Scrapped Storylines/Arcs in the Buffyverse you liked...?

[King of Hell]

a lot of scrapped storylines & arcs I've read about were very interesting. those are the ones I know of:
-Oz dying in BS6 instead of Tara, the relationship was supposed to go that long.
-Doyle being the Big Bad of AS4, Glenn Quinn's death (RIP), & CC's pregnancy changed the plans they've been building up for years. that's why some of AS4 don't make any sense.
-Buffy Guest Starring in AS5, in "You're Welcome" instead of Cordelia, & in "The Girl in Question", & "Power Play".
-Dawn Guest Starring instead of Andrew in AS5 "The Girl in Question".
-Giles Guest Starring instead of Andrew in AS5 "Damage.
-shooting the off-screen meeting of Buffy & Angel after her resurrection in BS6.
-Oz helping Nina Ash in AS6, also him becoming a regular.
-Dana, the slayer from "Damage", becoming a regular cast in AS6.
-Willow becoming a regular in AS6.
-Fred & Illyria splitting in 2.
-A Spike Movie
-Faith the Vampire Slayer Spin-Off
-Ripper Movie
-Angel Movie, but DB declined

those are the ones I've heard or read about. do you know of any storylines or arcs that seemed interesting but were scrapped?

 

[crazysoulless]

I wanted Oz helping Nina instead of Angel in S5 so there wouldn't have been a Nangel.

I really wanted Buffy guest starring in S5.

Doyle being the Big Bad would have been interesting.

I wouldn't have liked Willow as a regular on AtS.

They played around with Illyria/Fred splitting in the comics but had it all really be an emotionally damaged Illyria.

I didn't want a Faith series and was happy she chose Tru Calling.

 

[ScoobyGroupie]

Holy crap. O.O
I really don't wanna see Doyle as the big bad. I'm happy that didn't happen. Not not happy why it didn't happen though (his death 🙁). I'm still kinda annoyed at Charisma for the pregnancy thing. I really don't like AS4 and would've liked to have seen what was originally planned.

Umm... I know one. Tara being the "spirit" that visits Willow in the library in CWDP but Amber Benson declined 'cuz she wanted Tara to be remembered as she was and to not be brought back "evil"ish.

 

[King of Hell]

They played around with Illyria/Fred splitting in the comics but had it all really be an emotionally damaged Illyria.

Willow was supposed to do a spell in AS6, the spell would separate them, like two bodies.

Holy crap. O.O
I really don't wanna see Doyle as the big bad. I'm happy that didn't happen. Not not happy why it didn't happen though (his death 🙁). I'm still kinda annoyed at Charisma for the pregnancy thing. I really don't like AS4 and would've liked to have seen what was originally planned.

Umm... I know one. Tara being the "spirit" that visits Willow in the library in CWDP but Amber Benson declined 'cuz she wanted Tara to be remembered as she was and to not be brought back "evil"ish.

maybe he was supposed to be possessed or something, JW didn't give us any details about the way he was supposed to be the Big Bad, he just said it was supposed to be Doyle not Jasmine.
the problem with CC pregnancy was that she didn't tell JW until it was too late, they didn't have enough time to rewrite the season properly.
I think if Tara came back instead of Cassie (I think that was her name), it would've been better, its not like it was her, it was supposed to be the first evil, none of the other cast members declined, Jenny came back as the first, nobody remembered her as being evil. maybe a traitor, but not evil.

 

[TheChosenTwo]

Oz helping Nina would have been so cool, didn't know about all these scrapped storylines and arcs.

 

[King of Hell]

I just remembered another one.
after Glenn Quinn's unfortunate death, the Big Bad of Season 4 was supposed to be Cordy, there was supposed to be a big fight between her & Angel in the end.
I just don't know why CC took so long to tell the writers about her pregnancy, I really believe S4 would've been better if they had more time.

I'm interested in Dana becoming a cast member, I really wanted to know where her character would go, & how would she be introduced again to the cast.

 

[dan k]

Am gutted Buffy didn't guest star in Angel season 5, the dynamic between her, Angel and Spike would have been so exciting to watch.

Angel season 6 would have been great too, aswell as the movie options you mentioned. Doye being the big bad of season 4 would have liked better in my eyes aswell.

 

[caitaintdead]

Ripper movie!! I was so excited when I heard that rumour a few years ago. I probably would have seen it every day it was in movie theatres.

Also I know some people think Angel Season 5 shouldn't have had Buffy in it, but personally I think we could have done with a couple of Buffy guest spots in Season 5 Angel. I will always be sad that we never got to see a big Spike/Angel/Buffy showdown.

I wouldn't like to have seen Fred and Illyria split into two. Fred was destroyed. She shouldn't have been bought back. Although, to contradict myself completely right now, the other storyline rumour I've heard is that Tara was going to be bought back in Season 7 as a wish Buffy could choose. I would have loved that. Anything to rid my eyes of Killow!

I didn't think it was necessary for the audience to see the Bangel meet up in Season 6, and to me it would have cheapened the Spuffy-ness of season 6. I like that what happened and what was discussed was left as a mystery. For example: I like to think that Buffy gave Angel shit about the company he's been keeping and Angel comically trying to explain that Wesley and Cordy have changed.

 

[dan k]

Bangel meetup would have been great for the Bangel fans. In regard to Buffy appearing in season 5 i think it would have happened if Sarah had found the time in her schedule but unfortunately she couldn't.

Ripper movie would have been intriquing and it looked like it was going to happen but suddenly the project died for whatever reason.

