Who is your favorite Buffy character?

July, 2003

[Originally a Billie's Bytes column]

Let me begin with an apology for not posting a column in, like, forever. I plunged into a serious state of depression when my favorite show ended. My favorite character died, too. Fortunately, he's coming back.

N-Zone held a First Ever TVZone Reader's Choice Award poll recently, and Willow won "favorite Buffy character" by a huge margin. Willow has always been a beloved character and a big favorite of mine, but I was still kind of surprised... because it's clear to me that Spike is also a huge favorite.

A poll was floating around the net after Buffy ended, and folks on my Buffy/Angel listserv, BtVS101, had a lot of fun with it. I compiled their responses (27 onlist, 4 offlist), and I'm going to share them with you.

Let me start with the original questions in the poll. And by the way, this poll was uncredited. If you're the one who created it, drop me a line. It's a wonderful poll.

In memory of our favorite show

Name your favorite character ever. Yes. You can only pick one:
Give one line you love:
Favorite three episodes:
Favorite villain:
Favorite song used in a scene:
Favorite season:
Scariest episode:
Best Sex Scene:
Best Kiss:
Best Couple:
Favorite relationship (of any kind):
Set/location you'll miss the most:

Here are the answers given by BtVS101:

Name your favorite character ever. Yes. You can only pick one:

15 votes Spike
5 votes Buffy
5 votes Willow
2 votes Giles
2 votes Xander
1 vote each Tara, Faith

Spike won this one with half the votes. BtVS101 tends to be a Spike-friendly list, but I don't believe we're out of the mainstream. So why Spike, and not Willow? It's a mystery.

The rest of the poll results also reflect the Spike love.

Give one line you love:

4 votes
Spike: "I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it." (Lovers Walk)

3 votes
Buffy: "What are you doing here? Five words or less."
Spike, counting on his fingers: "Out... for... a... walk. Bitch." (No Place Like Home)

2 votes
Buffy: "Fire bad, tree pretty." (Graduation Day II)

2 votes
Spike: " 'Made with care for Randy.' (looks at Giles angrily) Randy Giles? Why not just call me 'Horny Giles,' or 'Desperate for a Shag Giles'? I knew there was a reason I hated you!" (Tabula Rasa)

2 votes
Spike: "But I want you to know, I did save you. Not when it counted of course, but after that, every night after that." (After Life)

1 vote each for the following
Xander: "Can I be blind, too?" on seeing Buffy with Spike (Something Blue)

Buffy to the Master: "I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you." (Prophecy Girl)

Willow: "That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil and skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay." (Doppelgangland)

Giles: "Actual size." Translating the caption under the monster's picture (Fear, Itself)

Cordelia: "God! What’s your childhood trauma?" after Buffy almost stakes her (Welcome to the Hellmouth)

Spike: "If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there, it would have looked like Woodstock." Spike's very first line ever (School Hard)

Buffy: "Hi. How've you been?" Amy: "Rat. You?" Buffy: "Dead." Amy: "Oh." (Smashed)

Giles: "Could it possibly get uglier? I used to be a highly respected watcher and now I'm a wounded dwarf with the mystical strength of a doily." Role playing game (Chosen)

Spike: "What's this? Sitting around watching the telly while there's evil still afoot? That's not very industrious of you. I say we go out there and kick a little demon ass! What, can't go without your Buffy, is that it? Too chicken? Let's find her! She is the Chosen One after all. Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let's annihilate them. For justice and for the safety of puppies, and Christmas, right? Let's fight that evil! Let's kill something!" (Doomed)

Cheese Man: "I wear the cheese. It does not wear me." (Restless)

Willow: "Come get it, big boy!" (Anne)

Buffy to Quentin Travers: "Bite me." (Helpless)

Evil Willow: "Oh, Buffy. You really need to have every square inch of your ass kicked." (Two to Go/Grave)

Buffy: "Look at my poor neck. All bare, and tender, and exposed. All that blood, just pumping away..."
Spike: "Giles, make her stop!"
Giles: "If those two don't kill each other, I might lend a hand."
Buffy taunting Spike, who is chained in the bathtub (Something Blue)

