Restless
But what about the cheese?
BBC
: Although the main story arc concluded with Primeval, there remained one final piece of unfinished business. The enjoining spell had stirred the spirit of the first Slayer. How much of a backstory was developed for this character and her place in the Buffy mythology?
Doug Petrie: In the beginning of the season, we had long and involved conversations about how the original Slayer got her power. Fans of Buffy will be happy to learn that a fuller story of Slayer origins will soon be available in a comic book entitled "Fray," written by Joss Whedon. The Primitive is indeed the very first Slayer; I would say more but her story is better explained within the comic, published by Dark Horse and coming sometime this summer in an eight-volume series.
BBC
: Was her appearance intended to shape Buffy's more dedicated attitude to her 'Slayerness' in the following season. Was Primeval acting as something of a prequel to season five or some other payoff in later episodes/seasons?
Doug Petrie: As for Buffy returning to her "Slayerness," yes, I believe that returning to the original intent of the series (that is to say, magic) was a real mission for season five. Season Four, we went down science road, but season five is all about the supernatural of it. Buffy will be returning to her roots, as it were. She'll be both returning to her core self, expanding the very definition of what it is to be the Slayer. I seriously doubt fans will be disappointed.
BBC
: The episode featured a whole host of very bizarre dreams for the main characters...
Doug Petrie: It was a lot of fun to play with, though there was a mandate there to not just have fun with "it's a dream and anything can happen." As a writer, that's a lot of rope to hang yourself with. You can get very caught up in the impossibilities of "Dreamworld". you can play with that, but it all has to really mean something. It was a very strict Freudian dream and everything represented something. Each element dealt with the characters’ internal fears and where they were going to go next.
There's a small degree of premonition. I think that I'm not out of line in saying that, among other things, it was a promise to the fans that we're going back to magic. We've done James Bond, we've done hi-tech. Now we're going back to the core of the series, and that's one of the things that [this] episode was about.
BBC
: To end our journey through season four on a light note, please tell us about the Cheese Man! Joss has stated that it was very much the one element that deliberately didn't mean anything. However, as is the way with such things, has there now been a temptation to actually do anything with that character or concept?
Doug Petrie: I don't think I have ever seen a more effective tabula rasa (blank slate) than the Cheese Man. People just went nuts for it and everyone said “it obviously means this” or “it obviously means that.” It's just fascinating. It's the weirdest Rorschach test that I think we've ever put on the show. To my knowledge, there's no plan to bring the Cheese Man back. Unless there have been discussions that I haven't been a part of!
Read our episode guide to Restless >>
|
|
|
