So, uh, because I am a sad person with no life and poor schoolwork habits, I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on FX, and they started over from the beginning recently, and, well, here I am. So, uh, I'm going to blatently steal a format from other, better people and use it myself. What follows are random comments (see?) about the episode "Reptile Boy." Though, he wasn't a boy, and do demons count as reptiles? I'm serious here, because as the show goes on some demons get treated more like really exotic animal species than one-of-a-kind magical creatures. Anyway, I thought, because this forum is kind of quiet sometimes, that we could all chat about the show. Or, about me seeing it. As far as spoilers go, I've seen part of season 5 and all of season 6, mostly, but not much inbetween.
Hey, it is the classic good fratboy/bad fratboy routine. They must do this a lot.
I am surprised there are not more satanic fraternities in Sunnydale.
So, how many seasons of unreasonably jealous Xander do I have to sit through?
"When we kiss I want to die." Buffy gets started down the creepy relationship path early, doesn't she? Actually, going all the way back to Hyena Xander's attack. Weird. Well, I guess, "good," in the character continuity sense. But, "16 year old girl has weakness for romantic relationships with way off-kilter power distributions" must have been an interesting concept to pitch.
Xander's plan (sneak into the party through a window) seems awfully daring for, well, Xander. I guess all this vampire slaying is making him bolder. He doesn't seem to mind being made a pledge all that much, either. But! When Ms. Giant Praying Mantis offered him a martini, he seemed kind of surprised at the taste. Yet here he seems pretty nonchalant about alcohol. I wonder if the Harris household had been figured out yet.
I would think Buffy could hold her liquor better, though, what with her advanced Slayer metabolism. Oh, so it was drugged.
I also wonder if the private school that girl comes from suffers from as many vampire attacks and generally fatal weirdness as the public school. And then they list a few other victims. How many schools are in Sunnydale, anyway? And is this the first episode to mention USC Sunnydale? (Though not by name.)
"I don't think we go to it. I think it comes to us." That's because they can only afford the one cave set.
"Someone's attacking Buffy with a sword, and also there's a really big snake." Priorities.
Coming soon (Like, in an hour soon): "Halloween."
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
The first season gets bettter as it goes, the third seaon may be the best.
quote: I am surprised there are not more satanic fraternities in Sunnydale.
You get more about the forces around SunnyD as it goes along. Season three really.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
This is the second season, actually. As things go, I think my favorite is the sixth, perhaps because I am a mean person.
Uh, "Halloween" was good.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I wasn't overly kean on Reptile Boy, IIRC. Mainly because the concept seemed a bit...obvious. I'm not sure how, exactly, but there.
"Haloween" was far better. Although again, maybe obvious. I dunno. Perhaps the genius of the show is to take the obvious idea of "everyone acts differently" and put a unique twist on it. Or at least do it with intelligence and creativity. And isn't that Ethan all evil and stuff? Eh?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Today I watched "What's My Line?" parts 1 and 2. It turned out I had seen the second part before. I was all ready to scoff at Xander and Cordelia acting out every angry couple sitcom scene ever made, but the over the top musical cues beat me to it. I don't think I buy Kendra's accent, though. (Now watch someone tell me that the actress really talks that way.) And slayers go to slaying school in Jamaica, but not in California? Kendra had obviously been training for a lot longer than half a season. So what do the Watchers do with potential slayers who never become actual slayers and yet nevertheless have good stabbing skills, and such. Do they have an army of nonsuperpowered teenage girl commandos stored somewhere?
Of course, having seen some of where the show goes later, I suspect the Watchers were one of the few elements that was never really thought out that well.
And oh, how much pain could have been avoided if Giles (or someone) had made sure that the fire would spread to include the buried Spike and Drusilla.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: So what do the Watchers do with potential slayers who never become actual slayers and yet nevertheless have good stabbing skills, and such. Do they have an army of nonsuperpowered teenage girl commandos stored somewhere?
The seventh season goes into this question.
Favorite episodes? Have to go with the award winners. 4th seasons "Hush" and 5th seasns"The Body."
