Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Script Book Season 2 Volume 3

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Script Book Season 2 Volume 3

Pub: Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster. 301 page softback. Price: £10.00 (UK), $14.00 (US) and $21.50 (CAN). ISBN: 0-7434-5083-3.

Check out website: www.SimonSays.co.uk and www.thebuffyfanclub.com

This book contains copies of five original shooting scripts from the astoundingly popular series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (BTVS). Be warned that if you have not seen Season Two of the series, the below will contain spoilers.

Although you are informed at the beginning that there are errors, it seemed odd just how many there were in this book - it goes against every piece of writer's advice ever (thou shalt spellcheck, thou shalt know thy grammar…). There are typos, misspellings and many grammatical flaws in the text but it soon becomes very obvious that it doesn't matter.

Reading this book was almost as much fun as watching the TV series for the first time - it seems fresh and you get to appreciate every joke before your attention is diverted by on-screen action or special effects. If you are a regular viewer you will already know that the dialogue is swift and witty, yet to see it clearly laid out on the paper and the smooth interplay of action and voice was impressive. Despite the rough edges, these scripts sing with originality and an in-depth knowledge of how to sustain viewer interest.

Every episode is accompanied by a cast list of actors used and a set list, specifying Interiors and Exteriors. Every scene in an episode is numbered and there are an average of forty-six scenes per episode. Character names are capitalised above their dialogue and to indicate important actions in a scene, eg:-

She looks up at ANGEL - makes a moment of desperate eye contact before he EXPLODES INTO DUST. Now DRUSILLA is fully revealed behind him - leering. She addresses Buffy, relishing every moment of her suffering.

I was surprised by how much direction was contained in the scene descriptions. Previously, I assumed that all on-screen content was dictated by the director's personal 'vision' - not so here. The script contains some very specific details of what should happen, including transitions between scenes (FADE TO BLACK, etc) and pauses actors should take between lines.

"WILLOW
Well he better hurry. I don't want to be the only girl in school wihout a real boyfriend.

Buffy looks down, thinking of Angel.

WILLOW (cont'd)
Oh, I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry. I shouldn't even be talking about… do you want me to go away?"

This book contains a wealth of useful information for budding screenwriters. If you have no clue about how to format a script you should find this incredibly educational. It will offer you examples of how to format your work professionally without losing the spirit of the piece in technicalities. Or your voice - one outstanding feature of this book is the obvious enthusiasm of the writers.

A beat as Buffy catches her breath. Then the HULKING VAMP is on her. FITE! (and if we can afford it) FITE! FITE!

Their enthusiasm is contagious and it would not surprise me if after reading this you feel inspired to immediately write your own screenplay. At first glance, this book makes it seem incredibly easy, then you realise the clarity these writers must possess.

The plots and sub-plots flow together and maintain the episode's strong themes. The episodes are split into Acts like a stageplay, each a well-constructed division of the story arc. Episodes also encompass ideas from the main Season plot and the overall BTVS concept of a teenage girl coping with an extraordinary destiny.

These particular episodes are excellent and the reasonable price would make it a great stocking-filler. If the recipient is a BTVS fan or an aspiring screenwriter, they will surely love this as it gives genuine insight to the plots and procedures of this hit series. Almost ruthless in their design to please, these scripts reveal exactly why this series was initially successful and in comparison why the later seasons seemed to lose their edge.

There is a real creative force at work in these, something pushing you towards the end of each story and leaving you wanting more. Later seasons have frequent lapses into melodrama, irrational angst and unnecessary tangents - this was a time when Xander still got some great lines and the main crew positively sparked off each other. Top book. Highly recommended for fans and aspiring showbiz folk everywhere.
"Surprise" - Episode 5V13

The penultimate night before her seventeenth birthday, Buffy has seemingly prophetic dreams about Angel being killed by Drusilla. It is prophetic as Spike and Dru are planning a party during which they will rebuild 'The Judge' - a demon so powerful that it took an army to defeat it previously and even then all they could do was dismember it and disperse the pieces far and wide.

Love relationships are the major focus of this episode - Buffy and Angel get 'really serious'. Willow and Oz have their first date. Cordelia and Xander probe their friends for reactions to their secret relationship. Jenny (Miss Calendar) is wracked by guilt about her part in Angel's curse and her constant need to lie to Giles.

In fact, the only 'happy' couple are Spike and Dru, despite their being mad and bad (baby).

