Really enjoyable read. It's nice to see some optimism from someone on season eight, particularly because I dislike it so much. My pleasure. :) It wasn't easy, but someone had to do it...
Take note that I'm an optimistic person by nature! There are fans who can't help but find the holes and the seams and pull things apart, and then there's folks like me who are more than happy to ignore the little things, the little nonsenses as long as I feel things are thematically going the right direction. Oh that's me too! I am the self-proclaimed Pollyanna of fandom. I can find the positives in the most abysmal of episodes, and can fanwank almost *anything*. No really.
But now I'm starting to worry that maybe I should've at least brought a parachute. That's a very good image. And yeah, s8 seems to have gone out of its way to antagonise me. (If you follow the tag for this entry, you'll find 4 years worth of rants and mocking.) I lost faith a long, long time ago that it could turn out OK...
The one shot with the anonymous Buffy decoy had such potential. And maybe that potential would've been fulfilled if it wasn't one issue. Yeah, I liked that one. Problematic from certain angles, but genuinely interesting in what it explored. *sigh*
Or the Faith and Giles storyline, really dug it. It felt like the setup for a new relationship between these two characters, a renewed relationship, and a relationship that fit perfectly with what we knew of these two. It was an exciting prospect, although now that story's unlikely to be told. Yeah. I disliked certain aspects of the story, but I liked very much the relationship the two of them were building.
But there is a bright side. To me anyway. And that's the fact that canon means next to nothing for me. If I'm not enjoying this new story being told, much at all, and I see no reason for the light of season eight to shine on anything of the past, then why even recognize it? I'll give it it's fair shake. And after the final comic of season eight, I don't see much redeeming, I might give it a couple of more fair shakes. Maybe more fair than it deserves. But if it still seems bad? I'm quite happy with the fan fictions that have existed in my head after season seven ended. Because Buffy isn't just Joss's, it's ours too. Absolutely. That's why I spent so much time in my essay showing how different the comics are, and how they've created their own 'verse.
Now watch season 9 come along and be awesome and dangit I'll have to accept season 8 into my head after all. Grr, Argh. *laughs* Personally I'm not going near s9, but I sincerely doubt any kind of brilliance will be in evidence. *g*
Thank you so much for your comment, btw, it really means a lot! I shall leave you with possibly the best thing ever written about s8: The Five Stages of Buffy Season 8. :)
Re: Great Essay!
My pleasure. :) It wasn't easy, but someone had to do it...
Take note that I'm an optimistic person by nature! There are fans who can't help but find the holes and the seams and pull things apart, and then there's folks like me who are more than happy to ignore the little things, the little nonsenses as long as I feel things are thematically going the right direction.
Oh that's me too! I am the self-proclaimed Pollyanna of fandom. I can find the positives in the most abysmal of episodes, and can fanwank almost *anything*. No really.
But now I'm starting to worry that maybe I should've at least brought a parachute.
That's a very good image. And yeah, s8 seems to have gone out of its way to antagonise me. (If you follow the tag for this entry, you'll find 4 years worth of rants and mocking.) I lost faith a long, long time ago that it could turn out OK...
The one shot with the anonymous Buffy decoy had such potential. And maybe that potential would've been fulfilled if it wasn't one issue.
Yeah, I liked that one. Problematic from certain angles, but genuinely interesting in what it explored. *sigh*
Or the Faith and Giles storyline, really dug it. It felt like the setup for a new relationship between these two characters, a renewed relationship, and a relationship that fit perfectly with what we knew of these two. It was an exciting prospect, although now that story's unlikely to be told.
Yeah. I disliked certain aspects of the story, but I liked very much the relationship the two of them were building.
But there is a bright side. To me anyway. And that's the fact that canon means next to nothing for me. If I'm not enjoying this new story being told, much at all, and I see no reason for the light of season eight to shine on anything of the past, then why even recognize it? I'll give it it's fair shake. And after the final comic of season eight, I don't see much redeeming, I might give it a couple of more fair shakes. Maybe more fair than it deserves. But if it still seems bad? I'm quite happy with the fan fictions that have existed in my head after season seven ended. Because Buffy isn't just Joss's, it's ours too.
Absolutely. That's why I spent so much time in my essay showing how different the comics are, and how they've created their own 'verse.
Now watch season 9 come along and be awesome and dangit I'll have to accept season 8 into my head after all. Grr, Argh.
*laughs* Personally I'm not going near s9, but I sincerely doubt any kind of brilliance will be in evidence. *g*
Thank you so much for your comment, btw, it really means a lot! I shall leave you with possibly the best thing ever written about s8: The Five Stages of Buffy Season 8. :)