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Fallen Angel
For the release of Angel latest season on dvd, Moviehole reviews a show gone too soon. |
 To celebrate the final season of “Angel” on DVD, We take a look back at one heck of a show, that, far from deserved to be staked.
When it became unmistakably clear that the character of "Angel", Buffy Sommers beau on TV’s "Buffy", was just as popular as the title character herself, creator Joss Whedon suggested to the network that they should do a spin-off. Since Buffy basically ‘made’ the WB network, they were happy to fulfil the proposal.
For the uninitiated, Angel is a vampire with a soul, seeking redemption after many years of killing innocents. After the demise of his relationship with Buffy (it didn’t help that he turned Bad), there wasn’t much left for him to do in Sunnydale – so he split.
“It's kind of like a chronicle. I'm leaving Sunnyvale and going to Los Angeles, but I'll be fighting for humanity”, David Boreanaz said prior to the season opener in 1999. “I will either take the soul or save the soul. And there will be other characters who will help Angel save humanity. Everyone has these fears inside them, and I will attack them. He's got such a history that we can go anywhere with it”.
Boreanaz said he was never shocked that he was offered his own show. “No, I wasn't shocked. That's what this character is all about. He's got history, and there's so much to expose. He's got a lot of deep, dark secrets that will definitely be exposed”.
Angel ended up setting up his own detective agency with Cordy (Charisma Carpenter) and half-demon Doyle (Glenn Quinn).
Vampire Gets Staked
In the space of twelve months we’ve lost "Sex and the City", "Friends", "Frasier", and "Buffy". Now, Buffy’s beau, Angel, is sailing off into the sunset. We take a look back – and look forward at his final series, for those that haven’t seen it yet – at DVD’s most brooding bloodsucker.
But first, why did the creative minds behind Angel want to see it end? “Um, we’re not quitting, we’re being fired”, says creator Joss Whedon, who first suggested the idea of a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series in 1998.
“I was shocked as hell when we got cancelled”, says Whedon. “I thought the show -- I know the show was doing better than it's done before, I know people were receiving it well, we thought we were hitting our stride hugely, it's been a great year, we've been having so much fun, and it sort of came out of the blue”.
He’s right. "Angel" was doing great guns in the states and it seemed to have more juice left in it than a plump orange.
In short : The network that owned the series jumped the gun – axed it, and then regretted it. “The WB I think is just looking to shake up its image, and do some stuff that's new, and we've been on for five years, and so we didn't just quite make the cut with them”, says Whedon, whose other credits include Toy Story and Alien Resurrection. “It’s that simple, it's, it's, it's dollars and cents”.
The WB's announcement that it was cancelling the show came at a time when it was rated second only to "Smallville" among 18-to-34-year-olds. Earlier in the same month, WB's weekly ratings release revealed that "Angel" had earned "outstanding year-to-year gains" among demographic groups.
When fans got wind of the news that the show had been axed, they kicked off a huge campaign, hoping their efforts would save the show from an early grave.
“Our fans have been so encouraging to us these past five seasons that it wasn’t a surprise; we kinda knew that they would be totally freaked out about the whole situation,” says David Boreanaz, who’s portrayed Angel for eight seasons, first on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and now Angel. “They’ve followed us from night to night, when we’ve changed nights... They’re very supportive, and we had a feeling they would be upset.”
 “We’ve been through so much,” Boreanaz says. “I mean the five seasons I played Angel on my show was really the pivotal part of finding the character and who he was. When I started out on Buffy, he was really just a recurring character... There’s lots of things that I’m going to hold onto; I enjoyed playing him and I’ll continue to use him. You put him to bed, but you also use his talents and his knowledge of what he learned during those eight seasons.”
Whedon says despite knowing that this could be the last time anyone ever sees "Angel", he still didn’t write the series finale as a complete wrap-up. “When I come to the end of a season, and this started from the very beginning of "Buffy", I always write it to give complete closure and really cap everything I tried to say about the series, but leave enough stuff open that, should there be another season, there's plenty to do”.