Giles: "Bloody hell." When he found out Willow was gay. (The Yoko Factor)

Xander: "Look at him. He's just so cool. The way he moves, like a jungle cat. Why can't I be like that?"
Willow, with a mouthful of chips: "I think you're cool." (Fool for Love)

Willow: "You need to stop thinking about Parker. He's no good. There are men, better men, wherein the mind is stronger than the penis."
Xander (loudly): "Nothing can defeat the penis!" (Beer Bad)

Angel: "This isn't some fairy tale. When I kiss you, you don't wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after."
Buffy: "No, when you kiss me, I want to die." (Reptile Boy)

Willow: "I mean, I tried to hope for the best, but... I'm sorry. It must be horrible."
Buffy: "I think horrible is still coming. Right now, it's worse. Right now, I'm just trying to keep from dying." after Angel breaks up with Buffy (The Prom)

Xander: "Great Fancy Moses!" Right after Warren opened fire in the backyard, before he realized Buffy was shot (Villains)

Favorite three episodes:

11 votes Fool for Love (Spike's back story)
10 votes Once More, with Feeling (the musical)
9 votes Tabula Rasa (Willow's spell, everyone forgets who they are, Tara & Giles leave)
6 votes Something Blue (Willow's spell, Buffy and Spike are engaged)
5 votes Becoming II (Buffy kills Angel)
5 votes Chosen (Series finale)
4 votes Hush (Seven gentlemen -- the silent episode)
4 votes The Gift (Buffy dies for Dawn and the world)
4 votes Doppelgangland (Vampire Willow returns)

2 votes each for: Lies My Parents Told Me (Spike and his mother)
Innocence (Angel turns into Angelus after having sex with Buffy)
The Body (Joyce's death)
The Prom (The prom, duh)
Fear, Itself (Halloween episode in the frat house)
Beneath you (Buffy discovers Spike has a soul)
Him (All of the female cast fall for guy in a mystical letter jacket)
Dead Things (Warren kills Katrina, Buffy batters Spike)

1 vote each for: Amends (Buffy/Angel Christmas episode)
Restless (the loooonnng dream sequence)
Earshot (Buffy can read minds, the Columbine episode)
Into the Woods (Spike tells Buffy about Riley's vamps, Riley leaves Buffy)
Normal again (Buffy believes she is institutionalized and Sunnydale isn't real)
Nightmares (Nightmares start bleeding into reality)
Family (Tara's family isn't family, but the Scoobies are)
A New Man (Giles as a demon)
Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered (Valentine's day ep with Xander as girl magnet)
Choices (Spiders in a box, Angel and Buffy break up in a sewer)
Conversations with Dead People (the dead return, Spike has been possessed by the First)
Pangs (Thanksgiving episode with Indian spirit)
Becoming, part 1 (Angel's back story)
Lover's Walk (Spike returns after Dru dumps him)


Favorite villain:

10 votes each for:
Angelus
The Mayor

3 votes Spike
2 votes The Troika, a/k/a the Nerds of Doom

1 vote each for: Glory
Faith
Veiny Willow
Vamp Willow
Caleb
Spike/Dru/Angelus
The Gentlemen


Favorite song used in a scene:

8 votes "Goodbye to You." Tara and Giles leaving, Buffy and Spike's second kiss in the Bronze (Tabula Rasa)

6 votes "Full of Grace" at the end of season II, Buffy on a bus after killing Angel (Becoming II)

5 votes "Wild Horses" the song Buffy and Angel danced to (The Prom)

4 votes "Walk through the Fire," "Rest in Peace," "Standing in the Way," and the whole musical (Once More, With Feeling)

2 votes "Out of this World." Buffy & Spike on either side of the door of his crypt (Dead Things)

1 vote each for:
Puccini, "O soave fanciulla" (Passions)
Aimee Mann, "Pavlov's Bell" (Sleeper)
Four Star Mary, "Pain" (Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Dead Man's Party, Living Conditions)
Lisa Loeb, "How" (Homecoming)
Devil Doll, "Faith in Love" (Harsh Light of Day?)



