AOQ Review 1-1: "Welcome To The Hellmouth"
Arbitrar Of Quality
Vampire Slayer_ here, in the dying remnants of Usenet, where Google
Groups will archive my words forever and ever. I've just picked up
the first season of the show, and I intend to give my comments on each
episode as I watch it. And naturally, if I like _Buffy_ enough, I'll
buy more DVDs and review the rest of the series too. I won't read
any other comments or opinions before writing mine, so my reactions in
these reviews will be pristine and uncontaminated.
So, why? Why spend hours writing verbose reviews for a show that's
been off the air for years, especially when there's no guarantee
anyone will even care about reading it? Simple answer: I thought it
would be fun. But there's bound to be someone who'll enjoy living
vicariously through someone seeing the series for the first time. And
for the disinterested, well, I won't write them nearly fast enough to
flood the NG or anything.
A few more notes - first of all, I'm coming in more or less
completely cold. I'm a big _Firefly_ fan, but have seen a grand
total of maybe five minutes of Buffyverse material in my life. I know
virtually nothing about it other than that it's a well-regarded show
that my fencing comrades-in-arms used to watch, created by the guy
behind _Firefly_. (I haven't seen the original film either.) I
can't even say whether these reviews will turn out gushing or
bile-filled, since, you know, I have no prior knowledge about the show.
For that reason, I would profusely request that anyone who bothers to
respond to my posts should please avoid spoiling anything that happens
in any episode after the one I'm reviewing.
As is contractually obligated, I'll be assigning each show an overall
rating. I use one-word evaluations rather than numbers, but it's
basically a five-point scale: my ratings are "Excellent,"
"Good," "Decent," "Weak," and "Bad." (The special
ratings of "SUPERLATIVE" and "ABOMINATION" are reserved for
only the most extreme of circumstances.)
That's about it. Be nice and welcome the new guy, won't you?]
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Season One, Episode 1: "Welcome To The Hellmouth"
(or "what is it about the gates of Hell that compels people to wander
into them?")
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Charles Martin Smith
"Welcome To The Hellmouth" has a lot of ground to cover in 45
minutes: it's trying to introduce a core cast of characters, set a
storyline in motion and throw in some fight scenes for the ADD crowd.
Actually, it's not that easy since "Hellmouth" basically has to
give us two stories - a high-school story and a supernatural story
- and convince us that they're inherently related. On most counts,
I think we can say it's a success and lays the groundwork for what
will hopefully be an interesting show.
The combination of teens and vampires might indeed make BTVS an unusual
show, especially since it's based on an unpopular movie, but it
doesn't have to be particularly different. I mean, suspiciously
attractive teenagers and vampires... those can easily cover the
"sex" and "violence" demographics respectively. If you're
trying to please a TV exec, the show writes itself. Fortunately,
Whedon and company don't seem interested in going the most obvious
route. Take the opening sequence as an example: you've got a
strapping young lad with confidence and a bit of a rebellious edge, and
you've got a nervous, ditzy-looking blonde. If you're a new
viewer, which of these kids do you think will be dead within a minute?
You'd probably be wrong.
>From there it's time to meet our principals while dumping exposition
into the viewers' laps as unobtrusively as possible. At times it
seems a little forced - Buffy's mom giving us lines like "you
don't want to be late on your first day" and "you're sixteen"
come to mind, but most of the time it's nicely buried in the
dialogue. Making Buffy a new kid makes it easy for us to meet all the
other characters are as she does, and gives an excuse for her to give
us her backstory by means of introducing herself to her new friends.
Even some of the supernatural exposition is camouflaged by having Buffy
blow off Giles by finishing his sentences and saying yeah yeah, she
knows all this. So, mission accomplished there.
I've heard _BTVS_ compared to _Veronica Mars_... and I'm one of the
four people in the universe who doesn't get the obsession everyone
(including Whedon) has with _VM_, so my biggest worry coming in was
that the show would be filled with artificially "snappy' dialogue
that thinks it's a lot more clever than it is. I shouldn't have
worried. It's hard to explain objectively why it works, since
"Hellmouth" is indeed full of lines that're clearly the work of
Hollywood Writers Trying To Be Clever rather than any reflection of the
way kids talk. But all I know is that Whedon's dialogue has that
rhythm that separates "fun and clever" from "trying too hard."
The scene with Principal (?) Flutie isn't just an info-dump about
Buffy's past, it's also genuinely funny. And besides the great
timing, the wordplay itself in "Hellmouth" is quite nice too:
"What's the sitch?" would prove catchy enough to eventually be
assimilated by at least one other teen heroine, and we should all do
whatever possible to work the phrase "one-Starbuck's town" into
more conversations.
So how about our cast? A mixed bag so far, but mostly promising.
Unfortunately, one of the losers thus far is Buffy herself. She's
not so much a character here so much as a constant stream of
one-liners. The one real moment where she becomes interesting is the
amount of bitterness she displays when telling Giles how her night-job
as a Slayer has affected her personal life. So at least we know where
she's coming from with the reluctant-hero routine... but the
reluctant-hero story is so old, and Buffy's hand is (predictably)
forced so quickly that one wonders why they even bothered with it. The
ending makes it clear that she could use some backup, but none of her
friends seem inclined to develop any superpowers...
