Things I Love - Buffy

Two days ago it was the 10th anniversary of the last episode of Buffy being shown in the US. Since then, I've been wanting to blog about the show, but didn't want to rush my thoughts. So, after a little rumination, I am ready to spurt forth my thoughts on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is without a doubt my favourite TV show, if not one of my favourite things. No other show, film, book, etc has had the same impact on me that Buffy has. Some have come close - Battlestar Galactica and Veronica Mars for example - but none have matched it.

Some people will look at Buffy and they will wonder why this show is so special to me. I think there are many reasons, one of them being my age when the show started. I watched the show when it first aired on BBC2 in 1998. I was 23 at the time - in my first job, trying to find my way in my world.  At the start of the show the characters themselves were 16 and in High School. Although I was a few years older than them, I could see myself in many of their choices and decisions, obviously not including the areas to do with demons and vampires! But this was another beautiful thing about the show - take away the vampires and the demons and the group of people you are left with are some of the most realistically written and portrayed characters I've seen in anything else. They are trying so hard to be "good", but they do make mistakes and sometimes operate in the grey areas. For me this was the first time that a TV show dispensed with the stark white and black hats, allowing the characters to get a little dirty. Isn't that life??

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer

As well as the characters, I also loved the actors that played them - Sarah Michelle Gellar perfect as Buffy; Alyson Hannigan who can cry like no other actress/actor; Nicholas Brendon playing the comedy and pathos of Xander to a tee; Anthony Stewart Head - so suave and handsome playing the father figure of the show with a twinkle in his eye. And there was also the rest of the gang - David Boreanaz, James Marsters, Seth Green, Amber Benson, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg and Kristine Sutherland. The range portrayed by these actors is immense and I think their success is vastly under-rated.

I also loved that the show was never afraid to do what you weren't expecting, keeping you on your toes and not allowing you to relax when a character's life was in danger. I can't remember the first episode I watched, but I saw a few episodes in series one. It didn't blow me away. I remember then seeing a few episodes from series two - including School Hard with Spike and Drusilla's first appearance - and liking where the show was going. And then there was, for me, the game changing two-part episode of Surprise and Innocence, in which the main love interest for Buffy in the show, Angel, was transformed in to the big bad for the series, Angelus. I remember admiring the bravery of a show to do this and to have him then go on to be a REAL baddie, played so superbly by David Boreanaz.

Then there were the other 'brave'/different episodes - The Body, Once More with Feeling (the musical episode) and Hush (the silent episode) among many others. 

Then the character deaths! But not just the deaths but the way in which they were dealt with, giving the characters the time and space to grieve. This doesn't tend to happen in a lot of shows, with characters seemingly springing back from the loss of a loved one.

A lot of these points go back to the quality of the writing and the attention to detail given by the writers and the show's creator, Joss Whedon. For example, at the end of the second episode of series one (The Harvest) the following dialogue takes place:

BUFFY: Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school.

XANDER: Hey, that's a plan. 'Cause a lot of schools aren't on Hellmouths. 

WILLOW: Maybe you could blow something up. They're really strict about that.

 BUFFY: I was aiming for a subtle approach, like excessive not studying.

GILES: The earth is doomed. 

In the final episode of the show (series seven's 'Chosen'), as the gang are preparing to face the final battle, this happens:

XANDER: See, it's the eye-patch thing.

BUFFY: Right, do you go with the full black secret agent look?

WILLOW: of the ruffy shirt pirate-slash-poet feel? Sensitive yet manly.

XANDER: Now you're getting a little renassaince fair on me.

GILES: The earth is definitely doomed.

Image from: http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Chosen

But what makes it even better is that the order in which they walk away from Buffy as they go to their battlestations, is the order in which she met them in the very first episode.

Perfect!

Things I Love - Conventions

I imagine that some of you just thought "Conventions? Me too!!"

And some of you thought "Conventions? Nerd!"

Yep! And I don't give 2 figs that some of you have just judged me and maybe even stopped reading. You are maybe the people that hear the word "convention" and think of the stereotype images of what happens at a convention and the types of people that go to them.

Allow me to enlighten you.

There are many different types of conventions, but it's fair to say they can be roughly categorised into 2 - the weekend conventions and the signing events. The signing events tend to be larger (such as Collectormania, Sci fi weekender or London Film and Comic Con). They also tend to have a larger selection of guests for you to go along and meet. They are a lot of fun and an equal amount of queueing! The weekend conventions (run by companies such as Starfury and Massive Events in the UK) tend to specialise in one tv show in particular or a certain genre. My personal preference is for the weekend conventions as they have fewer guests and as they focus on one show/genre, I know that all the guests are going to be people I want to meet. But that's just me. 

