The Thurber Hypothesis

 

Or

 

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Imladris

 

By Capella

 

 

A brief background for those who are not familiar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 

The setting is Sunnydale, South California, a town with unusual problems due to its location on a Hellmouth, a mystical energy centre where Very Bad Things happen.  It’s the logical place for the Slayer to make her home, since there are always vampires, demons, stray gods and other unpleasant beings to be dealt with.  In every generation one Slayer is born, and it’s her job to fight the forces of evil until they win and she dies, at which point a new Slayer takes her place.  Buffy has done exceptionally well in the job, and hence lives to fight another day.  Meanwhile the rest of the population, with the exception of a small group of Slayer friends known as the Scoobies, exists in a state of denial.

 

The characters are:

 

Buffy:  The Slayer – the Chosen One.  Super-strong, kicks ass, natural leader and has heightened senses but otherwise small, cute and dippy blonde So-Cal girl.  In her first year at University of California, Sunnydale.

 

Willow:  Super-intelligent, sweet, nerdy, still finding feet as witch and about to discover lesbianism.  Buffy’s best friend and roommate at UC Sunnydale (turned down Oxford, Harvard, etc to be there.)

 

Xander:  Salt of the earth, not over bright but mega-loyal friend, has always had the hots for Buffy.  Currently lives in parents’ basement, works as pizza delivery boy.

 

Anya:  Ex-vengeance demon, now human.  Xander’s girlfriend.  Jumpy around demon hunters.  Gradually becoming more accepted into the main group, the ‘Scoobies’.

 

Giles:  Englishman, older, academic, ex-school librarian – this was a front as he was actually Buffy’s ‘watcher’ (mentor).  Now between jobs.  Has wild past involving magic, sex, rock’n’roll and violence, but now appears somewhat stuffy.

 

Spike:  Sexy Bad vampire.  English.  Horribly astute and enjoys causing trouble. Was caught by the Initiative who implanted a chip in his brain so he can’t harm humans.  Has recently discovered to his delight that he CAN harm demons; loves a fight.  Fascinated by Buffy and seemingly unable to stay out of the way of the Scoobies.

 

Riley:  Buffy’s newly acquired boyfriend.  Sadly resembles large well-muscled block of wood.  Is secretly Big in the Initiative, covert military operation which captures demons etc. and experiments on them, amongst other things.  He and Buffy have recently discovered the truth about each other but the rest of his organisation don’t yet know about her.

 

 

The story is set during Season Four and was largely inspired by the fine comic acting particularly in the episode entitled ‘A New Man’, in which Giles discovers that people have been forgetting to tell him important things, and has cause to wonder what It’s All About.  Even by BtVS standards it’s a classic and cannot be recommended highly enough.  However, the real recommendation is that you rent the whole lot on DVD or video, and watch the series through from the very beginning.  Give real life a miss for a while.  Great plots, lengthy and well thought out story arcs, real developing characters and a whole lot of fun – you can’t go wrong.

 

 

 

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