Scoobies - not the same...

[Buffyannsummers]

Hi, I am currently doing my BTVS re-watch and am on season 6 which has always been my least favourite season - Spuffy didn't help, and what i'm thinking is how this funny happy go lucky blonde that we saw in season one has COMPLETELY changed and yeah I know that she got older but just everything about her (The ugly hair in s6 p2 alone) it's just the old Buffy would have never even touched Spike... But it's not just Buffy all my other faves turned strange too I mean seriously since when would the stuffy british librarian guy get out his guitar and start singing about how "free" he is and dude, what's with the new clothes, where is the tweed??? Willow - nerdy, cute and plain adorable turns into Bitchy, spiteful, selfish and plain mean our Willow would never have messed with poor Tara's mind I mean I know that they all matured but it was just everything about them apart from Anya - she stayed me favourite all the way!

So, I want to know what you think - was changing them a good idea
Did you prefer them before they changed or after?

Oh and Mischlings if you want i'll change my icon so I don't confuse you just PM me + i'll change it 🙂

 

[Pike]

It was always my favorite season. To me the obvious reason that Buffy isn't happy-go-lucky is that she died, went to somwhere where she was happy, and then came back to the pain and struggle of being a Slayer in Sunnydale.

The whole group has been scared. Buffy's death and resurrection sets a major tone in the season. Willow stepped up as leader then had to deal with addiction. Xander and Anya were happy and on track until their relationship goes belly-up. I didn't really see anything out of context.

I could see where not being a Spuffy fan would cause the season to be hard to enjoy. Their relationship is basically a metaphor for how low she feels. While Spike seems to be in love, Buffy is tortured and depressed and turns to Spike.. I think the season says a lot.

Hopefully you enjoy it on this rewatch. The show seems to mature so much.

 

[white avenger]

Hi, I am currently doing my BTVS re-watch and am on season 6 which has always been my least favourite season - Spuffy didn't help, and what i'm thinking is how this funny happy go lucky blonde that we saw in season one has COMPLETELY changed and yeah I know that she got older but just everything about her (The ugly hair in s6 p2 alone) it's just the old Buffy would have never even touched Spike... But it's not just Buffy all my other faves turned strange too I mean seriously since when would the stuffy british librarian guy get out his guitar and start singing about how "free" he is and dude, what's with the new clothes, where is the tweed??? Willow - nerdy, cute and plain adorable turns into Bitchy, spiteful, selfish and plain mean our Willow would never have messed with poor Tara's mind I mean I know that they all matured but it was just everything about them apart from Anya - she stayed me favourite all the way!

So, I want to know what you think - was changing them a good idea
Did you prefer them before they changed or after?

Oh and Mischlings if you want i'll change my icon so I don't confuse you just PM me + i'll change it 🙂

That was all Joss' less than subtle way of moving everyone from teens with teen problems to adults with adult problems. The reason that it seemed so abrupt is that, basically, resurrecting Buffy brought about tremendous changes for everyone. Buffy, obviously, had to come to grips with living in a world that was more hell than home, Xander and Anya became a real grown up couple, with plans for a marriage that got screwed, Willow was a magic addict, Giles decided at the worst possible time that Buffy needed to be on her own, and Spike, who had been an amazingly good man, considering his lack of a soul, got sucked into a mutually destructive relationship with Buffy.

Other than all of that, everything was just peachy on the hellmouth.

 

[Xin Rong]

I did not necessarily like the season, but I think that the show could not have continued the way it had been running and remain it's authenticity... it was a depressing season but sometimes that's life, the season as a whole reminds me of modernist literature, which is by no means my favorite, but I have a lot of respect for it, and the same is true for season six.

 

[Blaze]

Season 6 is my favorite for a lot of reasons. Basicly I'm glad they went that route because it described my life so well at the time. Life does eventually hit you in the face and things change for the worst. Sadly they never go back to the way they were in highschool, and s7-8 (haven't read 9) demonstrate that very well. All in all I love the direction they went in because I can relate. Everything is not happy anymore, those seasons helped me identify. Don't forget that the crowd watching Buffy grew up with them, I think it was important for them to adapt the show and present a few darker storylines.

