Season 8's impact on the series

[thunderhawk86]

Now that season 8 has finished, has it tainted the tv series for you as a whole, regardless if you read the comics themselves or summaries? For me I still love both BtVS and AtS as much as I did the first time I watched them. I wish they had done season 8 entirely different but I don't think it taints the series. Then I went through this situation before with Dragonball when GT came out, that was horrible. At least Season 8 didn't mess the series up as much as GT did.

Your thoughts?

 

[Red Sox Nation]

my thoughts are, S8 sucked big time, every single character was out of character, it was waay over the top, & the whole plot is just poor. I didn't read the whole comic book series, just summaries & the last few issues, I heard it was bad, but I never thought it was THAT bad.
After the Fall was bad too, but it wasn't as bad as S8.

I don't consider them canon, because if they are canon, both shows lose a lot of credibility.

 

[Daniel Osbourne]

my thoughts are, S8 sucked big time, every single character was out of character, it was waay over the top, & the whole plot is just poor. I didn't read the whole comic book series, just summaries & the last few issues, I heard it was bad, but I never thought it was THAT bad.
After the Fall was bad too, but it wasn't as bad as S8.

I don't consider them canon, because if they are canon, both shows lose a lot of credibility.

If you didn't actually read the whole thing, don't pass such an extreme judgement on it. That's like watching "Seeing Red" through "Grave" and saying Season 6 sucks.

In my opinion, Season 8 was great. All the elements that annoy people are there for a reason. A lot of people are convinced that Joss dropped the ball or something, but that's simply not the case.

 

[zobothehobo]

I'm in the minority, but I really liked season 8. It's probably because I think of it as a fic involving Joss rather than full out cannon... but that's just a guess. So no, it didn't taint my view of the show because I really liked it.

 

[Red Sox Nation]

If you didn't actually read the whole thing, don't pass such an extreme judgement on it. That's like watching "Seeing Red" through "Grave" and saying Season 6 sucks.

In my opinion, Season 8 was great. All the elements that annoy people are there for a reason. A lot of people are convinced that Joss dropped the ball or something, but that's simply not the case.

I've read summaries, everyone is out of character in the issues that I've read, & its way over the top, even if I read all the issues, they won't change how every character talks weird & how its waaay over the top.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I'm not a big fan of season 8, but still, I don't hate it. I think it had some interest moments, but it doesn't impact in any way on my view of the show.

 

[Username]

I was disappointed with most of the storyline, I thought Twilight was really stupid and so not interesting, and it was over the top.
I don't hate the comics because there was one thing that I wanted with this, and I got what I hoped for so I'm actually very pleased with the outcome 😀 but during all those years of reading them, it wasn't great.. but it hasn't changed how I feel about the show in any way.

and I haven't read the Angel comics.

 

[Icarium]

If you didn't actually read the whole thing, don't pass such an extreme judgement on it. That's like watching "Seeing Red" through "Grave" and saying Season 6 sucks.

But Season 6 does suck, so this would be the right conclusion. Sorry, couldn't resist. 🙂

Now that season 8 has finished, has it tainted the tv series for you as a whole

No, but then again, I had the invaluable experience of pretending S6-7 don't exist, so I just took S8 for what it really is - a crackfic. 🙂

 

[Kean]

My general opinion on S8 is that when it was good is was very good and when it was bad it was down right ugly.

In saying all that, I found S6 far more offensive and damaging to the series than S8. IMO, if you are looking for OOC Scoobies than you don't have to look any further than S6 (and huge chunks of 7). Like many have already said in this thread S5 is pretty much when Buffy the Vampire Slayer ends for me. What comes after I take with a pinch of salt. I know it's cannon but I just block it out.

 

[The Unspoken]

The Buffy/Willow/Xander/Dawn interactions are nice, and sometimes the only nice thing about the comics. Which leads me to my next point...

...earth-shattering destiny sex and giant vagina monsters. These have got to go.

