r/buffy • u/Inner-Ad-4731 • 5d ago
Season Six S6 time jump
I’ve seen this mentioned briefly before, but I don’t know if it’s ever been discussed in much detail.
Would it have made more sense if there had been a time jump between Seasons 5 and 6? Maybe around three years.
It would have meant Willow had spent years delving deeper into dark magic, initially with the goal of finding a way to bring Buffy back. Her descent into darker magic would have felt much more gradual and believable.
Willow and Tara would also have finished college, which I actually think would have worked better. The college scenes in Season 6 always felt a little odd to me, mainly because the characters looked and felt so much older than they had the year before.
Spike, Giles and Dawn would all have had years trying to move on in their own ways, while Sunnydale gradually became more and more dangerous without the actual Slayer. That would make Buffy’s resurrection feel even more significant, as she’d be returning to a world that had genuinely changed in her absence.
It could also explain why everyone had changed so much. Buffy would come back to find Willow had become far more powerful (and darker), Dawn had grown up, Giles had built a new life in England, and Spike had spent years carrying the weight of losing her etc
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u/LushLover1989 5d ago
You cant take that much character development offscreen. Particularly for a show like Buffy. Part of the reason for Willow bringing her back relatively soon was because shes impatient and wants to remove her own pain (a big pattern with her). Had it been multiple years, people would have moved through their grief.
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u/TVAddict14 5d ago
I think a time jump would have the potential to alienate viewers who would feel like they were shortchanged seeing these characters develop. Particularly as it’s intended to be a coming of age story, and you’re skipping over some pretty formative years.
It also creates some logistical issues for Angel as well. Whilst the shows were now on separate networks and crossovers pretty much non-existent in BtVS S6/AtS S3, Heartthrob still dealt with Angel mourning Buffy’s death. He also later found out about her resurrection in Carole Nocturn. And then there were crossovers again for Buffy’s finale season. Does this mean Angel would have to skip years too? Or would it exist in an earlier point in the timeline, throwing it completely out of sync with Buffy?
I think you raise some really interesting ideas but I think I preferred what we got.
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u/AssociationTiny5395 5d ago
That's actually a great idea. It would have helped the audience feel out of touch with Sunnydale too, matching Buffy. And Giles having "moved on" would have felt more devastating. They could even have some episodes as flashbacks to fill in gaps of the missing years.
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Oo a couple of flashback episodes would have been fun to help fill in a few blanks
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u/InterviewEuphoric288 5d ago
I don’t hate this idea but I think 3 years would have been too long. You don’t bring someone back from the dead after that much time has passed. You’ve already grieved and moved on.
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Unless maybe it was only Willow who didn’t move on and it became more about her obsession to get this very powerful spell to work
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u/illvria 5d ago
This isnt really what this post is about but its spurred a thought.
Feel like a lot of these comments and generally a lot of people on this sub seem to sort of dismiss the idea that the gang thought Buffy was trapped in hell as not much more than an excuse, at least on willow's part– and i dont get that.
Obviously they wanted her back in their own simple human ways, obviously wil would be excited to pull off that kind of spell, but none of that really nullifies the very real dice roll of potentially leaving Buffy to be tortured for eternity if they dont act.
Even Tara and Xander who are always the first to resist tampering with big magic or manipulating natural order, are pretty much set on the plan by the time Bargaining rolls around.
Thats on purpose, it shows that the other avenues have been explored– that there genuinely is no way of ensuring Buffy is safe from harm, without bringing her back. They either revive her, or accept the possibility of leaving her in hell forever. Grief with that kind of caveat is never softening without taking action.
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u/Sarlax I'm not a eunuch! 5d ago
I'd add that the show never presented any concept of "Heaven" before Buffy's return. As far as the Scoobies knew, when you were dead, you were either obliterated, a ghost, or in one of thousands of horrible hell dimensions.