Easily the standout character of the premiere is Willow, thanks to some
outstanding work by both the script and by actor Alyson Hannigan. This
character would be difficult one to get right working from a sketch;
she has to be awkward enough that we buy her as a social outcast while
still delivering the show's stylized dialogue and generally being
engaging enough that we can buy Buffy wanting to hang out with her.
(Her habit of interrupting herself with comments like "am I the most
boring person in the world or what?" is endearing.) The fact that
Willow is so likable goes a long way towards making the second half of
the episode work; we already care about her enough that seeing her
being led away by a vampire gives the episode the dramatic tension it
needs.
I'd cite Giles as my other favorite character based on the pilot;
he's got potential despite being used mostly as an
exposition-fountain (and straight-man to Buffy's quips). The
combination of devotion to duty and dry humor are going to make him
worth watching. Xander also has his moments; I do have a little
trouble seeing him as the loser he's apparently supposed to be. Sure
he says a few stupid things, but his good looks and relaxed confidence
in both dialogue and body language tell a different story about him
than the show does. (Contrast with Willow: also quite cute, but
convincingly a geek.) Still, Xander just seems _fun_ to be around. On
the other hand, I don't know how much staying power Cordelia will
have; she seems too shallow to be a central character on this kind of
show. Maybe they'll make her intentionally annoying... but you gotta
avoid annoying the audience too. Speaking of shallow, Jesse is
basically a waste. Dense enough to not get it when a chick isn't
interested in him, dense enough not to notice getting _bitten by a
fucking vampire_... plus what does it say about him that Cordelia is
the object of his affection? Well, he's not in the opening credits,
so hopefully he won't be a major player in the series.
Of course, no vampire show would be complete without a constant stream
of fight-scenes, and "Hellmouth" is decent in that regard. It
seemed a little weird to see Buffy suddenly defying gravity and
swinging around on a beam to attack Guy Whose Name Isn't Given, but
the later action sequences are entertaining and well directed. The
general look and feel of the show I'd also classify as "decent."
Even if some scenes come from the _Se7en_ school of "does no one here
believe in light switches?" You've got your random occult images
in rapid montages, you've got your creepy music occasionally
interrupted by rock guitars... nothing too earth-shattering, but
effective enough. Smith throws in an occasional visual gimmick but
doesn't overdo it - I liked the spinning-camera scene (when
Buffy's searching the club for Willow).
The biggest flaw of "Hellmouth" is its villains. I laughed out
loud when the Master first emerged from his pool of Nair. Lucas's
speeches would be cheesy on almost any show, but here, on a show
that's gone out of its way to try to be all witty and self-aware and
stuff, the character sticks out like a sore thumb. The younger
vampires, despite the fact that I've forgotten their names, work much
better, especially the blonde chick. Her dialogue does have that
_BTVS_ snap to it; causally-delivered lines like "I got a little
hungry" and "[other young vampire] was young and clumsy," spoken
by someone who looks so innocent, are nicely menacing. More of that
kind of thing and less of B-Movie Villain and B-Movie Henchman, please.
Well, obviously this very first episode ends on a cliffhanger, with our
heroes totally out of their league. Will the show do this kind of
thing every week? Tune in next week to find out!
One last comment: audiences just don't rock out that much at local
gigs. It'd have made more sense for the crowd to be doing the
head-nodding "beers in both hands" dance.
So...
One-line summary: Promising. The Force is strong with this one.
AOQ rating: Good
[Season One ratings thus far:
1) "Welcome To The Hellmouth" - Good]
John Briggs
> [Hi.
"Arbitrar" isn't an English word. You may mean "Arbiter". While you have
the dictionary out, look up "irony".
--
John Briggs
JJ Karhu
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>[Hi. I'm the Arbitrar Of Quality, and I'll be reviewing _Buffy The
>Vampire Slayer_ here
Great! I'll be looking forward to your reviews. It's always fun to see
how someone else reacts to something you yourself know pretty well and
like.
// JJ
Regan
"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote in message
news:1136128125....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> [Hi. I'm the Arbitrar Of Quality, and I'll be reviewing _Buffy The
> Vampire Slayer_ here, in the dying remnants of Usenet, where Google
> Groups will archive my words forever and ever. I've just picked up
> the first season of the show, and I intend to give my comments on each
> episode as I watch it. And naturally, if I like _Buffy_ enough, I'll
> buy more DVDs and review the rest of the series too. I won't read
> any other comments or opinions before writing mine, so my reactions in
> these reviews will be pristine and uncontaminated.
<cut for brevety>
Wonderful :) I thoroughly enjoyed reading a review through fresh eyes.
I look forward to future reviews. And, like you, I'm not finished with
the series -- I've yet to see the last year, but will enjoy renting it soon.
Regan
David E. Milligan
> Of course, no vampire show would be complete without a constant stream
> of fight-scenes, and "Hellmouth" is decent in that regard. It
> seemed a little weird to see Buffy suddenly defying gravity and
> swinging around on a beam [some kind of horizontal pole about 1 inch in
> diameter] to attack Guy Whose Name >Isn't Given,
This was one of the scenes that showed me that Buffy was, indeed,
not your ordinary teenage girl. Another was her back flip over the gates of
the school Principal Flutie had just locked. I would have liked to have seen
more such acrobatics in later eps, but they were few and far between.
