I'm pretty much, most definitely sure I have a crush on Nox. That's neither here nor there, of course...

...except now it's here. And there's probably enough crush that it's still there...

...soooo, it's really here and there, now. Big crush, twould seem.

So I says to myself, "Come clean, Rhaegar T." and I done that. Thanks for the inspiration, Alabama Worley.

RhaegarTargaryen | September 11, 19:37 CET

Thanks for posting this. I found that interview to be very insightful.

death is my gift | September 11, 20:01 CET

Marti Noxon is super talented and I'm happy she's happy with Private Practice. The fact that I think its parent show is horrible is ultimately neither here nor there. I'm clearly in a minority on that. Go, Marti! I'm so sorry that the Point Pleasant experience was, well, so very unpleasant for her.

I get why she wouldn't remember it now, but I still wish she had remembered what the rationale was for why the First in S7 had its knickers in such a twist over Buffy coming back from the dead (twice). I'm not one to obsess too much about making all the details of the 'verse fit perfectly together, but aspects of the S7 First plotline seemed to me to have some weird holes. Could be me having a brain problem, could be there were indeed some strange vaguenesses. Either way it all seems kinda important now in light of the renewed focus on potential problems with the Slayer line in Buffy S8....

Was it my imagination or might Marti have confused Zoe with Kaylee?

phlebotinin | September 11, 20:19 CET

phlebotinin....
I think she was kidding about the engine bit.

death is my gift | September 11, 21:20 CET

Yeah, I also think she was being humorous, death is my gift. I just thought she might have got her character references mixed up. It's of no importance whatsoever, it just jumped out at me as I read it.

phlebotinin | September 11, 21:24 CET

Hey, the wording is "lost TO follow up," not "lost a follow up." Just saying, says the doc. :-)

I,too, am missing the First plotline question for S7 and hope someone, sometime, can clarify.

Dana5140 | September 11, 21:34 CET

That was a good interview, I like it when interviewees go off on interesting tangents and stuff. Marti's written some of my favorite episodes so it's always nice to see the cool kids go on to success. Plus, I thought Kate Walsh was one of the best finds in GA, so I hope they have a great success with Private Practice (though I probably won't be watching because there are so many cool-looking new genre shows coming down the pike, there's just not enough time in the world).

cabri | September 11, 21:53 CET

Thank you for the link. Interesting insights: straightforward and open. I have always loved her writer's voice; her dialogue sounds familiar and true to me. There was a scene in a GA episode that MN wrote; I figured it was her 'voice' before I found out for sure. I'm rooting for her success at Private Practice.

Merrin | September 11, 21:57 CET

Interesting about Maggie Walsh having been the originally intended Big Bad of season 4. That may have a lot to do with why Adam was ultimately such a flub of a villain. Too bad, I think Maggie would have been quite interesting.

Which leads to a question that those in the know about these things might be able to explain for me. When a season arc is built around a particular character like that - doesn't the show get the actor on some kind of contract to ensure they'll be available?

barboo | September 11, 22:11 CET

Interesting question; I've often wondered about that with regard to Amber Benson and the concept of bringing her back as Tara in S7- why did they not tie her up contractually before S6 ended so that there would have been no risk during S7 that she would have other commitments?

Somehow, though, and I cannot recall where I even saw it, I think that Lindsay Crouse was not happy with the work on Buffy and wanted out. I could be wrong, though.

Dana5140 | September 11, 23:53 CET

On the commentary at the end of S4, they say she was happy to come back for the final episode and had a blast getting zombified (except for the contacts), so she couldn't have been too unhappy.

cabri | September 12, 00:00 CET

Um, wow. All the times I've watched S7, I never got that the First was angry about Buffy coming back from the dead. This either means I wasn't paying attention or that they really did botch that.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 12, 00:57 CET

I didn't think the First was angry. I thought Buffy's return from death led to its move to end the Slayer line, because there was some sort of mystical disruption that gave it an opportunity.

