Buffy CZ: Buffy's on! Buffy's on!
I saw the first episode of Buffy for the first time in January 2009. I saw my first episode of Buffy years ago. The first episode of Buffy I remember is "Prophecy Girl". Again, years ago. Back when there were no btjunkie and Nero generosity. When I could have easily missed it if I weren't one of those kids who started in an early age... with television (and yet I somehow managed to miss Xena). Yes, it was on TV, around noon, Czech dubbed. Because that's what Czech televisions do. And guess how people reacted on a show about a blond teenage girl with occasionally bad translation which you could watch, like, never, 'cause, really, who watches television so early?. It got worse. The network didn't broadcast more than first three seasons. Ouch.
Buffy: Phase #1
Let's talk more about that. In the U.S. Buffy got prime time. In Czechia it got lunch time... which is usually associated with child programmes and soap operas. This and the facts that (a) main characters are teen and (b) the main character is a woman made quite a number of people uncomfortable with the idea it might in fact be a good show. Those people, without actually watching more than one few episodes, went and made BtVS a crap. How? Through a well-known website CSFD (Czech-Slovak Film Database) where Buffy's current ranking is 54%. Compare it with The Simpsons' 94% or Dexter's 91% and you'll get my point. The comments range from "cheesy teenage series about a beautiful girl with supernatural powers (2 stars)" (it goes on, and it's soon obvious that the poster didn't get past S1) to "I used to love it, now I find it ridiculous (2 stars)". It gets worse, and it honestly makes me sad to see so much bashing from people who didn't even try to take Buffy seriously.
Fun fact #1: Series which haven't been broadcast on Czech TV have higher percentage than series which have. Angel used to have 74%. After broadcasting it decreased to 64%.
Buffy: Phase #2
Phase #2 is my phase. I've mentioned earlier I saw BtVS on TV years ago. I was a kid back then and I remember more Pokemon or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from that time. Also, my in-some-ways-overprotective mom forbade me to watch it. Too scary, she thought. Anyway, when I heard about it years later (2008-2009), I was like, yeah, that's the show with SGM and Alyson Hannigan I used to watch, but according to CSFD it's really silly, so it's probably not worth watching. But then, people whose opinion I cared about adored Buffy! I was puzzled. I returned to CSFD to read a Buffy discussion page. Quite interesting stuff. Because there were people who gave it 5 stars! One of them was complaining at the discussion about unfavorable conditions linked to Buffy's entrance on Czech screen. Y'know, dubbing, crappy translation, lunch time, prejudices. According to him, the bad reception was also caused by slow and naïve Season 1, which, to be fair, kind of is slow and naïve. In his theory, it's easier to get a potential Buffy viewer hooked by skipping certain episodes in S1, S2 and S3 which are discouraging (for the first time anyway, I actually enjoyed many of them later) and not important for an overall story. I was intrigued, and as I really wanted to give it a shot, I asked him which episodes he recommended to skip. He turned out to be so incredibly nice that he mailed me the first three seasons, and by "Halloween", I was officially hooked.
Fun fact #2: The episodes my BtVS sire left out were "Teacher's Pet", "I, Robot... You, Jane", "The Puppet Show", "Nightmares", "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", "Some Assembly Required", "Inca Mummy Girl", "Reptile Boy", "The Dark Age", "Ted", "Bad Eggs", "Killed By Death", "Go Fish" and "Dead Man's Party".
Buffy: Phase #3
About a week ago, I found out Buffy was going to be on TV again. With new dubbing, new translation, on a new channel, daily at 5.45 pm this time (slightly better), all seven seasons. I squeed out loud. I'm excited. Although it's not important for me to see BtVS on TV (I have it on DVDs and can't stand anything dubbed), I'm happy for the other potential viewers who possibly won't think its premise is stupid just because. I'm happy, because the relatively new channel has proven to be Whedon-friendly (it already broadcast Buffy the movie, Angel, Serenity and Dollhouse). And I'm skeptical. Because I know not many people are able to daily watch television. In the afternoon. Because not many people will get through S1. Because CSFD is still well-known.
Fun Very sad fact #3: I went through an Angel discussion page on a said channel's website. It's tragic. There are basically four kinds of comments (written with poor... er grammar): (a) "Angel's so lame, it's for 15-year-old teen girls, we want Firefly!" (b) "nope, if you read something about it, you'll find out Angel's awesome; Buffy is for 15-year-old teen girls" (c) "fuck off with your Firefly" (d) "I looooove Buffy, and David is so cuuute". I thought of this, our international fandom where fellow Whedonites actually like each other, and I missed it. So I logged in here and started writing this meta. :-P
Buffy: Phase #4
So far I've mostly talked about negative aspects of Czech Buffyverse situation. However, it's not all that bad. We have an annual con where several fandoms are hosted, including Whedonverse. We watch Buffy, go to see thematic lectures, play games, sing OMWF and have fun, and that's what really matters, isn't it?