(edit) And any episode with Vampire Willow or Bad Willow.(/edit)
[ April 22, 2003, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Kosh ]
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
My favourite episodes are especially the funny ones.
Hush (original idea, creepy demons, funny transparencies) OMWF (the only musical I like) Tabula Rasa (the whole episode was hilarious, especially the Giles/Spike/Anya interaction) Something Blue (I laughed so hard about Giles in that episode) Intervention (Buffybot's remarks, "Guiles", dumb minions -> Bob Barker) Crush (the "date")
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
Oops
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Ted"
Buffy versus John Ritter. Boy, the evil does not let up on this show. (See, I am implying that Three's Company and Problem Child were of poor quality!)
Yup, Ted and Willow sure do know their computers. Absolutely. Also, "Nine gig hard drive?" I laugh at the past. And Xander is easily won over. It is a good thing Spike can't cook.
Between the "well, gosh" and the miniature golf, Ted sounds a lot like the Mayor.
Ms. Calendar: "I need space." You haven't even been on the show in, like, three episodes.
I like how Buffy's mom doesn't say much throughout this post-death part of the episode, because I think it would be really easy for her dialogue to devolve into weird melodrama. Being quiet says just as much, without the risk.
Ted's secret baking ingredient is smarm! Because Xander is talking kind of like him after eating the cookie, see, and Ted was smarmy.
Ah, a robot. Sure. Now, see, Ted isn't the first robot to show up in Sunnydale, and he's far from the last. But, how easy is it to build human-intelligence level androids in this universe? Because we do catch the occasional glimpse of the larger world, and while, say, the U.S. government seems to have some idea that demons exist and might possibly be useful, they don't seem to use them much. And if anyone anywhere could build a robot like Ted, I'd think the Buffyverse would rapidly mutate into something quite different than the world we live in.
So as far as the public is concerned, Ted is a serial killer who seemed dead but wasn't, returned to claim another victim, but was foiled and instead disappeared? Shouldn't this, like, alter things at the Summers home a bit? Perhaps by changing its location? Because I would not be too keen on sticking around, if I were Joyce.
And finally, Ms. Calendar and Giles should go into his office, or something. They could get fired.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
I hadn't seen John play a bad guy before that ep. Xander is easy. It's a wodner that he doen't go to work for Spike, as a minion. Joyce evenually sort of gets a clue.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I really should go back and watch season 2. From what I recall of "Ted", it was a bit...meh. I appreciated that they addressed the topic of accidental human killing, but the light hearted manner that followed after ("Hey, he's a robot! Let the hilarity ensue!") seemed a bit funny.
In most shows, "What's my Line?" would have been a stand out. As it is, it's the worst two parter of the season. But that's only because the other two are pretty much awesome on toast. It had cute moments though, and Dru looking all scary at the end.
And speaking of Dru, you can't really have a go at Kendra's accent when we have Miss "Cor blimey Spike" in the house, can you?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I'm not sure Drusilla's accent isn't supposed to sound weird. She is well-traveled and plumb crazy. Perhaps she has a thing for adopting painful accents, like Madonna?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Maybe. Some vampires do seem to change their accents as time goes on. Angel went from "ah, t'be shure I be Oirish" to his current Californian style voice. But Dru's accent before she became a vampire sounded the same as her current one, proper Mary Poppins type girl.
I mean, Spike's accent isn't 100% accurate in the way that, say, Wesley's is. But he somehow manages to get around that by being, well, Spike. You have to love him.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: But, how easy is it to build human-intelligence level androids in this universe?
That's not so bad compared to the events in "Some Assembly Required". Yeah sure, two Highschool-Kiddies are able to make a girl from parts of dead girls without using any magick.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Bad Eggs"
This shot, where Buffy realizes that the cowboy is a vampire because he doesn't show up in the mirror next to the escalator, would be my favorite shot ever, except no matter how many times I rewind the tape I can't seem to tell that there's even a mirror there. It looks like they're just filming the girl on the escalator from the other side.
Hey, a fight in an arcade. At least one of these pinball machines will not survive the fight. It seems to be a rule.
I was right.
