When I was watching Angel on Buffy the other night it struck me how remarkably sensitive Angel was to light when Darla opened the blind. In a way I wish the writers had stuck to their guns on this issue because as time passed it was almost as if Angel could wander around anytime he liked as long as he had an umbrella.

The unbelievable scene in Lonely Heart always springs to mind where it seems as if Angel is cutting a dash in near broad daylight. Presumably sunset had only just happened but it still rankles a little. On the whole I would still rate Lonely Heart as a fine opener to the season. sk

and the writers made angel rarely going out during daylight (apart in earshot to bring the cure to buffy) and then from season four, spike spent his time running around under his coat ...

Some people tan golden, some deep toastie brown, some lobster up and then itch (guess which I am)... maybe it's the same with vampires- good melanin in life, handle the odd dim ray of weedy sunlight. Angel being Irish, not a chance of being a good tanner in life... so not much room for improvement afterwards. (An Irish friend loves her 'pale and interesting look' most of the year, but summer brings the freckles, the blotches and the peeling...

Doesn't Darla stand in direct sunlight when she pulls the blind up?

I think she cunningly tweaks the blind up from a strategic shadow.

Quite strange, seeing as it isn't.

:blink: whatever happen to city of

What I had in mind was the slightly curveball idea that after the pilot Lonely Heart was the first proper episode. sk

I was felt that Buffy was the pilot to Angel the Series. Hence, City Of is the first episode :)

xSarahx

City Of wasn't a pilot. There was no Angel pilot as such - there was a short presentation made to the WB execs, but on the basis of that (and Buffy's success) they commissioned Angel straight off. No pilot, just a 22 ep season, hence City Of is the season opener :)

maybe it also due to the fact that there was two version of lonely heart (one very dark with kate as a detective gone too far undercover and the one we end up with)

I wouldn't say that...as the original idea was never even filmed, but was axed at the script stage.

:huh: i thought they did film it

Nope, it got axed when a WB exec got hold of the original script and asked ME to tone it down. I think it's floating around on the net somewhere, but it never made it to production.

This has got me thinking. Seeing as Buffy was filmed as a mid-season replacement with all 12 being in the can straight off does that mean strictly speaking Buffy didn't have a pilot either? sk

John petal- I know nothing of this 'mid-season replacement' concept'. When you have time, please enlighten me? :(

Hmm I thought this was fairly common knowledge. From what I have read S1 was filmed from beginning to end before a single episode was broadcast so it was all in the can ready to go as a mid-season replacement. Maybe one of the fanatics will remember which series was shot down in flames so Buffy could arise Phoenix like from the ashes but I do not. Essentially if one series fails Buffy is then bunged into the gap to fill the schedules. Considering how the series was undersold I sometimes think it a miracle that it was ever picked up. If the multi-verse idea is true then there must be some dreary universe where Buffy was never picked up the poor souls. sk

:thumbsup:
Ta! Not so common that I knew it. Now I do.

Buffy had a pilot. It's the one floating around on the net with Riff Regan playing Willow.

The thing with mid-season replacements is that they're like any other new show, they just start later on in the season. Most mid-season replacements are shows which weren't considered good enough to get a full season order, so they went through the whole process of making a pilot, trying to convince the network execs and so forth. Angel was different - the success of Buffy meant that Joss really didn't need to go through the usual process of trying to sell a new show, so no pilot for Angel was ever made.

The thing is now I am going to disagree with you as the 'pilot' was never shown as a proper pilot was it? Going by the hilarious description in Pulp Fiction which is something along the lines of on the basis of that show they make more shows.

Wasn't the 'pilot' just shown to studio execs to give them a flavour of what it is all about? sk

A pilot doesn't have to be aired on TV in order to be called a pilot. Some pilots are (Strange got a pilot which was aired on BBC1, for example), but some aren't. The Buffy pilot was a 20 minute presentation which was solely intended for network execs, but it's still classed as a pilot.

I believe the Angel presentation was basically 5 minutes of clips from Buffy, accompanied by Joss/whoever introducing the characters and outlining the direction the show would take. I don't think any new material was filmed for it, hence it wasn't classed as a pilot (though I could be wrong about that).

Not a proper one, but there was a 5 minute pilot of Angel, apparantally, made of Angel before it screened. At least, Keith Topping says so. It can be downloaded, though don't ask me how. :ermm:


xSarahx

I didn't think it was available for download. I was under the impression that nothing was filmed specifically when Angel was sold to the networks, it was just a montage of clips from Buffy. But hey, if Keith Topping says there's a pilot, then I guess it must be true :rolleyes:

(sorry, I don't really think too much of KT and his books, in case you hadn't guessed ;))