well, someone has a brain...
Dec. 18th, 2003 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teylaminhso. "chosen". cuts and minor rants thereof shortly, after this announcement, for anyone that missed it: as of 16th january, the entire of season 7 will be shown again, weekly, with late night uncut repeats. so, hurrah for someone being sensible... (i get the impression, more often than not, that there is one single solitary geek on the scheduling team...)
right, so, the cuts were, as i wrote them down:
1) last night, for starters, i'm pretty sure they cut the first saying "that bitch..." to spike. not that important, but annoying nonetheless.
2) when she 'split' caleb, we only saw the upward motion. it was meant to be buffy slamming the scythe between his legs, his wide-eyed expression of horror, and then the upward slice. and here's the really stupid thing - they kept angel saying "okay, now i'm pissed" - and, in fact, much of the other cursing throughout that was too hard to cut. more on that later...
3) the conversation between robin and faith was severely cut, too. during the whole "i am so much prettier than you" thing, there was a whole section missed out. faith was supposed to say "that was rock 'em, sock 'em!" (in response to the sex...), and then they cut robin's truly fantastic, "don't get me wrong, it was nice enough, and you're very... uh... 'enthused'..." or whatever it was. i'd go to buffyworld to get the exact quote, but yeah, it was missed out. annoying, though not exactly vital...
4) the final battle was cut lots, too, i imagine, but from what i specifically remember, i think they edited the stabbing-of-buffy somewhat. i'm pretty sure that we actually saw the sword going through her and then out again before, rather than just the wound.
5) anya. it was a blink-and-you-miss it moment to begin with, so quick they shouldn't really have had to cut it at all. but cut it, they did, so we didn't see anya getting sliced in half. in fact, the only way we would have known anya had died would be from the shot of her lying on the ground, and xander's conversation with andrew at the end.
6) and here's where my point about the cursing comes in: they cut spike's truly fantastic "oh, bollocks..." as the amulet does its thing. i really wish they'd left that in. it seems like a very insignificant line, really, but the fact that it's there at all is to remind us that it's spike, and even when he's saving the world, he doesn't change... :)
frell, i miss spike. :( am going to have to watch season 4 of angel... am also regrettably going to have to write the post-chosen fic. bugger.
i think i'll type up the plan for that, actually... then you can all talk me out of it...
much of what i said about 'chosen' the last time still holds - though i'm more coherent this time - but here's a little more i noticed... firstly, that standing-on-opposite-sides-of-the-room thing is still very cruel, but it's spawned so much missing-scene fic i probably shouldn't complain. the other buffy/spike scene seemed so much better this time around - and i'm going to have to make an icon of the angel doodle, because it's so funny...
the final battle - the entire ending, in fact - seemed so much more poignant this time. maybe because i wrote the counterpoint fic having not seen it for ages, and it seemed to fit. i don't know. but anyway, i whimpered muchly at the 'i love you' and spike burning up never fails to get to me anyway, not because it's spike (although that's part of it; they always kill the best ones. bastards.) but because it just makes me think about what he sacrifices, and more importantly, what he didn't get a chance to sacrifice. the fact that even when he's on the brink of death he puts buffy first and the fact that, my god, she so doesn't deserve it.
*sigh. mutters* i could go on and on about this; watching 'end of days' yesterday only made it worse. i've been totally on spike's side since 'crush', so i suppose i'm biased...
oh, and the bit with robin's "surprise..." - the look on faith's face. it's so much a "you bastard..." expression. :D
anyway. i'll stop. here's the plan of the fic, cut for your convenience. all are entitled to comment except![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
falling_softly, on a matter of principle. :P
Death by Cliché - working title
okay, this is me following the (2nd) plan i wrote down for the post-'chosen' spuffy fic. i apologise in advance for the clichés, the horrible, horrible songficness of it, and the general wrongness of everything about it. and since i don't know the angel canon at all, i'm pretty much ignoring it...
~ to be set a few months after the events of the finale.
