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Mar. 17th, 2009 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightOkay, because work is boring and I’m miffed about not getting to watch the last series of BSG yet, what with next week’s TV books going on and on about how good it is etc, I thought I’d make a post about BtVS, just to be different.
One thing no one new to the fandom could help noticing is that season 7 comes in for a lot of stick. Lots and lots of people don’t like it for various reasons. In fact, with one representative of one of the extremist factions of fans, it seems to have become a major article of ‘faith’ that during the last two seasons of the show, the other writers formed a conspiracy to ‘ruin’ it behind Joss’s back, and that Joss himself had nothing whatsoever to do with seasons 6&7 (presumably, he was tied up and gagged in a closet while Marti Noxon, urged on by rabid Spike fans, wrote ransom demands to his family with one hand while penning show-trashing episodes with the other).
Nonsense like that aside, as I said, many people don’t like season 7, so what I wondered is, if you could have written the season, what would you have done differently?
I think, to be fair, suggestions have to conform to the restrictions of character and RL that Joss was faced with at the end of season 6. For instance, you can’t decide arbitrarily that Tara never died or that Spike didn’t get his soul back because it’s established that both those things happened in season 6. Nor can you write Spike out of season 7 after only one episode just because you don’t like him. You have to remember that JM had signed a contract for 22 episodes. Similarly, you have to take on board that SMG had said she didn’t want to do another season, making 7 the final one, that ASH had only a limited number of episodes and that if DB did make a guest appearance, it was only going to be a cameo, what with AtS being on a different network.
It also seems only right that Joss’s seasonal/end of show theme of female empowerment should still be the same, so if your big beef is with the Potentials, another way has to be found to incorporate the female empowerment theme into the story or to make the Potentials more palatable. Or something.
I have plenty of nit-picks about season 7 myself, but overall I like it. I think if I was going to change anything, it would revolve around the annoying Guardian – talk about lame dea ex machina!- who I would either write out altogether or make a very different character and introduce somewhat earlier (or possibly only in Slayer dreams), Caleb, who I loathe with a fiery passion and who I would get rid of completely, finding some other way for the First Evil to be more physically menacing, and Andrew, who I would probably replace with Jonathan, because I like him more.
One thing no one new to the fandom could help noticing is that season 7 comes in for a lot of stick. Lots and lots of people don’t like it for various reasons. In fact, with one representative of one of the extremist factions of fans, it seems to have become a major article of ‘faith’ that during the last two seasons of the show, the other writers formed a conspiracy to ‘ruin’ it behind Joss’s back, and that Joss himself had nothing whatsoever to do with seasons 6&7 (presumably, he was tied up and gagged in a closet while Marti Noxon, urged on by rabid Spike fans, wrote ransom demands to his family with one hand while penning show-trashing episodes with the other).
Nonsense like that aside, as I said, many people don’t like season 7, so what I wondered is, if you could have written the season, what would you have done differently?
I think, to be fair, suggestions have to conform to the restrictions of character and RL that Joss was faced with at the end of season 6. For instance, you can’t decide arbitrarily that Tara never died or that Spike didn’t get his soul back because it’s established that both those things happened in season 6. Nor can you write Spike out of season 7 after only one episode just because you don’t like him. You have to remember that JM had signed a contract for 22 episodes. Similarly, you have to take on board that SMG had said she didn’t want to do another season, making 7 the final one, that ASH had only a limited number of episodes and that if DB did make a guest appearance, it was only going to be a cameo, what with AtS being on a different network.
It also seems only right that Joss’s seasonal/end of show theme of female empowerment should still be the same, so if your big beef is with the Potentials, another way has to be found to incorporate the female empowerment theme into the story or to make the Potentials more palatable. Or something.
I have plenty of nit-picks about season 7 myself, but overall I like it. I think if I was going to change anything, it would revolve around the annoying Guardian – talk about lame dea ex machina!- who I would either write out altogether or make a very different character and introduce somewhat earlier (or possibly only in Slayer dreams), Caleb, who I loathe with a fiery passion and who I would get rid of completely, finding some other way for the First Evil to be more physically menacing, and Andrew, who I would probably replace with Jonathan, because I like him more.
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Date: 2009-03-17 09:17 pm (UTC)Okay....using some of their choices and ridding the season of the parts I hated or felt were filled with plot holes.
Caleb would have been part of the big bad for the season BUT ...no FE and he would have been a former Watcher who was out to destroy the "dirty girls" that were an unnecessary tool against evil. This permits the blowing up of the Council and Giles having more power in the aftermath.
A couple of Potentials (very selective and short term) could be shown as it does serve to show the way the Council usually operated and how different it was for Buffy having been hidden from the Council as it were.
No "power sharing" as I found it wrong on too many levels to list here and also unnecessary.
Have Giles actually interested in how and why Spike got his soul. This would lead to a different approach to dealing with demons in a rebuilt Council (in the planning stage by the last episode).
Wood would be the principal and attempt to kill Spike but no FE involvement. This would lead to questions on redemption in that episode. Giles would not be part of this attempt on Spike's life however.
Buffy would show her feelings but Spike would no longer read her correctly. Just as they did...she would clearly care but he would not see it and she would not say it. In the end they would part with Buffy unable to commit and Spike unwilling to be her lap dog any longer. He would head to LA to work with Angel not only helping the helpless but learning how to live with the soul. He'd tell Buffy that she would know where to find him if she ever decided to accept his love and return it. (very angsty parting).
Willow would NOT get involved with any Kennedy type. Some real mourning behavior over Tara and remorse over her killing spree. She would be making amends throughout the season eventually using her magic again to help defeat Caleb and his minions.
Xander and Anya would end their relationship but both come out more mature. I wouldn't mind a hint at a Xander/Dawn and Anya/Giles future.
Buffy would have to be coming to terms with the grey areas of her battle. The final fight would have some demons siding with Buffy and some humans siding with Caleb making it clear that evil and good aren't that easy to determine. Buffy should show signs of actually growing.
The friends (Xander, Buffy, Willow) would reunite but as mature adults this time.
Naturally I'd make this mix of vague ideas make sense LOL (I may write it one day actually).
Kathleen
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Date: 2009-03-19 12:22 pm (UTC)That aside, I like some of your ideas a lot, but I'm not convinced the Watchers' Council on their own would have made an adequate villain for the final season, if only because Buffy has repeatedly trounced them in the past.
I do think we saw Willow mourning for Tara. Sometime in these things, less is more, and I think the scene where she puts the stone of Tara's grave, though brief, speaks volumes.