Spoiler Slayer

Questions and Answers

Firstly, I received several informational type questions. While I'm more than happy to provide the answers, you'll probably get a quicker response in the future if you post at one of the many Buffy boards. For example, the Buffy Cross and Stake and Angel's Soul are excellent resources for questions like these.

John asks: "I read some reviews of Buffy season 5 DVD, they mention that in the special feature on Dawn some hints about Dawns arrival were mentioned during season 3. Do you have any idea what they are talking about"

To be honest, as far as I recall nothing was mentioned about Dawn in Season Three. Season Four is a different story, as she was mentioned in both 'This Years Girl' and 'Restless'. Buffy's death was foreshadowed in 'Graduation Day, Part II', in the now famous "counting down from 730" line. Bob wrote in after this was posted to remind me that 'Little Miss Muffet" was also referenced in "Graduation Day", so essentially one could assume that Joss has plans for Season Five when Season Three was being wrapped.

Julie asks: "Do you know if they are planning on a releasing a dvd in America of the Buffy ep Once More With Feeling? The British one came out awhile ago, and the Season 6 dvd is also on its way."

More than likely, I think this will not come out as a separate DVD in the States. Things could change, but I think that Fox would rather sell full box sets rather than pick and choose the episodes.

Christoffs2003 writes: "just so u cud confirm it for me is it true that the buffy boxsets both DVD and VHS are released in UK b4 america as season 6 is alreayd out on DVD here."

Yes, they are, and this is mainly due to the syndication deals according to what I've been told. Because the shows go into syndication here, the networks that only show a single episode a week, have to have the opportunity to air the episode once, before it can be released on DVD. Which is why the DVD sets come out shortly after the season finishes airing in syndication here in the States.

Ken writes: "At the conclusion of BTVS, the gang activated all the potential slayers around the world.  Why hasn't that factored in to AtS?  It would seem that they'd run across one of the slayers in L.A"

Wait until Episode 11, 'Damage' airs. Not to spoil the episode, but it should partially answer the question of where are all the activated Slayers.

Now onto questions about the Site

Hunda64 asks: "I don't see a place on your site showing episode schedules.  I was hoping to see what reruns will run when and when the new episode of Angel will air.  Is this information you don't have or have found uninteresting to visitors."

What info I do have, I try to keep updated on the Schedules on the Home Page. However, most of the actual scheduling comes out only shortly before the episode airs. This is also subject to a great deal of change. I try to list Unknown Date if I know the next episode to air, but don't know the date. The schedule for 'Angel' is pretty current, I'm not so sure about when the next new episode of 'Tru Calling' will air.

Brian asks: "I've heard that 'Dead Like Me' will be released on DVD soon, do you have any information or a link to purchase it?"

I did receive reports on this, but the site that supposedly released that info does not have that posted anymore. I'm sure that Showtime will be considering it, as other series are going to be released. But I have heard no specific info.

Clarida asks: "In the episode where they all dream about the first slayer (I forget the name of it) What is with the guy with the cheese?"

The mystery of the Cheese Man is revealed in Joss Whedon's commentary on the Season Four DVD's. In a nutshell, he means nothing. Joss threw the character in to symbolize the strangeness of dreams. That it ended up being a useful way of tying together everyone's dreams, was probably just an additional plus.


Sam writes (in reference to my mention of adding forums in the last Q & A session): "You could create a ezboard messageboard instead of a forum it is simple and not much work."

I have looked into EZboards, but since I'm so anti-popup and advertising I haven't really investigated it further. The ads can be disabled, it requires signing up for a Pro Board, which in itself can become quite costly. Plus, boards themselves require quite a bit of moderation as well. Forums are something that I'm always considering, but the most important consideration is making sure they wouldn't detract from the overall quality or feel of the site.


BoydRules asks: "What happened to the UK links for DVD's and Buffy products? I haven't seen their links lately, and I'd like to show my support for the site. PS: Your wish list doesn't seem to be working either."

Unfortunately, with part of the changes to the site design, I had to take down the international stores. While I don't foresee setting up full stores for either the UK or Canada, I will investigate getting standard Amazon links up to those sites, where you can shop from and help support the site. You can also help support the site by purchasing Spoiler Slayer merchandise through CafeShops. As for the Amazon wishlist, I guess it's been broken for a while. I've fixed it so that it works again.


Chris writes: "I was looking over the Buffy and Angel DVD's on Amazon.com and I thought "Why doesnt the Spoilerslayer have a section where Tensai reviews the DVDs and which have the best extras and commentaries etc." Just a suggestion though since most of what you post is news and spoilers. I really do enjoy it when you give us your review of episodes and seasons and whats on your mind regarding the series."

This is a really interesting suggestion, and I know that although I never really reviewed the DVD's, in the past there was probably more commentary than strictly news and spoilers. I do comment usually on most spoilers, but after Buffy ended I decided not to do reviews of the shows or episodes. So the question is, is this something that you want to see. Since the last poll was very useful in helping determine that you wanted more news, I'm doing another on this topic. Check it out at Yahoo! Groups. If you aren't a member of the Yahoo! Groups or can't complete the poll. Feel free to send me your thoughts via e-mail.


Elly asks: "Have you ever thought of doing a 'Day In The Life' or some kind of overview of the Spoiler Slayer and how you put it together, gather spoilers and news, or something along those lines?" - which goes hand in hand with Tuesday-Dawnz question: "How about a little section with a "This day in spoiler history", that would talk about old spoilers."

I like both of these ideas, and I have kicked around the thought of doing a quick little video or picture overview of how the site works. I know that as a fan of Webcomics (see Megatokyo and Real Life Comics and Penny Arcade), I enjoy seeing the true workspace of the artists (and sometimes how it differs from their comic personas). So I will look into that for sure.

