How old were you at first watch?

[Mrs Gordo]

It's amazing how young so many of you all were!! Also makes me feel rather old lol.

 

[flow]

I am a little bit shocked, tbh. In Germany exits an age recommendation for every movie and tv-show and Buffy is not suitable for children under the age of 16.

And quite a lot of you were a lot younger. My youngest is almost six. He would freak out if he would watch a Buffy episode, no matter if it was from S1 or S7. The scariest thing he has seen so far on tv is Biene Maja......

I can't believe that some of you were only one or two years older than he is now.

flow

 

[Puppet]

I am a little bit shocked, tbh. In Germany exits an age recommendation for every movie and tv-show and Buffy is not suitable for children under the age of 16.

And quite a lot of you were a lot younger. My youngest is almost six. He would freak out if he would watch a Buffy episode, no matter if it was from S1 or S7. The scariest thing he has seen so far on tv is Biene Maja......

I can't believe that some of you were only one or two years older than he is now.

flow

I don't know about the others, but for me it's just kinda how it is. When I was six I accidentally watched Blade (my sister who was looking out for me wasn't paying attention) and my mom sat in my room all night, sure that I would have terrible nightmares from all the gore and death and violence. Except, nothing happened, no distress, didn't even move as I slept. After that she started letting me see different things, almost like she was testing whether or not I could handle it. By eight, she trusted me to watch anything and not be scarred by it 🙂

Also, as I mentioned in my earlier post, Denmark just doesn't censor things the same way, and when something is censored, no one bothers to stick to those rules anyway. My dad let me occasionally sip his beer from the time I was six, my mom happily picked drunk!me up from a party at 2 in the morning when I was 13, when they found out I was smoking when I was twelve they only said they wouldn't pay for it and I couldn't smoke in the house. Stuff like that just isn't the same as most other places, so being eight when I watched Buffy is barely noteworthy to me.

 

[Bop]

I am a little bit shocked, tbh. In Germany exits an age recommendation for every movie and tv-show and Buffy is not suitable for children under the age of 16.

There is an age restriction in England too, you're meant to be 15 and over to watch Buffy but my parents were just really relaxed, they would have turnt it off if it scared me but it didn't. Honestly, the scenes that are considered adult like the Spuffy balcony scene just go over little kid's heads anyway-I just thought Spike was hugging her 😀
As for the monsters, They were scary but I knew it was all just exciting fiction.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I don't know about the others, but for me it's just kinda how it is. When I was six I accidentally watched Blade (my sister who was looking out for me wasn't paying attention) and my mom sat in my room all night, sure that I would have terrible nightmares from all the gore and death and violence. Except, nothing happened, no distress, didn't even move as I slept. After that she started letting me see different things, almost like she was testing whether or not I could handle it. By eight, she trusted me to watch anything and not be scarred by it 🙂

Also, as I mentioned in my earlier post, Denmark just doesn't censor things the same way, and when something is censored, no one bothers to stick to those rules anyway. My dad let me occasionally sip his beer from the time I was six, my mom happily picked drunk!me up from a party at 2 in the morning when I was 13, when they found out I was smoking when I was twelve they only said they wouldn't pay for it and I couldn't smoke in the house. Stuff like that just isn't the same as most other places, so being eight when I watched Buffy is barely noteworthy to me.

I was watching the children one night and fell asleep and when I woke up, I realized they were watching a horror movie where this Native American was trying to use a chainsaw to cut through a station wagon. The children thought it was funny, like a human version of Wile E. Coyote. BTW my father used to have a beer while he was watching a baseball game on Saturdays and offered me a sip and I never saw alcohol as the "cool" thing to want after that. In fact I preferred soft drinks and do to this day. My father also offered me a cigarette when I was 8. I took two puffs, wondered why anyone would do this to himself and never smoked again.

 

[Puppet]

I was watching the children one night and fell asleep and when I woke up, I realized they were watching a horror movie where this Native American was trying to use a chainsaw to cut through a station wagon. The children thought it was funny, like a human version of Wile E. Coyote. BTW my father used to have a beer while he was watching a baseball game on Saturdays and offered me a sip and I never saw alcohol as the "cool" thing to want after that. In fact I preferred soft drinks and do to this day. My father also offered me a cigarette when I was 8. I took two puffs, wondered why anyone would do this to himself and never smoked again.

Ha, yeah, those are actually good points and I wonder if that's at least one of the reasons for why my parents let me sip their beer. It worked, I don't drink beer, but of course I just drink vodka and rum instead, lol. And, yeah, some kids, especially in today's age, will just see it as a human looking cartoon. Both cartoons and video games are often much more violent than movies, but it's easier to swallow because it's not 'real'.

 

[MarieVampSlayer]

The first episode I saw was Never kill a boy on the first date and I was 12. I watched it because some of my friends were talkimg about how Angel was hot so I had to check him out. I immediately feel in love with the show (and David Boreanaz but that's another story) and started to watched it in french until I catched up to the show in english. I watched Angel afterward when the show started.

The things that changed with my multiple re-watch of the show is how I identify with the characters. I love different seasons and characters depending on where I am in my life and what I am looking for while watching the show. At 12, I liked Buffy because she was cool and had a personnality close to mine. Now I love it because I adore the complexity of the show and how they tie together the supernatural and the issues we face in real life.

