Not Even For The Nostalgia: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 25th Anniversary Collection Flops!

The Good: Moments of concept, TMNT is not terrible, Moments of performance
The Bad: Terrible writing, Repetitive plots, Often atrocious effects, Inconsistent acting/casting
The Basics: The four-pack Blu-Ray Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 25th Anniversary Collection illustrates just how bad comic book-based movies can be.


When the woman who would become my wife came into my life, nothing drove home the difference in ages between us to me like her affinity for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Some of my peers were into the animated television series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but by the time the live action films had begun, most were beyond that. My charge when babysitting, however, was a huge fan. So, it turns out, is my wife. As a result, for one of our anniversaries, I picked her up the boxed set Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 25th Anniversary Collection, a four DVD set that compiles the four live action/CGI Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.

Those who have a nostalgic attachment to the franchise, these films might be gold, but it is hard to imagine who exactly might get good mileage out of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 25th Anniversary Collection. This film “saga” it that bad.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 25th Anniversary Collection is a simple compilation pack of:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret Of The Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles In Time
TMNT
with no additional discs or bonus features than on the original DVD/Blu-Ray release. There are, however, booklets, cards and other collectible swag in the pizza box collector’s edition of the films.

For those unfamiliar with the franchise, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are, as their name suggests, four turtles who were mutated through exposure to a green mutagenic goo that made them giant, bipedal, and exceptionally smart. Trained by a rat with similar size and intelligence, Master Splinter, the four turtles – Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo – train to become powerful vigilantes. However, because they have the mentalities of teenagers, they crack wise, eat lots of pizza and make a mess of things about as much as they actually protect people. Aided by the intrepid reporter April O’Neil and the slacker Casey Jones, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fight crime in the form of the evil Shredder, his mutants, and similar villains.

After a couple turns with Shredder, the Turtles return for a time travel adventure, before a stylistic overhaul for the final installment. This makes for an exceptionally erratic viewing experience. When the first three films are basically live-action actors running around in foam rubber suits (albeit, by the third they had the technical details of the suits worked out better than the first two installments) and the final movie is a computer generated animated work, it is hard to watch them one after another and feel like one is watching something set in the same universe.

The acting throughout the series is homogenously bad, though for TMNT, the voice actors are of a caliber that makes the film viewable, at the very least. But, more often than not, the fights look cheesy by any standard, the actors miss eye-lines and have awkward line deliveries, which makes the movies less campy and more terrible.

The plots are pretty obvious, repetitive heroic plots, with a little bit of teenage/group dynamic angst thrown in the last three movies to make a pass at character development. It is, however, only a passing attempt and these films are much more about fights and zany one-liners that the producers hoped would make it onto merchandising. For serious cinephiles, this is a set that may be easily passed by.

For other film collections, please visit my reviews of:
The Dark Knight Trilogy
The Harry Potter Saga
The Back To The Future Trilogy

2/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Reworking And Rebooting TMNT Makes For A Better Franchise Outing!

The Good: Voice acting, Animation, Moments of story
The Bad: Predictable plot progression, Light on character development, Attempts at humor
The Basics: After reuniting, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles must fight an enemy that is bent on world domination after three thousand years.


With the impending cinematic reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles taking a lot of flack for the rumored reworking of the origin story of the Turtles as aliens, I thought it was worth throwing my two cents as a reviewer out. The idea is not an inherently bad one. In fact, the idea of almost entirely reworking the origin story and franchise to make something new, but with familiar elements, might be the only real chance for success that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cinematic franchise has at this point. One need look no further than TMNT to see the crux of this argument. TMNT was a continuation of the character arcs of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles redressed in a CG animated presentation.

The result is less of a rebooting and more of an awkward progression than both fans and the general moviegoing public were able to accept. The reason for this is surprisingly understandable in rational terms: TMNT failed to engage its audience because it was too concerned with maintaining fidelity to the original, as opposed to working out the kinks from the prior live action films (outside the obvious issues with having live-action giant talking turtles). TMNT has the same weaknesses of character and dialogue as the prior installments, though it is more interesting in plot and form than the prior three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. If the movie had had the courage to strive for originality instead of trying to keep the lame humor of the original franchise, it might have actually worked. So, with the impending reboot, perhaps a radical change of direction is what the franchise actually needs.

That said, TMNT is more average than either extraordinary or awful.

After a primer that describes the story of an ancient warrior who opened a mystical gateway, in the process encasing his generals in stone, the present finds strange things happening in New York City. At night, an armored vigilante (Nightwatcher) works to save ordinary citizens and mysterious creatures are glimpsed. In Central America, April O’Neil hunts down Leonardo, who she fills in about the state of her friends. The other teenage mutant ninja turtles have gotten jobs or are, apparently, loafing about. O’Neil convinces the leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to return to New York City.

There, the tycoon Winters has assembled all he needs to utilize the stone warriors left behind three thousand years ago. He begins capturing the mutant creatures around the City that will allow him to open the magical portal. While he seeks to assemble the thirteen monsters that might break the ancient curse, the villainous Karai wants to use the portal's power to gain more power, possibly enough to dominate the world. As the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come back together and train, they become the fighting force needed to take on their new enemy.

TMNT abandons the live-action format of the first three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films in favor of a sophisticated computer generated animation style similar to The Clone Wars (reviewed here!). In its plot progression, TMNT feels quite a bit like Gargoyles, albeit with the “gargoyles” not utilized as the main characters.

In every way, TMNT is an average fantasy action film and there is an appropriately epic sense to it. The mood of danger and importance – enhanced by a decent score – is diminished by the dialogue. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are ridiculous protagonists and their use of humor diminishes the serious tone director and (bafflingly, because he seems to be working at cross-purposes) co-writer Kevin Munroe otherwise creates.

On the acting front, TMNT succeeds where the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films failed simply through amazing casting. When the vocal talents of Laurence Fishburne, Patrick Stewart, and Mako are employed, it is hard to argue with the results. In fact, no matter how bad the dialogue is at various points, the voice acting – even by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who voices April O’Neil – is expressive and well-defined. It is not the fault of the performers that they are given often inane lines to read with characters that are hardly distinct or entirely compelling.

On Blu-Ray, TMNT comes as a “movie only” option, though it looks great in HD. Regardless, it is a very average film.

For prior installments in the series, please check out my reviews of:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret Of The Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles In Time

5/10

Check out how this movie stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Movie Review Index Page for a listing of every film I have reviewed, from best to worst!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Another Overrated Japanese Horror Movie Remake: The Grudge

The Good: Moments of concept
The Bad: Lack of character, Very basic plot, Sacrifices substance for style
The Basics: Despite its near-constant moments of shocking horror images that reverse events, The Grudge is most scary for the way it portrays women as objects to be slaughtered.


The best joke I've made in recent days, which will no doubt translate quite poorly in this medium, involved watching two movies that I think were just terrible with the same person. A few days ago, a friend and I subjected ourselves to the lame disappointment Scary Movie 4 (reviewed here!). Throughout that viewing, my friend tried to fill me in on the references to The Grudge, which I had not seen. The information my friend provided did not make Scary Movie 4 any funnier. So, when we sat down and watched The Grudge this weekend, I was surprised by my friend's justification of the movie; "It's much scarier on the big screen, with an audience of screaming teenage girls." Well, I have a pretty big screen television but I've never been one to import an audience of teenage girls to improve the quality of a movie - any movie that hinges on such an esoteric device might need to be reconsidered. So, my reaction at the end of the movie was to note as dryly as possible, "That movie was ripe for parody. Someone should make a comedy out of that." Sigh. Humor sometimes does not transcend the moment.

