How old were you at first watch?
- Thread starter Mrs Gordo
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NileQT87
Billowy Coat, King of Pain
I remember channel surfing (probably in the late '90s as a tween) and coming across Go Fish. Specifically, it was Xander's cafeteria scene where Gage turns into a fish monster. I didn't even know what I was watching. Years later, I recognized exactly what it was! I had grown up on Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and So Weird, not to mention a lot of old classic horror and '90s kiddie flicks with supernatural themes, so genre fiction did appeal to me.
But the first full episode I watched was Smashed when I was babysitting some tween girls in 2003 who had the DVD sets. I wasn't impressed at all (kinda grossed out). I was 16 at the time and I wondered why the hell the girls (10, 11 and 12) had these DVDs. In 2003, I actually was reading a lot of Anne Rice (first four books, though I only really liked the first) and liked the IwtV film. I started hearing about BtVS more because of liking the vampire genre, but it felt like everyone online was just talking about Willow's sexuality, which didn't exactly sell me the show any further than seeing Smashed had.
Then, the next summer (2004) when I was 17, I had my Internet taken away and so I ended up watching a lot of TV. I ended up marathoning the shows in syndication (I was taping them on VHS!) for the next half a year on FX and TNT until I bought the box sets. The Yoko Factor is the episode I first started watching (seemingly completely missed Angel--then never saw Fool for Love and missed a few other episodes, as well) and so I basically saw BtVS very backwards. Because I had no Internet access, I had no idea there was a spinoff and I randomly ran into AtS when I spotted Spike in Hellbound. I hadn't even met Angel yet in the BtVS reruns. Thus, I ended up seeing parts of AtS season 5 before the rest of it. AtS, however, did loop around well before I got to see BtVS seasons 1-3.
My 'shipping preferences completely swapped, as did my favorite character.
But the first full episode I watched was Smashed when I was babysitting some tween girls in 2003 who had the DVD sets. I wasn't impressed at all (kinda grossed out). I was 16 at the time and I wondered why the hell the girls (10, 11 and 12) had these DVDs. In 2003, I actually was reading a lot of Anne Rice (first four books, though I only really liked the first) and liked the IwtV film. I started hearing about BtVS more because of liking the vampire genre, but it felt like everyone online was just talking about Willow's sexuality, which didn't exactly sell me the show any further than seeing Smashed had.
Then, the next summer (2004) when I was 17, I had my Internet taken away and so I ended up watching a lot of TV. I ended up marathoning the shows in syndication (I was taping them on VHS!) for the next half a year on FX and TNT until I bought the box sets. The Yoko Factor is the episode I first started watching (seemingly completely missed Angel--then never saw Fool for Love and missed a few other episodes, as well) and so I basically saw BtVS very backwards. Because I had no Internet access, I had no idea there was a spinoff and I randomly ran into AtS when I spotted Spike in Hellbound. I hadn't even met Angel yet in the BtVS reruns. Thus, I ended up seeing parts of AtS season 5 before the rest of it. AtS, however, did loop around well before I got to see BtVS seasons 1-3.
My 'shipping preferences completely swapped, as did my favorite character.
Bloody William
Potential
Nice! VHS!
You have a great memory. I don't as clear a recollection. I know that I started watching the show in Season 3 while I was a freshman in high school so 14 I guess. I can't be sure but I think the first episode I saw was maybe Bad Girls. I remember the episode had Faith and Buffy/Angel. I pretty much though Angel was God's Gift lol and thought Buffy was so cool! But I remember I stopped watching because I wanted to watch them from beginning to end. At some point I had my boyfriend at the time download Seasons 1-3 complete for me. This was back in the times of like bit torrents etc. I watched 1-3 straight through. And I as a temperamental teenager I was so pissed Angel had left Buffy I refused to watch his show lol but kept on with Buffy.
In college I picked up Angel (again thanks to bit torrents!) and loved it -despite being totally blindsided by the Cangel which if I had been apart of the fandom back then I would have been warned.
As I get older and rewatch I see the shows both of them grow in complexity. I see new things every time. I have changed my mind on favorite seasons and characters some. I have learned to appreciate Angel the Series so much more in adulthood.
17/18 for Buffy I think. Angel I was probably about 20/21 - again my memory's not great but I know I watched it slightly later than it aired but I also remember having a polyphonic Angel ringtone on one of my first mobile phones 😀
I was 8, so I have a hard time remembering it, 20 years later. I do know that most of my views haven't changed; I was not a fan of Bangel from the start, I always loved Spike as a character (even if when he showed up and I was 9 I just thought he was cool, lol) I always preferred Angel on his own show, and so on.
