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Buffy The Vampire Slayer

TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

Douglas Durden

Saturday 5 November 2005, by Webmaster

VERONICA MARS

AIRS: 9 p.m. Wednesdays on UPN

The six ways in which UPN’s "Veronica Mars" is the new "Buffy the Vampire Slayer":

* Sassy, smart, strong female lead with angst-ful boyfriend.

* Teenage characters who talk like adults while solving adult-sized problems.

* Teenage characters who talk like adults while trying to survive high school.

* Snappy dialogue that skewers pop culture.

* Loud, loyal fan base, but meager ratings. (This season, it’s up against ABC’s "Lost" at 9 p.m. Wednesdays.)

* Appearances by "Buffy" regulars Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter, plus the presence of "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon — this week only.

Whedon, currently without a TV series to call his own, is scheduled to play a car rental agent in Wednesday’s episode. (Director Kevin Smith guested in an earlier episode as a convenience store clerk. Ha!)

This cameo appearance may be the result of Whedon outing himself as "Veronica Mars’" most passionate famous fan on the Internet last summer, declaring it the "Best. Show. Ever."

Last month, there were even more compliments when he reviewed the first-season DVD of the series for Entertainment Weekly, describing it as "the funniest and most romantic show on TV."

From Whedon’s remarks, you’d think that "Veronica Mars" is better than "Buffy."

Wait, maybe it is.

Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, had to go to the world of the supernatural to find her mysteries and challenges.

Veronica, played by Kristen Bell, doesn’t have to go any farther than the real world, although it’s a world where a teenage girl might be drugged, then raped, at a party; where her best friend is murdered; and where her mom abandons the family.

"Veronica Mars," now in its second season, was created by Rob Thomas, a former high school teacher-turned-screenwriter who got his start on The WB’s "Dawson Creek."

Thomas moved on to several other TV series — "Snoops" and "Cupid," both of which died quickly and quietly. (Paula Marshall, who starred in both, had a recurring role on season one of "VM.")

Returning to teen angst, Thomas found his voice again. And what a voice.

Veronica is a teenage detective, working out of her father’s detective office when he lets her, and going out on her own when he doesn’t. The cases are sometimes personal, involving herself or her fellow students, and sometimes not.

Recently, for example, she took on the case of a wealthy young woman who wanted her fiancé investigated, fearing he was after her money. It turned out he had as much money as she did, leaving Veronica feeling cynical on the topic of the importance of money. (Cynical is one of Veronica’s best poses.)

Each season has one overriding mystery, however.

Last season, it was the identity of her best friend’s murderer, who turned out to be Harry Hamlin as the local has-been actor. This season, while struggling with boyfriend woes and classmate wars, Veronica is investigating the cause of a fatal school bus crash, a crash she now believes was because of her. (It’s a revenge thing, all based in "VM’s" complicated continuing story lines.)

Like Buffy, surrounded by helpful friends when it came to stalking vampires, Veronica has her friend Wallace (Percy Daggs III) to call on, although his life was recently complicated by the appearance of a father he didn’t know he had.

That’s the detective side of "Veronica Mars"; then there’s the high school side.

Last season, because of the murder of her best friend and her father losing his job, Veronica was bumped from high school insider to outsider. And in the wealthy suburb of Neptune, home to movie stars and professional athletes, millions of dollars separate the have-nots from the haves.

This season, Veronica is in a zone of her own. She’s been established as the go-to girl if you have a problem, and she’s back with her former boyfriend, Duncan (Teddy Dunn), brother of her murdered friend. (Duncan has a closet full of problems of his own, which Veronica had to sift through last season while she dated his best friend, Logan.)

Veronica accepts her turn on the wheel of fortune with a cynical wiseness — and a wicked sense of humor — beyond her years. She’s that rare teenage character who realizes there’s life beyond and after high school.

When a teacher innocently reminds his class that "homecoming season is upon us," Veronica grouses, "Much like the plague."

Grounding her ever so slightly is her relationship with her father, Keith Mars, the ex-sheriff turned detective who’s now running for sheriff again. He’s played by Enrico Colantoni ("Just Shoot Me," "Galaxy Quest") with an appealing mix of playfulness, concern and parental adoration.

Which is better: the mystery, the high school angst, the charming father-daughter relationship?

That’s the ultimate beauty of the show — you don’t have to choose.


11 Forum messages

  • > TV : ’Veronica Mars’ better than ’Buffy’ ?

    5 November 2005 17:18, by Anonymous
    I agree. NO WAY is it better than BTVS.

  • > TV : ’Veronica Mars’ better than ’Buffy’ ?

    5 November 2005 18:25, by Anonymous
    i watch VM as well, and i love it, but it is not the new buffy.. nothing could beat buffy... ever. which makes me wonder why joss likes VM better than his own show, i mean he stopped working on buffy to work on firefly, basically handed it over to other writers, gave up on his creation, except for a few of the end episodes, and now he thinks some other show is " the best".. thanks joss.. sorry about this rant.. its just been in my head for a while : )

  • > TV : ’Veronica Mars’ better than ’Buffy’ ?

    5 November 2005 19:31, by anonymous
    Pretty much. Joss is simply too humble to say (or probably even think) that his work was better. Look at what the cast of Serenity said about him when they were onstage together in the videos for one of the post-preview screening Q & A’s they did promoting the film. He was being hard on himself in answering a question from someone in the audience and I think Nathan said something like, "you’re smarter than all of us put together."

  • > TV : ’Veronica Mars’ better than ’Buffy’ ?

