Weekly feature: Excerpt from original script

From Older And Far Away, when Dawn's wish causes everyone to be trapped in Buffy's house.

This scene with Anya & Buffy was a bit different in the original script:

ANYA: That's your friend from work?
BUFFY. Well... yeah. (beat) All the good ones got picked off by that lady with the wig. Lay off.'
ANYA: Hmm. Our friend is better.

Weekly feature: What to buy?

It's finally here! Georges Jeanty's 4th Buffy sketch book! Okay, maybe you're not as excited as I am, but I love them.

For 20 USD + shipping you get a autographed sketch book with a original head sketch on the cover (your choice) with 32 pages and B&W interior (probably one too many spelling errors, the previous books had them).

Here you can order the book, and here's a example of the kind of head sketch Jeanty draws.

Champion vs Hero

The terms "Hero" and "Champion" are used a lot on Buffy and Angel, and I've been a part of several "Are Angel a hero or not" arguments which can get confusing, so I think this definition of the terms written by Emmie (from slayalive.com) is handy:

"All heroes are champions, but not all champions are heroes.

A champion is a warrior who fights for the cause of others, be the cause good or ill. A hero is a warrior for good.

The terminology is a deliberate choice. As Giles puts it "Buffy is a hero, you see?" while Angel is a champion. Angel is the vampire with a soul who could go either way in the apocalypse. No one knows what side he'll land on, they only know he's pivotal. That's why he's not labeled simply a hero."

Source

It's still up for debate what is a good cause and what is not. I bet Angel would generally define himself a hero as well as a champion, and as much as I loathe some of his less un-heroic choices he didn't seem to feel bad enough about (I mainly thinking of him killing the demon slave in Not Fade Away), I would have to agree with him. Just as I would agree that any demon was a champion if he was working for someone else as a warrior.

Weekly feature: Excerpt from original script

From Seeing Red, the yuckiest bluarg-episode ever.

These lines were cut from the beginning of this scene, when Buffy finds Xander in his messy apartment.

"XANDER: (re:beer) Think there's still a cold one in the fridge. Haven't gotten around to busting the major appliances yet.
BUFFY: Thanks. Still a little early for me.
XANDER: The tyranny of the clock must be overthrown.
BUFFY: So how many coup d'etats is that?
XANDER: General Cirrhosis has seized control of the Liver parliment.
He smiles weakly, sips his beer. His pain is obvious, despite his jocularity."

The Move

More news on The Move. A interview with IDW on how the move is going to work, and their feelings about it. They're nice, funny and diplomatic. I can't imagine they're that happy on the inside tough.

Keep watching the buffyfest blog that I just linked to, they're likely to follow the story and update with articles and interviews (just beware of spoilers, they're not always that careful with marking them).

Buffy movie cover influenced by Twilight?

Bob Canada seems to think the new cover(no idea how new) for the Buffy movie is influenced by Twilight. In a bad way.

CLICK

Not that I agree completely with the blogger, but he has a point. Maybe the old cover was more fitting. But I also think the new cover goes hand in hand with the new dark/cool/intense trend for supernatural movie covers, which I don't really blame Twilight for. I for one aren't that into old-looking movies. Looking at it like that, it's good promotion.

The move: Bad idea? [spoilers?]

I had a change of heart regarding Angel's move to Darkhorse after reading this interview: Buffyfest (it could be spoilery)

Now I'm more scared than excited.

I'm so cranky now, after thinking this through. But not because of Angel, because of Spike. I was looking forward to years and years of the Spike ongoing, and now it's turned into a mini series, and that might be it.

"The main thing is that IDW has to wrap up their stories"

That line bothers me. They have to wrap up their stories. Considering what people have been telling me about the main series (still haven't gotten the chance to read past issue 27), saying they have to wrap up their stories would be like having to wrap up BtVS season 6 before it's time, even tough it might, like season 6, has to be told completely to be appreciated. Maybe if IDW had been given a chance, they could have made the ongoing great, and this is just a rough patch.

