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Post by PokerKitten on Nov 15, 2006 14:30:09 GMT
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Post by PokerKitten on Feb 21, 2007 11:58:45 GMT
DebW has an extract from an article in the new Xpose mag (#102), extolling the virtues of Spike and James. Nice In the shops any minute now, or for online ordering from Visimag. (I bought a Starburst Dr Who/Torchwood special from them the other week, and the speed of delivery took my breath away!). Halfway through the transmission of season two, Buffy was switched from the 9pm Monday slot that it had occupied since debut to the more warm and friendly and less competitive 8pm Tuesday. There it stayed. And, there it flourished.
But, of course, all of this would've meant little if the season itself had fallen flat on it's collective face. That was where Joss Whedon had a, quite literal, masterstroke up his sleeve. A James Marsterstroke, in fact.
It is not unfair to suggest that until Spike came along in the season's third episode (the wryly amusing action-movie pastiche School Hard), Buffy had been a good show that was waiting for a final piece of the jigsaw to make it into a great show. It didn't happen immediately, of course. It took a few more episodes of going down cul-de-sacs; and it wasn't entirely down to James Marsters' addition to the already impressive cast. (The decision to use Charisma Carpenter's comedy talents more fully and give Cordelia something more to do that get a - metaphorical - custard pie in the face once per week helped. So too did Alyson Hannigan's sweet combination of intelligence and naïvety and the introduction of an actor with the range of Seth Green. 'He can own a scene he has no lines in,' Whedon once perceptively noted about Green.) But the fact remains that the introduction of Spike and Drusilla - Buffy's own Sid and Nancy - was a significant piece of foresight on behalf of Whedon and his team. They brought menace hand-in-hand with a strange empathy. Never before had produced a couple of outright psychos whom so many viewers really rather cared about!
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Post by PokerKitten on Mar 18, 2008 15:02:18 GMT
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Post by wrigglerosie on May 24, 2008 15:35:20 GMT
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Post by PokerKitten on May 28, 2008 11:48:18 GMT
411mania reviews the ep Surprise (no idea why!), with various reviewers contributing. Some of their thought on Spike: hate the fact that Joss didn't kill Spike just because he was a popular character (there are these things called balls, Joss -- maybe you should try them), this is a damn good episode. I'm not saying not killing Spike didn't end up being very fruitful for Joss and the two Buffyverse shows. It has little to nothing to do with Spike. It's about Joss (who is supposed to be different than other Hollywood writers) bowing down and doing what every writer in Hollywood would do and rewrite the original story because one of the characters suddenly became popular. He does it again later in Season Two when he kills of Jenny instead of OZ as originally planned.
*** As for Spike, well, I’m a Spike fanboy. I’d tune in every week for Spike reading the phone book. But I don’t think keeping him around was a cowardly move. Television is a far more fluid medium than movies. Joss has noted before that his stories do change somewhat as he notices what his audience reacts to, and even what he and his writers react to. Sure Spike was conceived as a disposable villain, but throughout the course of the season, throughout James Marsters performance and the fan reaction, it became clear there was far more potential to the character. If such potential exists, it would be fool hardy not to explore it. *** Also, to say that Joss doesn't have any balls is kidding yourself. If you watch any of his shows, you'll realize that he has more balls than 99% of the television writers out there. Killing Spike would have been a stupid move at this point because there's still so much to say about this character. Even if he kinda suffered in later years, him coming back in season three and his work on the last season of Angel justifies him being kept around.
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Post by wrigglerosie on Aug 23, 2008 10:03:10 GMT
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Post by PokerKitten on Aug 23, 2008 11:18:34 GMT
I'm weary of this zinging into my Alerts the last few days It isn't just about Spike though is it, it's James's accents in general. In Andromada I thought it was entirely appropriate for the character; but in Torchwood I wasn't at all sure what he was aiming for, so I'll give them that one. As for Spike - and it's a tired discussion seeing as it's been done to death over the years - 90% of the time he nailed it, although in Angel it was very wayward. I remember having a stand-up row during Buffy's run with a very English male friend who was sure I was lying when I told him James was from Cali, so convinced was he by the English accent. Personally I thought his slightly posh accent was always better than the London one, and of course, the character's London one was the fake so it was quite fitting.
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Post by wrigglerosie on Aug 23, 2008 12:18:57 GMT
Sorry PK - remember I'm still a relative newbie at this fan lark (just over a year! ;D )so a lot of discussion that you've probably had over and over again is still new to me. A lot of people thought James was english because of the accent didnt they? So it cant have been that bad...!
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Post by PokerKitten on Aug 23, 2008 14:30:31 GMT
Exactly. And more importantly, English people! ETA - oh, how funny! This is what The Scotsman thinks ;D JAMES MARSTERS When originating the role of Buffy the Vampire Slayer baddie Spike, California native Marsters didn't just steal Billy Idol's hair, sneer and leather jacket. He also mastered a pukka Brit accent that wouldn't sound out of place in The Queen Vic
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Post by PokerKitten on Sept 4, 2008 21:47:09 GMT
SEXY
It’s practically sacrilegious among die-hard “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans to prefer the platinum-headed Spike (James Marsters) over Angel. But he’s definitely sexier. The leather jacket. The bad attitude. The British accent. And the guy blew himself up, literally, to save the world. Angel went off and became … a lawyer. Yeah. We win.LA Times
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Post by PokerKitten on Oct 29, 2008 17:31:36 GMT
The Top 20 Scariest Bloodsuckers
19. JAMES MARSTERS IN BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: This vampire was so smooth he turned his archenemy, Buffy the () vampire slayer, into his girlfriend. That doesn’t suck.FoxGood to see the guys at #8 and #4 on the list, from two of my fave films.
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Post by Pluto7077 on Oct 29, 2008 17:55:49 GMT
I've seen hardly any of those films . Saw The Hunger years ago. Can't remember it but would have loved it cos of David Bowie. Liked KS in The Lost Boys.
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Post by PokerKitten on Oct 29, 2008 18:06:40 GMT
The Hunger is very sexy! Catherine Deneuve is ultra cool and chic in it. I'm fond of the Lost Boys too
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Post by Pluto7077 on Oct 29, 2008 18:12:45 GMT
I'll have to look out for The Hunger on DVD.
Off the point but David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth is one of my fave films, also another one I have yet to aquire.
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Post by PokerKitten on Oct 30, 2008 13:17:29 GMT
Absolutely *shivers*
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Post by PokerKitten on Nov 14, 2008 15:11:04 GMT
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Post by Ditto on Nov 21, 2008 10:31:48 GMT
Smashing link. I really want to see that Twilight film, the trailer looked excellent. Spike's up there with the best (and just in front of Granpa from Munsters lol).
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Post by PokerKitten on Dec 1, 2008 14:31:22 GMT
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Post by PokerKitten on Jan 9, 2009 22:37:28 GMT
James, and DavidB, get a mention in an article on vampires in the arts in The Times.
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Post by nightnurse on Jan 20, 2009 23:59:39 GMT
This is quite a cool blog article by Jeff Sharlet , a contributing writer to Rolling Stone amongst others ...but watch your blood pressure if you click on the link where 'ruined' is highlighted at the end , a completely opposite view of the Spike characters impact on Buffy HERE
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