The cause of Angel's soulful curse are more-extensively revealed. At the end of the episode - on Buffy's birthday - it is broken by the required 'minute of happiness' (or a dubious loophole).

"Innocence" - Episode 5V14
Angel has reverted to his former evil self - Angelus - much to the rapture of Drusilla. Spike is not so welcoming. With their new evil companion 'The Judge', they plan to begin wreaking havoc in Sunnydale.

This episode focuses on betrayal: Jenny's abandons her vow of secrecy to her people and confesses to deceiving Giles et al; Willow discovers Xander and Cordelia's secret affair; Angelus spitefully taunts Buffy about their previous intimacy.

It also portrays the conflict Buffy experiences in her double-life as a 'normal teen' and a super-hero. As a young woman, she is hurt by Angel's behaviour but her mother does not know she is the Slayer, that she has had sex or even that Angel was her former boyfriend. She feels isolated from Joyce and her circle of close friends who all have their own current personal difficulties.

At the end, The Judge is defeated to humorous effect and Buffy has a showdown with Angel and can't stake him. She tells him, "Give me time."

"Phases" - Episode 5V15
Basically a light-hearted episode to break up the larger seasonal plot of Buffy and Angel's tragic love story.

A werewolf is on the loose in Sunnydale maiming animals and there are only two suspects offered to the viewers - a chauvinist student called Larry and then Oz, who we see wake up naked in the bushes. Fascinated, Giles accompanies Buffy on a patrol where they encounter 'Gib Cain', a mercenary werewolf hunter.

A girl is murdered and they assume it was the werewolf, causing much concern to Oz who might be responsible. He makes excuses again to not see Willow and goes home, where she discovers him later trying to shackle himself before the moon rises. Too late - there is a chase that results in Willow shooting him with a tranquilliser. Buffy sends the werewolf hunter on his way and Oz gets some practical advice for dealing with his new condition from Giles.

A happy and humorous plot that sees Willow and Cordelia resolve their differences and Xander help Larry to stop behaving like a pig by admitting that he's actually gay. Xander and Buffy even have 'a moment' together in a funeral home to add to the already fraught hormonal atmosphere.

"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" - Episode 5V16
Another light-hearted episode, preparing a contrast for the darkness ahead.

Cordelia cracks under popular pressure and breaks up with Xander just after he declares his love for her. Bitter, he recruits Amy - a witch - to cast a love spell on her, so he can break up with her and show her how much it hurts.

The spell goes wrong and suddenly every female in town wants a piece of Xander. If denied, they turn vengeful - Amy blasts Buffy with magic, turning her into a rat, and Willow goes after him with an axe.

Cordelia is stunned at the sudden worship Xander is receiving and is untouched by the love spell. She is mobbed by women angry at the way she treated him and he rescues her, fleeing to Buffy's house where even Drusilla and Joyce make a move on him.

Giles saves the day by dispelling the enchantment, while Amy restores Buffy to human form.
At the end of the episode, Cordelia abandons her clique to pursue her romance with Xander. All is well in Sunnydale.

"Passion" - Episode 5V17
Angelus goes into full evil mode, stalking Buffy and thinking of imaginative ways to make her unhappy. She realises that he is still 'invited' into her house and the Scoobies set about finding a solution for it.

Unknown to the others, Jenny finishes her translation of the 'Rituals for the Undead', which she hopes to use to restore Angel's soul. She purchases a 'Thesulan Orb' to use in the ritual that causes Drusilla to realise what she's doing.

Angelus toys with Joyce and she flees inside just as Willow completes a ritual to bar him from the house, much to his annoyance.
Jenny and Giles speak and she declares her love for him. They agree to meet later but Angelus has other plans - he goes to the school and destroys the computer Jenny was using for her translation, breaks the orb and kills her.

When Giles returns home, he finds a note saying 'UPSTAIRS'. Following a trail of roses, he is devastated to discover Jenny dead in his bed. Angel watches Buffy's house and revels in her and Willow's pain when they receive the news.

Giles storms the vamp hideout intent on murdering Angelus. Buffy arrives to stop him from being killed but has to abandon her fight with Angelus to rescue Giles from the fire. She is upset with the Watcher for risking his life:

'I can't do this by myself!'

Jenny's funeral is at the end of the episode, containing some excellent Slayer/Watcher musing and then leading into Willow knocking the vital translation (stored on floppy disk) into a place where it remains hidden for a few more episodes…

'You're the Watcher, I'm the Slayer…we don't have the luxury of passion. It just gets in the way. Life's easier without it.'

Lucy AE Ward

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