FW Presents: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – A Teen Girl’s Review

The Precocious Princess (a 13 year old girl) leads her and her father (The Irredeemable Shag) through a discussion all about the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER television series! Curious what a modern teenage girl thinks of this 20 year old cult classic series? Listen to this episode to find out!

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24 responses to “FW Presents: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – A Teen Girl’s Review

  1. Fantastic work, Shag and Prin.

    It was refreshing to hear the point of view of someone who wasn’t even alive when the show was first on the air, and yet was closer to the show’s supposed target audience than I ever was. (I was in my 20s when I discovered Buffy during the some reruns between seasons one and two.)

    I wonder if the Mayor — my favourite of the Big Bads aside from the personal stakes that Angelus brought — doesn’t appear to the Precocious Princess because his 1950s folksiness is so outside of her frame of reference, whereas I suspect Shag and myself saw reruns of Leave It to Beaver, My Three Sons and other such shows.

    I would recommend the detailed rewatch threads on Buffy Forums, but they are having some technical issues at the moment:
    http://www.buffyforums.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?3-Buffy

  2. Great debut as host (as opposed to guest). I watched Buffy and Angel late in life (not at the time), but enjoyed both thoroughly.

    Also wickedly fun to hear Shagg get some of his own medicine.

  3. Oh man where to start… Well first off, definitely your kid. I enjoyed how you were both wrong in roughly equal measure but consistently about different things.

    So, favorite character, for me it’s Giles. I have a soft spot for well done exposition characters (no clue why), and his reappearance at the end of season 6 (“I’d like to test that theory”) solidified it. Earlier on I identified most with Xander, which lent itself to some healthy self examination as I came to realize how despised he is in some circles for some legitimately toxic behavior.

    Best season is the second, worst is the seventh. Best big bad is Angelus. Best season arc goes to season three.

    How far did Prin get into Angel? Because season one is legitimately pretty bad. Season two is where it comes into its own, and season five is straight up amazing and has one of the best series finales in television.

    Be careful with the Season 8 comic, it goes off the rails pretty badly after a few volumes, though the last one does its best to right the ship. I’d recommend Fray over it (future Slayer story with an awesome tie into the show proper).

    1. Oh, and a shipping section, didn’t see that coming.

      Xander has no OTP. Not in the time span covered by the show. He really needs to be single for a while and get on better terms with himself before he gets into another relationship.

      Willow, it’s Tara. What she had with Oz was real for the time (i.e. as real as any high school romance can be), but I can’t imagine that she would look back later and see it as even holding a candle to what came after. Also, love that Kennedy wasn’t even talked about for this category. That was correct.

      Buffy is another one who needs to avoid serious relationships for a bit (and I’m not granting her an OTP because her relationships were, in order: dangerously co-dependent, boring, and toxic), though not for the same reason as Xander. Whereas he needs to work on himself, at this point she just needs to work on juggling the work/life balance and it may be best to figure that out with something more casual.

      And for crying out loud, will SOMEBODY other than fanfic writers acknowledge the sexual tension between Giles and Ethan Rayne? I mean COME ON, people!

      1. If I recall the writers acknowledged the OTP between Giles and Ethan, or maybe I’m misremembering because the subtext is so strong.

        Definitely Tara is Willow’s OTP.

        I also identified with Xander, partly because he was so flawed, but that was before some of his most extremely toxic moments in the later seasons.

  4. For a person who never watched Buffy, I really liked this show because of your sheer joy that shone through in talking about the episodes. It was a great to hear all the different shows you watch together (Gilligan’s Island!). For me and my kids, it’s mostly just cartoons at this point (Gravity Falls is awesome!) but I can’t wait until they are older and we watch shows like Buffy together. And I would totally listen to you both talk about Smallville.
    Well done to you both!

  5. Great episode. And thanks for the shout out and the “love.” This was a really informative podcast (truth be told, I’ve never watched the show). But you explained perfectly what was going on with Riley’s “Initiative” in Season 4. I was privy to constant meetings and discussions with producers regarding the lack of popularity of Buffy’s new love interest (through no fault of actor Marc Blucas’, the fans really had trouble seeing her with ANYONE but Angel). So seemingly every single week, my scenes were getting cut down more and more as Joss Whedon opted to streamline the rather large group of Initiative members to eventually just showcasing the core three members. Plus, he probably got tired of me constantly asking for more dialog (and it didn’t help that all of my friends and family bombarded him with letters requesting more of Mason). Anyway, the two of you are fantastic together. It’s almost like you know each other really well! And who knows, maybe someday i’ll actually binge watch the whole series. You two certainly made it sound interesting. Well done!

  6. Congratulations to the Precocious Princess on a terrific Fire and Network debut – the hosting is strong with this one.

    I’m a Buffy fan, with the box set of it and Angel all pristine under a bed – I watched them all on the telly. Probably I should give them to a charity because I never get round to watching again. Next Gen too, though I’ve only ever see a few episodes – hey, it was Black Friday.

