Downfall of Season Seven

[CharmedSlayer85]

I think my problem with season seven is there was entirely too much going on in one season which caused core issues to be thrown out the window. For example when the season started Buffy was training Dawn and also we saw that Dawn was attending Sunnydale High and made her own Scobby Gang when Buffy saved them from the "Zombie Ghost Things." We never saw those friends again, and Dawn's storyline virtually disappeared when the potentials came. Also I don't believe Willow being evil and then not evil was dealt with enough throughout the season. I mean at the end of Season Seven she was finally able to tap into her magick that wasn't from a dark place but from a good place hence her hair turning white, but what about all the stuff before that. I mean I don't think there was enough of her dealing. Also I thought that the whole Willow and Kennedy thing, if it had to happen it happened TOO quickly. It was as if Joss was trying to make up for killing Tara by getting Willow with somebody else. I mean Tara wasn't even dead for a year yet and she was already shacking it up with somebody else, also nobody else really grieved the death of Tara which I thought was cruel. Also Xander and Anya didn't really have a place this season, more so Xander then Anya cause she still had the extensive demon knowledge. Also I wish they would have just finally revealed that Andrew is gay, because we all know he is. And then the whole Spike thing, one day he's insane the next he's perfectly normal. I mean when did he gain his sanity back? I just think that whole introduction of the potentials threw everybody elses' storyline out the window. Really season seven was mostly about Buffy and the potentials, and everybody else was just back-up. There wasn't really any of the core group until the very last episode when it was just Giles, Buffy, Xander, and Willow. That was really the ONLY time you saw just them together. I just hope they don't make the same mistakes with the Season Eight comic, because there are so many new slayers now, I hope they don't get so caught up in these new characters that the core group is neglected.

 

[nerd4hire]

I hear ya. Didn't it start off sooooo great though. I mean up until about whatever followed Showtime, weren't you just rubbing your hands together and saying "Boy, this is gonna be good". I always think of S-7 as a classic couldabeen.

Here's something I always notice about S-7 though. People claim to hate it, but they love to discuss it. It does demand attention.

 

[CharmedSlayer85]

I hear ya. Didn't it start off sooooo great though. I mean up until about whatever followed Showtime, weren't you just rubbing your hands together and saying "Boy, this is gonna be good". I always think of S-7 as a classic couldabeen.

Here's something I always notice about S-7 though. People claim to hate it, but they love to discuss it. It does demand attention.

Yeah I think Season Seven could've been the best season of Buffy, but then when all those potentials came it dropped a couple of points making it like the third best season. I mean there were too many plot holes that weren't filled. I mean like again where were the friends that Dawn made when Buffy saved them from danger, I mean they just disappeared. And I thought we were going to see a bit more of Dawn going to Sunnydale High, I mean I think the whole making a big deal of Sunnydale being re-built was a flook because it was hardly used. I also think being that Robin Wood is the only child of a slayer he should've gotten slayer powers of some kind.

 

[watcher1006]

I agree with just about everything you said, on some points very strongly. Yes there were too many ideas crammed into Season 7. There might have been more time spent on Willow and Xander. I would have loved to have seen more episodes set in the new Sunnydale High School with Dawn and other students. Too many new characters flooded into the mix, what with the Potentials and Robin Wood. I think there was enough in Season 7 to really need two seasons to explore and develop properly. The only thing I'm still on the fence about is whether Andrew is gay, I'm not entirely convinced. But I actually think that's a minor point in any case.

 

[asukafan]

i agree. there was too much time spent on the potentials and spike, and willow, giles and xander got pushed to the sidelines. they've been on the show since the very beginning, they deserved better. plus, there were several plot holes regarding the first.

 

[killerdwarf]

I still stand by my theory that Joss et al at Mutant Enemy were trying to outwit the spoilers on the 'net and ended up muddling themselves so badly they never recovered. And, while I have no proof, I think they were actually expecting to be around for another season, at least at the beginning...I stand to be corrected on that, and if someone knows, tell me...I have absolutely no back up evidence for this last bit...😉

 

[nerd4hire]

My theory has always been Joss went to work on Fray, and Firefly. Marti Noxon (Showrunner of Season 6) took over.

 

[alexa]

I like Marti Noxon's writing style and what she contributes, but when she was running the show in season 6 on, it just turned into a different kind of tv. I pretty much agree with all the points made, I loved the season up until Potential, where it was 'potential slayers here and there, everywhere!', and any stories concerning the core 4 together were tossed aside... they needed more episodes or something 😉

 

[CharmedSlayer85]

I still stand by my theory that Joss et al at Mutant Enemy were trying to outwit the spoilers on the 'net and ended up muddling themselves so badly they never recovered. And, while I have no proof, I think they were actually expecting to be around for another season, at least at the beginning...I stand to be corrected on that, and if someone knows, tell me...I have absolutely no back up evidence for this last bit...😉

I believe they knew the show wouldn't go pass 7 seasons. I mean all of their contracts were up anyway. When they signed their contracts it was for seven seasons, so really I believe everybody knew they weren't going past seven, so I don't think the show going off the air was an issue. I believe UPN would've given them another season, but they didn't want it. Besides from what I'm seeing with the season eight comic it would've been too much money to even attempt to produce with them travelling the world and all. They don't have the budget Heroes has.

