How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Ahriman238 »

I'd go full reboot, but I also didn't really watch the show. The episode or two I caught didn't particularly seem like products of the time, but if I were redoing it I wouldn't want a one:one repeat of the same episodes with a little updating.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Tsyroc »

I'd think it would need a full on reboot.

Angel was the better show when they both went off the air. Personally, I couldn't really stand the last season of Buffy.

Buffy was best when she was in high school, although they did manage to do some good things with the show after that. I think that one thing I would change is that her parent(s) or guardian(s) need to know about her early on. Being a "superhero" on the sly from even all close family members has gone a bit out of fashion, mostly because it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.

I also think I would keep Dawn as Buffy's actual sister from the start and not some mystical whoseit that got retrofitted into Buffy's family. It might even be interesting if it is possible, but not guaranteed, that Dawn could become the next slayer if Buffy died. That could provide some angst and family drama.

I think it would be tough to do the show now. Grimm, and Lost Girl, and lots of others have been playing all over their own various Buffyish universes for awhile now.

The dialog was a big selling point early on too, that's been appropriated well enough by other writers that it wouldn't stand out as much now.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by libertyjim »

Ideally I would simply put Joss Whedon in charge, get all the original cast, give over an Agents of Shield size budget and leave them to it. Combining Angel and Buffy into one series and telling Whedon to 'just do it' a la Shia would be quite satisfying for me. I would also tell him to do something different to the comic series (because wtf was that).

That's ideally though. Considering practical restraints I would make it animated and ask any previous cast if we they want in. May change plot line depending on who I can get. For example if I can get Anthony Head I would probably make it live action rather than animated and do a series about his younger years prior (and maybe up to) him meeting Buffy.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Tsyroc wrote:I'd think it would need a full on reboot.

Angel was the better show when they both went off the air. Personally, I couldn't really stand the last season of Buffy.
Personally I'd disagree, but I'd almost rather Angel was followed up on, as it left off on a giant cliffhanger.
Buffy was best when she was in high school, although they did manage to do some good things with the show after that. I think that one thing I would change is that her parent(s) or guardian(s) need to know about her early on. Being a "superhero" on the sly from even all close family members has gone a bit out of fashion, mostly because it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.
Partially agreed.

To my mind, the individual strongest episodes were arguably in seasons four and five, I think, although season 2 probably had the strongest overall arc with Angellus.

As to the secrecy thing- I might have Buffy try it to start with, but I'd probably end it sooner. It got just ridiculous, some of the stuff Joyce was able to overlook (kind of like how it got silly on the X-Files for Scully to stay a skeptic for so long).
I also think I would keep Dawn as Buffy's actual sister from the start and not some mystical whoseit that got retrofitted into Buffy's family. It might even be interesting if it is possible, but not guaranteed, that Dawn could become the next slayer if Buffy died. That could provide some angst and family drama.
Agreed. I had the same idea myself, I think.
I think it would be tough to do the show now. Grimm, and Lost Girl, and lots of others have been playing all over their own various Buffyish universes for awhile now.

The dialog was a big selling point early on too, that's been appropriated well enough by other writers that it wouldn't stand out as much now.
Hmm. I think it would come back to how much of Buffy is unique to that show, and how much of a fanbase remains.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

libertyjim wrote:Ideally I would simply put Joss Whedon in charge, get all the original cast, give over an Agents of Shield size budget and leave them to it. Combining Angel and Buffy into one series and telling Whedon to 'just do it' a la Shia would be quite satisfying for me. I would also tell him to do something different to the comic series (because wtf was that).
Yeah, that's the dream scenario. However, realistically, the odds of being able to get everyone back at this point are... not good.
That's ideally though. Considering practical restraints I would make it animated and ask any previous cast if we they want in. May change plot line depending on who I can get. For example if I can get Anthony Head I would probably make it live action rather than animated and do a series about his younger years prior (and maybe up to) him meeting Buffy.
Small problem- Anthony Head is old. So you'd still have to go animated (or use really heavy and not necessarily convincing effects to make him look young enough).
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Gaidin »

libertyjim wrote:Ideally I would simply put Joss Whedon in charge, get all the original cast, give over an Agents of Shield size budget and leave them to it. Combining Angel and Buffy into one series and telling Whedon to 'just do it' a la Shia would be quite satisfying for me. I would also tell him to do something different to the comic series (because wtf was that).