~ setting the scene: life in general. Buffy is mourning Spike and remembering/regretting past times; Xander is grieving for Anya and bonding with Andrew (including a section somewhere delving into how his childish behaviour is the only coping strategy he knows, and possibly the culmination of his general disbelief at being alive where Xander has to stop him committing suicide); Willow and Kennedy break up; Dawn is missing Spike and regretting never telling him that she forgave him; Giles is enlisting Watchers for the Slayers and reforming the Council from scratch, which Buffy, Faith and Robin train up those they've already got, honing their newly acquired skills.
~ Life continues. Buffy is living as normally as it's possible to, attempting boyfriends, some serious, but never getting very far. Then, her mysterious illness begins...
~ After a few more months of throwig up at a very, um, specific time of the day, Buffy suspects something may be awry (no, really?) and Dawn insists on a pregnancy test, despite Buffy's vehement affirmations that there's been nobody since... well, Spike (which will link to the Counterpoint fic for Chosen, making the whole thing a series, which I swore I'd never do, but anyway...) She buys a test (one of those accurate digital type ones) to shut Dawn up. It comes out positive. As do the next seven...
the GREAT BIG CLICHÉ is coming. lock up your children.
~ They tell Giles. He's shocked, but promises to look into it. Research-mode ensues, and they uncover a(nother) prophecy - that on the Eve of the Final Battle, the Warrior of the Light and the Champion Brought Forth from Darkness shall continue the legacy and produce a child - an almost Messianic figure who will lead the army to victory again when the time comes (and it'll be worded a lot better than that. Gimme a break; it was 5am.)
~ cue more (hormonal) moping from Buffy. Naturally.
~ cut to three years later. Everyone is living normally, and Buffy is sitting with her son (who she's named William, of course. Why settle with one cliché?) reminiscing to herself as he plays in the sunlight streaming from a window. Pretty much the entire fic is based on that image, actually. I forgot to mention that each chapter is going to be based on a song and this one is "I'd Give My Life For You" from Miss Saigon. Most of the others are Katie Melua tracks. ;)
~ Meanwhile... Spike has shansued to the Hellpit in Sunnydale, eventually managing to climb from the crater and being immediately found at the edge by Angel, who is only there because the Champion prophecy basically told him so, once they'd figured out the translation. Which means I'm going to have to write Angel, which means I may have to watch the series... Anyway, he takes him back to LA to look after him (Spike's having been sent to earth after a few years in Heaven; can't be good for the soul...) He decides to keep the news from Buffy, mainly because Spike's gone slightly mad again (and, um, because of the whole jealousy thing...) and she's miles away in Cleveland with Giles and the rest of the Scoobies. And because he's Angel, and therefore petty.
~ another year down the line, in LA, Spike has pretty much recovered from his ordeal, and keeps asking after Buffy. Angel lies to him and tells him he doesn't know where she is, to protect his fragile emotions. He still hasn't told Buffy, either - but he has told Giles, who is similarly trying to protect her now that she's finally found contentment in her life with her son.
~ Buffy has been experiencing bizarre coincidences: finding an old leather trenchcoat in a store that she buys without thinking... which she then discovers smells inexplcably of Spike. It is, basically, his duster. A random flashback to a year after the events of the finale, where she begs Giles to take her to London so she can find his grave (links to the Chosen Counterpoint), which she cleans up and makes pretty. It's in a family plot. The surname is obliterated (or I might go with Westenra, because, even though I hate people giving Spike a surname, and especially one that starts with 'W', it does actually sound quite good...) Back to present-day: new headstones have been laid for everyone they lost, including those before the battle against the First, in a special plot purchased by Giles for just that purpose: Tara, Joyce, Anya, Jonathan, even Warren (at Andrew's request), and Spike, with the epitaph from the Counterpoint (Spike. He saved the world. Alone.) Buffy is visiting his grave, putting down new flowers for him and Joyce, talking to him, when an anonymous note appears from nowhere reading simply "He's in the City of Angels" At first, she thinks it's all a cruel joke, then something makes her tell Giles, who eventually concedes defeat. Buffy heads off to LA, William in tow.
