Question: Evil, evil, evil. Making us wait a week to find out about the Spike movie is a fate worse than those tortuous weeks spent waiting for Scott "Scary" Savol to get voted off American Idol. Evil! - Tara Larsen
Ausiello: Um, did you just compare James Marsters to Scott Savol? I can’t be sure, but I’m fairly certain that’s a stakeworthy offense
Don’t you think if Spike were "the character that destroyed BtVS" Joss wouldn’t have kept him around for all those years...?
Joss doesn’t seem like the type to give in to the popularity of an actor. He seemed to be as intrigued with the character’s potential as most of Buffy’s fans were.
By the way, Buffy wasn’t destroyed...it passed on with dignity before it ran out of steam (unlike other shows *cough* Friends *cough*).
*rolls eyes* The only thing that Spike destroyed in BTVS was the Buffy/Poof and Buffy/Captain Steak&Potatoes relationships. If Spike was so detrimental to the show, he would have been gone in a flash - or in a cloud of dust. Har har.
This Spike-bashing, well the "insult-and-run", is getting fairly annoying. At least back it up with *something*.
You want evidence? Just look at S7. It’s by far the weakest season of them all. And it’s THE Spike centric season.
And than look at the treatment of the other characters to make his arcline possible. Xander pushed into the background. Buffy a superbitch. PodGiles. SlutFaith and a shadow of what she was in AtS. And look at the difference between Willow in AtS and the Willow in BtVS. She was also shoved into the background. If the main characters would shine, Spike is nowhere. His presence kept the other characters down, hence destroyed the show!
You say "If the main characters would shine..." well, Spike is a main character. Spike was the best part of the show and brought AtS a renewed life after an awful season 4. From the words you use to describe the characters, it seems you didn’t like anyone so stop nit picking!
I actually found season 4 to be the weakest of all the seasons. In fact, it was the only season to NOT make a lasting impression on my mind. Season 7, perhaps, was only ’weak’ because Joss and the writers had to cram so much into so little episodes. Each episode held too information, too many unanswered questions; but they had no choice. The show was ending and their story wasn’t even close to being finished. One reason why Spike was shown a lot in that season was because they had to give us more information that would validate his move to Angel.
Xander had to be pushed into the background. He was the eyes. He watched. He saw. That was his role. Aside from his jokes, he couldn’t provide anything to counteract the First’s objective.
PodGiles? Give me a break. Going back to England changed him, granted, but he wa still Giles. Only more anti-Spike because of Xander and Robin. What he failed to realize is that a vampire’s war is with the Slayer and a Slayer’s war is with the vampire. One wins. Period.
SlutFaith has ALWAYS been SlutFaith. Spike didn’t change that, kiddo. Her being "a shadow of herself" had to happen. She was out of control. I would think her in AtS would be important, not something to dismiss.
Willow in AtS was always magic-oriented. in BTVS, they were trying to control that. Yes, I see the difference, but not in the way you see it. Willow had to heal, to deal. If she was bombarded with everything else in the show, she would die emotionally. Willow, at the end of BTVS, was her true self. She shone; literally, white hair and all.
The main characters were not shoved in the background ALL the time. Buffy had her ep, Dawn had hers, Robin had his ep, Spike had his, Willow hers, etc... To say that every ep was Spike-centric is to ignore the entire S7 and what it tried to do.
Joss had and tried to give each character their respective time and I admire that desire.
But even the JossGod himself can’t please everyone.
Definite show stealer. I think that towards the end of AtS, it was Illyria that stole the show more than Spike did. Amy is just too talented. When I think of the end of AtS, I think of Wesley’s death scene with Illyria/Fred. I don’t think of Spike.
Maybe they dont leave email addys because they will probably get bombarded with the all too many spike fans out there (not that he wasnt a great charcater and all)
Claudia, I agree with you on almost everything. Even with podGiles I am afraid. Xander had nothing to do with killing Spike in LMPTM. He even supported Spike, lol.
S7 was the weakest. I know many Spike fans who agree with me. And the way they treated Willow, Giles and Xander was very poor. Buffy was a really unlikable. Way too many attention to the knew characters and boring potentials.
You remembered Illyria and Wes/Illyria more than Spike? *Thats* exactly what I meant. In the Bs7 the main characters were pushed into the background, cuz if they were 50% of their true potential, Spike would be nowhere! That’s why I meant with that *he* destroyed the show!