That's ideally though. Considering practical restraints I would make it animated and ask any previous cast if we they want in. May change plot line depending on who I can get. For example if I can get Anthony Head I would probably make it live action rather than animated and do a series about his younger years prior (and maybe up to) him meeting Buffy.
Somewhat on some disagreement here. Some of my favorite writing of any kind, whether its tv, movie, book, whatever, is when a good producer or editor is riding herd on a good author/director/whatever making their own material and keeping them on the straight and narrow. The last thing I want to see is Whedon being handed his own universe and being told 'just do it' and stray off into 'man what the hell did you do with your own stuff?!'. If you think Whedon must and is willing to be involved, make sure there's a good chaperone. The TV's equivalent of the book's editor.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

I think the easiest thing to do, at least with live action, would be to have a spin-off or sequel focussing on just one or two characters, like the Giles and Faith spinoffs that I read were actually proposed back in the day but never happened. That way, you would leave the door open to bringing in other characters as guest starts, but if you couldn't get someone back, its no big deal. And it makes sense, I suppose, that the old group would drift apart a bit over time, each living their own lives.

As to which character would make for the most interesting show:

Well, Buffy herself obviously, although that's less spin-off and more full sequel. I'd like to see what an older, more mature Buffy would be like, what she would have developed into. So a show about Buffy, maybe in the role of a Watcher mentoring a younger protagonist like what they did with Spock in Star Trek and it looks like they've done with Han in Force Awakens. I can imagine the ironic humour of Buffy finding herself in Gile's role. Also starring Dawn, because I can hardly imagine those two ever really drifting apart. Other characters could occasionally appear, but wouldn't be essential.

Faith and Giles, as mentioned above. I love them both.

Maybe Spike, at least if the actor wasn't so old. But Spike, I think, works better as a foil to someone else (particularly Angel) rather than the focus of attention. Spike is their to basically be at odds with and snark about whatever everyone else is doing. :D
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Elheru Aran »

James Marsters honestly doesn't look *that* old. I think he could pull off a Spike that's been somehow magically aged. It wouldn't be the greatest weird magic act out there in the Buffyverse...

Image

Otherwise I'd be perfectly fine with him being a Watcher or someone's mentor or something like that. He's a pretty decent actor, would be a shame to not bring him into something that he was part of in the beginning. Hell, put some glasses on him, there's a passing resemblance to Giles.

In general though given how the actors have aged and the profusion of magic/supernatural/comic-book shows out there, I'd tread very cautiously with rebooting/restarting Buffy. It could all too easily come off as cliche, derivative, or generic. The original show managed to combine teen sitcom/drama with horror and fantasy, while Angel was a supernatural mystery/drama spinoff (part of the reason it succeeded well on its own, I think, it didn't simply copy Buffy). Simply repeating the formula would be a recipe for disaster... or moderate commercial success, which would not be terrible, but if it wasn't well done, that wouldn't be good.

The thought occurs that one could do an alternate universe, and to tie it in to the original timeline, you could have Angel and company make their way into it from more or less where they left off in the ending of their series. They're a little more rugged and older thanks to what they've gone through in the meantime, but now there's a new universe, and a new Slayer. She needs help because for whatever reason, vampires are much less obvious, the supernatural is a mystery, and the Watchers have declined into near-extinction. But there's evil afoot... even if it's just about finding out what meat the cafeteria is *really* serving.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Elheru Aran wrote:James Marsters honestly doesn't look *that* old. I think he could pull off a Spike that's been somehow magically aged. It wouldn't be the greatest weird magic act out there in the Buffyverse...

Image
Hmm. Well, I recall reading somewhere that Marsters himself and ruled out coming back because of his age, but I don't recall exactly where.

Still, some possibilities occur to me.

