Buffy Nostalgia
Jan. 2nd, 2004 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herewiss13Major Christmas present this year was a DVD player. My first action: check out Buffy DVDs from the library. Was slightly miffed to discover that not every disc has special features, but then was quite impressed when I finally found some. Quickly discovered that checking out all five seasons at once was more than impractical, so, having gotten that first burst of frenetic activity out of my system, I'll be acquiring them more sedately on a season-by-season level.
Just so the first move wasn't wasted, though, I watched "Phases" (Oz's first full moon) and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered". The second is, of course, classic and well known, but but the more mediocre "Phases" is still full of little gems as well.
"You're jumping to conclusions"
"No, no jumping. I just took a small step and there conclusions were."
"Three days out of the month, I'm not so fun to be around either."
In an incredibly clever pun, Buffy refers to Kane the hunter as "Mein Furrier". And it's tossed off as she exits a scene, so it's harder to notice.
"Huh." Classic Oz under-reaction.
It'd be interesting to track future Oz transformations to see if they happen ever 4 weeks or only at plot conveniences.
Odd historical trivia: We see Kane melt silver and pour it into a bullet mold. The bullet he makes is actually an antique design called a Minie Ball, which dates back to the Civil War. It's one step up from the spherical musket ball. There's a depression at the bottom and the explosion of the powder smashes the bullet into a wider, conical cup shape, something like a shuttlecock, which both seals the barrel better and also imparts spin. You can recognize the bullet from the incised grooves around the base. One of the more interesting consequences of this is that Kane must load his powder freehand, rather than in cartridges, which seems odd and awkward.
This all, by the way, springs from surfing past a History Channel show on the evolution of projectiles...several weeks ago. My mind is a strange combination of sponge and steel trap.
I'd forgotten how flighty and nerdish early-Giles is. Excited to be researching lycanthropy and the like. It's hard to remember that he matured just like the rest of the Scoobies. Remember, this is all pre-Jenny's death and pre-torture. All that's ever happened to him so far is a few concussions and he still retains a naive enthusiasm. Contrast to the quieter, grimmer Giles who confronts Evil!Willow at the end of s6.
...he still has Ripper-like moments, though. Muttering that Kane is a "pillock" was especially amusing.
The werewolf costume is possibly the ugliest, fakiest make-up job they've ever done. But the morphs you see of Oz to Wolf and back are very smooth indeed.
Even this early in the show, there are lovely instances of continuity. Oz observes the cheerleader statue which imprisons Amy's Mom. And Xander suddenly remembers being a Hyena...to everyone's surprise.
Speaking of Xander, am I the only one who sees many parallels to the character of Ron Stoppable on "Kim Possible" (amusing Disney cartoon about teenage secret agent girl)? Wisecracking, slightly pathetic, mostly ineffectual sidekick and they even both have ears that stick out slightly. It's rather uncanny...especially at 1 in the morning.
I noticed something interesting about Willow too. She's all quiet and mopey during most of the ep about not "getting any". But when she finally stokes herself up to confront Oz about it, she lets loose on such a tear that it takes Oz collapsing during his transformation to shut her up. I think we need to call this character facet "Tirade!Willow", because it happens regularly enough to deserve a label. She builds up this internal monologue about an issue, rehearsing and re-rehearsing it until it finally bursts out in a rambling torrent of righteous annoyance which wanders around until she trails off in embarrassment.
I do similar things, composing letters and arguments in my head well in advance (or after the fact), replaying them over and over again, refining them and savoring the broadside that will be fired at my grudge.
...except these rants are usually stillborn and swallowed. Willow's much healthier. ;-)
Two final observations: There is a Buffy/Xander moment! It was amazing to watch, like discovering apocryphal texts. She gets thrown by a message from Angelus (literally and figuratively) and after Xander helps her up, they embrace, mostly for comfort. It's very sweet in a tense sort of way. I almost wish more would have come from it. Xander's aside after they part: "No, my life isn't too complicated." is both wise and tragic in a way we come to associate with Xander in later years.
And in B,B,B I discovered what I believe to be Xander's first Carpentry Moment...something sure to be of interest to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nwhepcat. After he and Cordy have been chased into the basement by the mob of Xander Lovers, Xander nails a barricade across the door.