Segue to a Cheers scene. I hate you! I hate you more! And now kissing! Ok. Is this supposed to be Xander's first relationship, I wonder? Because it is all messed up. In class, Willow seems rather uncomfortable, while Cordelia tells a story from Chasing Amy. Only, with less detail. And then, Willow is way too happy about raising an egg. Poor Willow.
"Like Angel and I are just helpless slaves to passion." Segue to completely expected kissing scene.
I did not expect the eggs to be haunted, however. I figured we were going to build up to a climactic battle wherein Buffy has to both kill cowboy vampires and keep her egg unsmashed. That arm must have been really cramped in there.
"What's the matter, your egg keep you up all night?" In Sunnydale all metaphors are actualized.
"And Angel's helping you, right?" "He does what he can." Kissing. Yes, I get it already.
Sunnydale High has a security guard? I find that hard to believe.
Very dramatic music for the "we are digging a hole" scene.
Xander: "Careful." I always enjoy that joke.
All things considered, Buffy doesn't really have a very hard time with monsters in this episode. Giant brain thing was dispatched relatively easily, and the cowboy vampires didn't seem all that threatening. I mean, beyond being vampires.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I've checked my tape, and for some reason FX didn't show the scheduled episodes today, but instead "Hush" and "Once More, With Feeling." It is like I won the lottery! Only, I'm not going to watch "Hush," because I haven't seen it yet, and I want to try and keep some element of surprise in things. Uh, I'm not going to talk about "Once More, With Feeling" yet, either. But it is good TV.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
If you haven't watched OM,WF yet, cover your ears when Marsten sings. Giles and Tara are the ones who are really good, Anya and Xander do OK, the rest, well, I liked the episode, the idea of really making the musical part of the story. I liked most of the songs. Some people just aren't meant to sing.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I used to have this episode on tape, and watched more times than is decent to admit to. And Spike's song is one of the best parts of the episode. (Does that sentence deserve an exclamation point? I usually eschew those in other written mediums. And I am always embarrassed when I read my posts months or years later.)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
You are right. But then, Spike's anything in any episode is the best thing ever. The man stands up, and it's cool.
If I were a woman, I would want Spike. Multiple times.
I think the Xander/Cordy is suppossed to be his first relationship. There was that conversation in the one with the Mantis Lady that went something like
"Preying Matiss (Mantii?) consume virgins for some reason."
"Well, that's okay, because Xander's..."
"...in deep trouble!"
Although, yeah, he's still a virgin whilst having the great soap-opera relationship with Cordy, but I think it's the first one that's close to serious (ie, the first one where the thoughts of getting undressed enter each others minds). As Xander says in about 3 episodes time "I'm 17. Look at linolium makes me want to have sex."
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Sacrifice"
I like how there's not much doubt that this is a dream sequence.
"What if Drusilla is still alive? We never saw her body." But dead vampire = no body, unless it's the Master, for some reason. And then Angel uses a skill pioneered by Nelson Muntz.
Re: Oz: "He's a senior." Yeah, and? Cordelia looks to be about 25.
Did Xander just say "some kind of wack"? That is perhaps too much. And then "You could have just said 'shh'" to Giles. Like you're one to talk about overtalking. And the spanking thing, superweird, especially in front of the not-unattractive Ms. Calender. I'm having lots of trouble trying to figure out where Xander sits in the cool hierarchy, because he seems to have way too much self-confidence for the social role he apparently inhabits.
Hey, scarred wheelchair-bound Spike. A plot development I didn't know about in advance, for once. Neat.
"You ground his bones to make your bread." "That's true. Except for the bread part." Now see, this is funny. I'm not sure why.
I'm not sure that the Jenny Calendar has a secret Gypsy Angel-spiting past plot works for me. It sort of seems tacked on, I guess, at least so far.
So one can just rent the Bronze for a private party? They're not going to be able to get their security deposit back, though. See, because of the window smashing. Which, just before it happened, I was thinking would be cool.
I've got an idea. Why not just wrap the arm up in chains and drop it into the Pacific halfway to Asia? There are significantly fewer vampires at the bottom of the ocean, I would assume.
