Like many long runners, Buffy is split down the middle into its intended run - five years or less - and the amount of seasons they could feasibly knock out of their cash piñata. Or, the "Whedon" years and the "Marti" years. One shouldn't be glib about it, and it depends on who you ask; but I've found that one's preference depends on whether you find Michelle Trachenberg appealing or not.
To paraphrase Charmed, the first four or five years were about a Vampire Slayer who happened to be a girl. The Marti Noxon years were about a girl/sister/housewife who happened to be a Slayer. The show got sunnier, the clothing got louder (still the Champ in the bad TV wardrobe sweepstakes), and domesticity became the show's core. Spike turned into Sam Elliot in Mask - mom's shifty biker boyfriend all of us wish we had growing up. (I nicknamed him Fonzie.) Dawn was obviously inserted as a surrogate for Buffy's younger days; admirably, however, the writers faked out making her a potential Slayer, then went a different route. All in all, Dawn was less a new addition to the Scoobies than a child for fledgling mother Buffy to raise.
Personally, I'm game for the retool, but found Marti's aping of Whedon's allegories to be pretty hard going. Also, her SOP is to turn all the characters against each other, as evidenced in her early episode Dead Man's Party. Hilariously, this was around the time Angel started suffering from the same thing, so you can't lay all the blame on Marti. She was crazy enough to make Marsters walk around naked on-set for twenty episodes, but not crazy enough to do all this. Rather, judging by Joss' work on the comic line, I'd say it's a sign that Buffy can't support an Extended Universe. This was a biting satire and celebration of the horror genre, much like Red Dwarf was to sci-fi. And like Red Dwarf, it wasn't meant to continue indefinitely, or become a brand. Plenty of people have no qualms with shows contorting themselves to last forever, and are loyal fans to the end. I found I was getting diminishing returns.
SMG or Mooki?
^ (It's a litmus test)
Like many long runners, Buffy is split down the middle into its intended run - five years or less - and the amount of seasons they could feasibly knock out of their cash piñata. Or, the "Whedon" years and the "Marti" years. One shouldn't be glib about it, and it depends on who you ask; but I've found that one's preference depends on whether you find Michelle Trachenberg appealing or not.
To paraphrase Charmed, the first four or five years were about a Vampire Slayer who happened to be a girl. The Marti Noxon years were about a girl/sister/housewife who happened to be a Slayer. The show got sunnier, the clothing got louder (still the Champ in the bad TV wardrobe sweepstakes), and domesticity became the show's core. Spike turned into Sam Elliot in Mask - mom's shifty biker boyfriend all of us wish we had growing up. (I nicknamed him Fonzie.) Dawn was obviously inserted as a surrogate for Buffy's younger days; admirably, however, the writers faked out making her a potential Slayer, then went a different route. All in all, Dawn was less a new addition to the Scoobies than a child for fledgling mother Buffy to raise.
Personally, I'm game for the retool, but found Marti's aping of Whedon's allegories to be pretty hard going. Also, her SOP is to turn all the characters against each other, as evidenced in her early episode Dead Man's Party. Hilariously, this was around the time Angel started suffering from the same thing, so you can't lay all the blame on Marti. She was crazy enough to make Marsters walk around naked on-set for twenty episodes, but not crazy enough to do all this. Rather, judging by Joss' work on the comic line, I'd say it's a sign that Buffy can't support an Extended Universe. This was a biting satire and celebration of the horror genre, much like Red Dwarf was to sci-fi. And like Red Dwarf, it wasn't meant to continue indefinitely, or become a brand. Plenty of people have no qualms with shows contorting themselves to last forever, and are loyal fans to the end. I found I was getting diminishing returns.