Also, with the reappearance of minor or 'past' characters like Riley, Oz, Amy, etc. it sometimes feels like a greatest hits edition (which is not a good thing). Same goes for the retconning (like the Master and Warren being still alive).

Anyway, I'm not a fan of the mythology aspect of season 8, though I thought the mythology was already convoluted in season 7, what with retconning the Hellmouth and the Scythe Ex Machina.

 

[Wesley Junior]

Season 8 was just proof to me that Joss needed to quit while he was ahead with the story. Despite Season Seven not being my favorite season, Joss had the perfect endpoint with Buffy and the others in "Chosen." And I thought the Xander/Dawn pairing was just wrong.

 

[cordangel]

I really dislike s8. The whole Twilight thing is horrible and I can't stand the way they ruin Angel. Plus I can't reconnect with a Slayer Army, I can't even recognise the core group. And all the madness like giant Dawn, ship of bugs, vagina monster? And the resurrection of Warren and the Master? Stupid, stupid thing.

I didn't like AtF either and the rest of the comics didn't impress me. With AtF I was just relieved Angel survived. End of the story. LA in Hell was unfair for Angel and a total madness to read and to watch.

For me BtVS and AtS ended when the shows ended. But in my mind s4 and s5 AtS never happened and I fantasize about Angel and Cordelia, Wesley and Fred, Gunn and Faith.
As for BtVS I lost a lot of interest after s3 and all them live in a world apart. But without Dawn and with Tara.

 

[StarSlayer]

Nope, not at all. Although I only read summaries for most of s8, it didn't taint the series. For me, Buffy ended with "Chosen" because that's when the TV series ended (like it or not). The comics are just a different medium for continuing the story, so it's not really canon for me.

 

[Daniel Osbourne]

I feel like I should write an essay defending Season 8. And Seasons 7 and 6, for that matter.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:22 PM ----------

Actually, I'd like to know something. Are people really being serious when they say that they ignore Seasons 6-8? If so, that's kind of ignorant. Buffy the Vampire Slayer does not exist to live up to fan expectations. Joss' story has a lot of good in it and refusing to see that good and focusing on the bad isn't going to change the story. If everyone acted like that, the show would never have been renewed for a second season.

In the end, Joss can make his characters act any way he wants without it being "OOC". Ignoring entire seasons of canon just because it doesn't match your fanon viewpoint of how the characters should act is really just stupid.

 

[Icarium]

Actually, I'd like to know something. Are people really being serious when they say that they ignore Seasons 6-8? If so, that's kind of ignorant. Buffy the Vampire Slayer does not exist to live up to fan expectations. Joss' story has a lot of good in it and refusing to see that good and focusing on the bad isn't going to change the story.

I don't expect to the story to change just because of my dislike of it. I simply think the story is downright garbage. That's why I am treating it as a crackfic. It's not merely bad compared to the early seasons, it's terrible in its own right, IMO. I am not "refusing" to see the good, I don't think there is much of quality in those seasons to be seen.

If everyone acted like that, the show would never have been renewed for a second season.

Um, okay, so? If everyone bought whatever crap Joss wrote, even if they didn't like it, he wouldn't have a stimulus to create anything better, so this argument works both ways.

In the end, Joss can make his characters act any way he wants without it being "OOC".

OOC is totally subjective, so no he can't. If for some fans Angel becoming Twilight is totally in character, for many it's not. It's not as simple as the writer deciding something must happen, so every reader/viewer just has to go along with that. If Joss decides it's totally in character for Buffy to drop a nuclear bomb on a big city just for heck of it, are we supposed to just accept that? It's perfectly natural for people to have had enough of a long story at some point. It's also very common for writers to get tired or bored of writing the same story and as a consequence of that to lower their standards. Whether the loyal fans or the naysayers are right everyone decides for themselves. If someone wants to ignore episodes or seasons - so what? What's the harm in that?

