Introduction, for those with an interest in the story behind the story ....
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Welcome to "Crazy Buffy". This story, which is now complete, is my response to the episode "Normal Again", which aired during the 6th season of the show. Now, it is an interesting thing about my fanfiction that I don't tend to write about shows when I feel they are doing well, but I do tend to write about shows that I like. This is why you will find that I have no fanfiction about the first three seasons of Buffy, because there is really nothing I could write that would improve on what the show did in those days. It is also why you will find that most of my fanfiction is based on 7th Heaven, which is rich with potential drama but which is so badly done that it is now probably the worst thing ever put on television.
Anyhow, "Crazy Buffy". The title is a term I used on the Buffy Flat Earth Society thread on the Buffy boards at Television Without Pity when debating the merits of Buffy Summers actually being a psychiatric patient rather than a vampire slayer, which was the story in "Normal Again". I was in the minority who felt that the uncertainty about reality as expressed in that episode was a good dramatic point that would be neat to explore further. The majority view was that having Buffy only hallucinating the whole slayer business would be a betrayal of the show's fans, who were heavily invested emotionally in the way the show was originally conceived. I have since read that Marti Noxon and the others responsible for Buffy were inundated with angry letters to this effect after "Normal Again" ran, resulting in them promising to never, ever again even hint that what Buffy was experiencing was anything but cold, solid, hard reality.
Of course, that cold, solid, hard reality was the total derailment of the show in seasons 6 and 7. The reasons for this are beyond the scope of this introduction, and I won't go into them here. What lies before you in "Crazy Buffy" is how I would have taken the show after "Normal Again". It is a test, if you like, of my thesis that Buffy the Vampire Slayer could have been saved as a dramatic story if the writers at Mutant Enemy had decided to challenge the fans the way they did in the first three seasons by doing what they knew would shock them and make them think. Of course, I, unlike Mutant Enemy, do not have to answer to network executives and advertisers concerned about ratings; at worst I might receive an unfavorable review. Nor do I have to assemble an entire season of television every year, so I enjoy certain luxuries in my storytelling that Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy do not. This is why I feel they may be forgiven for some, but not all, of the mistakes that they have made lately.
I invite you, gentle reader, to read and enjoy the story that follows, and to leave a review or several if you like. Again, the characters who appear on the show itself belong not to me but to Joss Whedon and other Hollywood big shots. The one character from 7th Heaven belongs to the WB and Brenda Hampton, and although it is helpful to read my "Walking Away" series to understand why she is in this story, it is not necessary that you do so. Other characters, and the story itself, are of course my own and are (c) 2002-2003 by Hans the bold. Much inspiration was provided by Joanne Greenburg's "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", which handles this same theme brilliantly. Finally, no money has been made, and no animals harmed, from the writing of this story.
* * *
Welcome to "Crazy Buffy". This story, which is now complete, is my response to the episode "Normal Again", which aired during the 6th season of the show. Now, it is an interesting thing about my fanfiction that I don't tend to write about shows when I feel they are doing well, but I do tend to write about shows that I like. This is why you will find that I have no fanfiction about the first three seasons of Buffy, because there is really nothing I could write that would improve on what the show did in those days. It is also why you will find that most of my fanfiction is based on 7th Heaven, which is rich with potential drama but which is so badly done that it is now probably the worst thing ever put on television.
Anyhow, "Crazy Buffy". The title is a term I used on the Buffy Flat Earth Society thread on the Buffy boards at Television Without Pity when debating the merits of Buffy Summers actually being a psychiatric patient rather than a vampire slayer, which was the story in "Normal Again". I was in the minority who felt that the uncertainty about reality as expressed in that episode was a good dramatic point that would be neat to explore further. The majority view was that having Buffy only hallucinating the whole slayer business would be a betrayal of the show's fans, who were heavily invested emotionally in the way the show was originally conceived. I have since read that Marti Noxon and the others responsible for Buffy were inundated with angry letters to this effect after "Normal Again" ran, resulting in them promising to never, ever again even hint that what Buffy was experiencing was anything but cold, solid, hard reality.
Of course, that cold, solid, hard reality was the total derailment of the show in seasons 6 and 7. The reasons for this are beyond the scope of this introduction, and I won't go into them here. What lies before you in "Crazy Buffy" is how I would have taken the show after "Normal Again". It is a test, if you like, of my thesis that Buffy the Vampire Slayer could have been saved as a dramatic story if the writers at Mutant Enemy had decided to challenge the fans the way they did in the first three seasons by doing what they knew would shock them and make them think. Of course, I, unlike Mutant Enemy, do not have to answer to network executives and advertisers concerned about ratings; at worst I might receive an unfavorable review. Nor do I have to assemble an entire season of television every year, so I enjoy certain luxuries in my storytelling that Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy do not. This is why I feel they may be forgiven for some, but not all, of the mistakes that they have made lately.
I invite you, gentle reader, to read and enjoy the story that follows, and to leave a review or several if you like. Again, the characters who appear on the show itself belong not to me but to Joss Whedon and other Hollywood big shots. The one character from 7th Heaven belongs to the WB and Brenda Hampton, and although it is helpful to read my "Walking Away" series to understand why she is in this story, it is not necessary that you do so. Other characters, and the story itself, are of course my own and are (c) 2002-2003 by Hans the bold. Much inspiration was provided by Joanne Greenburg's "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", which handles this same theme brilliantly. Finally, no money has been made, and no animals harmed, from the writing of this story.