i work at mcdonal’s for 3 years is no that bad well in mexico is no that boring,a lot more costumers a lot more believe me!!!

i saw the SMG and JM bloopers always i see that part of the episode i remember her laughing

thats it sorry if i have typos or wherever my inglish is no that good

kip qthe good work comeing
and you’r awesome

ps : you ha a mexicoan fan

bere
tx

—Tony

I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy “HappyLand” especially the episode on “Fool for Love” which is one of my personal favorite episodes. But more about that later.

My “How I got into Buffy” story goes like this:

It was March 1997 (I get to count myself one of the lucky ones who has been with ‘Buffy’ from all the way back to the beginning) and I was in High School and one icky Saturday afternoon, I was terribly bored (March, in Michigan has the tendency of being cold, wet, snowy and windy all at the same time) and on TV they were showing “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Now I had been a fan of the movie (yeah I know) since I was about 13 or so, cheesy or not, it’s a fun premise.

So I flipped it on. “This isn’t right” I was watching it for a second when my Mom came in and mentioned that she had heard that they were making a Buffy show, so we sat down and watched “Welcome to the Hell Mouth” and “The Harvest” together”

Apparently the affiliate of the WB that we had was new (it just being aired in our area that previous fall) they were showing new content again on Saturdays to build viewers for new shows, like Buffy.

So immediately I loved it. “This is the best thing to come along in a long, long time! They really seem to have fairly normal teenage personas, and hey wow, that Angel guy is hot!! I have got to keep watching this!!!”

So when “Witch” came on the next week, I watched with eager anticipation.

And I don’t remember seeing another episode until “Graduation Day”

What happened? Life happened. I forgot that the reason that I didn’t know about a Buffy show was that I was too busy for reading anything that wasn’t academically relevant, or have the time to spend 1 hour a week watching TV. (Seriously between classes, swimming, music, honor’s society etc I was booked solid)

So I got re-introduced to Buffy by one of my best friends in college, where I don’t think I ever missed another broadcast until it went off the air. I think I even re-arranged some college classes around it.

I keep getting to chance to introduce others to Buffy, like my old college roommate, and I’m just overjoyed when they end up loving it, because come on, really, who wouldn’t?

The hardest part, I would have to say is getting people past the title “Buffy? you mean that wierd show about vampires?” I swear satire is lost on so many people.

Anyway, that’s pretty much how I got into Buffy.

Also, I was wondering if you ever did a show on the Buffy/Angel Crossover episodes, and how most of them were pretty much useless, with the exception for Fool for Love/Darla, because I think that would be interesting.

Thanks,

-kate

*ahem*

Great episode, loved the discussion… even if it’s all about Spike *cough*.

As for emailing me? There is a link on the site, and the email is easy to remember, upsidedownhappyland at gmail.com.

Thanks for the comment!

I am a new listener to “Happyland” and I’m slowly getting caught up with casts, and I think this might be the first cast that I heard right after it was uploaded. (yay)

I would have to put my “two-cents” in on the fact that I watched most of Buffy as it was Broadcast, but I enjoy the later seasons better.

Season Six is probably my favorite, right behind season 2&3 (its a tie right now) I liked it mainly because you saw the characters change, and so many shows don’t allow characters to change more than one episode, and then it’s back as if nothing ever happened.

I think that is one of the reasons why I like Buffy is that actions have consequences, and they are things that people remember later on. (even if its the simple “remember the time when we turned into our costumes?” ((ahh Ethan Rayne)))

I don’t have the time here, but if you let me know where to find your email, i would like to send you my conversion story.

-Kate

Eagerly awaiting the next episode!!

I’m watching the series backwards now. I have a couple more episodes of Season 7 to go, then I’m going to go back to 6. I remember starting over and getting through some of Season 3 but forgot where I left off.

Thanks for continuing to do the show, I subscribed on iTunes and will check out some of your older episodes while waiting for new ones.

I acctually avoid any fic’s that are by her because of this, but occasonally I’ll start a fic and not relize Kate wrote it until the bashing starts.

