New to Buffy!

[olliedollie1204]

hi! i'm olivia, he/him and she/her. early 20's fandom nerd who, somehow, has ever actually seen buffy before. i asked my sister (buffy fan and brilliant person) to make me a list of all the "plot relevant" buffy episodes for me to watch; she ended up making a color-coded spreadsheet based on which episodes are "plot relevant" (green), "not relevant but still recommended watching" (yellow), and "okay to skip" (red). sorry in advance to everyone who just cringed reading that, but i knew i couldn't handle getting into the show unless the number of episodes was cut down at least a little. lucky for me, this got me through the first 2 seasons of the show in a couple weeks, and NOW i'm going back to s1 to watch any yellow/red episodes i missed. so i've got buffy all on the brain! i love shipping and i have a lot of feelings about these characters and their relationships (both romantic and platonic). i hope to keep coming back to the boards as i continue to experience this show for the first time!

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Well that's confusing, your name is Olivia but you are not sure if you are a he/him or a she/her?
Regardless, you should consider yourself as being welcomed to these Buffy-Boards.
I look forward to hearing from you or you. Are you in a split mind of who you are or is it just that you are confused in general.
No, I won't make any references to your username, had you been just a bit more sure of your name you might be ollie or dollie.
Either way, welcome and congratulations for being one of us.
Consider me smiling

 

[olliedollie1204]

Well that's confusing, your name is Olivia but you are not sure if you are a he/him or a she/her?
Regardless, you should consider yourself as being welcomed to these Buffy-Boards.
I look forward to hearing from you or you. Are you in a split mind of who you are or is it just that you are confused in general.
No, I won't make any references to your username, had you been just a bit more sure of your name you might be ollie or dollie.
Either way, welcome and congratulations for being one of us.
Consider me smiling

oh i'm actually genderqueer! so i'm down with either he/him or she/her pronouns for me, both work just as fine as the other. i do love the name olivia so that's what i'm sticking with :3 i don't think i understand some of your comments/questions, but i'm not a split personality system if that's what you're asking. just a normal multiple-pronoun user! 😀

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Not completely understanding all of my comments should be regarded as being a good thing, there are times when I'm not sure about what I've said either.

 

[olliedollie1204]

Not completely understanding all of my comments should be regarded as being a good thing, there are times when I'm not sure about what I've said either.

XD that's so real- if everything made sense everything would be boring lol!

 

[TheXandyman]

Interesting introduction, Olivia. And welcome to BuffyBoards. I'm assuming you will be watching Angel next?

 

[olliedollie1204]

Interesting introduction, Olivia. And welcome to BuffyBoards. I'm assuming you will be watching Angel next?

i'll try! not sure if i should watch all of buffy then double back to Angel, or if i should try to watch them side-by-side once i get to angel's departure in the show. tbh i wasn't a fan of his at first but it only took til episode 7 or 8 to turn me around on him!

 

[Nix]

Hey welcome aboard! 🙂

 

[NotASlayer]

Welcome!

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Welcome to the forum! I am here most days because this is one fan forum where the people are intelligent and civil. I am interested in what you have to say as a new viewer because I saw everything when it came out plus I have watched Buffy all the way through about five times and Angel at least twice. It has been a long time since I saw it for the first time and somebody else's reactions as a new viewer are always interesting.

 

[Cohen]

Hi! Welcome to the boards! Hope 2024 brings you lots of Buffy speak!

I’m curious about this spreadsheet your sister gifted you. I want to know what she feels are green, yellow and red.

 

[Kratos]

Welcome. Informative introduction, Olivia. I like your avatar. Cordelia’s one of my favourite characters. The only other Olivia I can think of is from the 90s soap Sunset Beach.

 

[olliedollie1204]

Welcome to the forum! I am here most days because this is one fan forum where the people are intelligent and civil. I am interested in what you have to say as a new viewer because I saw everything when it came out plus I have watched Buffy all the way through about five times and Angel at least twice. It has been a long time since I saw it for the first time and somebody else's reactions as a new viewer are always interesting.

I've honestly been shocked watching it for the first time. I thought I knew a fair amount about the show through cultural osmosis, but there's SO MUCH I had no idea about (i.e. when I realized the audience didn't know the Angel was a vampire from the beginning I was boggled- it never even crossed my mind that that was something to be revealed in episode 7!). I also, shockingly, didn't realize how actually laugh-out-loud funny it is. I was v pleasantly surprised at a lot of the characters (Willow is the most in-character high school student I've ever seen in a show, and I was excited when I realized the show was taking a more sympathetic approach to Cordelia from fairly early on) but honestly the best surprise was how developed Buffy's character was from the very beginning; her trauma of being the slayer, faced with a potential lifetime of danger and loneliness, was IMMEDIATELY introduced even in the earliest episodes of the show, which makes me even more interested to discover how she'll develop even further through the show.

And thank you for the welcome!

Post automatically merged: Jan 1, 2024

Welcome. Informative introduction, Olivia. I like your avatar. Cordelia’s one of my favourite characters. The only other Olivia I can think of is from the 90s soap Sunset Beach.

