A Season 3 "Monster of the Week" becoming Season 7's Big Bad?

YummySushiPJs

YummySushiPJs

Scooby
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I always thought it was funny how a "monster of the week" type villain from season 3 became the show's final "Big Bad" in season 7.

Even though "The First" has always been, and always will be there... within the actual show it didn't seem to be something that concerned Buffy and co and I don't think it was really mentioned much after Ammends until Season 7 came along. So, I dunno, I always felt it was a little random! The First certainly had a lot of potential to explore and could be utilised very well as a baddie which is obivously something Joss realised so that's good.

Anyway I am drifting from the point! What I wanted to know is, if you could pick any other "monster of the week" or villain from an episode in season 1-6 (not including "Big Bads") to be the Big Bad of season 7, who would it be and why? It would have to be someone/something with a lot of potential to explore that could last a whole season without becoming boring.
 
Well I think that one of the main themes of Buffy (and Angel) was that evil is in everyone, that it will always be here and it's impossible to defeat, and that things are not always so black and white because we all have it inside of us. The First existed because we need evil in the world, I mean...I hate the term evil but as Holland Manners said, the world works because of evil. I think that's why I liked the Angel finale better. I enjoyed the Buffy one more when I first saw it because yes it's cheesy, yes there are some continuity errors, but that smile on Buffy's face is lovely and I cry like a baby pretty much every time that I see it.

However, the Angel finale was perfect. The fight never ends. The Buffy battle was cheesy and there was immediate closure...which is why I like it, but argh the end of Angel was amazing. Okay sorry, back on track. I didn't have a problem with The First, because of the whole "evil is in all of us" thing and the fact that, that comes up often in the Buffyverse and I liked how manipulative it was, but The Potentials bugged me. I liked having them there in the house because it made it seem as if they were really an army and it made things kind of tense, but I wanted to see more of the scoobies and their relationships with each other.

Some people have suggested that they would have liked to see Amy as the Big Bad of season 7 but...eh. I can't see that turning into a battle, and I'm happy that Buffy (the show) went out in a blaze of glory! I love corny/cheesy anything okay!? 😉
 
Oh, The Council would have been awesome as Big Bads!
If not them, though, I would have liked to have seen Gwedolyn Post again!
 
S
Skytteflickan88
Sometimes righteous people are the most dangerous. They could have thought Buffy and the others were dangerous and needed to be taken out, like they did Faith.
Would have loved to have seen more Vengeance demon's granting wishes that change the Buffyverse into the Wishverse. Perhaps buffy trying to fight all the Vengeance demon's as they go AWOL changing everything in the buffyverse.
I mean why didn't Buffy kill Halfrek? It's not her place to be going round granting wishes to kids that are abused, that's evil right, the right thing to do is to ring the cops on those abusing the kids!

Big bad being D'Hoffryn.
 
I think that Ethan Raines had the potential to become a great Big Bad, especially if the government performed some sort of weird experiments on him the way that they did on Adam (who obviously started out as a normal human being), Spike, and, presumably, quite a few of the other demons who they caught around Sunnydale. (Which would make perfect sense, because the last time we saw him, he was in the custody of the Initiative, and was being taken to some sort of government facility for incarceration.) Ethan Raines/Super Soldier coming back to Sunnydale with plans for world conquest would have some great potential, especially if, instead of killing her, he, having no knowledge of Faith's existence, captured and imprisoned Buffy, on the theory that by keeping her alive and a captive, no new Slayer would be called to oppose him. There could have been several episodes devoted to getting Faith to Sunnydale, then her and Spike hunting, finally locating, and rescuing Buffy. It would be a good twist if she, for once, was the one being rescued, rather than the one doing the rescuing. (I've always thought that Spike and Faith would make a great team and might even manage to make Buffy a bit jealous, unnecessarily, of course. Spike is hers and always will be).

They would still have Caleb (super soldier, version 2, instead of rogue priest) and the ubervamps as Ethan's partner and minions, respectively, since both are just too evil to NOT include in the action, and a big final battle with Buffy, Spike, and Faith squared off against Ethan, Caleb, and the champion ubervamp could be truly epic if done right.
 
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Maybe they could have had something like the demon in 'Fear, Itself'. But it would be better and stronger (and taller!), and could show them all of their worst fears, and actually phsyically hurt them.
And maybe it could do the show-them-scary-dead-people thing, too...
It would be like The First, only punchier...
 
