Buffy Series Finale Tonight

roothog writes "I just finished watching the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an episode that sparks with the writing of Joss Whedon. Strangely, there weren't any commercials :). One of the best written shows on television comes to an end tonight in North America. A very accurate script summary is available for any spoiler-seekers. I'd suggest skipping the spoilers: it's worth the wait...for a season 7 episode..."

this doesnt belong on slashdot

[Cromulent]

why dont you post a story about american idol too?

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Good Science Fiction

[LamerX]

I think that this show IS totally revelant to Slashdot. It comprises a genre, which totally appeals to nerds. It's so different for the kind of shows that we usually watch. Usually we are watching Space-Based sci fi, like Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, etc. But here is a down to Earth show that takes place on Earth. It's the classic Vampire horror, reborn into a modern reality. (Not to mention the hot girls!) It has everything that appeals to geeks.

Not trolling either

[dragoncortez]

why does this come up every time Slashdot posts an article on Buffy? I am a nerd, and it does matter to me. There are plenty of other nerds who also care about Buffy. The CNN article even makes a point of saying that nerds and other social outcasts could relate to the characters, and that this fueled the show's cult following. I mean, if you need a scifi tie-in, Nathan Fillion (the actor playing the major villain in the finale) was the captain on Firefly.

Don't worry no spoilers

[quantaman]

I watched it and it ended as well as it could have. The problem with this season has been the lack of definition. The fact that the First appears as dead people means that it doesn't really seem to have any strong characters of its own. They tried to have intermediate baddies like the Seekers. the uber-vamp, and finally Caleb but none of them really developed. Also there was alot of ambiguity in what the First wanted to do other than kill all the potential slayers and do general evil, along with any clear idea about what they were actually fighting. Many of the episodes suffered because there was no clearly defined goal or threat. In addition there were a lot of writing problems earlier in the season like everyone leaving town in fear of an apocalypse that wasn't manifesting itself at all. Over all this has probably been the weakest season due to these problems. That being said Joss Whedon did a very good job of pulling it up for the last episode and bringing the show to a good conclusion. Not one of their best episode but certainly one of the best this season, either way regardless of what I say you'll watch it anyways for the closure if nothing else :)

Re:Good Science Fiction

[pldms]

It has everything that appeals to geeks.

I don't know. The series initially had great geek appeal in the form of Willow, who spent years showing the Sunnydale Water Company that the system holding the sewer plans was hopelessly insecure.

Alas Willow went to college, discovered Wicca, and her laptop gathered dust.

The message for geeks is "you'll grow out of it". And, er, become a lesbian. And become addicted to magic.

Ok. Confusing message. But anti-geek.

(btw the finale demonstrates that you can't fix a bad season in the last episode. Good explosions, mind)

Re:Can someone please explain...

[tealover]

You have to understand that the series although seemingly about vampires and werewolves was a thinly veiled analysis of high school life and much of the symbolism explored the aspects of fitting in and getting bullied, two topics that practically all geeks can identify with.

Also, a couple of years ago there was the Columbine incident. John Katz wrote an article [slashdot.org] that to this date is still the second most visited story.

The name of the story is Voices From the HellMouth, a reference to the mystical portal from whence the creatures that Buffy battles come.

Re:Can someone please explain...

[Dr_LHA]

Unfortunately a couple of episodes won't do it for you. Try watching a whole season of Buffy and a whole season of Charmed and then come back and explain how you can't tell why one is good and one isn't. Buffy has a mythos and a running storyline in each season - you need to give it time. Everyone I know who had your opinion of Buffy has changed their opinion after watching it for a while.

Quite simply Buffy has been one of the best shows on TV, and some of the epidodes (e.g. Hush, The Body) rank amongst some of the best TV ever made. This is why people like it so much.

Buh-bye Buffy

Buffy is NOT Good Science Fiction

[WIAKywbfatw]

How in the hell is Buffy "good science fiction"?

OK, the "good" bit is open to debate but where's the "science fiction" that you're talking about?

Philip K Dick is science fiction. Ray Bradbury is science fiction. Isaac Asimov is science fiction. Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate are all science fiction (although, for Star Wars at least, the term space opera is more accurate) but Buffy is not.

Why? Because it's not science fiction. Period.

Buffy is fantasy fiction, just like Xena, Hercules, etc.

Pedantic perhaps but sci fi and fantasy are two seperate genres. Please, don't interchange the two.

After all, you wouldn't say Windows when you mean Linux would you?

Re:Censoring?

[lightspawn]

The endings (where the fights normally are) would become a rapid succession of cuts. Perhaps that's what the poster had in mind?

Now I see the pattern.

In europe, adults believe kids should not be exposed to violence.

In the states, adults believe kids should not be exposed to sexuality.

Re:this doesnt belong on slashdot

[colinramsay]

News for nerds mate. Sounds right to me.

Don't you bash...

[Anonymous Coward]

my show. I like BtVS. So there. Don't bash me cause you don't like it.

I don't like all your anime, but i don't come here slamming you.

Buffy is about quips and one liners and deep messages hidden in simple sentences. The reason you don't like it is cause you don't Understand it. But that's ok, we need slow minded twits. It takes all types to make a world.

Buffy is/was 7 years of hard work done by real people making a living. The show ended because Joss & Sarah were tired. Yeah, season 7 wasn't as good as say... season 2, but still, it was 7 seasons of hard work.

Name another Live Action TV show centered around Vampires, Demons and the Occult that lasted 7 years through many cast changes and a network switch.