I’ve often commented to her that she should just leave them out of her fic’s if she hates them so much, and her fic’s would be steller and not be known as bashers. but hey its her fic.

Your Spander discussion reminded me of this very amusing video. I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHi2qnar2-I&feature=related

(yes, okay, slightly creepy, but still sexy).

As an English Major, I find myself wanting to watch the episodes in advance to listening to the podcast and then find myslef rewatching them afterward. You’ve brought a new light to my favorite show.

I really agreed with a lot of the points that you made about Harm and feel justified in saying that I also hope she makes an appearance in the Angel Season 6 comics.

Tabz

Did you ask the actors how old they thought their kids should be before they can watch, the adult scenes in Buffy/Angel?

To get more of my podcasts, you can subscribe through iTunes, or use the rss feed to subscribe through another podcatcher (like Juice), or you could simply scroll down and listen to them all through the player at the bottom of the page or grab them from the individual posts.

Just leave me a comment or an email, if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

chupachica.blogspot.com

Thanks!
K

I think that perhaps you give a bit too much weight to the Initiative storyline when assessing S4, AthenaMuze, since while it is a bad storyline, it takes up fewer episodes than any other (full) season’s storyline, and therefore most of the season consists of oftentimes very good standalone episodes. The fact that the season ends with “Restless” instead of “Primeval” shows that in the end the Initiative wasn’t really a very important part of the season anyway.

But that’s just my opinion as a S4 fan

Tabz, James and Jason, very entertaining – as usual.
Super show… who cares how long they run for?

I really like Rafa’s story. It’s great how a show can really impact on a person in a positive way. William Shatner said before making the Star Trek movies, that his best fan story was about a group of vets in Vietnam, who used to talk about their favourite episodes and credited it with helping keep them sane in the jungle. Just as BTVS helped inspire Rafa to overcome a crisis and also Allison from episode 9 after surviving Katrina and having to start alone at a new college.

I was also super excited that you paid some attention to one of my favorite episodes “Earshot.” I got into making buffy music vids awhile ago, and the first one I did (also the best one) was an episodic look at “Earshot.”

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pqW6LhsVtxs

Thanks for podcasting. I’ve been bit by the podcast bug and hope to get something going real soon. So thanks. Keep it up, and I can’t wait for the next cast.

Thought I’d give some comment-love, five comments hardly seems fair when I often help the Deadpan score 1000+ in a week…

I’ll be back later with less nonsense…

There also speculation on if she was a vengence demon as Cecily.

And Jason is so very awesome, Thanks again for your amazing contributions!

didnt they realise after they cast kahli as halfrek that some people would notice she was cecily so they gave her the little “william?” line? i think thats what it was…

Spike was sired in 1880 and the scene with Halfreck and Anya at the dinner table was at the beginning of the Russian Revolution, which was 1905.

In fact that scene was originally supposed to take place in the Renaissance or some other earlier time, but was changed when they realized that Halfreck wasn’t alive back then.

Great show btw. It was fun listening to you two have so much fun, and Jason, if you do a podcast, I will *so* be listening.

Halfreck and Spike knew each other when they were both human. Halfreck was Cecily, the woman William wrote poetry (effulgent)about and who rejected him and broke his heart. She obviously had a talent for inflicting pain and that is probably why she became a vengeance demon.

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
As for the speaking of SMG (and the rest really), I think we made a point to mention how difficult her stuff was. Remember, we were just offering up opinions from a more musical standpoint. Points to her for her hard work and great overall show, I don’t think anyone would say those were in question.

Also that is a very interesting point about Willow, I hadn’t thought of it! However, since we were just looking at the music this go, the character motivations were not in question, and it is well known that Aly asked not to sing.

I know, I hang my head in shame over the David Fury thing. I should have known sooner. I blanked.

Hee on the Dawn bit…

Finally… You are on! Just send me your HIGitB story and be ready to put something together soon and I’m totally up for it. But until I have a way to contact you, it’ll be up to you to send me that email. If you already have, then you should see something from me soon.

You asked if I would write a “How I got into Buffy, piece.” I will probably do that some other time, but I will have to think about it a little.