~ Angel refuses to let her see Spike because he's not as she remembered him, and he doesn't want to see either of them get hurt despite his differences with Spike (Sire/Childe relationship issues; go figure.) She's brought William with her and explains to a reluctant Angel about the prophecy - he's already heard, and has been hoping it wasn't true. Eventually, he lets her stay because she has nowhere else to go.
~ Angel goes to see Spike (who is renting a room somewhere) - the latter catches Buffy's scent on Angel immediately and demands to know why. When Angel refuses to bring her to him, he asks him why, and tries to get past him to find Buffy for himself. Angel tells him to stay put, and concedes to organise a rendez-vous.
~ He sets up a liaison, booking Buffy into a hotel near where Spike's staying. He tells her to stay put, that he'll tell Spike where she is, which he does. Spike finally plucks up enough courage to see her. He explains what happened to him (meanwhile, William is sleeping in a seperate part of the room.) She admits she's been having Slayer-prophetic dreams about him for years - climbing out of the crater - but had started to ignore them and pass them off as part of the grieving process. Spike explains that he met Joyce, Tara and Anya, wherever it was he ended up, and that they promised to make things right. They've been influencing things for Buffy on earth, such as the anonymous note, the duster, etc. It turns out he's less than vampire, but more than human; he can go out in the sun, but burns quickly, that sort of thing...
~ She finally introduces her son. He's sleepy and shy of strangers, but seems to know Spike on some level. Buffy explains about the prophecy to allay any fears Spike has - explains that William is his son. And cue big angsty type conversation to end the fic on, with a possibly ambivalent ending. I'm planning on it being Spuffy, but not precisely happy... they get reunited and then seperated again, by Spike's choice. Buffy needs to go home, and Spike feels he has to stay away.
Leaving it open for a sequel. Not entirely sure about that one yet, but hopefully I won't have to write it for a while. One of the things Buffy neglects to tell Spike is that in giving birth to William, as per the prophesy, she's transferred the majority of her Slayer powers to her son. Possibly it'll be a future fic where William has to take on the next big evil, backed by Buffy and the others, at which point Angel convinces Spike to make an appearance again. As I have it written down (it was 5.30am at this point...): "B/S reunion-ness and acceptance that they need each other too much to be apart any more." Which is sort of the general theme I want to end on. Anyway, it'll doubtless grow to gargantuan proportions again, but at least this one has a plan, which is something...
you can kill me now :)
can't be bothered to transcribe, so here's the conversation withwraithshadow where i described the other image in my head...
me: well, i picture the motel they meet at as being sort of dark and grey. i can definitely picture grey. and there's a bit where spike's crouching to meet william and just KNOWS he's his, which is sort of based on the bit in farscape where john got to meet the hologram of his daughter...
me: but anyway, the other image is random and i probably won't be able to describe it very well, so bear with me...
her: ok
me: william is unable to sleep in strange places, being four years old and generally over-protected by buffy AND the others, so this is his first time in new surroundings. so he can't sleep, so buffy has to sleep with him, and this is the night at the end of her conversation/reunion with spike, after he's told her he can't be a part of her life any more.
me: with me so far?
me: (wow, i hate describing images...)
her: yes
[some random angel type stuff]
me: can i finish my image now? :P
her: yes
me: right.
me: :)
me: so, buffy's lying next to william (he's finally asleep), with her arm over him, keeping him safe. she's crying - many reasons - and spike's taken up residence in the other adjoining room where william was sleeping before (i'll figure out why later... it works for now) and he can hear her. so he joins her, lies behind her and puts his arm over HER in the same way, holding onto her and william. no words. only tears.
me: it's evocative and wonderful and it has to go in.
me: what do you think?
her: wow
her: brethless stylee
me: :)
me: but it won't be til the final chapter, which won'tb e for a while.
me: i have to save this conversation so i know, though.
me: and the next morning she has to leave. and still no words...
her: lol i have it saved
me: goood.
me: as do i, automatically.
her: :)
complete with typos ;) and now i don't have to save it because it's right here, memoried. :) but yes. hurrah for evocative images...
right, so, the cuts were, as i wrote them down:
1) last night, for starters, i'm pretty sure they cut the first saying "that bitch..." to spike. not that important, but annoying nonetheless.