Despite a zillion or so fans attempts, the WB didn’t renew "Angel", and no other network wanted it either. At the end of the day, Joss Whedon and star David Boreanaz (Angel) walked away from their baby with much sadness but still that bit of hope that one-day both might be able to return to the Buffyverse.
“I think that the finale to any show is really a testimony to the work you put out there from day one, and I'm very pleased with the work I've done. It's made me grow as a person, and as an actor. So if it has to be, then it has to be, and you just move on”, concludes Boreanaz.
Spike in the Road – The Final Season
If you’re one that doesn’t bother watching series television on free-to-air TV (and with their constant time shuffles, who could blame you) and get a kick out of sitting back and just living the whole season over one weekend, there’s some big surprises in store for you with "Angel : Season 5". Notably, the addition of former "Buffy" baddie, Spike, played by James Marsters.
“I’m going to make life very very rough for Angel”, laughs Marsters, whose character, like Angel, now has a Soul, meaning he’s no longer sucking necks.
“Those two are both vampires with souls, yet they couldn’t be more different and they tend to bring out the worst in each other”, adds Boreanaz.
Hang On, But didn’t Spike die in the last episode of Buffy? “Yeah, but see in Sunnydale that doesn’t mean anything. There’s going to be a gem or an orb or some kind of spell, and we just get right past that and on with the story”.
“He is dead and disintegrated and buried under a ton of rubble in a crater, so it’s not a simple thing”, Whedon says on the vamp’s resurrection.
Spike pops up in the final few minutes of the very first episode of the season.
“Working with Joss [Whedon] has been great, and (producer/writer) David Greenwalt, and an opportunity to work again with them would be definitely fortuitous for all of us and it would be a great thing to do. You always have to keep that creative ball spinning and never let it get away; you let it spin freely rather than confine it, and that’s where these people are and it’s great to be a part of that.”
 David Boreanaz feels that "Angel" was somewhat of a gift to those stringent "Buffy" fans that had stuck with the show and its characters for so long. After all, a newcomer to the spin-off would be flat out understanding what the heck was going on. “I think it's great the DVD is coming out, because people can catch up. Right now there's so much shit going on this season that it's like, Whoa, how do you begin to understand this without knowing the history?”, he laughs.
Obviously, he watches old episodes to refresh his memory then? “Angel has evolved, so if I were to go back and look at why he's become what he is, I think maybe that would just mess me up more. I just stick to having an understanding of what the next episode is going to be and how I'm going to work on it, period. But it's funny, because we're coming to a point in the show now where all of the questions about the Big Bad are about to be answered, which is strange for all of us, because there's a big twist happening. And all I can tell you is that it's really weird”.
Boreanaz says the cast didn’t get the script for the final episode until the last possible moment. “They're kind enough to give me a hint of what's going to happen. I'll have a general idea, but I don't need to know where I'm heading. That would be boring. I like to be surprised as much as the next person. And let me tell you, I was pretty surprised with the latest script I read, so it keeps me interested”.
So without spoiling proceedings for those that have waited to see the last season on DVD – what else can we expect?
Well, if you’ll recall, Angel and his buddies all inherited the Wolfram and Hart Law Firm at the end of the last season. This, for those not in the know, was the head base for most of the resident baddies. To cut a long story short, the baddies vacated and the higher-powers wondered if greasy-haired Angel might wanna set up shop there for a while.
Whedon says it’ll take a lot of getting use to. “They’re having some trouble I’m happy to say, because if they weren’t, the show would be really dull”.
Has Wesley, the resident Brain, still got it going on for ah, resident Brain-ette Fred? “He’s still got the hots for Fred. That’s never gone away. But the course of true love, you know, is pretty much offroading when it comes to my shows. Love interest, yes. Happiness? Bwahahahaha”.
And Whedon’s right – there’s a big shocker coming for you Wes/Fred fans.
Angel’s son Connor said his goodbyes at the end of Season 4, but he will be back for a one-off guest shot. As will Cordy, whose been in a [convenient for those that sacked actress Charisma Carpenter] coma for a spell.
Where’s Cordy?
