xander-related stories
Posted May 2nd 2009 10:10AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
Last week, I devoted my first
Jane After Dark column to my
top five Buffy moments. I was thrilled to read all the responses, both here on
TV Squad and at
Whedonesque, where the post was picked up. Fans of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer are a passionate bunch!
This week, I thought it would be fun to delve into my favorite Buffy hookups. One that didn't make the list but holds a special place in my heart is Giles and Joyce. It was a fleeting moment, but one that was fun and would have made for great storytelling had it continued.
But who to pair Buffy up with -- Spike, Angel or Riley? What about Spike and Drusilla? And while Willow and Tara had a special love affair, there's a lot to be said for Willow and Oz. And what of Xander? Sure, he and Anya had a fun romance, but his hookups with Cordelia and even Faith were intense in their own way.
Oh the choices! Read on for my thoughts, and please add your own in the comments below.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Top five Buffy hookups
Posted Apr 25th 2009 11:02AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: TV Royalty, TV on DVD, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
I'm starting a new column here on
TV Squad called "Jane After Dark." Some of you know I work the "night shift" here at the Squad, editing and scheduling posts into the wee hours. I'm a big multi-tasker, so I also use those hours to get caught up on all the great shows I've missed along the way.
Over the past year, I've watched some really cool shows, including
Six Feet Under,
The Sopranos,
Moonlight,
Weeds,
Entourage,
Gossip Girl, and many others. So I thought it would be fun to write about my After Dark musings, and I hope you'll chime in with your own thoughts about whatever I'm watching.
I just finished
Joss Whedon's magnificent
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I loved so many things about the show. No one could look as stylish as Buffy as she slayed those vampires. Angel and Spike were both hot in their own way. The love between Willow and Tara was sweet and gentle, but also powerful. And the characters continued to grow and evolve throughout the series. By the last episode, you really felt like you knew these characters and had grown right along with them.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Top five Buffy moments
Posted Aug 25th 2008 8:03AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Reality-Free
Picture this: back-to-back episodes of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Angel for over twelve hours; raffles, games and prizes; a
miniature diorama of The Magic Box, authentically detailed and ready to be auctioned off.
Sound like an outrageously fun event? To me, too, but it gets even better. All of the money raised at the Slay-a-thon, an annual event in Chicago, goes to the Make a Wish Foundation, to help sick kids live their dreams while they still can.
You know what I say about it, but what would the Scooby Gang say about the painstakingly detailed diorama of The Magic Box?
Continue reading Slay-a-thon pleases Buffy fans and raises money
Posted Jun 28th 2008 1:08PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Standout Episodes, Episode Reviews
Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.
(S04E10) Well, it was a close call, with the top three candidates separated by two votes or less. So while I almost got to experience the
Buffy musical experience with "Once More With Feeling," or the fifth season episode "The Body," it was instead the silent episode "Hush" that came out on top. Now, understand that this is by no means an intention to say that the entire series can be fully appreciated by one episode. In fact, I have every intention of watching the whole thing. Maybe I'll even give you guys season-by-season updates as I go along.
What I did learn from this is even several years after it's end,
Buffy and
Angel fans are as passionate today as they are about their favorite shows when they were on the air. And it makes me even more depressed at the poor treatment Whedon's other television masterpiece
Firefly got at the hands of FOX. Maybe if it had been on UPN or The WB, it would have had a chance to develop as Whedon envisioned. But to the matter at hand. How does someone who's never seen a single episode of
Buffy or
Angel take an experience like "Hush?"
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush
Posted Jan 11th 2007 10:02AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The date draws nearer for the debut of
Buffy Season 8 in comic book form. The first and second issues are now available for pre-order at Dark Horse comics. They'll be released on March 7th and April 4th respectively. Well, that's what the
Dark Horse website is reporting. In the comic book world, you never know what the actual release date is until the book is sitting in your hot little hands. (Somebody is going to have to explain that to me sometime - how an entire industry can build an expectation for procrastination within its audience. That would have worked wonders for me in college.)
We've shared
issue one spoilers with you in the past, but we've got some issue two insight as well. You'll find the skinny after the jump.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.Continue reading Buffy comic update: pre-orders and spoilers
Posted Aug 15th 2006 12:06PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(S01E12) What is regarded by many to not be one of the better seasons of this show, 'Prophecy Girl' is always highly regarded as a stand out episode, and rightly so. So much is set up for the remainder of the series, just from this episode. It's clear from watching even from the first episode that this episode was filmed before the show debuted, as there are scenes from this episode in the show's opening credits and, I believe, some of Buffy's nightmares in previous episodes.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (season finale)
Posted Jul 31st 2006 11:19PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(S01E10) The worst nightmare you can have is of an out of control, giggling clown wielding a knife. No wait, it's when you realize there's a class at school you've never been to, but you have to take an exam for it. Or is it going to class naked? Wait, why is that last one scary?
This episode has a theme that's used in a few others in later seasons, in particular the Halloween episodes where fears and costumes take over Sunnydale. It's a theme that definitely works well in providing opportunities for an equal share of drama (through the facing of fears) and humor.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Nightmares
Posted Jul 17th 2006 11:12PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(S01E08) I've caught season one of
Buffy a few times, between the reruns shown on TV and the DVD set I own. For some reason, when I started watching this episode, I was taken aback at how things were starting; Jenny Calendar was introduced this soon? And she's not a new teacher? Wait, I'm missing something here, right?
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I, Robot... You, Jane
Posted Jul 3rd 2006 11:03AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(S01E06) This was an exchange between my wife and I last night:
Me: "Hey, we've gotta watch another
Buffy tonight."
Wife: "Oh yeah, that's right. Which episode is it again?"
Me: "Um ... Oh yeah -- the one with the hyenas."
Wife: "Oooh ... ugh."
That pretty much sums up this episode. In fact, later this year, when I list my bottom five
Buffy episodes of all time, I'm pretty sure 'The Pack' will be on it.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Pack
Posted Jun 5th 2006 12:19PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Retro Squad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
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.
(S01E02) I neglected to mention in last week's review that this was really a two-part first episode, and we pick up from the cliffhanger of the previous week. Frequent TV Squad reader/commenter 'doc' was nice enough to send me a copy of the original unaired pilot (which, as commenter 'Sav' pointed out,
can be viewed on YouTube, though in poor quality), and it's got quite a few differences from this two-parter. But I'll save that for another post.
As I touched on a little last week, this is the episode where Jessie becomes a vampire and dies at the hands of Xander (though not exactly intentionally). There aren't a whole lot of shows that will introduce what seems like a main character, only to kill them off within one of the first episodes. The only other show that did this that immediately comes to mind is
The Shield with Terry Crowley, though I'm sure there are others.
Continue reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harvest
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