passing gypsies Microsoft employees.

[flake_sake]

hee :)

[flake_sake]

Hm, I'm one of the people, who wrote that I'd cut about 20 issues from S8, yet basically I agree with what you say. To sound less scizophrenic, my favorite thing is the kind of story you describe, with lots of small stories and a big one building up in the background (like on B5 for example). Buffy S5 was a good example for that but there like you said the smaller plots were resolved, the individual episodes/miniarcs entertained.

I guess my real problem with S8 is that almost non of the individual arcs worked ot for me, of the longer ones, only the Faith arc did and of the one shots basically only "the chain". Lack of resolution was one aspect of it (like with TOYL), just plain bad was another (like the trip to 19th century germany).

I think I'm advocating cutting it down because the main plot is the only one I'm still invested in and I want to see it come to a resolution before it's lost in the boring, though in an ideal universe, where the mini-arcs and one shots could be rewritten,I'd be quite fine with the structure.

[deird1]

I guess my real problem with S8 is that almost non of the individual arcs worked ot for me, of the longer ones, only the Faith arc did and of the one shots basically only "the chain".

There is that.

Lack of resolution is one thing; lack of good writing is a completely separate issue.

[rahirah]

I actually think that the best issues of the series have been some of the one-shots, so if I were playing editor, I would be far more likely to whack the hell out of the main arc, which has wandered all over Robin Hood's barn without going much of anywhere.

[deird1]

*nods*

[angearia]

Don't have really much to say except Season 8 is making me feel exhausted. Reading it is like running a marathon and I've reached the point where I just can't be excited. Sigh

[sueworld2003]

Seconded. *g*

[deird1]

Plot twists, yes. Mysteries with masks and questions like "Does Buffy even know that Spike's alive?" No.

Agreed. It definitely works to make the readers emotionally distant from the characters. After all, how can you identify with someone when you have no idea what they're thinking?

[angearia]

Word.

[lavastar]

I feel like my once-annoying plan for reading the comics - not bothering to get issues and just reading the TPBs whenever they come out/I feel like buying them - is actually making me less pissy over S8, lol. Cause there are much bigger time spans between when I'm reading new stuff, so I get new stuff all in one jolt, which cuts down on the annoying waiting for new plot developments, and it makes me a lot less invested in it - not that I would be hugely anyways cause, um, yeah. Season 8

[angearia]

Although I felt that way more about the Buffy Omnibuses - like, I'd bought five of these suckers and we haven't even gotten to S4 yet SCREW THIS.

LOL! Yeah, I started reading those and had literally all of them at hand. But I got tired of the stories in that.

[lavastar]

Haha, yeah, I bought them up till like 5 or 6 or something but then chucked them all cause I'm weird and feel like I have to either have all of something or none of it if it's all serial and I was certainly not going to indefinitely keep buying that stuff. I mean, they were kind of amusing sometimes, but the storylines were often completely weird and the art was often completely terrible and the eyecolor was often completely wrong I swear Willow's eyes do not match her hair did you notice that Buffy's eyes are not blonde omigod what the fuck.

[deird1]

Although I felt that way more about the Buffy Omnibuses - like, I'd bought five of these suckers and we haven't even gotten to S4 yet SCREW THIS.

*nods ruefully*

I got up to book four...