Not completely serious s8 speculation

[beer_good_foamy]

OK, stormwreath, don't hate me for this one, but...

Some people ;-) have been remarking that much of "Season 8" reads like rather cracky fanfic. But as has been pointed out, the original creator of a canon can't, by definition, write fanfic about it. So the question then would be who's writing it?

Then I read Dead Letter, and in one of the comments stormwreath writes:

I've come to the conclusion that "Antique" represents events as narrated by Andrew in his lecture to the Slayers. It's how he imagines things happened, with only a passing resemblance to the truth.

So I started thinking about... OK, this is silly, but just work with me here: what would Buffy the Vampire Slayer be like if it were narrated by Andrew? Especially post-s7 Andrew who has done some growing up and isn't completely irresponsible, but not nearly reliable either? Just a few guesses:

- We'd have a big, exaggeratedly spy-movie-style organisation, where Buffy would make James Bond look low-budget and lo-fi in comparison. Castles, helicopters, jet planes, ray guns, gadgets, the whole bit.

- We'd have romantic supervillain-style heists and plots, possibly drawing on Andrew's own experiences (jewel theft, etc.)

- We'd have a larger-than-life comic book-style Big Bad, with the sort of organisation that could match the good guys', with a tendency to make Big Mustache-twirling Speeches, and with just enough of a Master Villain Code to not simply kill his enemies.

- We'd have characters indulging in exaggerated hero worship of the equally larger-than-life Buffy, the Slayer of the Vampyres. Because the story needs to be told.

- We'd have a few rehashed storylines based on his slightly askew view of the characters.

- We might well get a storyline in which Warren never died (Andrew still has some feelings for him, after all) and Willow's murder of him is undone much like Andrew tried to undo his own murder of Jonathan. And of course, Willow wouldn't hold any grudge towards Andrew either.


- We'd have the biggest vampyre of them all - Dracula, slashy subtext and all. This is so obvious that Andrew even inserts himself to give the backstory on Dracula directly to the audience and swear that it's true (within this story, of course).


- And we would, of course, have a slightly idealised portrayal of Andrew, in which he was still a bit of a dork but also a very important and trusted member of the organisation. We might even get a mention of Andrew right at the beginning of #1, in which it's implied that he's pulling strings and planning everything behind Buffy's back, just to hint at the fact that there's an unreliable narrator at work here. Damnit, it would be almost Nabokovian.


The only problem I see with this theory is the total lack of Spike in the comics; Andrew's a bit of a Spandrew fanboy, after all. But hey, we haven't seen much of what he's up to in Italy. (That is to say, what the Andrew of "Season 8" is up to in Italy; whatever the Andrew of the TV series would be up to, he would obviously have enough time on his hands to update his fanfic regularly.)

As to what would really be happening post-"Chosen" if this were true... well, it might bear a vague passing resemblance to "Season 8", but who knows, really?

;-) x as many as you see fit.

Oh well. Now I'm going to watch Torchwood and Dr Who back-to-back.

Comments

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I totally buy your explanation. Include in your list weird anachronisms (Buffy lusting after Daniel Craig as Bond in 2005) as another sign as Andrewverse. He won't be bothering himself with such nonsence as consistency. :)

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

Hum...

You'd have no mention of Spike, because Andrew is secreet keeper extraordinaire, and wouldn't rat on him.

And of course, mind controlling wouldn't be bad, like, not really, just funny, and if the person being mind controlled survives the experience they'll be friends with the controller.

Only thing that might not fit is the sexy lesbianism cause' you know, being Andrew, booring!

But, wait, Buffy went there but stepped back almost instantly, cause' girls are icky, I mean, she's still waiting for Spike / other dreamy dreamy man of your preference.

Makes a depressing amount of sense. :D

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

this so completely works. If this was true, I would so forgive Joss for his treatment of Xander.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

The problem I have with this is that you can play the same trick with any writer. If Kafka were writing it there’d be unexplained transformations and occasional grossness; if Peake were writing it there’d be crazy manipulated duchesses and big honking castles; if Wilder were writing there’d be faded stars and faithful (man)servants. And if Whedon were writing it there’d be crazy shifts of register and mythology making the kind of sense that doesn’t and flawed heroes constantly re-discovering that in the end we all are who we are no matter how much we may appear to have changed. Plus all the stuff about connection and strong women and everything having consequences.

And Warren is dead at least in the sense of not being alive in any recognizably human way.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Why would I hate you for making up your own crack!fic AU version of Season 8 where it's all narrated by Andrew?
;-)

Seriously, it's an amusing idea... and given that the character of Andrew is apparently based on Joss anyway, it even has a certain amount of truth.

Although I can't see Andrew throwing in a whole load of philosophising on the nature of power and the Existentialist construction of reality and the difference between internal and external perceptions of identity, as Joss has...

[elisi]

Afraid that pfeifferpack beat you to it! She came up with the same explanation a few weeks ago! :)

(Great minds think alike. And also, this is the only way anything makes sense.)

[adriana-is.livejournal.com]

My friend pfeifferpack already posted that theory and a lot of us are agreeing with it as well as yours because it makes perfect sense. I especially like your post because you have illustrations :D

Oh, btw, LOVED the Spike/MWC crossover, it was beyond hilarious!

[darkpoole.livejournal.com]

That's a better explanation for the comic than anything else I've heard. Well, yeah, okay, "Joss is a lazy-ass writer who can't be bothered to do his homework on his own series" works too, but I like yours better.

[fangfaceandrea.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna buy this idea no matter the price, pay it in cash and from now on I'll sleep better at night. Thank you XD

[opportunemoment.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. I can't decide whether to hope this is true or pray that it's not. It's genius...

(I'm not sure I buy Warren as evidence, though, because he's still evil - and not particularly in a cleverly amoral way, in a scalpels in Willow's eyes kind of way - and shacked up with Amy. Which I imagine would not be Andrew's ideal situation. Then again, if he'd turned up in a super-suit of his own design fighting evil and asked Andrew to join him, that would've been too much of a giveaway...)

[sl-podcast.livejournal.com]

Dude Joss Whedon IS Andrew (winks)

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

This is plausible... frighteningly plausible.

I think the giveaway has to be Dawn, though.

First, she's transformed into a giant--total fanboy power fantasy.

Second, she faces (spoiler alert) freakin' MECHA-Dawn, which has Andrew's fingerprints all over it.

Third, she's transformed into a centaur, which has a whole Disney-meets-John-Varley-and-Jack-Chalker-on-a-bender pedigree that any good fanboy would create.

Also, the crossover with Fray, an alternate-future Slayer? If there's anyone in the Buffyverse other than a member of the Trio who could come up with that, I'll eat my copy of "Days of Future Past."

I'll have to discuss this with spuffyduds to see if she agrees, but the signs are there...

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is genious..even if I came in a little late! totally explains everything. I can see in issue 40 ... Twilight and Buffy fight to the death.. Twilight takes off his mask...its Andrew! Then immediately after, we switch to "real time" and see Andrew telling that story to Dawn, or something. I guess they could makeseason 9 about what REALLY happened post Chosen, not "Andrew's Season 8" (kinda like how every comic starts with "Joss' Season 8") even incorporate certain scenes from season 8, but not with Andrew's spin, though.

Anyway, I hope this is right!