Sidenote: FX, like every other channel these days, bogs up a good quarter of the screen with hideous animated promos every now and then. Well, ok. I got used to those awful station ID watermarks. These are just fifty times more annoying. That's fine. But now, now, it's making noise! Slot machine noise. Over dialogue. This makes it thirteen thousand times more annoying. It's almost a deal-breaker. I have studying I could be doing.
And next week (Well, if one was watching this when it first aired.): Bad things all around. I wonder if Spike or Drusilla would survive the Judge's touch?
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: "You ground his bones to make your bread." "That's true. Except for the bread part." Now see, this is funny. I'm not sure why.
Takes you back to those crazy childhood days. You don't get that many fairy tale references.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Innocence"
Wasn't Buffy grounded for life just a few weeks ago? And now she's just slipping in after the sun's come up? Security is lax in the Summers home.
Angel is evil because he smokes and is casual about sex. Well, and also kills people.
Ms. "Calendar": "You told me to watch Angel, you told me to keep him from the Slayer. I tried." Uh, did she? This Gypsy vengeance plan does not seem that well thought out. I would think there would be other, more effective punishments for him than losing his soul. Because, see, he only cares about having a soul when he does, and when he doesn't, he's glad that he doesn't. So all their plan does in ensure that crazy evil Angel will be around being crazy and evil. Jenny, or "Yanna" I guess, has technical skills and she's living in California at the time when the Internet Bubble is in full swing. She should just tell Uncle Creepy to take it back to the Old Country, move to Oakland and get in on the ground floor of some hip Valley startup.
All mockery aside, I think Xander and Willow are about the most compelling aspect of the show. Lots of other things are really stylized, but their friendship seems believable in a way that few boy/girl TV relationships do.
Angel: "To kill this girl, you have to love her." And thus the next five seasons are described.
For a moment, while Spike was sitting listening in the shadows, I thought that he might have been about to share some information with Buffy and friends. Because, later on he does not seem so keen on the idea of actually killing all the humans on Earth and opening up all the portals to hell. Oh well. Incidently, if the Judge were to have succeeded, and burned up all the people, thus making the world safe for demons again, what would have happened to the vampires? They have special needs that involve keeping lots of people around.
I wonder if the Sunnydale military base is connected with the Initiative somehow. It's a little disturbing how easy Xander is able to get inside of it, though the payoff dramatically is well worth it. Because, you know, with the explosion, and Xander demonstrating some competance (even if it is magically inspired competance), and so on. He takes on Angel! Neato.
Anyway, I hope someone (other than myself) is amused by these posts.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: "Innocence" This Gypsy vengeance plan does not seem that well thought out. I would think there would be other, more effective punishments for him than losing his soul. Because, see, he only cares about having a soul when he does, and when he doesn't, he's glad that he doesn't. So all their plan does in ensure that crazy evil Angel will be around being crazy and evil.
And thus the biggest flaw in the plan is revealed.
I think it would have made more sense if there was some sort of delayed soul reactivation, so that after a few months, say, he'd get his soul back. He got given a soul as punishment, because he would be unhappy with everything that he'd done. If he experienced happiness, then he could lose his soul, be evil, and then get it back, and then feel bad for all the new stuff he'd done, thereby ensuring that he'd never be happy again.
I mean, that is kinda what happens, but through an accident. Unless the gypsies really hated people who love vampires.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: For a moment, while Spike was sitting listening in the shadows, I thought that he might have been about to share some information with Buffy and friends. Because, later on he does not seem so keen on the idea of actually killing all the humans on Earth and opening up all the portals to hell.
I'd put this down to him lacking self confidence at this point. He's recently been crippled, which is bad. His sire (or sire's sire) has just returned, which is good. His sire's sire is putting moves on his girlfriend, which is bad. The poor lad is all over the place. And it's possibly he intended to keep some humans around for food.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: Anyway, I hope someone (other than myself) is amused by these posts.
At least two of us are, I suspect more are reading.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Phases"
For some reason I find it more than a little creepy that Amy's mom is still trapped in that cheerleading trophy for all to see.
Spying on Xander and Cordelia from the bushes: ALF.