Karen Davis, a student and home health aide, is working in Japan where she is assigned to the house of a catatonic woman whose aide has gone missing. Karen begins to care for the elderly Emma while strange things begin to happen in the house that she is working in. While Karen begins to be tormented by nightmarish images of a creepy little boy and hair growing out of the ceiling, we journey back to when Emma moved into the house with her family and they were tormented to death by a similar force. And eventually, Karen is able to witness the cause of the home's curse, but that knowledge exacts some heavy prices.

I can live with foreign films. I've no problem reading subtitles, I am open to the cultural diversity of the world and I embrace the occasional foreign film to sit down and raise my sense of living in a world larger than the United States. That said, I'm having a lot of trouble with movies that are American remakes of foreign films. They seem utterly pointless to me. Movies like Dark Water and The Grudge put American characters in situations with Japanese cultural values and superstitions and expect American audiences to both understand and accept the character's actions. This was cripplingly bad in the way Dark Water resolved itself, in The Grudge, at least we have the excuse that the action takes place in Japan.

So, where The Grudge falls completely apart is in the character aspect. We have Americans in Japan who are so un-American, or culturally sensitive to the apparent Japanese way, as to allow themselves to be slaughtered by evil without giving a fight. Please! Jennifer Williams - Emma's daughter-in-law - and Karen Davis are American women trapped in some form of Japanese cultural identification. Americans: we're the Ripleys, the Leia's, the Violet and Corkey's. We don't wait for evil to crawl over and kill us. We pick up a blaster, we arm up and go into the den of evil to blow things up and we con the enemy out of everything we need to get well off the evils of those who oppose us.

Not so in The Grudge. Yes, there are men killed, but the female characters wait around for it to happen. Evil in the universe of The Grudge could be one-legged, blind, deaf, mute, have three fingers on one hand, and emit an odor that would warn of its advance three hundred miles away and the female characters would wait patiently for it to arrive, possibly baking cookies while they waited for evil to slaughter them. In The Grudge the men hold all of the answers, the women are either cannon fodder or simply witnesses.

That latter point is what keeps The Grudge from being at all entertaining and is the true dump of the movie. The Grudge focuses, more or less, on Karen Davis and the truth is Karen does not DO much in The Grudge. She walks around, she witnesses. She does not cause nor thwart evil. She simply learns what it is. The process of the movie is simply Karen having the truth slowly revealed to her about what happened in the house.

The thing is, the men already know. One of the two inspectors mentions what was found in the house three years prior. Wow, there's a cultural difference that makes one wonder why The Grudge had any popularity in the U.S.; the men know that evil is in the house and it's pretty unrelenting to destroy those who come in contact with it, but they let more people move into the house. If The Grudge were an American movie, the evil would have been thwarted by Karen, the house would have been utterly destroyed so as not to perpetuate the evil and any sequel would involve suing every man who knew about it for criminal negligence.

Karen Davis is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and it's tragic to watch the star play such a bland role. Gellar was never the most intriguing member of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer ensemble (ironically), but at least she was given a decent character she could play that would be dynamic. Karen Davis is bland and Gellar plays her with big, open eyes and almost slack-jawed shock throughout the entire movie. Perhaps Gellar did not understand the script or the lines being delivered to her character, but Karen is a terribly insulting role for any strong woman (for example, her boss at the agency demeaningly tells her "You're ready for it" before sending her to work at the house).

At least with the brutality and indifference we see throughout this movie directed at women we can understand why a theater of teenage girls would be screaming.

For other works with Sarah Michelle Gellar, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Southland Tales
Scooby-Doo
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

2/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Summer Lackluster Is Defined By Scooby-Doo.

The Good: Linda Cardellini!
The Bad: Script, Plot, Lame attempts at humor, Ridiculous acting and poor characters
The Basics: In a just terrible adaptation of the animated series, Scooby-Doo and company journey to an evil island to reconcile their differences. Predictable, not funny and bland.


Some people don't realize how good they have it. That's my theory of Hollywood. If people realized how good they have their lives and careers, NBC would not have canceled Freaks And Geeks and Sarah Michelle Gellar would not resist being a cult t.v. heroine and the idol of millions and rejected further work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer in favor of getting movie roles. However, Gellar was a diva and NBC was piloted by idiots and this is the type of schlock you get: Scooby-Doo.

Scooby-Doo follows the breakup and reunion of the classic crime solving quintet led by Fred. Fred is basically a poser, backed by the brains of Velma and worshipped by the pointless diva Daphne. The group is rounded out by the addle-brained Shaggy and the dog Scooby-Doo. Reunited on an island to solve a mystery of the malevolent force that is taking over young people, the group soon finds themselves falling victim to their old resentments and then learning the greatest lesson of all, which is how each of them contributes to the group to make them the best solvers of mysteries ever.

I still don't get what the point of Daphne is outside looking good. She doesn't really solve the crimes and it becomes evident early on that she is more of a liability than an asset to the group.

That said, the real victim of this movie, outside the audience - which is subjected to an hour of lame humor derived from dogs and urination and possible pot smoking -, is Linda Cardellini. Cardellini is a young actress who has amazing potential that she clearly illustrated as the star of Freaks And Geeks. Here, she is stuck in the role of Velma, which she plays well, but we have to ask how did her movie options get so bad so quickly? This is a young woman who has acting talent, looks good and can handle presenting difficult dialog and genuine human emotions. How does someone like that end up as an appendage to a computer generated dog?

Scooby-Doo, the actual dog, illustrates yet another example of how CGI creators need a good dose of reality. The dog looks like he is computer generated, sticking out in every frame just as sure as he was a cartoon in a live-action movie. He is often lit completely wrong (i.e. in a room lit from above, his underbelly has the same shades as the top of his head) and moves in a completely inorganic way. Sure, he's a talking dog (if you can understand what he's saying), but the point of using computer generated effects is to put into reality those things which are not, while making them seem like they are. Scooby-Doo fails to convince us he is a talking dog surrounded by people who accept that and not a poorly-written computer program designed to deceive us.

Outside Cardellini, the acting is terrible. Poor Rowan Atkinson, whose brief cameo in Scooby-Doo made me seriously depressed. Matthew Lillard, who plays Shaggy, was well cast for his body-type and sound of his voice, but beyond that he has no screen charisma. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a diva no different from how she plays Buffy the vampire slayer. That is to say that she seemed here like Buffy gone bratty, like the few outbursts Gellar portrayed Buffy having at the beginning of the second season, and as a result Daphne seems like more of a withered appendage to the group.

The real loser is Freddy Prinze Jr. He plays Fred as a preening, self-assured egoist who seems confident he could have any woman he wants. That's Fred's character, fine. It's also how Prinze Jr. appeared on the talk shows and such while promoting this movie. In the end, he comes off as just another pretty face trying to make good at acting. He has less charisma than the CGI dog.