Pity the door opened the other way. That's twice in one ep he forgot to check hinges.
Ack! One last thing. Larry's gay! Played for a laugh, but still fairly radical. I'd remembered beforehand that it was coming, but Larry's delivery of his relief at finally admitting it and Xander stark terror at having his manhood threatened where both beautiful.
Crosses. Why crosses? Especially in a world where every other episode features petitions to one Goddess or another. The rationale I like the most came from a large (and good) cross-over fic between Buffy and Anita Blake, a one line observation from Jean Claude which I expand upon here. In a polytheistic world full of spirits and demiurges, perhaps the sacrifice of the Christian God was not for spiritual redemption but actual, physical salvation: the death of his Only Beloved Son consecrating all symbols of that sacrifice against the undead. The closer the symbol is to the reality, the more repellent it is, hence upended swords are less useful than crucifixes. Holy water is a quick and easy step in justification from there.
Mirrors are trickier. A lot trickier and I have to step off the Jossian Reservation here to make it work. If the mirror doesn't reflect the vampire's image, perhaps it's because the vampire isn't really there. The body is merely an illusion. While Giles says the vampire is a parasitic demon inhabiting a corpse, perhaps he's misinformed and the "true" vampire is an incorporeal spirit which devours and then mirrors the Host Body.
In feeding, blood would then be converted into spiritual energy and in conversions, spiritual energy would be converted into blood, suffusing the host body in preparation of its transformation (into invisible energy). The physical form is merely a psychic projection into the surrounding minds, hence no images in non-conscious phenomena.
This also explains the lack of remains after a staking (there wasn't any body to "remain" in the first place), but not the stakes in the first place (still working on that).
A couple problems with this would be the Master's Bones, which I never really liked, and the possibility that Angel or Spike have been captured on video before (not sure about Angel, but upon reflection I'm _sure_ Spike was seen on monitor screens during his stay with the Initiative. Still, despite these anomalies, I think my theory is the best way to explain why Vampires have no reflections while other equally soulless Demons do (this puzzle includes Souled Angel). Lack of soul is, I believe, the most common non-Jossian rationale for the mirror problem, despite its many problems.
Expect more gems from unheralded Buffy eps in the coming months...though I'll probably rave about the famous ones too.
Just so the first move wasn't wasted, though, I watched "Phases" (Oz's first full moon) and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered". The second is, of course, classic and well known, but but the more mediocre "Phases" is still full of little gems as well.
"You're jumping to conclusions"
"No, no jumping. I just took a small step and there conclusions were."
"Three days out of the month, I'm not so fun to be around either."
In an incredibly clever pun, Buffy refers to Kane the hunter as "Mein Furrier". And it's tossed off as she exits a scene, so it's harder to notice.
"Huh." Classic Oz under-reaction.
It'd be interesting to track future Oz transformations to see if they happen ever 4 weeks or only at plot conveniences.
Odd historical trivia: We see Kane melt silver and pour it into a bullet mold. The bullet he makes is actually an antique design called a Minie Ball, which dates back to the Civil War. It's one step up from the spherical musket ball. There's a depression at the bottom and the explosion of the powder smashes the bullet into a wider, conical cup shape, something like a shuttlecock, which both seals the barrel better and also imparts spin. You can recognize the bullet from the incised grooves around the base. One of the more interesting consequences of this is that Kane must load his powder freehand, rather than in cartridges, which seems odd and awkward.
This all, by the way, springs from surfing past a History Channel show on the evolution of projectiles...several weeks ago. My mind is a strange combination of sponge and steel trap.
I'd forgotten how flighty and nerdish early-Giles is. Excited to be researching lycanthropy and the like. It's hard to remember that he matured just like the rest of the Scoobies. Remember, this is all pre-Jenny's death and pre-torture. All that's ever happened to him so far is a few concussions and he still retains a naive enthusiasm. Contrast to the quieter, grimmer Giles who confronts Evil!Willow at the end of s6.
...he still has Ripper-like moments, though. Muttering that Kane is a "pillock" was especially amusing.
The werewolf costume is possibly the ugliest, fakiest make-up job they've ever done. But the morphs you see of Oz to Wolf and back are very smooth indeed.
