sum1

Cool. He comes across as a very human guy.

eternalfate

Aww I am happy you had a pleasant meeting with James.

starryeyesxx

That's great, I've never heard a fan have a negative thing to say about him!

livstevi21

James Marsters was fantastic as Spike. I might be in the minority, but I found Spike more fun when he was just all out evil without a soul and not being in love with Buffy and was just her enemy.

BlackWhiteRose

I agree with that for the most part. Spike did not really need that soul IMO. The chip was enough. But yeah he should not have fallen in love with Buffy no. I prefered him with good old Drusilla.

sum1

Spike falling in love with Buffy was one of the greatest storylines of BTVS.

livstevi21

Agreed. He and Dru were a better fit together imo. That's not to say I didn't enjoy some of the Spuffy scenes, it was sweet when Buffy asked for him to hold her and they just cuddled all night.

sum1

In all my many years reading fan opinions, the impression I have gotten is that, judging by the kind of objections to Spuffy (Spike/Buffy) that I've seen voiced, a lot of people don't really get the ship or understand it. I think there's a lot to understand even just about Spike in later seasons of Buffy, which I feel a lot of people don't get.

But quite apart from that, there is a chemistry between SMG and James Marsters onscreen that outdoes that of any other couple on the show. Certainly I don't see similar chemistry onscreen between Gellar and Boreanaz. It's rumoured to have been there offscreen, but onscreen what I see is this huge chasm between Buffy and Angel, this distance between them, like they're trying to relate across galaxies of space. To me it seems like they don't really connect, whereas Spike seems more on Buffy's level.

As for Spike getting back his soul, it was an important part of his redemption story, which is one of the greatest sagas in the Buffyverse, how love turned a monster into a man.

wickedrum

Angel was pretty much frosty and distant with everyone almost all the time. He kept secrets, never opened up and didn’t seem to care much. Plus he could never relate to Buffy given how different the worlds they grew up in were.

BlackWhiteRose

This is the thread about James as Spike. So we want to keep that topic please.

I found some shorts on YouTube were James talked about the role:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-BJwUbKYr-c

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hejqR5y4sUc

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qpeuiAgNqRo

livstevi21

We all have different perspectives. I just didn't quite see it that way.

sum1

Some thoughts on the character of Spike:

With regard to the Spike/Buffy relationship, I think a lot of people forget the context. He's not a human. He's a SOULLESS vampire. Which means that he can't tell right from wrong and lacks a basic part of his being that was torn out of him when he was turned into a vampire. This is bigger than any real world psychological problem, because in real life people can't have their "souls" removed. What we should be expecting from Spike is standard vampire behavior, trying to kill Buffy. Anything less than that, however horrible it would be coming from a human, counts as mild behavior by vampire standards. Spike, despite his lack of a soul, is unknowingly striving for redemption, reaching for greater levels of humanity than soulless vampires are normally capable of. Eventually he loses control because he's not clear where the line should be drawn and he attempts to rape Buffy and then, amazingly for a soulless vampire, he feels remorse and seeks to make amends by getting his soul back. What's happened here is that an inhuman monster has developed some humanity and tried to be a person, then failed at that and, feeling remorse, he's done what needed to be done to make him an actual person. Buffy's relationship with Spike redeemed a monster. The relationship cannot be understood outside the context of the show's vampire reality.

When people go on about how sick, perverse or abusive soulless Spike's behavior was, I feel like saying "What did you expect? He's a soulless vampire!" His behavior is actually pretty good a lot of the time compared to other soulless vampires on the show. Like, for example, soulless Angel. Of course once Spike has regained his soul, a change has been wrought in him greater than can happen to people in real life, because he's regained a core part of his self that had previously been supernaturally removed. He now has fully-functioning conscience and can tell right from wrong. Soulled Spike is no more responsible for soulless Spike's actions than a person who was previously insane is responsible for what they did while they were insane. Less responsible, actually, because insanity is a mere real world malady. Soullessness is a much bigger thing, with a whole part of the core self supernaturally ripped out. And this is why Buffy can forgive Spike in season 7. It's not at all the same situation as it would be if they were real people in the real world. The story is only made possible by the Buffyverse's supernatural reality. And it cannot be understood outside that context.

Spike's realization that he's in love with Buffy sets him on a long path to redemption, leading to his getting his soul back in season 6 and sacrificing himself in season 7. Love for Buffy has made a man out of a monster.

starryeyesxx

I think people can feel however they want to feel about Spike, or any of the characters on the show. Live & let live is what I say





https://komichameleon.tumblr.com/pos...kill-your-mind

BlackWhiteRose

Great gifset

wickedrum

It’s the let live part that’s the problem. Some people hate him so much that they take every opportunity to diss him.