Customer Reviews

The Watcher's Guide, Volume 3 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

First, for those who were wondering, this is the third and final volume in "The Watcher's Guide," the official companion to the late and lamented television cult show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Whereas the first two volumes dealt with a pair of seasons of the series, Volume 3 covers the final three seasons of "BtVS." Again you will find each episode covered in terms of writer(s) and director, complete cast list of guest stars and co-stars, Plot Summary, Quote of the Week, Love in Vein (keeping track of the complicated and often disastrous love lives of the Scooby gang), Pop-Culture IQ (explaining the popular pop-culture references embedded in the episode), Continuity (covering the twists and turns in the Buffyverse), Dramatis Personae (tracking the key personality traits in the main characters), and From the Original Teleplay (dialogue and humorous stage directions cut from the episode). At the start of each season there are a page of freeze frames from all twenty-two episodes; a list of episode numbers, names and original U.S. airdates, and the stars listed in the opening credits. In between seasons six and seven you will find a section devoted to the "Pop Culture Explosion" in season six when the Trio worked in all those references to movies, television, comic books, "Star Wars," "Star Trek," and anything else that came into their warped little minds.

However, fans of the first two volumes of "The Watcher's Guide" are probably going to be disappointed by what else is in this volume. In comparison to what we have seen before, the information about "BtVS" is considerably less. There are neither character guides nor cast profiles, or sections by the writers or crew (and the spine is blue rather than black, as long as we are talking about differences). The rest is that by the standard established by the previous volumes of "The Watcher's Guide" this third one will suffer in comparison and long time fans are going to be disappointed. However, that does not stop "The Watcher's Guide, Volume 3" from being a necessary part of our "BtVS" library.

Volume 3 is put together by Paul Ruditis, who previously put together a "Star Trek: Voyager Companion" and has written novels for the television shows "Enterprise," "Charmed," and "Sabrina." Ruditis does the duty alone, which may explain why the second half of the book comes off in a new direction. The second half of the book consists of a series of essays devoted to the series as whole and not just on the final trio of seasons: Ginger Buchanan's "The Journey of Joanathan Levenson: From Scenery to Sacrifice" covers the interesting transformation of a recurring minor character into a "Superstar" and much more. Hank Wagner's The Family Hour" talks about how he shared watching "BtVS" with his children and finds deep thoughts in the series with regards to parenting.

Rob Francis' "London Calling: 'Buffy' from a British Perspective" explains the show's popularity in the U.K. despite having some American actors playing some of the Brits. Maryelizabeth Hart, who helped out on Volume 2, contributes "Slaying the Big Lies: Love Conquers All and Other Monstrous Myths," which looks at how love never seems to work out in the Buffyverse. Allie Costa's "A Part of Something: Or, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': My First Long-Term Relationship," is a fan's recollection of being a fan. Scott and Denise Ciencin, "I Know You Are, But Who Am I?" provides an analysis of how Dawn fit into the show over this period. In "Why I Like 'Buffy'" Charles de Lint provides a justification for liking a show with such a weird title, which is certainly something those of us in academia can relate to in terms of trying to foist the show off on students and colleagues. James Moore's "Monsters Made to Order" briefly looks at the similar themes behind key monsters in the show's history.

The chief attraction in the back of the book is "'Restless': A Path to Premonitions," which has Joss Whedon's teleplay for the finale episode of the fourth season with commentary by Ruditis focusing on how Whedon set the stage for some key developments in what followed. For those of us who have figured out most of the connections, Ruditis does a nice job of filling in the gaps in our deconstruction of the episode. The final offering is Micol Ostow's "'Chosen': A Postmodern Postmortem of 'Buffy' as Contemporary Icon" looks at how well Whedon fulfilled his purpose of establishing a pop culture icon by flipping the horror movie standard of the blonde girl being slain by the monster in the dark alley.

Given all the academic collections being published about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" these essays are relatively light reading. Buchanan's essay connects all the dots with regards to Jonathan as do the Ciencins with Dawn, and Francis uses interviews with cast members to provide more of what we expect to find in the back of a "Watcher's Guide." So overall the essays occupy a sort of dead zone in between the musings of doctors of philosophy that are out there and the behind the scenes information we were used to in the previous pair of volumes. Again, the only complain here is that there is less here than what we expected. This is probably our payback for suggesting maybe there was too much in Volume 2. That would teach us except that the series and these guides are obviously both over.

