“Her mind’s a carnival fun house.”
For me, anything from the Buffyverse is a good thing. Slayers isn’t Shakespeare but it is good fun.
The premise is an alternate reality Sunnyvale is in trouble and Cordelia Chase, the one true slayer in this alternate universe, comes to ours to ask for help from Spike and others of the Scooby gang. The alternate universe is a useful trope for expanding stories in new directions (see the new Star Trek movies). This expansion allows for my favourite thing about this audio play (audiobook? Podcast?), the way the “B” characters from the TV series are the stars of the show. Also, listening to Spike again wasn’t terrible.
In the alternate reality there is Cordelia who is THE slayer in a world that still just has one. This hearkens back to the original, moving away from the multi-slayer world in our reality. Her best friend is Anya, who has become a talented witch and co-owner of the Magic Box. She has a cute and fuzzy dog named Jasper (I see him as a Bichon) who plays a bigger role than you might expect. The Big Bads are Drusilla (she never died in this reality) and Tara, originally Cordelia and Anya’s best friend and co-owner of the Magic Box but now is possessed and a very powerful and evil witch. Drusilla and Tara are lovers and are working together to create a spell that will allow all vampires to walk in sunlight without harm. The troops recruited from our reality are Spike; Indira, a new baby slayer; Clem, the loveable, kitten-eating demon who has sworn off kittens; and Giles, our favourite retired watcher. As I said, we have a lot of “B” characters who are now the whole show.
The story line is fairly predictable but if you’re a Buffy fan, you don’t really care. There are lots of shout outs and story line grabs from the TV series as well as name drops of sci-fi and fantasy favourites. There are the clever and silly bits we expect from the Buffyverse and lots of spells and curses. Drusilla is her evil, nutty wonderful self. Cordelia gets to shine as the slayer, front and centre. Tara is chilling as a dark and evil witch while Anya is just as strong on the side of the light. Indira, as the only new central character, works to remind us how the whole Buffy saga started – a do over in some ways. Clem was a welcome sweet and comedic bit. It was lovely to get to know him better. I just love dogs so Jasper was a welcome addition.
There were things I wasn’t too keen on. One of the things I loved about Buffy were the fight scenes which aren’t much fun in an audio play. There is lots of grunting and noise without any of the beauty and grit of a well choreographed fight scene. The love scenes are similar. I’m not sure what you can do about this but it was annoying. The same goes for the screams in the dungeon. Tara’s evil, evil voice (you’ll know what I mean if you listen) was a bit wearing. These may seem petty but are important when hearing is what you are relying on to get the story.
Bits
Clem has sworn off kittens but other things...
Mr. Pickles the piano playing monkey.
Anyanka is back and waxing poetic about humanity.
Clem is allergic to hippos.
There are some really interesting people in Drusilla’s dungeon.
Quotes
Indira: “[Your doctor] isn’t going to prescribe kittens.” Clem: “You don’t know my doctor.”
Spike: “Oiy no nibbling, this isn’t a Poe story."
Anya to Giles: “So if you don’t mind, I need your stupid brain and maybe a reassuring glasses cleaning or two.”
Spike: “Wonderful, can we get on with it please. If I’m going to travel to a parallel reality to save it from the apocalypse, I’d like to get it out of the way by Thursday.”
Spike: “I’m always ready he says, who you trying to impress, mate? No wonder everyone thinks I’m a cocky bastard.”
Drusilla: “No worries, it’s not like I haven’t been on fire before.”
I enjoyed listening to Slayers and I think any Buffy fan will find it entertaining. If you are not a fan and don’t really know the Buffyverse, I think you will be lost. Maybe start with the TV series first.
Thanks for the review, drnanamom! I agree, it was entertaining and fun, with a good degree of creepy. Maybe not satisfying, and a bit tiresome with all the endless explanations of everything, but fun.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I didn’t miss the A cast. Except when Spike was singing softly to himself the song he sang to Buffy in OMWF. :).
I did miss the visuals of the fight scenes. And the loves scenes, although Spike’s growls were great as always.
I also stumbled a bit over the ignoring of the comic book story line, when we’ve been told it’s canon. And the adverts on Slayers said it was true to canon. Oh well. It is what it is, and it was enjoyable. I’ll listen again to this audio play, audiobook, podcast…. Ha. Maybe we’ll get a sequel, to expand on the
surprises at the end.
drnanamom, thanks so much for covering this for us! I still haven't tried it. I can feel the reluctance. I want to like it *so much* and I was so disappointed in the comics.
ReplyDeletewhen did drusilla die?
ReplyDelete