Season8-related stories
Posted Sep 25th 2009 3:09PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Joss Whedon
"But wait," you say. "There was a season eight?" Yes, there was. It was in
comic book form. And season eight will be in the same format. This is according to
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon.
If you haven't been reading the comics, shame on you. Without the restrictions of a television budget, some crazy cool things have been happening. Like Dawn growing to enormous size and Buffy teaming up with Dracula to take out a band of rogue Asian vampires. Also, Buffy travels to the future to meet Slayer-from-the-future Malaka Fray (who was in a previous comic series of her own).
Whedon is obviously a fan of comics. The good news is, in comic books, the series never has to end. We could all be enjoying
Buffy season 337 in a few centuries. Well, our descendants would be anyway. It's something to look forward to.
[Watch
clips and free episodes of Buffy at
SlashControl.]
Posted Nov 14th 2008 2:19PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: American Idol, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Judges, News and Gossip
I must confess, I really, really enjoy
American Idol. Sure, I could do without the mean-spirited auditions and the tacky group numbers reminiscent of
Up With People, but for the most part, it's a satisfying guilty pleasure.
It's not just the talented contestants that keep me watching, though. I like the judges and the way they interact with each other. I had really mixed feelings when I heard the news that
American Idol would be bringing on another judge: curious to see how she'd fit in with the others and what her style would be like, but nervous that she'd change the dynamic between the original three too much for my liking.
So imagine how I must be feeling now that this news has broken --
Paula Abdul is looking to leave American Idol to pursue other projects.
Continue reading Will Paula Abdul leave American Idol?
Posted Mar 7th 2008 4:23PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I12) I never really cared for the Dracula episode of
Buffy. It definitely had its funny moments, but having Dracula thrown into the Buffyverse lore was hard to stomach. Not to mention this ass had an easy time of wooing Buffy. Oh, and Xander too.
That said, this was a great issue. It marks the first of a series of issues written by TV
Buffy writer Drew Goddard, and the feeling from the show is captured perfectly. For some reason I wasn't able to say that as much before, but here I feel right at home.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate, Part 1
Posted Dec 14th 2007 3:41PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I08 & S08I09) I'm a bit late for both of these issues, but better late than never, right? Thankfully, for me, I was still able to get the first printing of both issues. For most people that doesn't mean squat, but I'm anal that way about the very few comics I buy these days.
Anyway, let's start with the first issue of this two-part review, which is actually the third part of the third story, and is the eighth issue.
OK, that sure was confusing ...
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You, Parts III & IV
Posted Oct 11th 2007 11:01AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I07) This issue starts out with the longest - and perhaps first - foray into flashback territory for this "season." I guess I could have gone through my well overplayed DVDs and checked the
referred-to episode for accuracy, but it seemed pretty dead-on to me.
Y'know, I love Giles and all, and I especially appreciate that he's a presence in this series, but I'm not really digging how cookie-cutter he seems, particularly in these last two issues. Is it just me or does he drink tea and clean his spectacles way too (stereotypically) often?
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You, Part II
Posted Sep 19th 2007 11:01AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I06) Even though this isse wasn't written by Joss, the capable hands of Brian K. Vaughan pulled off what I think feels very true to the Buffyverse. Faith was always one of my favorite characters from Buffy and Angel, and it's great to see her back again. And scenes with Giles? Even better.
It's been so long since I'd watched the last couple of seasons of
Buffy that I completely forgot that Principal Wood had a thing with Faith. Here we see that Wood is fully involved in the big baddiness of the world, and he and Faith are still quite a thing.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You, Part I
Posted Aug 2nd 2007 10:47AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I05) It seems the readers have spoken ... written ...
voted, and I will continue to review the "episodes" of
Buffy season 8. I agree with some of the sentiments left in the comments, though. While this is meant to be a canonical continuation of the TV series, it's not a TV series. This is a comic, and it feels like one. It can't replace the direction and the acting we saw on the small screen, and I don't believe it was ever meant to.
When one of your friends heads off to a faraway land and sends you a letter every week, it's not the same as them being there with you, but it sure is comforting to have them around, so-to-speak. It's like that, only not as desperate sounding.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chain
Posted Jul 31st 2007 9:53AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: TV Squad Polls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
Some of you may not know this already, but the latest issue of the
Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 8 comic hit stores last week, when originally it was slated to come out, I believe, this week. As I was picking up my copy, I got to wondering if the TV Squad readers even cared to have me continue to review them, especially with the news that
there will be a season 9 comic.
So, once again I'm going to take advantage of the use of polls and leave it up to you. While I'm definitely going to keep buying and reading these books, do you want me to continue to review them here for you? I'll check the results of the poll (after the jump) later this week and decide.
Continue reading Should I keep reviewing Buffy season 8?
Posted Jun 7th 2007 9:22AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I04) And thus ends the first arc of the new season of
Buffy. This issue was a bit all over the place. Some sections seemed to jump a bit too much, particularly in the first half of the book, though you could almost get the feeling that it wouldn't be done much differently had this been actually on television.
I will say this much for the series, though -- the "big bad" of the season is something of brilliance. Well played, Mr. Whedon.
Continue reading Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, Part 4
Posted May 3rd 2007 4:15PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Episode Reviews
(S08I03) It's pretty clear, when you're reading through these comics, that the budget that would be involved to make this a season of television would be through the roof. A gianormous Dawn, an army of thousands of undead and Willow's intense spells, all set in a castle in Scotland which is outfitted with a bunch of technology. Thank God for a medium that lets creativity go completely wild without budget worries.
If I've got one criticism for these books I'd have to say it's how the characters are drawn on the pages. The cover images (as you can see here to the right) are amazingly detailed and truly capture what we remember of the characters, but the inside pages have a bit to be desired.
Continue reading Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, Part 3
Posted Mar 16th 2007 9:29AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: OpEd, Horror, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(S08I01) Fans of
Buffy have waited a long time for something like this. It's not a new television season and it's not a movie, but when you think about it this could be the best way for it to return. You don't have ugly casting problems and the special effects budget isn't a concern at all. In fact, you can just kill off a major character in spectacular fashion and not worry that you just ruined an actor's livelihood.
If you haven't gone out and picked up this first issue of what's been blessed bu Joss Whedon as
Buffy the Vampire Slayer season eight, you might not want to read on, as there will be spoilers. Or if you're just cheap or too lazy to pick it up, you can come too.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, Part 1 (season premiere)
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