Am I the only one who missed this?

[ms_scarletibis]

"This" as in the alternate script to the Buffy finale.  I only skimmed it, but I think it was mos def more interesting...

Spike:  Give it to me.
Dawn:  You want it, you're going to have to take it.

Comments

[goldenusagi]

Ever get the feeling that the show we actually ended up seeing was a random chance? Who knows how many different directions it almost went in, or how close they came to going a different way?

[goldenusagi]

Also, but I really don't care about Chosen one way or the other. I've only watched it once, and probably won't watch it again. But I've been reading the shooting scripts over at Buffyworld, and it's interesting what was actually written to be filmed that didn't make it.

[ms_scarletibis]

Yeah, wishful thinking now is pretty useless...but still, interesting.

I actually don't particularly feel it was random, since there were a lot of connecting threads. I do feel like a chunk of it, however, was lazy writing, or writing lacking continuity (like the Uber Vamps not being so "uber" in "Chosen"), which gives a sense of randomness, in a way. But then, hindsight is always 20/20. I just wish the writers/directors/editors were all on the same page, and from what we got, they clearly weren't. It would have been a great service to the final product if they had.

[goldenusagi]

There were connecting threads, but there were also abandoned threads (throughout all the seasons, but there were so many things in S7 that didn't make sense to me) that were just discarded. The writers definitely had their choice of which direction they wanted to go. Or, had their choice of different directions to go in, even if there was heavier leaning in one direction.

Didn't Joss say on the commentary or an interview that's on the S7 DVDs that he was aware that he was making the uber vamps easier to kill in Chosen, but basically did it anyway (who cares about continuity) so he could have the whole 'power' message?

[ms_scarletibis]

Yeah, that sounds vaguely familiar (the Joss thing), but is also lame. I mean think of it--if the scythe held Slayer power (which is weird since the power is derived from a demon and can only be activated one at a time), why not go full throttle you know, and say hey, by using this scythe from a goddess, it will not only activate the slayers if we use Spell X, but also make them stronger than they're supposed to be! Or something. *Anything*... Also, the "power" message is totally skewed, since the power is pretty much forced upon several hundred unsuspecting girls. They didn't have a choice. Why make other women suffer through the same fate--the responsibility of saving the world. Sure, you'll be super strong physically, but it robs you of a lot. Also, it like, as Tyra Banks would put it, has you "rest on pretty," you know? You're super strong, so why bother trying to excel at anything else--earn something (as Anya points out).

Sorry for the ramble :P

[goldenusagi]

Oh, I could ramble about what didn't make sense on S7 forever. Yeah, the power message seemed stupid to me, since girls weren't taking the power, but it was being forced on them. HOWEVER, if it was only being given to the potentials there (which as far as we knew in S7 it was?), and they all agreed to it, more power to everyone. They were in the fight, and by staying with Buffy, had more or less signed up for it. And the show leads us to belive that the girls who make it to SD are all that's left b/c the First has been killing everyone else connected with the Slayer. Yet, here come the comics, and guess what? There are like 1800 Slayers now. Besides forcing powers on all those girls (and what about the ones who use them for bad?) it totally makes the First not threatening. If the First was trying to wipe out the Slayer line, it did a piss poor job, since it missed about 1800 people.

[ms_scarletibis]

LMAO. Yeah. The 1800 was mos def a "buh?" moment. However, at the end of "Chosen," well not the end, but when the spell takes effect, and we see other girls who weren't there get all chosen up, one of the clips in the little montage was like a what? Twelve year old? What the crap is a twelve year old going to do with all that power besides hurt people on accident? Or worse, on purpose? You don't put all of that power onto an unsuspecting public who doesn't know how to handle the responsibility. They've seen first hand what power tripping can do and where it can lead. I mean, come on.

Not only that, but Willow and the Coven did spells to find out where the potentials were (and how many, I assume). After the spell, doesn't Willow say she can feel them all (the slayers) or something?

Either way, I agree with the "if it was only the potentials there" deal. The rest...pfft.

[goldenusagi]

The 1800 was the first of many "buh?" moments of the comics. Even though I didn't like S7, I was excited when the comics were announced. Then I heard that Buffy was the head of a Slayer army, and it all went downhill from there. I thought, I dunno, that the Slayers we saw might all go their own way and do good in their own parts of the world. But no, the Scoobies are scattered and Buffy is commanding a squadron

[ms_scarletibis]

First, that sitcom example you gave is *so* "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," lol. I didn't mind the town being gone--it fit in with their whole "out with the old, on with the new on a fabulous extending road! Smile!" thing that Joss was going for (I hated the smile more--felt inappropriate). But I think the entire s8 comics as a whole for the core Scoobies is nothing but god awful, extreme OOC bad fan fic from Joss. I didn't mind the no longer "Chosen one/two" thing, but they aren't heroes (though truthfully, I felt that way long before the comics, and the comics for me was like knocking the hammer down twice on that one)--not by a long shot, and that's what gets my goat.

I think it would have been better if Joss *had* shown this normal life for Buffy, and she tries to find herself and be made a fully baked cookie (shitty metaphor, btw), and finds herself weary of the normal life, and have her come full circle to accepting her role as slayer as opposed to...whatever it is he's doing with it.

[goldenusagi]

The Nanny also ended like that. So did Home Improvement and Growing Pains, I think. I'm sure there are others.

(I hated the smile more--felt inappropriate)

Yeah... So you just saved the world, but um, don't you care that people died? Or are maybe just a little shaken up by the whole thing and barely escaping and all? I don't know...as final closing moments go, it just didn't sit right with me.

But I think the entire s8 comics as a whole for the core Scoobies is nothing but god awful, extreme OOC bad fan fic from Joss.

Couldn't agree more. It's like every crazy thing he's ever wanted to do is happening. I think he just can't let the characters rest. Sometimes, you just need to stop. Yeah, maybe it'd be cool if Buffy commanded a Slayer army, but maybe that's not what *should* happen, and maybe that should have stayed in your head.

Obviously the characters are his and he can do what he wants. But it's one thing to create a 'verse, and another to run it into the ground.

[caromiofic]

The youngest girl was 10. I met the little actress (very cute kid). She was told her actual age was what she was playing as the "littlest Slayer".

I think it's not out of the realm of possibility for there to be Potentials that are too young to be a threat in the First's mind, so they just weren't on it's radar with so many teens to kill. But then that means that every girl they go find has to be a lot younger than the ones in Sunnydale were. Like, no older than 14..
1800 is way too many, though, unless that's the "new generation"(?) of girls..

[ms_scarletibis]

"I think it's not out of the realm of possibility for there to be Potentials that are too young to be a threat..."

In cinema, it's typically the children who can fulfill revenge who are the first to go though. I mean, they had to grow up sometime. If the First was offing little girls, I think it definitely would have upped the "First Evil" cred.

[kimrae1977]

If it was thinking like a real evil genius, absolutely. But the First as a character is not that bright. It seemed to be looking for a 'quick' solution to getting corporeal. I think it would have taken out everything after that, when it had the leisure of its full power....but it was arrogant enough to ignore the ignorant little girls because Buffy and Spike weren't following their scripts, so to speak. We only see the Bringers killing the older Potentials, so it seems intentional. And the ones that came to SD were told to by the Council - we already know there are girls the Council doesn't know about. It might very well be that the First got the list from the Council of known girls and didn't look any further. Again, First Evil not that bright or creative. ;) The other Potentials remained "safely anonymous".