The preferred Buffy?

Based on your post, I think I've just figured out something fascinating about movie fans. When we see a good performance, we give all the credit to the actor. But when an actor does poorly, we blame the writer or the director or ANYONE but the actor.

I once heard from a film professor that being surrounded by incompetents is no excuse for not putting forth effort in the business of moviemaking. He pointed out that some films are completely awful except for the star's performance, and that in those cases the actors took the burden of redeeming their work upon themselves.

Having said that, I don't think of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER is that kind of movie - at least, not the way it was cast. Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry, as good as they are, cannot carry a feature by themselves. (At least, they couldn't do so back then. Kristy's gotten better since 1992; I'm not so sure about Luke, though.) And as for Donald Sutherland, his character was killed before the story was even close to being finished. The one actor everyone seems to remember from this was Paul Reubens, and his character was never meant to be really important.

I like them both, but to be fair Swanson only played the character in this one movie while Gellar played it longer.


Alison Lohman for Supergirl

Only someone who hasn't watched more than one or two episodes of the series would think that the movie cast was better. It's not just the cast that makes the series better but also the fact that Joss Whedon has heavy involvement in the show, whereas the movie was a bastardization of the Buffy story thanks to the idiocy of the Kuzuis. The movie was nothing but cheese, whereas the show had a lot of depth to it although it could be cheesy at times and makes no apologies about it.
With regards to SMG's physique: she wasn't stick-thin in the first three seasons so there goes that part of your argument.

I believe James Marsters was suppose to be Paul's character. Luke Perry - David Boreanaz. Stephen Root - Armin Shimerman. Hilary Swank - Charisma Carpenter. Michele Abrams - Alyson Hannigan. Andrew Lowery - Nicholas Brendon. Rutger Hauer - Mayor Richard Wilkins. Personally I can't respect the series with the disrespect they show the character and legend of Dracula. I mean buffy the series fans are like twilight fans. Pain in the ass and could care less about respect for the genre and vampires.

You suggest that the show's cast is somehow inferior to the movie's because the movie's cast is...older?

When age becomes the most important factor in acting talent, Chloe Grace Moretz, Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Lawrence and many other greats will have to hop into time machines and erase their youthful, weak performances.

And BTW, Donald Sutherland, a brilliant actor, sucked the energy out most of his scenes. The man was collecting money for his reputation.

Gellar of course.

I don't get how people say "SMG wasnt as nearly as ditzy as she was supposed to be/ she was too serious"

Did you watch the show? No she wasn't a "valley girl" because
When we meet Buffy in the series she has already been the slayer for a year and knows of what is out there. SMG does a magnificent job in making Buffy her OWN character rather than just replicating Swanson. Reading some of these responses I gather many of you didn't actually WATCH the show ( not saying this because I liked SMG better but some comments just don't make any sense what do ever) and/or didn't grasp how Buffy evolved since becoming the slayer.


FYI there is an origins episode in the series where SMG plays Buffy before she knows she is the slayer and she does a magnificent job.

I'd agree with you except Buffy wasn't meant to be a complete ditz in the TV series. If she had been the series wouldn't have lasted so long, unless it had been formatted as a silly sitcom.

I do agree with you about Gellar as Daphne however. If 'Daphne Blake' had been portrayed as she is in the original animated show, as the ditzy rich girl contrast to Velma's plain Jane smart girl, Kristy Swanson would have been a better choice to play her.

I don't ever remember Buffy being a "preppy cry baby". She had her moments where she showed emotional vulnerability, sure, but she was a bad-ass at least 90% of the time. Maybe you should watch the show again and take a closer look. If you think that Kristy Swanson is a better actress, you must not know anything about acting. If she's so good, how come she mainly ends up being in made for TV crap? At least SMG still has a decent acting career, most recently being the lead of the CW show Ringer.

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In the series:

Buffy dies twice. She is (literally) "ripped out of heaven" by her friends. She has to kill her lover to save the world from being sent to hell. She is beaten, stabbed, slashed, shot, deliberately made insane, can't save her mother from a banal death, gets raped by a former lover....

Toughen up, girl, indeed. Sheeeeesh!