So at a convention, there are autograph signings, photoshoots with and talks by the guests. I particularly like the talks as you can ask questions and hear anecdotes from your favourites tv shows. The guests are normally very honest and relaxed. I still can't believe some of the people I've been lucky enough to meet - George Takei, Patrick Stewart, James Marsters, J August Richards, Nicholas Brendon, Adam Baldwin, Patricia Quinn, Alex Winter, etc. Talented and SO pretty!! 

But the guests are only part of the reason that I love conventions.

From my first convention 4 years ago for Veronica Mars to my latest, Inva3ion, I have made some amazing friends. I don't just mean acquaintances. I mean FRIENDS. People that have shown me true kindness and support. Last year, for the first time, I was even brave enough to attend 2 conventions by myself, purely because I knew my friends would be there. 

These are people that also fully accept my full on, squeeing, fangirl side! And why? Cos they're as bad as me! It is a fantastic feeling. To know proper friendship with people and to know they aren't judging me.

And don't forget, what happens at the con, stays at the con!

All photos property of me and not to be used without my express permission. Ta

 

Things I Love - The Dresden Files

By Jim Butcher

I love reading. Always have, but it has only been recently that I have started reading fantasy fiction. I had tried several times, mainly when I was lickle, to read classics such as The Lord Of The Rings and I just couldn't. I think it's an imagination issue - I find it really difficult to take the author's words and translate them in to an image in my mind. So, I've found that I get on better with fantasy that is set on Earth as this doesn't require too much of my poor mind (please don't take this as a slight on this type of fiction! I'm slighting my mind and its slight powers). One such series is The Dresden Files.

The Dresden Files is about a man named Harry Dresden. He lives in Chicago and is a Private Detective. He is also a Wizard.

But my first encounter with The Dresden Files was not with the books. It was with the TV series. Sadly the show only ran for 12 episodes before it was cancelled by the US network it was showing on. As happened with other more famous shows (*cough* Firefly *cough*), the network hadn't treated Dresden too kindly and had shown the episodes out of order. When the show was on air in the UK, we didn't have the channel that it was showing on but we had seen a trailer for it and decided to put it on our DVD rental list. The discs came and we watched. 

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dresden_images_downloads_desktop_cast_800.jpg

And loved.

I loved Paul Blackthorne in the main role as Harry, honourable but slightly goofy. Valerie Cruz as Murphy, the brave policewoman Harry works with. Terrence Mann as Bob, the spirit of a man cursed for eternity to reside in his own skull, never to pass on. The clever twists on oft-used tropes. The humour. The relationships. The possibilities that would never be. We recently rewatched the series and the pain of the cancellation has not lessened. I have tweeted a few times with one of the producers and he has said what he would have done in series two and it made me even sadder.

Anyhoo (wipes away a tear), whilst watching an episode we saw on the credits that the show was based on the series of books by Jim Butcher. I decided that these needed further investigation. So off I went to the library.

I read the books. More than that, I ravaged them. Every page. Then I bought them all. And read them again. The TV show had been my gateway drug. 

If the TV show is a raindrop, the books are an ocean. They start relatively simply, with each book dealing with one of Harry's cases. As they go on, the characters are developed, the scope of the storylines expand and you find yourself moving from the shallows into the Marianas Trench! Characters and storylines that are mentioned, are brought back in later books. This is one series where re-reading definitely pays off. 

One of the main things that I love about The Dresden Files is the author's voice - given to us through Harry - and through him we know that Jim is one of us - a nerd!! The books are littered with Star Wars, Evil Dead and Buffy quotes, creating a real link between the reader and Harry/Jim.

Although the TV show and the books have many differences, there are several things that connect them - Harry's out of date chivalry, the adventure, the fun, Harry's self-doubt, Murphy's frustration with Harry's idiosyncrasies, a world weary Bob, the dutiful Morgan, the duplicitous Bianca, Chicago, etc!

We are currently on the 14th book and Jim Butcher has said that he is expecting to write 20-ish, with a three book, apocalyptic finale. If you would like to know, here is the list of books in order:

Image from: http://www.jim-butcher.com/

Storm Front
Fool Moon
Grave Peril
Summer knight
Death Masks
Blood Rites
Dead Beat
Proven Guilty
White Knight
Small Favour
Turn Coat
Changes
Ghost Story
Cold Days
and Side Jobs - a short story anthology.

There are audio books of each of the novels, with all but Ghost Story, being read by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy).

There are also graphic novels:

Storm Front (adaptation of the novel)
Welcome to the Jungle (an original story)
Ghoul Goblin (an original story)

If you would like more information, the best place to go is http://www.jim-butcher.com/ 

Enjoy!!