Thrakos

Re:this doesnt belong on slashdot

[mattlary]

I think this does belong here; while I'm not a "Buffy" fan, I do realize that many members of the target audience would be interested in this story. The theme of this site is News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. While a story on Buffy may not be part of Stuff that matters, it could surely fit with News for Nerds. If there's a different theme for the site that I don't know about, I'd be interested to know what it is.

Re:Can someone please explain...

[lubricated]

The reason that Buffy makes it to slashdot is simple. The people that run slashdot like it. Therefore they choose to run Buffy stories. That's one of the perks of running your own website.

Either that or there's some kind of payoff.

Re:this doesnt belong on slashdot

[thegrommit]

Why? It's a show with *gasp* great writing and long running story arcs - unlike 99% of "prime time" TV. It's themes are understood by many "nerds" who didn't exactly enjoy high school.

A quick news google [google.com] might be worthwhile if you're judging it purely by it's title and pretty cast.

Re:Can someone please explain...

[vTalon]

There are a whole lot of reasons why Buffy rocks much...

1) It's fun. Cute woman with mad martial arts skills kicks bad monster ass every week. How can you complain?

2) It's clever. It takes cliches and flips them upside down. Joss Wedon (the show's creator) has stated that the inspiration for the show was the typical cute blond who gets cornered and savaged by the monster in your basic horror movie. What if the cute blond was ready for the monster, and kicked its ass instead? Reversals like that are fun.

3) It's funny -- and the geekier your are, the more sly references you get and the more you appreciate the interesting things that the writers do with the English language. From one character's comment that somebody "makes Godot look punctual" to Xander's perfect sumnation of the effects of an all-night study session: "too much research...need beverage," the writers delight in bouncing their jokes off of culture high and low, and in simply messing around with the language.

4) And, most importantly, the characters ring true. Every character on Buffy is well drawn, three dimensional. Even though they're combating fantastic monsters every week, the characters behave like real people, experiencing all the joy and hurt that real people experience. And the fantastical situations they run into are often just exagerations of events that all of us have experienced.

Basically, the show engages you on visceral, intellectual, and emotional levels; it's exciting, witty, and touching. What more could one ask?

to all the hatas

[kid zeus]

To all the bitter folks who spent time reading this post and then writing entries to the effect, 'Man, this topic is a waste of my time': Your brilliance is nothing short of astounding. It makes me take your criticisms of the show with dead seriousness. Yes, it actually IS the finest-written genre show yet on TV. Or WAS, I suppose. Thankfully Angel is still going strong. Actually, Angel may end up outstripping Buffy of her title, considering how it's been noticably better than B for the last few years. Still and all, you have to judge a series in its entirety, and Buffy is done. Sadness. Please, to the Buffy-haters, please, please, please waste more time reading this post and responding negatively. My estimation of you will only skyrocket.

Re:Huh?

[Brendan Byrd]

I could quote a few episodes of X-Files that were absolute shit, too. Unforunately, long-running series are at the whim of multiple show writers, some of them bad.

Besides you wouldn't be a deprived geek and "different" person if you were reading Slashdot, News for Nerds. At least I'm not reading Ain't It Cool News or videotaping myself waving a shower rod in crazy motions.

Re:A bad end to a great show

[Amtiskaw]

The "First Evil" (a human name for something timeless) is the thing from which evil was borne. That from which all of the seven deadly sins find their roots.

Yes I know all that, but it still says nothing about what it really is, where did it come from? Why is it an intelligence force, yet non-corporeal? Why was it 'evil' in the first place? Does evil even exist outside the concepts of human morality?

Its grand plan? It told us; it's tired of the balance of good versus evil. It's coming home to roost, and that's that.

Coming home to roost is a the plan of a Rooster, not the ultimate personifcation of evil. If it was evil, why did it care about the balance of good and evil?

Having already seen the finale I wont comment on Spikes place in the firsts great plan.

My guess would be the 'First' was raising its army. Why send small groups out when you could hit with full, brutal force and crush your enemies? Also, the one it brought out initially was quite possibly (probably) a test. What, exactly, is this slayer capable of?

Test? What does it care about testing for, its supposed to be trying to wipe out the slayer line. And since its supposed to be a part of every evil thing that ever lived, I'd say it has a fairly good idea of what Buffy is capable off. Plus, why did it bother with rigmarole of kinapping spike and hanging him over the seal? Other episodes have made it clear that it only takes a bit of blood (not even human blood) to get it open. Why not just have caleb go down to the butchers, buy some blood and unleash its army through the seal before the slayer even knew what was going on?

If you can take out the supply lines before sending your men into battle, all the better. The last thing the 'First' needs is for slayers to continue to pop up as a replenishing source of opposition. Terminate them as mere weak humans and you solve a lot of problems later on.

Sure, great. But it was specifically stated that there was a weakness in the slayer line that meant now was a good time for it to launch this offensive. Remember the crap with the Baldurs Eye or whatever it was called. And yet there has no follow up as to exactly why it is a weakness or why it couldn't have launched this plan before.

Divide and conquor. It meant the same as it did for Willow; it asked Willow to kill herself (Willow being powerful, and therefore a potential threat), and it wanted to create (our favourite acronym) Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the Summers household.

No, the first is non-corporeal and the entity(s) in the house with Dawn definitely did physical things, so it couldn't have been the First. Plus, distract Buffy from what front lines? The only reason Buffy ever knew it was the First was because it launched its pointless kidnap of Spike.

Re:A sad farewell

[SLot]

Buffy, Willow and Xander are gonna have a tough time

As long as Alyson Hannigan carries a flute with her and keeps making pictures like this [fortunecity.co.uk] , I don't think she's gonna have much of a problems escaping being typecast. ;)