> One last comment: audiences just don't rock out that much at local
> gigs. It'd have made more sense for the crowd to be doing the
> head-nodding "beers in both hands" dance.
Since most of the patrons were in high school, the Bronze wouldn't
stay open very long if it were serving beer to minors.
Arbitrar Of Quality
David E. Milligan wrote:
> [snip]
>
> > Of course, no vampire show would be complete without a constant stream
> > of fight-scenes, and "Hellmouth" is decent in that regard. It
> > seemed a little weird to see Buffy suddenly defying gravity and
> > swinging around on a beam [some kind of horizontal pole about 1 inch in
> > diameter] to attack Guy Whose Name >Isn't Given,
>
> This was one of the scenes that showed me that Buffy was, indeed,
> not your ordinary teenage girl. Another was her back flip over the gates of
> the school Principal Flutie had just locked.
The gate scene (which I liked better than the pole) is actually from
"The Harvest;" fortunately, I'd just finished watching that one before
I read this. (Review coming soon-ish.)
> > One last comment: audiences just don't rock out that much at local
> > gigs. It'd have made more sense for the crowd to be doing the
> > head-nodding "beers in both hands" dance.
>
> Since most of the patrons were in high school, the Bronze wouldn't
> stay open very long if it were serving beer to minors.
You don't actually need the beers to do the I'm-at-a-local-show dance.
(Insert "smiley" here.)
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
>
> "Arbitrar" isn't an English word. You may mean "Arbiter". While you have
> the dictionary out, look up "irony".
It takes me back to when I was first discovering The Internets to have
a lengthy post answered with a two-line spelling flame. Ah, Usenet.
I thought it was worth responding, though, to explain the name to
anyone who's curious. "Arbitrar" originally came to exist as a
mispelling of "arbiter," but then I decided to keep it. "Arbiter"
implies actually having some authority to effect change, whereas if
"arbitrar" were a word, it'd seem to have a more wannabe-ish
connotation. More appropriate when reviewing a dead show, yes?
Thanks to those who had kind words; I'll keep writing as long as the
show stays fun.
-AOQ
Zombie Elvis
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>Season One, Episode 1: "Welcome To The Hellmouth"
>(or "what is it about the gates of Hell that compels people to wander
>into them?")
>Writer: Joss Whedon
>Director: Charles Martin Smith
>
>
>"Welcome To The Hellmouth" has a lot of ground to cover in 45
>minutes: it's trying to introduce a core cast of characters, set a
>storyline in motion and throw in some fight scenes for the ADD crowd.
>Actually, it's not that easy since "Hellmouth" basically has to
>give us two stories - a high-school story and a supernatural story
>- and convince us that they're inherently related. On most counts,
>I think we can say it's a success and lays the groundwork for what
>will hopefully be an interesting show.
>
>The combination of teens and vampires might indeed make BTVS an unusual
>show, especially since it's based on an unpopular movie, but it
>doesn't have to be particularly different. I mean, suspiciously
>attractive teenagers and vampires... those can easily cover the
>"sex" and "violence" demographics respectively. If you're
>trying to please a TV exec, the show writes itself. Fortunately,
See: "Charmed"
>Whedon and company don't seem interested in going the most obvious
>route. Take the opening sequence as an example: you've got a
>strapping young lad with confidence and a bit of a rebellious edge, and
>you've got a nervous, ditzy-looking blonde. If you're a new
>viewer, which of these kids do you think will be dead within a minute?
>You'd probably be wrong.
Which is part of the appeal of the show which from the title itself
promises to overturn traditional horror cliches.
>So how about our cast? A mixed bag so far, but mostly promising.
>Unfortunately, one of the losers thus far is Buffy herself. She's
>not so much a character here so much as a constant stream of
>one-liners. The one real moment where she becomes interesting is the
>amount of bitterness she displays when telling Giles how her night-job
>as a Slayer has affected her personal life. So at least we know where
I can't wait to see you review season six episodes where the
bitterness flows as wine.
>she's coming from with the reluctant-hero routine... but the
>reluctant-hero story is so old, and Buffy's hand is (predictably)
>forced so quickly that one wonders why they even bothered with it. The
>ending makes it clear that she could use some backup, but none of her
>friends seem inclined to develop any superpowers...
Appearances can fool you.
>I'd cite Giles as my other favorite character based on the pilot;
>he's got potential despite being used mostly as an
>exposition-fountain (and straight-man to Buffy's quips). The
>combination of devotion to duty and dry humor are going to make him
>worth watching. Xander also has his moments; I do have a little
>trouble seeing him as the loser he's apparently supposed to be. Sure
>he says a few stupid things, but his good looks and relaxed confidence
>in both dialogue and body language tell a different story about him
>than the show does. (Contrast with Willow: also quite cute, but
>convincingly a geek.) Still, Xander just seems _fun_ to be around. On
>the other hand, I don't know how much staying power Cordelia will
>have; she seems too shallow to be a central character on this kind of
>show. Maybe they'll make her intentionally annoying... but you gotta
>avoid annoying the audience too. Speaking of shallow, Jesse is
>basically a waste. Dense enough to not get it when a chick isn't
>interested in him, dense enough not to notice getting _bitten by a
>fucking vampire_... plus what does it say about him that Cordelia is
>the object of his affection? Well, he's not in the opening credits,
>so hopefully he won't be a major player in the series.
