Favourite Buffy Characters

I enjoy talking about Buffy and Angel these days much more than DW, as it's legacy has not been soiled by a shitty sequel (and it's fans are so much more fun, you guys excluded LOL.)

So tell me who are your fave Buffy characters?

I'm going to say.

Spike: A boring answer, but I don't care. Spike is an amazing character. One of the most well developed in tv history, and a classic example of an actor taking a nothing part and giving it so much personality he becomes the face of the franchise.

He's like Avon, or Dr Smith from Lost in Space.

I will say that I liked Spike the best from seasons 2-4 of Buffy and s5 of Angel. He was better as a self serving, sarcastic, funny badguy, who could sometimes help save the day, but only for his own selfish reasons.

When he fell in love with Buffy I feel he became a bit more of a cliche of a romantic Vampire. I also felt that his attraction to Buffy was out of the blue as well. He was still fun in S5, but in S6 I hated the Buffy/Spike romance (more for what it did to Buffy than anything else), and S7 turned him into a mini, but less effective Angel.

Still Marsters was always fantastic in the role and her and Sarah Michelle Gellar had amazing chemistry at least. Also at the very least whilst the jump to him loving Buffy was big, after that it was very well develop and constantly subverted the viewers expectations.

(PS I have met Marsters at a convention and he is an awesome guy too. Him and Ingrid Oliver are my two favourite guests. Both so charming. James was hilarious, asked you about your day, shook your hand. Such a cool guy.)

2/ Angel: Again another boring answer. I'd say Angel is probably the best character objectively. There is more in his story than even Spike's, and it's quite rare to have a character be so effective as a villain and a hero. I just prefer Spike because he had all the best lines, like in this classic scene.





3/ Faith: LOVE Eliza Dushku, Faith much like Angel worked really well as a villain and a hero. Eliza gave her such a viciousness as a villain, but her naturally fun, tomboyish personality made her so likable. I'm just sad we didn't get more Faith and Spike. They are really good friends now apparently.

4/ Giles: I've always liked the Peter Cushing, Van Helsing style character. The guy who knows everything there is to know about Vampires, who is a book guy, but can handle himself in a fight, is very stiff upper lip, but quite ruthless too.

The show lost so much when he left, and his departure was too hasty. Still for the first 5 seasons he was one of my favourites.

5/ Tara: She is probably the most genuinely likable character on the show. (On either show LOL.) Amber Benson was so lovely, so warm, so caring. I don't know why she wasn't in more?

I've always had a real soft spot for the type Tara is, that nerdy girl who feels she just has to be polite to everybody, not because she is wimpy, just genuinely kind. She'kk even be undersating of a total asshole like Spike

Her death was sad, but it wasn't homophobic. I hate it when people say that. Joss is always killing his characters off suddenly, gay or straight. Look at Jenny Calendar, and Walsh from Firefly, and Anya and Fred from Angel (who got it the worst.) You might not like it, but it's not homophobic.

I like most of the rest equally, but I think my least favourites would probably be Anya and Riley.

I like Emma Caulfield, but Anya to me was mostly a spare part whilst Riley didn't really go anywhere.

Honestly, it was always Willow, Xander and Giles for me at the top spot. It's why Angel and Cordy buggering off after season 3 never bothered me, so long as the core group was there I didn't really care.
After that, maybe Spike, Tara, Dawn (who I think is very underrated).
I never really disliked any of the main characters, honestly, though Riley seemed a bit of a pointless spare part in season 5 (to be fair, that was kinda the intent admittedly).

iank wrote:Honestly, it was always Willow, Xander and Giles for me at the top spot. It's why Angel and Cordy buggering off after season 3 never bothered me, so long as the core group was there I didn't really care.
After that, maybe Spike, Tara, Dawn (who I think is very underrated).
I never really disliked any of the main characters, honestly, though Riley seemed a bit of a pointless spare part in season 5 (to be fair, that was kinda the intent admittedly).

I fancied Dawn a lot when I was a child, but looking back on it now, she's only really of any use in season 5. She's a reasonably complex character in that season, but in season 6 they just redo the angsty teenager bit again.

"get out, Get Out, GET OUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!!!!"

Season 7 meanwhile she just get's pushed to the side. A problem I do think with Joss Whedon is that he tends to crowbar too many characters into something.

I never got into Buffy, but my favorite Angel character was Illyria. I was never that into Fred, but I couldn't get enough of Illyria. Season 5 of Angel just rules.

If you're into Spike, he plays a similar character in a few episodes of Andromeda - Charlemagne. If you haven't seen Andromeda the first two seasons are really good, I couldn't recommend them highly enough. Seasons 3-5 were ok, but nowhere near as good as the first two.

