Comic Vs TV what do you prefer?

[lady_windermere]

sueworld2003 said "Trouble is as beautifully done as they are, they mainly served to push home to me how much I miss seeing those characters in a live action format." I was wondering how many others felt the same. Two polls under the cut.


[Poll #1129330]

Comments

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

This probably needs a longer reply than I've got time for now, but in brief, I think it's all about consequences. 'Chosen' ended with an apparent victory, an happy ending: it's about liberation and empowerment. But in the real world, Buffy's actions would have some far-reaching consequences, both good and bad, and Season 8 is about exploring these. (That's why I think it's better seen as a sequel rather than a continuation: 'Chosen' was an ending, and S8 is a new story about what would happen next.)

Anyway, I think that Buffy's motives are still good ones: she sees herself as protecting the world from evil. But necessity and perhaps naivety have tempted her into making dubious moral choices. She's trying to convince herself that the robbery was just a harmless caper done for good reasons, but she's feeling guilty about it, leading to over-sensitivity. Until we get more evidence I don't know if her estrangement from Giles is because of this, but it's a logical deduction. Nor do I know if they're still working together despite their personal difficulties, or if they've formally seperated and now merely enemies of the same enemy - I expect we'll find out eventually.

Meanwhile, General Voll's accusation that the Slayers were setting themselves up as an unaccountable organisation above the law is proving disturbingly accurate. I said back at the time that Twilight - the organisation not the entity - was an unusual Buffyverse villain in that on the face of things, their objective was a perfectly reasonable and defensible one. (Jasmine would be the other good example). Like Angel in Season 5, Buffy in season 8 may well find that her usual black-and-white moral distinctions no longer work in the new, more adult situation she finds herself in.

As for the rest of it: we now know Twilight's plan, barring future revelations: the ending magic bit. I'm suspecting that both Buffy and Willow will have to do some serious reflection on how they feel about that, and whether or not they'd be justified in opposing Twilight at all. (And whether they'll end up on the same side, or opposite sides, even.) Who Twilight is and why he's doing this are still unknown for the moment; I suspect we'll get some more clues but no definitive answer in 8.11.

The rebellion by Simone's team of Slayers - already foreshadowed in two different issues - looks like it might be a major side-plot. One stemming directly from Buffy's own actions, of course, and putting new emphasis on General Voll's words about the menace to humanity Slayers pose. I'm expecting to see Simone pop up several times again before she's finally dealt with.

The whole business of the mole within Buffy's forces, and who will betray her - who may or may not be the same person - are still mysterious for now. So is the Dawn storyline; from Joss's hints, I'm pretty sure it won't be a case of "oh, now we know the tale of her and Kenny she'll be back to normal size again soon." I'm pretty sure that there'll be a bigger payoff than that; and also that Giant Dawn will get to do a bit more stomping before she's debiggened.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a very detailed reply, I really appreciate it.

It's just... that bank robbery changed the basics of Buffyverse so profoundly I don't know what to expect next. I won't be surprised to find out that Giles or Xander (or both) work for general Voll for the greater good; that Willow was time-travelling to Fray times during her "missing months"; that Faith has arrived from an alternate dimension where Buffy is still kept in a psychiatric ward. I feel that I lost my frame of reference.

I mean - when I was reading the first nine issues I thought I knew the characters. Now I discovered that I know nothing about this new Buffy. Maybe I know nothing about the others. And I don't know what to expect from them. Any character's storyarc may go in any direction. An in the end we'll find out that it's all just a dream or a glitch in a time rift.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

that bank robbery changed the basics of Buffyverse so profoundly I don't know what to expect next.

Would it still be an interesting story if you did always know what was going to happen next, though?

Anyway, from my point of view Buffy robbing a bank is much less of a shocking change than Angel going to work for Wolfram & Hart. I mean, can you imagine the mockery and massed cries of "WTF is Joss smoking?" if that change had happened in AtF insted of S5?

Buffy, on the other hand, has never hesitated to violate the law if it means saving innocent lives... starting right back when she burned down her school gymnasium. Now she's committing bigger crimes in order to be able to save lives in general on an ongoing basis, rather than specific individual lives. I'm not denying that she's crossed a line somewhere, but it looks to me that she's falling down a slippery slope rather than waking up one day and deciding to become a supervillain.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Would it still be an interesting story if you did always know what was going to happen next, though?

There is a difference between knowing and expecting. When I watch, say, BSG, I don't expect characters to turn into сissies. When I watch Lost I don't expect Sawyer turn into a perfect gentleman. I don't know what happens to them but I know their characters.

Buffy, on the other hand, has never hesitated to violate the law if it means saving innocent lives

Judging by Buffy's reaction it wasn't about saving innocent lives, it was about paying for the satellite system. That's frustrating.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

What do you think she needed the satellite system for?

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Exactly... Buffy thinks she's being proactive with pep. Better weapons and equipment mean that her Slayers can save even more innocent lives. And not die in the process.

Stealing bread to feed your starving children is a crime, but most people wouldn't call it immoral. Embezzling a million euros so your children will never have to go hungry again is a different matter. At what stage do you draw the line?

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Exactly and that's the beauty of it. Most fan criticism of the decision to activate the potentials has focussed on the possibility of there being some bad 'uns or of all of them suffering as Buffy did when she was the only one. Which completely misses the more interesting point that going from one to many *qualitiatively* changes everything. The world really is all different. Even if Buffy were to continue to act exactly as she always has done the scaling effects of her being one of many make the ethics of it completely different. One woman stealing a rocket launcher is an innovative solution to a seemingly intractable apocalyptic problem. 500 girls stealing 500 rocket launchers is a threat to world peace in and of itself.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

But to use that well trod phrase "because it's wrong". Buffy is making herself a target by thinking she is outside the law.

Should be 'fun' seeing how Joss makes her realise that fact...

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

What do you think she needed the satellite system for?

That's a million dollar question.I wonder if Joss has a valid answer or he just threw the robbery in for laughs.

[elisi]

Would it still be an interesting story if you did always know what was going to happen next, though?
That's not the issue. I have *no* idea what'll happen next in AtF. Anything is possible, literally. But everything that's happened (pretty much) is because of Angel's actions, and those actions have been very in character. Buffy robbing banks is *not* in character. I'd rather she'd set up a lap-dancing club. At least then the money would have been honest.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Buffy robbing banks is *not* in character.

Yes it is. Buffy robbing people not so much . Buffy stealing from corporations and risking raising insurance premiums. Exponentially much.

[elisi]

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Oh Joss what the fuck are you playing at here....