Earlier this month Hypable.com featured a pair of “dueling columns” by two of my favorite staff members, Selina Wilken and Jimmy Bean, in which they each listed their Top 5 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For reasons I no longer remember I never watched Buffy, but my dad did and currently owns every season on DVD. Being the thoughtful daughter that I am I shared the links to these columns with him and this was the catalyst that led to me agreeing to begin a Buffy marathon with him starting from the beginning.
We made it through the first 8 episodes of Season 1 and I have to say that I am now hooked. I had always teased my dad for his love of this show I judged as being silly and juvenile (which was very much a case of the pot calling the kettle black) and I am now eating my words. I really enjoyed it. It was fun and quirky not to mention the fact that Anthony Head who is currently on one of my favorite shows – Merlin – was on it. The characters are all great. I have never been a huge fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar, yet I really like her as Buffy. I have also fallen in love with her faithful sidekicks Xander and Willow and and, of course, the still oh so hunky Angel.
Even though I am becoming a fan of Buffy I have to point out that I wasn’t completely off base in my uniformed belief that the show was silly. There have already been several episodes where this has been the case – “The Pack” being my best example so far. It reminds me of the “Freak of the Week” plot devices used in Smallville where each week there would be a different supernaturally enhanced villain that had to be defeated. Considering that Buffy came out first it is very possible that is where Smallville got the idea. This plot device can get a little tired if the weekly villains are not compelling; hopefully they got better with that as the show progressed because so far those have been the weaker episodes.
It is interesting to just now be starting from the beginning of the series. Even though I never watched it I still know a bit of what happens throughout just from having listened to those who did watch it when it originally aired. So, for example, I knew that Angel was a vampire and was not surprised by that revelation, but I was still able to appreciate the shock it was to the characters. There are several key events that occur in later seasons that I already know about and I am excited to see how those things come about and how I react to them with my foreknowledge.
With all the current vampire craze it is easy to forget about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the huge cult following it had and still has. While I am excited that the relatively new trend of putting television shows on DVDs has given me the opportunity to watch this classic show I am sad that I missed out on the original excitement. But it can’t be helped and I can’t wait for the next day in my Buffy marathon.
Have you seen any of Buffy? If so, what did you think of it? Is there another show that, like this, you missed out on and would like to go back and watch? Let me know in the comments!
