Q:Do you like playing the "big bad" or chipped Spike better? by tartanrob
JM: Big Bad any day of the week. But Big Bad would have to die pretty soon, which means I'd be back to pulling change out of my sofa for rent money....

(But now that Spike has been defanged, isn't there a danger that this character renowned for being "in your face" will lose a bit of his edge? The question itself seems to catch Marsters off guard.)
"I'm pausing," JM slowly offers, "because that's like one of the best questions I've been asked over the last couple of months. It is, to some extent, my responsibility to maintain that, because the writing is exploring the other side of the equation. The writing takes Spike down a peg and I feel that sometimes it's my responsibility to make sure that it's the same character going through this wicked, strange journey. My fear was that they were going to have to soften him so much that it wouldn't work. But in a way, the situation has heightened his frustration and he's even more evil now because he's mad about it." JM (TEXT)

"I kind of use Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange as a touchstone. When he was deprogrammed, it was pretty much the same thing, except that he was stricken with nausea. Behind his eyes, he was still evil. If anything, he was even angrier and wanting to do more damage when he was kept from doing it, because it was bottled up inside him to some degree, that's what I was going for, but at the same time, they are trying to find a way to make Spike last. If he's evil all the time, any villain can probably try to kill Buffy maybe five times before they become pathetic. JM (The Realm)

"I'm not given a soul. (talking about the chip) I'm still a sociopath. I'm still the biggest jerk in the world. It's just that I'm kept from actually hurting people," Marsters said. "It's more like -- well, I'm not the actor Malcolm McDowell is -- but it's more like 'Clockwork Orange' when he's been experimented on and kept from doing what he wants to do. JM

Q: How would you feel if Spike got a soul, like Angelus? - Jonathan Hayman
JM:"Terrible! That would be awful. The best thing about Spike is that he can do all the stuff you want to do, but would never dream of doing. If he had a soul he'd talk about his feelings and stuff...No!"

Q: Do you ever hope the writers decide to give Spike a soul? What do you think that would do to the show?
JM: Hmmm...that would be interesting, but, ultimately, not right for the show. I think that Spike would change, but he would have a lot less fun. I don't want to become brooding. I enjoy wreaking havoc and chaos. (Source)

Q: Were you surprised when Joss gave Spike a soul?
JM: Yeahhh. Completely. The thing is I didn’t know. Even filming the scene where it happens, there were three different versions of that scene I had to memorize and the one we finally filmed was a fourth. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I didn’t know why I went to Africa. I didn’t know if I was going there to get something to kill [Buffy] with. I had no idea. [Spike] kept saying, “I’m going to give her what she deserves.” So, Joss completely fooled me. I didn’t even have the line “I will give you back your soul!” and they’re rolling. It was cut and move on and I’m like…James looks around in complete confusion. ‘Angel 2, yeah!’ [Laughs] But that was the immediate problem is you can not go where Angel has gone. You don’t follow up the banjo act with a banjo act. (Text)