I’ve read in several interviews that all the actors loved their scenes with James because he brought so much energy to the scenes. They felt those scenes were easier or more natural. James as Spike boosted them and their acting. Examples of this are Tony, Alyson, Christian, just to name a few. They all wished they had had more scenes with him. I believe, even if for this reason only, Spike was an asset to both shows.
So, Giles showed his best in LMPTM???? Faith drooled as a slut over Spike’s abs, makes her more interesting?
I have nothing against James Marsters. He’s a great actor. But, so are the others. It’s what Spike did to the other characters whenever he is around that makes me disgust him. How much they have been kept down. Hell, they can’t even fight their own fight anymore, because he needs to get into Angel’s show (at Cordelia’s cost, who samefully got replaced by Spike in an extremely discusting way). Spike didn’t make the other characters great, he insulted them. If Spike was not in S7, the show would have been a LOT better.
S7 had too many characters for any of them to get major screen time (other than Buffy of course). Let’s see...Robin, Andrew, Kennedy, special guest star demons...not to mention all the new potentials. I believe if you timed how often each character was on the screen you wouldn’t find that Spike stole all the screen time.
He did have a major story for that season though. Hellooo-he won his soul! major issues to work through.
By the way, I thought the main reason Cordy’s story went the way it did was because the timing of Charisma’s pregnancy dictated that into the storyline.
Spike’s soul was a major arcline for him, and should not have been the major arcline for the season. Let alone the only one! That is bullocks. Not even Angel when he turned into Angelus was that the case, neither when he came back in S3.
It (Spike’s soul) wasn’t the major arcline for the season—it was a subplot. Like Willow coming to terms with her magic issues and turning all light instead of dark.
The major arc was the "girl power" thing with the potentials and Buffy & Faith.
If it were all about Spike, don’t you think they would have made a big deal out of him closing the Hellmouth? But they didn’t. They asked where he was and she said he did it and that was it. No "oh Spike saved us! He’s a big hero!" And they shouldn’t have said that, b/c he was part of the collective. They all saved the world.
On the "Angel" season 5 DVD, 100 th episode featurette JM says ’he felt he came over to "Angel" and stole the cookies.
Ain’t that the truth, he stole everyone’s cookies. Poor Wes, Gunn, Lorne, but mostly Angel, were swept aside so Cpt. Peroxide could shine brighter than anyone else. They gave Spike Champion status, put him down for the Shanshu and stuck him in nearly every scene Angel had. The writers were so obsessed with their shiny new toy they forgot about everybody except Fred.
As if we hadn’t had enough of him taking over the last two seasons of Buffy, with the disgusting Spuffy feast in S6 then ’I’ve got a soul now’ in S7.
The only thing evil about waiting for news about a Spike movie is if they are going to say yes.
The reason he was in so many scenes with Angel was because he and David played so well off each other. Spike was basically the comic relief of the season and they also wanted to use him as a foil for Angel.
To ignore the possiblity that the shanshu could have been about Spike is ridiculous given that they are both "Vampires with Souls". They both realized neither of them deserved it but neither could help wanting it anyway.
Joss himself said they were a great "couple" and the bickering was so reminecent of "The Odd Couple" to me (thanks to TVLand). If Spike ruined the season for you just because you don’t like his character...you are ignoring some of the best acting of the series from David, J, Alexis, and Amy.
In a way, Spike’s presence on "Angel" fulfilled the same purpose as his initial presence as a regular on "Buffy", which was to serve as a replacement Cordelia. Without her, they needed to bring in someone to tell our heroes that they were being stupid and that they were all going to die. Likewise, on "Angel", it was his job to rag on Angel and Co and remind them of their precarious situation at W&H. In both shows, he moves from being an outsider to being part of the main muscle, fighting alongside the respective crews.
I’m a huge Spike fan, but I’m actually a bit wary of the idea of a Spike-centric movie. I love seeing him as a foil, or the right-hand (left-hand?) man of the main character, whether it be Buffy or Angel, but I’m not sure how I feel about seeing him take the starring role. Of course, I also loved seeing him in charge in the early episodes of Season 2, so I guess we will all have to see how it pans out.
I think Spike ruined "Angel" season 5 for a lot of people. Just because Spike was given a soul on another show. It doesn’t mean he is entitled to be considered for the Shanshu. For four years it had absolutely nothing to do with him. It’s part of Angel’s journey and it should stay that way. To suggest Spike is worthy of the Shanshu is sacrilege, he has done nothing to deserve it. Spike saving the world in "Chosen" (with Angel’s help) doesn’t compare to all the times Angel has saved the world.
I hope they are not going to steal more of Angel’s story just to make a movie for Spike.
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