The Harvest
Author: Richie Tankersley Cusick
Release Date: September 1997
“The Harvest” is the adaptation of the first episode of Buffy, telling her first encounters with Giles, Willow, Xander, Angel and Cordelia. The conflict centers on the Master’s (the head Vampire) convoluted plan to open the Hellmouth or rise from the Earth or become more powerful or something. It’s not a perfect story but the script is witty and the characters already fit with their eventual developed tv iterations.
The novelization of the pilot episode of Buffy was much better than the novelization of the film. The primary reason for this was that although both were about the same length in pages, “The Harvest” translated a 44 minute story instead of a 90 minute one.
The result was a very faithful adaptation that left nothing out from the episode while also providing some additional context in terms of characters thoughts. The ideal novelization would probably add another 20-50 pages of description (or even better, additional story/info not in the show) but for a VERY quick and faithful read this was pretty solid.
- 4 Barrels
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