They should really be paying attention during self-defense class. Well, Buffy not so much, but Xander and Willow? It would come in handy.
"And yet ironically it led to the invention of the moon pie." Xander scores points with Giles for once.
"I had a chain around its neck." That's being a little generous. It looked more like Werewolf Oz was just holding the chain up to the side of his head.
Oz thinks he might be a werewolf, so he calls up his aunt and asks if there's a history of lycanthropy in his family and gets a quick yes. I like his family. And he has a box full of manacles? Odd. Though not so odd as the questions the mortician should have for Xander and Buffy. Was the body there when you came in? And the flower arrangement stands? Awkward.
I'm not sure it's a good idea for Buffy to alienate the monster-hunting community, even if they are jerks.
Supposedly "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" is next in the series, but it was skipped for some reason.
"Passion"
I watched this one around one o'clock this morning, and didn't write down many thoughts. So, a brief summary of my feelings: Angel's narration is not the most compelling ever. After being invaded by vampires and a werewolf, and who knows how many bodies turning up just outside, I don't see how the Bronze stays open. I like how the realization that Angel has access to Willow's room too comes to the audience just before Willow herself finds out. Or at least that's how it worked in my case, but perhaps I am unobservant. Is the magic shop in this episode supposed to be the Magic Shop? They don't show that much of it.
Anyway, sad. Though I'm starting to think that the show should lay off the character deaths for awhile, lest they become so common they start losing their impact. It was probably different for those watching it at the time, I guess.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I think it is suppossed to be the same Magic Shop. Although I'm not sure.
B, B & B was a funny episode, so it's a pity it was skipped. FUNNY TO THE MAX!
With regards to Giles laughing at Xander, I think that was suppossed to be because he was fairly stressed from recent events. I thought that Phases came AFTER Passion, not before.
And yes, sad. But Giles went hardcore! Which is always cool.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Phases" came before, if TV Guide is to be believed in regards to original airdates.
Anyway, I am crazy swamped by schoolwork, but some quick thoughts on two episodes:
"Killed By Death"
The villainous child-eating demon looks like Freddy. Similar M.O., too.
I've noticed that there seems to be some modality to the characters. Sort of. Bear with me. Cordelia is the ultimately helpful but tactless friend who says whatever she thinks. She leaves, and we get Anya. (Ok, so they overlapped a bit.) And Anya is the ultimately helpful but tactless friend who says whatever she thinks. Well, ok. It is a good gag, to be sure, and used to great effect more than a few times. But Anya works a lot better than Cordelia, for me, and I think the reason is because Cordelia is just too over the top for me to believe in. Sure, part of being the coolest is the ability to look down on those less cool, but just as important is the ability to ignore or overlook the flaws in the equally cool so as to increase ones social mobility. There's a hint of that in this episode, where Cordelia sweet-talks the security guard. ("You have a great nose.") But all in all, it's hard to see how she would ever gain any friends, much less become most popular. Anya, on the other hand, being a former demon, has an excuse for her behavior.
Everyone seems to spend all their time out fighting demons and the like, and little time in school or at home. I certainly didn't have as much free time when I was in high school, despite being more or less a recluse. But, you know, my parents kind of wanted to know where I was and what I was doing. So Buffy's mother is out of town a lot. Ok, I can accept that. And Xander's family isn't exactly the most together outfit around. But what about Willow? Her parents seem overprotective, and yet she spends all night at the school library?
I really like the scene where Cordelia brings Xander donuts, even if it is a blatent Krispy Kreme placement, though I was sure for a moment she'd be horrified that he ate her food.
Finally, later we learn that shortly after all this vampire slaying began, Buffy was checked into a mental hospital for a few weeks. In retrospect, I think that would have been a better motivation for her fear of hospitals than the death of her cousin, which, while suitably creepy, felt a bit arbitrary.
"I Only Have Eyes For You."
It turns out I'd seen the last half hour or fifteen minutes or so of this show a long time ago. It is really good. However:
I can't see Willow being a more or less official substitute teacher, especially under Principal Snyder, who seems like a stickler for rules. On the other hand, if I were a substitute teacher in the Sunnydale region I'd have "Will Not Work At Sunnydale High" in bold at the top of my resume.