    Anyway, I don’t have a favourite season, I couldn’t say that that the standard was all one way or the other in any run. I can say that my least favourite storyline was after Buffy came back from the dead and was a proper miseryguts; OK, it was a reasonable response but if the lead isn’t someone you want to spend time with, a show is scunnered. The Body was brilliant, as was the one with The Gentlemen.

    My fave other Slayer is Faith, I liked her arrogance. Mind, I never tire of hearing Kendra introduce herself (great impression, TPP!).

    Angel and Buffy all the way (and really, Angel got great with all the Wolfram & Hart stuff, if you fast forward every time Angel’s son appears. What was his name? Malcolm? Scooter?).

    Glory was the best baddie, I love a camp Morgan Le Fay type.

    I loved the introduction of Dawn, it was so comic booky, having the character brought in who was there all along, honest! I’m trying to recall which comic that was done in… it’ll come. I do remember that the brilliant episode with Buffy a mental patient who’d imagined the whole thing was very like Flash #300, though Buffy had the more disturbing ending.

    I did like the musical episode. Hey Shagg, you forgot Moonlighting!

    Yes please to more from the royal teenager, the network could use more female voices and at least one young voice. She’s so smart! I’ll listen to a Smallville show up to the point anyone says anything nice about Lana Lang.

  7. Very fun examination of the whole series! I dig the family dynamic too of course, as it is very similar to the conversations I have with my daughter about the MCU films, the CW DC shows, the Mandalorian, etc.

    Cindy and I watched Buffy a lot when it was syndicated heavily on FX or TNT (I don’t recall which). It’s definitely quite a ride, and I can’t say I enjoyed all the twists and turns and ups and downs from season to season, but overall we enjoyed it, and really need to go back in for a rewatch, maybe with our daughter this time.

    It strikes me how influential Buffy and her “team” dynamic is for every adventure TV series going forward, especially Smallville and the CW shows. All the Arrowverse shows are still basically using the Buffy template!

    Great job Prin on your first co-hosting gig, and all the kudos in the world for putting up with your Dad in yet another aspect of your life. 😉

    Chris

  8. Late to the game!

    I loved the Buffy movie (I had an enduring crush on Kristy Swanson) and so when the show was announced I was on board from the premiere. I was a little surprised to see that the camp/overt comedy feel of the film was semi-removed and instead we got a serious story with a healthy dollop of snark and sarcasm.

    No surprise given my Supergirl love but I loved the character of Buffy and so was immediately taken in. But I have to say Faith is my favorite character. The person struggling to do good in the face of overwhelming darkness is a favorite trope of mine. Plus, there is no doubt Faith would be the high school girl I would pine for but never have the guts to approach.

    But here is my favorite thing about Buffy. The show was done well enough that normies could like it. When the show premiered I was in my residency. Those were super-long days, filled with stress and worry. You are thrust into that situation with people who you barely know initially but who quickly become family and foxhole compatriots. I told a couple of fellow residents, young women who were not into anything geeky, about the show and promised them they would love it.

    They did.

    We used to meet the mornings after the show aired for coffee in the hospital cafeteria to talk about the episode and toss around theories, all before morning rounds. Remember this was a time before DVR and on demand. If you were on call at the hospital that night, you needed to tape the episode on the vcr or miss out. So there were times one of us would have to wait to join in the conversation.

    But at the time I can remember thinking ‘this show is so good. It has brought people together.’

    Thanks for the episode!

  9. Impressive podcast. Most Impressive. Pretty cool. Was cute seeing Shagg and his daughter doing a podcast together. Cordila was awesome. I always liked her. As was Anya Jenkins. Though I don’t think she’s related to LeRoy. She is the true paring for Xander, but had not Xander chose to stay fateful to Cordy then she would have killed him in her first form. So Cordy and Xander being together saved his life and lifted her curse. Sad she dies at the end. Spike was cool too. Though I don’t really have a favorite villain. Maybe the guy who calls Gailes, Ripper.

    Shagg you never saw the movie? That’s a bit sad. It’s the best so bad it’s good movie ever. But, the TV show was cool too. My fav show? Probly the Halloween one ware every one becomes who they dress as. And Xander becomes Rambo. The other costume one was fun too with Anya being the thing that scares her most….the evil…the terrifying bunny rabbit. Fear the fluffy bunny! I hated the musical….sorry.

    I didn’t see the final show, but most of the show was fun. The Scream episode was a lot of fun. I too am not a fan of Fire fly sorry I bought the DVD saw 2 shows and was like…meh. Angel was a fun show. I didn’t read the comics. But, the Avangers movie was good. Oh did I mention I have a U tube channel…. don’t let your daughter see it. But, any one who’s a grown up can… I don’t want to warp the minds of the youths. Adult minds warping are not my fault. As an adult you know when your looking into the mound of madness.

    That is my U tube channel. Also trying to avoid Coppa. Talk about madness. Anyway can’t wait to hear the next podcast.

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