(Vid) Angel:After the Fall opening credits

[stormwreath]

A while ago I put together an opening credits sequence for Buffy Season Eight, and it seemed like a good idea to do the same for Angel: After the Fall. And so here they are.

For maximum enjoyment, I recommend turning the volume up and playing this vid before reading each issue of the comic. :-)

Download link for high quality 640x480 resolution WMV

Comments

[2maggie2]

Very fun to watch. Must have taken a ton of work.

I have a query though: why put the actors names in? It's a bit weird seeing as how they aren't actually there, and in some cases (Connor) the drawings really aren't close to the actor in question.

But really fun. Thanks!

[stormwreath]

Thanks! And compared to a full-length vid, this was actually fairly simple - less than a minute long instead of 3 - 4 minutes.

I know what you mean about the names... elisi tells me she burst into derisive laughter on seeing SMG's name appearing over the comics ersion of her in my S8 credits. :-) But I was wanting to make these seem as much like the real Season 6 credits would have been as possible. For a brief 49 seconds, we can dream...

[elisi]

elisi tells me she burst into derisive laughter on seeing SMG's name appearing over the comics ersion of her in my S8 credits. :-)
You know it's funny, but I don't have that problem with AtF at all... and it's not just about likeness, because f.ex. Wesley really isn't terribly recognisable. OK, so comic!Buffy is especially bad, but I think there's more to it than that. Somehow the s8 characters seem divorced from their real selves in their new surroundings (not to mention the odd case of OOCness). But the AtF crew are all just themselves, no matter the change in circumstances (ETA: Have a couple of reservations re. Angel himself, but that's all). Does that make sense

[stormwreath]

It makes sense, but... I don't know if you've been reading the extended discussion at woman_of_'s journal, but I said there that to me, AtF feels like a continuation of the same thing, but S8 feels like a proper sequel. It's the same people, but in brand new circumstances and two years older. In fact, in the course of the discussion I compared AtF to 'Hobbit' fanfic, whereas S8 is 'Lord of the Rings'. Mind you, that span off into a discussion on whether Spike in AtF is Bilbo or Thorin... :-)

Link

[elisi]

OK, went over and read a fair bit of the thread (sooooo glad I avoided the post at the time, I *knew* it'd be a time stealer!). Anyway, shipperx and Moscow say most of what I'm thinking.

AtF feels like a continuation of the same thing, but S8 feels like a proper sequel.
That is quite a sound observation. (Not touching the Hobbit/LoTR thing, because comparing s8 to LoTR is sacrilege.) Moscow (I think) already pointed out the 'Hollywood sequel syndrome', which I was thinking of as well. The thing is though, that it was the show that I loved. And the comic is as different from the show, as the show is from the movie (quite a nice comparison actually, given how the world and the characters have changed at the writer's whim).

One point from your original comment:

Joss in season 8, however, has all the confidence of being the original author to take a big leap into the unknown, shake up his existing characters, and not worry about being "out of character".
This, to me, is pretty much the definition of fanfic. The show has to stay within certain

[stormwreath]

This, to me, is pretty much the definition of fanfic. The show has to stay within certain boundaries and take into account all that came before, but fic can toss anything it likes overboard.

Huh. I seem to be going around with a different definition of fanfic to everybody else. :-) Like you go on to say, good fanfic takes endless care over preserving continuity and characterisation, because thats the whole point of it. Fanfic takes the story we love and gives us more of it. More of the characters, more of the world, more of the same. Except often with added m/m sex, for some reason. If you're writing original fiction, however, you're perfectly free to head off in whatever new direction you like. If you want to make Bilbo's convenient little magic ring the Grand All-Powerful Artefact of Doom, you can, because it's your world and you're its sole creator and ultimate source

[elisi]

I seem to be going around with a different definition of fanfic to everybody else. :-)
I've been pondering this all since yesterday, and now I'm going to have to write an essay on the different types of fanfic. Bother. (Basically I think there are 2 sorts, AtF belongs in the first, s8 in the second.)

If you want to make Bilbo's convenient little magic ring the Grand All-Powerful Artefact of Doom, you can, because it's your world and you're its sole creator and ultimate source.
Ah, but that's different. The Hobbit was always just an offshoot of a much bigger 'verse (in its straightforwardness, it is like Buffy the movie is to the show). s8 is more like... Children of Hurin (which I haven't read btw, and it's not a good comparison, but...)

Your Torchwood comparison seems strangely apt here. ;-)
At least Torchwood is straightforward about where it stands!

Though if you'd rather say S8 is a spin-off rather than a sequel, I've got no real problem with that idea. Angel on his own show was just about as different from the way he was on

[stormwreath]

The Hobbit was always just an offshoot of a much bigger 'verse

Actually not... Tolkien origially started telling the story as a stand-alone, but found elements of his Silmarillion mythology creeping in as background material, like the references to Gondolin and the Necromancer. So he later went back to revise Middle-Earth so it included hobbits.

But that's irrelevant to the topic. :-)

[elisi]

Actually, that rather neatly shows it to parallel Buffy the movie. :)

[shipperx]

Maybe it's a "re-imagining" thing. Like the first BSG vs.the Original BSG. Yeah, they have the same premise but the new version is a "re-imagining" of the original version, not a sequel. (I realize BSG isn't a perfectly analogous situation, however.)

BtVS the show was a re-imagining of the premise from the movie. Instead of a sequel, the BtVS comics feel (to me, YMMV) more like a re-imagining than a sequel. Subjective opinion, I know.

When I think sequels, I think things like Star Wars (the movie not the franchise) through The Return of the Jedi (Same is true for Fellowship of the Ring through Return of the King). They follow a single story thrust and there is more that is like than unalike in them. The Hobbit is related, existing in the same fictional universe, but it's not as closely related as LOTR trilogy is to one another.

Probably a better example would be the Alien movies. Alien, Aliens, Alien III, even the dreadful Alien: Resurrection are sequels (although the Riply in Resurrection being a Ripley clone instead of

[elisi]

Maybe it's a "re-imagining" thing.
You know, I really like that idea. Because s8 very much feels like it has a different premise, different center to the show. Thank you.

As for the whole fanfic thing, did you see my essay?