 

[xaphania]

Well I'm kinda glad that the Bangel S6 meet up didn't happen, lol. Same with Buffy in AtS S5 unless the reason she was there was to kick Spike's ass for not calling her and then dragging him back home with her.

Besides, I think Cordy was the far better choice for telling Angel to change things.

I wold have loved to see Ripper, too. We can live in hope, lol.

 

[TheChosenTwo]

I'm also quite happy Buffy hasn't appeared in "You're Welcome". It would have ruined the episode IMO. It's an interesting thought, but yeah, Cordy was the right person.

 

[Bungle Jerry]

Yeah I'm just going to wind up parroting the same things others have said - "You're Welcome" is perfection and having Buffy in S5 is a nice thought but not in place of the "You're Welcome" that we got ("How dare you use the name of some guy I barely met and who I called Angel's sidekick!"), which was all about in-show things Buffy wouldn't have known about. Even "The Girl in Question" obviously needs Buffy, but it turns out fine without her. It is strange that Andrew is the only BtVS character to have a role on AtS S5 (obviously I don't include Spike, or Harmony for that matter). An Oz cameo or Willow or Giles (hell, Xander would have been cool) would have been nice.

And yes - Ripper. I'd love to have a decent Ripper movie. I don't know why we never got a Giles-flashback episode, the obvious thing to happen after "The Dark Age".

The whole Buffy-wishes-Tara-back thing hasn't been mentioned. That's a nice idea.

I would have been happy to have Doyle back - not evil mind you, but whatever we can get. I'm intrigued as to how JW envisioned it. Like if it was just, 'gasp! the Beastmaster is Doyle!' then no thanks. But there might have been an amazing storyline behind it.

 

[ToShanshuInLA]

-Fred & Illyria splitting in 2.

Nooo...The only thing left of Fred was memories. Glad they didn't do that.

Yeah I'm just going to wind up parroting the same things others have said - "You're Welcome" is perfection and having Buffy in S5 is a nice thought but not in place of the "You're Welcome" that we got ("How dare you use the name of some guy I barely met and who I called Angel's sidekick!"), which was all about in-show things Buffy wouldn't have known about.

Haha.

Buffy on a season 5 Angel episode: "Wah, Spike? Wah, Angel? Oh, I could just die again!"

 

[LittleMissLikesToFight]

Don't think it was mentioned, but apparently Xander was originally the character who was going to turn out to be gay.... I don't think i could picture it though. as far as the character goes, i just don't see it.

I really wish SMG did some of those guest stints on angel. and oz a regular on angel? that'd be awesome! i love oz, and it kills me everytime i watch him leave... and then come back to only have his heart broken...yikes.

 

[ScoobyGroupie]

Queen Crabbit, I'm just annoyed Charisma didn't give the writers a head's up about her pregnancy.

 

[BuffyElevated]

** I have heard Nick say in several interviews that he and SMG approached Joss about getting Buffy and Xander together in Season 7, because they thought it felt "right" for the characters; I would have LOVED to see this happen, even if it didn't work out long-term.
** I really wish Oz had become a regular on "Angel". I wouldn't have wanted to see the character die; he was one of my faves til he left the show. 🙁 But I LOVED his guest spot in S1 of "Angel" and it would have been kick-ass to have him on "Angel" as a regular. But they needed more estrogen in that sea of testosterone, too... Aly might have made a good addition to the cast, but I think that would have been hokey since she and Alexis are married IRL.
** I wish we'd gotten a Faith spin-off. I love Eliza and the character of Faith, so I would have been all for a "Faith the Vampire Slayer". 😉

 

[King of Hell]

yeah I heard about the storyline where Buffy gets a wish in S7, & spends a whole episode thinking about it, then thought that she'd bring Tara back to Willow. but the writers thought it'd be hypocritical of Buffy to bring Tara from the dead, since she hated it when her friends pulled her out of Heaven, so they introduced the character "Kennedy". even though I hate Kennedy, I think they've made the right decision.

 

[racheltng]

yeah I heard about the storyline where Buffy gets a wish in S7, & spends a whole episode thinking about it, then thought that she'd bring Tara back to Willow. but the writers thought it'd be hypocritical of Buffy to bring Tara from the dead, since she hated it when her friends pulled her out of Heaven, so they introduced the character "Kennedy". even though I hate Kennedy, I think they've made the right decision.

What I had heard was that Amber Benson wasn't available.

The other Tara bit was how she was supposed to appear in Conversations With Dead People, but Amber turned it down. She didn't want to upset Tara's fans. They actually got as far as writing the script with Tara in it. you can find the scenes here:

http://buffyworld.com/buffy/scripts/129_scri.html

I would have liked to have seen that. Eventhough it would have been upsetting to see Tara as The First, it also would have been great to see her at all.

 

[Thursday]

It's a shame Tara wasn't brought back.

Most of these don't really mean much to me as I haven't seen Angel, but a Ripper movie would be cool. Ever since S2 I've wanted to know more about Gile's backstory. And it helps that Ethan Rayne is a cool villian.

 

[Kelsey]

yeah I heard about the storyline where Buffy gets a wish in S7, & spends a whole episode thinking about it, then thought that she'd bring Tara back to Willow. but the writers thought it'd be hypocritical of Buffy to bring Tara from the dead, since she hated it when her friends pulled her out of Heaven, so they introduced the character "Kennedy". even though I hate Kennedy, I think they've made the right decision.

If that's the reason, the writers were right. Buffy's life was in shambles because of what her friends did to her. Maybe Tara's resurrection wouldn't have been as traumatizing, but it would be extremely unlike Buffy to even consider putting someone through that, and not even for that person's own happiness. It would have been for Willow, not Tara.

Whew, I'm glad that didn't happen.