There are no deeper messages in this movie, no redeeming morals to make this anything but a waste of time. In fact, if anything, maybe it has just the opposite. As I write this, it occurs to me that maybe Daphne's sole purpose is to be the damsel in distress for Fred. Who needs a movie like that, where the hero is a jerk who puts everyone on his team down and needs one of them in a position of inferiority in order to enhance his standing? Not me. And not you, either.

For other works with Rowan Atkinson, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Love, Actually
The Lion King
Blackadder

1/10

For other movie reviews, please be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The End Of An Unexpected Empire: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Seven!

The Good: Excellent character development, Solid acting, Interesting plot
The Bad: Sad reuse of old plot devices
The Basics: The heroes who surround Buffy unite to stop the Origin of evil or go out with a bang trying in a very successful conclusion to the series.


It is a rare thing that a television show, no matter how popular, can raise itself from being a show on television to being a phenomenon that people want to spend their weekends pursuing. By that, I mean it's rare for a show to be so successful with a core of people that they will travel the country on the weekends to go to conventions and events where they can meet the stars from the show, meet others who share their passion and/or hang out with other devotees watching the show. That's why there are Star Trek and Star Wars conventions, but not NYPD Blue conventions (though I'd go for that!). Buffy The Vampire Slayer is, astonishingly, one of the few franchises with a fan base that eagerly approaches the show outside the television viewing. The seventh season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, now out on DVD, brings the saga of the Slayer to its conclusion.

Having survived the near apocalyptic events of the sixth season, Buffy takes Dawn to her first day of high school at the new Sunnydale High. Xander, involved in building it, provides support in understanding why there are already problems at the school. And Giles and Willow work together to control her magical ability. Willow's return to Sunnydale heralds talk of the return of the greatest villain the Earth has ever known, the First. The First is the source of all evil, originally referenced in the third season of the show. Now, the First is coming back to Earth to bring chaos and death to all and it has found the perfect tool; the newly ensouled Spike.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer had six successful seasons on the air and when the seventh came, it was unclear as to whether it would continue or not. It was a fairly last minute decision, prompted by Sarah Michelle Gellar's desire to not return for an eighth season, but the seventh season was determined to be the end of the series. Unfortunately, as the season comes to its climax, there is a lot that is done to indicate that the producers were hedging their bets, looking for a way to continue the series into a eighth season without the title character. As it is, though, the seventh season is a nice, complete story that brings the focus of the narrative back to Buffy.

The season largely deals with the coming of the First and the hopelessness of the potential fight that would come with its arrival. The First can take the appearance of anyone who is dead and that makes for some very unnerving scenes in the seventh season. But hope arrives in the form of Potentials; Slayers who would be activated if Buffy were to be killed. The latter half of the season focuses on the training of the Potentials and the way Buffy becomes a bona fide leader.

As with the previous seasons, the seventh season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer focuses most on character development and the memorable characters make it understandable that the show would grow into a phenomenon. Here is how the seventh season finds them:

Buffy - Recovering from the betrayal of her best friend in season six, Buffy takes on a more parental role for Dawn. She becomes a guidance counselor and starts to connect with people for the first time. With the return of Spike and Willow and the threat of the First, Buffy finds herself coming into the role of leader and facing the fact that her fate may well be sealed,

Xander - High on saving the world, Xander comes back down to Earth as he must face the consequences of Anya's return to evil and the return of Spike, who he has no fondness for. Xander's position in the growing army against the First is compromised when evil incarnate realizes that he has unique abilities of his own,

Willow - Returning to Sunnydale alone, Willow begins to move on as a single woman without magic and without the woman she loves. Her love for Tara is challenged by one of the Potentials who makes it known she finds Willow attractive,

Anya - A vengeance demon once again, Anya reigns chaos around Sunnydale punishing the men who have wronged women. This leads to a showdown between Anya and Buffy and the result condemns Anya to a familiar punishment,

Dawn - Growing up and trying to contribute to her sister's army, Dawn finds herself in the company of misfits and the target of all sorts of evil. The lone attempt at a Dawn episode in this season yields the worst reuse of the "love spell" plot,

and Spike - Now plagued with a soul, Spike returns to Sunnydale wounded by Buffy's lack of love for him. He finds himself used as a pawn by the First and a liability to the Slayer and her forces. His soul torments him and his weakness to the First leads him to meet his destiny.

Giles appears occasionally in the season as the Watcher Council is destroyed and he attempts to learn the vulnerabilities of the First. He is not given a huge part, but his recurring presence works well as Buffy makes the transition from student to leader. Also returning is the villainous nerd Andrew, who reforms from his evil ways and Faith, who returns to Sunnydale as a heroine, not a villain.

The subtext of this season is the struggle we make as individuals to live up to our adult responsibilities and become actualized adults. Buffy makes the transition and it is rocky, but enjoyable to watch. The serialized nature of the show, where the menace of a single true villain mirrors the rising actions of the successful third and fifth seasons. The First is a compelling villain and the resolution to the conflict with this enemy promises to keep the franchise going.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters give truly great, empathy-laced performances in this season and it's impressive to watch them work, especially when they are together.

This set looks good on DVD and the commentaries are interesting and worth the price of the set alone for fans. If you haven't gotten into Buffy The Vampire Slayer yet, this is an inappropriate place to start. I recommend going back to at least the fifth season to get into the show and working your way up to this episode. The weak link is "Him" which revisits the same type of "love spell" idea that has been done already in the show. The episodes building up to the end are wonderful and "Lies My Parents Told Me" is one of the best episodes the series ever did.

It's a shame that Buffy The Vampire Slayer ended, but that's what television shows do. At least there was still Angel . . .

For other final seasons of science fiction or fantasy shows, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Heroes - Season Four
Millennium - The Complete Third Season
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season Seven

8/10

For other television show reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Very Much A Novelty, "Once More, With Feeling" Is Hardly Enduring Opera.

The Good: Generally good vocals, Catchy, Kitschy, Duration
The Bad: Overly simple rhymes, A lot is lost without the visuals.
The Basics: A very average album, the soundtrack to "Once More, With Feeling" is creative but ultimately more kitschy than truly musically memorable.


My wife and I are going through the television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer (reviewed here!) now, in large part to my having gotten her the complete series boxed set for her first birthday we were together. As a result, my mind drifts to all things Buffy a lot more lately and that's fine with me. But one of the things I quickly realized when considering her love of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is how finite the decent swag from the show is. Indeed, she came to the relationship with most of the cool Buffy The Vampire Slayer stuff. Even so, there were some pretty obvious products that capitalized on the immediate popularity of certain things in the Buffyverse and one of them was the soundtrack to the episode "Once More, With Feeling."

"Once More, With Feeling" is a ridiculously popular episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer where a demon comes to Sunnydale which compels all under its thrall to sing. As it becomes more of menace, it forces humans to dance until they literally combust. The musical episode featured members of the cast singing their lines and dancing and because it was very original, it became quite popular. Character relationships which were on the rocks in the sixth season revealed how they were falling apart through musical numbers and Buffy's angst was captured in many of her songs. But while there is something intriguing about the actual episode, the soundtrack loses quite a bit without the actual singing and dancing that goes with it and this holds up less well as an audio-only piece.

