Slayers Audio book

**Review With Spoiler**

I definitely thought it was a great listen! Everyone does sound a little older but if you can get past that, it’s a good time.

Great to see Spike and Drusilla together again 100%


But… I do not know how I feel about this potential romance they’re hinting at if this continues.
 
I think it was fairly obvious they would pursue the Spike/Cordelia relationship. It's a Buffyverse show so obviously there's going to be romance stories. Cordelia is definitely straight (or at least our original Cordy was, and this Cordy had a boyfriend previously) so there's no potential with Anya or Tara, so that pretty much leaves Spike or Clem.

And Spike being Spike, he was also always going to end up in some kind of love story. We've already covered Spike and Dru and Spike and Anya in the show, and Tara is gay, so that leaves Cordy.

It seems like they are also hinting that Anya may have romantic feelings for Tara. Anya on the show did say that spell with Willow got a little sexy, so it's definitely possible she's bisexual.

And I have to assume that Amber isn't going to repeat Whedon's gross pairing of adults and 16 year olds, so hopefully Indira finds somebody close to her age next season.
 
Taake
Taake
That's what I was thinking, Clemdelia makes me think of a certain VD.
Half way through now!

Tony Head's performance seems to be improving. Juliet Landau seems spot on.
 
fauxindigo
fauxindigo
Juliet would be wouldn't she
famicommander said:
I think it was fairly obvious they would pursue the Spike/Cordelia relationship. It's a Buffyverse show so obviously there's going to be romance stories. Cordelia is definitely straight (or at least our original Cordy was, and this Cordy had a boyfriend previously) so there's no potential with Anya or Tara, so that pretty much leaves Spike or Clem.

And Spike being Spike, he was also always going to end up in some kind of love story. We've already covered Spike and Dru and Spike and Anya in the show, and Tara is gay, so that leaves Cordy.

It seems like they are also hinting that Anya may have romantic feelings for Tara. Anya on the show did say that spell with Willow got a little sexy, so it's definitely possible she's bisexual.

And I have to assume that Amber isn't going to repeat Whedon's gross pairing of adults and 16 year olds, so hopefully Indira finds somebody close to her age next season.
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Again here with *Spoilers*

… and this is going to be long.

I suspected that too especially, as you said, with Spike being Spike.

I understand there’s no Buffy in this au and they chose to do that for obvious reasons and that they’re using the whole angle of the au to allow them to make this storyline wildly different than what we know on BTS and ATS. Also that it allows these dead characters to come back to life.

It’s not canon at all but because you have the cast behind this it feels as close to canon as possible, so I feel they could have done a better service to fans of what went on in the last 10-12 years.

Because Spuffy not talking in that span of time… highly unlikely. You have Spike professing how he’ll always have love for Drusilla but all we get is a “I don’t date slayers anymore” from Spike in regards to Buffy as he’s hitting on Cordelia which, morally and kinda personality wise is an au Buffy minus the puns.

Again, I know it’s an au and it’s not canon and for obvious reasons they moved forward now they did to create a completely new story, but still, I feel like being thrown into that with barely any context from the last 10-12 years really cheapened Spike/Buffy and Cordy/Angel’s relationships especially with how it all ended.

I guess the bright side to this is it can give Spike the opportunity to have a romance with someone like Buffy and do it right from the beginning as if he was “Angel” which would make sense for Cordelia too being presented with someone like Angel. They could fulfill for fans what didnt/couldn’t happen in the original reality.

I also have a theory that in this au Buffy Anne Summers does not exist but maybe Anne Summers does?

Also, could this be one of the aus created when Cordelia wished they lived in a world without Buffy Summers?

Despite that, I did enjoy it though and the cliffhangers sound like a super interesting plot and am excited to hear more of it.
 
From Spoilers, I think my headcannon that Spike (along with Angel and Gunn) died swinging in the Alleyway in Not Fade Away is still the best fate for him.
That includes all the comics as well as this too.

I'd be interested in a Sequel to see Buffy in her 40's maybe as a single parent while still being a Slayer. Maybe have Faith as a live in aunt too.
 
