Buffy Rewatch: The Beginning
Starting my Buffy the Vampire Slayer Rewatch. Most of the episodes I have only seen once so far, so it’ll be nice to experience them once again with the whole series in mind. Instead of posting coherent texts, I decided to just write down a few notes, because … well, I’m lazy and not very good at writing, so it’s easier. Plus, there are enough episode reviews on the net anyway.
The first season is not exactly a fan-favourite. The production values are rather low and it doesn’t have the character development and arc significance of the following seasons. Still, it’s interesting to see who the Scoobies once were, how they started out as characters.
1.01 Welcome to the Hellmouth
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Charles Martin Smith
- Nice teaser which already introduces one of the main ideas behind the show’s concept: Ironically suberting horror film clichés. Also, Darla isthe first important character to appear in Buffy (even though she won’t play as big a part in Buffy as she will in Angel ).
- After the credits, we see a dream sequence which seems a bit cheesy if you compare it to later dream scenes. However, it serves as a foreshadowing for the events happening during the first season.
- Xander is the first Scooby to see Buffy and he immediately develops a crush on her. Never will he completely get over her and thus Xander’s admiration for her will be a reoccurring theme on the show.
- Cordelia is the one who approaches Buffy to make her part of the “in-crowd”. However, Cordy’s cruel treatment of Willow scares her away and later, when the Highschool bitch is attacked by the Slayer, the possibility of Buffy becoming one of the “cool people” has vanished.
- Buffy gains interest in Willow after the latter one has been harassed by Cordelia. Maybe because she wants her to see that she’s not a new Cordelia, maybe she feels protective of her. Anyway, this is the beginning of their friendship. And shy, sweet Willow is cute.
- Giles is not very likeable in this first episode. He’s not able to understand Buffy’s worries, doesn’t see her as a teenage girl but simply as the Slayer who’s supposed to function. Eventually, he’ll become a father figure to the main protagonist.
- Foreshadowing: Cordelia tells Buffy that she’d kill to live in L.A. Only three years later she will actually move there for the spin-off series Angel.
- I could never really take the Master’s lair seriously. It just looked like a small room to me and the set didn’t manage to create an eery feeling.
- Luke is kind of over-the-top and trashy. I guess, you could even call him a parody of over-the-top villains but I am not sure if that was the intention.
- The musical score by Walter Murphy sounds like it’s from a cheap B-Horror movie of the 80s or something. Fortunately, composers like Christophe Beck and others were hired for the following seasons, producing better score cues.
- Favourite scene:
Giles: He [the Watcher] trains her, he, he, he prepares her...
Buffy: Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For
losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting
for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me.
Here, Buffy’s loneliness and fears, which will remain vital themes throughout the series, are displayed.
The first season is not exactly a fan-favourite. The production values are rather low and it doesn’t have the character development and arc significance of the following seasons. Still, it’s interesting to see who the Scoobies once were, how they started out as characters.
1.01 Welcome to the Hellmouth
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Charles Martin Smith
- Nice teaser which already introduces one of the main ideas behind the show’s concept: Ironically suberting horror film clichés. Also, Darla isthe first important character to appear in Buffy (even though she won’t play as big a part in Buffy as she will in Angel ).
- After the credits, we see a dream sequence which seems a bit cheesy if you compare it to later dream scenes. However, it serves as a foreshadowing for the events happening during the first season.
- Xander is the first Scooby to see Buffy and he immediately develops a crush on her. Never will he completely get over her and thus Xander’s admiration for her will be a reoccurring theme on the show.
- Cordelia is the one who approaches Buffy to make her part of the “in-crowd”. However, Cordy’s cruel treatment of Willow scares her away and later, when the Highschool bitch is attacked by the Slayer, the possibility of Buffy becoming one of the “cool people” has vanished.
- Buffy gains interest in Willow after the latter one has been harassed by Cordelia. Maybe because she wants her to see that she’s not a new Cordelia, maybe she feels protective of her. Anyway, this is the beginning of their friendship. And shy, sweet Willow is cute.
- Giles is not very likeable in this first episode. He’s not able to understand Buffy’s worries, doesn’t see her as a teenage girl but simply as the Slayer who’s supposed to function. Eventually, he’ll become a father figure to the main protagonist.
- Foreshadowing: Cordelia tells Buffy that she’d kill to live in L.A. Only three years later she will actually move there for the spin-off series Angel.
- I could never really take the Master’s lair seriously. It just looked like a small room to me and the set didn’t manage to create an eery feeling.
- Luke is kind of over-the-top and trashy. I guess, you could even call him a parody of over-the-top villains but I am not sure if that was the intention.
- The musical score by Walter Murphy sounds like it’s from a cheap B-Horror movie of the 80s or something. Fortunately, composers like Christophe Beck and others were hired for the following seasons, producing better score cues.
- Favourite scene:
Giles: He [the Watcher] trains her, he, he, he prepares her...
Buffy: Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For
losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting
for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me.
Here, Buffy’s loneliness and fears, which will remain vital themes throughout the series, are displayed.