Awww, bitty Buffy...

[elisi]

Funnily enough we watched Buffy last night... shiny new DVDs are fun! :) Also had a look at a few extras, one of which is Hepburn's video to 'I Quit'. Darcy's comment I think was something like "Great - they're all bossy dykes!" Which they are - the song is pretty much about breaking up with their goth/vamp 'doubles'... still a good song though! *g*

Anyway, decided to just start at the beginning and therefore watched WttH and 'The Harvest'.
Of course they're all so YOUNG and SWEET and Buffy is very much a living proof of why Slayers need a Watcher. (And Giles is so adorable! ::squishes him::). But Buffy is very much your typical teen - so snippy with Giles, although she automatically gravitates towards him. She's hurting from what slaying has done to her (left her friendless and alone), but her heart still shines through, in that if someone needs help she can't stop herself. But no matter how sweet she is, I still prefer her later - she's very... straightforward here. I prefer her with layers - like an ogre. *g*

Angel looks *very* pretty (Darcy: "I'd forgotten how skinny he was then.He really filled out later!"), and the first look (shadowy outline) is very James Dean. But the clothes are horrible (that shiny jacket? A whole new world of badness!) and the acting possibly worse. That he turned into my beloved Angel from AtS is... nothing short of miraculous!

The Master is entertainingly camp and I rather liked Luke (So ugly, so evil). Darla... ah Darla. Sometimes excellent, other times so wrong considering how they fleshed out her character later. My current theory is that The Master did some sort of spell on her to keep her in line (no running off with handsome young rebels any more). ETA: Oh and I'd forgotten that she's the one who picks out Cordy to be Luke's next victim in The Bronze... no wonder she is so particularly angry with her in AtS S2!

Willow is mostly just cute - the main thing I noticed was actually the Jesse & Xander story line. Jesse isn't mentioned much later in the show, but I think what happened to him has a very big psychological effect on Xander. They have this exchange, before Xander (accidentally) dusts him:
Xander: Jesse! I know there's still a part of you in there.
Jesse: Okay... Let's deal with this. Jesse was an excruciating loser who couldn't get a date with anyone in the sighted
community! Look at me. I'm a new man!
Pretty much all of his singleminded hatred of vampires can be led back to what happened to Jesse - vampires killed his (best) friend and turned him into an evil, callous stranger. There's probably an essay in there somewhere.

ETA: And yet Jesse uses the word 'I' ("I'm a new man") - it also reminded me of Willow's way of describing herself when she went evil. Hmmm.

Don't have time for much more. But I'll try to write down my thoughts after each episode. Loved all sorts of bits and pieces - Flutie taping Buffy's report back together, 'Ballad for Dead Friends', Giles slamming down the 'Vampyr' book... *happy sigh*

Comments

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I've had similar thoughts about Angel; he's very, very pretty early on, but he doesn't really learn to act for at least a couple of years yet. I never minded Angel (though I loved him evil!); but I didn't actually care much about him in those days. I felt mildly bad for Buffy when he left. I really only started to care about him when he got his own show and developed a sense of humor. My first clear moment of Angel love? The "dancing" in the credits of a fist season ATS episode!

Interesting thoughts re: Darla. though I really loved the chemistry she had with Angel on ATS, she mostly annoyed me on Buffy...

[elisi]

He's excellent as Angelus, but otherwise not very intersting. *So* much better when he's not the romantic interest!

And the dancing! ::dies:: Which just goes to show that even the worst episodes have redeeming factors - it's from 'She' which is possible worst ep. ever!

And Darla is... well excellent in the teaser (poor little blond girl killing the thrill seeking boy - just brilliant), but otherwise mostly annoying. I try to mostly thin of her AtS stuff! :)

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Which just goes to show that even the worst episodes have redeeming factors - it's from 'She' which is possible worst ep. ever!

Ah! See, now I'd totally repressed that the dancing scene is from "she". And you're right, that has to be the lamest episode of Angel ever.

My icon is Wes, not Angel but it's almost as much fun!

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I agree about Buffy and about Darla. Season 1 is my least favourite one, but WttH and The Harvest showed great potential, and when Buff killed Luke it was cool (later she mimicked the scene in OMWF...when she takes off her jacket and uses billiard cues, it was neat to echo The Harvest)

Every time I see season 1, I still wonder how Buffy could not have a crush on Giles!

Jesse's second death is just so Joss! I loved it!

[elisi]

Season 1 is my least favourite one
Same here. It's fun, but seldom more.

when she takes off her jacket and uses billiard cues, it was neat to echo The Harvest
Oh I was going to mention that, but forgot! And poor OMWF Buffy, so detached - fighting on auto pilot. ::loves S6 Buffy::

I still wonder how Buffy could not have a crush on Giles!
She's 16! Anything older than 20 is ancient! [Although of course there's Angel...]

