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Dragon*Con 2000
Delving into the inner workings of this season's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Angel: First Year in Review
- Tim Minear

The first look at Angel is to understand that the series is in a ‘state of evolution’ as it cuts its baby fangs. Unlike its primogenitor, Buffy, Angel started out more of an anthology series, wh
"I think if we can
make our own
identity it's good
for us and for
Buffy, too."
ich focused on its ‘guest characters each week. Find girl in trouble, discover evil bad, kill evil bad, save girl. But the joke around the show soon became, according to Tim, "Does Angel ever f***ing save anybody?"

Joss and David (Greenwalt) felt their way through the season and discovered that Angel doesn’t save every main character. The best metaphor for Angel is one of being an alcoholic. He’s confronted it with Faith a little in ‘Sanctuary’ and he may come to a situation where he is ‘forced’ to drink. The WB allowed them to go dark but then there’s "I ate my sister" dark. There was a need to ground Angel to be more believable. "It’s very interesting that Angel is flawed and has a shitload to make up for."

Angel’s not the only one. There seems to be a pattern forming on both shows concerning relationships with fathers. Buffy, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, and as we saw this season, Wesley. So much so, that David G. commented to Tim, "Father issues much?" The series found a gratifying niche when it discovered it was

Angel's human form gets a name.
more interesting to focus on its three main characters. But they wanted to be careful not to hit the family dynamic of Wesley/Cordy/Angel over the head too many times. Tim explained, "... also what we're trying to do and what we tried to do with ‘Sanctuary’ a little in episode 19, the Buffy crossover, was to divorce the two shows a little bit. This is Angel and this is Buffy. Not that they can't crossover and not that they aren't, obviously, an eternal bla bla bla, but I think if we can make our own identity it's good for us and for Buffy too."

Some of the twists and turns in the series, that pleasantly worked, were in such episodes as ‘Prodigal.’ It just happened that Joss asked Tim to give Angel a name and Tim came up with Liam. In the flashbacks we discover his little sister thought he was an Angel and Joss asked Tim, "Does this mean that’s how he got the name? That’s so important!" (laughter). But Liam? Which is Irish for William... ah, William the Bloody, Willie the snitch? Tim smugly responded, "Just me not paying a whole lot of attention!" (more laughter) And again with Wolfram & Hart lawyers, Lyndsey McDonald, Lailah Morgan and Lee Mercer

"It’s really just that we’re not paying attention." In ‘Somnambulist’, there was originally a Doyle/Angel scene, (due to the time it was written) which during the rewrite turned into a Cordy/Angel scene. What’s unique and interesting is their guy/girl relationship that works so well but is "totally a friendship thing."

Looking at the characters and substantial forces, Tim gave us a quick perspective on:

    Cordelia:
    "What you’ll see is Cordelia, who after going through what she's gone through, is still wise-cracking Cordy. And the ‘Cordy’ of it is still there, but she’s also in this for the long haul."

    Wesley:
    "I don’t think he’ll ever be super-Wesley. But I think the fact that he has these flaws and that he’s willing to (say) ‘if I can’t kick your ass I’m going to stand up to you anyway,’ that’s really brave! Wesley’s a noble guy who wants to fight evil."

    Kate:
    "If we can also understand Kate's point of view, we can feel ‘okay, I can understand why she's so pissed off.’ Although it's fun to see Angel go, ‘ya know, why don’t you just get out of my way!’ That's always fun. But I think she's really interesting and I like her because she’s not mustache-twirling-evil. She's trying to fight the same battle, just in her way and she’s pissed because ‘the cute guy is gay!’ I mean, it's basically what it turned out to be, it's like, ‘Oh, I really liked him and he's... what?!’ " (laughter)

    Doyle:
    "Doyle, he sacrificed himself for the greater good! We know that the fans really liked him, we knew he was a really appealing character, we knew he really worked for the show. I killed him and I’d do it again." (laughter)

    Phantom Dennis:
    "You will see more phantom Dennis. We may do a story about him. Dennis works best in little ways but we all love that actor."

    Wolfram & Hart:
    Wolfram & Hart was the idea of Joss and David G. Another little trick will focus or not on the evil law firms Senior Partners, "... we don’t see them for a very long time." What interests Tim is that as these characters reoccur they develop personalities and these personalities will be something more to explore.

    The Powers That Be:
    This ambivalent force makes the show very interesting, "... and really, really hard to write," he says with a grimace.

Tim confided what would be most interesting for him to write about in the forthcoming season, an ‘evil twin’ episode. "Angel battling Liam. Coming into contact with the first person who’s died that caused him all this pain. If not for him, he wouldn’t be in this situation. But then as Joss pointed out so wisely, ‘Angel’s already an evil twin. We don’t need to do an evil twin episode, we do it every week.’" (laughter)

Some of the things to look forward to are that "Darla will be around for a while," the character of Gunn will be a regular and Kate will be recurring. "I think we will see where Wesley lives." And how will Angel find a new home and office? "He doesn’t get to his new digs ‘from’ Navid. That’s too easy. And Angel: Funnier when trying to pay the bills." But there will be less direct sunlight! And more demons to fight because they’re more interesting than vampires. Besides, "I kill my own kind. It’s kind of creepy."

In conclusion, Tim revealed, "... it’s going to be much more arc-y, I think, in this season. We actually have talked about where we want him to be and we know what’s going to happen to him emotionally in the middle of the season. And we actually have ideas up until the third season." Ah, come on Tim, one hint of something cool? "In the first episode of Season II, there may be other warriors on the fight for Good versus Evil."


Dragon*Con 2000
The Complete Angel, Writing for Everyone’s Favorite Vampire
Angel: First Year in Review
Angel; The Comedy Within
The Pitching Process
Buffy: Year in Review, Season Four
How to write a Script / Deconstructing Buffy & Angel
Wrapup: A Spotlight on the Fans