Where was anger mentioned?

Sunfire | September 12, 01:42 CET

When she talks about her experiences with Point Pleasant....that makes me quite sad for her. I'm sure that was a difficult time. Here's hoping the other PP will be a better experience! Go Marti! We got your back!

Harmalicious | September 12, 03:38 CET

I agree with Sunfire. I always thought that the slayer line had been disrupted, which was how the First managed to manifest itself. I wasn't sure why that made sense, but that was the explanation I'd always thought was true... now I'm gonna have to rewatch and see if I can find where they say that, or if Sunfire and I just had the same wacky dream.

jfhlbuffy | September 12, 03:46 CET

jfhlbuffy,
I also had that same wacky dream.

barboo | September 12, 06:02 CET

Yeah, me too on the wacky dream part. That Eye said something to Giles and Anya. I think it came from there.
Good interview and I agree about the shabby treatment while Marti worked on Point Pleasant. No excuse for such things.

cheryl | September 12, 07:02 CET

I'm all emo today anyway, but producers making Marti cry in the limo - twice! - made me tear up. And the 9/11 talk was both informative 'bout the season, as well as fittin' about this day. Good questions, Jackal.

I like this lady - her writing, and her spirit, which just shines through whenever she's interviewed. I may not follow her into the Land of Medical Tropes, but I wish her eversowell.

(Man, I wish we'd institute a firm "no-assholes" policy at work for clients.)

QuoterGal | September 12, 11:03 CET

I thought the disruption of the Slayer line through reviving Buffy made sense. It was always clear in the mythology that the dead couldn't be brought back to their former lives. Buffy came closest but she wasn't the same. It was a violation of the laws of magic and nature and had consequences.

dreamlogic | September 12, 14:22 CET

Loved the interview, always enjoy Marti's work and her, as QG says above, spirit :)

zeitgeist | September 12, 17:33 CET

For some reason I thought Jackal is female. Hmmm, is there another Jackal-being roaming the WHEDONverse, or am I merely confused?

m'cookies actual | September 12, 19:01 CET

Jackal's male. Think I'm the only one in Whedon fandom.

Glad everyone enjoyed the interview, btw.

[ edited by Jackal on 2007-09-12 17:32 ]

Jackal | September 12, 20:26 CET

Thanks, and apologies, Jackal - it must have been one of those pesky hallucinations again.

m'cookies actual | September 12, 21:12 CET

When Giles and Anya went to visit the Eye of Botox (hee, hee), it told them that the First was here because of Buffy; Giles' interpretation later on was that her return from the dead created an imbalance (a force of Good that was not supposed to be here), which allowed the First (as an opposing force of Evil) to manifest itself in our dimension.

carpeffulgent | September 12, 22:03 CET

But hadn't it already manifested in the Buffyverse dimension when it appeared in "Amends", long before Buffy's second death?

I don't think they ever really explained it well but it was one of those points that I never found particularly important. It's the same with The First itself- it's not just a concept but part of everyone. It sort of makes sense that it can't control or manifest itself as living people, since they have choices and can choose to do either good or bad things, but in a sense we know that The First is invincible so it was nevet truly defeated.

I don't really understand why it chose to strike at that particular time though. Why wait til the original slayer is vastly experienced and powerful, having been a slayer for around seven years, even if she was brought back from the dead? And that there was another active slayer who could help her fight against The First? Why not try to kill Buffy back in season three or even before then?

carpeffulgent's explanation is the closest thing to a satisfactory answer I have heard, that the dark power used to resurrect Buffy, a force of good, perhaps gave The First the opportunity to balance it out. But as I said before, the fact that it was already in our dimension prior to her second death and resurrection means it doesn't entirely make sense. It doesn't seem any more powerful than it was- it could still create illusions and appear as any dead person before.

Razor | September 12, 22:45 CET