 

[Skytteflickan88]

I both love and hate season 8. I think the thing that bothered me the most was that there was no room for explanation. Lots of things happened, and we're standing there going "WTF??? Why???" and then something else big happens and then another thing, and another thing. It's fine with a few lose ends, but I think season 8 had too many. I'm mainly talking about the lack of "on screen" character development. For example, why didn't Buffy and the others try to fix Dawn's curse until issue 25? Why wasn't that dealt with right away, why weren't they worried? Why don't we see a outcome from Buffy hitting on Dawn's boyfriend? Are Connor still alive, does Angel know? How did Willow become so confident that she walks naked in front of snake goddesses? So many questions. It's not that the things happening in season 8 can't be fanwanked, they can, but I hate guessing about so many things, I want to know what makes the characters tick. And I don't want to wait until season 9 (I except that we will at least get to know what made Angel into a naive moron).

I think it's partly the new medium, but also that Joss (as he said in his letter in issue 40) had a unlimited budget and wanted to make the comic epic. If he had cut down on the action and made more time for character development (and made the predator and pray arc one shots that was released outsite of the main series) I think I would have liked season 8 more.

Season 8 wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't told the right way. It's like when I read summarizations of the other season before I watched them; I get the cliffnotes, the "what's" but not the "how's".

Small spoiler:

Spoiler

And Joss seems to be on the same page, saying in the letter in issue 40 that the next season will be more down to earth. More about the characters than the action.

To answer your question: Season 8 isn't my favorite season, but I definitly don't think it tainted the tv-series. After watching season 6, I think season 8 is pretty tame, when it comes to upsetting things. Buffy had space sex with her naive brain dead ex and almost destroyed the world? Still not more upsetting than a suicidal Buffy having sex with a murderer in season 6. As long as I compare stuff to Buffy season 6, or the end of Angel season 4, everything will seem normal and healthy. Most things, anyway.

 

[VisionGirl]

I've said this before that I like season 8 as a whole, although there are certain things I don't like (& unfortunately, those are big things, like OOC Angel IMO). But whether or not I like it, it doesn't "ruin" the TV series for me. I don't get why people would feel that way. If you don't like it, don't read it or just ignore it as canon!

 

[white avenger]

I think that Season 8 has it' good points and its bad points. Happily, the good points outweigh the bad, and my most major complaint about the season is that, spread out over 40 monthly issues, with extended "between times" more than once, it just lasted TOO LONG for the amount of story being told. With a 20 issue season and multiple titles each month, Season 9 should help eliminate at least that problem, and Joss' promise to keep the story closer to what the TV series was will certainly help.

 

[sosa lola]

I feel like I should write an essay defending Season 8. And Seasons 7 and 6, for that matter.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:22 PM ----------

Actually, I'd like to know something. Are people really being serious when they say that they ignore Seasons 6-8? If so, that's kind of ignorant. Buffy the Vampire Slayer does not exist to live up to fan expectations. Joss' story has a lot of good in it and refusing to see that good and focusing on the bad isn't going to change the story. If everyone acted like that, the show would never have been renewed for a second season.

In the end, Joss can make his characters act any way he wants without it being "OOC". Ignoring entire seasons of canon just because it doesn't match your fanon viewpoint of how the characters should act is really just stupid.

Awesome post! Says my thoughts perfectly. Personally what ruins the show for me is Empty Places because that's when the Scoobies are being trashed. But do I say it's not canon because I hate it? No. It's Joss' story. He says it's canon, then it is canon. Even if fans hated it.

And I'd love to read your essay on S7, because it's not my favorite of seasons.

 

[PassionBecoming]

First, I shall say while Seasons 6 and 7 were not my favorites (though I still like them) I do recognize them as canon. My biggest problem with 7 was that I just felt like there was too much story being crammed into too few episodes, and not enough was explained for me to get closure at the end. There were too many loose ends that made me go "HEH???"

I just started reading the summaries in these posts because I haven't started to try to hunt down the comics yet, but they are making me not wanting to read the comics. I have read the "The Long Way Home" summaries and they all sounds like utter nonsense and not at all like the characters and writing of the show. Though maybe that was the point. That said, I'm not a comic reader at all, so maybe I just have to get used to the outlandishness.