Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

[charliepanayi]

Got to be some fans here, right? Let's talk about great Buffy/Angel are (though much to my shame, I've still not got round to seeing the latter). I'm currently re-watching all of Buffy, and am midway through the third season. Wesley has just arrived, and it's kind of weird seeing the bumbling idiot he was in Buffy knowing how differently his character is meant to turn out in the end in Angel. And I just saw The Zeppo, which is one of my favourite episodes.

So, any fans? Favourite character(s)/episodes/moments/villains? In terms of Big Bads, my favourite was Glory, season five of Buffy is amazing. Though the Mayor and Angelus were great fun too.

As for favourite episodes: Passion, The Zeppo, Hush, The Body (probably my favourite of all), The Gift, Once More With Feeling, Conversations with Dead People

[Night Fury]

I can't even write down into words how much I love Buffy. I'll post my top ten episodes tomorrow when my brain is less fried.

[Raistlin]

I've watched Buffy through twice and Angel once. I like Buffy more overall, though Angel had flashes of dark brilliance. It was just overshadowed in the long run by goofy plots that manage to out-silly Buffy (see: traveling to demon dimensions in a convertible, end of season 4, almost everything that went on in Wolfram & Hart season 5, etc.).

My favorite character is definitely Spike. My favorite episodes are the ones with Spike in them (especially: Lover's Walk season 3, the one where Spike/Buffy get "married" in season 4, and more serious ones like Lies My Parents Told Me in season 7). Angel season 5 kinda pissed me off because it largely ignored all of Spike's development and maturity in season 7 of Buffy to turn him into a goofy sidekick (which part of me was ok with, as goofy Spike was hilarious in seasons 3-6 of Buffy).

As far as Big Bads go, it's tough to beat Angelus, in either Buffy or Angel. I thought the Beast/Angelus subplot was the best part of season 4 Angel, before the show ruined both it and Cordelia. Dark Willow was also great.

[Bunny]

Both shows were incredible and had their moments, but overall I enjoyed Angel more. The quirkiness of Buffy and the Scoobies got tiresome after awhile and, despite the fact that I know it existed, it felt like it stunted the growth of the characters at certain times. Overall, the cast and stories of Angel were more enjoyable for me when compared to Buffy.

For Angel, my favorite character was probably Fred. Wesley was a very close second because the growth of his character over the series was pretty incredible and very well done. Fred was goofy and adorable though, so that's hard to beat. Similarly, for Buffy, my favorite character was probably Anya. Spike was a great character, but the broodiness and his complete failure as a villain was kinda boring sometimes.

For the Big Bads, I agree with Raistlin.

[krissy]

we will walk
through the fiiire

[charliepanayi]

The goofy humour is one of the major reasons I love Buffy so much, it also means even many of the weaker episodes get some funny dialogue.

I'd rank the seasons like this: 5 > 3 > 2 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 1

[Aulayna]

I smurfin' love Buffy and Angel!

Buffy's my favourite character in Buffy. Angel, well, considering I was rocking a Fred set for ages... so yes Fred is my favourite.

Personally I preferred the last season of Angel to Buffy but think Buffy was overall a better show.

[Calliope]

I've watched this show about a gazillion times and am up to S3 in my current rewatch. Spike and Anya are my favourite characters, although there is something great about most of them; which especially comes out in the snarkfest that is their dialogue.

I'm not the sort of person who worries or thinks very much about aging, but I feel semi-old because this time around Giles is the dude I'd wanna bang. Hey there, Ripper :jokey:

That's okay though; Willow got with Wesley in the end so I will consider my watcher-librarian fetish vicariously played out :roll2

[charliepanayi]

It feels weird remembering how long ago the show began now. James Marsters is now 50 - that just sounds wrong.

[noxious.sunshine]

Oh the movie from the 80s is great. The show? Not so much. :p

[Night Fury]

Oh the movie from the 80s is great. The show? Not so much. :p

The movie was the 90's (92) :p

[noxious.sunshine]

Oh yeah ! Duh lol. My bad.

[Shlup]

I watched both series through once and found them quite enjoyable. I'm not sure which I like better.

[Pumpkin]

I like Buffy. I've seen them all but that was like... 14 years ago now? I've never seen Angel.

[Raistlin]

Buffy ended 10 years ago (god I feel old just saying that).


I'd rank the seasons like this: 5 > 3 > 2 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 1

1 being last is almost a given, though you criminally underrate season 6 (if only for Once More With Feeling and the Dark Wllow arc). Season 7 is a bit weird. The first half of it is really very good, with episodes like Beneath You and Him and Conversations with Dead People. And then the potentials show up for the latter half of the season and their job is basically to whine, bitch, and grate on your nerves constantly (except for Felicia Day).

If I had to name my favorite character from Angel... I think I'd have to pick my namesake, Wesley. Angel has two of the biggest character arcs of the Buffyverse, with both Wesley and Cordelia becoming dramatically more mature. Fred would be second, because science geeks are awesome.

[Hambone]

Buffy is literally my favorite show ever. I've watched some of Angel and I like what I've seen, but I'm having a hard time really getting into it. I'm really jealous of 16 year-old me because I'll never be able to see Buffy and experience it for the first time again like I was able to then.

I've always identified so much with Buffy, and she and Angel have always been my favorite tv couple. I was absolutely devastated when Angel left at the end of season three. I do love Spike, but in my opinion Spike's and Buffy's thing never held a candle to what Angel and Buffy had. I liked Riley but couldn't stand his and Buffy's relationship at all. I think it was so painfully clear to viewers that they didn't belong together.

Oh, and holy shit, I CANNOT FUCKING STAND DAWN. I think Michelle Trachtenberg did a great job playing her, but I just couldn't get behind the whole annoying-kid-sister thing; it wasn't something that I wanted introduced so late in the series. I was ready for the characters to be a bit more mature by the fifth season, and they were, and Dawn being one of the only more immature characters made her seem even more annoying to me. I feel like if they wanted to bring in something as striking as the idea of Buffy actually having no choice but to die ("The Gift") for a loved one, it would've been a lot more effective and powerful if we had seen a relationship between these two "sisters" develop during the previous four seasons.

As far as ranking the seasons, I have a heavy bias for the earlier ones: 2 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 1 > 4 > 7.

Man, I could on forever and ever about this show...

[charliepanayi]

I don't think anyone really likes Dawn. Though I find she's only really insufferable in season 6 (when most of the characters are miserable throughout anyway).

And whoever said they liked the film but not the TV series so much - you might well be the only person in the whole universe who thinks this.