Why no Principal Snyder as the First

[Wesley Pryce]

Why wasn't Principal snyder brought back in 7 to be a ghost for the first. This seems to obvious (and yet i just thought of it recently 😛) but still how did they not think of this,and if they indeed did why didn't it happen,does anyone here know anything about this story? I know it could just be money issues,but think about it. You have your last season which was even admitted by the writers to be a somewhat "best of" season and you have a way of bringing all types of former characters back even if they are deceased. On top of all this you have a new sunnydale high school,this seems perfect. what the hell happened lol

 

[Blaze]

The First is the biggest wasted opportunity to ever be on TV (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but still). Don't get me wrong, I get it, they can't just get every actor to come back. But seriously, the big bad of the season could have been:

Snyder
Jenny
Tara
Jesse
Dru
Darla
Angel
Heck even Larry

And none of those characters came back. Most likely because of actor schedule and such, but still, if you're gonna create a big bad that takes dead people's form, make arrangements to have those actors ready for shoots.

If executed properly, the First would have by far been my favorite big bad, unfortunately it fell flat.

 

[bespangeled]

The First is the biggest wasted opportunity to ever be on TV (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but still). Don't get me wrong, I get it, they can't just get every actor to come back. But seriously, the big bad of the season could have been:

Snyder
Jenny
Tara
Jesse
Dru
Darla
Angel
Heck even Larry

And none of those characters came back. Most likely because of actor schedule and such, but still, if you're gonna create a big bad that takes dead people's form, make arrangements to have those actors ready for shoots.

If executed properly, the First would have by far been my favorite big bad, unfortunately it fell flat.

These people all would affect Buffy and the scoobs..Once the potentials arrive, I'd go after them!

Having potentials see dead people they love could have been a damn dramatic way to teach us about some of them, make them actual people. Damn good tactic too! How could you beat it?

 

[Taake]

Oh god, Snyder would have been awesome!

And none of those characters came back. Most likely because of actor schedule and such, but still, if you're gonna create a big bad that takes dead people's form, make arrangements to have those actors ready for shoots.

If executed properly, the First would have by far been my favorite big bad, unfortunately it fell flat.

Agreed. Like the first ep when the First takes on the form of all of the previous villains! That set a bar they could not measure up to.

Mostly they just used SMG which I'm sure was fun for her, getting to be 'bad' for a little while, but I'm even more sure it would have been nice to alleviate her schedule a little by y'know having other dead characters return as the First. Also it would have made it a lot more cool and powerful when the First did take Buffy's form (like when the Buffy's meet)

 

[thetopher]

I don't know, would Snyder really have effected any of the Scoobies?

By S7 they're all grown up adults, they wouldn't be at all shaken by seeing Snyder, the tiny principal from their high school days, laying into them with his barbs.
Snyder has no close, personal connection to any of them that I remember.

If Snyder had shown up Buffy and Xander would've probably just mocked him, but maybe Willow would've been freaked a little bit.

I think at that time she had the most baggage from high school, because of where she was in life at that time.

Jesse, Angel, Hank (Buffy's dad- they got him back in S6 after all), Larry, more Jonathan, Darla- all these would've been excellent and it was a wasted opportunity that they didn't appear.

Drusilla did appear, when Spike was getting tortured, but her appearance fell a little flat for me though.

The very best 'The First' appearances were in the first episode, as Cassie in 'CWDP' and as 'The Mayor' in Touched, and that's too few good interactions for a memorable big bad.

It's still more good scenes than Adam though (which would be none, or 1 if I'm feeling kind), who was a big sucking hole of dull- worst Big Bad ever, by far.

 

[Taake]

Any person you knew who died and came back in some animated shape would freak me out at least... also I have a scary, Snyder-ish teacher from High School I definitely wouldn't want to see again. I'm not saying Snyder would have affected them like say - Tara would have - but I certainly think he would have made an impact. Especially with Buffy being "back in school" so to speak.

 

[Blaze]

I also think that it's not about the First scaring them off as Snyder exactly, but more so the First showing that it knows about their past, it knows about everything and everyone. It gives the First that all knowing feel which in that sense is scary. That's why utilizing any characters from the first few season would have been almost necessary in my opinion. And if scheduling actors was really that hard, get a few new actor like Cassie and create storylines, like bring back Buffy's dead grandma, there's a lot they could have done by just tweaking the story a bit.

Also, like you said thetopher, Dru was used shortly but it was a waisted opportunity.

I did like the Mayor's appearance though, that one was really cool, and again scary because the First WAS the Mayor, said it itself and acted exactly like him.

The more I think about this, the more they were too ambitious with this big bad.

 

[Wesley Pryce]

@thetopher,i think Principal Snyder would still shake up Xander. He dreamed about Snyder in "restless" if you'll remember. 🙂 Also if he shakes anyone up or not isn't the actual point. the point is you had an opportunity to bring back a great character and didn't,even if it was for all of five minutes of ghost Snyder slamming Buffy,Xander and Willow it would've been entertaining and very funny,which is something this season needed A LOT!! One more thing,a lot of fans complain because Xander wasn't in CWDP,well he could've been with Snyder,seems like a good story. 🙂

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I reckon it would have been to bid a mitake to bring old Snydy poo's back, unless you want him and Jonathon together 'cos they look to much like father and son.

 

[caitaintdead]

I don't know if Snyder would have really fit with Season 7. His brand of comic relief would have been a bit strange. I definitely feel like there were characters that should have been bought back.

Why Jesse wasn't around interacting with Xander I'll never know.

And I love the idea of using people from the potentials lives to humanise them. Just like the way Orange is the New Black uses the flashbacks really.

It all comes down to the fact that too much was squuezed into one season. It should have been stretched over two seasons with the season 7 big bad technically being the uber vamp.