BtVS season 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth
Feb. 3rd, 2008 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightSo I've been off work with a cold (as anyone who reads this LJ has been informed ad nauseam over the past week). As a consequence, I watched more telly in one week than I have in ages. First, there were two episodes of City of Vice, then there was Torchwood, then on DVD six episodes of The Wire (will talk about ep 6 in another post, maybe) and, as a complete contrast, inspired by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
buffy_rewind, my first re-watch in ages of Welcome to the Hellmouth.
More behind cut, though not really a review, more a set of random observations.
I was actually a bit worried about re-watching this episode. I never thought that much of it when it was originally shown on TV in the UK (only kept watching because my kids, who were about 13 and 9 at the time, wanted to carry on watching the show and they wanted me to watch it with them). I've watched it since, of course, and enjoyed it a lot more because I'd become fond of the show and was willing to forgive the original two-parter's clunkiness (enjoyed some of the later season 1 episodes a lot, but the first two episodes, not so much).
So, this time, I was sort of steeling myself to endure the cheesiness, and cheesiness there indeed was, especially whenever one of the vampire characters turned up. However, on the whole, I was pleasantly surprised. Here's just a few trivial things that particularly struck me.
Don't they all look young? And what on earth is Buffy wearing on her first day at school? How could Joyce let her even leave the house dressed like that?
:Is shocked:
Poor old Joyce! She often comes across looking like a neglectful mum, because if she didn't, Buffy wouldn't be able to go out slaying, would she?
Couldn't help noticing also how tiny SMG-P looks next to both Charisma Carpenter and Kristine Sutherland - and the weird thing is, I've stood right next to both those actresses in the last year and they are both delicate little women (CC may not look as if she is in AtS season 4 but she is). SMG-P and AH must be practically midgets!
Xander annoyed me just as much this time as the first time I watched the show, I'm afraid. Joss was good at surprising the viewer right from the start, but some things even he telegraphed. Even back in 1997 (or whenever it was) I could see at once that Xander was supposed to be the nice ordinary boy with whom male viewers were meant to identify and that quite probably, in the long term, his big crush on Buffy would be rewarded. Unfortunately, due to no fault of NB's, this meant that I was predisposed to dislike the character (long story) and I duly did. It took me years and years to learn to do more than just tolerate him, even though Xander got over his crush (that helped actually) and even though some of my favourite standalone episodes are Xander-centric.
I think I just have a stubborn streak/character flaw/call it what you will that ensures I never like the character/relationship you're supposed to like and always invest too much in the problematic ones.
Then there's Angel, who I also found quite annoying to start with, because I could see he was being set up as 'the love interest'. Can remember arguing with my kids about him after this episode and telling them I was sure he'd turn out to be a vampire. IMO Joss did telegraph it when he had Angel go all vehement and tell Buffy he wants what she wants, 'to kill them all.' Obviously some deep family trauma there, I thought, though I suppose we were meant to think that maybe vampires had killed his family. Also noticed that DB's mysterious stranger act is very similar in some ways to his Angelus act. Hmm.
Darla is very un-Darla-like. I suppose you could fanwank it with hindsight that being back with the Master sort of regressed her, but it's pushing it. Luke and the Master and the other vampires are crashing bores (and cheesy - this is where the cheese comes in). Found myself muttering, "Hurry up and get here, Spike and Dru," whenever Luke opened his mouth and said something irritating and portentous.
So yes, there was cheese and some bits of clunky acting, but there was lots of good stuff too, including the dialogue, which sparkled, the opening scene with Darla and the boy in the empty school, which is a very clever role-reversal, and I have to say that SMG-P owned the part of Buffy right from the word go.
Oh and last but definitely not least, ASH looked absolutely gorgeous and wasn't quite as stereotypical stuffy Brit as I remembered.
Looking forward to watching more.
buffy_rewind, my first re-watch in ages of Welcome to the Hellmouth.More behind cut, though not really a review, more a set of random observations.
I was actually a bit worried about re-watching this episode. I never thought that much of it when it was originally shown on TV in the UK (only kept watching because my kids, who were about 13 and 9 at the time, wanted to carry on watching the show and they wanted me to watch it with them). I've watched it since, of course, and enjoyed it a lot more because I'd become fond of the show and was willing to forgive the original two-parter's clunkiness (enjoyed some of the later season 1 episodes a lot, but the first two episodes, not so much).
So, this time, I was sort of steeling myself to endure the cheesiness, and cheesiness there indeed was, especially whenever one of the vampire characters turned up. However, on the whole, I was pleasantly surprised. Here's just a few trivial things that particularly struck me.
Don't they all look young? And what on earth is Buffy wearing on her first day at school? How could Joyce let her even leave the house dressed like that?
:Is shocked:
Poor old Joyce! She often comes across looking like a neglectful mum, because if she didn't, Buffy wouldn't be able to go out slaying, would she?
Couldn't help noticing also how tiny SMG-P looks next to both Charisma Carpenter and Kristine Sutherland - and the weird thing is, I've stood right next to both those actresses in the last year and they are both delicate little women (CC may not look as if she is in AtS season 4 but she is). SMG-P and AH must be practically midgets!
Xander annoyed me just as much this time as the first time I watched the show, I'm afraid. Joss was good at surprising the viewer right from the start, but some things even he telegraphed. Even back in 1997 (or whenever it was) I could see at once that Xander was supposed to be the nice ordinary boy with whom male viewers were meant to identify and that quite probably, in the long term, his big crush on Buffy would be rewarded. Unfortunately, due to no fault of NB's, this meant that I was predisposed to dislike the character (long story) and I duly did. It took me years and years to learn to do more than just tolerate him, even though Xander got over his crush (that helped actually) and even though some of my favourite standalone episodes are Xander-centric.
I think I just have a stubborn streak/character flaw/call it what you will that ensures I never like the character/relationship you're supposed to like and always invest too much in the problematic ones.
Then there's Angel, who I also found quite annoying to start with, because I could see he was being set up as 'the love interest'. Can remember arguing with my kids about him after this episode and telling them I was sure he'd turn out to be a vampire. IMO Joss did telegraph it when he had Angel go all vehement and tell Buffy he wants what she wants, 'to kill them all.' Obviously some deep family trauma there, I thought, though I suppose we were meant to think that maybe vampires had killed his family. Also noticed that DB's mysterious stranger act is very similar in some ways to his Angelus act. Hmm.
Darla is very un-Darla-like. I suppose you could fanwank it with hindsight that being back with the Master sort of regressed her, but it's pushing it. Luke and the Master and the other vampires are crashing bores (and cheesy - this is where the cheese comes in). Found myself muttering, "Hurry up and get here, Spike and Dru," whenever Luke opened his mouth and said something irritating and portentous.
So yes, there was cheese and some bits of clunky acting, but there was lots of good stuff too, including the dialogue, which sparkled, the opening scene with Darla and the boy in the empty school, which is a very clever role-reversal, and I have to say that SMG-P owned the part of Buffy right from the word go.
Oh and last but definitely not least, ASH looked absolutely gorgeous and wasn't quite as stereotypical stuffy Brit as I remembered.
Looking forward to watching more.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 07:38 am (UTC)I'm afraid I can never get past DB's bad acting in this. What really broke my heart was when I read the shooting script and discovered how the character was supposed to have been. Frankly, if they did search for as long as they claim then I dread to think what the other actors were like. Plus I don't find him pretty in the early days, I liked him best looks-wise when he had bulked up a bit but not too much.
But him being Angelusy is a very interesting observation. It would make sense really - he is trying to be confidant after a decade or so of living in the gutter and not talking to anyone, so the easiest thing would be to revert to his old hunting persona. Only gradually would he have worked out what 'Angel' was like rather than Angelus.
Not that I think for a moment that any of that was planned - they presumably didn't even flesh out the idea of Angelus beyond that he was a big bad vamp until S2.
I never spotted that Angel was a vamp. I didn't think he was human but I thought he was exactly what his name said - an angel. So the ep Angel came as a huge and delightful surprise.
I have to disagree about the opening scene because I found it obvious and telegraphed. As soon as I saw the pair of them together I knew it was Darla who would be the vamp. Something about the way they were playing it told me. Plus I am always watching out for the mechanics of 'horror' scenes and it is very rare that something in one can surprise me. But I enjoyed that they were willing to play such a joke.
But we love you for it. Who needs another conventional shipper?
I hope your cold gets better very soon, but silver-lining-wise it is great that you had time for this :o)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 06:52 pm (UTC)DB isn't terribly good. I think he was chosen mostly for his looks -tall, dark and broody - but I do think that, from what I recall, he gains presence over the course of the season so that by the end, if he's not exactly thrilling them in the galleries, he's very much made his mark. I find him very pretty in this season. I don't like bulky men that much.
Only gradually would he have worked out what 'Angel' was like rather than Angelus.
Yes, Angel doesn't really have much in the way of personality until after the Angelus arc. There are a few exceptions - mostly scenes where he's being all vampy, plus that one where Buffy sees him in the Bronze with Cordy and he's laughing. That's very later season Angel.
Not that I think for a moment that any of that was planned - they presumably didn't even flesh out the idea of Angelus beyond that he was a big bad vamp until S2.
Oh no, I don't think so. I think Joss ever intended any of the vampire characters (for which read Angel and Darla in this context) to become that important, which is why their personalities are the ones that change the most from the way they are in season 1.
Angel's vehemence about killing vampires in the alley scene in WttH is what revealed him as a vampire to me. It just struck me as something that was bound to come up again and him turning out to be a vampire seemed like the obvious 'big shock.'
I agree that in some ways the Darla scene is telegraphed, but I think at the time, it was so much the opposite of what usually happened in horror films that it was still innovative.