June 07 2003
"Buffy" episodes we'll never get to see.
"There were always episodes of Buffy that I wanted to see, and now that it's all over, I know I never will". Daniel Erenberg lists some of his ideas.
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Shroomlet | June 07, 22:38 CET
friarfunk | June 08, 03:27 CET
I wish there had been more Xander-esque episodes, but in the present. We knew his family life was crap. It was best to learn about his friendship with Willow through their present day interaction. I wouldn't want to see it. That was a private thing between the two of them. If Buffy never experienced their closeness directly, we don't need to see it either. For awhile the writers were doing only one Xander-centric episode per season at most, like The Replacement for example where there were two Xanders, and I find that disappointing. He's one of my favorites. What I wanted to see more than anything, and simultaneously DIDN'T ever want to see, was Xander getting super powers. Even before he voiced it to Dawnie in season seven, we knew what was going on with the guy. His friends were witches, slayers, demons, werewolves and vampires.. okay maybe not vampires as friends cuz he never really liked Spike or Angel.. but his peers were all special in some way. And Xander's uniqueness was that he was uniquely normal among them. The show HAD to have ONE person for whom NOTHING like that EVER happened, but at the same time I just always wanted to see Xander get the brass ring. Just once.
I would have liked to see an episode where Xander gets powers that rival the slayer, but by episode's end Xander would learn that being super powered really sucks, and would sacrifice keeping his powers in order to save someone else's life. Sort of a "Zeppo Redux Turbo." We kinda get to see a story like this in "Superstar" where Jonathan has super powers but by the episode's end he loses them. It was Jonathan though. It wasn't Xander.
I've always felt the character Xander could stand alone better than any of the other characters. Zeppo proved that for me. They should have done more with Xander. They did a lot, but it was never enough.
I so agree with Erenberg on the invisible assassin plot. I thought the scene in the seven season where Buffy actually stopped a girl about to turn invisible, well that was a nice nod to this idea from the first season, but there was more potential there. The last scene in "Out of sight Out of mind" where the invisible girl was kinda adopted by the government, and met with all these other invisible people? I thought for certain that was gonna go somewhere. They could have introduced them in season four, since The Initiative was also a government project. Then in season six when Buffy herself turned invisible, might have been interesting to bring in an invisible somebody else then. Or maybe Riley coulda mentioned a secret operative he works with who can't be seen. However, we never heard a peep from the invisible army again. Maybe because they just observed and reported back.
Comic book writers for Dark Horse could NOW introduce a character who is invisible, who has seen EVERYTHING the Scoobies have done since the Master's fall. Someone who's been quietly in the room with them at all times for six years. And still follows them around. Then one day by pure chance Willow happens to see her. Maybe she's using spray paint or something. The door's still open there. Just not for the BtVS tv show.
That invisible army thing was a major opportunity that the M.E. writers just never went back to explore. Possibly cuz when you get down to it, a fight scene with invisible armies looks kinda stupid. If you've never seen the movie "Cave Dwellers" which was ridiculed by the Best Brains Gang on MST3K some years ago, I recommend it but only if you find the MST3K version. In that movie the lead characters fight with invisible bad guys and it's just really laughable stunt work. It sounds like a good idea but doesn't carry over very well visually.
Perhaps the reason we never actually saw a Tara Eulogy episode was because Whedon had already done that with Joyce. He probably simply had nothing new to say about that. Also, Joyce was the mother of the lead character - can't kill off the queen mother of anything without a big send off and "The Body" was definitely a dramatic goodbye to a character who had been there since the pilot. Tara was twice removed from Buffy, although there were times when we saw Tara and Buffy bond in ways no one else would ever understand (again I cite "The Body"). Still, Tara was Willow's lover, and therefore Buffy's friend by proxy. Likewise when it was Anya's time to go there wasn't a big send off, because she was Xander's ex-girlfriend, and therefore Buffy's friend by proxy. Tara & Anya were like ...in-laws. They weren't pureblood Scoobies. To Buffy they were kinda like second cousins. There's a pecking order to maintain, from a writer's perspective.
Bottom line there was no need for a eulogy to Tara. Whedon had said all there was to say about "human death by human means." Sometimes things just happen. People die. We mourn. We move forward. Sometimes life doesn't give us time to mourn. So you see.. It would have been nice to have all these things. To have more episodes and yes there was so much more to tell, but Whedon and the other writers said volumes in seven years. They said everything they wanted to say to us. They're done.
As for the rest? Well. That's what fan fiction is for. =)
ZachsMind | June 08, 04:44 CET
I so agree with the invisible girl thing - I remember thinking that when they first aired the episode here in the UK, right back years ago. And I'm sure there's loads more I've thought of in the past but can't remember now, but as you say, that's exactly what people writing fan fiction is there for. And me to go all wistful about...
[ edited by alpen on 2003-06-08 11:36 ]
alpen | June 08, 13:35 CET
I can't believe this is what I spend my extra brain cycles on...
lynsa | June 09, 09:47 CET
Simon | June 09, 12:46 CET
brother_grady | June 09, 17:12 CET
Joss' bitch | June 09, 22:31 CET