“Again a cubby filled with so many blog worthy selections, but this time, there was one clear winner. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As in the original, pre-TV series, Kristy Swanson, cheesy early 90’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know and love the series so well, having watched it multiple times over the years. But I’ve only seen the movie a couple of times. Joss Whedon has affirmed that nothing in the film is meant to be considered canon, carrying into the series. And there are a lot of differences and inconsistencies if you try to join them. Yet at the same time, a lot of it did get carried over quite well.
I do remember utter disbelief when I’d heard this would be a series. I hadn’t seen the original movie, but I’d caught the trailer a couple times and I remember the poster being everwhere, and to me it looked dumb. Even years later once the show was it’s own thing that I was very much into, I was then hesitant to watch this one because I didn’t want it to taint my idea of all things Slayer. It is kind of a hot mess, but there’s still some gems to appreciate if you’re in the right mood.
First of all, some of the names in the cast. Luke Perry (embodying all that is heartthrob of the early 90s), David Arquette, Paul Ruebens, and future Academy Award winner Hilary Swank in her film debut. Before SMG came along, Ms Summers was Kristy Swanson. She shares a lot of the quirks and spunk as well as the vulnerability that we now know and love and associate with the charater, but she’s a bit more of a Clueless (as in the movie) ditz. Sarah definitely had more time to grow into and capture the character, but Kristy got her off to a good start.
Some things that got swept under the rug to be forgotten about were the concept that one immortal-ish watcher trained all the slayers, and that Buffy was already a senior. But moving her to Sunnydale in the series did give her a pretty clean slate. A few of the rules changed too, though mostly for the better. TV added dusting to vampire deaths to make logistics easier, and their appearance and abilities got cleaned up a bit too (sorry, no more flying). But most of all, thank the dear sweet Lord that we nixed the whole spidey sense PMS cramps thing. That was just weird.
What most makes this worth watching is that the classic Joss Whedon dialog is all still there. For example, the basketball coach encouraging the team to remind themselves “”I am a person. I have a right to the ball””. I feel that’s the extent of Joss Whedon’s knowledge of the sports.
So it may not be the Buffy that I’ve obsesed and cried over (or that my BFFF is currently tweeting about on his *gasp* first watch thru). However, without this one, the latter slayer would have never come to pass. Thank God someone saw the potential between the cheese and allowed the Chosen One to live on.”