Favorite season:

10 votes Third season (the Mayor and Faith)
8 votes Sixth season (Nerds of Doom, Dark Willow)
7 votes Second season (Spike, Dru and Angelus)
3 votes Fourth season (The Initiative)
3 votes Fifth season (Glory and Dawn)
1 vote Seventh season (The First and the Slayers-in-Training)
5 couldn't choose


Scariest episode:

17 votes Hush (silent ep about The Gentlemen)
3 votes Passion (Angel kills Jenny Calendar)
2 votes As You Were (Riley returns from the jungle, and Spike's character is assassinated) (these were sarcastic votes, by the way)
2 votes The Body (Joyce's death)
2 votes Conversations with Dead People (everyone returns from the dead for one night)

1 vote each for: Villains (Dark Willow kills Warren)
Helpless (Giles drugs Buffy on her 18th birthday so that she loses her powers)
The Wish (alternate universe, Willow and Xander are vamps)
Dead Things (Warren kills Katrina, Buffy batters Spike)
Get it Done (Chloe commits suicide, Buffy meets the Shadow Men)
Bargaining (Buffy returns from the dead)
Fear, Itself (Halloween episode in frat house)

Best Sex Scene:

16 votes Buffy and Spike bring the house down (Smashed)
6 votes Buffy and Angel for the first and only time (Surprise/Innocence)
4 votes Spike and invisible Buffy in Spike's crypt (Gone)
2 votes Buffy and Spike upstairs at the Bronze (Dead Things)

1 vote each for:
Anya and Spike at the Magic Box (Entropy)
Riley and Faith in Buffy's body (Who Are You)
Giles and Joyce even though we didn't see it (Band Candy)

Best Kiss:

8 votes Buffy and Spike at the end of the musical (Once More, With Feeling)
6 votes Buffy and Angel, right before she kills him (Becoming II)
5 votes Buffy and Spike in the Bronze, "Goodbye to you" (Tabula Rasa)
3 votes Buffy and Spike, at the end of the Buffybot episode (Intervention)
3 votes Willow and Tara, Joyce's death (The Body)
2 votes Willow and Tara, when they got back together (Entropy)
2 votes Buffy and Angel in general
1 vote each for:
Cordelia and Wesley, best comic kiss (Graduation Day II)
Oz and Willow, first kiss (Phases)
Buffy and Angel, first kiss in Buffy's bedroom (Angel)
Buffy and Spike, dream kiss (Out of My Mind)
Buffy and Xander, daydream kiss (Prophecy Girl)

Okay, let's count that up. This makes a total of 17 votes for Buffy/Spike, 9 for Buffy/Angel, 5 for Willow/Tara.


Best Couple:

8 votes Willow and Oz
8 votes Buffy and Spike
7 votes Willow and Tara
3 votes Xander and Cordelia
3 votes Xander and Anya
2 votes Buffy and Angel
2 votes Spike and Drusilla

Willow is a clear winner here, with 8 votes for Willow and Oz, and 7 for Willow and Tara.

Favorite relationship (of any kind):

5 votes for the Scoobies
4 votes Buffy and Giles
4 votes Tara and Willow
3 votes Buffy and Spike
3 votes Willow and Xander
2 votes Spike and Joyce
2 votes Buffy and Xander
2 votes Spike with anyone

1 vote each for:
Cordelia and Xander
Giles and Willow
Faith and the Mayor
Giles and Joyce
Willow and Oz
Spike and Drusilla
Spike and Dawn

Set/location you'll miss the most:

12 votes The Library
6 votes The Magic Box
6 votes The Bronze
5 votes Spike's crypt
4 votes Buffy's house/yard, back porch, etc.
1 votes Angel's mansion

So, what do you think? Is BtVS101 completely off the mark? Or do these choices reflect yours?

I'll be back in a couple of weeks with another column,

Billie

(I lied; this was my final column. Bad Billie, no biscuit.)