The Bronze-Beta Buffy Rewatch

Much as I'd love to start out with "Announcing the Bronze-Beta Buffy Rewatch..." that's just a touch presumptious on my part. So instead, let's start with a little history. After all, some people reading this blog --- if anyone is reading this blog --- might be saying, "What the h*** is a Bronze-Beta anyway?" (I sincerely doubt anyone reading this blog is saying, "What the h*** is a Buffy?")

So let's begin: In 1992, Twentieth Century Fox released a movie called Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Kristie Swanson and Luke Perry. It was cute and entertaining, but not exactly a classic. Then along came 1997, and the WB TV network put Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the air, but this wasn't the movie, this was a TV series, and it was brilliant and funny and clever, and quite possibly what the movie should have been. It was created and directed by Joss Whedon, and written by him and a team of writers. It was still released by Twentieth Century Fox, since they owned the rights, and Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui also had a stake (*ahem*) in ownership, but they let Joss have control of the show and I thank them for it.

Now, a few months ago, Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui announced that they were putting out another Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, I don't know whether it will be a remake of the movie, a remake of the series, a reimagining of either or a continuation of either. I just know that this isn't just an idea: it's apparently in the works. And, yes, I am among those who aren't overly hopeful about the end product.

Which brings us to ShadowQuest. ("What's a ShadowQuest?" you ask? ShadowQuest is one of the regular posters at the Bronze-Beta --- more about that later.) When SQ heard about the movie, he, she or it (sorry, but it should be SQ's decision whether I reveal personal information about SQ on this blog) decided that he, she or it wanted to hold a Buffy Rewatch, where we would watch the original TV series, starting with the premier episode, Welcome to the Hellmouth, and continuing through, one episode a week.

Which brings us to the Bronze:Beta. Now, when the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired, through the last episode of season 5, people would gather on-line at The Bronze, the official posting board for the TV show, originally at the UltimateTV (now Zap2it) web site buffythevampireslayer.com, and then at the Apollo Interactive (which I believe is still Apollo Interactive) web site buffy.com (both since defunct), to post their opinions and comments about the show. Well, a funny thing happened. As time went on, the people who posted there grew into an on-line community. Yeah, I know, everybody knows about online communities now, but this was in the late 1990s. We were one of the first. *g*

When the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer moved from the WB network to UPN, the WB, which owned the posting board, decided to discontinue it. UPN made a bit of an attempt to carry on the posting board tradition but weren't quite able to manage it. So, along came two posters (or lurkers, your view may vary and that really doesn't matter) named "Artie" and "Phoenix" who were able to put together the Bronze Beta, which was an extremely good replacement, and a lot of the people from the original Bronze went there. Not all, but a lot. Others went other places. Others had already gone elsewhere for whatever reason that's their reason. Anyway, enough about that. Back to the Rewatch.

ShadowQuest decided that it would be fun to rewatch the TV show and post our comments at the Bronze Beta, like we did when we first found the show, starting with Welcome to the Hellmouth on January 19th, 2011 (generally considered to be Buffy, the character's, birthday) and then continuing every Tuesday (the air date for most Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes), one episode per week.

Yes, yes, other people are doing Buffy Rewatches, which is fine. From what I've seen, most of them are bloggers who are watching and analyzing the show themselves. This one is all about the fans and the community. Rather than one person post their own personal in-depth (or not) analysis of the episodes, at the Bronze Beta, we can all post our thoughts, deep or shallow, short or long, clever or just "OMG I LUV THIS SHOW". Whatever feels right to the person watching.

So, come one, come all. Start Wednesday, January 19th, 2011, by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth, and post your comments at the Bronze Beta. We're there all week. Enjoy the veal.

Then continue Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode 2: The Harvest.

And hopefully you get the idea from there.

Enjoy!

No need to tell them Leather Jacket sent you. ;-)