I always thought that was one cool part about The First. We all knew it was there, and it was later dug back up from season 3. However, I do think they aimed a little too high for a villian in season 7. I know it was their final season and a regular big bad wouldn't do the trick either. As mentioned above, the Watcher's Council would have made an interesting opponent. There would have been a lot to overcome as well. Still bringing on the one female to overtake the tradition of the male-council and so on.
 
I thought "Conversations With Dead People" showed the potential of the First as a psychological adversary.

Sadly, that potential was never really carried through the rest of the season. And the First becomes a lame villain who can only taunt people and work through questionable henchmen.

---------- Post added at 07:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 AM ----------

drizzlydaze said:
Does the Watchers' Council count?
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't believe so. Buffy tamed them in Season 5. They were essentially working for her after that point.
 
The First Evil as a big bad concept had a lot of potential, it is after all, how real life evil is conducted with the power of suggestion and 'questionable henchmen'.

In saying that though, you are right by feeling they didn't quite pull it off, much like how the concept of the Initiative was a bit of a lame duck too, even though it had a lot of potential. Just look at the Wolfenstein 2001 game which explores the ubersoldaten(super-soldier) concept.

Wolfenstein did it right.

sylvanscribe said:
I thought "Conversations With Dead People" showed the potential of the First as a psychological adversary.

Sadly, that potential was never really carried through the rest of the season. And the First becomes a lame villain who can only taunt people and work through questionable henchmen.

---------- Post added at 07:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 AM ----------



Actually, I don't believe so. Buffy tamed them in Season 5. They were essentially working for her after that point.
Click to expand...
 
sylvanscribe said:
Actually, I don't believe so. Buffy tamed them in Season 5. They were essentially working for her after that point.
Click to expand...

They didn't provide her with a salary in S6, though. Buffy may have had the real Slayer power, but they had much political weight to throw around, which they could've used for henchman or leverage in any number of evil ways. Perhaps they wouldn't consider her as the Slayer as she'd been resurrected or something, and used that as an excuse to brand her as an abomination. And they wouldn't figure out the Big Bad that's been sending evil stuff was the Watchers' Council till later on.
 
They pretty much did make a MotW a Big Bad in season season lol

I thought the First was pretty good in season 3...but it was so lame in season 7
 
If they had chosen to develop his character a little bit more, I think Rak (spelling??) would have made a good villain... But then again they would've had to rethink the season 6 villain for 2 witches as big bads for 2 consecutives seasons might have been too much...

And maybe a little out of the MotW idea, I would've liked to see Buffy's entourage be more affected by season 7's big bad. And I mean more than just Xander being seduced by another demon girl and Wood trying to kill Spike... Like being posessed and really going after Buffy...
If you can understand the idea anyways, I don't really know how to explain it...
 
You know, I would love to learn more about the selection process of The First as the big bad of S7. Unlike a lot of people, I didn't think he/she/it was a "bad" choice, but laying it out the way you have, it's a little...odd that a one-shot villain from four years and several major relationships later would morph into the ultimate evil at the end of the series.

Now, they do an excellent job of building The First up in "Amends", and they clearly show the emotional and mental damage it can inflict with the toll it takes on Angel. They also do a good job of, implying I hope is the right word, that The First Evil is something...beyond Buffy and everything she's faced. They move away from that a bit when The First is reintroduced in S7 (and when Buffy needs something tangible to fight), but there was always a part of me watching "Amends" that kind of sat up and went "hold on, this is something else".

An interview from Joss or whoever else was involved with the creative process when it came to The First would be pretty cool.
 
When I first watched "Amends", The First actually felt bigger than just a monster of the week, it honestly did. So The First ending up being the final villain of the show actually worked for me IMO, I mean it didn't throw me off.
 
Veruca was supposed to have a longer time on the show than she did. I'd say she's got a lot of potential. Probably instead of being a Big Bad herself, she would be the second-in-command for some kind of "werewolf lord." But other than that, Veruca's a great character. 🙂
 
I kinda like the idea of the slavedriveing Nazi types from Anne invadeing Sunnydale and trying to inslave the population and turning Sunnydale into a hell on earth situation
And takeing revenge on the Slayer
 
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