 

[Living Dead Boy]

I was 9 when I first started watching, although I remember seeing bits and pieces of the show before then. I vaguely remember flipping the channels on my tv and coming across New Moon Rising, with Buffy about to pull a "William Burroughs" on the general trying to help Oz escape. I also vaguely remember Restless, I saw Buffy meeting the First Slayer in the desert, and then I changed the channel. Who would've thought this random show would come to mean so much to me about a year later when I saw the last 15 minutes of The Gift. I was a fan for life after that.

 

[thrasherpix]

I was 16 when I caught part of one season 1 episode. I'd gone to a friend and waiting for other friends, and when they arrived we both left. The show didn't leave an impression on me. My friend who had been watching it said she watched anything with vampires in it, no matter how silly (which she considered Buffy).

I'd heard about the show for years before I tried it out. I rented it in my early 20s and was in my mid-20s when I ordered the next 2 seasons (later getting season 1 as well). I was hooked by then so as soon as it was feasible I got the rest of the series. But I was so let down, especially by season 7, that I skipped on Angel for many years, not getting Angel until I was in my 30s. Glad I finally did!

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

I'm a 2nd gen Buffy fan. I 1st watched when I was 13/14. Actually watched a few season 2 episodes 1st (with my mom) before going back and watching from start to finish. 🙂

 

[Nix]

I watched as an adult when it first aired. Loved it then, love it now. Age? 😛

 

[Last Watcher]

I was in my late 30's when it first aired in the UK. I just happened to catch the first episode while channel hopping (The UK didn't have a lot of channels in those days 🙄 )
and a pretty Redhead caught my eye & caused me to keep watching (So shallow I know 😛 ). Anyhoo.......I was hooked from that point on & recorded them all (On a big pile of VHS) until the DVD sets appeared & I bought them.......
As for my opinion changing......I was as adult as I will ever be by then so the only thing that has changed my opinion of the show was seeing other fans viewpoints on forums like this causing me to go back & re-assess........ 🙂

 

[Mrs Gordo]

I just thought Spike was hugging her

Haha!

 

[EarthLogic]

Funny I can't actually remember my first episode. It feels like I've been watching the shows all my life! It's all an intense blur of obsession!

I know I was about 13 and randomly caught an episode of BtVS on tv and was hooked from the get go. I loved everything about it - it was like the culmination of every other film and TV show I'd ever been into. I loved the language, the structure, the genre-play, the emotional depth. I loved Buffy herself and rather envied SMG's prettiness - I totally wanted to be her! I fell in love with Angel and found AtS soon after. At that time Buffy was airing on FX and Angel on SciFi, I think, so I'd come home from school and watch both. I remember desperately praying my mum wouldn't come home early from work and walk in on a love scene for fear of embarrassment! I recall once watching 'Reprise' one day and fumbling for the remote when I heard the front door open. It's how I became an expert at channel-switching.😉

When TV airings stopped for a while I moved online to find episodes and discovered the fandom and fanfic. Thus began my years of lurkdom (except Whedonesque, which I actually joined).

Later on they started showing both shows early in the morning so I'd get up early enough to watch episodes again before I left for school. It was what set me up for the day. 😀

Never looked back since!

 

[Real Angel]

I actually don't remember the first episode i saw. But that's because i was like 4 or 5, although the opening theme song has carved itself in my memory for eternity from the first time i heard it 🙂

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

I was age 20, watching it during the first FX syndication run of season 1-5. I didn’t have a UPN affiliate, so I could not watch season 6 at the time of airing. I could watch Angel, but nobody really knew what the heck was going on with Angel at any point during the series after the first episode.

 

[margybee]

I was about 17 and never watched it when it aired (although I believe season 7 was still airing at that point). For some reason, my friend and I started with season 4, so I never saw the high school years until after I saw season 7. I don't think it really ruined much for me. The first few seasons had different characters, different personalities, different settings, different problems. I think they're really just two eras of the show and while there is some continuity, it's not like you have to have seen the first few seasons to appreciate the rest. All the heartbreaking moments in season 5 are still heartbreaking, Dawn is still a surprise, season 6 is fantastic even on its own (although Willow's backstory helps a lot in understanding her struggles), and season 7...well, it's not my favorite but it holds up on its own.

I guess I would say if you can watch them in order, definitely do so. You'll get more out of it, some jokes will be funnier, some character inconsistencies might be explained and maybe a few plot points. But if you can't start at the beginning... it's okay. It's the world of Buffy, it's always there, and you just tune in wherever and whenever you can.

 

[November]

I was 12 and caught s1 on tv when it first aired here. The theme music scared me 😛 None of my friends were watching it until highschool. I think The Witch was the fitst ep I saw. I didnt keep up with it weekly though s3-6 but when I'd left home My friend lent me some dvds for s2/3/4 (which were in black and white). I only caught what else I could on tv between work, so not much!

When s7 was airing (knowing it was the last one) I made sure I was home.

 

[PaulParmar1]

I was 14 on my first watch! I think I would've been too scared if I had watched before. I was freaked out when I first saw the vamps yikes! Lol

 

[Mrs Gordo]

e My friend lent me some dvds for s2/3/4 (which were in black and white).

That’s funny how were they in black and white??