(no subject)

[doyle]

- this was the first thing Ultimate Drew wrote for TV, ever? Wow.

- he's such a fanboy. He points out all the stuff like Xander's Lie and the amulet from Something Blue, and David Solomon says that he was on every episode and doesn't know all that stuff.

- The First was supposed to appear to Anya as Halfrek in CWDP but Kali Rocha wasn't available.

- Anya's name and backstory came about because when Drew G was doing research for the episode he found a Viking King called Olaf whose wife, Aud, was known for her 'strange sense of humour and ability with money'.



CWPD

- Jane Espenson is adorable. As are Tom Lenk and Danny Strong.

- Jane loooves Jonathan. I think it's Drew Goddard who snarkily says "you could go in and pitch an episode about Spike and Jane'd be like, ooh! Can Danny play Spike's mom?"

- I shall maturely say nyah to the person on my friends-list or on BAPS (can't remember which) who said Tom was lying about making up some of his own lines. (Also Jane tells a story about watching TV with Tom in a hotel room in Britain and him getting too tense to watch a gameshow - "ohh, I can't watch these things, I get too nervous for the people. It's why I don't like ice-skating." - which is a line she wanted to use for Andrew)

- Xander wasn't in this episode because he's 'never known anyone who died'. Uh... Jesse? Larry? Snyder, which would fit with Restless?

- the actress who plays Cassie is apparently identical to Rebecca Rand-Kirshner, who created the character. Thinking about Help, Cassie's the definition of a Mary Sue, isn't she? Tragic background (she knows she's going to die), mystical powers. Plus she becomes best friends with Dawn, Buffy's obsessed with saving her, she uses her next-to-dying breath to encourage the Spuffy and her actual dying breath to give Buffy a morale boost, and everybody sits around weeping over her death. And yet I still like her a lot. Hm.

- Jane says yes, Joyce was The First, and that yes, the First can appear in more than one place at a time. Which I guess we saw in Bring on the Night when it was masquerading as a potential and appearing to Spike. Shame it didn't think to exploit this omnipresence a bit more considering that confusing your enemies might be a good idea (I have issues with the source of all evil being dumb as a rock, tactically speaking).

- the writers had next to no outline for this episode beyond "Buffy and Holden scene. Dawn scene." They had three days to write it and were majorly stressed. So Jane took off to Vegas. I want to be her when I grow up.

Comments

[emony.livejournal.com]

- Jane says yes, Joyce was The First, and that yes, the First can appear in more than one place at a time.

It always confused the heck out of me when people said "oh, but can the First appear as more than one person at a time??" Of course it can. It was Warren and Cassie at the same time in CwDP, but people always seem to ignore Warren-slash-the-First for some reason and just go, "oh but could it be Cassie *and* Joyce?" Yes, it could. And Warren too. It is nice to have it thoroughly confirmed though.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's in at least three places at once. Possibly four if it's also appearing to Spike in the bar while he's talking to the girl.

Oh, and everyone on the commentary mentions the shot of Warren by the basement door as one of the scariest moments in the whole series (which I agree with, that shot scares the hell out of me)and there's much praising of Adam's acting. Danny calls him his best friend, too.

[emony.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. And if it's appearing to Xander as Jesse and Anya as Halfrek and we just don't see it ... which it so should, if it wants to freak the "good guys" out, so I chose to believe it did and they just never mentioned it.

Maybe it's a bad sign, but that doesn't scare me at all. It makes me want to run over and give him hugs and ice cream. Hehe *g*

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

How exciting, esp. the Jane and Tom in the hotel thing.

A nice preview while waiting how many months? Until the Season Seven DVDs come out in Region 1? November? Grr. Argh.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Aww :pets you: I'm sure I'll watch the rest of the season - and make my Kennedy mood theme since she's my girl *g* - as soon as I've watched CWPD another jillion times. Love Holden something crazy.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I love Holden, too, although for my money Knox and Tracey are also quite interesting. Woodward's a lucky guy having a hat trick like that. He's like superWhedonActor.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Do they explain why there's no Xander bit in "CWDP"?

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've edited the post to put that in - Xander has 'never known anybody who died'. To which I say: Larry? Snyder? *Jesse*?

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Jenny? Kendra?

[mogens.livejournal.com]

"ohh, I can't watch these things, I get too nervous for the people. It's why I don't like ice-skating."

Hee! I feel the same way.

I think TL improvised some lines in the butcher shop scene in NLM. Maybe the "mmm...steak sauce" bit.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think so. And the "I have swimmer's ear!" in Chosen was one of the straight-from-real-life-Tom-Lenk lines the writers stuck into an episode, I think.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

Tom makes up his own lines! Oh, like I needed another reason to adore him. :)

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Have you heard the bit about how he came to Damage with props he made himself? The Union Jack snack bag made it onscreen but we never got to see Andrew's stash of David Beckham photos *g*

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

His own props?! *loves more*

[electrcspacegrl.livejournal.com]

The Succubus Club (thesuccubusclub.com) has a great interview with Drew Goddard in their mp3 archive. He tells the story of how he got the job (he was actually approached by David Greenwalt to work on Angel at the same time) and his first day on the set spoiled him on Tara's death and he was like "Oh my god, Tara's dead??? Nooooo!" while everyone was looking at him like, "Who's this guy?" Haha! Drew is so funny.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Bwah! And he's cute, too [/shallow]

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Drew G was doing research for the episode he found a Viking King called Olaf whose wife, Aud, was known for her 'strange sense of humour and ability with money'.

::loves::

And how cool would be to see Halfrek!FE talks to Anya and Jesse or Snyder to Xander... I think Jesse's death had a prety strong influence on Xander and his attitudes to vampires. Also, I'd pay to see Snyder intimidating Xander...

But I love CWDP the way it is, too. So, not complaining much.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

It came in 9 minutes long - I really wish there was a director's cut. I think it was mostly Andrew and Jonathan who were cut, including an Indiana Jones sequence, plus some more stuff with Joyce (with Dawn thinking that her mom's actually back from the dead).

::waves hand in air:: I know! I know!

[miss-tress.livejournal.com]

I just got the copy of the script that I won in the WriterCon auction today and as I flipped through it there was tons of Andrew and Jonathan stuff that got cut. The Indiana Jones bit was one that stuck out in my mind as being paeticularly funny.

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

What I want explained is the goddamned time stamp, and I bet nobody even mentions it on the commentary. grr.

[packmentality.livejournal.com]

Jane loooves Jonathan.

I think that's 3/4 of the reason I love her so much. I adore that her spinoff suggestions to Joss consisted mainly of "Maybe Jonathan's not all that dead? He could get better!"

I want to be Jane when I grow up too. Actually, I want to be Jane now. And seven years ago. and forever. I'm so gonna get her autograph and like, hundreds of pictures at Writercon. Hero worship? What hero worship? *drools*

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

:whine: I would love to go to Writercon. I bet Jane secretly writes fanfic. I know she's mentioned getting all her British slang from Professionals fic (and, dude, there's barely any Pros fic that isn't slash. I've looked.)

[claudia-yvr.livejournal.com]

I'm in Canada, where we won't see the S7 DVDs until the fall, so your writeup is a real treat. Tom sounds like a riot and I can see why Jane is so taken with him!

Many thanks for sharing :-)

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Doyle,

Just want you to know that, no matter how hard I rail against things in S7, I don't mean to be nasty. Just had to make that clear.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Hey, no problem.