Here's another report about the event that I'm cutting and pasting from the Cross and Stake. Nothing new but take a look at what the posters reaction to Joss and Tara's death. Kinda interesting maybe we're slowly getting to him?
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I met James tonight. Ok, it's not as if we were introduced. It was more one of those he's on stage, affably squatting down to greet people, and I'm right there in front of him making with the smiles and he's making with the big blue eye contact and the smiles and just as we're about to, you know, really bond ...some cruel handler type grabs him and reminds him about "that thing" he has to do. He looks as if he's sincerely heartbroken that he can't talk stay there and talk to me and all his other adoring fans all night long. He apologizes, and rises and off he goes... sigh.
A very kind friend, to whom I will be forever indebted, invited me to go along this evening to the Buffy Behind the Scenes show for TV Academy members. (I happened to be in LA this week for a funeral, so this came as a very unexpected surprise during a difficult week). There was some confusion about the tickets, which didn't arrive when they were supposed to, so we really weren't at all sure we'd get in until just about 2 hours before show time. But not only did we get in, we also got excellent seats right in the first non-VIP row, about 20 feet from the stage.
So here, to the best of my recollection, is an account of the show.
Joss is angling for an Emmy nomination, and tonights program was part of the pre-Emmy nomination hype. It began with a video featuring highlights of season 6, quick cuts of various scenes underscored with music that was obviously designed to be upbeat and amusing. For example, during several shots of scenes of Buffys death and return from the grave, we heard Look on the bright side of death from Monty Pythons Life of Brian. We saw Buffy taking her famous dive from The Gift and the risen Buffy huddling against the walls, hiding from both demons and her friends. We saw Xander and Anya in the Magic Shop in their scene from the finale in which she tells him cant kill him and hasnt decided whether she really wants him dead. We saw Buffy and Spikes final scene from
Smashed, followed by the wake-up in the morning scene from Wrecked with her line When did the house fall down? (the audience laughed loudly). We saw Buffy and Black Magic Willow facing off in the Magic Box. The longest section was from Once More With Feeling, where Buffys introductory song Going Through The Motions was the background music for a montage of scenes from the musical, ending with Spike and Buffys kiss. The audience cheered and applauded loudly for the musical.
Then the panel was introduced -- Joss, Marti, James, Aly, Nick, Michelle, Carey I forget his last name and Someone else whose last name Im also blanking on -- the production designer and make up (lighting?) guy.
James was on our end of the stage, maybe 20 feet away. He was wearing black pants (not jeans), a black western style shirt that looked vaguely familiar and various pieces of silver jewelry (neck chain, bracelet, several rings, a watch). His hair was gorgeous -- quite a bit of dark was showing through the blond. He was slender and generally smaller than he looks on TV, as is so often true of actors. The cheekbones were very chiseled this evening. Michelle, also small, looked lovely and more grown up than she looks on TV. Nick did not look as heavy as he has appeared this year -- he was better looking in person than hes appeared on the show this year. Aly looked particularly Willow-ish, in jeans and a peasant-style blouse with long loose sleeves. She is very pretty. Her hair was reddish and shoulder-length. Joss looked dorky as usual, in one of those ridiculous Hawaiian-type shirts and baggy pants. Marti was very pregnant.
Alex Denisoff was in the audience, a couple of rows in front of us. Mmm...hunky. A few of the others there looked vaguely familiar -- perhaps they played bit parts on the show, or else they were family members. The actress who played Cousin Carol in Hells Bells was standing directly in front of us, chatting with a reporter. Someone who looked a lot like Nick Brendan, and may have been his twin, was also there.
The moderator was a reporter, Janet Weeks, from TV Guide. She proceeded to ask a bunch of questions, many of which weve heard asked before. The only thing that was completely new to me and clearly a season one spoiler was this tidbit -- Joss said that the first episode will feature the grand re-opening of Sunnydale High School, where Dawn will be starting up as a student (shell be the same age Buffy was during the first season). So that explains the back to high school references weve heard about. I assume that means the Scooby gang will once again be in danger from the hellmouth, which is, after all, under the high school.
(Aly commented that she would have been in big trouble if she had leaked that particular piece of info about Sunnydale High reopening, but since Joss leaked it, it was ok).
Since a lot of people want to know what, if anything, was said about Spikes character, the word is, not much. Joss did absolutely confirm Jane Espensons claim that Spike was going to Africa to get a soul, not to get the chip removed. We were, Joss said, supposed to believe that hed gone to get the chip out, but then we had what Joss jokingly referred to as a plot twist -- ah hah, hes really gone to get a soul. He also promised It (the plot twist) will pay off, whatever that means.
To the usual question, but is he going to be like Angel, James loudly asserted No, no no! (and there will not be any cross overs with AtS). Joss agreed that he will not be like Angel, although he did say something to the effect that some aspects may be like Angel, but no, theyre not going to do the same thing again. Will be be able to have sex? James pretended to be insulted by the question, but yes, it seems Spike will be able to have sex, no Angel-like problem (this is all pretty much what weve heard before, of course). Joss said he wants to challenge James, and promised that next year will be unlikek anything James has ever had to do before. James said its always challenging, and If were not getting the shit scared out of us, they know somethings wrong.