Fuffy
We Don't Need The Law, We Are The Law
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I noticed that a chunk of people on here have said that they started watching Buffy at a young age, so I have a question for those who started watching before the age of 13 :
When you watch the show, do you sometimes cringe at how some stuff went over your head as a youngster or wonder how you got away with watching the show at that age in the first place ???
When you watch the show, do you sometimes cringe at how some stuff went over your head as a youngster or wonder how you got away with watching the show at that age in the first place ???
10-12 years old should not be watching that kind of stuff at all if you ask me.
I remember you mentioning in one of the podcasts that you have something that causes you to remember things a little wonky...
Athena
Your memory is clearly so much better than mine! lol
Fool for Buffy
I'm just being a big nerd again
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TamsinValencia
Scooby
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TriBel
Scooby
Late 30s when it first aired in the UK so already a grown up. I watched both Buffy and Angel from the beginning. Liked Spike and Angel then (but preferred Spike) and still do (although I prefer Angel on his own show). My work informs my viewing and my ideological worldview (rather than viewing informing either). I liked but didn't particularly identify with Buffy (despite Whedon's assertions, I find her conservative in many ways) in the first instance but saw her in a different light on re-watch. What reviewing both series (particularly BtVS) did was allow me to see a coherence - a logical progression - I hadn't seen before. Season 7 Buffy is far more progressive. This was further enhanced by the comics. I read all the library editions etc. over summer and was genuinely surprised to see events (Twilight, transhumanism, therapeutic journeys etc.) come to fruition that were predictable from both series.
I watched it with my twin sons who would have been 12 when it first aired and asked them that question recently. They don't recall being particularly traumatised and I don't think their analysis of the programmes has changed over time (that said - one's a psychologist, the other's a film-editor so perhaps it informed them in other ways and maybe their understanding is retrospective). One did remark that Spike "made them gay" (which they are) but I'm taking that as an example of his usual facetiousness and on par with "I'll pay for that mum" 🙂.
I watched it with my twin sons who would have been 12 when it first aired and asked them that question recently. They don't recall being particularly traumatised and I don't think their analysis of the programmes has changed over time (that said - one's a psychologist, the other's a film-editor so perhaps it informed them in other ways and maybe their understanding is retrospective). One did remark that Spike "made them gay" (which they are) but I'm taking that as an example of his usual facetiousness and on par with "I'll pay for that mum" 🙂.
I must have watched Buffy when it premiered holding my stuffed baby doll in 1997 when I was seven, @Smile Time me , I had free range in what I watched and I was captivated by the violence in horror films. I never thought of Buffy as scary but it was in a genre that I liked. As I got older, I thought of it as more of a teen show and when your a little girl teenage girls are the coolest thing in the world. As a preteen I loved all those movies about mean girls and bad girls which seemed to be a genre in the late 90s and early 00s.
Faith was my absolute favorite for a while, say 11 to 15, totally love Angel&Buffy, at the time starcrossed/unrequited lovers weren't cliche they were my first "ship" or more accurately David is really cute, the other show I liked was Roswell I related to the sense of alienation (get it) still makes me sad everytime I realize how truly bad it is.
@NileQT87 , That's really Interesting knowing how you feel about Bangel, I never would have guessed you saw the early seasons last. I'm curious, what was your first impression of Buffy's relationship with Spike like knowing so little of her past, if indeed you fully watched S6 before hand.
Actually, I might have put the question backwards since you got into Angel before finishing BtVS? that's really interesting, its a vague question I know but I'd be curious to hear what the progress of your favorite character and shipping preference was like in this scenario.
Faith was my absolute favorite for a while, say 11 to 15, totally love Angel&Buffy, at the time starcrossed/unrequited lovers weren't cliche they were my first "ship" or more accurately David is really cute, the other show I liked was Roswell I related to the sense of alienation (get it) still makes me sad everytime I realize how truly bad it is.
@NileQT87 , That's really Interesting knowing how you feel about Bangel, I never would have guessed you saw the early seasons last. I'm curious, what was your first impression of Buffy's relationship with Spike like knowing so little of her past, if indeed you fully watched S6 before hand.
Actually, I might have put the question backwards since you got into Angel before finishing BtVS? that's really interesting, its a vague question I know but I'd be curious to hear what the progress of your favorite character and shipping preference was like in this scenario.