2) when she 'split' caleb, we only saw the upward motion. it was meant to be buffy slamming the scythe between his legs, his wide-eyed expression of horror, and then the upward slice. and here's the really stupid thing - they kept angel saying "okay, now i'm pissed" - and, in fact, much of the other cursing throughout that was too hard to cut. more on that later...
3) the conversation between robin and faith was severely cut, too. during the whole "i am so much prettier than you" thing, there was a whole section missed out. faith was supposed to say "that was rock 'em, sock 'em!" (in response to the sex...), and then they cut robin's truly fantastic, "don't get me wrong, it was nice enough, and you're very... uh... 'enthused'..." or whatever it was. i'd go to buffyworld to get the exact quote, but yeah, it was missed out. annoying, though not exactly vital...
4) the final battle was cut lots, too, i imagine, but from what i specifically remember, i think they edited the stabbing-of-buffy somewhat. i'm pretty sure that we actually saw the sword going through her and then out again before, rather than just the wound.
5) anya. it was a blink-and-you-miss it moment to begin with, so quick they shouldn't really have had to cut it at all. but cut it, they did, so we didn't see anya getting sliced in half. in fact, the only way we would have known anya had died would be from the shot of her lying on the ground, and xander's conversation with andrew at the end.
6) and here's where my point about the cursing comes in: they cut spike's truly fantastic "oh, bollocks..." as the amulet does its thing. i really wish they'd left that in. it seems like a very insignificant line, really, but the fact that it's there at all is to remind us that it's spike, and even when he's saving the world, he doesn't change... :)
frell, i miss spike. :( am going to have to watch season 4 of angel... am also regrettably going to have to write the post-chosen fic. bugger.
i think i'll type up the plan for that, actually... then you can all talk me out of it...
much of what i said about 'chosen' the last time still holds - though i'm more coherent this time - but here's a little more i noticed... firstly, that standing-on-opposite-sides-of-the-room thing is still very cruel, but it's spawned so much missing-scene fic i probably shouldn't complain. the other buffy/spike scene seemed so much better this time around - and i'm going to have to make an icon of the angel doodle, because it's so funny...
the final battle - the entire ending, in fact - seemed so much more poignant this time. maybe because i wrote the counterpoint fic having not seen it for ages, and it seemed to fit. i don't know. but anyway, i whimpered muchly at the 'i love you' and spike burning up never fails to get to me anyway, not because it's spike (although that's part of it; they always kill the best ones. bastards.) but because it just makes me think about what he sacrifices, and more importantly, what he didn't get a chance to sacrifice. the fact that even when he's on the brink of death he puts buffy first and the fact that, my god, she so doesn't deserve it.
*sigh. mutters* i could go on and on about this; watching 'end of days' yesterday only made it worse. i've been totally on spike's side since 'crush', so i suppose i'm biased...
oh, and the bit with robin's "surprise..." - the look on faith's face. it's so much a "you bastard..." expression. :D
anyway. i'll stop. here's the plan of the fic, cut for your convenience. all are entitled to comment except
falling_softly, on a matter of principle. :Pokay, this is me following the (2nd) plan i wrote down for the post-'chosen' spuffy fic. i apologise in advance for the clichés, the horrible, horrible songficness of it, and the general wrongness of everything about it. and since i don't know the angel canon at all, i'm pretty much ignoring it...
~ to be set a few months after the events of the finale.