Fun fact #4: I might have a "lecture" or two myself. I'm still not sure I have guts for it but I'm hopeful.
Hopeful, that's the word.
Buffy: Phase #1
Let's talk more about that. In the U.S. Buffy got prime time. In Czechia it got lunch time... which is usually associated with child programmes and soap operas. This and the facts that (a) main characters are teen and (b) the main character is a woman made quite a number of people uncomfortable with the idea it might in fact be a good show. Those people, without actually watching more than one few episodes, went and made BtVS a crap. How? Through a well-known website CSFD (Czech-Slovak Film Database) where Buffy's current ranking is 54%. Compare it with The Simpsons' 94% or Dexter's 91% and you'll get my point. The comments range from "cheesy teenage series about a beautiful girl with supernatural powers (2 stars)" (it goes on, and it's soon obvious that the poster didn't get past S1) to "I used to love it, now I find it ridiculous (2 stars)". It gets worse, and it honestly makes me sad to see so much bashing from people who didn't even try to take Buffy seriously.
Fun fact #1: Series which haven't been broadcast on Czech TV have higher percentage than series which have. Angel used to have 74%. After broadcasting it decreased to 64%.
Buffy: Phase #2
Phase #2 is my phase. I've mentioned earlier I saw BtVS on TV years ago. I was a kid back then and I remember more Pokemon or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from that time. Also, my in-some-ways-overprotective mom forbade me to watch it. Too scary, she thought. Anyway, when I heard about it years later (2008-2009), I was like, yeah, that's the show with SGM and Alyson Hannigan I used to watch, but according to CSFD it's really silly, so it's probably not worth watching. But then, people whose opinion I cared about adored Buffy! I was puzzled. I returned to CSFD to read a Buffy discussion page. Quite interesting stuff. Because there were people who gave it 5 stars! One of them was complaining at the discussion about unfavorable conditions linked to Buffy's entrance on Czech screen. Y'know, dubbing, crappy translation, lunch time, prejudices. According to him, the bad reception was also caused by slow and naïve Season 1, which, to be fair, kind of is slow and naïve. In his theory, it's easier to get a potential Buffy viewer hooked by skipping certain episodes in S1, S2 and S3 which are discouraging (for the first time anyway, I actually enjoyed many of them later) and not important for an overall story. I was intrigued, and as I really wanted to give it a shot, I asked him which episodes he recommended to skip. He turned out to be so incredibly nice that he mailed me the first three seasons, and by "Halloween", I was officially hooked.
Fun fact #2: The episodes my BtVS sire left out were "Teacher's Pet", "I, Robot... You, Jane", "The Puppet Show", "Nightmares", "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", "Some Assembly Required", "Inca Mummy Girl", "Reptile Boy", "The Dark Age", "Ted", "Bad Eggs", "Killed By Death", "Go Fish" and "Dead Man's Party".
Buffy: Phase #3
About a week ago, I found out Buffy was going to be on TV again. With new dubbing, new translation, on a new channel, daily at 5.45 pm this time (slightly better), all seven seasons. I squeed out loud. I'm excited. Although it's not important for me to see BtVS on TV (I have it on DVDs and can't stand anything dubbed), I'm happy for the other potential viewers who possibly won't think its premise is stupid just because. I'm happy, because the relatively new channel has proven to be Whedon-friendly (it already broadcast Buffy the movie, Angel, Serenity and Dollhouse). And I'm skeptical. Because I know not many people are able to daily watch television. In the afternoon. Because not many people will get through S1. Because CSFD is still well-known.
Fun Very sad fact #3: I went through an Angel discussion page on a said channel's website. It's tragic. There are basically four kinds of comments (written with poor... er grammar): (a) "Angel's so lame, it's for 15-year-old teen girls, we want Firefly!" (b) "nope, if you read something about it, you'll find out Angel's awesome; Buffy is for 15-year-old teen girls" (c) "fuck off with your Firefly" (d) "I looooove Buffy, and David is so cuuute". I thought of this, our international fandom where fellow Whedonites actually like each other, and I missed it. So I logged in here and started writing this meta. :-P
Buffy: Phase #4
So far I've mostly talked about negative aspects of Czech Buffyverse situation. However, it's not all that bad. We have an annual con where several fandoms are hosted, including Whedonverse. We watch Buffy, go to see thematic lectures, play games, sing OMWF and have fun, and that's what really matters, isn't it?
Fun fact #4: I might have a "lecture" or two myself. I'm still not sure I have guts for it but I'm hopeful.
Hopeful, that's the word.