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RSS FeedWhich Joss Whedon TV series was better: Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel?
Results so far:
| Buffy | 68% | 460 votes | Total: 674 votes | |
| Angel | 32% | 214 votes |
Buffy
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Add to FavoritesBuffy the Vampire Slayer's depth and humor is unmatched on television and certainly in all areas of the Buffyverse. Angel is a spinoff and while an excellent one, it still cannot stand up to the original.
Before the beginning of Angel the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer had three solid seasons of apocalyptic mayhem behind it. The relationships between Buffy, her friends ("the Scoobies")and her family added a realistic dimension to the show. This came as a surprising and welcome offset to the fantastic and supernatural elements of the show. Buffy dealt with how to handle what life throws at you whether you ask for it or not. How to be "special" when you want to just be "ordinary." How to risk everything because you have to, even if you don't want to. Doing what is best for everyone else even if it is the worst for you. Buffy's mission is selfless. She is the slayer because she was chosen. She makes the hard choices and does right because it is right.
Angel chose a different direction. From the beginning, it lacked some of the humor of Buffy, obviously trying to be darker than its predecessor. It had its own kind of charm, much of it coming from Angel himself and of course, that newly-broke and slightly-less-shallo w Sunnydale defector, Cordelia Chase. But to say the Los Angeles setting was "otherworldly" would be kind. LA's population seethed with demons and vampires, and hardly any had the wit of the Sunnydale villains. The fantasy element in this show was ingrained into every scene. There were far more flashbacks.
The main theme of the show was redemption. Angel tries to atone for his hundreds of years of evil deeds. Angel is out to do good for others but also to help himself. While certainly understandable in the face of his crushing guilt and pain, his motives are to some extent, selfish. Redemption is a noble goal but impossible to achieve through your own actions.
Finally, however, unfair it seems, Angel could not be the Angel we loved on Buffy without her by his side loving him. Without his and Buffy's angst, something was missing from Angel. Buffy could move on. With the Scoobies mostly intact, Buffy was still Buffy. She still had her mission. And the loss of Angel made it only all the more real. Buffy as the slayer always had to face loss. Buffy can be without Angel and still be Buffy. Angel without Buffy just has something missing.
Learn more about this author, L Dulac.
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Angel
Angel was a much better TV series than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially if you take into account, consistency towards creative storylines. Sara Michelle Gellar was a petite force to be reckoned with and if I had those looks and those powers, my ego would be huge, no putting up with controlling, flaky idiots, ever. The last two seasons of Buffy got pretty close to pornographic and it took a depressing turn. I don't think that despair and porn go well together. I enjoyed the very dysfunctional relationship that developed between Buffy and Spike but that was the only reason I watched, just to see them go at it. I loved Spike, I could seriously lick him.
All of that eye candy (Angel, Spike, Zander, OZ) filled a void for the female audience. The writing started out good and great writing propelled it along year after year. It was amazing watching these teenagers take over the library and come up with excuses for the freaky things that happened at school and the 'Bronze'. It's difficult to keep that level of intensity and originality especially with today's ADD audience and not burn out. The ending did not honor the integrity of the series, it was a huge disappointment, and the only good thing about it was it left an opening for my man Spike to return.
The story of Angel, the Vampire with a Soul, is just so romantic, so tragic - doomed to be alone, forbidden to fully experience the pitfalls, freedom and joy of true love. Angel, so tall, dark, handsome, brooding, inaccessible, women are suckers for that type - a man you can not have - prevented from seeing the sun rise and therefore, probably suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, battles evil in Hell-A.
David Boreanez grew into his character and revealed the many sides of Angel, creating a multi-dimensional, addictive, human character. I would never have thought in the beginning that when I first tuned in, that the show would, at times, be so funny, instead of staying stuck on dark and gloomy parasites both human and non-human and starring a normally tortured reanimated corpse? I thought the episode where Angel was turned into a puppet was comical and brilliant and I could not stop laughing. That episode justifies my DVR service. The ending of Angel was superb, it was unexpected, I didn't have to see my heroes murdered but fighting passionately, and again the writers and actors developed well-rounded, complicated lovable characters. Oh and once again, providing a service to those who like to look at great looking men.
Learn more about this author, Lynnette Southwood.
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