One would be to have Spike (or Angel) fulfil the Shanshu prophecy and have become human. That's a big thing to take place off screen, admittedly, but its an option.

A variation on this is that you could have had one have been killed and resurrected as a human, Darla-style, and have aged since then.
Otherwise I'd be perfectly fine with him being a Watcher or someone's mentor or something like that. He's a pretty decent actor, would be a shame to not bring him into something that he was part of in the beginning. Hell, put some glasses on him, there's a passing resemblance to Giles.
Which the show actually played with in that episode where everyone loses their memories and Giles and Spike mistakenly believe they're father and son.

And Spike as a watcher would be... interesting. Spike isn't exactly known for being mature and level-headed. Still, I wonder how he would have changed over more than a decade. He had very little time to adapt to having a soul before Angel ground to a halt.
In general though given how the actors have aged and the profusion of magic/supernatural/comic-book shows out there, I'd tread very cautiously with rebooting/restarting Buffy. It could all too easily come off as cliche, derivative, or generic. The original show managed to combine teen sitcom/drama with horror and fantasy, while Angel was a supernatural mystery/drama spinoff (part of the reason it succeeded well on its own, I think, it didn't simply copy Buffy). Simply repeating the formula would be a recipe for disaster... or moderate commercial success, which would not be terrible, but if it wasn't well done, that wouldn't be good.
I am a strong believer that shows should change over time if they're going to last very long. Its more realistic and avoids repetitiveness and lack of creativity.

Unfortunately fans often lean towards thinking that change equals ruined.

That said, I think Buffy in particular was quite atypical. Angel feels a bit more generic to me, though that might be at least partly because I became familiar with The Dresden Files first and their are a lot of similarities between the two.
The thought occurs that one could do an alternate universe, and to tie it in to the original timeline, you could have Angel and company make their way into it from more or less where they left off in the ending of their series. They're a little more rugged and older thanks to what they've gone through in the meantime, but now there's a new universe, and a new Slayer. She needs help because for whatever reason, vampires are much less obvious, the supernatural is a mystery, and the Watchers have declined into near-extinction. But there's evil afoot... even if it's just about finding out what meat the cafeteria is *really* serving.
Interesting. Not too different from how the Star Trek reboot was handled.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by libertyjim »

The Romulan Republic wrote:Small problem- Anthony Head is old.
Good point. Seemed to forget which way us humans age for a moment there. :banghead:
Would consider a series about Giles and Faith after the events of season 8. Probably have it be similar to how that happened in the comics actually because that was fairly well done. Just have them be partners in the good fight and distinctly not a couple and set maybe 10-20 years after the end of season 8.
Gaidin wrote:make sure there's a good chaperone.
I was actually thinking this but I wasn't certain who the previous chaperone for Whedon was so I kept quite. Fairly certain he had one though.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Well, he had to deal with network executives like pretty much everyone does.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Gaidin »

Well, I'm thinking this from the crazy perspective of the story and not the network's perspective of reeling in the viewers and thus the money. I mean, I don't know who the first unnoficial barrier is in the story's writing before it gets to the official person that might approve it. But...meh. I just have the crazy idea of wanting Whedon grounded if he were involved. And I doubt the execs are trailing him and doing that...
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by libertyjim »

The Romulan Republic wrote:Well, he had to deal with network executives like pretty much everyone does.
Well yes. A part of me imagined that somebody had to physically be there while Joss was writing a script and whenever he wrote something along the lines of 'and then they fucked through a mountain' he was swatted with a newspaper and told 'No Joss. Bad Joss.'

Joking. Just to clarify.
Gaidin wrote:I just have the crazy idea of wanting Whedon grounded if he were involved. And I doubt the execs are trailing him and doing that...
You raise a good point. I do expect that with Whedon's recent successes he essentially has a license to do what ever he wants. We all know how bad that can get.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

I raised before the possibility of doing the opposite- having someone else write and having Whedon in an editorial oversight/producer role.

I raised this more because I was doubting weather Whedon would come back, I think. But it also would keep one person from getting carried away. And it would allow for some fresh talent to take the lead while still keeping things changing too much from Whedon's vision.

