Romance vs friendships, early seasons vs late ones. Correlation or not?

[Icarium]

So, I have been wondering - do you think there is correlation between liking the early seasons and preferring the friendships between the characters more than the romantic relationship? And vice versa if you are more of a fan of the later seasons, are you more invested in the romantic 'ships than in the Scooby friendships? For the purposes of this survey early seasons are 1-3, later 5-7, you can put season 4 wherever you prefer. Also, friendships and romance liking refers to overall preference. So if you are say a die-hard Tillow fan and don't like other 'ships much, don't rush to vote the friendship option if you prefer the early seasons, think whether you like Tillow and 'ships in general more than all the friendships portrayed throughout the show. I hope I explained it understandably. 🙂

 

[Tillow4ever]

I chose "Later seasons and romantic relationships". Cause I love Tillow (obviously), Spuffy, and Xanya. 🙂

 

[Username]

I prefer the earlier seasons friendship over all of the romantic relationships on the show, except for Tillow but that's just one ship so I voted for the earlier seasons friendship.

 

[The Unspoken]

Except for Giles, I'm not sure you can put the earlier Scooby friendships against the latter like that. With the exception of some rough patches - Willow trying to end the world comes to mind - they've always been a constant in each others lives.

 

[Icarium]

Except for Giles, I'm not sure you can put the earlier Scooby friendships against the latter like that. With the exception of some rough patches - Willow trying to end the world comes to mind - they've always been a constant in each others lives.

I am not comparing friendships in early seasons against friendships in later ones. I am curious if the people who prefer the friendships over the course of the entire series also prefer the early seasons.

Not that I don't believe that the Scooby friendships early on are a million times better than the latter ones, mind you but that's not the point of the thread.

 

[Kean]

I went with earlier seasons and romances but I could have just as easily as chosen earlier seasons and friendships. The first 3 seasons displayed the best of both, IMO.

 

[Wishing Oceans]

I prefer the earlier friendships and later romances. Not really sure where that leaves me, lol. Either one works.

 

[sisterofmercy]

I prefer the earlier friendships and later romances. Not really sure where that leaves me, lol. Either one works.

Same here.

messagetooshort

 

[zobothehobo]

I choose later seasons and romantic relationships. I love the Scooby friendships, but I'm a romantic person... a deeply romantic person. I prefer to watch romance than friendship... and the last three seasons are my favorites

---------- Post added at 05:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:10 PM ----------

I prefer the earlier friendships and later romances. Not really sure where that leaves me, lol. Either one works.

I think this poll means do you like the later seasons more or the early seasons more AND do you like the friendships in general more or the romantic relationships in general more. Not do you like the early ships or later ships or early friendships or later friendships...

 

[TaylorSwift]

I chose Early seasons and romantic relationships. That's because I'm always interested in love stories and what better than Bangel, Woz or Cander? I loved those seasons of the first steps in love and forgiveness...

I also like the early seasons friendships much better than the later seasons' ones but I had to choose romantic relationships.

 

[Wishing Oceans]

I think this poll means do you like the later seasons more or the early seasons more AND do you like the friendships in general more or the romantic relationships in general more. Not do you like the early ships or later ships or early friendships or later friendships...

I do believe it does... Unfortunately I can't decide. 😛

 

[GrrArghx]

I can't decide. The reason I love the first few seasons the most is because I love all of it: the romantic relationships, the friendships, and where the characters are at that point in their lives. It's a combination of all three so I can't choose.

 

[Tome]

For me it was easy, I picked ''early seasons and scooby friendships''. It goes like this for me... I don't particularily like the romances in late BtVS, and the friendships aren't as great as they were early on. So it leaves early romances against early friendships, and for me BtVS was much more about friendships than couples. The core four are the main thing I loved about the show.

*takes another shot at s7* That's why I don't like the last season as much!

 

[TheVoid68]

I went with "Early seasons and friendships". Early seasons because... well, you all know my stance on 6 and 7. I view 2-5 as the Golden Years, so that's mostly the earlier seasons.

The friendships on the show are to me, far more engaging and relatable than the romantic relationships. The Buffy/Willow/Xander/Giles friendship is by far the greatest relationship on the show. I care about the core four's familial friendship more than I do about any 'ship. A large part of what I hated about the later seasons was the slow destruction of the core four, with Giles leaving and all the characters in S6 seeming completely uninterested in each other's problems - and particularly in S7, the emphasis of romantic relationships over friendships (ie. the annihilation of the Buffy/Giles relationship and acting like Buffy and Xander/Willow don't trust each other, in order to promote Spike as the only one who Buffy can talk to - in fact the sacrificing on the friendships do promote Spuffy is a big part of why I don't like Spuffy).

 

[Icarium]

The friendships on the show are to me, far more engaging and relatable than the romantic relationships. The Buffy/Willow/Xander/Giles friendship is by far the greatest relationship on the show. I care about the core four's familial friendship more than I do about any 'ship. A large part of what I hated about the later seasons was the slow destruction of the core four, with Giles leaving and all the characters in S6 seeming completely uninterested in each other's problems - and particularly in S7, the emphasis of romantic relationships over friendships (ie. the annihilation of the Buffy/Giles relationship and acting like Buffy and Xander/Willow don't trust each other, in order to promote Spike as the only one who Buffy can talk to - in fact the sacrificing on the friendships do promote Spuffy is a big part of why I don't like Spuffy).

I totally agree. I can watch virtually any episode from S1-5 (okay 1-4, 5 not so much), even those I don't like much overall and just enjoy the small moments of friendship. The writers put an enormous amount of effort to convince us that those people are indeed great friends. Later on, they either deliberately try to destroy those friendships or just rely on telling us they exist while showing us that these people couldn't care less about one another. I can't even decide which approach is more annoying...

Looking at the poll results I guess I was wrong about early season fans liking friendhips as more as the votes are almost even. But the votes for later seasons are overwhelmingly pro-romance. Why am I not surprised? 😉

 

[sosa lola]

Chose "Early Seasons Friendship".

I wish I can say the same thing about the later seasons' friendship, but sadly from S6 on, the show focuses more on romance than friendship and honestly, I care more about Buffy, Xander and Willow as friends than any of their ships.

 

[Mumrik]

But, I like aalll the seasons. 🙁 But I chose last because that's when I came in, so I'm more attached to those. I will always, always like the friendships more than the romantic relationships. Friendships like the Scoobies' are forever, while the majority of romantic relationships are, well, not.

 

[sk]

Early seasons friendship.

The scooby gang in those early seasons is just brilliant.
It's still there very much even in later season imo but not quite as prominent as before.

Romances has never had any big impact on me. A good friendship seems always more interesting somehow.

/SK

 

[charmedones193]

I Voted For: can't really choose/I like them all equally ! 🙂

 

[InsaneMystic]

Early seasons (with the exception of the brilliant S6, Buffy never again reached the peak of appeal it had to me in S2&3) and friendships (I'm not much for romance, in general; the couples I like are the ones firmly rooted in friendship as a base - Tillow, Spuffy, InsaneShempy (sw) - while "unmitigated romance" like Bangel just makes me wanna skip scenes at the best of times and throw rocks at the screen at the worst 😛).