Theres still the humour aspect, especially in s7, it's just less prevalent, which I'm fine with. They manage to keep the authenticity while keeping things interesting and relevant.

 

[EffyStonem]

I'm not a huge fan of Season 6, mainly because of how relentlessly miserable it is. I understand that Joss wanted to make the show darker and more adult as the characters got older but there is so much misery in Season 6, and I find it very uncomfortable viewing.

The Scoobies are still in character but it's almost like watching an extremely well written fanfic set several years in the future. I just feel that the audience were rushed into this incredibly dark place without seeing the full journey. Season 5 started to lay the foundation for darker storylines but I think we could have used a season in between 5 & 6 to adjust.

Ugh, I feel like I'm babbling. Hope some of this makes sense 😛

 

[Jeff86]

To me, Season 6 seems to be the season that comes closest to what growing up into adulthood can be like. I love that they went in a darker direction. Let's face it, life isn't sunshine and hugs, and I think Season 6 showed that wonderfully. I relate alot to what's going on, especially Buffy having to work at the Doublemeat Palace. You do what you have to do to pay the bills.

Personally, I love Season 6. For me, it gets better everytime I watch it.

 

[Washburne]

Season 6 is one of my favourite seasons but it is depressing and some parts I have trouble watching. Hitting to close to home in some ways I guess. Even if I don't always like the direction of the characters from time to time (goes for the whole show, not just this season) I like that they're going through phases. As we all do. Everything just gets "bigger" in fiction. Willow is one of my favourite characters but this is understandably the season I like her the least in. The whole "Life as the big bad" can be seen as lame but I like it.

 

[Living Dead Boy]

Yes, they're definitely not the same. Season after season, they change. They don't stay stagnant. For better or for worse. But if Willow stayed that sweet, bubbly, goody two shoes that we've seen in season one for seven seasons, I would have tuned out a looong time ago. 😉 Yes, our characters have changed. But that's life. I've done some pretty questionable things myself, and I've made a ton of mistakes. Am I the same person I was 5 years ago? Absolutely not. And I don't expect my fictional characters to do the same. And I don't see the change as abrupt at all. Rewatching the series, all of the characters grow in subtle ways. Especially Willow's descent into dark magic, which was very slow building and gradual. It all came to a head in season 6 with the wild antics and the dark hair and veins and things, but I'd be crazy if I didn't say I saw it coming.

All in all, change is what I love about the series. Some people don't like it, some do. For the Scoobies to be as tight knit and happy go lucky in season 7, after all they been through would've been a bit ridiculous. But to witness where the characters are in "Chosen", and to backtrack all the way to "Welcome To The Hellmouth", Jeese Louise, these characters changed. And I find it remarkable.

 

[Robb Stark]

See, I don't mind the characters changing, that's essential in a good show, but the relationships between the main characters doesn't have to fracture as badly as it did in S7. I mean hell, look at the cast over on Angel. If you look at what those characters were like when they were first introduced to the series (or in the case of Cordy and Wes, on BTVS) and then compare that with where they finished at the end of the series, the only one even remotely the same was Angel.

Wes changed more radically than anyone on BTVS. Cordy is virtually a completely different character by S4 of AtS. Gunn, Fred and even Illyria change tremendously. Despite all of that though, the core remains largely intact. They don't drift like the Scoobies do and their relationships stay interconnected with one another. The Scoobies don't have that at all. So I kind of dispute the notion that change automatically means the group has to splinter from what the audience has been accustomed too.

But then again, I thought the Angel series was a far better written show than the later seasons of BTVS.

 

[Wesley Pryce]

Angel was about a group of people animated around a single mission of fighting evil and helping innocents. Buffy was about a group of friends in high school who evolved gradually into a fighting force,i think herein lies the difference. We grow closer to those who we work with if we have the same intents and overall mission,but we grow distant from the loves and friends of our former youth. We lose a lot of common ground as time goes on,it has a way of separating us from the folks we used to know so well and find so appealing. So Buffy season 6 is about growing up,but in doing so you tend to also grow apart.