Filled up to almost the full 85 minute capacity of a compact disc, the "Once More, With Feeling" soundtrack is a collection of all eighteen songs from the popular episode "Once More, With Feeling," plus Joss Whedon's original demo of the song. There are also four orchestral suites from other episodes which were noteworthy and are instantly memorable to the die-hard Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans. All of the songs with lyrics are written by Joss Whedon and he has a fun sense of rhyme that makes most of them catchy, if not enduring in a way that non-fans are likely to respond to. As well, the entire cast of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, plus guest stars like Amber Benson (Tara) provide vocals and make the songs come to life.

Musically, "Once More, With Feeling" is largely a rock opera. Songs like "Rest In Peace" are angst-filled and guitar driven and sound like they could be part of a much bigger production. Conversely, songs like "I'll Never Tell" have a very traditional musical comedy sense of timing and rhyme such that one might imagine Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performing it. It is lively, swing dancing and that duet between Xander and Anya has a classical sense of musical storytelling which makes Joss Whedon a modern master of recreating a nostalgia for something the current generation never had.

Sure, there are more classic pop numbers, like the ballad Tara sings to Willow ("Under Your Spell") and the opening ditty, "Going Through The Motions" which Sarah Michelle Gellar presents. Most of the songs are guitar or piano driven and they sound either like traditional showtune songs or contemporary pop numbers. Even today, the songs sound fresh and fun. The album is well-produced such that each and every line may be heard clearly.

The end tracks, taken from episodes like "Hush," "Restless," and "The Gift" are more traditional Classical-sounding pieces. Unfortunately for most listeners, they also have a tendency to be incidental music which sweeps up for scary reveals and as such does not hold up quite as well on the album. In other words, they are great accent pieces for the show, but not wonderful standalone songs.

Vocally, the album is a surprisingly tight presentation of actors who, it turns out, can truly sing. James Marsters makes an obvious advertisement for his band when he sings "Rest In Peace" coolly and with flawless tone. Similarly, Anthony Stewart Head is great when he has to sing, as Giles, to Buffy about feeling useless in her life. The real star of thee album, though, is not Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) or even Emma Caufield (Anya), it is Amber Benson. Benson is plays Tara as quiet and mousy and on the "Once More, With Feeling" soundtrack she is able to open up and belt it all out as an incredible soprano. Her costar has only one or two lines on the entire album ("This line is mostly filler" in "Walk Through The Fire"), but Benson dominates with dulcet soprano tones on "Under Your Spell" and her part on "Where Do We Go From Here?"

But for as much praise as I might have for "Once More, With Feeling," the truth is it is an opera soundtrack that makes a lot less sense out of context. Unable to see certain gags, they do not hold their own as well on the album ("Mustard" being a prime example). The "Once More, With Feeling" soundtrack is bound to please fans of the show, but even for them the replayability is finite before the novelty wears off. Ultimately, I opted not to recommend it because the episode retains a special quality that is lost when one simply knows these funny or heartfelt songs by rote.

The best track is "Under Your Spell," the low point is "Broom Dance."

For other soundtrack albums, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
What's Love Got To Do With It? - Tina Turner
VR.5 Soundtrack
Star Trek Soundtrack Volume 1 - "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

5.5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Sacrificing Double Entendre For Cold, Hard, Reality: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Six Becomes Something Incredible!

The Good: Good themes, Interesting effects, Decent character work, Daring nonstandard television
The Bad: Some acting, Sacrificing some allegory
The Basics: Possibly the peak of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, season six finds Buffy alive, disenchanted and lonely until tragedy strikes one of her friends and she is forced to accept her place.


The first three to five seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the show has a tendency to be watchable on two levels. One is the literal level, where Buffy and her often-absurd friends run around Sunnydale fighting often absurd demons in a strange twist on the classic good versus evil thing. At the same time, one may look at the episodes as an allegory for growing up. So, for instance, in the second season episode wherein Buffy makes love to Angel and he turns into his evil, soulless alter-ego, one may watch the episode(s) that follow as a story about the fears a young woman might have about how sex will change their relationship and the person they love. Season six ends that tradition. In the twenty-two episodes that comprise the sixth season, almost all of the allegory is gone. There's a distinct change in tone here as Buffy's world becomes almost entirely what it is as opposed to being a symbol for something more.

Following the death of Buffy at the climax of season five (why are you even reading this if you haven't seen season 5?!), the gang finds themselves slowly losing the war against evil in Sunnydale. Thus, using Willow's magic, they resurrect Buffy to find that she's not grateful for being brought back. Buffy finds herself disenchanted with life, pitted against a lame trio of nerds who are bent on taking over the world (or at least Sunnydale) and without any real hope. As the season progresses, Buffy finds herself in a relationship with Spike (the not-so-evil-anymore vampire) and neglecting her friends, which allows Willow to fall into some bad patterns and threaten the world.

The shift in the tone of Buffy The Vampire Slayer makes a great deal of sense. After all, what more can you fight when you've taken on a Goddess? The change from an external villain to one of the group turning makes perfect sense and is enough to keep us watching. However, this is not the most accessible season for those who have not watched prior seasons (i.e. if you watch seasons one and two, skipping ahead to season six would leave the viewer mighty confused). Conversely, this is an excellent place for people who did not like the early seasons to step in. Allow me to explain: Seasons 1 - 5 work best when they are viewed as an allegory for the problems we experience(d) growing up. Buffy runs for homecoming queen against Cordelia (a symbol of beauty) while being preyed upon by killer demons in a chase scenario (fear of rape). So the episode explores the simple Cordelia/Buffy competition while revealing the woman's fear of exposing her beauty to predators. The thing is, if you're older (than a teen) and been through all of that and survived it, the allegory isn't so relevant. And there's only so many times you can watch coming of age shows for the nostalgia. So, when season six of Buffy The Vampire Slayer enters the more adult world of bills and abusive relationships, it becomes more accessible to an older audience and more enduring.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, like all good serialized television, revolves around intriguing characters and here we see those characters all growing and expanding in ways that make this a season worth watching over and over again. Here is how the characters grow in season six:

Buffy - Feeling lost, alone and like her sacrifice was made in vain, she drifts through the motions of protecting Sunnydale until she falls into a relationship with Spike, wherein she attempts to feel again,

Willow - Magic becomes an addiction for her, opening her up to new levels of power by exposure to the darkest forces. This puts a strain on her love for Tara and when tragedy strikes, she is pushed further than anyone would have guessed,

Spike - Completely in love with Buffy, he finds his dreams fulfilled by her, then dashed when she rejects their unhealthy, violent, relationship. This leads him to his most horrible act and to his attempt to seek clarity,

Xander - Moves towards his wedding day with Anya, while not expressing his insecurities about the future. Xander's fear overcomes him and he leaves town,

Anya - Looks forward to her marriage with Xander and becomes furious when he rejects her,

Dawn - Evolves - throughout the season - from the Key into a young woman who wants to fight the good fight, with a little stint as a shoplifter thrown in for good measure,

Tara - Becomes the guardian of Willow's humanity, especially when she sees that Willow is becoming too involved with magic and the wrong kinds of magic,

The Trio - Jonathan, Warren and Andrew attempt to thwart the slayer and find themselves on the run from something even more powerful,

Giles - Leaves Sunnydale when he comes to realize that Buffy no longer needs him.