I mean, I'm an aspiring screenwriter, and I know that if someone came to me and said "We'd like to hire you to write a Buffy sequel" (yeah, I know, but I can dream), I'd want to consult with Whedon before submitting my script. Because while I don't always like his work, I respect that this is his world and he probably has more insight into it than anyone else.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Elheru Aran »

I would have no issue with Whedon being something like a 'creative consultant' or 'executive producer' of the show-- hell, let him write a few episodes or have input on the plot or something. It's his baby, after all. But I think that a new market has grown, and his attentions have moved elsewhere with the Marvel movies. Still, there's a certain degree of creative integrity that should be observed; whenever someone at DC Comics writes a story that has Death show up (the Goth chick version) they usually check with Neil Gaiman first even though DC technically owns the Sandman characters IIRC. It's just the polite thing to do.

Bringing the Angel gang into a new, slightly more 'real world' universe, would be different and, yeah, there would be inevitable comparisons with the Star Trek reboot. I think it could work though, especially as the reboot universe didn't have nearly as much involvement from the past incarnation of Trek as having a bunch of experienced vampire/demon/whatever-slayers running around would. Hell, you could even use that to produce a bit of dramatic tension by having the occasional 'man there's nobody to kill, I'm bored' bit. Maybe Angel finally turned human (hence the grey hair) and gets to go for one of those cheesy walks on the beach or something. Illyria would be... awkward in such a context, especially as the main humanizing influence from Angel (Wesley) is gone-- but hey, perhaps you could have an alt-Wesley show up, cheesy as that would be.

That's the danger of reboots though-- you've got to be careful to avoid maudlin sentimentality and resurrecting old characters for nostalgia's sake. For that reason having Richard Hatch as a different character entirely in nBSG was a good move-- no issues with having an 'old Apollo' vs 'new Apollo'. A certain sentimentality is OK-- I mean, hell, that's part of the reason you're doing over the past show-- but you can't let it dominate the new material because you don't want to burden the story and characters with that.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Elheru Aran wrote:I would have no issue with Whedon being something like a 'creative consultant' or 'executive producer' of the show-- hell, let him write a few episodes or have input on the plot or something. It's his baby, after all. But I think that a new market has grown, and his attentions have moved elsewhere with the Marvel movies. Still, there's a certain degree of creative integrity that should be observed; whenever someone at DC Comics writes a story that has Death show up (the Goth chick version) they usually check with Neil Gaiman first even though DC technically owns the Sandman characters IIRC. It's just the polite thing to do.
Of course.
Bringing the Angel gang into a new, slightly more 'real world' universe, would be different and, yeah, there would be inevitable comparisons with the Star Trek reboot. I think it could work though, especially as the reboot universe didn't have nearly as much involvement from the past incarnation of Trek as having a bunch of experienced vampire/demon/whatever-slayers running around would.
The issue for me is that if you're going to do a reboot, I generally like it to be really new/distinct, not a half-assed semi-reboot.

But this is kind of an unusual case.
Hell, you could even use that to produce a bit of dramatic tension by having the occasional 'man there's nobody to kill, I'm bored' bit. Maybe Angel finally turned human (hence the grey hair) and gets to go for one of those cheesy walks on the beach or something. Illyria would be... awkward in such a context, especially as the main humanizing influence from Angel (Wesley) is gone-- but hey, perhaps you could have an alt-Wesley show up, cheesy as that would be.
Angel almost has to be either human or in full vampire face if he comes back, to cover the actor's aging. Unless special effects have gotten to the point where you can convincingly make someone look at least a decade and a half younger than they are on TV.

As for Wesley, the comic Angel: After the Fall had him show up as one of the undead Wolfram and Hart employees. Depressing, but their is precedent.
That's the danger of reboots though-- you've got to be careful to avoid maudlin sentimentality and resurrecting old characters for nostalgia's sake. For that reason having Richard Hatch as a different character entirely in nBSG was a good move-- no issues with having an 'old Apollo' vs 'new Apollo'. A certain sentimentality is OK-- I mean, hell, that's part of the reason you're doing over the past show-- but you can't let it dominate the new material because you don't want to burden the story and characters with that.
Agreed.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Elheru Aran »

Hmm.