I really hate that it seems like Darkhorse "stole" the story from IDW. I was much happier believing IDW choose it.

"Yes, but believe me, it sucks to have too many characters in a single book"

They should have thought about that before buying the license. I'm really starting to think that I jumped to conclusions when I thought "Hey, this must mean they're going to release lots of stories, and have many people working on this".

I wonder if the "I saw some posts on Slayalive, and I know everyone wants an absolutely mathematical answer" line could have something to do with my "I want to know what exactly is canon and what is not" rant on there, lol. Glad to know I don't have to put all of my thoughts in a fanmail for a chance of Allie reading them.

And oh, I would really have liked to listen in to the "refreshing" phone call between Ryall and Allie. Drama, drama, drama.

-EDIT

I forgot to mention, that I heard there were some talk about how the license for Angel ends in 2011 (thus my line about the comics being stolen), and that's how Darkhorse got the license. Sneaky, sneaky, but so far, only rumours.

-EDIT AGAIN

"The main thing is that IDW has to wrap up their stories" I might have jumped to conclusions about that line. Might just mean that he's aware of the problem, not that he'll think that's what's going to happen. I'm still worried tough.

The joining of the verses.

According to statements from both IDW and Darkhorse, the Angel books will return to Darkhorse, while seemingly making many IDW comics canon, by coordinating the Angel series and Season 8's storylines.

Read Darkhorse's statement, and IDW's statement.

I am so happy. It seems like this will canonize a huge part of the IDW books, and once again join the two verses.

I hope we will find out exactly which comics are canon and which are not. This might seem silly to some people, but I really care about which stories are real, and can be "added" to the history of the character. Because I really want to know these characters, what they've been through, what they feel, and why.

I'm so happy that it seems like the verse have grown in just one day, making what some people can "glorified fanfiction" into the real deal. I hope I'm not getting too excited too fast, since canon hasn't even been mentioned, just that the storlines will be coordinated, but it sounds like it will canonize them, doesn't it?

I can't wait for Season 9. Season 8 hasn't turned out the way I hoped it would (The Twilight arc makes me sick) but now I'm really excited for whatever will happen in the next run. And I don't even like Angel as a character!

I wonder if Willow will meet Illyria and find out about Fred, and maybe about Giles not wanting to help Angel in Shells. Oh, the potential drama. And it will be nice to see if Xander have learned to behave around Angel now, and not to give Buffy shit over having dated him. It's not like Xander hasn't dated a redeemed demon himself.

Weekly feature: What to buy?

The perfect party treat for wanna-be vampires!

Vampire cupcakes. [Scroll down for recipe] When you bite, they bleed.

Of course, if you're lazy like me, you'll just do the last part of the recipe: puncture and dribble (with any kind of red stuff on a store bought cupcake).

Queen of the Slayers & Season 8 [Spoilers]

angelsclone over at slayalive.com brings up a few interesting comparisons between Season 8 and the non-canon Buffy novel Queen of the Slayers.

If you haven't seen the spoilery Jo Chen cover for issue 38 (if you want to see it, go here) and don't wish to be spoiled, don't continue reading:

"Has anybody read the novel "Queen of the Slayers" by Nancy Holder? There are a few tidbids within the novel that seem to have popped up in Season Eight that i thought i'd share and hear your thoughts..

1. The title itself has been used in "No Future For You", whom rogue slayer Genevieve used to describe Buffy.

2. Robin Wood takes a group of Slayers to the Hellmouth in Cleveland, this is Robin's current location in Season Eight.

3. They go to Tibet, and re-meet Oz. Tibet? Oz? sounds like "Retreat"?

4. Willow goes into a coma, but is somehow woken up by a kiss from her lover, Kennedy. Sounds a little like Satsu waking up Buffy from a coma with a kiss ay?