Buffy's character takes a turn for the intriguingly real as she is forced to deal with issues like paying bills and making ends meet, while at the same time trying to live up to the responsibilities of parenting Dawn. Her relationship with Spike then, violent as it is, seems very real. With her daily life becoming increasingly unfulfilling and having no earthshaking enemies to fight, Spike forces her to actually feel and sometimes, feeling pain is better than feeling nothing at all.

This is a season where the characters suffer, but rather than suffering in melodrama or having their conflicts be clouded by allegory, here the characters are easily accessible and quite real. Buffy's sense of loss is quite clear and easy to relate to. Xander's insecurities are quite compelling and Spike's desire to be loved and his sense of loss comes across in a way that makes him more than just a monolithic vampire. Similarly, Willow's sense of confusion over her new levels of power comes across as a compelling internal conflict that was foreshadowed in the fifth season. She wants to do right, but her magic and her love come into conflict.

Indeed, perhaps the most wrenchingly human moments of the entire series comes at the end of the episode "Tabula Rasa." Willow's magic caused everyone to lose their memories and when their identities are restored, the montage (set to Michelle Branch's "Good-bye To You") is shockingly emotive.

What's more, this series does more than simply torment its characters week after week. It takes chances with the television medium. If anyone were to loathe the musical episode ("Once More With Feeling"), it would be me; I've seen and heard it played at least a hundred times at conventions. But it fits quite well with the series and on the DVD, it's nice to see and hear and the commentary is intriguing.

The acting in season six is a bit of a mixed bag. Michelle Trachtenberg isn't given a chance to expand beyond being whiny and annoying for the bulk of the season and Emma Caulfield's Anya isn't given any range, save in "Once More With Feeling," until the very end of the season. Sarah Michelle Gellar, especially around midseason, seems bored with the role of Buffy.

The winners, in terms of acting, in this season are James Marsters, as Spike and Nicholas Brendon, as Xander. Marsters infuses a depth of emotion into Spike that was only hinted at in previous seasons, especially season five. Here, Marsters is given the chance to be loving, forlorn, caring and delusionally creepy. He takes his chance to shine and explodes into the role. Similarly, Nicholas Brendon has a chance to be more than the bearer of sarcasm and he rises to the role. Emotive, insecure and loving, Brendon gets the opportunity to explore Xander with more depth and his range is finally realized and illustrated in this season.

The real winner on the acting front is Alyson Hannigan. After five years of playing Willow as withdrawn, nerdy, and shy, Hannigan is given a chance to open the character up. Hannigan explores love, jealousy, loss, anger, fury and indifference with such amazing body language and tone control that the evolution of Willow into a villainous figure seems incredibly natural. Moreover, Hannigan plays the worst aspects of Willow without any trace of the performance of her third season evil doppelganger (a real feat considering one of her lines is actually taken from that character). Hannigan illustrates why her acting may be viewed as a force.

Far from a perfect season of television, the sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, is a worthy addition to any fan of real drama, especially as it pertains to young adults. The DVD set is geared towards fans of the series with six commentaries. They are good commentaries and the panel discussion from the Academy is interesting as are some of the behind-the-scenes featurettes. The music videos are "eh." The real gem here is in the programming itself and it continues the Buffy story while fleshing out all of the supporting characters. An intriguing story of a woman who feels lost who drifts into finding herself at the expense of her attention to her friends.

For other worthwhile penultimate seasons, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season Six
Friends - Season Nine
Heroes - Season Three

8.5/10

For other television series reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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If You Can't Torment Enough Series Regulars, It's Time To Add More Characters: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 5!

The Good: Stories, Camp value, Acting, Character, Serialization of plots
The Bad: Some character ignorance, Weird rewriting of the series
The Basics: A nice escape from reality, the fifth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer finds the heroes combating a mortal enemy it cannot hope to defeat, while still clinging to its fun, campy roots.


The first four seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer establish the Buffyverse (as it is called by fans - The Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, which now comprises the fictional places and events encapsulated in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, for those who are not fans of the series) as a place where evil is very much alive on Earth in the form of demons and other malevolent creatures kept in check by small groups of heroes who understand the truth about all that surrounds them. These heroes frequently have their butts kicked, their hearts ripped out and are put in physically and morally compromising positions. In short, the heroes in the Buffyverse take more in the first four seasons than most people do in a lifetime and they keep kicking. Season five, then, finds the writers and producers of Buffy The Vampire Slayer inventing new ways to torment the heroes in order to keep the stories edgy.

Buffy's world takes a turn for the weird when her younger sister, Dawn appears in Sunnydale. The thing is, reality has been affected such that - despite the fact that Buffy never had a younger sister - everyone's memories are altered to recall events that preceded these episodes with Dawn in them. It doesn't take long before Buffy learns the truth about Dawn; she is not her sister, she is not even human. She is The Key, a mystical object personified to prevent the new villain, Glory, from being able to unleash hell on Earth. Glory, it is soon revealed, is more than a simple manifestation of evil, she is easily the most powerful creature to cross Buffy's path and when - halfway through the season - her nature is revealed, everything changes.

The fifth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer finds the show significantly evolved from where it began. Indeed, the fifth season attempts to rewrite the entire series up until now through the addition of Dawn. This is probably the biggest leap that the series asks the viewers to take and it is well explained and surprisingly well-conceived, but it is still problematic and asking us to swallow quite a lot. Far more impressive would have been to begin the series with Dawn present and then, in this fifth season, come to realize why she was worthwhile or important at all. Regardless, her nature as The Key is pretty intriguing and if it had to happen, it is executed thoughtfully enough.

One of the nice shakes of the season is the villain. Glory is a refreshingly impressive villain following the fourth season's somewhat lackluster conflicts. The entire Glory (and Key) arc instills a nice serialized sense to the show that continually builds up the menace of who and what she is. She is wonderfully played with crazy, disturbing mood swings by Clare Kramer.

The only other serious flaw in the fifth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is in the camp aspects of it. Episodes like "Triangle" where a ridiculous troll former lover of Anya's sets about bashing Sunnydale, which plays entirely off the series' ability to do decent kitsch, seem woefully out of place. With a villain as impressively badass as Glory, with characters experiencing genuine adult emotions of loss (Buffy loses big this season), responsibility and love (Willow and Tara take significant steps here), such goofy camp seems like a throwback. In short, this could have been the season where Buffy The Vampire Slayer evolved into impressive drama, save that it insisted on staying where it was with a more playful mindset of quirky fun.

That said, the Glory plotline is one of the series' better ones and it has a deep impact on the characters. The arcs of the characters in season five look like this:

Tara - Overcomes her family's curse, grows as a witch and professes her love for Willow in some very real ways,

Riley - Takes a trip to the dark side following his experiences with the Initiative, which forces him to leave Sunnydale (and Buffy) behind,

Dawn - Appears in Sunnydale and wrestles with being the Key and all that could mean,

Anya - Becomes a first-class capitalist and forms a genuine relationship with Xander,

Spike - Wrestles with his feelings of love for Buffy after he finds himself left essentially defenseless by the Initiative,

Xander - Seems the most grown up here, with a job and a life, now struggling to make ends meet, save the world and develop a relationship with Anya,

Willow - Progresses as a witch in leaps and bounds in this season, all the while developing a deep, deep love for Tara,

Giles - Fired from the Watcher Council, he finds himself feeling as if he lacks a purpose until Buffy convinces him to teach him all he can about the past Slayers and train him to defeat Glory,

Buffy - Learns to deal with the truth about Dawn (who she believes has been around all along), loses Riley whom she loved possible as much as she loved Angel, comes to understand that the fight against Glory might be a losing battle and takes another profound personal loss that ushers in her adulthood.

