Jim, I haven't seen "Selfless" lately, but it's one of my favorite S7 eps. But looking at it from the season as a whole, it suffers because there's no follow-up. I think the emotional core of the ep is Anya facing herself. Which could have kicked Anya's journey into high gear.

But it was just dropped until -- let's be generous -- her scene with Andrew in the hospital in the next to last ep. Contrast with Oz as werewolf, where a non-core-four character had his own, well-realized story.

Which is really the tragedy of S7. Not just letting the Potentials and the First drown out everything. But that the early eps laid a lot of groundwork for things that never paid off. Case in point -- even if you didn't like the "Scrappy Gang," there was a potential theme of grown-up Buffy bringing the school together to fight the Hellmouth. Think the flip side of S1-S3.

Yeah, at this point I'm thinking - as I was last time - that the show is right back in the groove. I'll be interested to see if it's as disappointing as it was.

I've watched all the seasons this year, for the first time since they aired in most cases, and it's been very different than I expected; seasons 5 and six hold up way better when watched very soon after the first 3, possibly because you don't have the nostalgia for the early episodes. S4 has dropped most in my estimation.

But that the early eps laid a lot of groundwork for things that never paid off.

I think season 7 Buffy was a lot like season 4 Farscape: a lot of good...err...potential in the storylines, but absolutely no follow through. At least season 6 followed through on what was set up, although, arguably, they followed up to the point of beating an idea into the ground (Buffy's depression, Spuffy), or followed up in a way that ruined the good idea (magic=crack). I definitely preferred that to just tossing things at the wall and seeing what stuck, though.

That said, I still preferred 6 & 7 to 5, and still like 4 a lot, mainly for the standalones.

At least season 6 followed through on what was set up

S6 had a weak middle, for the reasons you mentioned. The depression was set forth well, which made it painful to watch.

S7 might have worked as a 2-season arc. Bring in 1 or 2 new potentials a week, or limit to half a dozen overall. Have Jonathan kill Andrew instead of vice versa (though this is a lesser issue) so that role is filled by someone we already know. And use the extra time to pay some attention to the storylines begun early on -- and the returning characters.

ScifiWire talks to Joss about Buffiverse movies and the animated Buffy among other things.

Phew.

But, Whedon added, "I am totally prepared to go back to TV. Not 24-seven, as I did with the first years of Buffy. But now I've learned about surrounding yourself with the right people and delegating so that I can actually run a show without ruining my life. And TV is, you know, … a medium that I love in a very different way than I love movies. The things that I can't do in [a] movie are things that I mourn: the smaller moments. The … protracted interactions. The things that make TV really fascinating. Watching characters change over the years. You know, I've waited my whole life to make movies, but movies don't do that. … You either write novels that are way too long, or you make TV if you want to do that. And … I can't write novels that are long."

Because...yeah, I'd rather have Joss doing TV.

Not that it's seriously being considered, yet, but how cool would it be if Joss wrote and directed X3?

Not that it's seriously being considered, yet, but how cool would it be if Joss wrote and directed X3?

Very.

Very.

And I am also happy to hear that he hasn't completely given up on tv.

Sweet, the one solution that would make the Halle problem just evaporate like morning dew in the sun. And just imagine Stewart and McKellen speaking Joss' dialogue under his direction.