Buffy - Part 2

A while back I wrote about me and En watching Buffy.Last night we finally finished out the series. You could argue that it was the night before that, but I was asleep-ish (sleep-talking) for the last two episodes. Last night I was awake for them.I have to admit to myself that even though I used to somewhat make fun of En for watching it, I think that it's absolutely an amazingly written series with so many interleaving plot lines. I have to wonder how far ahead did Joss think when he was writing the early seasons? How much of the backstory of each character was fleshed out beforehand? Their motivations? Their families?Take the character Spike for instance. I know from interviews that he was a throwaway villain from season two that grew to be much more than that. But from the initial time he was written, how much was known? Sure, the plot arc at the time was leading to his demise... but did Joss know he sired his mother? Or that his mother sang a certain song?Things like that fascinate me.

- = -

It reminds me of a silly game called twenty answers. It might be called that, I'm not sure. It's like twenty questions except you don't know what you're describing up front. If you answer "yes" to is it bigger than a breadbox, then the next answer must be logically consistent with it. You don't know what it is until you rule out everything else in the universe.If you shoot an episode with something stated that "he's almost 200 years old" you can't turn around and un-say that. He can't be 1000 years old, nor can he be 20 years old. You've constrained all future decisions. (That is unless you un-constrain them through magic or a dream sequence)I wonder...