I only ever watched a few episodes of Buffy - It seemed to soap opera-y for me, not focused enough on the supernatural/sci-fi/fantasy/spooky sort of stuff for my taste. Is that true of the whole show, or were the episodes I watched just stinkers? (it was so long ago I don't really remember which ones I saw)

Fendelman wrote:I never got into Buffy, but my favorite Angel character was Illyria. I was never that into Fred, but I couldn't get enough of Illyria. Season 5 of Angel just rules.

If you're into Spike, he plays a similar character in a few episodes of Andromeda - Charlemagne. If you haven't seen Andromeda the first two seasons are really good, I couldn't recommend them highly enough. Seasons 3-5 were ok, but nowhere near as good as the first two.

I only ever watched a few episodes of Buffy - It seemed to soap opera-y for me, not focused enough on the supernatural/sci-fi/fantasy/spooky sort of stuff for my taste. Is that true of the whole show, or were the episodes I watched just stinkers? (it was so long ago I don't really remember which ones I saw)

To be honest I always preferred Angel as a series to Buffy. I love both, and Buffy was obviously more groundbreaking, but Angel I think was more consistent over the piece (apart from season 4 which is absolute shite.) As you say Angel season 5 is amazing. Anything with Angel and Spike is a win for me. Why We Fight, Destiny, A Hole In The World, You're Welcome, Hellbound are all absolute classic episodes.

Buffy seasons 1-4 are fantastic. There is a bit of soap opera in them, but it's balanced out with the supernatural. S5 is when it starts to tail off a bit IMO re the soap opera.

SPOILERS there is a story about Buffy's mother getting a brain tumor that's a real soap opera dirge, and it culminates in one episode that has no supernatural elements at all.

Also Spike's infatuation with Buffy takes over too much of the plot too. Still S5 is good overall. It has a brilliant lead villain, some great one offs and a touching finale.

S6 meanwhile is total soap opera. The villains are lame, it's all just about Buffy's depression, break ups of various relationships.

S7 meanwhile definitely puts the focus back on Vampires and monsters, but is perhaps a bit too Spike centric. Still S7 is a good season overall.

I'll include Angel characters in this, as even though I slightly prefer Buffy, my favourite character overall is in Angel:

And that's Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. His character development extending from Buffy Season 3 to Angel Season 5 is some of the best development I have seen in a TV show. It's drastic, but the seeds were already there. Starting out as a wimp in Buffy Season 3, still having meekish qualities but signs of a darker side in Angel Season 1 and 2, then getting the full development in Season 3, and becoming a tragic badass in Season 4 and 5. But it all feels completely believable. I do think that the Buffyverse excels at character development anyway, but I do think that element shines the most with Wesley.

It may be a simple answer, but I also just love Buffy. I love her sarcastic, jokey attitude and Sarah Michelle Gellar brings those characteristics in a brilliant performance. Willow is just adorable, Tara and Oz are so quirky, wise and honestly probably the funniest characters, and Spike is just so much fun, even with the melodrama that he had in Season 6.

SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe wrote:I'll include Angel characters in this, as even though I slightly prefer Buffy, my favourite character overall is in Angel:

And that's Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. His character development extending from Buffy Season 3 to Angel Season 5 is some of the best development I have seen in a TV show. It's drastic, but the seeds were already there. Starting out as a wimp in Buffy Season 3, still having meekish qualities but signs of a darker side in Angel Season 1 and 2, then getting the full development in Season 3, and becoming a tragic badass in Season 4 and 5. But it all feels completely believable. I do think that the Buffyverse excels at character development anyway, but I do think that element shines the most with Wesley.

It may be a simple answer, but I also just love Buffy. I love her sarcastic, jokey attitude and Sarah Michelle Gellar brings those characteristics in a brilliant performance. Willow is just adorable, Tara and Oz are so quirky, wise and honestly probably the funniest characters, and Spike is just so much fun, even with the melodrama that he had in Season 6.

Wesley was a great character. I'd argue that you saw a ruthless side to him even in Buffy seaso 3. His willingness to leave Willow with Faith and the Mayor was a sign of his later willingness to do things like steal Angels son.

Who could forget the moment where Angel tried to smother Wesley with a pillow. God that was such a jaw dropping moment.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is a brilliant actress. Very underrated in all respects, but her comic timing in particular was fantastic. Her Buffybot performance was hilarious.

My favourite Buffy characters were listed in another thread I believe, but the most effective ones were those with the best character development. Spike & Wesley would therefore qualify - both of their actors did exceptional work throughout both shows, though Willow runs them close. Still not sure if I think season 6's ending is brilliant or just overly-melodramatic, but Hannigan was always excellent, whilst Buffy's evolution from perky teen to elder sister to General was also well-handled.

The decision to have the Jekyll/Hyde split between Angel & Angelus was perhaps the show's masterstroke, however - shifting it away from more conventional Twilight-style 'shipping'.