Buffy bits 'n pieces from magazines

[elisi]

I'm tired of tidying up the same things for the 100th time, so I thought I'd post these tidbits from a couple of magazines that I've meant to share for ages, but I was concentrating on finishing 'The Summer After' (It's all done! Go read and give me feedback, because otherwise I'll wilt away... please?), so this was more or less forgotten

Comments

[lillianmorgan]

Oh ::contemplates fingernails:: is the CD any good?
plans to resurrect Tara in Season Seven
Crikey! This was the first I ever heard of this. I remember Amber Benson declined to appear in CWDP - but I wonder how serious this other idea was?
The essay questions make my head hurt.
::smooches back::

[elisi]

Oh ::contemplates fingernails:: is the CD any good?

Hee! So, are your fingernails nice and clean then? No seriously, the cd is lovely - as soon as I saw that the first song was by Nick Cave I knew I'd like it!

And re. Tara, I can't believe that I haven't seen that anywhere else!

And those essay-questions are not tempting in the least! (I already have my plate full! But it'll all have to wait until after Christmas!)

Oh - and did you watch 'Stage Beauty' last night? I really liked it.

[lillianmorgan]

Oh - and did you watch 'Stage Beauty' last night? I really liked it.
::nods vehemently:: Me too, I cried at the end.

[elisi]

I really wish we had recorded it, but we couldn't find a blank tape (typical!), so I'll have to wait until it's shown again...

And apart from the 'slash' (which made husband go 'bleugh') it was thoroughly enjoyable and so beautifully shot and staged. Thank you so much for pointing it out! It's been a while since I've watched a really good film!

[swsa]

Yeah, that Tara thing came out back in August. I like to believe he's just full of crap and saying what he thinks the W/T shippers want to hear, because that idea seriously sucks. First of all, did we not learn the "Resurrection is bad" lesson in S6? Why would Buffy, of all people, do the same thing to someone else? Also, it's just cheap, cheap, cheap. Having it be a wish is like a half-step above "it was all a dream" when it comes to lazy storytelling. Blech. There was much ranting about this on my flist back when he first said this, if you want to read some of it.

[elisi]

There was much ranting about this on my flist back when he first said this

Heh. I'm not surprised. Although I find it hard to believe that he'd use such a silly trick - and nothing ever comes for free in the Buffy-verse, that's for sure! There would have to be major repercussion of one sort or another! And also what would Tare think of Willow? She murdered Warren and tried to end the world, all because of Tara's death... I doubt they'd live happily ever after.

[mikeygs]

Although I find it hard to believe that he'd use such a silly trick

Oh, I don't. Joss is no stranger to audience manipulation, but I would agree that there would have to be consequences for it. There is no indication of when this was supposed to happen in the timeline, but if it had happened toward the end, we might not have gotten to see them. But if all this was supposed to occur mid-season, I would have found it very distracting. The show is about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, not Willow, the hitch-breathed, unstable witch and her awkward relationship issues.

I don't want to sound like I hate Willow because I don't. But I don't find her character the least bit interesting, either.

[elisi]

Well he said third episode from the end, which makes it seem very much like he was making it up - you can't do a completely off-tangent supporting character episode when you're wrapping up a seven-season show! Willow got her 'grieving over Tara' episode mid-season, and from then on she was fairly stable. And much as Kennedy annoys me, she's better than magically-brought-back-Tara! Some people stay dead when they die!

[mikeygs]

Jeebus, those questions make my brain go hide under its bed. I don't think I'd ever be able to answer those questions as well I possibly could because BTVS is very personal to me. Exposing those private things for analysis by someone who is in a position to judge would make me uncomfortable and anxious. Yeah, it'd be bad.

No, that's not at all weird. Nope.

My personal feeling is that it was just Joss blowing smoke. AB has said that she didn't want to come back to play the FE because she didn't want Tara thought of that way. If Joss pitched that idea to her, I don't see why she'd say no. Besides, it's wicked lame, IMO. I like S7 bunches, but the whole 'Willow gets to be happy' thing annoyed me. If any scooby other than Buffy deserved happiness, it would have been Xander.

Like you, I'll take Spuffy over W/T any day. ;)

[elisi]

Oh, I find it very hard to be objective about BtVS too! And analysing something to death is not my idea of fun (says the girl who keeps writing long essays...)

And see my answer to swsa above re. the W/T thing. And who knows... maybe Xander settled down with Andrew and they were very happy! ;-)

[danceswithwords]

Ah, I remember when the Tara thing hit. And yea, there was much gnashing of teeth across livejournal.

I think Whedon was talking out his ass, frankly. The man likes to tell stories. He's not a terribly reliable source about what went on behind the scenes on his own shows because he prefers the interesting story to the mundane truth. I'm sure it was an idea he had, but I can't imagine it even got to the stage where the writing team was talking about it. Because for one thing, the idea that Buffy would yank someone else out of heaven after what she went through is ludicrous, and for another, it wouldn't have meshed at all well with any of the rest of the plot and themes they'd been developing all season and that were all coming to a head at the point where Tara would have reappeared. In other words, what swsa said.

I'm sort of bummed I went to college before Buffy came out, because one of my degrees is mass communications and I did a lot of media study and analysis. At the time, the big thing was Madonna, but now it's Buffy, which

[elisi]

the idea that Buffy would yank someone else out of heaven after what she went through is ludicrous

I so very nearly wrote that in my reply to swsa!

there was much gnashing of teeth across livejournal

What a wonderful image! And yes Buffy would make a fascinating study, although I probably like it too much to be able to do too much analysis.

[skylee]

If it was just altering reality, then Tara wouldn't be yanked out of heaven, she simply wouldn't have died in the first place. I think what Joss meant was probably an AU rather than a resurrection. So that's a bit different than what Willow & the scoobies did to Buffy.

But I don't see how that could have fit in S7 either. It could work, but personally I prefer Spuffy too. ;-)

[danceswithwords]

Hmm. An AU would make more sense, but if Buffy had the opportunity to alter reality, they'd have had to do some severe wriggling to structure it in such a way that the natural choice was bringing Tara back/preventing her death rather than oh, say, using the chance to deal with the impending apocalypse.

It seems like Joss thought it was a cool idea, but it obviously never actually got hashed out at all. I've got nothing against Tara, but I'm glad--I actually don't think it would have worked, and the absolute last thing S7 needed was more incoherence and dangling plot threads. :)

[molly_may]

I think those essay questions are kind of fascinating, but it makes my brain hurt right now to contemplate answering them. In other words, I'd love to see someone else tackle them! Joss's quote about the religion in narrative that's used in the first question is one of the things he's said that's been the most intriguing to me, personally. It made me think about how important stories and storytelling are in my life.

[elisi]

I'd love to see someone else tackle them!

Me too!

And I think stories and storytelling have always been important - in some way Buffy could be seen as a 'fairy-tale' for modern times.