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My wife an I just finished watching the full DVD collection of Buffy, all 7 seasons. It took us a few months.
Now I have that empty, yet accomplished feeling. I got the same feeling after I did a Lord of the Rings day, where I watched the Trilogy back to back to back.
Is there a name for this phenomenom?
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quote: In a study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,Jonathan Cohen, of the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa in Israel, examined the responses of television viewers to the potential loss of their favorite television characters. Cohen found that viewers anticipated experiencing the same negative reactions to parasocial breakups as they experience when their real social relationships dissolve. Even though parasocial relationships may offer a quick and easy fix for unmet belonging needs, individuals within these relationships may not be spared the pain and anguish of relationship dissolution.
quote:Originally posted by RivalOfTheRose: My wife an I just finished watching the full DVD collection of Buffy, all 7 seasons. It took us a few months.
Now I have that empty, yet accomplished feeling. I got the same feeling after I did a Lord of the Rings day, where I watched the Trilogy back to back to back.
Is there a name for this phenomenom?
I don't know, but check out WaTchers for a few more "seasons".
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quote: In a study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,Jonathan Cohen, of the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa in Israel, examined the responses of television viewers to the potential loss of their favorite television characters. Cohen found that viewers anticipated experiencing the same negative reactions to parasocial breakups as they experience when their real social relationships dissolve. Even though parasocial relationships may offer a quick and easy fix for unmet belonging needs, individuals within these relationships may not be spared the pain and anguish of relationship dissolution.
This is why I have had the Netflix copy of The End of Time sitting in my DVD player for over a month.
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My girlfriend and I have been going through the 7 season DVD collection. We're halfway through season 6 (I've watched them before, but she hasn't).
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I watched the last season of Lost over the holidays with my family, and the last episode still left me a crying heap even though I'd seen it before back in the spring.
It's so hard to let go and accept that there is no more story.
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That's why I fizzle out near the end and don't finish.... It's happened with Angel, Buffy, & BSG. I have really got to watch those last seasons...
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Yep, Angel. Watch Angel. The nice thing about Angel is the fifth season is dramatically less good than the others, so when it's over you won't feel so sad about it.
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Funny. Some friends and I have been gathering on Tuesdays to watch Buffy and have dinner together for some time now. We're almost done with season 6. It's the first time I've seen the show- it always had that kind of "popular show" aura about it that makes me nervous, and watching it now I'm certainly glad I didn't try to come in halfway through.
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quote:Originally posted by Fyfe: Yep, Angel. Watch Angel. The nice thing about Angel is the fifth season is dramatically less good than the others, so when it's over you won't feel so sad about it.
This is the wrongest statement ever to be wrongly stated. The fifth season is the bestest.
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That's how I felt at the end of BSG and the end of Harry Potter.
I mean there are always more good shows, but, the really great ones only seem to come along every couple years.
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I actually got this at the end of playing a video game.
System Shock II: once it was over, I was kind of like 'whelp, I'm not gonna get to play anything that cool or immersive in a long, long time.'
Then I remembered all the great times going through the game and was sad that it was all pretty much over! And that, if I could, I'd evaporate my memory of the game for a week so I could experience a playthrough all over again like new!
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quote:Originally posted by Fyfe: Yep, Angel. Watch Angel. The nice thing about Angel is the fifth season is dramatically less good than the others, so when it's over you won't feel so sad about it.
This is the wrongest statement ever to be wrongly stated. The fifth season is the bestest.
It was definitely great. The two parter at the end was simply magnificent.
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As opposed to the fourth season, which I have been struggling to finish for five years now against overwhelming hate for the [insert relationship spoiler here] plotline. Two episodes to go! I'll get on that . . . soonish.
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I actually got this at the end of playing a video game.
System Shock II: once it was over, I was kind of like 'whelp, I'm not gonna get to play anything that cool or immersive in a long, long time.'
Then I remembered all the great times going through the game and was sad that it was all pretty much over! And that, if I could, I'd evaporate my memory of the game for a week so I could experience a playthrough all over again like new!
I know exactly what you mean. I've never understood why System Shock 2 didn't do *far* better in terms of sales than it did. Did people just not know about it?
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quote:Originally posted by Fyfe: Yep, Angel. Watch Angel. The nice thing about Angel is the fifth season is dramatically less good than the others, so when it's over you won't feel so sad about it.
Like Harry Potter 7.
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I actually got this at the end of playing a video game.
System Shock II: once it was over, I was kind of like 'whelp, I'm not gonna get to play anything that cool or immersive in a long, long time.'
Then I remembered all the great times going through the game and was sad that it was all pretty much over! And that, if I could, I'd evaporate my memory of the game for a week so I could experience a playthrough all over again like new!
Oh so true. System Shock II was great.
I felt the same way after the original Deus Ex, as well as Xenogears/Xenosaga Episode III.
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Is Buffy really that great? I watched the first two episodes the other day and thought they were pretty mediocre and by-the-numbers. Does the show get much better in later eps?
I love Firefly and Dollhouse, but those both started out a lot stronger than what I've seen from Buffy so far.
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Mmm. Yes, but you'll be missing some important backstory. If you're the sort of person who's fine just filling in the gaps by reading Wikipedia summaries, that shouldn't be a problem. If not, I'd recommend skipping around a bit and watching Witch (introduces a recurring character, kind of fun), Angel (not at all my favorite episode but contains some important info), Out of Mind, Out of Sight (character development for Cordelia and also kind of fun), and Prophecy Girl (sets up the next season).
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I am going to second (third?) that season one is pretty bad, but after that it improves dramatically.
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Beyond an episode here and there, I only saw the last season in its entirety and was rather impressed by it. It's pretty easy to pick up the backstory, I think.
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I actually got this at the end of playing a video game.