Let me also say that I listen to your podcast while I am cleaning house or filing away notes and articles for the book I am working on. I also listen to other Buffy podcasts. But for some reason it is yours that I feel most inspired by, and I don’t know why. As far as intellectual thought “Buffycast” is very good, and it is too bad that the guy in charge does not seem to be working anymore. But there is something about the quality of your voice, that opens up to sympathy and empathy, and makes it easy to listen to you. I say this to encourage you I just want to hear more from you, and encourage you to keep on going, with this podcast, because I enjoy you and it very much.

I will send you a longer version of this post by email.

Jerry

Also I recently sent you my How I Got Into Buffy story. I didn’t really appreciate how much the show made a difference in me until I sat down to write it (at work, while constantly flipping over to work e-mail when someone walked by my desk).

I just finished to listening to Episode 4 and I have to say it is very enjoyable.

I want to confirm something you said in your podcast, but offer a complimentary explanation. Among the BtVS fans I know, those who like the later seasons watched the show on DVD for the first time and those who like the earlier seasons watched the show on television. This is consistent among the ten or so BtVS fans I know.

Let me say that I am 47 and don’t own a television. (I haven’t owned a t.v. for about 17 years.) I watch my television on my computer when it comes out on DVD.

My girlfriend was a BtVS fan. She had Buffy DVDs for Season 2. I enjoyed the show and sought out, and eventually bought, the other six seasons. It was a mark for me of how television had changed since I gave up my television, that a show such as this, with Dickensian character development, and cinematic mise-en-scene and photography, could exist on television.

My girlfriend who watched the show as it appeared on television prefers the earlier season; I prefer the later seasons. (Season 6 with all of its “mistakes”, some of which, I believe, Whedon would not have allowed if he had been paying full attention, look closely at the editing in “Afterlife” for example.) The reason I believe this is true is because of “Arc.”

Those who watch the shows on DVD end up watching the seasons as if they were one piece of a long novel, that takes a few days to finish. The latter seasons are more embedded in season long narrative arcs and seven season long character arcs. Thus we watch the shows in a way that is very similar to reading a Dickens novel, and see more in the seasons that have less “one-off” shows and more character development and season narrative arc. The latter seasons are simply stronger on this, with Season 6 being the strongest “narrative arc” season.

I would go further. What those of us saw the show first on DVD, like about the earlier seasons are the episodes that show character development and change. Thus an episode such as “I Only Have Eyes for You” (S2E19)becomes more than a “monster of a week” episode, but a crucial episode in the revelation of the faults in Buffy’s character, and how she struggles to overcome them… but can’t.

There is another problem with the later seasons, that might strike some people on an unconscious level, but only cinephiles on a conscious level. The acting is better but the directing and editing really goes up and down in a dreadful way. Such elementary mistakes are made like not setting up the shots properly, crossing the axis of action, lack of eye-line match, not paying attention to how long a shot should last, etc. I expect these problems with normal television. (To avoid such problems everyday “bad” television reverts to very simple shot-reverse-shot mechanics.) But I don’t expect this from a Joss Whedon series.

I blame Marti Noxon, in this respect. I think that she was a great head-writer but not a great “film-maker”. (Some don’t seem to grant her even this much, but when she was second in command to Joss she wrote great episodes, and when she was able to simply act as “head writer” she guided the seasons brilliantly.) When Whedon was paying full attention to BtVS such simple cinematic mistakes did not occur, because Whedon is a television producer who has the heart and mind of a great film maker (Orson Welles, Hitchcock, Scorsese). To see this you only have to look at the episodes Whedon directed. (For instance “Who Are You?” in Season Four. Just watch the episode and pay attention to where Whedon positions his camera and when he cuts a shot; or look at the very Goddard-like jump-cuts in the scene between Riley and Faith-in-Buffy’s-Body.)

Episode to episode Season’s 6 and 7 are not a smooth ride. Even the best episodes are sometimes confused in the way they use the camera, while some episodes have great directors and come off perfectly. But those of us who first watched the latter seasons on DVD are able to see the season as a whole and not get lost in the forest of missteps.