Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Of Kids and Canon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season One

One of the joys of being a geek is being able to spread the revolution.  That is to say, it's an immensely satisfying experience (usually) to share something you love and dig with someone coming to it with new eyes. You can share the word about something you dig on, as well as vicariously re-experience the thrill of seeing it for the first time yourself through that person.  Being a geek parent is an even more special case.  As I experienced a year or so ago when my daughter flat out told me not to worry that Vader was lying about being Luke's dad, because he's just too mean, watching beloved media for the first time with a junior geek-in-training can be a particularly rewarding way to experience things you know backwards and forwards with a fresh and clearer perspective.   As such, in the interests of posterity, I plan to use this particular series of posts to document, as well as I can, the passing of the torch to a new generation.


So a little while ago, I decided to break my 6 year old daughter's regular entertainment diet of Doctor Who, Spongebob and My Little Pony to introduce her for the first time to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season One.  She's definitely taking on more and more complex and ambiguous material already, as far as I can tell, and my hope is that she's old enough now to recognize Buffy as a truly badass role model of sorts, and also that the show can serve as an intro to a later discussion of all things Whedon-y as she gets older. Plus we have seven seasons to work with, so it should occupy her for at least, what, a month?

While the first hour was a bit wobbly and hit/miss (but let's face it, so is the pilot, am I right?), she definitely dug the premise and quickly demanded more.  We blasted through the three Season One discs in just under two weeks, between homework and trips to the park, and in the brief pause after the Season Finale (before I was emotionally bludgeoned into getting out the Season Two discs asap), I managed to document the following thoughts and opinions on what we had just come through...


Me:  So did you like BtVS?

R: Ohhhh yeah.

Me:  What did you like about it?

R:  That there were like vampires and stuff.  Cause I think like vampires and like zombies and stuff like that is cool.

Me:  What was your favorite part of all the episodes we watched?

Oh HELL no.  Go to your room til you're 27.

R:  In the episode "Angel" it was really weird, 'cause Angel hasn't been seen as a vampire by Buffy before, but then they just kiss, and then they stop kissing and he's like a vampire, so I don't get how that works.  Is it like whenever he kisses a girl he starts looking that way?  I don't get it.  But I really liked that part.

Me:  I think it might just be a high school thing.  Do you think any boys you kiss in high school will turn into monsters like that?
R:  I don't think so.  But if they did, it would be really cool.

Me:  What was your least favorite part?

R:  I don't really know one.  I thought it was all cool.

Me:  Do you have a most favorite or least favorite character?

R:  My most favorite is Giles.  It's so funny how in the last episode, Buffy just goes, "huh" and he just goes "huh", you know?

Me:  Sure.  I thought Cordelia was pretty mean this season.  Now that she helped them fight off the vampires in the last episode though, do you think she's going to join the "Scooby gang" and be nice now, or just go back to the way it was before and keep being mean?

Master?  Master of needing moisturizer maybe...
R:  She's probably going to keep being mean because at the very end, one of her boyfriend peoples was asking if she was hanging out with them and she was like "Nooooo."

Me:  If you had to take a guess what sorts of things would happen in Season Two, what would you guess?
R:  That even more hard stuff to fight than the Master is coming up.

Me:  Did you think the Master was a scary villain?
R:  No.  He was kind of boring.  But the scariest monster...  I can't remember what the episode was called... was the invisible girl.  Stuff that scares me too much are things I start thinking it's real and I try to be really quiet when I'm alone and stuff.

Me:  So if you were going to join the "Scooby gang", which way would you most want to help out?  Be a cool kick butt girl who fights things, be someone who knows a bunch of languages and can read a lot of old books, be someone who knows tons about computers, or be the one who says funny things?
R:  Be a girl who kicks butt.  Cause I'm really good at fighting.  So good I'm like a ninja.  So it's like...  (a demonstration of punches and high kicks ensues here).
Velma, Daphne, Scooby, Shaggy and Fred in repose
Me:  Are you taking any tips from Buffy's moves?
R:  Yeah, that's how I learned to do that flippy thing on my bed.  I was trying to practice how Buffy was doing it.  You know how in that first episode of all the seasons, it's the first time you see that girl vampire (Darla), and you know how they were in that ancient thingy, and there was that thing in the middle that she like flipped over and stuff?  So I learned that from her.

Me:  So are you excited for Season Two?

R:  Yeah, I think it's gonna be way better.  Like I said, there may be monsters that are more powerful than vampires and monsters that are more powerful than the Master that they have to fight.

Me:  Do you think anyone is going to die in Season Two?  Any of the good guys?

Really.  We're not blaming her or anything.
R:  Maybe.  Maybe at least one.  Cause I don't remember which episode it was in... ("Prophecy Girl") but remember when all those guys were watching a little tv show thing and then they were all dead?  Many people have died in the first season...

Me:  So of all the good guys...  We'll say Buffy and Giles and Xander and Willow, and Miss Calendar and Cordelia... and Buffy's Mom and Angel.  If one was going to die next season, which is your bet?  If any... Maybe none of them will.
R:  It would probably be Willow, cause she like never fights.  She like mostly is like "Uhhh, I should stay inside" or "Mmm, I just don't want to fight tonight guys".  And then she just doesn't do it.  I think she's kinda scared to do it.  I don't blame her... It's kinda scary to fight monsters you don't even know.

Me:  Alright, well - we'll see how it goes.  Thank you!

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