The redeeming thing about Buffy The Vampire Slayer's quasi-camp quality is that, at the end of the day, it has likable characters who it is easy to root for. Moreover, these are dynamic characters. The ease with which Buffy finds herself slaying vampires in the season premiere ("Buffy vs. Dracula," if you can believe it!) clearly illustrates that the childhood demons are no longer the real problem. If one is to look at the show from a strictly metaphorical interpretation, there is clear growth in the protagonist in that her childhood demons no longer hold serious menace over her.

But Buffy is not the only one. Once carefree and the conduit for snappy one-liners, Xander has evolved into someone surprisingly responsible by this point in the series. And the characters wrestle with more profound issues of loss, the nature of love and attraction, and adult responsibilities.

The nice thing about season five is that it does all of that while still being fun to watch. The series has fun twisted episodes like one where Xander is split into two distinct Xanders that represent different aspects of his personality ("The Replacement," which harkens back to the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within"), mixing it with episodes that are outright challenges to the characters ("Checkpoint") and surprising the viewers with the way characters (like Willow) stand up for what they believe in ("Tough Love"). At the worst, the episodes in this season are entertaining. Moreover, now - away from the hype that comes from a series when it is actually producing new episodes - some of the episodes are actually surprising, especially the resolution to the season finale.

What started as a piece of the most sickly-sweet candy (perhaps sea foam?) has evolved and continues to evolve in the fifth season as something a little more substantial. By this point, the series is some form of fudge with nuts; it is usually still sweet (campy and entertaining), but there is a lot more substance now (genuine drama). It's unfortunate that they did not use this season to push it into granola territory. Still, it's worth the investment of time and money. After all, how often do you get to see a show where a vampire makes love with a wisecracking android replica of the woman who has spent over three years trying to kill him?

Only in the Buffyverse. There are less fun places to be.

For other works by Joss Whedon, please check out:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight: Twilight
Serenity
Firefly
Alien: Resurrection
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

8.5/10

For other television set reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Buffy In The Sea Of Transition: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Four!

The Good: Amusing, Occasionally clever, Social realism, Acting
The Bad: Wandering focus, Some character choices, One or two performances
The Basics: When Buffy goes off to college, Willow becomes a more interesting character and the show struggles to keep fresh and interesting.


When it returned for its fourth season, Buffy The Vampire Slayer had a tough task. How to come back from a season finale where the apocalypse is averted and the High School is literally destroyed in a fiery battle? How to come back to the town of Sunnydale in an entirely new place with an entirely new dynamic with two fewer characters (Angel and Cordelia had gone off to Los Angeles as this was the first season of Angel). This was a turning point for Buffy and her gang and it's a tough sell.

And the show almost does not survive.

Not the characters, mind you, but the show. There are high points in the fourth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but there are also some very low moments that are almost unwatchable. Indeed, while the third season was consistent, getting better and better with the rising actions of the season, the fourth season feels like a show that does not truly know where it is going or where it wants to be.

In the fourth season, Buffy and Willow head across town to Sunnydale College. At the college, they begin to adapt to life on their own with strange roommates and - in Willow's case - boyfriends (she and Oz are still together at the outset of the season). Meanwhile, Xander adapts to the working world and his new, weird relationship with Anya, while Giles struggles to find his place now that Buffy no longer truly needs him. And while they start to figure out their new lives, a new organization appears in Sunnydale to fight the good fight, the Initiative, a group combating the vampires and demons with military precision.

Of course, in the Buffyverse, nothing is quite that simple. The Initiative, despite its straightlaced face Riley, is more insidious than it initially appears and is being run by someone who has her own agenda. And that leads to the most ridiculous and improbable villain in the Buffy universe: Adam.

Adam is a "frankenstein monster" type creature and his genesis makes little sense considering the source. Adam begins to convince demons to take back the night and he's unconvincing, dull and difficult to watch. In fact, Adam fails to work on such a basic level that he is dispatched before the season finale, leaving an awkward, weak episode to close the season on.

Buffy has always been about characters and here is how the fourth season of the show finds and develops the regulars:

Buffy - Now at college, Buffy begins to consider the future and believe her life is somewhat pointless. She finds herself eased out of much of her work by the Initiative and its efficient commandos, her friends doing their own things and her feeling blah,

Willow - As Willow grows in power, she has a falling out with Oz and discovers her sexuality. As she gets closer and closer to Tara, she feels her other friendship's straining and her magical abilities growing immensely,

Giles - Feeling lonely and lost, Giles questions his own purpose. In the process, he is turned into a demon and tries everything he can to be a part of Buffy's life,

Spike - Returns to Sunnydale seeking invincibility and fails to get what he needs. Instead, he ends up a prisoner of the Initiative and the subject of their experiment to control vampires,

Oz - Torn between his love for Willow and his inability to control his werewolf nature, Oz makes the difficult decision, early in the season, to leave Sunnydale to seek a cure for his lycanthropy,

Xander - Gets the short end of the writing staff this season. He comes along for the ride, complaining about construction work occasionally. His relationship with ex-demon Anya is about all he does this year,

Riley Finn - Introduced as a commando of the Initiative, Riley faces a series of tough decisions as he grows to love Buffy and sees the negative way the Initiative reacts to her,

and Anya - Still recurring in this season, the ex-demon continues to explore life as a human through her intimacy with Xander.

The characters are interesting and as Willow blossoms into an openly gay character, it is clear the writers are trying to come up with new and interesting directions for the characters. Willow's character is probably the best conceived part of this fourth season. Buffy, Giles and Xander make for difficult watching week after week as they seem to spend most of their time lamenting how they are not growing. Indeed, if it weren't for Willow keeping the show interested and moving on the character front, the show would have collapsed.

The apathy and elements of disconnect that Buffy is experiencing as a college student with an improbable future are far better related and explored in the show's sixth season. While foreshadowed in the fourth season with "Something Blue," the elements of alienation that Buffy explores in her relationship with Spike do not come to fruition until that sixth season.

There are high points in the fourth season and they are truly in three episodes. The first is the episode "Hush." "Hush" is a mostly-silent episode wherein Sunnydale falls under the spell of a group of creatures that cast silence over the town. It is clever, funny, witty and honestly scary. "Hush" is a rare episode in the fourth season as it proves that Joss Whedon can still innovate and push the envelope.

The other high point is the two-part episode where Faith wakes up from her coma. Merging nicely with "Angel" at this point, the two-part episode restores some sense of urgency and danger from the third season.

The acting hinges in this season on three people: James Marsters, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Alyson Hannigan. Spike begins to grow in the fourth season out of his monolithic evil self, forcing Marsters to infuse some element of humanity into his performances. As Marsters adapts, he manages to keep Spike an intriguing character without weakening him significantly.

Sarah Michelle Gellar has a tough time. Gellar is forced to portray Buffy at a crossroads and because Buffy is so lost until her relationship with Riley takes off, it is hard to separate Buffy from Gellar's portrayal. There seems to be a great deal more uncertainty in Gellar about how to play Buffy and until the last few episodes of the season, that uncertainty dominates Gellar's performance and is somewhat distracting.

Hannigan, however, comes through. Given a great deal of emphasis in the third season, Hannigan smoothly makes the transitions in her character as Willow goes through some pretty hefty emotional changes. Hannigan plays Willow with an exceptional range from sadness to enthusiasm and she has an energy to her that plays very well off Amber Benson's understated portrayal of the quiet, nervous Tara. Hannigan is who keeps the show floating while it is at its most uncertain in the fourth season.

Fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer are likely to enjoy this season of the show more than people who are not already fans. The truth is, though, that the show does from being intense and witty in the third season to rocky and strained in the fourth to restarting somewhat with a fresh idea in the fifth. This truly is the "take it or leave it" season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The reason to take it is that it has its moments of charm and excitement and the growth of Willow as a person is enjoyable.

Often, that's reason enough.

For other fourth seasons of fantasy or science fiction shows, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Lost - Season Four
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Fourth Season
Heroes - Season 4

5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer Graduates Into Something Pretty Fantastic With "Graduation Day Parts 1 & 2!"

The Good: Funny, Quirky, Action-packed, Decent character development, Good acting
The Bad: Fairly predictable plot
The Basics: In a near-perfect two-parter, Buffy takes on the Mayor after being forced to take out Faith, the rogue Slayer, on her "Graduation Day!"


Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a show that did a pretty remarkable job at reinventing itself as needed over the course of the seven years it was on. Some might wonder why a show would need to restart itself so frequently, but to those of us who watched it, this is less of a mystery and more of a selling point. To that end, there are a few milestones that were pretty much essential times when the series needed to reboot. The first major one was at the beginning of the fourth season. The reason for that reboot was quite simple: in the third season finale, "Graduation Day, Parts 1 and 2" Buffy Summers and her friends graduate from high school.

For sure, the show could have tried to keep the Scooby gang Seniors forever (anyone looking closely in the first season will catch that Buffy is listed as a Senior on one of the computer monitors, despite being reduced to a sophomore for the television series), but wisely, Joss Whedon and the other show runners kept the group evolving, growing and growing up. As a result, "Graduation Day" represents the closing of the high school chapter of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and for those who like the richness of the metaphor in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, this might make for the most sensible ending point of the series.

"Graduation Day, Part 1" finds the Mayor of Sunnydale in a state of virtual invincibility as the day of his Ascension nears. At Graduation, he will become something different, something horrible and in preparation for that, he has made himself impervious to any attacks from Buffy and her gang. Defended by his own Slayer, Faith, the Mayor seems poised to destroy Sunnydale and transform into something that could threaten the entire world. Recalling all that they know about the Mayor and the Ascension, Buffy and Angel - with Anya's help - stumble on part of the key to defeating the Mayor and Buffy commits to taking out Faith.

As Faith and Buffy fight for their lives against one another, Giles and Xander make preparations for graduation and a fallback for the impending Ascension.

In "Graduation Day, Part 2," a deeply wounded Buffy gets the last of what she needs to defeat the Mayor from the comatose Faith. Armed with the information and a plan, Buffy makes her fellow students into an army to survive the legions of vampires the Mayor has called in to protect him in Faith's absence during his Ascension.

In some ways, "Graduation Day" is a predictable Buffy The Vampire Slayer season finale. The Big Bad of the season is rearing its ugly head and it is about time for Buffy to put an end to it. This series does a pretty decent job of building up the evil force for an entire year, but then, by the end of the season finale, one way or another, the creature is dispatched. In this fashion, for all of its greatness and decency as a television program, "Graduation Day, Parts 1 and 2" are not terribly surprising. The viewer has a pretty decent idea that the Mayor will be defeated and Sunnydale will go on.

But, in true Joss Whedon fashion, the mystery in this two-parter is: at what price will Buffy and her gang succeed? Angel has already - in prior episodes - alluded to his intent to leave Sunnydale and Buffy behind following the Ascension. In reality, Angel is off to star in his own spin-off and that's a fine excuse for him to make the plot a little more complicated. But the true gem of the price of Buffy's success comes in a three second (if that) throwaway shot that will change everything. Yes, one of the supplemental characters is taken out in the finale in a way that makes them a much more interesting character when they recur from this point forth!

And, in truth, what makes "Graduation Day" so interesting is the character work. After a large part of the season at each other's throats, Buffy and Faith come to a head with their conflict, just as the romance between Buffy and Angel is more or less resolved as well. The thing here is that Buffy has always been an archetype for good and Faith has been far more chaotic. In the second part of "Graduation Day," Buffy and Faith share a special link and it is in that meeting that Faith is given the opportunity to show her true colors.

As well, the Mayor has always been a more intriguing villain than most because he is nowhere near as monolithic as most of the Big Bads in the Buffy universe. Instead, he has been quirky, often expressing a disgust at germs. He is known to be at least as old as Sunnydale itself and he has maintained a special relationship with Faith that provides the young woman with the closest to a father figure that she has ever had. Following Buffy dispatching Faith, the Mayor proves his character by illustrating that he still has a love for Faith and that is a clever and decent trait that makes him possibly the most interesting Big Bad to come along.

"Graduation Day's" gimmick hinges - yet again - on the second season episode "Halloween" and it does not spoil anything to say that Xander's legendary Army training from that episode is part of what allows Buffy to achieve her victory. It's a card that keeps getting played and this might well be one of the last times that it is played reasonably and well, in a fashion that the viewer thinks is plausible. The clever aspect of it is that while Xander's character is enhanced with Army training from a spell gone wrong, none of his peers have had such luck. As a result, the carnage that comes up in the climactic battle after the sun is blotted out is realistic and deadly to many of its participants.

In fact, arguably the only character that does not have any real growth in the two-parter is Principal Snyder. But, he has his moment and having met Armin Shimerman at various conventions, he is quite pleased with the resolution to Snyder's arc.

"Graduation Day" works as well as it does because of three truly outstanding performances (and some fun CGI work). The actors who truly move this two-parter are Harry Groener, Eliza Dushku, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Groener plays the Mayor and as Richard Wilkins III prepares to Ascend, Groener is given the difficult task of making the Mayor seem quirky and confident without being seen as ridiculous or just offbeat for the sake of offbeat. He does this in large part through his body language. He manages to keep a very serious posture, no matter what comes out of his mouth. And when the Mayor discovers Faith has been wounded, it is Groener's eyes that one needs to be watching because he sells the plot point that's coming through the performance there.

Similarly, Eliza Dushku makes the viewer believe that Faith is not all bad. Dushku takes a pretty simple script - especially for the second part - and layers her character with real depth involving her ability to emote with her voice. Indeed, after the big battle scenes, it is Dushku's quiet performance as a wounded Faith that makes her worth watching. And the scenes she shares with Groener are precious.

But it is Sarah Michelle Gellar who is charged with selling the reality of the extreme situations that Buffy is put into in this two parter. Gellar takes the role seriously and she makes Buffy into a serious character, transforming her finally from a pawn or tool into a true leader. Gellar infuses Buffy with serious confidence in this episode, especially in the climax of it, that makes the episode work wonderfully.