I also like the links or comments on past stories/spoilers, which with the site being over two years old, is certainly doable. Look for a possible addition along these lines in the coming week (which is when I really celebrate the site's birthday, since December 17th is essentially the day that The Spoiler Slayer became it's own site separate from Ten's Domain.)

Many fans wrote to ask the following: "There is a story making the rounds that Showtime has signed Sarah Michelle Gellar and others to a new Buffy spin-off, entitled 'Chosen'. This series is supposed to air on Showtime next year."

I did see this news shortly after it surfaced, although the site it appeared on has a dubious record at best when it comes to spoilers. The spoiler/story was supposed to have appeared in a legitimate news source, written by an entertainment reporter. However, it was a simple matter to go to the website for that source and verify that it had never been posted. In addition, the story was filled with inaccurate information and misspelled the name of every actor on the series.

At this time, nearly two weeks have passed since the foiler first appeared and it has failed to be confirmed by any other source.


Many have also mentioned the following: "Alyson Hannigan has been signed to a development deal with NBC, and David Boreanaz is directing Episode 10 of 'Angel' this year"

True and True. Since I try to focus on the real spoilerly information, I may not have the chance to post on some of the more minor details. Such as what's up with old Buffy alumni (Danny Strong is appearing on 'Gilmore Girls') or writing or directing details for the episodes. However, I do realize that some of you may want the details. In order to better gauge the need to post this info, I've created a poll at the Yahoo! Groups page for the site.


Question: "I like the new design, but I'm having problems finding 'insert page here' from the old site. Is it gone or just moved? Also, it seems that there are very few stories for any of the Categories."

Most of the layout of the site has stayed the same. The common request is where the 10 most recent Spoilers have gone. Because the site is spoiling multiple shows, and because not everyone may wished to be spoiled on everything, that aspect of the site was removed. The pages track the spoilers by episode/series are still on the site, and can be found under the Spoiler Summaries. The links at the top of that page will take you to pages to a specific shows spoilers. Also, from the Home Page of the site, if you click on the Show Title above the 'Last Updated', you will arrive at the Spoiler Page for that show.

As for the Categories, when you click on those links they were only listing the latest 10 stories in that Category. Mainly, because after a few months, the pages would take forever to load. However, that wasn't immediately obvious. So I've upped the number of entries to 20 and posted a header indicating that it's just the Twenty Most Recent Entries.


Question: "What happened to the summaries that Eljay was providing? They were awesome and I hope they haven't stopped writing them."

When I first began posting those summaries, I did not know how long they would continue coming in. I had a feeling that they may only be available for a limited time, and that appears to have been the case. In the interim, I am providing the link to Pandora's summaries at the Mythical-Boards. Since Pandora seems okay with them being posted in their entirety elsewhere, as long as they are properly credited, I may post them directly here. But in the meantime, I highly recommend checking out the site.


Question: "Have you considered adding comments or a forum?"

Yes, I have on more than a few occasions. The number one issue used to be the increased bandwidth, but maybe not so much anymore. However, both comments and a forum would be an increased workload, and I'm really not sure that the Pros would outweigh the Cons. I am toying with an alternate method of commenting that would allow fans to post their thoughts, but to keep it tightly moderated as well. I'll definitely keep this one on the back burner.


Question: "Have you thought of covering 'insert show name here' Spoilers on the site"

If I were a rich man, and didn't have to work a day job, I think this would be a definitive yes. It's a question of doing it right. I could think of a dozen shows I would love to spoil in addition to the three I'm handling right now, but it would be too much work for one person. My goal is to go for quality over quantity.

Which is not to say that the Site's scope will not be expanding in the future. It all depends on what show catches my eye, what info I can get on the show, and if if it fits in with the look/feel of the site. If 'Dead Like Me' or 'Tru Calling' did not succeed, I had contingency plans. I even had plans if 'Angel' had not been picked up for another season.

I will make one promise. If the rumors of a return of 'Doctor Who' turn out to be correct, or if any other 'Buffy-verse' spin-off appears, this site will be there to cover them.

The major change is to the Archives. The list was getting bit lengthy and eating too much sidebar space. There is now an Archive page that lists all the news posts by Year and Month. I've also moved the link to the Archive into the Site Navigation box.

Cleaned up the actual Spoiler pages a bit. Currently, I have pulled the 'False Spoilers' section on the Spoiler pages for this season, if only because there really haven't been any worthy of mentioning. Most of the time, the false spoilage is debunked very soon after it surfaces.

This is the debate that I'm having with myself right now, because as time goes on, the actual ranking and tracking is becoming less and less of an issue. The number of false spoilers or foilage has diminished greatly over the past two seasons, so the majority of the ranking is just going from 'Likely' to 'Confirmed'.

I'm considering two options. The first would be a Spoiler page that would simply link to a summary for all the spoilers currently out for that episode, collating all the News Posts that have come out for that episode. However, I know a lot of fans don't want full details on the episodes and are just looking for brief spoilers that hit the main points of the episode (essentially the format the site is currently using). Which leads me to the second concept, which would be the current format with a link at the top of each episode for the full Spoiler recap.

I've also changed the Contact page a bit, mentioning that any email may be posted in part or whole on the site. Since I get a lot of mail asking the same questions, I'm going to begin doing a regular Question and Answer post to the site, where I will answer some of the more commonly asked questions. Expect to see the first Q & A post later today.

That pretty much caps the changes that have been made. As always, any suggestions or ideas or issues are always welcome at feedback@tensdomain.com.