Was The Initiative REALLY that bad?

P

PurplePoof

Surgeon Of Mean
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
796
Age
38
Location
Canada
And I mean bad as a story component, not bad as in evil. While I agree that Adam and The Initiative were far from the strongest or most interesting antagonists in the series, I really don't see why they get ragged on so often. I really liked The Initiative as an idea...it allowed for an interesting look at magic vs. science, almost like religion vs. evolution 🙂lmao🙂. Plus, it fit with season 4 nicely...taking the Scoobies far out of their comfort zone.
 
I thought The Initiative was a good idea in theory but they way it was done....hmm, just seemed a bit silly. When the government were covering it up at the end as if it had never happened it felt like the writers were tring to ignore it too.:biggrin:
 
The ending with the government covering it up was a bit X-Files-ish...yes...

If your problem was with the execution, what changes would you have made?
 
i think the initiative was the weakest plot in buffy history and i dont mean against any episode i mean overall the seasons plot was the weakest, i never enjoyed any of it plus i always thought adam looked weak and yet every time buffy faces shes knocked down within a minute, then theres riley, only thing i liked was professor walsh actually i always loved giles interaction with her and the jealousy so it terms of the initiative she was my favourite part
 
PurplePoof said:
The ending with the government covering it up was a bit X-Files-ish...yes...

If your problem was with the execution, what changes would you have made?
Click to expand...

I don't think it should have went past the idea stage. Should have been just an idea.😉 I know I didn't like Adam as a big bad. There was no personality there, no connection to the characters. The best big bads are always the ones that have an emotional connection with the characters - Angelus being my favourite.

But The Initiative itself was badly executed. I don't know what changes I would have made to make it work, but the important arc of the season (about the Scoobies drifting apart) I loved.:biggrin:
 
I suppose...but I think the character stuff going on in season 4 easily made up for any lacking in the Big Bad department. Season 4 was rife with awesome Scoobie stuff.
 
I am simply going to state I loved The Initiative and I loved the idea.

Walsh was fun, Adam wasn't that bad and Graham was the totty required post Angel😱)

I didn't like Riley but that wasn't anything to do with The Initiative just that he is a terrible actor.

Forrest bugged me too. I would blame the actor BUT I liked him in Heroes so it must have been a character.
 
PurplePoof said:
I suppose...but I think the character stuff going on in season 4 easily made up for any lacking in the Big Bad department. Season 4 was rife with awesome Scoobie stuff.
Click to expand...

Definately. I loved the Scoobie interactions in this season, especially Xander's story. Even though I wasn't a fan of The Initiative idea, I thought it was a good season overall. 🙂
 
I liked the idea of the initiative, but i just don't think the budget was there to do it justice. Looked pretty cheap, especially the cling film on the floor.
 
I loved that they brought in the Government because it really had to be done, it just made sense they should know about it. The stuff I didn't like was that Maggie/ Riley were suppose to be undercover at school but why? Buffy wanted to have a normal life but what were they doing? Seemed like a waste of time and brain space to be teachers/students when it has nothing whatsoever to do with their mission. Or perhaps it was their way of blending in, in case people saw them on the street and thought 'I've never seen them anywhere'.
 
atticus said:
I liked the idea of the initiative, but i just don't think the budget was there to do it justice. Looked pretty cheap, especially the cling film on the floor.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. If they had made it look real, I think they would have held my suspension of disbelief. What we got were people creeping around like kids playing at soldiers, really stupid looking guns, and a big ol' warehouse with nothing in it. It sucked. Buffy Season 8 carried off the whole military thing much better. I think I could have loved it, but the cheapness led to cheesiness, which led to sillyness. It needed to be uber-hi-tech and realistic for it to work as a concept, and it just plain wasn't.

When Riley came back, it was slightly better, but that helicopter scene at the end was awful...
 
H
Harm
you completed your transformation!
I don't really think how it looked was what was important...at least not to me. By season 4 we were well aware of the fact that BTVS didn't exactly have a huge budget and EVERYTHING was pretty cheesy looking, including most of the sets and special effects. Luckily, the show thrived because of how strong the writing was. I LIKED how cheesy The Initiative looked...it was quintessential Buffy.
 
Season 4 is my favorite season and thats alot to do with the initiative being the 'big bad'. I loved it, the magic v science aspect, the soldier boys and especially Maggie walsh. I think it fit in perfectly with their college life and Buffy(riley) and Spike(chip)
 
I liked the idea of the initiative but I hated how it ended up being executed. Not that they could have changed that. I mean that's a really nifty idea, it's just...Let's just say it sounds better on paper.
 
littlewilly said:
Season 4 is my favorite season and thats alot to do with the initiative being the 'big bad'. I loved it, the magic v science aspect, the soldier boys and especially Maggie walsh. I think it fit in perfectly with their college life and Buffy(riley) and Spike(chip)
Click to expand...
Yeah, the chip was an interesting plot element...at first. Until it just became a lousy excuse to not have Spike die...
 
Going behind the goverments back with things like Adam on mind makes them look pretty bad in my eyes.
 
I hated the whole Initiative storyline. I liked Riley, and I even liked his buddy Graham, but I hated Forrest and I hated Dr. Walsh and I really didn't like Adam as a villain. Just my opinion; it wasn't my cup of tea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom