I agree with pretty much everything Leigh said. Buffy grew up. I would add that a major factor of her new attitude was season 5, where she lost her own mother and gained a little sister, so she suddenly had to be responsible not just for herself, but for someone else. Gave her a whole new outlook on life.

I think that Buffy's development has been very logical, but that doesn't mean it's been as fun to watch. It's like meeting up with an old friend that you used to do wild and crazy things with, only to discover that he's married and has a few kids and an investment job and just isn't into that crazy stuff anymore. You can't fault him for growing up, and he can't go back again, but you still kinda miss the old crazy guy you used to know.

See, the whole design of Canberra with all its little 'town centers' spread out everywhere is good for preventing traffic jams, and for the scenery, but yeah, less population density means less places open at obscure hours...

But Kingston's one of the more medium-density suburbs of Canberra (lots of apartment blocks, a number of relatively upscale ones too). Yet Manuka, just down the road, is doing quite nicely for weekend dining.

I love the multi-nuclear design myself. (That it freaks out interstaters is just a bonus.) I place a pretty high premium on easy driving and the garden city status.

And I have to apologise to billytea for my wrongness. There are indeed, Aussie pie and Heinz sauce chips, Ham and Keens mustard chips and, wait for it... Mighty Bighty Bega cheese chips. I saw them tonight in the box of much temptation (aka, the snack food machine at work.)

t laughing like a drain Should I mention that Bec grew up in Bega? (A cattle farm just outside, to be precise.)

Yeah, chalk me up as another reasonably intelligent person who has issues with discerning left and right.

Yeah, me too. Hopeless at it. I basically have to stare at my hands for a couple of seconds to work out which is which (I do the 'L' thing). Most interesting experience was trying to direct a taxi-driver in Cairo, in Arabic. When you don't even know the words for left and right...

SMG looks that I just can't believe in whatever it is she's doing (mostly a me thing, and possibly a fight-scene direction thing).

I can understand that. I don't find it distracting in SMG's case, personally, but knowing that Charisma was pregnant I found myself watching AtS and cringing any time she did anything remotely actiony. Even though Cordy wasn't pregnant at that point.

So, yeah.

Wrt SMG and her acting - I like Buffy well enough, but for me the engagement has always been with the show as an ensemble piece. Totally. Ditto for AtS. I've taken SMG's acting for granted and not really thought 'Hey, that's good/bad/indifferent' until the few occasions when she ripped out my still beating heart and I was all "Good grief! You're doing all this on purpose! Wow!"

Er. If that makes any sense? I thought that her Faith impression was fabulous. And, of course, there's The Body. In which everyone just combined to make me weep like a baby.

She was stunning as Fuffy. And it's her little reactions and line deliveries I like so much. Although not as adorable, I think she's a far better actress than Allyson Hannigan.

Oh, I don't have any problem at all with the way Buffy - or indeed most of the characters - have developed over the years. It's a perfectly believable progression, made even more so by the acting, which I also cannot fault.

I just had a little "a-ha" moment when I realised I don't think I particularly like SMG. However, as I mentioned before, it is really hard to separate SMG from Buffy, who I do like. But one way to try is to imagine another actress in the role. It's difficult, but interesting.

Katie Holmes would have been good, I think. (I've never watched DC, I hasten to add). Can't imagine her as a blonde, though. Would Buffy have to be blonde?

I love Katie Holmes, but Buffy needed to be ditzier than she can do for the initial premise to work. Katie Holmes can't do airhead. SMG does airhead better than anyone working today - CF the Buffybot eps.

I think that Buffy's development has been very logical, but that doesn't mean it's been as fun to watch.

Yeah, I've have my moments of sheer impatience or boredom with Buffy over the past three seasons, and obviously uptight!Buffy isn't as fun to watch as she used to be, but I honestly don't know how you'd tell the story of Buffy which the writer's wanted to tell and have Buffy be that fun-to-watch girl the whole way through.

I don't mind the trade-off between quirky fun for a character journey, but that's just because I like this particular journey (and I must admit, I like it a lot better with hindsight than when I was sitting through it). *shrug* It's like entertainment versus overall meaning - in some cases you have to sacrifice some of the former to fully develop the latter. And sometimes you can go too far *coughSixFeetUndercough* - a lot of people obviously feel this way about Buffy. I waver, but I think ultimately the respect I have for her now outweighs my nostalgia.

Edited because I still suck with the typos.

Most of my problems with BtVS and Buffy herself (and the other characters, too) has seemed to me to do with continuity, characterization and execution, rather than acting. On the few occasions where I've even thought about SMGs acting while watching (which I think points to her being (to me) a good actor), it's been during scenes that didn't ring true because of their content, more than because of the acting.

Does that make sense to anyone who isn't me?

I'm meara-ing like crazy here, so bear with me.

Does that make sense to anyone who isn't me?

Yep. I agree, tho' sometimes I listen to the words of a Spuffy scene and I think they should *sound* less fake than they do, but maybe its just my prejudice talking :) .

Wrt SMG and her acting - I like Buffy well enough, but for me the engagement has always been with the show as an ensemble piece. Totally. Ditto for AtS. I've taken SMG's acting for granted...

Hmm, sometimes I can't decide whether I watch BtVS/Ats for the ensemble or for the leads. I mean I don't think I'd watch BtVS without Buffy herself, or Ats without Angel, but I also feel that way about almost all of the core cast members of either show. (Like Willow & Xander, or...hmm, only Wesley seems to fit that category on Ats for me, I wonder why? *lick*)

But Kingston's one of the more medium-density suburbs of Canberra (lots of apartment blocks, a number of relatively upscale ones too). Yet Manuka, just down the road, is doing quite nicely for weekend dining.

Heh, I suspect corporate facism then - wait, do we have corporate facism in Canberra, or do we just get politicians? I hardly think it's fair if we have both.

Should I mentinon that Bec grew up in Bega?

I lurrve Bega, my family has a house on the coast at Merimbula, so we drive through often. Almost England-y with the rolling hills and all - though last time it was more of a sepia-tinted England because of the drought.

Makes sense to me Cindy because I agree.

I think that Buffy's development has been very logical, but that doesn't mean it's been as fun to watch.

Yes to this, but also I just don't think Buffy has been written very well lately.