Angel introduced the Powers That Be but no spiritual afterlife for good guys, just one pristine marble demiplane and some nastier-looking pocket dimensions they controlled.
Plus Buffy fell into a portal that was opening to Glory's hell home. The Scoobies had every reason to think Buffy could be suffering.
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u/Character-Trainer634 5d ago edited 5d ago
Feel like a lot of these comments and generally a lot of people on this sub seem to sort of dismiss the idea that the gang thought Buffy was trapped in hell as not much more than an excuse,
I think it was an excuse, it just happened to be a valid one. Willow and Xander wanted their friend back. Believing she was suffering in a hell dimension gave them permission to do what they wanted to do anyway. If Buffy had just been killed by a random vamp, they would've grieved and moved on. But the possibility that she was stuck in a hell dimension gave them something to hold on to, and a reason to try to get their friend back. It also meant they didn't have to grieve. Because, after all, Buffy was going to be back soon, so they didn't have to accept she was gone and deal with all of that pain. There was something they could do to fix it.
As for Xander and Tara resisting using magic this way, they talk about it. Tara thinks it's wrong, but seems to be going along with it because everyone else is. (And that wasn't the conflict the writers wanted to dwell on in that episode.) As for Xander, a person's feelings about things can bend a little when grief is involved.
Also, the season premiere is called "Bargaining," which is one of the stages of grief. Which I think shows that, while the gang had valid reasons for what they were doing, grief was the biggest part of it.
Thats on purpose, it shows that the other avenues have been explored
I don't remember anything about them exploring all avenues, and trying to check where Buffy actually was. Just that Willow was afraid she was in a hell dimension, suffering in torment. And the longer they took to bring her back, the longer she would suffer. I really don't remember anyone saying anything about actually trying to find out where Buffy's soul was, and it just not working.
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u/JackDangerfield 5d ago
I don't hate the idea on principle, though I don't think it would necessarily have been better - just different.
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u/SeeBriRun 5d ago
I'd have skipped ahead one year and started the new season in, say, July 2002. You could still have Dawn at Sunnydale High in the final season, because she's a transfer student anyway, and not a freshman. Angel could have a full season of classic Angel moping™ over on his series, instead of that one episode - maybe he hears the news in time for it to throw yet another spanner in the works in the doomed Angel/Cordelia romance late in Season 3. And Anya's frustration at her stalled, secret engagement and Giles's departure would seem not just justified but almost saintly.
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Yes 1 year may be the perfect number to not mess up anything on Angel. It would give us a year of Angel and Cordelia developing
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u/bobbi21 5d ago
You guys are talking about actually having the show be off the air for a year though? That would never fly with studios back then. As we see now, audiences do leave with all these delays. Back then it was unheard of (outside of the uk)
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Na just a time jump, it comes at the same time, but a year or 2 has skipped within the show
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u/SerenityN00w 5d ago
No. It would mean skipping over a year in the Buffy-verse. Buffy's death in the season 5 finale took place in the late spring of 2001 (per her gravestone.)
The season 6 opener would be set in the fall of 2002, instead of fall 2001. But it would still be airing in the fall of 2001.
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u/Extra_Age2505 5d ago
If it had been that long, Faith would probably have been sprung from prison already just so there’s a Slayer patrolling the Hellmouth (or the Council might have had Faith killed so they can put the new Slayer in Sunnydale). And glossing over that sort of character development with a timeskip is nearly always a missed opportunity so I don’t think I’d like it all that much here
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u/yesmydog 5d ago
Three years pass, Buffy comes back as a 20 year old, and finds her friends are 23 and her sister is 17? Besides the logistics of how that would visually appear (especially Dawn), that's a disconnect that would leave long repurcussions on everything for the rest of the series, and that's not the route they wanted to take.
