Buffy and Supernatural

WishverseWhedon

WishverseWhedon

You're not friends, you'll never be friends.
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Black Thorn
Hey guys, so... I never really noticed before, as I never got too far/into Supernatural. I believe I only got up to Season 5, but I did enjoy the show at times. I found the scripting great and some of the story lines were pretty good! It has only come to my attention a few days ago, that there are a LOT of similarities between Buffy and Supernatural - and I'm not just talking about a few, with Buffy and Dean, but with the shows themselves.

I recently got my friend back into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and he's part way through Season 6 right now. (Bear in mind my friend is a major Supernatural fan) - He turned to me the other day and claimed that he prefers Buffy so much more and that he just thinks it works better, and that theres less things that he doesn't like about it. Don't worry, I'm not here to downplay in Supernatural in anyway, based on opinions, but I'm basing my points on facts.

My friend questioned me about all of these similarities and it literally blew my mind...
  1. Sam is addicted to demon blood in Season 4+5 - Willow is addicted to magic in Season 6 (both considered to be representations of drugs in some cases)
  2. Family member is unexpectedly introduced in Season 5 of bother series.
  3. Only Dean see's Benny as good when he's a vampire in Season 8- Only Buffy see's Spikes innocence and his change as a vampire.
  4. Castiel has split personalities in the end of Season 6 and the beginning of Season 7 with the Leviathans - Glorificous has split personalities.
  5. Season 5 - Buffy jumps into the gateway of all hell dimensions to close it - Sam jumps into the gate of hell.
  6. Buffy and Dean both sacrifice themselves for their younger sibling.
  7. Buffy dies in Season One for a few minutes and then spends 4 months in Heaven Season 5-6 - Dean dies in Season One for a few minutes and then spends 4 months in Hell in Season 3-4.
  8. Supernatural begins with Sam attempting to quite hunting to become a lawyer - Buffy begins season one with starting a new high school, and hoping to 'retire' from slaying.
  9. Buffy has an episode where their nightmares become reality (and she becomes a vampire) - Supernatural, they go into each others dreams but the nightmares take over and Dean becomes a demon.
  10. Joyce died after having her tumor removed, due to having a hole in her head - Bobby died after having a hole in his head for a while, after being shot there.
  11. Giles' distant girlfriend, Jenny Calender, died after having her necked snapped by a vampire (Angelous) - Bobby's wife was possessed by a demon and then killed by it.
  12. Buffy, Dawn, Sam and Dean both have a distant father - which introduces the father figure of Bobby and Giles.
  13. Both shows acquire a demon hunter called Holtz (Supernatural - Samuel, Buffy - Daniel).
  14. Supernatural, Season 4, Castiel pulls Dean out of hell, and he comes back 'different'. And he no longer wanted to live - Buffy, Season 6, Willow pulls Buffy out of Heaven. And she describes this place as 'Hell' and feels better to just be dead.
Some of these points may not be AS accurate but it's what me and my friend can acclaim to off the top of my head.

If you have any more points, or opinions, comment below 🙂
 
In case anyone is interested in fanfic, this is an SPN/AtS crossover. Dean is still a vampire after Twihard. The boys call on Xander (Angel is at W&H - no NFA) who sends Spike out to teach Dean how to survive. First they have to deal with the differences between vamps in the two series. Oh, and the story is for mature audiences -you have to be over 21 to read it. But the authosr does a great job with both universes and all the character's.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/807490/chapters/1523878
 
I think the similarities are to be expected of a supernatural based show in the sense that there's only so many different stories you can tell. They do have a couple of storylines that seem similar but I don't really sit there and compare Buffy and supernatural when watching either. I just take them for what they are.
 
Silverspike said:
I have to say I find on the whole Supernatural to be inferior to BTVS on all fronts. I mean god only knows how this show has managed to last as long as it has as I've found the stories to be incredibly repetitive.
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goddamn, thank you, somebody else has finally said it. The Winchester brothers are good looking people, but what you see when you look past that is a very pedestrian show, especially by comparison to Buffy.
 
To be frank I don't even find them that attractive really. They don't appeal to me at all, so maybe that's the problem. Maybe you really have to fancy them to be able to find it at all entertaining?
 
Haha, honestly I think any crossover themes are coincidental or in general common to the supernatural theme. To me they're just trying too hard to make the shows overlap in themes because I think the manifestations of all of these things are vastly different on the shows. E.g. Bobby vs. Joyce, Castiel and Glory or
"Giles' distant girlfriend, Jenny Calender, died after having her necked snapped by a vampire (Angelous) - Bobby's wife was possessed by a demon and then killed by it." - which is just... not even similar to me in terms of these particular series. A loved one died at the hands of a demon? Isn't that like 90% of all supernatural shows?

