Buffy Theme Song - Interesting Fact

[gillianmorsee]

So, you know how at the very end of the theme song when it says 'Created by Joss Whedon' there is always a shot of Buffy looking badass? Well I noticed something funny about it in Season 6 and 7 - it's not actually Buffy! In Season 6, it's actually the Buffybot and in Season 7 it's The First. I just thought this was interesting. Anyone else notice this?

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Yea I kind of don't like that it's not actually Buffy. I think however did the credits just picked a nice shot of SMG and was like "ok this works" without knowing that it's not Buffy. There's a reason that Buffy at the end of Anne was the ending credits for 3 seasons. It was bad ass! These two are not. Well I kind of like the Buffybot one, but the first is just boring.

 

[Taake]

Yeah, they clearly just picked a "power" shot, where SMG/Buffy looks like she's in charge and control. I've also been a bit annoyed by those images (especially when it's the First as Buffy), but I suppose as fans we're likely to nitpick on a thing like his. 🙂 Maybe it shows a lack of good "power" shots for the real Buffy from those seasons.

 

[Athena]

Maybe it shows a lack of good "power" shots for the real Buffy from those seasons.

Yeah, I think so too, although I'm sure we could find some if we tried hard enough 😉

 

[DeadlyDuo]

 

 

[Guy]

Yeah, they clearly just picked a "power" shot, where SMG/Buffy looks like she's in charge and control. I've also been a bit annoyed by those images (especially when it's the First as Buffy), but I suppose as fans we're likely to nitpick on a thing like his. 🙂 Maybe it shows a lack of good "power" shots for the real Buffy from those seasons.

Nah, I think it was on purpose - Buffy wasn't herself in season 6, so they showed a robot version of her ('cause she's just "going through the motions"). And in season 7, Buffy was getting dangerously dark and ends-justify-the-means-y, so they showed an evil version of Buffy.

OR they just thought those shots looked especially cool.

 

[Mr Trick]

Well its interesting that you've picked up on that, good spot but my guess is that most people wouldn't. And its just an effective shot for the titles so to me it doesn't matter one bit😀

 

[ItMustBBunnies1]

 

Okay, so, first of all, you made me really happy with the Barney gif. 😛 Apart from that, I wouldn't choose #2 'cause I feel like the Double Meat Palace hat doesn't really lend itself to the 'badass Buffy' feel. And they probably wouldn't want to use the clip of her slaying the ubervamps with the special Slayer scythe (#3) 'cause that would be a spoiler re: the existence of Turok-Han, the existence of the scythe, and the final battle. Looking back on that statement, I guess it's possible that none of these plot points would be spoiled just from a short clip. Then again, that scythe looks pretty unfamiliar and scary-looking to the unknowing eye... Also, it's from season seven, so couldn't have been used for the season six credits, of course. So I guess that leaves #1. I could live with that, though I'm pretty sure it comes from a scene where Buff is preoccupied with hating herself over the whole Spike situation, so I don't know how much girl power there is in the look in her eyes... So, yeah. If you ask me, they should have kept the shot from the season 3 opening credits, the one from 'Anne'. Though I guess SMG does look pretty young in that shot... Yeah. Those are my thoughts. I actually had never really noticed this before now; it is an really interesting point. My best guess is that the directors just liked how those shots looked, regardless of whether or not they were really Buffy in the canon of the show. What do y'all think about all this?

 

[Jam]

I know very little about behind the scenes jobs on television shows, but is it possible that whoever is tasked with editing the credits for the season isn't very familiar with the show? I'm guessing they're only given a few episodes to work with and each season, the images are only changed a little bit. Like the season 1 and season 2 credits are pretty much the same except for David is added to them. I also notice that the end shots have similar styles of panning up/zooming in on SMG, so those are probably shots to look out for and put to use almost immediately.

It's a boring, not-so-thought-provoking answer but I get the impression that not very much thought is put into the selection process for moments in opening credits.