Buffy 6.1/6.2 FAQ
I defy you, Hercules! Why can’t we talk back?
Well, technically, you can talk back, but AICN is currently moving from its current puny mini-server to its monstrous, insanely powerful new super-server. Which means this post and all its talkbacks will disappear sometime between now and Wednesday.
Super-server? Mini-server? What are you jabbering about? Must … share … Buffythoughts …
I have archived and will likely repost this article as a talkback forum on Thursday, after the Grand Server Migration. If you have something you must share, post it in talkback, but also archive it in your own nasty little computer, and post it again after midweek. It’s a hassle, admittedly, but a necessary one, my little love-scones.
What if I find this solution unsatifactory?
Come and visit AICN's "Live Chat." I, and many like me, will be joining it around 10 pm ET/7 pm PT Tuesday to commune with anyone who cares to share the Buffy-love.
Hola, everybody. "Moriarty" here. It's about 2:22 in the morning on Wednesday. Looks like everything's working, and you're all good to go if you want to Talk Back or Chat. The last few days have been all about switching servers, but I think we're good now. On the subject of BUFFY, I thought the premiere ruled. It was Marti Noxon-licious, and I want to roll around in it. "I've seen THE FURY, and that way lies spooky carnival death" got big honking laughs from the Evil Professor. Now, back to Herc.
On to the episode. What’s good about Tuesday’s two-hour UPN debut of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”
Marvel Girl’s … er, Willow’s increasing facility for telepathy. Spike’s new role as the meanest Scooby ever. The return of the Buffybot, surely one of the most entertaining devices ever to visit the Buffyverse. (Herc grew most sad to witness the unkind fate that befalls it.) Willow and Tara’s parenting skills, and their hot new lesbo lovenest in Joyce Summers’ old bedroom. Anya’s lust for Giles’ departure. Giles’ departure, which makes me more than a little weepy. The Shempy vamp. The discussion of Scooby leadership. Spike’s new disdain for the Buffybot. The fawn. Tara’s mutant enemy finger puppet. The spell. The clawing. The sad, sad flashbacks to 5.22.
What’s not so good?
The first hour, with the comedy and the coping and the thing and the other, is markedly more entertaining than the second, which features the doom, and the fighting, and the spells, with the ladyyyyyyyy!
When Herc posted his spoilers on tonight’s episode way back on July 29, what were some of the comments in talkback?
“There Making It Up. Buffy producers Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon are writing some great fiction at the moment - mainly about what’s not going to happen in Buffy this year. The cunning duo have admitted to spreading false Buffy and Angel spoilers and scripts to bamboozle fans and the media.” – Corran 2001
“100% fake. CJoss sends out a thing of fake spoilers every year and this is obviously them.” – vampireslayer
“BS!!! THESE SHITTY RUMORS BETTER NOT BE TRUE. JOSS SAID THAT BUFFY'S RETURN WOULD BE EARNED. DOING A SPEEL, WHICH WAS TRIED ON JOYCE, IS NOT BEING EARNED. EVEN IF IT IS A DIFFERENT TYPE OF SPELL. AND TO BRING HER BACK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND PART. WE SHOULDNT EVEN SEE HER UNITL THE LAST MIN OF THE 2HR SERIES, IF THAT. MAKE US WAIT. TOO DAMN EASY IF SHE IS BACK WITHIN FIRST 45MINS. THESE WRITERS CAN COME UP WITH BETTER STORIES THAN THAT. WE ALREADY COULD TELL THAT WILLOW WAS GETTING STRONGER SO THAT ISNT NEW, BUT DO USE HER POWERS TO BRING BUFFY BACK.. LAME, AND LIKE ‘BEEN THERE, DONE THAT’” – syd078
“Think of it as fan fiction, not as a spoiler... These things are just as often wrong as right, and even when they are right, they tell only part of the story. Read them now, let them fade in your memory, and then even if Herc is right on the money, by October the most you will do is think, ‘I remember something about this on AICN.’” – Headless Corpse
Say, what were Herc’s July 29 spoilers anyway?
Since you ask:
Who’s responsible?
Marti Noxon, who wrote last season’s opener (as well as the Joyce-resurrection episode), wrote the first hour; David Fury, who wrote “Crush” (the one in which Drusilla returns), authored the second.
When does the sixth-season premiere take place?
Months after the final battle with Glory. Everyone has settled into their post-Buffy lives.
Is the Buffybot really attending Dawn’s parent-teacher meetings?
It is. The Scoobs are anxious to keep Buffy’s death a closely-guarded secret. Notes Giles: “We need the world – and the underworld – to believe Buffy is alive and well.”