Jesse's second death is just so Joss!
I know!!! Apparently he originally wanted Jesse in the credits, just to show people he didn't mind killing off regulars.
Oh and I also just remembered Buffy's: "You don't [kill vampires]. *I* do!" So tragic!

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

She's 16...and crushing on a teacher isn't that unsual if the teacher in question is good-looking, smart and charming! Willow totally crushed on Giles. I guess it is why I always related to Willow more back then...:- )

But I think the reason is that the writers wanted Buffy to fall for a vampire and Giles to become a surrogate father to her so they could not go that road. So no Pygmalion...

As for the Lolita theme, they had Angel indeed.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I still wonder how Buffy could not have a crush on Giles!
She's 16! Anything older than 20 is ancient! [Although of course there's Angel...]


In The Witch Buffy does say about Giles "I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old". And of course Angel kept his true age a secret, until Buffy had already fallen for the early 20's guy he presented himself as

[withafireinside.livejournal.com]

Angel was pretty then, but the acting was not that hot. I remember being stunned by the entire lack of chemistry with SMG.

'Ballad for Dead Friends' - Guh, love that song, and the whole sequence with the vampires heading towards the Bronze with Darla leading the way. Very cool.

WttH and The Harvest don't get nearly enough squee. I think they're an excellent introduction to the series, and I've always loved them.

[elisi]

I remember being stunned by the entire lack of chemistry with SMG.
Hee! The chemistry kicked in later, but at the start? He's just bizarre stalker guy.

the whole sequence with the vampires heading towards the Bronze with Darla leading the way. Very cool.
Oh yeah! Just the way she walks... *happy sigh*

I think they're an excellent introduction to the series
Absolutely. :)

[owenthurman.livejournal.com]

Hee! The chemistry kicked in later, but at the start? He's just bizarre stalker guy.

It did? When was that?

I suppose the skating scene in What's My Line was pretty nice...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: fanwanking early Darla on BTVS - I think it was kangeiko who first suggested that the Master, to punish Darla for having run away with Angel for all that time, drained her almost completely once she returned to him for good and made her starve a couple of years before allowing her to feed again. She was still in the process of recovery from that in season 1 of BTVS. This has become my personal fanon.

[elisi]

::is distracted by icon::

Um, you were saying? Heh. Seriously though, that's an excellent bit of fanon! Thank you. :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*offers more Darla prettiness*

You're welcome.

[ringthebells]

I totally agree about Jesse. I think he's never mentioned again in the series after the Harvest, but I'm sure that his death shapes all of Xander's interactions with vampires (esp. Angel and Spike) after that.

I haven't written an essay about it, but I have written a scene into a fic ... unfortunately it's part of the never-posted, unfinished, indefinitely on hiatus sequel to "London Calling."

So, what the heck, I'll post it here! (The first part is a dream, not an AU, by the way)

***

Xander was in the alley behind the Bronze, and it was dark. He had a stake in his hand, but there weren't any vampires in sight.

He turned around and saw Jesse. "Hey, buddy," Jesse said with a grin, "what's up?"

He felt nervous, but he couldn't remember why. "Nothing. Hey, I think the new girl's inside, dancing."

"I am so going to score with her. Did you see the way she was looking at me earlier? Hey - could you just tell me if my hair looks all right? It's the weirdest thing, I can't use mirrors anymore."

"You're a vampire." Xander stumbled a step backwards, and gripped the stake so tight it hurt.

"Well, duh!" Jesse slipped into game face and out again, laughing. "That's why I know I'm going to score with her. Haven't you noticed how much cooler and sexier vampires are than loser high school boys?"

He looked surprised when Xander slammed him up against the wall of the Bronze and pressed the stake against his chest.

"Hey," he said in a small, hurt voice. "I thought we were friends?"

"You're not my friend," Xander intoned, knowing it was a quote from somewhere. "You're the thing that killed him."

"You're just saying that so you don't have to give me back my skateboard and the Death of Superman trade paperback," Jesse muttered petulantly. "Jerk." And he exploded into dust.

***

Xander woke up with a chalky, choking taste in his mouth and throat. He tried to breathe but he gagged, and he fell off the cot in a tangle of blankets and barely made it across the hall to the bathroom in time to throw up.

continued...

[ringthebells]

***

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Spike asked, frowning at Xander for a long moment before he opened the door enough to let him in. He was wearing the black jeans from before and a wrinkled grey t-shirt, and his breath smelled of booze. "It's five thirty in the bloody a.m."