Even this early in the show, there are lovely instances of continuity. Oz observes the cheerleader statue which imprisons Amy's Mom. And Xander suddenly remembers being a Hyena...to everyone's surprise.
Speaking of Xander, am I the only one who sees many parallels to the character of Ron Stoppable on "Kim Possible" (amusing Disney cartoon about teenage secret agent girl)? Wisecracking, slightly pathetic, mostly ineffectual sidekick and they even both have ears that stick out slightly. It's rather uncanny...especially at 1 in the morning.
I noticed something interesting about Willow too. She's all quiet and mopey during most of the ep about not "getting any". But when she finally stokes herself up to confront Oz about it, she lets loose on such a tear that it takes Oz collapsing during his transformation to shut her up. I think we need to call this character facet "Tirade!Willow", because it happens regularly enough to deserve a label. She builds up this internal monologue about an issue, rehearsing and re-rehearsing it until it finally bursts out in a rambling torrent of righteous annoyance which wanders around until she trails off in embarrassment.
I do similar things, composing letters and arguments in my head well in advance (or after the fact), replaying them over and over again, refining them and savoring the broadside that will be fired at my grudge.
...except these rants are usually stillborn and swallowed. Willow's much healthier. ;-)
Two final observations: There is a Buffy/Xander moment! It was amazing to watch, like discovering apocryphal texts. She gets thrown by a message from Angelus (literally and figuratively) and after Xander helps her up, they embrace, mostly for comfort. It's very sweet in a tense sort of way. I almost wish more would have come from it. Xander's aside after they part: "No, my life isn't too complicated." is both wise and tragic in a way we come to associate with Xander in later years.
And in B,B,B I discovered what I believe to be Xander's first Carpentry Moment...something sure to be of interest to
nwhepcat. After he and Cordy have been chased into the basement by the mob of Xander Lovers, Xander nails a barricade across the door.Pity the door opened the other way. That's twice in one ep he forgot to check hinges.
Ack! One last thing. Larry's gay! Played for a laugh, but still fairly radical. I'd remembered beforehand that it was coming, but Larry's delivery of his relief at finally admitting it and Xander stark terror at having his manhood threatened where both beautiful.
Crosses. Why crosses? Especially in a world where every other episode features petitions to one Goddess or another. The rationale I like the most came from a large (and good) cross-over fic between Buffy and Anita Blake, a one line observation from Jean Claude which I expand upon here. In a polytheistic world full of spirits and demiurges, perhaps the sacrifice of the Christian God was not for spiritual redemption but actual, physical salvation: the death of his Only Beloved Son consecrating all symbols of that sacrifice against the undead. The closer the symbol is to the reality, the more repellent it is, hence upended swords are less useful than crucifixes. Holy water is a quick and easy step in justification from there.
Mirrors are trickier. A lot trickier and I have to step off the Jossian Reservation here to make it work. If the mirror doesn't reflect the vampire's image, perhaps it's because the vampire isn't really there. The body is merely an illusion. While Giles says the vampire is a parasitic demon inhabiting a corpse, perhaps he's misinformed and the "true" vampire is an incorporeal spirit which devours and then mirrors the Host Body.
In feeding, blood would then be converted into spiritual energy and in conversions, spiritual energy would be converted into blood, suffusing the host body in preparation of its transformation (into invisible energy). The physical form is merely a psychic projection into the surrounding minds, hence no images in non-conscious phenomena.
This also explains the lack of remains after a staking (there wasn't any body to "remain" in the first place), but not the stakes in the first place (still working on that).
A couple problems with this would be the Master's Bones, which I never really liked, and the possibility that Angel or Spike have been captured on video before (not sure about Angel, but upon reflection I'm _sure_ Spike was seen on monitor screens during his stay with the Initiative. Still, despite these anomalies, I think my theory is the best way to explain why Vampires have no reflections while other equally soulless Demons do (this puzzle includes Souled Angel). Lack of soul is, I believe, the most common non-Jossian rationale for the mirror problem, despite its many problems.
Expect more gems from unheralded Buffy eps in the coming months...though I'll probably rave about the famous ones too.