~ setting the scene: life in general. Buffy is mourning Spike and remembering/regretting past times; Xander is grieving for Anya and bonding with Andrew (including a section somewhere delving into how his childish behaviour is the only coping strategy he knows, and possibly the culmination of his general disbelief at being alive where Xander has to stop him committing suicide); Willow and Kennedy break up; Dawn is missing Spike and regretting never telling him that she forgave him; Giles is enlisting Watchers for the Slayers and reforming the Council from scratch, which Buffy, Faith and Robin train up those they've already got, honing their newly acquired skills.
~ Life continues. Buffy is living as normally as it's possible to, attempting boyfriends, some serious, but never getting very far. Then, her mysterious illness begins...
~ After a few more months of throwig up at a very, um, specific time of the day, Buffy suspects something may be awry (no, really?) and Dawn insists on a pregnancy test, despite Buffy's vehement affirmations that there's been nobody since... well, Spike (which will link to the Counterpoint fic for Chosen, making the whole thing a series, which I swore I'd never do, but anyway...) She buys a test (one of those accurate digital type ones) to shut Dawn up. It comes out positive. As do the next seven...
the GREAT BIG CLICHÉ is coming. lock up your children.
~ They tell Giles. He's shocked, but promises to look into it. Research-mode ensues, and they uncover a(nother) prophecy - that on the Eve of the Final Battle, the Warrior of the Light and the Champion Brought Forth from Darkness shall continue the legacy and produce a child - an almost Messianic figure who will lead the army to victory again when the time comes (and it'll be worded a lot better than that. Gimme a break; it was 5am.)
~ cue more (hormonal) moping from Buffy. Naturally.
~ cut to three years later. Everyone is living normally, and Buffy is sitting with her son (who she's named William, of course. Why settle with one cliché?) reminiscing to herself as he plays in the sunlight streaming from a window. Pretty much the entire fic is based on that image, actually. I forgot to mention that each chapter is going to be based on a song and this one is "I'd Give My Life For You" from Miss Saigon. Most of the others are Katie Melua tracks. ;)
~ Meanwhile... Spike has shansued to the Hellpit in Sunnydale, eventually managing to climb from the crater and being immediately found at the edge by Angel, who is only there because the Champion prophecy basically told him so, once they'd figured out the translation. Which means I'm going to have to write Angel, which means I may have to watch the series... Anyway, he takes him back to LA to look after him (Spike's having been sent to earth after a few years in Heaven; can't be good for the soul...) He decides to keep the news from Buffy, mainly because Spike's gone slightly mad again (and, um, because of the whole jealousy thing...) and she's miles away in Cleveland with Giles and the rest of the Scoobies. And because he's Angel, and therefore petty.
~ another year down the line, in LA, Spike has pretty much recovered from his ordeal, and keeps asking after Buffy. Angel lies to him and tells him he doesn't know where she is, to protect his fragile emotions. He still hasn't told Buffy, either - but he has told Giles, who is similarly trying to protect her now that she's finally found contentment in her life with her son.
~ Buffy has been experiencing bizarre coincidences: finding an old leather trenchcoat in a store that she buys without thinking... which she then discovers smells inexplcably of Spike. It is, basically, his duster. A random flashback to a year after the events of the finale, where she begs Giles to take her to London so she can find his grave (links to the Chosen Counterpoint), which she cleans up and makes pretty. It's in a family plot. The surname is obliterated (or I might go with Westenra, because, even though I hate people giving Spike a surname, and especially one that starts with 'W', it does actually sound quite good...) Back to present-day: new headstones have been laid for everyone they lost, including those before the battle against the First, in a special plot purchased by Giles for just that purpose: Tara, Joyce, Anya, Jonathan, even Warren (at Andrew's request), and Spike, with the epitaph from the Counterpoint (Spike. He saved the world. Alone.) Buffy is visiting his grave, putting down new flowers for him and Joyce, talking to him, when an anonymous note appears from nowhere reading simply "He's in the City of Angels" At first, she thinks it's all a cruel joke, then something makes her tell Giles, who eventually concedes defeat. Buffy heads off to LA, William in tow.