Image

Image

I can't say I see a huge difference. His face has filled out a bit, nose and ears are a little bigger, hairline has receded somewhat. That's about it. He seems to still be in decent physical condition. Yeah, he's certainly aged somewhat. We know vampires aren't *totally* ageless; the Master was a wrinkled Nosferatu type (granted he was supposed to be centuries, if not millennia, old). Just roll with that whole 'Wolfram and Hart blasted them into a Hell dimension for spite' thing. Who did we have left at the end of Angel anyway? Angel, Gunn, Spike, Illyria? Kill off Charles, he was wounded anyway. That leaves two vampires and a demi-goddess. Just have some offhand line about how they spent a few centuries in Hell, derive a few story ideas from that for down the road. It's not like Angel hasn't been there and back before, after all...
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

One problem, it occurs to me, is that some of the actors might be a lot more expensive now. While a lot of them haven't had huge successes post-Buffy and Angel, both Allyson Hannigan and David Boreanaz have had major roles in other long running series (How I Met Your Mother and Bones, respectively).
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

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The Romulan Republic wrote: As to the secrecy thing- I might have Buffy try it to start with, but I'd probably end it sooner. It got just ridiculous, some of the stuff Joyce was able to overlook (kind of like how it got silly on the X-Files for Scully to stay a skeptic for so long).
That's pretty much how I feel about it. Maybe for the first season or first half season.

If they were doing it during the original show I think the season finale when she fights the Master would have been a good time. If not then she absolutely has to do it when Angelus is targeting everyone around her. He's too dangerous for that "dangerous/stalkery/older ex-boyfriend excuse. If he didn't like screwing with people so much things could have been a lot worse.
Hmm. I think it would come back to how much of Buffy is unique to that show, and how much of a fanbase remains.
In that regard I might be underestimating the fan base a bit. I certainly think a decent number of old school fans would tune in to give it a try. The question then is whether it would pick up new fans. A lot of reboots and reimaginings of movies and tv shows have been pretty good but most don't become huge successes like their predecessors.

I should mention that I haven't watched the show since the year it went off the air. I do have the DVDs but it hasn't been something I've felt like digging out to watch, and I was very into it through season 6. Season 7 I saw after the fact and didn't care for it much. I think I'm one of the small number that rather like season 6, even though I don't think it is the best by a long shot.

Another point. I was in my early thirties when the show was on originally so I really wasn't the main target audience then, and I really wouldn't be part of it with a new version.

As to my remarks about Angel being better than Buffy at the end. I mean that season 5 of Angel was awesome. Before that it was at best comparable. Season 4 had a few cool moments but was pretty bad.

One of my issues with BtvS was, to paraphrase Faith, "all the crybuffy stuff" that went on with Buffy. I'd probably like BtvS season 7 better if I watched it now, although I do think the amount of whiny angst can pile up if you marathon the show via DVD, which is what I did with the later seasons. If I had been watching it week to week with the regular breaks I wouldn't have hit that fatigue point.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

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Elheru Aran wrote:Hmm.

https://mjfredrick.files.wordpress.com/ ... eanaz1.jpg

https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/ ... reanaz.jpg

I can't say I see a huge difference. His face has filled out a bit, nose and ears are a little bigger, hairline has receded somewhat. That's about it. He seems to still be in decent physical condition. Yeah, he's certainly aged somewhat. We know vampires aren't *totally* ageless; the Master was a wrinkled Nosferatu type (granted he was supposed to be centuries, if not millennia, old). Just roll with that whole 'Wolfram and Hart blasted them into a Hell dimension for spite' thing. Who did we have left at the end of Angel anyway? Angel, Gunn, Spike, Illyria? Kill off Charles, he was wounded anyway. That leaves two vampires and a demi-goddess. Just have some offhand line about how they spent a few centuries in Hell, derive a few story ideas from that for down the road. It's not like Angel hasn't been there and back before, after all...
You know. I think there was more of a difference during the first season of BtvS and the second or third season. He looked really young, thin and "angel faced" in the first season. He didn't look old after that but you could tell he wasn't a starving actor anymore. :D He also put on weight during Angel but at least some of that was muscle. It has to be a nightmare for actors to try to maintain their physical appearance and even more so if they are supposed to be playing immortal unaging/unchanging characters. Granted, in the Buffyverse vampires did change/age by essentially becoming more monstrous/demonic as their standard form. I'm assuming they got more powerful but the shows seemed to be a little wishy washy on that, at least in regards to Angel.

