Monday, July 14, 2008

Buffy Question

Okay, so I know a lot of you are big Buffy fans, so I figure posting this question here is as good a place as any.

I didn't see a whole lot of Buffy (or any Angel) when it was first out, but have been catching up over the past year on DVD. I've seen Angel Season One and I'm up to the end of Season 5 with Buffy...

But one thing I still don't get and I don't know if I missed the explanation, or if they ever explained it, but... there's only one slayer at a time right? -- the chosen one. And this was not only stated several times at the beginning of the series (not to mention the movie), but also demonstrated when Faith only becomes a slayer when Buffy dies (and comes back to life, making two of them, which causes a big conflict and all this sibling rivalry...). Then how come there's more than one watcher or a watcher council at all??? If there's only one slayer, how come so many watchers? Did I miss something? Or did Josh break/bend his rules. Only one slayer per continent or something? Or one per country? Or one per state? Per city? Per high school?

Did I miss something or am I being dumb here... (Okay, I know I was being dumb by the end of that.) But I really want to know.

(Maybe I just should have googled the question. Astonishing the answers you can get by googling a question like that... Hmmmm... Maybe I'll try and post my findings in the comments...) Or maybe I'll just watch more of my Angel DVD's... (and by my Angel DVD's I mean Sinead's)

4 comments:

Louisa Edwards said...

I think I got this one. There IS only one slayer (except for how there's two) but there are lots of watchers because they're always in training and being educated. They're essentially the bureaucrats of the Jossverse, and like any bureaucrats, over time they've worked to increase their own power, influence, and numbers whether it technically makes a lot of sense or not. And in some ways it does make sense, because they're research monkeys--in the best of all possible worlds, they should be a resource for the active Slayer and her Watcher, to answer apocalypsy questions and help figure shit out.

At least, that's my take on it. : )

Maureen McGowan said...

That makes more sense than the ridiculous answer I found online... Really, some people can make up some complicated shit to justify what a writer does... With a few of these things, I just think Josh changed his mind at some point...

Laurie M. Rauch said...

You know, I wondered the same thing, having just finished watching Angel and being midway through BuffyS6...

Because in the last season of Angel, they lead you to believe that there's some kind of Hogwarts school for Watchers. So a) why isn't there a similar school for Slayers and potential Slayers, and b) why so many Watchers for one Slayer?

Anonymous said...

Most Girls who have the potential to become the slayer are identified before they are called and so are trained before hand. Hence the need for several watchers.

In addition, most of the slayers have a very short slayer career like Kendra. And I think Kendra was handed off to the watchers for 10 years before she was called.

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