Though she appears in one episode, series regular Charisma Carpenter was let go from Angel prior to the start of Season 5. “In seven years, we’d sort of run through our course of character and didn’t want to start just doing hollow riffs on what we’d don”, says Joss Whedon, of Carpenter’s character, Cordelia, a feisty receptionist-love interest for the lead.
“It was discussed with her when the decision had been made. It wasn’t discussed while the decision was being made because you don’t tell somebody you might do it. But it was discussed after the decision”.
 “We felt like we had taken that story — just like Buffy for seven years — about as far as it could go. The Angel/Cordelia [love story] had gone pretty much as far as we wanted to take it. Their romance was definitely not a popular move on our part, and I think with most fans. It just seemed like it was time because we were revamping the show, and then paring it down... it just seemed like a good time for certain people to move on. Not completely, obviously. But it just seemed creatively like... I once said that I finally got to tell the story of Buffy that I tried to tell in the movie, and I did it with Cordelia. Which was the story of someone who was completely ditzy and self-involved becoming kind of heroic. But the way the series was different from the movie was that I didn't know where you go from there. So, I felt like we spent seven years playing that very arc, and it had played. Like Buffy itself, it's time to look at something new”, he says.
What about all those folks who love Cordy? Aren’t they going to be upset to find she’s not a permanent fixture for the show’s last season? “Some choices are ultimately kind of controversial about who stays and who goes and who we focus on. But obviously, we had to have her out of a bunch of episodes toward the end of [Season 4] because she was having a baby... so what we had [leading] up to it wasn't a dynamic I wanted to play out that much. But when you have an increasingly large ensemble week-by-week, and you come in in your [fifth] year kind of having to revamp the show and trim the budget and also think creatively, "How am I going to service all of these people?," sometimes the people who have been around the longest, you've done the most with them”.
Of course some speculated that bringing James Martsers on board, as Spike, was a trade. Not so says Whedon. “It was a creative decision that we made before Spike came over to the show”.
Why Sarah Said No
Despite being asked to appear in Angel’s final season, Buffy’s Sarah Michelle Gellar couldn’t – or wouldn’t – do it.
According to Gellar (other sources say she just straight-out refused) she was busy working on "The Grudge" in Japan at the time they wanted her. “Well, commuting would have been a little difficult. But that was something I did try to make it work. It’s hard when you do a television show for 8 years. You live, eat, and breath that show. I think it’s important, as a person, that when the show is done you need to take a step back, But, I am very proud of the show, and very proud of what we did for women and television. People ask me if I get tired of talking about it and my answer is no. I’m proud of it”.
Convinced?
Whedon apparently wanted Gellar for the second last episode of the season, not the last, because he didn’t want Angel’s final moment to revolve around a guest star. "I want to end the show with the people who've been in the trenches together, the characters who have lived - and occasionally died - together, the regulars," Whedon said.
Whedon's partner, Jeffrey Bell, said show executives eventually learned that Gellar was available for the final episode despite being booked at the time of the penultimate one. But by that time, the second-to-last episode had already been written and shot, and getting her into the last episode "didn't make any sense" with the plot that had been written so far. "By the time it became a possibility, the ship had sort of sailed," Bell said.
 Where Are They Now?
Joss Whedon (Creator/Writer/Director/Producer) – Whedon’s just wrapped "Serenity", a film based on the short-lived (try twelve episodes) TV series "Firefly". In late 2004, he was reportedly offered both "Wonder Woman" and "X-Men 3" to direct. Recently rumblings suggest he may write "Wonder Woman".
David Boreanaz (Angel) – Boreanaz has gone on to star in a string of movies, including the long awaited "The Crow Wicked Prayer". Not that the big guy doesn’t have big aspirations. “I would love to do any sort of Harrison Ford-type role. I love his style. I'm a really low-key actor, and I love his whole demeanour. And, actually, Yul Brynner, Westworld--I'd love to do a remake”, he said recently. After getting turned down for both "Superman" and "The Fantastic Four", Boreanaz recently announced he would be returning to series Television, playing a hitman in a new weekly drama.
Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) – The lovely Charisma left at the end of Season Four. Though now a mother she’s still in search of acting gigs – and recently guest starred on "Charmed", playing a villain. Warner like her for Wonder Woman.
Alexis Denisof (Wesley) – American-born Denisof (you wouldn’t know it with the fab English accent he does!) is essentially unemployed. His last paid gig was doing voices for the straight-to-video Disney toon "Tarzan and Jane". And to think he was tipped for a role in "The Fantastic Four" at one stage.
J.August Richards (Gunn) – Another of the "Angel" troupe that would probably kill for a good gig right now. Richards last acting gig was in 2003 telemovie "Critical Assembly".
James Marsters (Spike) – Marsters – who is apparently ‘very’ keen to bring Spike back, whether it’s in the form of a movie, telemovie, even postcard series – is currently filming a TV movie called "The Pierre Heist". He’s also apparently doing a solo record (his band, Ghost of the Robot, recently split).
Amy Acker (Fred) – Amy has a role in the upcoming "The Perfect Man" opposite Heather Locklear and Hilary Duff. Presume it’ll be a ‘blink and you’ll miss her’ bit. But then, she'll have a major role in "The Final Season", a baseball drama, with Sean Astin.
Andy Hallett (Lorne) – Hallett, everyone’s favourite green demon, had a bit of a health scare last year, but he’s apparently recovered. He’s currently doing the voice of a Cricket (Oh Boy) in a film called "Gepetto’s Secret".
Christian Kane (Lindsey) – Funnily enough, it’s the show’s regular rogue that’s done the best post-series. Kane, also an accomplished singer, has appeared in a string of films lately, including "Taxi", "Friday Night Lights" and "Keep your Distance". He’s currently filming the anticipated mini-series "Into the West".
Remembering Doyle
Glenn Quinn (1970 - 1999) - The 32-year-old former "Roseanne" star, who played Doyle on the first season of Angel, died from a drug overdose shortly after leaving the series. Roseanne Barr described him as "too sensitive to withstand the hatred and vile deceptions of show business”. The Los Angeles coroner stated that tests showed that 5ft 7ins Glenn had .32ml of morphine in his blood and he was 12st 7lb when he died. He also had needle marks in both arms. Such a shame.
Angel Bites
Angel: It's a zombie.
Connor: What's a zombie?
Angel: It's an undead thing.
Connor: Like you?
Angel: No. Zombies are slow moving, dimwitted things that crave human flesh.
Connor: Like you.
Angel: No. It's different, trust me.
Lindsey: Look, it's my hero.
Angel: I'm not your hero. I'm your warden.
Lindsey: It's all in how you look at the glass.
Spike: Wank off! Do it ya self!
Spike: And this, bloody hell, wasn't mine. I'm not you. I don't give a piss about atonement or destiny. Just because I got me a soul doesn't mean I'm gonna let myself be led around by...
Fred: E-excuse me?
Wesley: Did, did you just say, Spike has a soul? You never said.
Angel: Didn't seem worth mentioning, you know.
Gunn: Seems to be a lot of that.
Spike: Or maybe Captain Forehead was feeling a little less special. Didn't like me crashing his exclusive club, another vampire with a soul in the world.
Angel: You're not in the world... Casper.
Vampiric Trivia
·Christian Kane (Lindsey) originally auditioned for the role of Riley on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
·‘Gunn’ was named after brothers James and Sean Gunn.
·Whedon originally planned to have Whistler (Max Perlich) serve as Angel’s sidekick through the entire series.
·Andy Hallett featured in over forty episodes before being promoted to ‘regular’ status.
·As of the series finale, David Boreanaz is the only actor to have appeared in every episode
·The address for Angel Investigations at the old hotel is: 1481 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Phone (213) 555-0162. Fax (213) 555-0163.
“For the last seven years Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have been cornerstones of our network. The sum total of the work done on those shows has produced some of the proudest moments in our history... The cast, crew, writers and producers of Angel deserve to be able to wrap up the series in a way befitting a classic television series and that is why we went to Joss to let him know that this would be the last year of the series on The WB” – Network Press Release, Feb 2004
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