From: ruuger	Date: April 23rd, 2008 08:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I voted for Giles in the first poll, but my second choice would have been Tara because I wish they'd given her a spine and a personality sooner and not just few episodes before they killed her.

	From: woman_of_	Date: April 23rd, 2008 08:30 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I voted for Giles as well, cos I still think he could've brought more to the table. Yes Tara could've been expanded a lot, I think they cheated us there

	From: zoesmith	Date: April 23rd, 2008 08:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Tara for Buffy, the character deserved much more screen time and development imho, and Gunn from Angel, I never really felt for Gunn until After the Fall,season 5 Gunn had a decent storyline but unfortunately it had to end...

	From: woman_of_	Date: April 23rd, 2008 08:32 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I do think Brian is doing a better job of developing storylines for characters myself! Tara, Yes she could've done do much more in BtVS if she had been given the chance

	From: beer_good_foamy	Date: April 23rd, 2008 08:52 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Giles just ahead of Tara on Buffy.

Fred on Angel. She had her moments of complete awesomeness when we were reminded that this was a woman who survived for FIVE YEARS in a hostile world by her wits alone, but for the most part she never got anything very interesting to do.

	From: woman_of_	Date: April 23rd, 2008 09:04 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yes, I can agree. I went for Giles on Buffy, but Lorne on Angel myself. They did seem to negate Lorne's ablities so much. Then that could be true of Fred as well. Still AA is on Dollhouse, maybe they will boost her character up there. She does seem a favouite of Joss!

	From: forbloodysummer	Date: April 24th, 2008 12:54 am (UTC)		(Link)

I went for Dawn on Buffy. Thought about Tara or Giles, but they both had plenty of moments.

Tara was there for a full three seasons, slowly developing, and there were a couple of episodes more centered on her that really filled out the character. It was only in Season 6 that she really came into her own, but I thought that worked - gave us a wonderful season, and I don't really know what else they could have done with her if she survived.

As for Giles, I thought he should have been handled better in Season 7. Seasons 1-5 he was fantastic without exception, some of Buffy's best ever scenes are his ("You have no respect for me, or for the job I do," anyone?). I liked his departure in Season 6 (thank God he didn't leave 'til *after* the musical episode), and I loved his return to take on Willow. But then in Season 7 he was a bit of an arse hole, trying to kill Spike, they didn't seem to know what to do with the character. Which suggests to me that he either should've been more about training the potentials, or perhaps not come back until the final couple of episodes.

But it's Dawn I thought was really lacking, and I can never understand why she was written that way. She's created for Season 5, and is central to it - that's all great. But as soon as that's over, she's never used well again, ever. I know she's supposed to be the plain, not special one, but I thought we were fine with just Xander as that. It might perhaps have worked with her if she wasn't a regular, but just a recurring role, like Tara, but as a regular they had to give her lots of scenes where she wasn't really doing anything useful. So I would've liked to see a more Dawn-centric storyline, that wasn't just about stealing stuff.

I also thought it rather sucked that she was this wonderfully ancient superpower energy ball thing, which is barely mentioned again after The Gift. Is she still The Key? Or not? Could it not be a huge plot point? 'Cause it sounds like it could be pretty exciting...



As for Angel, I'm only really very familiar with Season 5. Angel, Wes, Gunn and Fred are all pretty essential to the team, Spike fits in nicely, Illyria effectively 'updates' Amy Acker's character so she's more useful in the Wolfram & Hart environment, but Fred was never really not-busy. It was Lorne that had no real business at a law firm. They managed to get him to scrape through for one season there, but I think he then should have left (well, he did, but...). And the Lorne-centric episode, The Life Of The Party, seems put in there just to include him a bit, it doesn't really fit with the rest of the series. I'm very fond of Illyria, I thought Amy Acker did a fantastic job, and though she's only in about 8 episodes, she's one of my favourite characters from the whole universe. But plot-wise, it would've been much more sensible for Lorne to get old oned.

But Hell, what do I know?

Out For Bloody Summer

	From: woman_of_	Date: April 24th, 2008 12:17 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I went for Giles myself with Buffy, because after ASH gave up being a regular, they didn't seem to know what to do with him. Even in Season 4, especially the early episodes, he was very much seemly left out. They had gone to college or out working, and not at High School any more, there for his place in their lifes was gone. I know that was the theme of the year, but he was very much the one out of place.

I also went for Lorne on Angel. He was a very sadly underused character. I am pleased that Brian has picked up on him in Angel: After the Fall, and is giving him a reasonable storyline!