I've been a bad Buffy fan....a very bad Buffy fan!
I completely forgot about March 10,which marked the 10 year anniversary of one of the best supernatural dramas on television,Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I suppose she and the Scoobies would forgive me(TPTB know they've had their share of memory mishaps)but the only way to truly make amends is to honor the salty goodness that Joss Whedon and company gave to us on a weekly basis by putting together a Top Ten list.
Not just any Top Ten,my own personal funastic favorite moments from most of the seven seasons! Man,that sounded way too peppy,even for me. Oh well,on with it!
10) Xander Declares His Independance
Xander Harris(Nicholas Brendon)was one of the key mainstays of the Scooby Gang,not to mention the first one of them to use the term"Scoobies". He's played many roles,as surrogate brother,wannabee boyfriend and the heart of the group. One of his best functions was,however,to be the fall guy. The one who took the hits and stumbled his way thru a demon assault. Everynow and then,he did rise to the occasion to kick some ass but a major fan favorite is when Xander turned all Renfield for Dracula in the season five opener,Buffy vs. Dracula. Here,towards the end of the episode,Xander vows to no longer be "everybody's butt monkey":
Personally,I thought he made a great"spider eating manbitch" but who am I to judge?
9) Giles Gets Down With His Demon Self
While Giles held the most reserved position in the group as Buffy's Watcher,it was always fun to see him shake and shimmy off the uberserious British veneer at times. During Season four,Giles got the chance to see the world thru a very different set of eyes,thanks to old buddy Ethan Rayne(Ethan was great,I wish they had done more with him). Here,Giles recruits the services of Spike(for pay,of course)to help him with this hocus pocus hullabaloo but not before getting some payback on Buffy's new mentor and college professor,Maggie Walsh:
8) Glory Flies The Unfriendly Skies
Many people were not fond of Season five Big Bad,Glory but I was not one of them. Glory was quite a challenge,being a hellgod with wicked fashion sense and random bouts of dementia which could only be quelled by sucking out the sanity in someone else's brain. In this clip,Glory nearly chows down on Dawn but winds up getting zapped elsewhere,thanks to Willow and Tara's combo mojo. Zapped to where,you might ask? Well,that's one of the kinks:
7) When Spike Met Buffy
I fell in love with BTVS in season two,when Spike first hit the scene. He was meant to be only a temporary villian but wound up sticking around til the very end of the series. The episode he appeared in,School Hard,is pretty much a BTVS classic that set a whole new tone for the show. Spike's character changed and evolved over the years,from Big Bad to reluctant ally to guilty pleasure to savior of the world. Take a gander at the very first meeting between the Slayer and William the Bloody,when he was all about the evil:
6) Spike And Dru Go Birding
Of course,you can't talk about season two without mentioning Drusilla,Spike's lady love and Angel's regret. The deadly duo cut a nice swarth thru Sunnydale in their day(or should I say night?)and a highlight of the show was Drusilla's mental meanderings which bordered on genius. In "Lie to Me",Spike gets a tad jealous of Dru's former fling with Angel(who only wants them both gone)and tries to discuss his feelings during her bonding time with her pet bird. Interesting side note,the vampire wannabee who insists on the "thirty seconds" tradition became Sarah Michelle Geller's co-star in the first Grudge movie. He didn't have a happy ending there,either:
5) Willow and Xander,Fearsome Vampire Lovers
Cordelia Chase always considered herself the center of the universe and in season three's "The Wish",she unwittingly recreated reality,thanks to vengeance demon Anyanka(who later followed in Cordy's romantic footsteps as Xander's girl). In this "brave new world",The Master has conquered Sunnydale and made Willow and Xander his top henchpersons. Here,the Sunnydale version of Spike & Dru demonstrate one of Joe Bob Briggs' criteria for good entertainment by having anyone die at anytime:
4) When Willows Collide
Willow's vampire alter ego proved to be so popular that she had a whole episode devoted to her,also in the third season. Once again,Anyanka aka Anya played a crucial role in bringing Vampire Willow back to a very different Sunnydale unlike the one where she could ride people in chains like ponies and had her seek out the more fuzzy Willow at the school library:
3) Buffy And Angelus' Duel of the Fates
Buffy and Angel's doomed romance has been the subject of many fan discussions and debates but all agree that the true climax of their relationship was in the season two finale that had both of them throwing down some major swordplay before the demon Acathla(hope I'm spelling that right)opened his big mouth to let loose the gates of hell. Buffy's having no choice but to slam the door shut with Angel as the key is out and out heartbreaking. One of my favorite bits in this whole sequence,however,is when Angelus has Our Girl backed up against the wall,taunting her as he strikes at her"No weapons,no friends,no hope. Take all that away,what's left?" She responds by catching the point of his sword like a Zen Master would a fly and saying" Me." You tell him,honey!:
2) Stuck Inside a Wacky Broadway Nightmare
Actually,the musical episode of Buffy is anything but a nightmare(for that,see the Seventh Heaven Valentine's Day singalong). It sets a high standard for any other show trying the same thing. Not only did Once More With Feeling showcase the talents of Anthony Stewart Head(who'll be humming a few tunes for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd),Amber Benson and James Marsters and give keen insight into the inner turmoils of the characters,it kept a sense of humor about whole unrealness of just suddenly bursting into song. A good example of that is the first Scooby group number,I've got a theory, and it could've been bunnies,you never know!:
1) Back to the Beginning
The final season of Buffy had it's ups and downs(thanks to Andrew)but one of the best parts of that season was when the First Evil lectured Spike on what was to come by appearing in reverse order as every major villian of the show. Getting all those folks together to contribute such small moments is a sign of the great connections forged between the actors and the creators of BTVS. It's also wicked damn cool:
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