Speaking as someone who knows how it all turns out these are
interesting insights from a guy who claims to have never seen this
show.
--
Roberto Castillo
roberto...@ameritech.net
http://www.freewebs.com/robertocastillo/
Stephen Tempest
> For that reason, I would profusely request that anyone who bothers to
>respond to my posts should please avoid spoiling anything that happens
>in any episode after the one I'm reviewing.
Several of your coments and predictions about the way the show will
develop brought wry chuckles, but I'll honour your request and not
tell you which ones...
How do you think _Buffy_ compares to _Firefly_? I know that from my
perspective of having seen the later seasons of Joss' shows most
recently, going back to early _Buffy_ makes it seem, well, rather
crude and simplistic in comparison.
> It
>seemed a little weird to see Buffy suddenly defying gravity and
>swinging around on a beam to attack Guy Whose Name Isn't Given, but
>the later action sequences are entertaining and well directed.
I hadn't remembered they didn't even give his name in the first
episode. :) And the first time I watched the show, I didn't even
realise that the figure on the high beam was Buffy - I assumed it was
some kind of monster about to attack her.
>The biggest flaw of "Hellmouth" is its villains. I laughed out
>loud when the Master first emerged from his pool of Nair. Lucas's
>speeches would be cheesy on almost any show, but here, on a show
>that's gone out of its way to try to be all witty and self-aware and
>stuff, the character sticks out like a sore thumb.
I'm pretty sure the Master was *meant* to be embarrassing and
cheesy...
Anyway, good insight into the characters, and I look forward to
reading your next 143 episode reviews. (And then you can move onto
_Angel_...)
Stephen
John Briggs
> David E. Milligan wrote:
>> [snip]
>>
>>> Of course, no vampire show would be complete without a constant
>>> stream of fight-scenes, and "Hellmouth" is decent in that regard.
>>> It
>>> seemed a little weird to see Buffy suddenly defying gravity and
>>> swinging around on a beam [some kind of horizontal pole about 1
>>> inch in diameter] to attack Guy Whose Name >Isn't Given,
>>
>> This was one of the scenes that showed me that Buffy was,
>> indeed, not your ordinary teenage girl. Another was her back flip
>> over the gates of the school Principal Flutie had just locked.
>
> The gate scene (which I liked better than the pole) is actually from
> "The Harvest;" fortunately, I'd just finished watching that one before
> I read this. (Review coming soon-ish.)
I don't remember it as a back-flip.
Are you listening to Joss's commentary on those two episodes?
--
John Briggs
Shuggie
Welcome. Nice review.
> So, why? Why spend hours writing verbose reviews for a show that's
> been off the air for years, especially when there's no guarantee
> anyone will even care about reading it? Simple answer: I thought it
> would be fun. But there's bound to be someone who'll enjoy living
> vicariously through someone seeing the series for the first time. And
> for the disinterested, well, I won't write them nearly fast enough to
> flood the NG or anything.
I wouldn't worry about that. You're speaking to people who've spent far
more time analysing, disecting and discussing the show. As for flooding
the NG - it could do with a bit more traffic, and from fresh eyes too.
>
> A few more notes - first of all, I'm coming in more or less
> completely cold. I'm a big _Firefly_ fan, but have seen a grand
> total of maybe five minutes of Buffyverse material in my life. I know
> virtually nothing about it other than that it's a well-regarded show
> that my fencing comrades-in-arms used to watch, created by the guy
> behind _Firefly_. (I haven't seen the original film either.) I
> can't even say whether these reviews will turn out gushing or
> bile-filled, since, you know, I have no prior knowledge about the show.
> For that reason, I would profusely request that anyone who bothers to
> respond to my posts should please avoid spoiling anything that happens
> in any episode after the one I'm reviewing.
I'll promise not to intentionally spoil you with any factual detail
how's that? I can't help but write from the perspective of someone's
who's seen how things turn out and who some of these characters become.
>
> As is contractually obligated, I'll be assigning each show an overall
> rating. I use one-word evaluations rather than numbers, but it's
> basically a five-point scale: my ratings are "Excellent,"
> "Good," "Decent," "Weak," and "Bad." (The special
> ratings of "SUPERLATIVE" and "ABOMINATION" are reserved for
> only the most extreme of circumstances.)
>
Care to give a few sample ratings for Firefly episodes so we can see
where you're coming from?
> That's about it. Be nice and welcome the new guy, won't you?]
>
Welcome again. :)
>
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season One, Episode 1: "Welcome To The Hellmouth"
> (or "what is it about the gates of Hell that compels people to wander
> into them?")
> Writer: Joss Whedon
> Director: Charles Martin Smith
>
A picky point but perhaps worth noting: directors really don't have the
same influence on TV that they do in the movies. They're pretty much
bodies for hire and they work different shows. It's not unheard of for a
director to turn up on set without really having seen much of the show.
It's the Exec Producer(s) (which here would be Joss) that keeps the show
to whatever consistent tone or vision it has. They are very much
back-seat directors.
>
> "Welcome To The Hellmouth" has a lot of ground to cover in 45
> minutes: it's trying to introduce a core cast of characters, set a
> storyline in motion and throw in some fight scenes for the ADD crowd.