I would kind of like the idea of bringing Angel, Spike and Illyria back as you suggested, although I would shoot for more time to have elapsed or to make the appearance changes also because of the ravages of being in the hell dimension. They might even be able to do it in a way that it still allows for much of the "After the Fall" comic stories to remain in play.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Elheru Aran »

That was something I was thinking of, yeah.

Frankly as far as the original BtVS series goes, I don't see that going much of anywhere. I only watched the first season (on DVD), it was fine. I liked Angel (show) a lot more from the get-go, though I kinda started in the middle with that one (caught it on reruns). From what I understand BtVS was starting to flag by the time it hit the last season, and when it was done, the networks washed their hands of it. Angel had a better run with a little more dramatic tension, a little less annoying teenage whining. It was a bit more mature show, put it that way. So I think it might work a little better to continue from where Angel left off a little more so than Buffy, but at the same time, start over with a clean slate, a little more of a X-Files type situation.

Here's another thought along those lines. Nu-Buffy is (as far as she knows) a normal high school student with a nose for mystery. Introduce a recurring substitute teacher, who happens to be Angel or Spike (but obviously nu-Buffy doesn't know that). Lead nu-Buffy along a while, until a few episodes down the road she meets an actual vampire... and has to have her inexperienced butt saved. Go from there. Give Angel or Spike a role similar to Giles' in the original series. And so forth.

Angel, Spike and whomever survived from the past series, are in their turn trying to fend for themselves in a new universe. If they're still vampires, they have to find some way to survive without killing people. If they're human again... well hey, that could be fun. "I'm eating an apple. This is awesome." or some such silliness-- you really can't have a show like Buffy without keeping some of the humor. That's important. They might be nosing around in the dark, trying to catch vampires... who turn out to be random human muggers or something. Maybe the FBI or police or whomever think they're criminals, so they have to keep their heads down. You could build up some intrigue there.

In such a world where the demonic/vampire/supernatural presence might be highly minimized and/or deeply behind the scenes, there would be far less reason for a Watchers' Council, and it may have become some sort of decrepit relic of the past. This is the X-files version of the show, more about finding out the 'real secret' and foiling the huge conspiracy to secretly conquer the world, something like that, than just staking vampires.

Conversely, you can turn that on its head. The supernatural won. Vampires, demons, and such are everywhere, coexisting with humans. Wolfram and Hart are a world power. Slayers have been hunted down and exterminated. What is nu-Buffy to do in such a world? How will she change the status quo? Who is on her side? That could be interesting.
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The Romulan Republic
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

While I would suggest that perhaps you should watch seasons 2-7 of BtVS before dismissing their quality (from what I've seen a lot of people actually consider season one one of the weaker ones), I do think Angel left more to follow up on. Buffy wrapped a lot of stuff up at the end (though they obvious could still have done more). However, Angel ended on a cliffhanger with the whole Shanshu prophecy thing unresolved as well.

Making Angel or Spike Buffy's teacher would be really quite messed up if you kept the romance, though. Screwing ones' students is generally frowned on.

Also, the supernatural existing openly doesn't necessarily mean the bad guys won. See the Buffy comics.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

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Spike trying to teach, though, would be fucking hilarious.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by Elheru Aran »

The Romulan Republic wrote:While I would suggest that perhaps you should watch seasons 2-7 of BtVS before dismissing their quality (from what I've seen a lot of people actually consider season one one of the weaker ones), I do think Angel left more to follow up on. Buffy wrapped a lot of stuff up at the end (though they obvious could still have done more). However, Angel ended on a cliffhanger with the whole Shanshu prophecy thing unresolved as well.

