After watching the first episode of The Vampire Diaries on The CW, I thought, “Wow, this is a complete knock-off of Twilight.” But then some of my vampire-savvy friends told me that L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries was actually written way before Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. So if there’s any knocking off going on, then Twilight is a knock-off of The Vampire Diaries. Or who knows, maybe they’re all knock-offs of Dracula.

However it shakes out, it’s not hard to see the similarities between The Vampire Diaries and Twilight (both of which I love). Here are a few that jumped out at me with all the aggression of a hungry vampire….

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(Buffy Season 4, Episodes 5-6)
(Angel Season 1, Episodes 5-6)

Change is brewing already on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A little abrupt, and saddening, but it will push the characters into new emotional territory. Never want them to stagnate too much.

Over on Angel, it was so good to see Angel doing something other than the whole brooding thing. The show is really coming into its own comedy-wise, which is important. I don’t need it as light as Buffy, but you can’t have characters like Cordelia and Doyle and stay that dark forever. Read the rest of this entry »

(Buffy Season 4, Episodes 3-4)
(Angel Season 1, Episodes 3-4)

Now that’s a crossover between two shows. Brilliantly and seamlessly handled. This is why I chose to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel back-to-back like this. I knew Whedon had dropped little treats like this in for his loyal viewers, and now I can pretend to be one, too.

It was also nice to see the return of some familiar faces to both series. As I said last week, the casts are pretty lean. And while I can forgive it as we’re getting settled into our new environments on both shows, it’s time to start stretching out and meeting new people, as well as reconnecting with old friends. Read the rest of this entry »

Before you go all batty on me, let’s break it down: I saw the pilot episode, and sure, there are elements of Buffy, but I think The Vampire Diaries borrows a bit from most of the vamp entertainment out there. The question is, will it be able to branch out and become unique and wonderful in its own right?

We’ve got high school kids, a good boy vampire trying to fit in, and an evil vampire trying to thwart the good boy’s efforts. Buffy, Moonlight, and Being Human, respectively.

Or, more Twilight-y, you say? It seems to reek of it, I agree, but if they do it right, we’ll end up with a smart show. Yeah, Twilight, I meant that.

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(Buffy Season 4, Episodes 1-2)
(Angel Season 1, Episodes 1-2)

Welcome to the new and shorter-titled “Diary of a Buffy/Angel Virgin.” I’m a completist by nature, so if I’d been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it was on, I would have surely tuned in to Angel. I’ll bet the vast majority of people who were watching did the same, or at least sampled Angel.

So far, both shows feel a little lean. They took two of the regular cast members of Buffy, and put them on Angel. Buffy is just making do with the smaller number, while Angel added one. After high school so much changes, so it’s pretty cool watching two different shows to see how everybody’s lives are moving in such different directions. Read the rest of this entry »

While I was gleefully devouring all four seasons of Supernatural for my Diary of a Supernatural Virgin column, I couldn’t help but notice all of the similarities between Dean Winchester and my favorite ass-kicking blonde slayer, Buffy Summers. There’s no denying that Eric Kripke owes much to Joss Whedon for paving the way with his ground-breaking iconic series, but I also think he instilled in his hero, Dean, many of the same qualities that make Buffy the well-rounded character that she is.

It even goes beyond qualities and encompasses actual story elements that touched both characters. I’m going out on a limb here and saying that Kripke didn’t borrow without rhyme or reason: I think he paid homage to Whedon in the ways he subtly carved Dean’s complex character to be similar to Buffy’s duality — the lighthearted banter masking the inner angst.

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(Season 3, Episodes 19-22)

After three years with this gang, the final episodes of season four really were the end of an era. The kids are graduating high school, Angel’s heading off to LA to headline his own show. Truly, nothing will ever be the same again.

And the episodes played out just like that. They had all the emotional importance of such a significant transition for both the characters and the audience. We finally got the culmination of the Mayor’s century of scheming, got a resolution, of sorts, with Faith and saw Buffy take those important first steps into adulthood, by quitting the Council.

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