I came ,I saw ,I got a free trial 😉 . Listened to nearly six eps . It's a mixed bag from me .

The positives .
Some nice quipping from all the cast .
Indira is a treat . A perennial problem I have is giving a crap about new characters in the extended 'verse . Indira kinda sidestepped that with her Buffy surrogate vibe .
I did enjoy most of it .

The negatives
The sound effects and random accents needed a touch more polish.
Altverse Tara . Sometimes painful . Her 'original' Tara was still spot on but her alter ego was poorly realized in my opinion.
Slayer combat doesn't translate to radio .
Underwritten .

I did enjoy the cast very much . I definitely felt a spark of something in there.
 
OK, I finally sat back to listen to Slayers. And I thought I was going to break it down into 1 hour blocks over a number of days, but ended up listening to it all yesterday. Here are my thoughts off the top of my head:

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The good:
  • Juliet and James nailed it. And their chemistry was still there.
  • Indira was a good addition
  • Charisma was wonderful as a battle-hardened, all-business Slayer
  • Clem. I don't need to say anything more. He's such a delight.
  • The ending! Willow being captured! This opens the door to having Alyson on board if they go ahead with another series.
  • I think the folks handling the sound effects did a great job
  • Olivia and Giles!
  • I loved the tug-and-pull of Dru/Spike. He still loves her and you could feel Spike being drawn in


The bad:
  • James is also mentioned here, because whilst he was pretty spot on with his cockney accent, it's not the same accent we knew from the series.
  • Amber as a witch queen, and being evil was pretty bad. It's not something she can pull off.
  • Lack of laughs. A number of jokes that were there fell flat, unfortunately.
  • What in God's name were those scenes of Tara and Mr. Pickles - awful
  • Fairly pointless having 'ghost Jonathan' there
  • Anya's personality wasn't completely captured as we knew her
  • Tara and Dru? That was an odd pairing

Extra notes:
  • The Magic Box survived? Sunnydale was essentially a crater
  • I don't believe they're trying to push a romance with Cordy/Spike..we know Spike has a bit of a fascination with Slayers. He's just a flirt.
  • ASH did sound different. A little tired? Perhaps that was just depicting a weary Giles, or just down to ASH's age, but it was an absolute delight to have him on board with this project
  • I didn't miss Buffy. There was enough from the cast and the story that it didn't feel like there was a gaping hole. And glad they didn't include her, because there just would've been a focus on 'Spuffy'.
  • Potential plot hole: when Indira 'resurrected' Spike and Dru came to see, could she not pick up on the fact she was a Slayer? Don't vamps have 'spidey senses' and feel that?


Overall rating: 3/5, maybe a 3.5
First outing, hopefully they can fine tune a few of the issues and come back stronger for the next one.
 
Forgot to add one more thing that just came to mind - Spike mentions he hasn't trusted Willow for years now? Is that in reference to her maybe not helping when it came to Fred/Illyria?
 
hoponlilmama said:
Amber as a witch queen, and being evil was pretty bad. It's not something she can pull off.
Click to expand...

It's sort of weird to hear Amber made Tara evil because isn't it true that Amber refused to come back as Tara/The First in Conversations with Dead People because she didn't want to portray Tara as evil as she knew the character meant a lot to gay people? It's been 20 years she could have changed her mind but I thought she said similar in more recent interviews.
 
T
thrasherpix
I never believed that story myself, even if Amber is the one to say it. Especially as other details have come out.
Bop said:
It's sort of weird to hear Amber made Tara evil because isn't it true that Amber refused to come back as Tara/The First in Conversations with Dead People because she didn't want to portray Tara as evil as she knew the character meant a lot to gay people? It's been 20 years she could have changed her mind but I thought she said similar in more recent interviews.
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It's a bit more complicated than that, but Spoilers!

And now I am channelling River Song...
 
Bop said:
It's sort of weird to hear Amber made Tara evil because isn't it true that Amber refused to come back as Tara/The First in Conversations with Dead People because she didn't want to portray Tara as evil as she knew the character meant a lot to gay people? It's been 20 years she could have changed her mind but I thought she said similar in more recent interviews.
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A very good point.
Perhaps that was said at the time as an excuse because she didn't want to go back into that environment.