This is one of the essential episodes (or two episodes) of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it is one that will appeal to anyone who likes a good action-adventure story. It will be appreciated much more by those who have seen - at least - the rest of the third season as the entire season has been building to this. It's fun either way and it does manage to be something more as well.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the graduation season here!
or the complete series is available here!
Thanks!]

"Graduation Day, Part 1" - 9.5/10
"Graduation Day, Part 2" - 10/10
VHS - 8.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The Predictability Of "Enemies" Lessens The Edge Of "Earshot" For Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

The Good: Stories, Moments of character, Moments of acting.
The Bad: Times when the plot overwhelms character and acting aspects
The Basics: Despite how predictable and poorly-acted "Enemies" is, "Earshot" makes those who are not fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer notice.


Buffy The Vampire Slayer is one of those television series' that when it was on, it seemed to be quite popular and powerful in the world of science fiction/fantasy fandom, but once it was off the air, it seems to have fallen hard in the collective unconsciousness. Conversely, it seems like certain seasons of Buffy are almost idealized while others are just forgotten. In fact, many fans of the show that I meet at conventions seem to hold the third season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer in such high regard that it is almost surprising to learn that they continued watching the series after that. While a perfect season of television is not necessarily made up of absolutely perfect episodes, it still has to hit the mark with consistent greatness.

With "Earshot," Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans who argue on behalf of the third season have quite the compelling case to make. Sadly, they often neglect "Enemies," which appears on a single tape with the superior episode. "Enemies" is overrated and in some ways a "necessary evil" plot that needed to be made, but could have been pulled off much better. Instead of being clever and compelling, "Enemies" simply advances the plot of the third season . . . ridiculously.

In fact, the only reason this VHS is ultimately recommended by me is that "Earshot" is just that good; it is so good it ought to be seen.

In "Enemies," Faith's transition to the Dark Side as the new henchman for the Mayor is complete and that pits Buffy and Faith on opposite sides of the Sunnydale law. While Faith is wooed by the Mayor, who takes on a rather fatherly role in her life, Buffy and her comrades try to figure out how to stop the Ascension from occurring. Faith is given her latest assignment by the Mayor, which is to separate Buffy and Angel and to bring Angel over to their side. To make the Mayor's plan work, Faith robs Angel of his soul and sets him to tormenting Buffy.

In "Earshot," Buffy starts by taking out a demon that she does not recognize, in the process getting some of its blood on her. Soon, though, she develops a side effect to the fluid; the ability to hear the thoughts of her peers. Sadly, the ability soon becomes a curse as she hears the thoughts of everyone around her all of the time, leaving her disoriented and in tremendous pain. As Giles and the gang work to cure her of her ailment, she overhears one of her peers planning a shooting spree.

That both of these episodes are put on a single tape is almost an insult to fans and collectors. "Enemies" is a remarkably standard and bland plot. Villain works to overcome the heroes and tries to drive a wedge between the two most powerful heroes. Oh, wow. That's not new and while the viewer can understand Joss Whedon and the Buffy team going there in order to keep the overall arc of the series realistic (obviously one of Buffy's strengths is her relationship with Angel and to weaken that bond would certainly, quite reasonably, fracture the power of the heroine), fans of genre works want something better than how this is executed. On the plot front, "Enemies" is predictable, droll and possibly one of the least original or clever episodes the series ever produced.

Furthermore, it falls down completely on the character and especially the acting fronts. As written, the lines are not terrible, though it is disappointing to see a character who is characterized as so streetsmart as Faith treated like an imbecile who has never seen "Defeat The New Villain Plot #2" on television. Faith is treated as remarkably naive in "Enemies" and it is more than unfortunate, it seriously undermines the credibility of her character. It is astonishing how little credit the writers gave her for her character's intelligence in this episode. Before this, Faith might be reckless, in "Enemies," she is just stupid.

The only thing worse than the treatment of Faith's character in "Enemies" is the acting. Eliza Dushku plays along as Faith just fine, the problem is who she is acting opposite. Anyone who has seen Buffy The Vampire Slayer before will know the ending by the acting of Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz. Boreanaz gives a terrible performance that gives away the supposed surprise of the episode to anyone who has ever seen Boreanaz act as Angelus on prior episodes. He is bland as the soulless Angelus in this episode and it informs the end in one of the earliest scenes.

But Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance is unforgivably bad in "Enemies." Her performance is dull and lacks any sense of subtlety, nuance or even genuine emotion. Instead, the episode illustrates how stiff she can be. This makes both Buffy a weaker character and Faith dumb for not recognizing how Buffy is trying to swindle her.

In contrast, "Earshot" is a truly wonderful episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Years ago, I was doing a convention and I had the opportunity to meet James Marsters (who plays Spike on Buffy). While getting his autograph, he was especially talkative and when I told him I had never seen an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (which was true at the time) he began to give me a lecture on why I should be watching it. He cited the show's audaciousness and specifically referenced "Enemies" as being groundbreaking and more daring than anything on television at the time. While some of that is hyperbole, Marsters was right; "Earshot" is intelligent and surprising, everything that Buffy The Vampire Slayer could be consistently good at . . . if it were consistent.

As far as the storyline goes, "Earshot" is an intriguing combination of the obvious science fiction conceit (the mind reading plot) and intelligent social commentary (the student shooter plot). When Jonathan takes to the clocktower, the series becomes darker and a commentary on the state of our times and the struggles of those growing up in today's world. The episode was delayed in its airing because of the Columbine shooting and on VHS it is refreshing to see it restored.

Moreover, "Earshot" becomes something smarter than one might expect from Buffy The Vampire Slayer because it surprises the viewer with the ultimate resolution. Instead of being exactly what one might expect of a drama with a teenager with a gun, it becomes something that is surprising and in the final moments, it reminds the viewer that television can still be audacious and realistic while making commentary on the problems we suffer in the United States in this age.

What makes the episode work is the character of Jonathan and the acting of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Danny Strong. Jonathan is a recurring character in Buffy The Vampire Slayer who is essentially a geek and a loser who tries to get noticed in Sunnydale. He is almost universally mocked and he is even lower on the school's ladder of popularity than Xander. In "Earshot," it becomes utterly believable that he would get a gun and potentially menace the school. But even better is how his loser character ultimately defines him and in the final moments he reinforces the integrity of the concept of his character.

In large part, "Earshot" works in its resolution because Danny Strong is a consistent actor who makes the improbable believable. Strong is usually goofy as Jonathan and in "Earshot" he plays the character as quiet and disturbing. Strong infuses a quiet and very desperate quality into his performance of Jonathan in this episode and it is masterful.

But it is Sarah Michelle Gellar who carries "Earshot." She is funny as Buffy realizes her new power and Gellar has the ability to play giddy well, something she is not usually able to do. As the character is imposed upon by her gift more and more, Gellar makes her more desperate and harmed. She develops the ability to play Buffy as sleepless and deeply hurt. She is wonderful and her performance is dark. She is exceptional and her performance makes the idea of "Earshot" seem new.

On the balance, this VHS is a tough sell. "Earshot" is as brilliant as "Enemies" is droll and this makes it hard to recommend. Ultimately, I fell toward recommending it because the message of "Earshot" is too smart to neglect.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the graduation season here!
or the complete series is available here!
Thanks!]

"Enemies" - 4/10
"Earshot" - 6.5/10
VHS - 5/10

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© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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