 

[jesterjay]

I must take myself out of the running here - I LOVE SEASON SEVEN

 

[nerd4hire]

Actually Season Seven is my favorite season too. I still whine about it all the time though.

 

[Angel's vision]

My only whines about Season seven; now don't hit me lol, is the waking up of the whole slayers instead of the sunnydale few,i felt that the slayer line was messed around with enough already.
Apart from that; Buffy's speaches. Too many of them, but i loved how they were shaken abit in regards to the First trying to rip the relationships apart.
But how they defeated the first seemed too easy actually but that's just me.

 

[hyperballadbrad]

Yeah Season 7 wasnt the best in the Buffy series but there so many hugh points and as a whole I think it worked well. Like someone else said, it was a bit slow to pick up! I think they might have been worried to kick off into too much drama so soon... because of what was to come further down the line.

But I have very few issues with the season as a whole I think 🙂

 

[Randy Giles]

Season 7...not a "couldabeen great". "Was great". Seasons six and seven are actually my favorite seasons. I think people who think season seven is weak are crazy.

I love everything about the seventh season. I mean, I love the fact that there was so much going on, and from the FIRST EPISODE the whole show took on this tone that gave you the idea things were ending, and there's an awesome sense of impending doom.

Excellence. Pure excellence.

 

[Spuffiness]

I gotta say, I thought the writing in season 7 wasn't very believable. The dialogs didn't work. I'm not sure I'm explaining this too well...

But besides that, I agree. this season had so much potential, and it all fell when the potentials arrived. I mean, this was the last season, the main characters should get the most, if not all, the attention. It reminds me - last season, and stupid UPN didn't shoot the promo pictures like every season before. What do you suppose happened there?

 

[Schillaci]

The acting in season 7 was below average. With the exception of Marsters, the rest of them were mostly phoning it in. I guess, this is in part due to the average writing.

Season 7 was pish, with some good moments.

It would have been a much better season if one of the main characters died somewhere in the middle. That would have given the second half of the season the feeling that anything could happen, and it would have given the first half meaning.

Instead what we got was a big build up, and then it just all started to fizzle out.

 

[Immortal_Slayer]

Yeah it seemed the whole season was about propearing for the last battle or the last episode nothing really happened that was that big in any of the episodes before that, not many intresting side stories

 

[Randy Giles]

I liked the Potentials, and to me it makes perfect sense to introduce them in the LAST season. Who would want them introduced earlier and THEN have them there for multiple seasons? The Potential storyline was awesome, I thought. And the montage when Willow turned all the Potentials into actual Slayers? Awesomeness.

I do agree that someone should have died. It should have been Xander.

And Spirit_of_Fred, thanks for the rep but let me just say if you think I'm saying I like everything about this show, I definitely do not, but I do think the seventh season is the best. Sure, it had flaws, but I thought it was the most entertaining. Had lots of drama, and lots of comedy to counteract it, plus there was tons of stuff going on...

 

[Seven Of Nine]

I think my problem with season seven is there was entirely too much going on in one season which caused core issues to be thrown out the window. For example when the season started Buffy was training Dawn and also we saw that Dawn was attending Sunnydale High and made her own Scobby Gang when Buffy saved them from the "Zombie Ghost Things." We never saw those friends again, and Dawn's storyline virtually disappeared when the potentials came.

I heard Joss was planning to do more with Buffy training Dawn and with Dawn's new friends but whoever the "higher up" people were for the show, told Joss not to focus on Dawn so much. But who knows how much truth there is to that.

 

[The Master]

I gotta say, I thought the writing in season 7 wasn't very believable. The dialogs didn't work. I'm not sure I'm explaining this too well...

I understand what you mean. I agree with you as well. Season 7 didn't feel authentic and it didn't really follow the pattern set by the previous Seasons of Buffy. It felt more like a Season of Angel set in Sunnydale with characters from Buffy. I really think they should of took a year off in between Season 6 and 7 in order to prepare the ending viewers deserved and the writers truly desired.

Season 7 was great but it wasn't real Buffy and everything seemed a bit rushed and jumbled. What was squeezed in to one Season could have made many brilliant storylines for 3 Seasons. It's a shame that the makers had neither the time or money to make it not only great but a masterpiece. Then again that is just my opinion and I doubt many of you will agree.