bktheirregular (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bktheirregular) wrote2003-05-16 11:21 am
bktheirregular) wrote2003-05-16 11:21 am
Meanderings
I was a latecomer to the Buffy/Angel fandoms. By the time I discovered them, Doyle was already dead, Oz had driven off into the sunset, Faith had turned herself in, and Adam had just gone crunch.
This is how late I came to it: the first episode of "Buffy" I ever really watched was "Restless". And you can imagine how badly I was scratching my head at that.
Now, this also means that it wasn't until later that I saw Spike in his original Sid Vicious mode, so my first real impression of him came with the chip and the heart slowly falling for Buffy. So I suppose I'm looking at him backwards, but...
The Spike that popped into my head when I first began writing - heh, my first published fic was Spike POV - was of a character that had evil in him, but had something else clawing its way to the surface. "Like there's a bit of William that didn't get killed quite as dead as I'd like," I wrote somewhere. Now I know I'm not Joss or Mutant Enemy, and I don't have a right to make judgments on this sort of characterization, but looking back to the earlier Spike episodes doesn't give the lie to that judgment, so far as I can see.
He wasn't handled very well in the later seasons of "Buffy," that's true, but there were still some decent moments. And there's still potential.
Spike vs. Angel has always been a vicious conflict, and the last scene in "End of Days" doesn't change that, I don't think. They're never going to be buddies, not if the writers do it right.
I'm not saying it's going to work. There's a hundred and ninety-eight ways it could go wrong, and the odds aren't good. It feels like a ratings ploy to bring Spike in, much like what Voyager did with Seven of Nine a few years back. I gave them about four or five eps to make good on that. Of course, Voyager went into the tank completely, but there were a dozen other reasons for that.
I'm giving Joss and Mutant Enemy four or five eps to make good on Spike. They do it right, I'll stick with it, maybe even dedicate a blank tape or two to the cause. They frell it - I'm gone.
But I'm not making the call yet.
This is how late I came to it: the first episode of "Buffy" I ever really watched was "Restless". And you can imagine how badly I was scratching my head at that.
Now, this also means that it wasn't until later that I saw Spike in his original Sid Vicious mode, so my first real impression of him came with the chip and the heart slowly falling for Buffy. So I suppose I'm looking at him backwards, but...
The Spike that popped into my head when I first began writing - heh, my first published fic was Spike POV - was of a character that had evil in him, but had something else clawing its way to the surface. "Like there's a bit of William that didn't get killed quite as dead as I'd like," I wrote somewhere. Now I know I'm not Joss or Mutant Enemy, and I don't have a right to make judgments on this sort of characterization, but looking back to the earlier Spike episodes doesn't give the lie to that judgment, so far as I can see.
He wasn't handled very well in the later seasons of "Buffy," that's true, but there were still some decent moments. And there's still potential.
Spike vs. Angel has always been a vicious conflict, and the last scene in "End of Days" doesn't change that, I don't think. They're never going to be buddies, not if the writers do it right.
I'm not saying it's going to work. There's a hundred and ninety-eight ways it could go wrong, and the odds aren't good. It feels like a ratings ploy to bring Spike in, much like what Voyager did with Seven of Nine a few years back. I gave them about four or five eps to make good on that. Of course, Voyager went into the tank completely, but there were a dozen other reasons for that.
I'm giving Joss and Mutant Enemy four or five eps to make good on Spike. They do it right, I'll stick with it, maybe even dedicate a blank tape or two to the cause. They frell it - I'm gone.
But I'm not making the call yet.