But wasn’t there a gravestone?
Presumably the funeral was a very private affair. Also, the fact that Buffy was a slayer still isn’t exactly common knowledge (something we learned when Buffy first enrolled at UCSunnydale).
Has Hank Summers taken custody of Dawn?
No, it’s established that Dawn’s daddy has not been alerted to Buffy’s demise. Willow and Tara, who have moved into (and thoroughly redecorated) Joyce’s bedroom, have informally taken on the roles of Dawn’s parents.
Is Willow’s power still growing?
It hasn’t diminished. In the teaser, we see she now manages the dusting activities of the entire former slayer circle via telepathy. Towards the end of the two-hour premiere, we see her turn her eyes black and demonstrate several really impressive new superpowers.
Willow is now leader of the Scoobs?
Yes. This is made clear in a very funny scene in Xander’s apartment.
Why isn’t Giles the leader?
Now that there’s no longer a slayer to watch, Giles has announced his intention to return to England. Anya will run the Magic Box in his absence.
Does Giles actually leave Sunnydale during the premiere?
Yes. He leaves a note at the Magic Box and takes off for the aiport without otherwise saying goodbye. He boards his flight about 35 minutes in, and doesn’t return (at least not during the two-hour premiere; he’s expected back briefly around 6.4).
When does the real Buffy return to the living?
At the very beginning of season six’s second hour.
How does Buffy return?
Willow resurrects Buffy with a spell – a spell requiring the last known Urn of Osiris. Anya obtains the urn using her Magic Box connections.
Doesn’t Giles know what Willow’s up to?
No. Giles, Dawn and Spike are not told of Willow’s resurrection plans.
How come it’s a good idea to bring back Buffy, but it wasn’t a good idea to bring back Buffy’s mom?
Willow explains that Buffy would not be coming back as a zombie. Willow is using a very different spell that can be effective if the resurrectee didn’t die a natural death. (Buffy, of course, was slain by mystical energy.)
When Herc revealed on July 4 that Willow uses a spell to resurrect Buffy, a talkbacker calling himself “Writeguy” wrote this: “Buffy won't be ‘revived’ -- she will be ‘re-created’ using the same method that was used to create the First Slayer many millennia ago in ancient Africa.” True?
False. Buffy is revived, and there’s no indication Buffy’s resurrection has anything to do with the First Slayer or Buffy’s status as a slayer.
The same talkbacker wrote: “The Buffy Summers in the grave is dead and will stay dead. She WON'T be revived.” Did “WriteGuy” get this part right?
No. The original Buffy, the one in the grave, is revived. She wakes up inside her own coffin and has to dig her way to the surface. There is no Buffycorpse inside the coffin with her.
The Scoobs go to the trouble of obtaining the Urn of Osiris but can’t be bothered to dig up their revived friend?
In the middle of Willow’s spell, demon bikers arrive and destroy the Urn of Osiris. Though the contents of the urn leak onto Buffy’s grave, the Scoobs (understandably) assume their resurrection attempt is a failure and flee the scene.
Wait a second. Demon bikers?
Long story short: A vampire injures Buffybot and discovers she’s full of wires and computer chips. The vamp escapes and lets a bunch of demon bikers know that Sunnydale is now slayer-free. The bikers head into town to plunder.
Is the resurrected Buffy in a state of decay?
Nope, Willow’s spell took care of that too. Post-spell, Buffy’s disoriented but in perfect physical condition. (She does get a bit dirty and bloody escaping from her “final resting place.”)
At UPN’s recent Television Critics Association presentation, Joss Whedon noted cyptically that some of Herc’s spoilers were on the money and some were not, but would not specify which were which. What did Herc get wrong in his infamous July 4 post?
The chronology of events at the very end of the two-hour premiere. Buffy actually rejoins the Scoobs and helps them defeat the demon bikers before she returns to the site of her death. The only Scoob she reunites with at Glory’s tower is Dawn.
How does Dawn find Buffy?
The savaged Buffybot tells Dawn of Buffy’s return. Dawn then follows the trail of demon corpses to Glory’s tower.
Why does Buffy return to Glory’s tower?
It’s strongly implied that Buffy was happier in the afterlife and intends to kill herself to get back.
How much faith does Herc put in these spoilers?
Tremendous faith. And more than a little kendra. If there are still doubting talkbackers, let them be specific about what we got wrong, and we’ll be certain to compare prognostications come Oct. 2!
Herc’s rating for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” 6.1/6.2?
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
