"'Buffy' Sex Scene Had to Be Trimmed"
Author: Vanessa Sibbald
Source: Zap2it.com
URL: http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?22185
Date: 11.27.01
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - For those who thought the scene where Spike (James Marsters) and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) finally consummated their -- whatever -- for each other was a bit much for primetime television, just wait until the director's cut is released.
After UPN executives viewed the episode, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" executive producers had to trim the last scene by about 10-15 seconds -- what amounts to hours in TV time.
"You should have seen the shot at the end before UPN cautioned us," Marti Noxon, the show's co-executive producer and showrunner, tells Zap2it.com. "It was much, much longer and that last image of them in the smoke -- that's CGI smoke we had to add for a couple reasons. One of the reasons is that we had to shorten that shot dramatically, but we also needed to obscure the action for the network."
However, Noxon isn't too disappointed.
"I think it's the shot against the wall that's really the humdinger and they didn't object to that."
The writers of the show had quite a few discussions about the scene, especially the sound of a zipper after Buffy's hand abruptly drops out of frame. But at the end, they felt that the sexual tension between the vampire and his would-be slayer was ready to ripen.
"We knew that their relationship was based on things that aren't necessarily the most healthy in the world, so we figured that their final coupling might come out of violence, it's really a love-hate relationship in the strictest definition."
Whether or not fans were ready for the coupling, Noxon says that the sex is just the beginning. Still, one has to wonder if Spike is really such a bad guy after all. Not only has the demon lover spent the last two seasons aiding the slayer against his very nature, but he's been so poignantly pining for the girl that he just has to be her Mr. Right. In theory at least.
"Can you just imagine them going to the mall together?" says Noxon. "It's still probably not the best choice for her."
Indeed, it has been well-established that Buffy "does kind of like the dark guys." After all, until now her one true love has been the ultimate untouchable, a vampire with a soul who would go evil if they ever took it to the next level.
It's this soft spot for things that aren't good for her that poses a dilemma for Noxon.
"Ultimately down the line, what do we really want to say? To my mind, the relationship that she's playing at now is something that you go through, but not the destination."
"To me the relationship is really about choosing someone who, in the long run, some of the safety of it is that you know it can't work."
While Spike and Buffy's relationship may not be long-term, it's definitely not going away any time soon.
"There's actually a lot more flesh. From now on, actually, we keep finding reasons to naked [Spike] up."
"They definitely have a beautiful chemistry together," Noxon says of Gellar and Marsters. "They really do."