Grayson
Oh God... I'm English!
Let me first say that I like both shows and enjoy the writing, acting, and story arcs. Both Buffy and Angel surpass 98% of the rest of today's television programming, and none of the inconsistencies descrbed below bother me at all in the 1st viewing of an episode... it was more of a cumulative effect.
And YES... I do have a life! 😛
It's just that I have a predilection for spotting concept holes in mythology/fantasy/SF-driven shows. ME has worked very hard on crafting the "Buffyverse", but the longevity of the show(s) has made a few oversights fester in my head.
I've seen a few threads here questioning the continuity of vamps on both shows exhibiting the obvious talents of breathing, possessing reflections, and having shadows. So I might as well vent to you guys...
VAMPIRE BREATHING
There were whole threads debating why
As mentioned, the whole not-breathing thing is an ill-used plot device. You can't have live actors running around smoking, huffing/puffing from exertion, outside in cold air (and THAT requires warm bodies too!), smoking, or even talking (which requires air to be passed over the larnyx WHILE breathing!), while maintaining that vamps don't (even can't!) breathe.
REFLECTIONS/SHADOWS
On reflections or shadows... I just plain have a problem with that bit as vampires ARE corporeal (pun intended) and use real bodies. There is no reason they wouldn't show up in mirrors or have shadows... these things are constantly caught on the show as the very-human actors playing vamps get near any reflective surface.
Even if their were some mystical reason for the lack of a reflection, would their clothes also have this inviso-power? By rights, a vampire's reflection would probably look like the Invisible man... a walking suit of clothes! 😉
The Buffyverse has been OK with vampires being photographed and filmed, so I think the whole mirror thing was just another boner pulled in defining the whole mythos.
RETURNED SOUL - WHY NOT LESS VULNERABLE?
- Angel
should have gotten increased resistance to holy items and sunlight wwith the returned souls. Not necessarily immunity, but enough so they could (even somewhat painfully) use these tools to fight other vamps.
I'm just saying... there should have been a few perks to counter-weight all that guilt!
BUFFY VAMP-SENSE?
In the otherwise-forgettable original Buffy movie, The Slayer could sense a vamp nearby (with kind of a menstrual cramp!).
Buffy should have some kind of 'spider-sense' so the creepies couldn't sneak up on her... that might have been nice.
BUFFY LEAVING HER TOYS AT HOME...
- Why does Buffy ALWAYS run into battle unarmed? She's got a freakin' arsenal, and 90% of the time... no cross... not stake... no holy water. For cripes sake, by now she (or more likely Giles)should have set herself up with an array of handy,concealable weapons. My own recommendations - a long battle coat with all her goodies inside, a bunch of little "Pointy Jr" wooden throwing darts for vamps; a retractable sword at her back for fight with vamps and other sundry demons,... heck even silver nitrate or holy water in a Super-Soaker is an improvement!!
OK... maybe I read too many Batman comics! 8)
HOLY ITEMS...
- It might just be me, but the whole crucifix/holy water thing (though not oft-used on the ME shows) would work much better for me if ANY holy protection item (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Native American) would work but would be dependent on the FAITH of the user. Vamps are otherwise treated as an ancient manifestation of evil that predated Christ... so why stick with Catholic-based proection methods?
Also - Stephen King (in Salem's Lot) had a great suspense device based on vampires using their fear/hypnosis talents to erode faith in the protection of such charms... you could actually see the holy glow dim on the item as fear/doubt rose... this little talent would have proven very useful.
TURNING VAMPIRE...
ME doesn't seem to follow any pattern to what makes a new vampire. At times in both Buffy and Angel, a human would have to be chosen/intitiated into "Unlife". At other times, anyone who dies from vamp bites in Sunnydale comes back and Buffy has to dust 'em.
OK.. which is it?!
My own preference- As in Anne Rice's and Bram Stoker's works, vamps would carefully select those they wanted to turn, and perhaps even have their own 'secret club" rules/laws governing it. Otherwise we'd all be up to our necks by now (again, pun intended 😉) in vampires!
IN CLOSING...
Joss and Co. did an admirable job of crafting the shows' alternate reality but, just perhaps, ME could have taken some more of the best points from King's, Anne Rice's, and Stoker's work... Rice particularly covered all the vampire "real versus legend" minutae nicely in the first few chapters of "Interview with the Vampire".
Then again <<stoking my chin>>, all this additional source material gives me a base for my own vampire fiction someday.... maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth!