[[!SPOILERS!]]
5. Dawn goes into a coma, as she was The Key, and has a link to the Earth, which is crumbling because of the ensuing evil. Now after the cover reveal of #38 this got me thinking, could Dawn be in a coma in the cover as a result of whats happening in "Twilight/Last Gleaming"?

5. Buffy is then joined by both Angel and Spike's souls, and together they create an angelic daughter with all of their features. Now i know everyone hates the idea of Buffy being pregnant but this could be "The Seed"."

Source

Very interesting comparisons, don't you think? Could simply just be coincidences. Kennedy has after all already used a kiss Willow to cure Willow in Season 7 (The Killer In Me), and Oz being in Tibet is nothing new (read this scene), so both the book and series using that isn't weird. Together with the rest it gets spooky tough.

I think the theory on why Dawn is sick/dead/hurt on the cover could be correct. Her dying because of Buffy would cause some mayor grief on Buffy's part, and maybe that could make for interesting stories for Season 9 (but we did see Buffy deal with this sort of guilt before, when she sent Angel to Hell, so maybe it wouldn't be that interesting).

Fake preview art guy

Remember the fake issue 35 (of Season 8) preview I mentioned a while back, and that caused lots of talk around the Buffy online community? Click here to see it again (unless you haven't read issue 33).

It's very well made, but the common conlusion seemed to have been that it was a fake, since it looks traced, and nothing like what George Jeanty usually draws. It was later confirmed that whoever that said that was a real preview had been lying.

Turns out the guy who's art I showed here is the one who made it, and in his art thread at slayalive he has posted more art, some very very beautiful (if you're Spuffy fan, you have to see this George Jeanty styled piece).

Not sure if he meant to trick everyone with the fake preview (btw, here's another quite poignant one), he hasn't replied to my question about that yet, but you can't deny that the guy should have been hired by a comic book company yesterday, because he's so damn good.

Weekly feature: What to buy?

This month the parody movie Vampires Suck is in theaters. I'll definitly watch it, but I might wait for the DVD.

The directors/writers, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, have also done Scary Movie 1-4, Disaster Movie, Date Movie (starring Alyson Hannigan), Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie. I love the Scary Movies (the 5th one is in production according to imdb.com) and also like some of the others, so this will be a treat. It seems to mainly be mocking Twilight, but Buffy's on the poster as well, so she'll be in it. I love Buffy and like Twilight, but I cried from laughter when watching the trailer.

Weekly feature: Excerpt from original script

From Entropy, when Anya tries to take vengeance on Xander, and Buffy and Dawn non-shops.

"Buffy tries to lighten up the situation with her shoplifting sister in a line cut due to length:
'And, you know, maybe in a couple of months they'll let us visit the leather birthday jacket.'"

Weekly feature: What to buy?

The Season 8 motion comic is available on itunes and amazon now. Íf I remember correctly, one "issue" per week will be released. 19 issue are planned, adaptations of the 19 first issues of Season 8.

The DVD will be out January 4, 2011. Question is; Should I buy it? I'm facing a few reasons to buy, and quite a few not to buy.

Why should I buy it?

*It's Buffy. I feel like I should love it.

*It's sort of a collectible (I consider all merchandise a collectible).
*It supports the franchise.
*It might be entertaining.

Why should I not buy it?

*I've seen two clips(One from the The Long Way Home part 1 and one from Wolves at the Gate) and one trailer. The WatG clip as been taken of the internet, supposedly because a lot of people at whedonesque.com hated it. Because it's not good. The voice actors are crappy. I can do better, at least the Willow voice. I wonder if the actors and creators have seen Buffy and studied the characters at all. In that Wolves at the Gate clips, Buffy sounds like Cordelia. Which will be messed up if they air issue 20, which has both Cordelia and Buffy in it.
*People who have watched the first issue says they cut out lines.
*Joss Whedon or anyone who created the comic is not involved at all, might not even have been asked to be. This is a interpretation of the story Joss wanted to tell. How the lines are said, how he imagined the characters moving, it might all be off.
*It's not canon. It's a interpretation and summarization of canon, for the two reasons mention above.
*The comic book writers and artists are (supposedly) not getting payed for their work being used for the motion comic.