After the first two Watcher's Guides were must-own volumes, I assumed that the author(s) and the publishers were looking to finish their BtVS guides with a bang.

Not really the case.

At best this book limps along, the main author's clear bias to certain relationships incredibly evident.

It lacks the things that made the first two volumes great -- the special features, if you will. There's no character guides, no quote sections, no extensive interviews with the cast and crew. Yes, it has critical(?) essays. But most of the time the writers come off as either self-important or childish.

Yes, I own this volume, but were the first volume this disappointing I wouldn't have purchased subsequent books.

What a real disappointment this book is. The first edition of The Watchers Guide was a well-written guide to an inventive TV show that, actually, had a bit of thought to it but, sadly, it's been diminishing returns ever since.

This book merely sums up, for me, everything that's wrong about the whole concept of "official" guides to TV shows and movies. It's hollow. It doesn't tell you ANYTHING about any of the reasons why you're actually a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, merely trotting out a standard party-line that every episode is an unsuppassed masterpiece (makes you wonder why 'Hush' is put on a pedestal when, according to the writers of the various Watchers Guides, all of the episodes are equally as good as each other). There's no critique, no depth, no _soul_ in this book. There's plenty of nice pictures though so, if that's what floats your boat then this is, to be sure, the book for you.

There are several unofficial guides out there and most of them are a hell of a lot better than this. My own particular favourite is Keith Topping's Slayer, but Nikki Stafford's book is also worthy of investigation. Both are infinately preferable to the mess that is Watchers Guide Vol 3.

I had this book for quite some time, but deferred from reading it until I re-watched seasons 5, 6, and 7 - which this book covers. If you are not familiar with the Watcher's Guides, they are books designed for Buffy fans filled with (in the past) episode guides, character summaries, memorable quotes, crew and cast interviews, and photos from the show.

This book however, cuts down what it features. There are basically two main sections - the episode guide, and the 'essay' section.

The good news is the episode guide is fantastic - perhaps the best of the 3 Watcher's Guides. Filled with fun facts, trivia, detailed synopses, and skipping over some of the more irrelevant sections found in pervious editions (Buffy's Bag of Tricks in the first book comes to mind), the episode guides are the highlight of the book - as they were with the previous Watcher's books. Squeezed into the Season 6 section is a little pop culture quote area filled with references the 'trio' made in season 6.

The two colour photo sections are also in tact, the first featuring glossy publicity shots (and screen stills) of all of the major players throughout Buffy's final three seasons. The second photo section is really interesting actually, as virtually all of the photos are behind-the-scenes shots right up until the series finale.

The essays were something I put off reading for quite awhile, figuring they were boring. I finally finished off the guide last night, essays and all - and was surprised at how heartfelt some of them were. For the most part, each essay is written by a really in-depth fan of the show, and you can sense their attachment to the subject they cover. Dawn, Johnathan, the power of love, British fans, and Buffy as a post-modern show are among the subjects covered. The author of this book, Paul Ruditis, also analyzes the fourth season closer, "Restless" which is filled with dream sequences. Personally I found some of his observations to be useless and speculative, but others were quite inquistive and interesting.

I think most people are disappointed because this book dropped virtually everything from the previous Watcher's Guides and filled the last 100 pages (approx.) with essays. And we all know what springs to mind when we hear that word - boring! But they're not! Really! However, granted, this book did lack the flow and completeness that the others had.

My only grace here for Ruditis is the fact that this guide is much like your senior year yearbook, if you get it in the fall after you've graduated. How are you meant to track down all of your 'classmates' if the class (or show in this case) has disbanded?

This book is still a good addition to the Watcher's collection, as the episode guides are great, but don't be expecting the extreme in-depth coverage of before (especially when comparing this to the second Watcher's Guide).

I strongly recommend that you buy Keith Topping's unofficial guide instead of this. "Slayer: The Last Days of Sunnydale" is much more accurate because Mr. Topping bases his opinions on interviews from Joss Whedon and other writers of the show.

"The Watcher's Guide" is just the opinion of the author and is completely inconsistent with what Joss Whedon has stated in multiple interviews.

