twentysevenseconds

Yeah, season 8 is . It's the only season I didn't bother to buy on DVD, and I don't know if I've even seen every episode. Definitely doesn't hold up to the others. I still technically consider it canon even if I don't like everything that happened, but to each their own.

The direction they took with Fez in that season was just really weird in general. He suddenly became a ladies man. I wonder if that was secretly their plan for him all along - to be suave and getting the ladies by the end of the series.

Yeah, I love Buddy because I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt . He and Topher had the first male-on-male network TV kiss, which, I agree, is pretty cool! Another example of the T70S writers/showrunners being progressive.

msstock87

I think I remember that fic, I can't remember the name but it sounds really familiar.

alyak0807

I would have liked to see more of Buddy too.

MistyMountainHop

Uh-oh ... I feel a S8 rant coming on (mine). BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!

For me, it goes beyond not liking what happened. It's that none of the characters behave like themselves. Their S8 behavior and attitudes contradict the previous seven years that came before it. S8 breaks the fictional dream of the show, and if a novel's last chapter were to have the characters change so drastically without any setup in the previous chapters -- without any subtext, either? That novel would be rejected by agents and publishers.

For instance, I don't like that Jackie goes back to Kelso in season 3, but it's in her character to do so. So I consider that canon. But Eric wouldn't have broken up with Donna while in Africa. Hyde never would've married a stranger. Fez wouldn't have become a Kelso-like misogynistic playboy (he treated the ladies who slept with him pretty badly). Donna wouldn't have chosen Sam over Jackie, to the point of being a total bitch to Jackie, saying she doesn't know why she ever became friend with Jackie.

Nothing that happens in season 8 follows the canon or characterization of S1-S7. The characters' names may be the same with the same actors, but they're different characters. Unrecognizable. Even David Trainer (T7S's director) called S8 an "alternate reality" -- in other words, not canon.

From what I've read, that directive came from Wilmer. He himself has (or had) a reputation of being a playboy (during a Howard Stern interview, he infamously went on about all the female celebs he'd had sex with). He didn't want to be typecast as Fez, so he asked for Fez's character to shift to be more of a lady killer, like Wilmer viewed himself.

I can understand him not wanting to be typecast, but Fez is who Fez is. Don't sign onto season 8 if you don't want to keep playing the character. It's like when Jaleel White played Steve Urkel, and Family Matters created a suave alter-ego for him (i.e. "Stephan") to show he could portray more than just a geek. But at least Steve Urkel was still Urkel.

Ooh, I didn't know that was it the first m/m kiss on network TV. Cool. I like that Buddy was a real character, not a stereotype to make fun of.

hanselnext

Yeah Fez is affection-hungry. I don't remember him trying to kiss Red but I remember him trying to kiss Kitty the first time they met It must be a cultural difference. In his country they must be really affectionate or something. I wish we could've learned more about his country and maybe met someone in his family. I know he mentioned having a sister.

MistyMountainHop

It happens thirty-five seconds in.



Me, too -- and not the way it happened in S8. Imagine Fez introducing his parents to Red and Kitty -- and his parents trying to kiss them.

Yeah, when Kelso starts dating/sleeping with Angie. Fez says, "This is why I keep my sister ten-thousand miles away in a jungle."

msstock87

Fez trying to kiss Red, one scary and funny scene!

MistyMountainHop

Fez is like he came away with his life. He's also lucky Red let him inside the house after that -- just 'cause this is Red we're talking about.

I wonder how often Fez hung out at Kelso's house, though. We see this happen in "When the Levee Breaks," but that's it.

msstock87

I think Fez probably hung out at Kelso's house often, we just didn't see it.

MistyMountainHop

Kelso would've had to protect Fez from his brothers. And his sister from Fez!

hanselnext

I wish we could've seen Fez date Kelso's sister. That would be so interesting and so funny. It would be sweet karma.

MistyMountainHop

So sweet! Such a wasted opportunity. With the Kelso-centric-ness of S6, we surely could've gotten some Kelso!family action. And with bringing in Hyde's sister in S7, Kelso could've wanted to "compete" and make his own sister part of the group.

hanselnext

It was a wasted opportunity. We only got to meet Casey and he ended up being worse than Kelso.

MistyMountainHop

I think Kelso's sister should've been freakin' awesome -- to the point of people questioning if she were really a Kelso. I'd also want her to be overweight, as the guys claimed she was and have it be totally irrelevant to how cool Eric, Hyde, and Donna think she is. Eric and Hyde's POV would shift on judging someone's attraction factor based on weight (that was a really bad moment on the show) -- and maybe they'd be shocked she falls for Fez.

...And then they'd realize she's a Kelso. Kelsos all eventually love Fez. Casey would have, too, if he'd spent enough time with him.

msstock87

That is a very interesting scenario, Lisa I swear you come up with the best ideas!