And the biggest con of all: The comic series is not done yet. How can the creaters of this motion comic know if they're cutting out something important to the story, or interpret it the wrong way? What if they cut out the panel or line that solves the entire Twilight-mystery? Will they have to create their own ending?

So what do you think? That's a whole lot of cons. Over at whedonesque.com, many don't want to pay if the writers and artists aren't getting payed, but I care more about that this is basically fanfic pretending to be canon, by people who aren't fans. I don't like paying for fanfic. It's one thing buying the fiction books or the non-canon comics, but they're usually a lot better than this.
Of course, I won't know how crappy the motion comic is until I buy it. Which means that I'll have to. Just like I'll have to watch the original Buffy movie one day, even tough Joss has been said to really dislike how it turned out.

Two of my sources: LINK and LINK

Preview for issue 36

Here's a preview page for issue 36 of Season 8, out the 1st of September. It was published in July 2010 Previews mag/catalog and a scan of the pagewas posted by Wenxian at slayalive.com. It's not specially spoilerific, and won't ruin the read for you.

Look

Willowswarlok premium format bust

Willowswarlok used a Buffy premium format sideshow cast to make this Chosen-Buffy bust. I've never seen anyone else use that sculpt to make a bust (red pants version or black dress version, I think it's the same sculpt).

Look here to know how it was made and for more pictures.

Weekly feature: Excerpt from original script

From Never Leave Me, when both Spike and Andrew are "under arrest" in the Summers house.

Remember when Anya & Xander interrogated Andrew, doing the good cop bad cop appproach?

"Xander continues to play good cop in this line cut due to length:
XANDER: 'I know. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I get that. But they don't. They need your answers. It does seem suspicious, you know, buying the blood.'
ANDREW: 'That blood wasn't for me. I was just buying meat.'"

The most beautiful fanart

Fenderlove (who won the darkhorse/slayalive art contest) has done another artpiece. It might be the most beautiful fanart I have ever seen.

The art

PS. The characters mentioned in the post are from the comics Spike Asylum, Spike Shadow Puppets and Angel After the fall.

James Marsters Media

At James Marster's site it's possible to see clips of him from movies, TV-shows, conventions, etc etc. Like the movie Winding Roads for example, which seems to be there in full. Not sure if it's legal or not tough, since it seems to be fans that upload.

Art-find.

Instead of babbling how amazing this Buffy art is, I'll just direct you to it.

CLICK

Scythe tattoo

Click here to check out this awesome Buffy tattoo.

At the moment I'm thinking about having one myself. Maybe of the schyte. Hard to choose. I want it to be unique, and and something I made myself, but I have so little art skill, it would look bad.

Beneath You version 2.

Apparently the original ending to Beneath You was significantly different from the aired version.
Click to read.

Weekly feature: What to buy?

Go out, buy some cookie dough and glasyr and stuff and start baking!

scarygothgirl made these yummy cookies off Kendra, Buffy, Faith, Willow, Giles and Xander (I think I matched the right character to the right cookie)

Btw, how hard is it not to giggle at cookie dough? Buffy's done baking, for sure :D

Weekly feature: Excerpt from original script

From Help (when the Scoobie gang tries to save a girl from her forseen death).

"Anya mistakenly councles a scorned woman instead of helping her seek vengeance in a scene cut due to length:
ANYA: 'What a creepazoid. It's like he didn't just forget your birthday, but the day on which, in keeping with moderna American tradition, one's life is celebrated. One's very self. He didn't celebrate your self.'
(But later...)
ANYA:'But anyway, this boyfriend of yours - it sounds like maybe he was trying to do what you wanted.'
(And later still...)
LULU: 'Thanks, you've been a big help.'
She exits. Anya smiles. until she realizes she didn't wreak any venegance. She looks up, but Lulu is gone.
ANYA: 'Wait..."'