BtVS, comics and Time Phenomena (sorta meta-ish)
I am somewhat irritated by season 8 as a whole and for a while been trying to figure out - WHY?
For comparisons reason i alternated in rewatching old episodes (mostly S1 and S7 to get a feel for the start as well as the end of the TV series) and reading new comics.
At least i did discover something (probably trivial and you all figured it out long ago), another piece of my personal puzzle:
Time phenomena.
I will distinguish 3 different time lines or phenomena.
1. Audience Time, or Real Time, as in today is May, 10th, 2010.
2. Series Time, as in what date is it in BtVS at any given time.
3. Audience-Series Interaction Time, as in Tuesday, baby! 40 minutes of goodness!
In BtVS the TV series 1. and 2. were mostly the same, ie. when decembre 1999, then chrismas 1999 on Buffy. So, Audience Time = Series Time.
3. was served in weekly doses of 40 minutes, compressing roughly one to seven days of Series Time into 40 action packed minutes.
The comics are a different beast altogether.
Audience Time and Series Time are completey out of synch, we get 4 years of Audience Time vs. 1-2 years of Series Time, and the actual dates and seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) are different.
On top of that, the Audience-Series Interaction Time is severely diminished: We get roughly 10 minutes interaction time per month.
So, we get 4 times the Audience Time, 2 times the Series Time and only a fraction of Interaction Time (~1/16th).
No wonder i'm confused by the comics - my viewing habits conditioned me differently!
Add to that the plot of season 8 which is a pretty epic arc, wether you consider it a lame or crack!fic doesn't matter. With 40 issues we don't even get half a season of TV Buffy time, streched out over 4 long years with a completely off Series Time.
For me, that means the pacing of the comics seems to be pretty off/bad and i don't get enough Interaction Time to actually make sense of most of the stuff, ie. there is no time to actually deepen the characters and plot lines and connect to both.
Which is probably just as well in the comic world - but i'm used to another time phenomenon.
Also - made it through AC, am able to take another job where i have to sell my soul. Yay me....
For comparisons reason i alternated in rewatching old episodes (mostly S1 and S7 to get a feel for the start as well as the end of the TV series) and reading new comics.
At least i did discover something (probably trivial and you all figured it out long ago), another piece of my personal puzzle:
Time phenomena.
I will distinguish 3 different time lines or phenomena.
1. Audience Time, or Real Time, as in today is May, 10th, 2010.
2. Series Time, as in what date is it in BtVS at any given time.
3. Audience-Series Interaction Time, as in Tuesday, baby! 40 minutes of goodness!
In BtVS the TV series 1. and 2. were mostly the same, ie. when decembre 1999, then chrismas 1999 on Buffy. So, Audience Time = Series Time.
3. was served in weekly doses of 40 minutes, compressing roughly one to seven days of Series Time into 40 action packed minutes.
The comics are a different beast altogether.
Audience Time and Series Time are completey out of synch, we get 4 years of Audience Time vs. 1-2 years of Series Time, and the actual dates and seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) are different.
On top of that, the Audience-Series Interaction Time is severely diminished: We get roughly 10 minutes interaction time per month.
So, we get 4 times the Audience Time, 2 times the Series Time and only a fraction of Interaction Time (~1/16th).
No wonder i'm confused by the comics - my viewing habits conditioned me differently!
Add to that the plot of season 8 which is a pretty epic arc, wether you consider it a lame or crack!fic doesn't matter. With 40 issues we don't even get half a season of TV Buffy time, streched out over 4 long years with a completely off Series Time.
For me, that means the pacing of the comics seems to be pretty off/bad and i don't get enough Interaction Time to actually make sense of most of the stuff, ie. there is no time to actually deepen the characters and plot lines and connect to both.
Which is probably just as well in the comic world - but i'm used to another time phenomenon.
Also - made it through AC, am able to take another job where i have to sell my soul. Yay me....