or; how teenage lust can become serious fandom
I'll admit it. When I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, way back in its freshman season, I was only watching for the incomparable Sarah Michelle Gellar. I remember seeing advertisements (I think I was about thirteen or fourteen) and thinking, "Wow. Now there is a prety girl. I'm going to have to watch that show."
But my mother, in typical Mama Jones fashion, forbade me. And, in typical sonny-boy San Chonino style, I refused to obey and watched it in the basement, telling her I was watching some other stupid show.
I don't remember much about watching that show the first season, mostly only thinking "Wow, how cool. A hot girl kicking vampire butt. Yeah, that's my style of television show."
But I do remember recognizing something about that show, even then, that was different than the other boring teenage drama shows that were on. I remember setting Tuesday evenings aside just to watch it, and if I had plans with my church youth group I would record it for later viewing.
I continued to watch, off and on, for the next three years. I still liked it. I was watching it less for the hotness of Ms. Gellar, and more for the coolness of the storyline, but it certainly didn't hurt that she was just as attractive during the subsequent seasons as in the first.
After a while, other things started to get in the way of my love affair with Buffy. I eventually stopped watching all together.
Then . . .
Fast forward to Christmas break, 2005. I'd just gotten word that my job at the garden center would be on hold for the next six weeks, seeing as how there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do in a nusery during January. My best friend was going to his cabin with his family for the majority of the break, so I was doomed to be home alone. Now, I had to have something to occupy my time with, right? So I went to the store, looking for movies to watch.
And there I saw it - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Complete First Season on DVD, on sale for twenty bucks. "Good deal," I thought to myself. "That's the same price as one movie. What the hey, I'll get it."
So I did. and I reveled in it. This time through, I was (slightly) more mature, and was able to really understand and love the writing of the show. It's hard to think of any other TV show that is written to be as snappy, as witty, as dramatic, and yet over-the-top and silly as Buffy.
I was hooked, more so than the first time around. The day I was done with season one, it was off to the store to get season two. And then season three.
Now I'm almost done with season three. With my next paycheck, I ain't going to lie, I have to buy Battlestar Galactica Season 2.0, but with the check immediately following, it's Buffy seaon four, all the way.
I love that show. Thank goodness for TV DVDs.