Thank you!! Cordy delighted me from the beginning which really surprised me but has clearly proven to be a good choice. Every time she's on screen I'm just so tickled hearing her talk, and even though I'm only finished w/ season 2 I think she's come a really long way so far. I love a 'popular girl isn't so bad after all' kind of character lol. Plus Charisma Carpenter is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, which certainly helps!
I think there's a character named Olivia on Grey's Anatomy, though I've never watched it. But for me, I've always felt a kinship with a certain pig in the children's books written and illustrated by Ian Falconer xD

 

[Cohen]

olliedollie1204 Thank you!!! I'm super excited to get into the Buffy fandom as I make my way through the series. I might make another post about my sister's spreadsheet so far, see if anyone has comments on it (which I'm positive people will lol.

Please do! I always find it fascinating to see what other people think are important episodes. There might be a thread somewhere where people posted that… though I think we did it for specific characters?

I’ve been on these boards for nearly 20 years(!) and it’s so interesting when new people come in and share their thoughts! I’ve been rewatching this show since 1998(!) so it’s always refreshing to get new Buffyverse friends and their perspective!

Can’t wait to see your thoughts!

 

[Angelkiss]

Hello and welcome! So nice to have you here🙂

 

[Bop]

Hello 🙂 what other shows like Buffy have you seen?

 

[olliedollie1204]

Hello 🙂 what other shows like Buffy have you seen?

Oh let me think... I used to be a *huge* Joss Whedon fan, so I've seen Firefly/Serenity, Dr. Horrible, all the Marvel movies he worked on, and his version of Much Ado About Nothing. I'm trying to think of other shows in Buffy's ilk that I've seen... Doctor Who for sure for the campy sci-fi vibes (I've been a fan for about 10 years now, it was one of my first fandoms). I loved First Kill on Netflix, about a reluctant vampire and a headstrong monster hunter falling in love. It was wonderfully written and tragically cancelled after 1 season :'). Right now I'm obsessed with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians show on Disney plus, which also does a really good job at having its teenage protagonsts react to crazy danger in realistic and v funny way. Other than that I can't really think of any other shows in this genre that I've watched? I guess I watch more dark comedy/dramatic shows like Succession or The Righteous Gemstones (prob my 2 favorite scripted shows of the last year).

 

[Bop]

Doctor Who for sure for the campy sci-fi vibes (I've been a fan for about 10 years now, it was one of my first fandoms

I love Doctor Who, which Doctor did you watch first?

 

[fauxindigo]

Hi and welcome. Just so you know, there are no “skippable” episodes in season 3- it is flawless. Even in seasons 4-7 there are some more standalone episodes but even the worst Buffy have some good lines and character moments.
Also you should definitely watch Angel season 1 starting alongside Buffy season 4 and so on- watch one Buffy then one Angel like it aired back in the day in my opinion if you want the expanded Buffyverse experience. If you love BtVS and certain characters, you will enjoy Angel *no spoilers* for the most part anyway

 

[olliedollie1204]

I love Doctor Who, which Doctor did you watch first?

9 was my first Doctor! This was probably in about 2012, so I watched all of NuWho up to that point. I didn't care much for 11 tbh so I stopped partly through his run, then picked it back up sporadically through 12 and 13. I know it's an unpopular opinion but I actually loved the 60th anniversary specials AND 15's Christmas special, so I'm really excited for the show to start again in spring lol. I've also seen a random assortment of Classic Who episodes (mostly 1-4). My friend is a very very big DW fan and really loves all of the DW audio dramas, so I think I'm gonna check those out soon as well!

Post automatically merged: Jan 3, 2024

Hi and welcome. Just so you know, there are no “skippable” episodes in season 3- it is flawless. Even in seasons 4-7 there are some more standalone episodes but even the worst Buffy have some good lines and character moments.
Also you should definitely watch Angel season 1 starting alongside Buffy season 4 and so on- watch one Buffy then one Angel like it aired back in the day in my opinion if you want the expanded Buffyverse experience. If you love BtVS and certain characters, you will enjoy Angel *no spoilers* for the most part anyway

That's exactly what I've been discovering watching the show for the first time xD I keep going back to watch episodes I skipped and I keep asking my sister "why did you tell me to skip this???" She also agrees there's very few 'bad' episodes! But I did explicitly ask her to just cut the series down to the most important, most plot-relevant, "if you miss this you're not going to understand what's going on for the rest of the season" episodes. Which she did, although she also continuously warned me that there would be much fewer episodes to skip as the series goes on. Either way, I don't blame her at all for just telling me exactly what I asked for lol. I just know now that even a 'bad' episode of Buffy is still extremely funny, hence why I'm now going back and filling in the gaps.
Thank you for the Angel info! Neither my sister nor parents ever actually watched it (despite my 'rents being avid Buffy fans when it was airing) so I'm really going into it blind. I still have a nunch of s3 to get through, but I'm glad to know what to expect IRT Angel.