~ Angel refuses to let her see Spike because he's not as she remembered him, and he doesn't want to see either of them get hurt despite his differences with Spike (Sire/Childe relationship issues; go figure.) She's brought William with her and explains to a reluctant Angel about the prophecy - he's already heard, and has been hoping it wasn't true. Eventually, he lets her stay because she has nowhere else to go.
~ Angel goes to see Spike (who is renting a room somewhere) - the latter catches Buffy's scent on Angel immediately and demands to know why. When Angel refuses to bring her to him, he asks him why, and tries to get past him to find Buffy for himself. Angel tells him to stay put, and concedes to organise a rendez-vous.
~ He sets up a liaison, booking Buffy into a hotel near where Spike's staying. He tells her to stay put, that he'll tell Spike where she is, which he does. Spike finally plucks up enough courage to see her. He explains what happened to him (meanwhile, William is sleeping in a seperate part of the room.) She admits she's been having Slayer-prophetic dreams about him for years - climbing out of the crater - but had started to ignore them and pass them off as part of the grieving process. Spike explains that he met Joyce, Tara and Anya, wherever it was he ended up, and that they promised to make things right. They've been influencing things for Buffy on earth, such as the anonymous note, the duster, etc. It turns out he's less than vampire, but more than human; he can go out in the sun, but burns quickly, that sort of thing...
~ She finally introduces her son. He's sleepy and shy of strangers, but seems to know Spike on some level. Buffy explains about the prophecy to allay any fears Spike has - explains that William is his son. And cue big angsty type conversation to end the fic on, with a possibly ambivalent ending. I'm planning on it being Spuffy, but not precisely happy... they get reunited and then seperated again, by Spike's choice. Buffy needs to go home, and Spike feels he has to stay away.
Leaving it open for a sequel. Not entirely sure about that one yet, but hopefully I won't have to write it for a while. One of the things Buffy neglects to tell Spike is that in giving birth to William, as per the prophesy, she's transferred the majority of her Slayer powers to her son. Possibly it'll be a future fic where William has to take on the next big evil, backed by Buffy and the others, at which point Angel convinces Spike to make an appearance again. As I have it written down (it was 5.30am at this point...): "B/S reunion-ness and acceptance that they need each other too much to be apart any more." Which is sort of the general theme I want to end on. Anyway, it'll doubtless grow to gargantuan proportions again, but at least this one has a plan, which is something...
you can kill me now :)
can't be bothered to transcribe, so here's the conversation with
wraithshadowme: well, i picture the motel they meet at as being sort of dark and grey. i can definitely picture grey. and there's a bit where spike's crouching to meet william and just KNOWS he's his, which is sort of based on the bit in farscape where john got to meet the hologram of his daughter...
me: but anyway, the other image is random and i probably won't be able to describe it very well, so bear with me...
her: ok
me: william is unable to sleep in strange places, being four years old and generally over-protected by buffy AND the others, so this is his first time in new surroundings. so he can't sleep, so buffy has to sleep with him, and this is the night at the end of her conversation/reunion with spike, after he's told her he can't be a part of her life any more.
me: with me so far?
me: (wow, i hate describing images...)
her: yes
[some random angel type stuff]
me: can i finish my image now? :P
her: yes
me: right.
me: :)
me: so, buffy's lying next to william (he's finally asleep), with her arm over him, keeping him safe. she's crying - many reasons - and spike's taken up residence in the other adjoining room where william was sleeping before (i'll figure out why later... it works for now) and he can hear her. so he joins her, lies behind her and puts his arm over HER in the same way, holding onto her and william. no words. only tears.
me: it's evocative and wonderful and it has to go in.
me: what do you think?
her: wow
her: brethless stylee
me: :)
me: but it won't be til the final chapter, which won'tb e for a while.
me: i have to save this conversation so i know, though.
me: and the next morning she has to leave. and still no words...
her: lol i have it saved
me: goood.
me: as do i, automatically.
her: :)
complete with typos ;) and now i don't have to save it because it's right here, memoried. :) but yes. hurrah for evocative images...