> Actually, it's not that easy since "Hellmouth" basically has to
> give us two stories - a high-school story and a supernatural story
> - and convince us that they're inherently related. On most counts,
> I think we can say it's a success and lays the groundwork for what
> will hopefully be an interesting show.
>
It does and is :)
It also does a 3rd thing, one always admired it for on re-watching - it
introduces the characters, the mythology and the show's ethos without
re-visiting what the movie had done. Some Joss had to do again with
Serenity.
> The combination of teens and vampires might indeed make BTVS an unusual
> show, especially since it's based on an unpopular movie, but it
> doesn't have to be particularly different. I mean, suspiciously
> attractive teenagers and vampires... those can easily cover the
> "sex" and "violence" demographics respectively. If you're
> trying to please a TV exec, the show writes itself. Fortunately,
> Whedon and company don't seem interested in going the most obvious
> route. Take the opening sequence as an example: you've got a
> strapping young lad with confidence and a bit of a rebellious edge, and
> you've got a nervous, ditzy-looking blonde. If you're a new
> viewer, which of these kids do you think will be dead within a minute?
> You'd probably be wrong.
>
I think this is important. If you listen to the commentaries and read
what's been written and said in interviews you'll find that Joss'
mission statement with the show was to subvert expectations. That's why
you guess wrong on who's the victim (and who's the hero for that
matter). That's why the theme tune starts off as a typical horror movie
creepy organ piece and turns into a rock song. It's in the title
*Buffy*, *the Vampire Slayer* - it's the class of traditional, even
cheesey horror with modern (well 1997) hip teen cool.
> From there it's time to meet our principals while dumping exposition
> into the viewers' laps as unobtrusively as possible. At times it
> seems a little forced - Buffy's mom giving us lines like "you
> don't want to be late on your first day" and "you're sixteen"
> come to mind, but most of the time it's nicely buried in the
> dialogue.
Yep. I've always admired how effortlessly Joss hides the exposition or
works it into the story.
> Making Buffy a new kid makes it easy for us to meet all the
> other characters are as she does, and gives an excuse for her to give
> us her backstory by means of introducing herself to her new friends.
> Even some of the supernatural exposition is camouflaged by having Buffy
> blow off Giles by finishing his sentences and saying yeah yeah, she
> knows all this. So, mission accomplished there.
>
> I've heard _BTVS_ compared to _Veronica Mars_... and I'm one of the
> four people in the universe who doesn't get the obsession everyone
> (including Whedon) has with _VM_,
I started watching VM but haven't made it through more than a couple of
episodes. It looks ok but so far I'm not blown away.
> so my biggest worry coming in was
> that the show would be filled with artificially "snappy' dialogue
> that thinks it's a lot more clever than it is. I shouldn't have
> worried. It's hard to explain objectively why it works, since
> "Hellmouth" is indeed full of lines that're clearly the work of
> Hollywood Writers Trying To Be Clever rather than any reflection of the
> way kids talk. But all I know is that Whedon's dialogue has that
> rhythm that separates "fun and clever" from "trying too hard."
> The scene with Principal (?) Flutie isn't just an info-dump about
> Buffy's past, it's also genuinely funny. And besides the great
> timing, the wordplay itself in "Hellmouth" is quite nice too:
> "What's the sitch?" would prove catchy enough to eventually be
> assimilated by at least one other teen heroine, and we should all do
> whatever possible to work the phrase "one-Starbuck's town" into
> more conversations.
>
WttH is probably one of the few episodes that has traces left of a
deliberate attempt at genuine teenspeak. Phrases like "What's the
sitch", "negly", "pos" etc are (or were) apparently real valley speak of
that era. Later on they switched to simply trying to say things in an
interesting and different way, liberally peppered with (pop) culture
references. So whilst it's nothing like how real teens speak it has a
sense of play and fun about it. It's a great way you to give you the
feel of how teens think they speak.
Incidentally, I think it's interesting that very few phrases from BtVS
ever made it to the status of catch-phrases, even amongst us fans. I've
pondered why that is and I think it's partly because the Buffy-speak is
more a way of talking than a set of clever phrases, repetition is rare,
and also because the good lines are often so interwoven with the plot
that it's hard to use them in normal conversation.
> So how about our cast? A mixed bag so far, but mostly promising.
> Unfortunately, one of the losers thus far is Buffy herself. She's
> not so much a character here so much as a constant stream of
> one-liners. The one real moment where she becomes interesting is the
> amount of bitterness she displays when telling Giles how her night-job
> as a Slayer has affected her personal life. So at least we know where
> she's coming from with the reluctant-hero routine... but the
> reluctant-hero story is so old, and Buffy's hand is (predictably)
> forced so quickly that one wonders why they even bothered with it.
Ah. Here's one of those moments where I must tread carefully not to give
too much away. Having said that, what you're touching here is, IMNSHO,
one of the core themes of the show. It's that juxtaposition of the
ordinary girl versus the extra-ordinary hero. The conflict between being
a '90s teenager and a mythical warrior against evil. It's less about
being the 'reluctant-hero' per se as it is about trying to get inside
what it would feel like to have to live the life of one of these
stereotypical heroes.
> The
> ending makes it clear that she could use some backup, but none of her
> friends seem inclined to develop any superpowers...