System Shock II: once it was over, I was kind of like 'whelp, I'm not gonna get to play anything that cool or immersive in a long, long time.'
Then I remembered all the great times going through the game and was sad that it was all pretty much over! And that, if I could, I'd evaporate my memory of the game for a week so I could experience a playthrough all over again like new!
Oh so true. System Shock II was great.
I felt the same way after the original Deus Ex, as well as Xenogears/Xenosaga Episode III.
I need to try these games! Mass Effect 1 and 2 both left me terribly depressed and wanting more.
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When I suggest the show to friends, I tell them the first season doesn't exist. At least, not until they watch the rest of it. I don't think the first season is awful, per se, but it's certainly not how I like folks to be introduced to Buffy.
The nice thing with the start of the 2nd season is first episode has a pretty good summary of the first season in the "Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer." So long as they watch that closely, they won't miss major plot details. The only thing they'll lack are a couple of the recurring jokes, which isn't that bad.
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OK, this show is very good. Thanks for the advice about skipping season 1. I'm about halfway through 3 at this point.
The characters are mostly excellent, with a couple of exceptions -- Xander sometimes drives me up a wall and Oz I could take or leave. But Spike may be the most likable villain in TV history. I gather he becomes more important later on, which is an exciting prospect.
I'm looking forward to the rest of this show!
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Yeah I think that they initially intended Spike to be a brief character, but he was so well liked he stuck around. For a long time.
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From what I remember it was the chemistry between Marsters and Boreanaz that made them re-write the Spike character entirely and make him a bit more concrete in the canon mythos.
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I watched all of Buffy (all seven seasons) in a matter of a month or two during the summer after my senior year of high school. After it was over I got hammered by post watch 'em depression. It was the first time I'd ever experienced it. It was weird. Yep, you're not alone Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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OK, Season 5 was the best yet. BUT the very end of the finale was not done well at all.
SPOILERS: . . . . . .
Buffy's rationale for sacrificing herself was complete nonsense. If "the flow of blood has to stop" meant that Dawn's life needed to end, there was no real reason to believe that Buffy's death would accomplish the same purpose. They have the "same blood" because they're sisters? That makes zero sense, especially because on their interpretation of the passage, it's not literally about blood but rather about Dawn's death.
But moreover, I didn't see any rationale for reading it that way in the first place. Why didn't they try bandaging Dawn's wounds first?
Anyway, I loved the season but I thought it was cheap to have Buffy kill herself at the end without any sensible reason to do so. If they wanted to have her sacrifice herself, it would've been easy to have Glory kill her.
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Destineer, you're probably right about that "flow of blood" being a plot hole.
But I think that blood as a metaphor for life had been set up earlier in the season. In "Fool for Love," Spike has that conversation with Buffy about why blood is important. I believe he actually says blood is life. Blood clearly means more than just the fluid in your veins. Also add that to the primitive's assertion to Buffy that "death is your gift." Her sacrifice was fairly well telegraphed.
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I think there was something in the story that hinted that Dawn had been made out of Buffy somehow, as if they used her DNA as a template and then messed with it a bit. Like in the 'Doctor's Daughter' episode of Doctor Who. Non-identical cloneage. And the portal thing was open already - someone had to close it up.
But you know, in reality it was just a huge cliffhanger and probably made it more likely that the show would be picked up by another network. I could have lived without season 6 (Buffy is a hot-chocolate, duvet, comfort show for me - so season 6 was horrible - I did like the musical), but I enjoyed 7 - probably for the same reasons that I loved the last season of LOST.
Anyway, I'm watching season 5 again at the moment in Spanish. The dub's not bad at all, except for the fact that of course 'Riley' is pronounced like 'really'. So when Buffy's watching him fly away in the helicopter, all tragic and weepy, I'm giggling because to me she's screaming 'Really? Really!'
And then later when Dawn is on the ledge bleeding (because 'Dawn' comes out 'down'). 'Down! Down!' - no, that's not the direction you want her to go in.
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That was an incredible moment. In fact, Giles in both guises was my second favorite character in the show, and that scene played into it.
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Season 1 of Buffy isn't actually -bad-, it's actually -good- (when compared to most other shows) it's only a testament to Joss and co about how much the show grows and improves that most fans count season one as "bad".
I usually have the same kind of reaction when finishing off a long series of books. Oh the bitter-sweetness of it all (just not Lord of the Rings, I was thankful to be done with that, oouuf!)
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I believe it may have ended that way due to the show not being picked up by the network the following year. Another network eventually picked it up. If you watch Angel too, you can notice that the crossovers pretty much come to a complete stop after that season.
quote:Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_: Season 1 of Buffy isn't actually -bad-, it's actually -good- (when compared to most other shows) it's only a testament to Joss and co about how much the show grows and improves that most fans count season one as "bad".
I don't think it was bad compared with the shows being made at that time. But by the standards of the good shows from the present day, it's pretty bad. Buffy season 1 is pretty mediocre compared with the first season of shows like Veronica Mars, Terminator: SCC, Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Big Love, or Whedon's other work (Firefly and Dollhouse, or Season 1 of Angel). Whereas the other seasons hold up very well even compared to these shows.
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Not too sure about the others but I'd absolutely put Buffy S1 ahead of Dollhouse S1 (or the season in which Eliza Dushku runs around in different costumes while I sit around waiting for scenes with Topher.)
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I'm with Shanna here. Dollhouse S1 was so bad, at least at the beginning, that I stopped watching the show. But Buffy S1 doesn't compare to a number of other shows listed; e.g., Veronica Mars and BSG (I think that season 1 of BSG beats every season of Buffy). On the other hand, it is much better than, say, Xena.
Destineer: Be prepared for Buffy to start getting much worse. By the end, you're happy it's canceled.
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