I honestly think that had we started Slayer Academy even a year later, the production experience we'd all have had by that point would have gotten around rookie mistakes like adding too many new characters too soon, trying to plan six seasons before even writing the pilot, foreshadowing stuff and forgetting to pay it off, and so on.
It took us until S4 to really get this done right - Despite the overabundance of side characters I think the majority of stories in S1 stack up well, and S2 is still probably my favourite for the most part. S3 just got messy in the middle - we tweaked the main arc a lot and it really shows - there's a big tonal shift midseason after some bad story choices in the first half of things. By S4, we were putting out good stories and keeping the plots more focused, whilst cutting back on the characters and kjeeping things running more smoothly.
If I were starting [i}SA[/i] again now, I think I'd keep it more like the 'Alias meets Buffy' pitch I originally had, before Chris and Paul's input brought it more towards how the show is now. Some people didn't like the globe-trotting aspect of S1 (even though it made sense given the events of both Buffy 7x22 and our Original Syn movie), but I think that's more because we didn't flesh out the Academy as a location until later in the season. We got too wrapped up in dashing round the world, introducing new characters and sealing Hellmouths!
In fact, maybe one day I'll write an episode of the show more like my original vision for it, just for shits and giggles...