The sloppiness of this book is shocking.

Well, Like others here, I was slightly disappointed when I got the book and saw what was in it. Or more importantly, what wasn't in it. I was a bit concerned from the get go when I first heard that Nancy Holder wasn't involved. That was a red flag right there. Needless to say, the concern was warranted. Still, after reading the book and thinking about it, it is still a good book. A very nicely put together book that is well written and researched. Author Paul Ruditis, who I have never even heard of, does a fantastic job on the episode guide and all the usual things that come with it. Is it as bad as all the negative reviews for it say?. No way!. Does Ruditis get the knowledge and research wrong?. Nope. The book is not, in any way, shape, or form, what the negatives say it is. I think people were just disappointed with what was not included here. And yes, it is sad, but there is still fine work here and is a good read. It may not be essential like the other 2, but is still good to have. No question about it. That is why I gave the book four stars. Like volumes 1 and 2, the big part of the book is the expected episode guide. This volume packs in the most seasons with seasons 5, 6, and 7, while the first two only had two seasons at a time. Each episode comes with the usual stuff that were included in the first two. There isn't much of a difference there. The episode summary is quite lengthy(well, lengthy enough) and well thought out and explained. The quote of the week is there as well as the "Love In Vein" part, which deals with the ongoing love lives of our favorite Scooby Gang. Ruditis even added a new little thing of his own. It is called "Dramatis Personae", and it is a little tidbit about the history and lives of the gang as well. Thankfully, we still get two sections of really goos colored photos too. The essays are interesting and would of been more appreciated if they weren't the only other section in the book. The one on the journey of the character of Jonathan is the best and is very well written and a nice tribute to the character. The rest are all well written and fun and interesting to read. The editors wanted something different for the book than the usual stuff, but we the fans want what we want. Not what the editor thinks we want. There is no character bio like in the first two. No interviews with anyone and no sections on make-up or just the making of the show. This is what has come to be cornerstones of these books, but they are not here at all. With Holder bowing out of "Angel : Casefiles Volume 2" and Ruditis doing that one two, it should make fans even more worried.

I had looked forward to the third installment of the series Watcher's Guides for quite sometime and when it came out I ordered it right away...BIG MISTAKE!

Quite on the contrary to the first 2 Watcher's Guide Volumes, this book has NO CHARACTER GUIDE or Bio Guide, my 2 favorite parts! The "Restless" episode teleplay is interesting but, i would have given that up in a second for the character giude.

The Episode Guide is done well but I expect a well done episode guide, that's why i'm buying this book. I could easily live without the essays wich are basically there to take up room, and speaking of room, the Watcher's Guide Volume 2 (containing two seasons) is thicker than The Watcher's Guide Volume 3 (containing THREE SEASONS! ~what's up with that?)

A big let-down for all Buffy Fans and the end of the series. I just hope that the new Angel Casefiles will be better, which is sadly also going to be done by Paul Ruditis who I am ashamed of.

While the episode guide is quite nicely done, and the essays were very interesting. The guide was lacking. I can't tell you how excited I was to get it, and what's in there is wonderful..dont get me wrong. But like it was said before, it was lacking in character guides, quotes, cast/crew interviews. All these components made the books fun. None of the original authors were involved in this book, which may be the problem. People new to buffyverse would be okay with this book, but wont learn to the extent that you could in the first two. If you're a buffy fan, it wouldnt be good to not get it. But don't expect it to be as good as the first two. What's there is well written, but it doesn't have the most beloved parts. (personally, i would of rather waited longer to get more sections then have this book come out as is).

The first hint that this was not a well conceived book is that it's shorter than the Watcher's Guides 1 and 2, which each deal with only two seasons. Considering this current books is suppose to cover the last three years of the show, which contained some of the most controversial and dark plotlines, you'd expect a much thicker book.

The essays are lackluster, the episode commentary sparse and the picture selection disappointing.

This manual might be called the "official" guide but there is no input from Joss or the other writers.

I'd recommend Keith Toppings new book about the series. Much more indepth and interesting.

Especially if you are writing about the series or something, and you want to know exactly when something happened or a reminder of some series of events, it really helps not to have to watch the whole season again. The essays were mediocre, but as a reference book - I'll probably have to order the other two too!