What was significant about the above was Joss's statement that Spike will perhaps in some ways be similar to Angel (remorse?), yet, at the same time, his insistence that whatever JM will be doing as an actor will be different from anything he's done before. Hmmm...
James was asked about his sex scenes in season six. He laughed and said, yeah typically I was in a sock and Sarah was fully clothed. There was some laughter exchanged about how cold it was and everyone else was dressed, but there was poor James and his little sock, to which James immediately retorted, my big sock!
The actors were seated on one side of the moderator, and Joss, Marti, and the two production crew chiefs on the other side. The actors seemed to be very close -- good friends instead of professionals just tolerating one another. Nick was particularly lively, cracking jokes and at times coming on a bit too strong. James was energetic and constantly moving around in his seat, speaking up when it seemed appropriate, but not trying to dominate the discussion in any way. I noticed that he does the tongue thing often when he reacts or laughs -- its not just a Spike thing. Hes just naturally sexy! But as others have noted, he seems less like his character than the others do. Nick seems a lot like Xander and I was surprised at how much Aly seems like Willow. Michelle seemed much more self-possessed and mature than Dawn. She was also quite articulate when she spoke up, and absolutely a sweetheart afterwards while sighing autographs and posing for pictures.
Joss was asked about this seasons dark turn. He jokingly said, Really? First Ive heard of it. He also said, Oops. James defended the darkness of the season, noting that all the characters are changing as they grow older, and that people really do go through dark periods like these. Both he and Joss talked about moving away from metaphor this year, towards the more painful reality of life as it is actually lived. James said he thought it was good if they attracted a slightly older audience with the more mature themes.
Theyve clearly been criticized for this season a great deal already, and Joss acknowledged that perhaps they had gone too far into the depressive stuff. Marti, in her usual Marti fashion, claimed that the Spike Buffy relationship was driving the plot for much of the season, and repeated that it was destructive, blah blah. She also said that perhaps they didnt really how disturbed they were actually going to get. (No specific details were mentioned, like the attempted rape or the alley beating). She noted that theyd received a lot of mail expressing the desire for more of a romantic story, but that this was not the story they had intended (or wanted) to tell. She did not say anything, one way or the other, to indicate whether a more romantic love story would ever be told. Neither did Joss. He emphasized again that next year will move back to the original mission statement and explore the joy of female power. This statement was received with loud applause from the audience.
Joss said that Buffy will not continue her job at Doublemeat Palace because they had actually most advertisers over that --the only thing, he claims, that they lost any advertisers over. Apparently it's not kosher to make fun of fast good in the good old USA
Other things I jotted down -- Nick said that he had cried when reading his scene in the finale (with Josss edits, including the line about the crayons). Everyone on stage (and seemingly in the audience) agreed that the speech was great and that it was amazing to be able to do these great scenes written by great writers like Joss (I liked the scene, so I have no complaints about this). Joss mentioned with sarcasm seeing an internet post that said that stuff about the crayon really sucked. He does not seem to be too impressed with whats said about the show on the net. Michelle joked that Dawn will probably steal the crayon.
On the question of can we redeem Willow for killing Warren and trying to destroy the world, James said, yeah of course we can, but thats not to say itll be easy. Joss said shell go through some major recriminations, but theyre not going to have her moping around all season. Aly herself was asked if shed known how evil Willow was going to get. She said no, and was startled when she saw the final scripts. She said she realized something big was up when her make-up sessions were scheduled to take an hour longer than usual, and she complained to Joss this evening: How come I had to look all veiny?
The Tara death issue came up briefly, and Joss seemed a little bit defensive. They didnt get into the lesbian cliche thing at all, but they emphasized that killing Tara with a gun was once again meant to show that this was real life -- brutal and mundane, and senseless and nothing mystical and romantic about it at all. In real life, people that you love die. He also said hed wanted to make a statement about guns, and that the reference in Flooded to the gun in the bank robbery these things are rarely useful, or WTTE was meant to tie in with Warrens act in Seeing Red.
Aly said that the worst part of filming the scene at the end of Seeing Red where Tara is shot was that the blood that was supposed to spatter on her blouse did not spatter correctly, so they had to do the scene over and over to get the blood right. By the time they finally got a good take, she was no longer thinking about her own performance, but asking was the blood good?
Everyone in the cast seemed sincerely saddened by Tara's death on the show, but they also seemed to be in agreement that it was dramatically necessary.
Michelle is hoping for more grown-up scenes next year -- she told Joss she wants to wear heels occasionally, not just sneakers all the time
. Joss said she wont be whining next year, and the audience clapped loudly. Michelle commented that she hoped she wouldnt keep getting hate mail about what a spoiled brat she is.
James said emphatically at one point, I will NOT bleach my hair during the off season. His hair looked yummy with the roots showing.
To the question, are you spread too thin with Firefly and all his other projects, Joss claimed hes not. He says hes grown more focused over the years and will still be involved in Buffy in a major way next year.
And thats pretty much it. It was pretty damn exciting to see so many members of the Buffy team together, and James seemed just as affable and friendly as everyone else always reports him to be. Unfortunately he left before anyone else...the rest of the gang, including Joss, hung around for quite a while chatting with audience members, posing for pics and signing autographs.
After all this, I do so hope they get an Emmy nomination for something!
--Linda
by VampNo12 » Thu Jun 20, 2002 9:27 pm 