"Couldn't sleep. Came to ask you a question." He stepped inside, and fingered the stake hidden in his pocket while he waited for Spike to push the door closed. Then, as Spike was turning back towards him, he shot out a hand to shove Spike against the wall and pin him there. Xander's forearm pressed hard against Spike's chest and he took his other hand out of his pocket, held the stake in easy view.

Spike's eyes were wide. "What the fuck?"

"Who's the first human you killed, Spike?"

"Christ, Harris, you're—you're not drunk." He finished the sentence more quietly than he started it. "But you've just been sick."

Xander felt weirdly weak all of a sudden, so he let go of Spike and sat on the floor. "You can smell that? God. Ew. I rinsed my mouth out and everything."

Spike limped over to the bar fridge and grabbed an open bottle from on top of it. "Here, this'll kill the aftertaste, and you look like you could use it."

Xander accepted the half-empty bottle of rum and took a cautious swig.

"So mind telling me what the burst-in-and-threaten-me bit was about? Thought we were past all that." Spike sat down a few careful feet out of Xander's reach, with his injured leg stuck out straight in front of him.

Xander closed his eyes and felt the rum burn its way down. "I had a bad dream. Just answer the fucking question, would you?"

"First person I ever killed? I don't fucking remember. It was a bloody long time ago."

"Wrong answer."

"What, you know something I don't? I swear to the thousand hells, Harris, I don't remember. The first few weeks after Dru turned me I went fucking wild. It's nothing but fragments I can get back now - not much more than the crunch of bones breaking under my fists and the taste of blood."

"You'd remember him." Xander opened his eyes. "You're wearing his body."

[zimshan.livejournal.com]

Aww, Early Buffy. I've been doing an early years runthrough lately myself, when I found out my sister had never seen Buffy in order. I think we're on 203 now? Long ways to go yet. Hehe.

But I had similar thoughts on Buffy. And Angel for that matter. It's all very lovely to see where they came from, as well as just alittle bit entertaining. *snickers* But ultimately I'm glad they became what they did. I also decided while watching that Giles is quite possibly the best part about S1. There's so much Giles-y goodiness.

I'm also always amused, when watching this show in order, you see how the vamps slowly turn to ash faster and faster as the years go on. Like in the beginning, they actually hit the ground before the POOF! Oh, the wonders of technology. :D

I absolutely LOVE your observation about Xander thought. I've never thought about it that way but I think you're right! Very interesting...

[elisi]

But ultimately I'm glad they became what they did.
Me too. I love them so much more when they're older and screwed up...

you see how the vamps slowly turn to ash faster and faster as the years go on
It's so funny! And the make-up changes too. Oh and in later seasons it takes longer for them to go into gameface. :)

I've never thought about it that way but I think you're right!
Staking your best friend is bound to be a bad thing...

[jamalov29.livejournal.com]

You know I didn't even watched season I of Btvs?! When it aired on french TV I wasn't interested in the series yet and forgot about it. But I think I will buy the DVDs, it seems fun.

[elisi]

Oh you must! It is mostly just fun, but seeing where they all began and how things were shaped is wonderful. The continuity is sometimes excellent and sometimes terrible, and some of the episodes are pretty awful, but even the worst ones have at least a few scenes that make it all worthwhile! :) And Buffy was so *cute* and happy! And her hair was brown. Hee.

[jerusha]

Yeah, I'm right there with you on pretty much everything. I love the early seasons of Buffy.

[elisi]

Not much to disagree on though - it was all so straightforward back then. ::pets ickle Buffy::

[wendylouwho.livejournal.com]

I just watched those episodes myself last night. I agree with you about Xander's view of vampires as it relates to Jesse. And I hadn't given any thought to Darla being the one who handed Cordelia to Luke. It does add a little more depth to Cordy's feelings towards Darla. Thanks for making me think. :)

[elisi]

It does add a little more depth to Cordy's feelings towards Darla.
I remember how *very* hostile she is on AtS. But seeing as they actually 'met' back in S1 it makes a lot more sense.

And I'm always happy to make people think! *g*

Nice to see you btw - how's things?

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

I've been ranting about the Xander/Jesse thing for ages! LOL glad to see someone else noticing that. I think the vampire hatrad started from the Jesse thing and started to grow with Angel and started to grow more with Spike.

[elisi]

Apparantly Joss originally wanted him in the credits - so people would think he was a regular and be even more shocked when he got killed. To show his 'no one's safe' mentality. It became too awkward in the end, but I wish it had been possible. Jesse is always forgotten - poor Xander!