>
Although the show is in many ways an ensemble, thematically it's
centered on Buffy as the Hero. She is the "*one* girl in all the
world..." and so on. So whilst you expect in Firefly that Mal has Zoe
and Jayne or whoever as backup, in BtVS Buffy is 'The Chosen One', it's
really her fight and her fight alone. "...because I'm the Slayer and
you're not." as she says.
Taken as a realistic battle strategy against the forces of evil this
makes no sense, but it is part of the metaphorical underpinning of the
show (being a teen feels like you against the world) and either you give
them the poetic license and go with it, or you constantly wonder why she
doesn't for example use guns. (Believe me there are plenty who'll do the
later).
> Easily the standout character of the premiere is Willow, thanks to some
> outstanding work by both the script and by actor Alyson Hannigan. This
> character would be difficult one to get right working from a sketch;
> she has to be awkward enough that we buy her as a social outcast while
> still delivering the show's stylized dialogue and generally being
> engaging enough that we can buy Buffy wanting to hang out with her.
> (Her habit of interrupting herself with comments like "am I the most
> boring person in the world or what?" is endearing.) The fact that
> Willow is so likable goes a long way towards making the second half of
> the episode work; we already care about her enough that seeing her
> being led away by a vampire gives the episode the dramatic tension it
> needs.
>
Yes. We like Willow. We identify with her (more so than Buffy cos she
doesn't have powers). So when she's in danger, the stakes are high.
> I'd cite Giles as my other favorite character based on the pilot;
> he's got potential despite being used mostly as an
> exposition-fountain (and straight-man to Buffy's quips). The
> combination of devotion to duty and dry humor are going to make him
> worth watching.
Absolutely. Joss said he cast Anthony Stewart Head precisely because he
played Giles with more going on that just 'boring exposition guy' as did
a lot of the others auditioning for the role.
> Xander also has his moments; I do have a little
> trouble seeing him as the loser he's apparently supposed to be. Sure
> he says a few stupid things, but his good looks and relaxed confidence
> in both dialogue and body language tell a different story about him
> than the show does. (Contrast with Willow: also quite cute, but
> convincingly a geek.)
Joss admits that Nick Brendon is far too good looking to be the
geek. I think his exact phrase was "it's TV, get over it" ;)
Seriously though you'll see Nick in future episodes actually convey more
awkwardness that'll allow you to forget that he's cast againt type.
> Still, Xander just seems _fun_ to be around. On
> the other hand, I don't know how much staying power Cordelia will
> have; she seems too shallow to be a central character on this kind of
> show. Maybe they'll make her intentionally annoying... but you gotta
> avoid annoying the audience too.
All I'll say for now is that they do develop her character more. I found
it fun, I guess some might still find it annoying.
> Speaking of shallow, Jesse is
> basically a waste. Dense enough to not get it when a chick isn't
> interested in him, dense enough not to notice getting _bitten by a
> fucking vampire_... plus what does it say about him that Cordelia is
> the object of his affection? Well, he's not in the opening credits,
> so hopefully he won't be a major player in the series.
>
Oh you spotted that did you? Actually Joss wanted to put him in the
opening titles but it didn't work out that way.
> Of course, no vampire show would be complete without a constant stream
> of fight-scenes, and "Hellmouth" is decent in that regard. It
> seemed a little weird to see Buffy suddenly defying gravity and
> swinging around on a beam to attack Guy Whose Name Isn't Given,
She does have super-powers.
> but
> the later action sequences are entertaining and well directed. The
> general look and feel of the show I'd also classify as "decent."
> Even if some scenes come from the _Se7en_ school of "does no one here
> believe in light switches?"
The show is very dark in early seasons especially. Which is tough to get
away with because a) they're shooting on 16mm film so it can tend to be
more grainy and b) it goes against some of the humour.
> You've got your random occult images
> in rapid montages, you've got your creepy music occasionally
> interrupted by rock guitars... nothing too earth-shattering, but
> effective enough. Smith throws in an occasional visual gimmick but
> doesn't overdo it - I liked the spinning-camera scene (when
> Buffy's searching the club for Willow).
>
> The biggest flaw of "Hellmouth" is its villains. I laughed out
> loud when the Master first emerged from his pool of Nair. Lucas's
> speeches would be cheesy on almost any show, but here, on a show
> that's gone out of its way to try to be all witty and self-aware and
> stuff, the character sticks out like a sore thumb.
He's supposed to. He's supposed to be the classical horror movie vampire
villain and Buffy's 'witty and self-aware' persona should contrast with
that. Again it's like the theme music. I think it works for a while. I'm
glad however that we also have the 'cooler' villains too.
> The younger
> vampires, despite the fact that I've forgotten their names, work much
> better, especially the blonde chick.
Darla
> Her dialogue does have that
> _BTVS_ snap to it; causally-delivered lines like "I got a little
> hungry" and "[other young vampire] was young and clumsy," spoken
> by someone who looks so innocent, are nicely menacing. More of that
> kind of thing and less of B-Movie Villain and B-Movie Henchman, please.
>
> Well, obviously this very first episode ends on a cliffhanger, with our
> heroes totally out of their league. Will the show do this kind of
> thing every week? Tune in next week to find out!