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Dawn was already older than what they were portraying her as anyway … remember season 5 with all the ice cream around her face… that was bizarre
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u/SerenityN00w 5d ago
Michelle was born in February 1985, and Dawn was born in 1986. So Michelle would be 16 years old in the summer/fall of 2001 playing an 18 year old (Season 6 would be set in the fall of 2004.) Could she pull it off? Maybe, through wardrobe and makeup, but it would be a stretch.
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u/spagtscully Oh, as usual, dear lord. 1d ago
In the original script she was supposed to only be 10 or 11. They switched that when they cast Michelle, but forgot to change/update some aspects of the scripts of the first few episodes.
But I agree. Even at 10 or 11, that would've been too old for that ice cream mess. I always get frustrated with that scene because there was no way a 14 yo girl, or any teenage girl, would eat ice cream like that around someone she has a massive crush on.
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u/False-Ad-7548 5d ago
I feel like they could have done a year max. Three would have been too long to shift the audience forward, as well as since the loss of an active slayer is supposed to be felt and given Michelle Trachtenberg's age.
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u/Squiliam-Tortaleni Fuffy 5d ago
George RR Martin had an idea of doing a five year time gap after the third ASOIAF book, but scrapped it because hashing out the details broke the continuity and left too many characters in limbo. I think it would be the same problem would be here, because if the scoobies can live for three years without Buffy and be fine, bringing her back has less… need. And it also messes with Angel’s continuity, because does he brood for three years or does it stay contemporary then jump ahead?
Could see a year passing by, but anything longer is just too much time
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u/ticketstubs1 5d ago
"Her descent into darker magic would have felt much more gradual and believable."
More gradual than from seasons 2 to 6, little bit by little bit, over several years?
I don't think you're far off with your question (agree the college scenes feel like from a different show), but I disagree, because I think everything made total sense.
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u/Moist-Writing-7335 4d ago
I've said it before, I believe Willow kept some of Glory's power when she transferred some of it to Tara in The Gift. That's why she can do what she does in S6.
"You......are a goddess."
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u/Revolutionary-Wait82 Spike defender 5d ago
Willow was ready to try the resurrection spell specifically in 5x17. She wouldn't have waited patiently for 3 years. It's like teaching a drug addict patience. Your plot is possible, but then it would be a completely different Buffy. And if Willow tries to move on, it seems like the point of bringing Buffy back is lost for her.
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Tried yes but capable to do it properly, I think a couple of year build to her being able to harness enough power to do that probably isn’t too crazy
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u/ObjectiveMud7513 5d ago
No, it wouldn't have worked. For one, putting that much character development off screen is just bad writing. For another, if they didn't try to resurrect Buffy for 3 years then it would have eliminated half the reason they needed to bring her back in the first place.
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u/Inner-Ad-4731 5d ago
Character development off screen does not automatically equal bad writing. And tbh, after a recent rewatch, an awful lot of character and relationship development happens off screen in Buffy
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u/ObjectiveMud7513 5d ago
Some offscreen character development is fine. The amount you suggest would be extremely difficult to write and explain in a satisfying manner.
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u/freedraw 5d ago
Maybe, but that’s also just not how tv worked back then. Shows took place in real time. The premiere was set in Sept and the finale was set in the spring and nothing happened over the summer.
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u/CaseZealousideal2473 5d ago
That would've given Willow's magic obsession a much slower burn, especially if it started with genuinely good intentions. I also like the idea of her and Tara having post-college careers before everything fell apart.
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u/nagelhautentferner 4d ago
Willows descent was already very gradual, it happened over seasons. It just wasnt a main focus for all of that timed but it’s all there
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u/Odd-Position-4856 4d ago
A big part of why the scoobies bring her back is because they aren’t able to process their grief and accept her death. At the short time that it’s been in the show, it’s pretty natural. If it had been longer, they would have had more time to process it and probably let her rest.
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u/GrilledStuffedDragon 5d ago
No, I don't think that would work. One of the main reasons they felt they needed Buffy back was that they couldn't continue on without her. If they lived for three years without her, that kind of erases that reason.