Or as you said, it's been 20 years and she's changed her mind.
 
Bop said:
It's sort of weird to hear Amber made Tara evil because isn't it true that Amber refused to come back as Tara/The First in Conversations with Dead People because she didn't want to portray Tara as evil as she knew the character meant a lot to gay people? It's been 20 years she could have changed her mind but I thought she said similar in more recent interviews.
Click to expand...

It was partly true but She also has said another reason was someone was making her life miserable on set and she didnt want to go back to that. She didn't name that person though it seemed they were a JW favourite. If I had to guess it was AH but that's a guess.
 
And done!

Okay, I took a long time to finish the last chapter because I didn't want it to end. I guess that is a review in and of itself.

So, brief overview.

I enjoyed it.
I would listen to it again.
I would like to hear more like it.
And I can say none of those things about seasons six and seven.

A bit more detail.

This is a book, not a television programme, so it's one long story rather than the 8 or 9 episodes that would have been the same length.

Did you (like me, honestly) think the television series could have done with more Clem? Clearly someone else did. And he's awesome!

It's 20 years since most of the actors played the characters, and in a number of cases they are trying to play characters 20 years younger than they are, in some cases the age they, roughly, were when they did the roles. The quality varies. Tony Head sounded really old at the beginning. He had perked up a bit by the end.

There are differences in the characterisations - as mentioned by @hoponlilmama I don't think they knew quite how to write Anya. But I have come across more than one mention about her being difficult to write properly. But, some of the characters are different people to the ones we knew, from a different universe, which does get around some of the issues.

What the heck was the monkey for? I do hope that turns out to be someone transformed into a monkey. Or perhaps it was just for Evil Tara to exposition to.

As good as seasons 1-5? No. But far more enjoyable than seasons 6 and 7 (your opinion may vary). Buffy not being there is not an issue because Angel showed she wasn't needed and seasons 6 and 7 made her utterly irrelevant as anything other than Spike's obsession focus.
 
Something I forgot. I like how magic in this has gone back to spells and rituals needed to cast it, rather than "Willows thinks stuff and it happens."

There is a possible explanation also for Willow's power, though it is never truly explained. In the story, Anya's magical abilities in the main universe are both more powerful and more erratic. Leading to the suggestion perhaps that Willow's abilities stemmed from being in a universe with more magic in it.
 
NotASlayer said:
And done!

Okay, I took a long time to finish the last chapter because I didn't want it to end. I guess that is a review in and of itself.

So, brief overview.

I enjoyed it.
I would listen to it again.
I would like to hear more like it.
And I can say none of those things about seasons six and seven.

A bit more detail.

This is a book, not a television programme, so it's one long story rather than the 8 or 9 episodes that would have been the same length.

Did you (like me, honestly) think the television series could have done with more Clem? Clearly someone else did. And he's awesome!

It's 20 years since most of the actors played the characters, and in a number of cases they are trying to play characters 20 years younger than they are, in some cases the age they, roughly, were when they did the roles. The quality varies. Tony Head sounded really old at the beginning. He had perked up a bit by the end.

There are differences in the characterisations - as mentioned by @hoponlilmama I don't think they knew quite how to write Anya. But I have come across more than one mention about her being difficult to write properly. But, some of the characters are different people to the ones we knew, from a different universe, which does get around some of the issues.

What the heck was the monkey for? I do hope that turns out to be someone transformed into a monkey. Or perhaps it was just for Evil Tara to exposition to.

As good as seasons 1-5? No. But far more enjoyable than seasons 6 and 7 (your opinion may vary). Buffy not being there is not an issue because Angel showed she wasn't needed and seasons 6 and 7 made her utterly irrelevant as anything other than Spike's obsession focus.
Click to expand...

Good review!

I hope they can take on any feedback for the next round and tweak any issues. Definite room for improvement. The writing let them down in a few spots, but overall, it was great to be back in that world again.
 
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