>
> One last comment: audiences just don't rock out that much at local
> gigs. It'd have made more sense for the crowd to be doing the
> head-nodding "beers in both hands" dance.
>
>
Despite appearances to the contrary, and the quality of bands they have
on, The Bronze is basically a youth club/coffee bar.
> So...
>
> One-line summary: Promising. The Force is strong with this one.
Oh and you were doing so well and then you went and let it all down with
a cheesey Star Wars reference ;)
Nice review though. Look forward to more from you.
--
Shuggie
Shuggie
It's not. It's a fairly old-hat camera trick: we see her jump straight
up out of shot (camera's at about ankle-calf height) and then see her
land the other side of the fence.
Shuggie
> It's in the title
> *Buffy*, *the Vampire Slayer* - it's the class of traditional, even
> cheesey horror with modern (well 1997) hip teen cool.
ack! that should be 'clash' not 'class'
John Briggs
> Arbitrar Of Quality <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>> Season One, Episode 1: "Welcome To The Hellmouth"
>> (or "what is it about the gates of Hell that compels people to wander
>> into them?")
>> Writer: Joss Whedon
>> Director: Charles Martin Smith
>
> A picky point but perhaps worth noting: directors really don't have
> the same influence on TV that they do in the movies. They're pretty
> much bodies for hire and they work different shows. It's not unheard
> of for a director to turn up on set without really having seen much
> of the show. It's the Exec Producer(s) (which here would be Joss)
> that keeps the show to whatever consistent tone or vision it has.
> They are very much back-seat directors.
Although Charles Martin Smith very nearly screwed up "Welcome To The
Hellmouth" and never worked for Joss again. He's probably the unnamed
director that Joss talks about in interviews. Some of the best scenes are
shot-for-shot remakes of Joss's Unaired Pilot.
--
John Briggs
vague disclaimer
shu...@gmail.com (Shuggie) wrote:
> > Easily the standout character of the premiere is Willow, thanks to some
> > outstanding work by both the script and by actor Alyson Hannigan. This
> > character would be difficult one to get right working from a sketch;
> > she has to be awkward enough that we buy her as a social outcast while
> > still delivering the show's stylized dialogue and generally being
> > engaging enough that we can buy Buffy wanting to hang out with her.
> > (Her habit of interrupting herself with comments like "am I the most
> > boring person in the world or what?" is endearing.) The fact that
> > Willow is so likable goes a long way towards making the second half of
> > the episode work; we already care about her enough that seeing her
> > being led away by a vampire gives the episode the dramatic tension it
> > needs.
> >
>
> Yes. We like Willow. We identify with her (more so than Buffy cos she
> doesn't have powers). So when she's in danger, the stakes are high.
It is, one suspects, a compliment to the OPs analysis that he settles in
detail on the one character who was re-cast from the Unaired Pilot.
<snip>
> >
> > One last comment: audiences just don't rock out that much at local
> > gigs. It'd have made more sense for the crowd to be doing the
> > head-nodding "beers in both hands" dance.
> >
> >
>
> Despite appearances to the contrary, and the quality of bands they have
> on, The Bronze is basically a youth club/coffee bar.
Joss said on one of the DVD docs that, at the start, they looked for
bands that could realistically play in a smalltown club like The
Bronze...unsigned or local. A couple of bands that turn up later got
international sales thanks to Buffy.
--
A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend
Shuggie
I suppose it's plausible in the sense of them being unsigned bands, it's
just in terms of that youth club type environment, at least as far as my
experience goes, bands that were anywhere near that good had long since
graduated to more adult venues.
Carlos Moreno
> 1) "Welcome To The Hellmouth" - Good]
>
Ok, so Welcome to the Hellnewsgroup!! :-)
(what, you already saw the first few episodes of BtVS
and you thought no-one was going to receive you here
with some lame pun or silly play on words?! ;-))
Just one comment, in addition to the welcome words that
have been already said by several other posters...
Be *extremely careful* about being spoiled for future
storyarcs and plot twists... I really enjoy this
newsgroup and find that the people that write in here
are quite "high class"...
But, if there is one aspect that truly makes me bitter
is the inability of some people to grasp something so
simple as the notion of spoiling things for others...
Recently, there was one case in which it went as far
as one person replying to someone that *explicitly
said* that he was watching the show for the first time
and that was about S3 and *explicitly* asked to please
not say anything about what's coming... And what did
he get in reply? A very direct, very explicit spoiler
about something that happened in S4... When the guy
complained with a "gee, thanks for the spoiler", the
other person would still argue saying that how could
it be a spoiler if they were talking about an episode
that had aired more than 5 years earlier, of a show
that had finished 2 years earlier (well, don't mind
the exact numbers)
My point is: *yes*, there *are* people that are *that*
dumb, as to not understand -- yes, they're a minority,
but the problem is that for this sort of thing, if you
have 100 thousand people that know better and keep
quiet to avoid spoiling the surprises but there is
*just one* that babbles out loud and tells you about
what's going to happen, it's already quite bad...
So, my advice: be *very careful* about reading here
(in fact, I would go as far as to advice you to
entirely avoid reading the newsgroup until you have
completed all the seven seasons of the show). If
you write (which I assume and hope you're going to
keep doing), please put a BIG SIGN at the beginning,
*begging* to others not to say anything about future
plots, etc. And still, be very careful when reading...
