Week 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth (1.1)

[SpikedBuffy]

Discussion start date: October 1, 2006
Discussion end date: October 9, 2006

Time to start discussing Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest from Season one.

[Lyri]

ok, i'll start.

how many people love these eps? they're really some of my faves from the entire show. it was a perfect introduction to everyone, and let us all know what kind of characters they were (their personalities and so on) in the first two episodes, which i think is very cool, coz normally, it would take a few eps for the audience to figure out who these people actualy were. but from this first ep we were able to figure out that Willow was a geek, and Xander was kind of a dork (but a very cute one!) and that they had been friends for a long time, Willow had a crush on him, but Xander saw her as nothing more than his best friend.
we found out what a bitch Cordelia is, from the way she spoke to Willow at the water cooler and from her 'Don't you have an else where to be?' to Xander.
Giles was a stuffy English man who preferred to read his books than hang out in the real world.
Angel was tall, dark and handsome, in an annoying sort of way. i could so tell that he liked Buffy from the minute he whispered 'Good luck' after Buffy had gone in search of Jesse.
and as for Buffy, we found out that, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she stepped up to her duties when it really mattered. when everything was going wrong, she embraced her destiny as the Slayer and went into the fight, regardless of how she felt about it.

these first two episodes were what got me addicted to this show...everything was just really good. they had great actors, well written scripts with snappy one liners and a concept that not many people had thought of before.

10/10 for me! :D

[zombie.apparatus]

lol well put Lyri... I really enjoyed this episode... I loved that Angel and Buffy met in the first episode and that was a nice necklace he gave her.. I mean as Lyri said we know Angel likes Buffy already when he whispers "goodluck"... and its a great idea to bring in the bronze... i quite like the idea of a place like that where people underage can go and have fun and just dont get to drink.. what did everyone think about the master and him being the first big bad?

[Black Eye Guy]

Gotta say this was a brilliant way to start the series, The episode was an excellent combination a Violence, Mythology and comedy to really get you hooked!

I thought the Master was an appropriate villain for the first season as he was a vampire, But in the grander scheme of things he wouldn't have been a cool villain.

[Spirit_Of_Fred]

i didnt like the master at all. as far as the episode, i dont really know if watching it wouldve made me like the series. i started watching in the middle and fell in love with the characters there. going back was weird and i wasnt used to not having all that history and in-depth plots that were in later seasons; therefore, i didnt like it as much. but it was a good episode, i just felt it was predictable cause i already knew about what happened from the future. plus i didnt feel it compared, so i mightve liked it better had i seen it first. or then again, i might not have even started watching the show at all. either way, i did like the characters in the episodes. like lyri said, you could tell who they were right off. they were all very adorable and younger and there were some good lines in there. i like at the end of the harvest part where giles says 'the earth is definently doomed' as they walk off, because it reminded me of what happened at the end (or the reverse if you saw the beginning first).

[SpikedBuffy]

*********ALERT***********

I have reopened this thread because we are starting a weekly episode discussion going through the season. It's like the series is becoming new to us once again!

Considering our last posts are from the early summertime, we can now add onto this thread.

Discuss the topics/themes/characters or whatever you would like about "Welcome to the Hellmouth"

[Buffy Summers]

How do you feel about the series opening with Darla, who was supposed to be a bit character?

[eponinethen]

I remember that when I first watched the show, I always thought – believed – that this episode was really crappy. It isn't a lot like the show I loved so much. But after a while I really started to loving that fact, and think that this was a great introduction. It seems so high school-y etc., which I completely love (now).
This is also like the only episode from season 1 (or 2 for that matter) that I actually watch relatively often, so it sort of represents those early years of BtVS for me.

Anyways, the Darla opening scene? Well, I completely love it, it says so much about the show, obviously. The young, blonde, seemingly defenseless and scared girl who ends up killing the strong macho guy. Heh. Not that Buffy is about killing guys but hey, you know what I mean, she kicks ass.. :)
Obviously Darla, as a character, is a lot different here from when we see her on Angel – even in the flashbacks. But I'm sure there is an explanation for that, I mean, if we knew what had happened to her right before this episode or somethin, what she was "going through" (if you can say that about a soulless vampire).

[Lyri]

OMG! the opening scene totally ROCKED! when i first saw this, i thojght 'great another dumb blonde's gonna go in the first three minutes' but then she turned out to be the bed guy! loved loved LOVED that! being a young blonde woman myself (or girl, at the time) i thoght that it was great that this writer/creator wasn't going to go with the normal rules. i loved how Joss mixed everything up, making the teenage girl the hero instead of the victim.
i think that's why a lot of people like this show...it's such a boost for girl power!!

[Spirit_Of_Fred]

i saw angel (the show) before buffy, so i was used to the darla from that series. going back in time to 'wtth', she seemed kind of wimpier and it bugged me. in angel, she was all in control and manipulating all the other evils and causing massacres. here, she just seemed like the second in command and she was so scared of the master when she screwed up, and also scared of buffy. also, this is kind of random, but i didnt like her hair in 'wtth', or season one for that matter. it was the bangs; they bugged me. and the colour a little bit as well.

oh, and there's one thing i realized i didnt mention before. when i was saying how the fact that id seen everything after season 1 first made 'wtth' predictable, there was one thing that i didnt expect. when giles and buffy are discussing buffy's slayer-ness in the library, and then they walk out and xander comes out from behind the books and goes 'what?'...that surprised me. i just figured he would get attacked or something, and buffy would rescue him, and he'd be like 'so, how'd you you do that?' and she'd tell him about slayers and whatnot, but now reading the way i explain it, i guess that wouldve been kind of lame. i like how it was done this way and was glad there was one thing that i did not predict for this episode.

[SpikedBuffy]

You know, I never really though about Darla starting out the show. I like how the scene is supposed to show some regular kids, breaking into school. You have no idea that the blond is actually a notorious vamp!

This episode, while it may not seem interesting because of the lighting and the bad portrayal of fighting, really does set what the show is about!

My question is: When Willow is walking with the guy through the cemetary, do you think this is the point where she was turned into a vamp in "The Wish?"

[VisionGuy]

My question is: When Willow is walking with the guy through the cemetary, do you think this is the point where she was turned into a vamp in "The Wish?"

It could be. Although, if Buffy wouldn't have told Willow to seize the moment, she probably wouldn't have gone off with the vampire.

[Lyri]

hmm, i don't know about that. VG's theory seems right, it was Buffy who told her to seize the moment and without her, Willow wouldn't have gone off with the guy.
to me, it always seemed like the Master sired Xander and Willow. Without Buffy there, the Harvest would have gone ahead as planned and the Master would have risen...maybe Jesse still would have been sired to, but that doesn't explain his lack of presense in 'The Wish'. i still think that maybe Willow and Xander were the first humans the Master encountered when he left then church.