Making Angel or Spike Buffy's teacher would be really quite messed up if you kept the romance, though. Screwing ones' students is generally frowned on.

Also, the supernatural existing openly doesn't necessarily mean the bad guys won. See the Buffy comics.
Reread my post. I didn't dismiss anything, my comment 'I don't see that going much of anywhere' refers to how it ended and possible continuations from that point. I do want to watch the rest of the series if I get a chance.

Angel had its share of loose ends-- from what I understand the show had its share of network interference which necessitated some of its plot developments-- but I won't compare its ending too much to Buffy's. However, I did feel that (from what I've heard of Buffy) it went out in a more emphatic, solid fashion. Sure, it was a cliffhanger. So? Life doesn't exactly tie things up in a neat little knot. I'm OK with a cliffhanger finale if it suits the tone of the show, and Angel and company going out fighting worked for me.

A romance between nu-Buffy and Angel... no, wasn't really going there, to be honest. I'd rather start fresh with that and bring in another romantic interest. Like I said, I visualize Spike or Angel a little more filling Giles' role.

If you wanted to write David Boreanaz out due to financial concerns, you could always have Angel sacrificing himself to get his friends out of Hell to safety or something like that. Bring him back as an occasional guest star if he ever escapes from Hell himself. Honestly I don't mind that being the status quo for past series actors/actresses, bring them in for a little bit of 'hey it's that guy/girl from the old series' nostalgia, but don't dwell on it. Like, it would be quite annoying if Sarah Michelle Gellar came in as, say, nu-Buffy's mom or something like that; viewers who saw the original Buffy would keep expecting her to Slayer out.
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Re: How would you restart Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Elheru Aran wrote:Reread my post. I didn't dismiss anything, my comment 'I don't see that going much of anywhere' refers to how it ended and possible continuations from that point.
It seemed as though you might be criticizing the show. But while I do feel Buffy could have done more, I would agree that it tied things up fairly throughly at the end.

Though I would have liked to see them explore certain villains more (Amy and D'Hofferyn, for example, feel like set up without a conclusion).
I do want to watch the rest of the series if I get a chance.
I highly recommend you do. And Buffy DVDs are quite cheap now.

Frankly, I think there's quite a bit of stuff in Angel you'll appreciate more if you've seen Buffy.
Angel had its share of loose ends-- from what I understand the show had its share of network interference which necessitated some of its plot developments-- but I won't compare its ending too much to Buffy's. However, I did feel that (from what I've heard of Buffy) it went out in a more emphatic, solid fashion. Sure, it was a cliffhanger. So? Life doesn't exactly tie things up in a neat little knot. I'm OK with a cliffhanger finale if it suits the tone of the show, and Angel and company going out fighting worked for me.
Its okay as an ending, but it does leave more to be explored down the line if revisited.
A romance between nu-Buffy and Angel... no, wasn't really going there, to be honest. I'd rather start fresh with that and bring in another romantic interest. Like I said, I visualize Spike or Angel a little more filling Giles' role.
I could see Angel in a Giles-like role, albeit probably darker. I actually think the two have quite a bit in common.

Spike, though, is rather irresponsible to be a mentor. Though like I said, it would be funny.
If you wanted to write David Boreanaz out due to financial concerns, you could always have Angel sacrificing himself to get his friends out of Hell to safety or something like that. Bring him back as an occasional guest star if he ever escapes from Hell himself. Honestly I don't mind that being the status quo for past series actors/actresses, bring them in for a little bit of 'hey it's that guy/girl from the old series' nostalgia, but don't dwell on it. Like, it would be quite annoying if Sarah Michelle Gellar came in as, say, nu-Buffy's mom or something like that; viewers who saw the original Buffy would keep expecting her to Slayer out.
Yeah, the stuff about Angel makes sense.

But as for Gellar- well, I don't think you can really have Gellar without her being instantly recognizable as Buffy. Its got to be her best known role, and Gellar has a very distinctive face, I think (and I say that as someone who has a hard time recognizing faces). And she really hasn't even aged much since Buffy.
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