    5 November 2005 20:18, by vi
    same here vm is a pretty good new show great actually but buffy is a legend that still lives even after it ended its final season hopefully well see some more buffy in the future

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    6 November 2005 15:24, by freakyaye
    While VM does seem very interesting and all those things mentioned are true, where it lahs behind buffy is the character base. The supporting characters, unlike buffy, are stereotypical and bland; her detective father is useless and the show tries to convince us vm is a better detective than her father which is typical teen angst fluff. BTVS however, never bothered with such dribble, Giles (the equivelant) was knowleadgeable and an intelligent father figure which let buffy and co save the day, without jepoardizing his character in any way, while vms father is showed up by his daughter every week. This shows the difference in the writers skills of both shows.

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    6 November 2005 18:14, by Anonymous
    Veronica Mars is a horrible show and isn’t even in the same league as BtVS.

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    6 November 2005 22:08, by Leevee

    Let me first say: Yes, I love Buffy, and Angel, and Firefly, and Serenity. I was in all the ’save the show’ campaigns, I was one of the first Browncoats, etc.

    But to me, Veronica Mars is better than any of them.

    Think about it. Can you honestly say that you love every single episode of Buffy, that you could brag about all of them? If you say yes, then good for you. (Although, seriously? You loved "Beer Bad?") I can’t. I greatly dislike most Buffy/Angel scenes, and I hated what they both became for Spike/Buffy.

    Veronica Mars? Yes, I can honsetly say I love all of the episodes. My favorite Veronica pairing is Leo/Veronica, which didn’t exist very long, but I still love to watch Veronica/Logan, or Veronica/Duncan, or even Veronica/Troy. Veronica, even at her most selfish, doesn’t annoy me like Buffy did at her most selfish - possibly because I can buy Kristen Bell as a teenager, but not SMG.

    And to whomever said that Keith has nothing on Giles, that Veronica always seems smarter than Keith - not so. I’ll bring up the most famous example of Keith "beating" Veronica: "Mars vs. Mars", in which Veroncia was dead sure that her teacher was in the clear, and Keith was dead sure that the teacher had had sex with a student. Keith was right. Or in "Ruskie Business", when Veronica very nearly helped the Russian Mafia find someone in the Witness Protection Program and was stopped just in time by Keith. Or when she went into his safe in order to look at the Lilly Kane evidence, and he had set up a trap that got her covered in blue ink. Veronica pretty much never beats Keith, and often goes to him for help. And besides, comparing Keith to Giles makes no sense, other than them both being adult males. You’d have to compare Keith to Joyce, them being parents, and I can wholeheartedly say that Keith is the better parent.

    (And the minor characters of VM being flat? No way. They don’t have as much depth as the major characters, true, but that’s because they don’t get as much screentime. If I was forced to, I’d take Cassidy Casablancas over Jonathan Levinson any day, and Jonathan is my all-time favorite Buffy character. I’d even take Sheriff Lamb over Lindsey, despite thinking Lamb is a total jackass and Lindsey being my favorite Angel character.)

    But again, this is all just my opinion. I get that not every feels this way, and hey, I can respect it. But saying that there’s no way on Earth that VM is better than Buffy, and that anyone who thinks so must be a raving moron who hates Buffy? Not cool, nor true.

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    6 November 2005 23:16, by SCT

    You ask if I can say I loved every single episode of Buffy? Well, I’ll answer that in Buffy’s style: all the episodes are in my heart, they are all dear to me. Some of them I love more, some less, but they are all a part of an incredible whole. I don’t watch VM so I can’t comment on it in comparison to Buffy, but from the 15 minutes I once made myself watch it I can’t even see the connection. Besides, to talk about loving all the episodes after merely 1 season and then some? Are you in any way kidding? Buffy ran for 7 years!!!! So of course there are gonna be the occasional flops like "Beer Bad" but even in them I can find the smart writing, the humor and the fact that even in "Stand alone" episodes like "Beer Bad" you still have something that moves the plot forward. And as a linguist, I can tell you some of the funniest lines are in an episode most people hate, called "Doublemeat palace".

    I am willing to give VM a chance, but something tells me that I shouldn’t expect masterpieces like "Becoming", "Hush", "Restless", "OMWF" etc. etc. from it. I agree with whoever wrote the great line here about VM making references to pop culture whereas BtVS IS pop culture! Couldn’t have said it better myself. I hope someday we’ll get to see something as genius, but it will be a long time coming. At least there is still good TV in the form of "Desperate Housewives".

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    7 November 2005 03:28, by Anonymous
    Hahaha o man, what’s rediculous here is arguing about opinions. You can’t tell people what’s better or worse, only what you think in your head. To me, Veronica Mars is a cutesy little show, I would probably watch it if nothing better was on. Buffy and Angel, to me, are the best shows ever. But I’m not going to tell you why they’re the best and other shows are bad. The reason I think this is all so funny is because the person before talked about how awesome Buffy/Angel are, and I couldn’t agree much more, but then they said something positive about Desperate Housewives, a show I completely despise. The point is, there’s no use getting rabid and defensive over all this - We obviously all like Buffy and Angel, some of us just more than others.

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    8 November 2005 01:50, by AyanP
    @SCT: It’s true "VM" has only completed one season, but season one of "VM" was WAY better than season one of "Buffy." I think "Buffy" was a better show overall, though. But like you said "VM" has only completed one season, so who knows? Maybe "VM" will be better than "Buffy" overall.

  • > TV : "Veronica Mars" better than "Buffy" ? Spoilers

    10 November 2005 17:28, by Anonymous
    Buffy was universal - Veronica Mars isn’t. Veronica Mars is a decent show but its humour sometimes is only confined to the enjoyment of Americans. There is a difference between American humour and British humour. Joss Whedon succeeded in writing something that was enjoyed by people all around the world therefore due to its universalism surely Buffy is better?