I actually think most of the points on that list can be find in most drama, as well as supernatural shows and books. It's just general themes of wanting to give up the burden of being a hero, of sacrifice, of the unlikely and untrusted ally (Angel, Spike, Benny...), of possession, of great loss and adversity and of makeshift or self-created families. Time and time again these same themes appear in fiction in various iterations and will probably continue to do so.


Personally, I don't find SPN inferior to BtVS at all. 🙂 In fact the first seasons 1-5 I actually find superior in many ways, especially in terms of long-term likeability. After season 5 however SPN became a falling star (which crashed and burned baby!) that is by now (I'm watching season 8 currently) just re-hashing old plots and relying mostly on the watchability of the occasional stand-alone episodes (not the overall arcs which have become rather ridiculous as well as tedious).

But I think my passion in the long run for SPN is that it is so not (which I often find to be a flaw in the Buffy character) driven by romantic-relationships. There are naturally romantic relationships but it's never the dominant theme, rather family is (though disturbingly it seems like some people ship Sam and Dean which is just... ugh! Incest does not float my boat!) that and the boys' witty banter is what have kept me coming back to the show even after the quality crashed and burned. Though by now, I'm mostly watching it in the same way that I watched BtVS season 7 - in the sense that I used to love it and I'm loyal to it therefore, but as for the quality of storytelling by now the best I can say is that it's better than the Buffy-comics 😉
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
I just cant believe you didnt mention #13. I would have but I would hate to nitpick.
"There are naturally romantic relationships but it's never the dominant theme,"

No, from what I could work out the women characters are too busy being offed by some means or another.
 
Silverspike said:
"There are naturally romantic relationships but it's never the dominant theme,"

No, from what I could work out the women characters are too busy being offed by some means or another.
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To be fair it's not only women characters, it's pretty much most characters around Sam and Dean (though Castiel and Bobby have had long staying power as well) who bites the dust.

Anyway, for me at least it's refreshing to have a TV-show that's not so heavily relying on who's shagging whom.
 
I don't know what it is about this show, but it doesn't engage me on any level and the only character I even vaguely find likable is that Angel guy.
 
Fuffy
Fuffy
Castiel ? must be something about Misha Collins charm :) (I don't watch it, I just spent a bit too much time on Tumblr :P)
Silverspike said:
To be frank I don't even find them that attractive really. They don't appeal to me at all, so maybe that's the problem. Maybe you really have to fancy them to be able to find it at all entertaining?
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Haha, that might be it. 😉

While they're certainly not hard on my eyes I think what partly really appeals to me about the show is the great soundtrack. I'm very music motivated so that's a big one for me at least.
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
yes, I can attest to the fact I did used to enjoy it until I saw that video. Then I just loved it! I had to share it.. so that the visceral pleasure obtained from that can be... embraced by everyone.
Taake said:
Haha, that might be it. 😉

While they're certainly not hard on my eyes I think what partly really appeals to me about the show is the great soundtrack. I'm very music motivated so that's a big one for me at least.
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Yes me too, but imo with BTVS at least you got a great soundtrack that went with great writing, where as Supernatural...Hmm, not so great.

I have no idea, but has any of the Supernatural episodes received critical acclaim? I genuinely haven't a clue.
 
Taake
Taake
different strokes :)
All I can say is Buffy was robbed. 😀

Imo Supernatural's standard of writing is far below that of BTVS and AtS.
 
Wait... Buffy was nominated for "Outstanding hairstyling" for Beer Bad, lol. For some reason that tickles me. Didn't even know that was a category of the Emmy's
 
Sorry I still can't see the attraction of SPN let alone how It's managed to last for so long. But hey, 'horses for courses' and all that. 🙂

And yes, hair used to be included in the make-up category when it came to things like the oscars, but now they can be nominated in their own right.
 
I agree with what has been said before, most of those similarities are elemets that are bound to come with a show dealing with the supernatural...

AS for SPN, I binge-watched the first 7 seasons, but since I caught up and had to wait for the new episode to be released every week, I was really less entertained (except for when Felicia Day guest stars, but that's besides the point).
However, I think the first 5 seasons are really solid, and I think that if I were to discover the shows now, as an adult, I would see Buffy as inferior.
But I love them both 😉
 
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