Other than that, I look forward to reading more of
your reviews, and participate in the surely interesting
discussuions that you'll have here! (I mean, *really*,
there are lots of really smart and nice people here,
and discussions tend to be *very* interesting)
Cheers,
Carlos
--
reld...@usa.net
new to BtVS and have no idea what's to come. Though I generally
distrust people who don't appreciate Veronica Mars, I must say that
your review of "Welcome to the Hellmouth" is quite perceptive.
I hope you will post your review of "The Harvest" quickly, and then get
through the rest of BtVS season 1 as rapidly as possible (would you
consider writing shorter, less detailed reviews just for season 1?).
Season 2 and following are the episodes I really, really want to read
your reviews of. Please get there quickly and then put your detailed
efforts into those!
Thanks,
Clairel
alphakitten
Shuggie wrote:
> I started watching VM but haven't made it through more than a couple of
> episodes. It looks ok but so far I'm not blown away.
>
I've seen the first five or so. I'll keep watching, it's a decent enough
show, but I'm more than a little befuddled at the hype it's generated.
IMO, the younger cast are uniformly bland and I can barely tell the
white males apart. The dialogue is not half as snappy as it thinks it
is. I certainly can't imagine rewatching eps and buying the DVDs.
For the fans - does it get substantially better or have I missed the VM
boat?
~Angel
vague disclaimer
alphakitten <alphak...@netscape.net> wrote:
> I can barely tell the
> white males apart
That was a problem identified by the producers. They took steps to fix
it in later episodes (in fact, from about 1x05-ish onwards).
reld...@usa.net
--I always loved the show from the very beginning, but at first I did
have the same complaint about telling the young white male characters
apart. It amazes me now that I ever felt that way; Logan and Duncan
are so distinctively different to me now. It's a matter of getting to
know them better. Also, in the first few episodes there was this guy
Troy, who did sort of look like both Logan and Duncan (mirabile dictu).
The later (Troyless) episodes are a lot less confusing, and Logan's
and Duncan's very different personalities come out a lot more clearly
as season 1 moves onward.
There are some great high points to look forward to in the season 1
episodes that you haven't seen yet. Really, you have to dip more than
one toe in the Neptune waters. To appreciate this series you have to
immerse yourself. The season 1 DVD is great for that (though I saved
all the episodes in order on videotape as they aired, that just isn't
as good as having a DVD). I prize it almost as highly as I prize my
BtVS DVDs!
Clairel
Arbitrar Of Quality
Yeah, I figured that would be a necessary risk of this gig, and have
accepted it. Thanks for the warning.
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
> I'll promise not to intentionally spoil you with any factual detail
> how's that? I can't help but write from the perspective of someone's
> who's seen how things turn out and who some of these characters become.
I know how it is. Tread as lightly as possible, though.
I haven't been watching the commentaries and such, just because those
tend to be spoilerific on the other DVD sets I've seen. Maybe at the
end of the season.
> > As is contractually obligated, I'll be assigning each show an overall
> > rating. I use one-word evaluations rather than numbers, but it's
> > basically a five-point scale: my ratings are "Excellent,"
> > "Good," "Decent," "Weak," and "Bad." (The special
> > ratings of "SUPERLATIVE" and "ABOMINATION" are reserved for
> > only the most extreme of circumstances.)
> >
>
> Care to give a few sample ratings for Firefly episodes so we can see
> where you're coming from?
_Firefly_ probably isn't the best example, since every episode would be
either "good" or "excellent." (what can I say, it's a good show).
_Deep Space Nine_ would be better for examples (i.e. a generally great
show whose individual episodes ran the gamut in terms of quality), but
I doubt many people here can identify DS9 episodes by name. It's
probably best just to see how I rate a few BTVS episodes, all will
become clear.
"Decent" is basically a 3 out of 5, and means a show was entertaining
enough, but nothing particularly remarkable. Anything lower than that
means more bad than good, anything higher means something kinda
special.
> > One-line summary: Promising. The Force is strong with this one.
>
> Oh and you were doing so well and then you went and let it all down with
> a cheesey Star Wars reference ;)
It takes all kinds. I used an obscure MST3K reference near the
beginning too, though, so shouldn't that balance things out?
> Nice review though. Look forward to more from you.
Thanks.
-AOQ
John Briggs
>
> So...
>
> One-line summary: Promising. The Force is strong with this one.
>
> AOQ rating: Good
>
>
> [Season One ratings thus far:
> 1) "Welcome To The Hellmouth" - Good]
It doesn't make sense to review WTTH on its own - it is part of a two-part
story. The two parts were even first broadcast as a single double-length
episode, although they were always intended to be separate episodes (that
they were broadcast as a single episode is thanks to the network changing
its mind - which will be a recurring theme throughout the series, and would
plague Whedon throughout his career. It was what did for "Firefly" - having
commissioned a feature-length pilot ["Serenity"] FOX decided that they
wanted a different new single episode as the premiere, had "Serenity"
re-edited as two episodes, and then didn't broadcast them until they had
decided to cancel the series...)
WTTH was developed from Joss's draft pilot script, and is essentially a
self-contained story, but lacking its resoution. It has been expanded to
encompass "The Harvest", which is really a separate story.
--
John Briggs