Since you stuck with me and read this whole thing... here's a cool link as a gift - http://www.vampire.com/vampirehome.html... enjoy!
And YES... I do have a life! 😛
It's just that I have a predilection for spotting concept holes in mythology/fantasy/SF-driven shows. ME has worked very hard on crafting the "Buffyverse", but the longevity of the show(s) has made a few oversights fester in my head.
I've seen a few threads here questioning the continuity of vamps on both shows exhibiting the obvious talents of breathing, possessing reflections, and having shadows. So I might as well vent to you guys...
VAMPIRE BREATHING
There were whole threads debating why
the First Evil would torture Spike by dunking his head underwater (and no, fellow geeks... it wasn't Holy Water!).
As mentioned, the whole not-breathing thing is an ill-used plot device. You can't have live actors running around smoking, huffing/puffing from exertion, outside in cold air (and THAT requires warm bodies too!), smoking, or even talking (which requires air to be passed over the larnyx WHILE breathing!), while maintaining that vamps don't (even can't!) breathe.
REFLECTIONS/SHADOWS
On reflections or shadows... I just plain have a problem with that bit as vampires ARE corporeal (pun intended) and use real bodies. There is no reason they wouldn't show up in mirrors or have shadows... these things are constantly caught on the show as the very-human actors playing vamps get near any reflective surface.
Even if their were some mystical reason for the lack of a reflection, would their clothes also have this inviso-power? By rights, a vampire's reflection would probably look like the Invisible man... a walking suit of clothes! 😉
The Buffyverse has been OK with vampires being photographed and filmed, so I think the whole mirror thing was just another boner pulled in defining the whole mythos.
RETURNED SOUL - WHY NOT LESS VULNERABLE?
- Angel
(and now Spike)
I'm just saying... there should have been a few perks to counter-weight all that guilt!
BUFFY VAMP-SENSE?
In the otherwise-forgettable original Buffy movie, The Slayer could sense a vamp nearby (with kind of a menstrual cramp!).
Buffy should have some kind of 'spider-sense' so the creepies couldn't sneak up on her... that might have been nice.
BUFFY LEAVING HER TOYS AT HOME...
- Why does Buffy ALWAYS run into battle unarmed? She's got a freakin' arsenal, and 90% of the time... no cross... not stake... no holy water. For cripes sake, by now she (or more likely Giles)should have set herself up with an array of handy,concealable weapons. My own recommendations - a long battle coat with all her goodies inside, a bunch of little "Pointy Jr" wooden throwing darts for vamps; a retractable sword at her back for fight with vamps and other sundry demons,... heck even silver nitrate or holy water in a Super-Soaker is an improvement!!
OK... maybe I read too many Batman comics! 8)
HOLY ITEMS...
- It might just be me, but the whole crucifix/holy water thing (though not oft-used on the ME shows) would work much better for me if ANY holy protection item (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Native American) would work but would be dependent on the FAITH of the user. Vamps are otherwise treated as an ancient manifestation of evil that predated Christ... so why stick with Catholic-based proection methods?
Also - Stephen King (in Salem's Lot) had a great suspense device based on vampires using their fear/hypnosis talents to erode faith in the protection of such charms... you could actually see the holy glow dim on the item as fear/doubt rose... this little talent would have proven very useful.
TURNING VAMPIRE...
ME doesn't seem to follow any pattern to what makes a new vampire. At times in both Buffy and Angel, a human would have to be chosen/intitiated into "Unlife". At other times, anyone who dies from vamp bites in Sunnydale comes back and Buffy has to dust 'em.
OK.. which is it?!
My own preference- As in Anne Rice's and Bram Stoker's works, vamps would carefully select those they wanted to turn, and perhaps even have their own 'secret club" rules/laws governing it. Otherwise we'd all be up to our necks by now (again, pun intended 😉) in vampires!
IN CLOSING...
Joss and Co. did an admirable job of crafting the shows' alternate reality but, just perhaps, ME could have taken some more of the best points from King's, Anne Rice's, and Stoker's work... Rice particularly covered all the vampire "real versus legend" minutae nicely in the first few chapters of "Interview with the Vampire".
Then again <<stoking my chin>>, all this additional source material gives me a base for my own vampire fiction someday.... maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth!
Since you stuck with me and read this whole thing... here's a cool link as a gift - http://www.vampire.com/vampirehome.html... enjoy!
