Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.
(S01E01) And it all started with this. Well, actually, if you want to be all anal about it, it started with the craptastic movie with Kristy Swanson and Donald Sutherland, but we won't go there ... much. What is interesting, though, is how anyone who's seen the movie can relate to some of what's spoken of in this episode -- Buffy burned down the school in L.A., left a life of slaying vampires there behind, had an old Watcher. Hey, it works.
One of the things that's made this show so special is its continuity and how one can follow the episodes of the first season and relate ahead to episodes in its last season. For example, Darla, who we later learn much more about as she relates to Angel. She even crosses over into the Angel series for a long spell, and one has to wonder if she was ever meant to take on such a prominent role of the Buffy lore.
A lot of people went into this pilot worrying about the movie; I know I did, and it's why I never watched it when it first aired. In fact, I didn't start watching this show until midway through season two, when several friends slapped me silly for not watching it. Obviously Joss was very successful in squashing those fears very early on.
An interesting thing I noticed in this episode was Buffy's dream sequence and how it features scenes which I believe are from far later episodes in the season. This seems very uncharacteristic of a pilot episode, to be sure.
The "head vampire" (besides the Master), Luke, should look familiar to Buffy fans. He appears in season two as The Judge, though obviously it's just the actor playing a different part. But dear lord, he's always one scary mother in anything I see him in.
The Jessie character is one I'll talk more about in the next episode. He's a particularly interesting character because he certainly appears at first to be a main player on the show, but we'll see next week that things can surprisingly change.
One last thing about the movie (really, I'll try not to keep bringing it up) that I noted is that Joss tossed out the "vampire sense" thing that Buffy had, where she'd get major cramps whenever a vampire was around. Obviously that would have put a big kink in the works as far as Angel goes, so I do wonder if that was the main reason for dumping it in the series.
Main points of interest in this episode:
- Cordelia started out as Buffy's friend.
- Jessie started out as a main player on the show.
- First appearance of Buffy, Giles, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Angel, the Master, Darla, Joyce Summers.
- Xander skateboarded?
Quote of the episode: (Actually, I chose two)
Giles: "Everything you've ever dreaded that was under your bed but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day -- they're all real."
Buffy: "What, you like, sent away for the Time-Life series?"
Giles: "Um...w-well...yes."
Buffy: "Did you get the free phone?"
Giles: "...the calendar."
Buffy: "Oh come on -- this is Sunnydale. How bad of an evil can there be?"
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-29-2006 @ 11:29PM
doc said...
This episode is even more interesting when you contrast it with the actual pilot. The one they made in order to sell the show. It is the same basic story as Welcome To The Hellmouth, only a shorter version. The biggest difference is that they had a different actress playing Willow in the pilot. It's hard to imagine what the show would have been without Alison Hannigan. I would have to double-check my video tape, but I think the Pilot also featured Carmine Giovinazzo, who went on to play Scott in Shasta McNasty and Danny on CSI:NY. :D
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5-30-2006 @ 12:02AM
Lampbane said...
Cordelia.
It's spelled Cordelia.
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5-30-2006 @ 1:07AM
purpleslog said...
Thank god BtVS avoided the curse of Eric Balfour and lasted 7 seasons.
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5-30-2006 @ 8:47AM
Dennis said...
I think that Charisma Carpenter should be cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming feature film and that Katharine McPhee should be cast as Wonder Woman on Smallville for the Wonder Woman/Diana Prince guest appearance. All they need are blue eye contacts.
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5-30-2006 @ 9:16AM
Val said...
I think this was an awesome piece of work for a pilot. This was my favorite show and I still miss it dearly. At least I have the DVDS.
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5-30-2006 @ 9:55AM
Michael said...
Big Buffy fan here so I'm excited about the summer catch-up on the episodes. Thanks for doing it.
And if I recall correctly, the entire first season of Buffy was completed before the first episode hit the airwaves. Thus, the scenes from the dream could be from later episodes in season one.
I seem to recall that Joss Whedon has stated he found having the entire season arc done and in the can before the episodes aired and not being able to change anything about it should fans not like it to be both really cool and terrifying all at the same time.
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5-30-2006 @ 11:07AM
Lacey said...
Oh man, I love Buffy. So this is going to be enjoyable for me.
And I enjoy that you're putting in quotes as well, because every single episode has at LEAST a couple lines that are absolutely hysterical, even if it's in a subtle kind of way. lol.
Looking forward to the next review.
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5-30-2006 @ 12:32PM
Keith McDuffee said...
doc -- I'd love to see that original pilot. Any idea where one can pick that up?
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5-30-2006 @ 12:59PM
MrsEldubya said...
This was one of my favorite shows of all time and also one that none of my friends would watch. This show was so hard for me to keep up with but I never missed it. We had a local WB station the first season and this was about the only show I watched on it. Then during the summer it switched to UPN. Imagine the horror when I sat down to watch the second season premier and it wasn't there. I had to try to tape it at odd hours on Chicago WGN until they dropped the WB lineup too. Finally our local NBC channel showed it at 2 am in the morning. I moved to NJ when Buffy moved to UPN. The horror was having a local WB and local UPN and I had to deal with Gilmore Girls and Buffy on at the same time. Yeah I know, you people don't care! The funny thing about all this, I was 36 years old and worried about GG and BtVS on tv. :)
Thanks for the retro articles on such a great show. I don't own this on DVD because it was being replayed so often that I didn't see the need. Maybe now that there are "new" dvds out I might have to go invest some money in it.
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5-30-2006 @ 7:48PM
Sav said...
Keith, you can watch the pilot at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr4AoXP5FP0&search=buffy%20pilot
Darla gets more screen time here than she did the rest of the series combined.
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5-30-2006 @ 10:12PM
mat said...
Great idea for a column!!! I might have to go out and buy the DVD's to keep up. -mat
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5-31-2006 @ 8:18AM
Michael said...
The good news for buying the DVDs is that FOX re-released them yesterday in slim line editions at a reduced cost.
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5-31-2006 @ 7:36PM
Pudie said...
I've been blogging Buffy & Angel, in a sense, over at Rotten Tomatoes for a few months now. I'll deffinetly be keeping track of this column, but I gotta say I'd much rather see it from a fresh perspective instead of someone who's seen it before. I think it takes a lot out of it when you don't know the twists that are coming.
If you want, you can check out my Buffy chronicles here.
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