Uber-Vamps with Martial Arts

[chasesummers]

I've been re-watching all Buffy and Angel series and I'm on Season 7 Buffy (half way).

I noticed how the first Uber-Vamp Buffy fights & kills has all these marital art moves and it looks a little silly dont you think?
Of course the normal vampires are pretty much the same... quoting Dawn:
''...H-he might not know all those fancy martial arts skills they inevitably seem to pick up.''

I'd imagine the Uber-Vamps being more animalistic and less human compared to the normal Vamps.

What do you think?

 

[white avenger]

I'd imagine the Uber-Vamps being more animalistic and less human compared to the normal Vamps.

What do you think?

I agree, the ubervamps' fighting style, if it could even be called that, should have been much more primitive, brutish, and, yes, even animal like. In defense of the show's stunt crew, however, I would like to point out that developing an entirely unique fighting style for characters who were only shown in a few episodes just wouldn't be practical or economical.

Also, it might be pointed out that the oldest martial arts forms derive much of their movements from the actual fighting styles of various animals, both real and mythical, so who's to say that the ubervamps weren't actually the first beings to develop and utilize those particular techniques, and various demon fighters imitated and modified them to suit their own physical limitations?

 

[chasesummers]

Yes it would have been obviously loads of work to develop a fighting style just for them. It wouldn't be very worth the time, tv shows have tighter schedules anyway.

The only thing I felt in one of the episodes (I think it was ''Lessons'') is that it was a little too much, with the Ubervamp doing those wall kicks and stuff.

And of course, I'm not criticizing the show.
For normal viewers or first time viewers you won't notice anything (good example being the stunt doubles), so they actually did a fantastic job.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

We see the Ubervamps all grouped together training with each other in the Hellmouth, so I think it makes sense that they have a fighting style.

They aren't mindless animals, they understand the First, so I dont think they needed to fight primitively.

 

[thetopher]

To be honest I think they could've gone in a different direction with the ubervamps, like instead of one super-tough one at the start, have a few that were smart, vicious and worked as a team to tackle the slayer.
Smart yes, but more animalistic.

It would've made the ending a bit more believable. (Not that I really have a problem with the end fight, I can't. Just seeing Buffy, Faith, Spike- everyone kicking ass. And the music...)

Anyway, the ubervamp/Buffy fights were still pretty good, and certainly brutal enough.

 

[white avenger]

They aren't mindless animals, they understand the First, so I don"t think they needed to fight primitively.

Not mindless, no, but certainly intelligence at its most rudimentary, primal, and savage, possibly barely above our domesticated animals of today. An attack dog would be, I think, a fair comparison. They can follow simple commands,but much more than "Go," "Attack," or "Kill," would be beyond, or at best the limit, of their mental capacity.

They would have an instinctive fighting style, just like a Doberman or a Rottweiler, but anything as sophisticated as an actual martial art technique, such as the thread suggests, would be stretching reality somewhat.

Of course, how can we really talk about reality in this case?

 

[chicagoguy46]

I am a Tae Kwon Do instructor and one of the many things I love about BtVS are the fight sequences. No opinion on whether the UVs should have such skills, but the wall kicks are a valid technique!