Spoiler Phobic
Mar. 14th, 2008 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird_ljI'm rather annoyed.
New York Magazine just had an article discussing whether or not it's okay to give away spoilers for older shows.
And how did they begin the article?
BUFFY DIES. That's right, you heard us. At the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season five, Buffy Summers leaps off a platform into a dimensional rift, saving the world (and her sister Dawn) but killing herself in the process.
They then go on to mention Joyce dying, Tara dying, Anya dying, Willow going evil, and Buffy and Spike having lots of sex.
This is the first line of the article. I think they thought it was funny.
Given that they then go on to discuss whether or not they should have spoiled that for people who haven't watched it on dvd yet (and don't decide one way or the other by the end), it was a remarkably stupid thing to do.
One of the article's main points is that people catching up with older shows on dvd should take responsibility for spoilers themselves, and avoid places where they're likely to be spoiled.
Quick quiz for you.
You're watching Buffy (4 years late). You don't want to be spoiled for upcoming bits of plot. The main site you should avoid is:
a) Whedonesque
b) Slayage
c) Wikipedia articles on the show
d) Buffy discussion forums
e) New York Magazine
Any takers for 'e'? No? I'm stunned.
I have an interesting relationship with spoilers.
Five years ago, I didn't care in the slightest. The first episode of Red Dwarf I saw was Stoke Me A Clipper (from season seven). Which has Rimmer replacing Ace Rimmer as world saving hero (what a guy!). When I watched season one, I already knew that this annoying git was going to meet his alternate universe identity - and I didn't mind knowing. Not really.
And Frasier? The reason I decided to watch that from the start was because I wanted to find out how Niles and Daphne had ended up married.
Then came Buffy.
Before watching the show, I already knew:
1) that Buffy died, twice
2) that Willow's girlfriend was shot, after which Willow got black hair and flayed a guy alive
3) that Buffy's mother died
4) that Buffy had a boyfriend called Riley
5) that Buffy's boyfriend Angel went evil when they had sex, and she had to kill him even though he was good again
6) that there was an episode where the Gentlemen stole everyone's voices
Actually watching it was a bit... anticlimatic.
You know, when I reached Superstar, I got so excited, because there was finally a confusing bit of plot that I didn't know was coming!
It wasn't really helped by the fact that I took a while to realise that characters can come back at any time. There I was, avoiding spoilers by not looking at anything Wikipedia said about current characters - so I only looked at info about characters whose stories had definitely finished. Like Darla, Lindsey, Chantarelle, and Harmony...
Yeah. That didn't really work.
These days, I have different spoiler tolerance for every show.
Battlestar Galactica, for instance? I don't care if you tell me that Baltar became president, but I will throttle you if you tell me who the cylons are.
With Farscape, the dvd cover shows Aeryn being pregnant. Can't really avoid spoilers - and I don't really mind. That's not why I watch the show - I watch it mostly for Crichton being insane.
I've finished watching Angel, so I'm pretty happy to be spoiled for it now. But I'm so glad I got to watch it spoiler-free.
Veronica Mars still isn't out on dvd in Australia. (That's right - none of it.) I'm pretty resigned to spoilers like the Veronica/Logan thing, but I will be incredibly annoyed by anyone who tells me how Lily died.
And Dollhouse? I'm a member of several fansites already, but I'm avoiding all of them like the plague. I don't want to know anything more than I do now, until I actually get to watch it properly.
That's quite a variety of different spoiler-happy levels.
In conclusion: it is not up to New York Magazine to decide what spoilers I should be told.
New York Magazine just had an article discussing whether or not it's okay to give away spoilers for older shows.
And how did they begin the article?
BUFFY DIES. That's right, you heard us. At the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season five, Buffy Summers leaps off a platform into a dimensional rift, saving the world (and her sister Dawn) but killing herself in the process.
They then go on to mention Joyce dying, Tara dying, Anya dying, Willow going evil, and Buffy and Spike having lots of sex.
This is the first line of the article. I think they thought it was funny.
Given that they then go on to discuss whether or not they should have spoiled that for people who haven't watched it on dvd yet (and don't decide one way or the other by the end), it was a remarkably stupid thing to do.
One of the article's main points is that people catching up with older shows on dvd should take responsibility for spoilers themselves, and avoid places where they're likely to be spoiled.
Quick quiz for you.
You're watching Buffy (4 years late). You don't want to be spoiled for upcoming bits of plot. The main site you should avoid is:
a) Whedonesque
b) Slayage
c) Wikipedia articles on the show
d) Buffy discussion forums
e) New York Magazine
Any takers for 'e'? No? I'm stunned.
I have an interesting relationship with spoilers.
Five years ago, I didn't care in the slightest. The first episode of Red Dwarf I saw was Stoke Me A Clipper (from season seven). Which has Rimmer replacing Ace Rimmer as world saving hero (what a guy!). When I watched season one, I already knew that this annoying git was going to meet his alternate universe identity - and I didn't mind knowing. Not really.
And Frasier? The reason I decided to watch that from the start was because I wanted to find out how Niles and Daphne had ended up married.
Then came Buffy.
Before watching the show, I already knew:
1) that Buffy died, twice
2) that Willow's girlfriend was shot, after which Willow got black hair and flayed a guy alive
3) that Buffy's mother died
4) that Buffy had a boyfriend called Riley
5) that Buffy's boyfriend Angel went evil when they had sex, and she had to kill him even though he was good again
6) that there was an episode where the Gentlemen stole everyone's voices
Actually watching it was a bit... anticlimatic.
You know, when I reached Superstar, I got so excited, because there was finally a confusing bit of plot that I didn't know was coming!
It wasn't really helped by the fact that I took a while to realise that characters can come back at any time. There I was, avoiding spoilers by not looking at anything Wikipedia said about current characters - so I only looked at info about characters whose stories had definitely finished. Like Darla, Lindsey, Chantarelle, and Harmony...
Yeah. That didn't really work.
These days, I have different spoiler tolerance for every show.
Battlestar Galactica, for instance? I don't care if you tell me that Baltar became president, but I will throttle you if you tell me who the cylons are.
With Farscape, the dvd cover shows Aeryn being pregnant. Can't really avoid spoilers - and I don't really mind. That's not why I watch the show - I watch it mostly for Crichton being insane.
I've finished watching Angel, so I'm pretty happy to be spoiled for it now. But I'm so glad I got to watch it spoiler-free.
Veronica Mars still isn't out on dvd in Australia. (That's right - none of it.) I'm pretty resigned to spoilers like the Veronica/Logan thing, but I will be incredibly annoyed by anyone who tells me how Lily died.
And Dollhouse? I'm a member of several fansites already, but I'm avoiding all of them like the plague. I don't want to know anything more than I do now, until I actually get to watch it properly.
That's quite a variety of different spoiler-happy levels.
In conclusion: it is not up to New York Magazine to decide what spoilers I should be told.