I wouldn't let my kids under 13 watch the show post Season 3, I think before that it's all kinda subdued and muted by Season 4 you get wild things and Season 6, Buffy is getting felt up by Spike at every corner. I guess I'd want my kids to be at least high school aged to see that kinda thing. 🙂
BuffMarsters
Townie
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I remember catching an episode or two when I was nine or ten, but the dark cinematography really put me off, and made it difficult for me to tell what was going on, so I never really got into it. I was always more into sci-fi anyway, but I often wonder if the cinematography had been better, I really think I would have watched the whole thing first time around.
Anyway, I only watched it recently in my late twenties, so I’m really late to the party! Other than hearing a lot about Faith, I didn’t know anything about the show. I’ve always been a huge fan of SMG but when I think of her, I think of Kathryn Merteuil, not Buffy, so it was a good surprise to see her in a new kind of role (new for me, at least, since most of the universe sees her as Buffy!)
Anyway, I only watched it recently in my late twenties, so I’m really late to the party! Other than hearing a lot about Faith, I didn’t know anything about the show. I’ve always been a huge fan of SMG but when I think of her, I think of Kathryn Merteuil, not Buffy, so it was a good surprise to see her in a new kind of role (new for me, at least, since most of the universe sees her as Buffy!)
RomanticSoul
Frell Me
Watched the show when it first aired, except the Seasons were always coming out one year after they aired in the US. Stupid dubbing and what not. I was the same age as the Scoobies, well one year younger seeing as how they graduated in 1999 and me in 2000.
In the later Seasons I preferred AtS because I was growing up and the Scoobies weren't (except for Xander) so they became sort of meh to watch and I couldn't relate to them anymore. It was easier to relate to the adults on Angel.
First time I stopped watching in S6 and it wasn't until years later that I actually finished the show.
In the later Seasons I preferred AtS because I was growing up and the Scoobies weren't (except for Xander) so they became sort of meh to watch and I couldn't relate to them anymore. It was easier to relate to the adults on Angel.
First time I stopped watching in S6 and it wasn't until years later that I actually finished the show.
Mylie
Scooby
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I was 11 but started the show in 1999 when they aired the episodes in french and then I caught up in english around s4 I think? I'm not sure.
I remember buying the s1 vhs at boxing day and then later my mother had to pre-order s1 on DVD for my birthday because that's all I wanted. I still have that birthday card with a copy of the amazon pre-order in it. I bought every single season as soon as it came out after that. I hate when I see them at 10/15$ each now lol, but my boxsets are prettier even if they take so much space.
I remember buying the s1 vhs at boxing day and then later my mother had to pre-order s1 on DVD for my birthday because that's all I wanted. I still have that birthday card with a copy of the amazon pre-order in it. I bought every single season as soon as it came out after that. I hate when I see them at 10/15$ each now lol, but my boxsets are prettier even if they take so much space.
I honestly can't remember many of my initial reactions to the show, it's been a part of my life since I was 8, I don't remember a time when I didn't know the show, lol. Whether or not anything went over my head? Probably, I was 8, though I watched it with my sister who's 4 years older than me. Who knows.
As to how I got away with it? Censorship is all but non-existent in Denmark and we don't worry about introducing youngsters to violence and sex at a young age like other countries (US) do. We know better than to think that it creates serial killers 😀
I was 7 years old watching it on regular tv. I thought it was awesome with the monsters and everything then. Now watching it as a adult I see all the lessons and all the issues they shed light on and it amazes me now.
S
solitarysapphic
Guest
I heard about it growing up but never got to watch it while it was actually airing. I remember first seeing it when I was around 14. They would play reruns in the morning before I went to school and I would catch random episodes when I could (and even recorded some on VHS to watch when I got home). I can't remember exactly what seasons but I know they were the later ones for sure. One day I was at Blockbuster (ahhh the memories) and they had Season 1-3 on dvd for really cheap and since I wanted to watch the show properly from the beginning I snatched the boxsets up. It took me awhile to collect the rest of the seasons but yeah 10+ years later and here I am!
Over the years I've grown to love the show more and more with every rewatch. Each time as I grow older I realize things that I had missed back then so each rewatch is sometimes a new experience and I love that!
Over the years I've grown to love the show more and more with every rewatch. Each time as I grow older I realize things that I had missed back then so each rewatch is sometimes a new experience and I love that!
TotallySpiked
Slaying
I stumbled across the episode 'nightmares' when it first aired. I was 7. Buffy was on TV between Goosebumps and Xena at this stage. I remember being freaked out by the clown and didn't watch it again until I was 14 and stumbled across Buffy in the video shop. I the binge watched the first 3 seasons and had to buy the rest as the didn't stock the later seasons.
Haven't looked back now.
Haven't looked back now.