While I'm on the subject, it feels a little unfair that Ms. Calendar gets multiple episodes worth of post-death sorrow, while the dead teacher in this episode is never refered to as anything other than "that teacher."
Cordelia is a junior now, right? And she doesn't know about the Sadie Hawkins Dance?
The Mayor gets his first ominous reference. And so do...the city council? I've seen a few episodes of season three, including the finale, and I don't remember any mention of the council being in on the big plan. Are all of Sunnydale's officials in on the Hellmouth secret, or just a few?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Somehow I've either missed "Go Fish" or FX skipped it. Either way, it is the season finale for me. The show goes by really fast at two episodes a day.
"Becoming, Part 1"
Is that Oz providing the introductory voiceover? Angel is Irish! No doubt about it! Because he is drunk, see. And did Darla just choose him at random?
Drusilla had prophetic visions before becoming a vampire. Interesting. Is that perhaps one of the reasons Angel, uh, cultivated her?
Tension! Xander is good at burning bridges.
There seem to be a lot of world-ending demons running around. There is supposed to be only one slayer at any one time. So how come the world hasn't ended already?
So I guess the guy in the hat who knows Angel was doing the intro. He sounds a little like Seth Green, though.
Angel has a mysterious demon benefactor. Who would seem to put the lie to the early B:TVS idea that demon = pure evil. (Assuming he is what he appears to be.) Then, Buffy learns she is the slayer. Neat! I like Angel's vampire-safe car, too.
Drusilla can do the Master's hypnotizing trick. Good for her. I mean, well, not good in the sense that it's good, but she needs some kind of special power, being otherwise so flighty. But if Kendra could be taken down so easily (relatively speaking), why not try the rush-the-library trick earlier on Buffy? I suppose the implication was supposed to be that, by having to protect Xander and Willow and Cordelia and Giles, Kendra's attention was spread too thin. But, she didn't really do much in the way of saving everyone else. They mostly took care of that themselves. Well, Xander and Giles did. Sort of.
Kendra's favorite stake appears to be made of driftwood.
Speaking of Kendra, I wasn't bowled over by her first appearence, but she kind of grew on me. At first I thought that her death wasn't really that big of a deal, because more important characters have died this season. But, I suppose Buffy might not take the death of an apparently better-trained slayer well. Because would she have been able to survive? (Well, yes, but that's because her name is in the title.) Anyway, I think Kendra should have put up more of a fight, is what I'm getting at.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
With regards to Angel cultivating Dru because of her ability to have visions, I think the answer is largely yes. Although there was also an element of him just being a completely sick bastard as well. He wasn't nice to her.
"Becoming" is traumatic. The cliffhanger is all, wow, and stuff. And people shout a lot! And I saw both parts as one feature length thing originally, and they played "Close Your Eyes" over the end credits, and I was crying and stuff, and I am a big baby! Boo!
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
You were surely blustery red!
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Quiet, you.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Becoming, Part 2"
It's the police! Arriving because...uh...there was an altercation at the high school? Which isn't all that different from the last time vampires invaded the school. During which no police were to be seen. And does Snyder (and by extension the Mayor, I suppose) know that Buffy is the slayer?
Buffy is incognito. You can tell because she is wearing a hat.
Xander has no witticism. This is perhaps the most serious indicator of trouble that the show has. It works well.
Spike is saving the day! Sort of.
I had an idea while watching. When the police come to interview Xander he should say "We were attacking by group of scary people, and not a single teenaged girl." That might help. Well, maybe not with the assaulting an officer charge.
I really like the scene with Spike and Joyce sitting in the living room. And then Buffy gives an impassioned speech to her mother.
Cordelia and Oz are sent to the library to get some things. But, uh, the attack was just a little while ago. Shouldn't there be detectives and such roaming around the area doing detective work? I guess not.
"Inform the mayor!" Well, he doesn't quite say that, but more or less. Again, they obviously know something is up with Buffy. But, it doesn't help the Mayor any if the world gets sucked into hell, does it? Shouldn't he be encouraging her to save the day here? (Or, crazy thought: Is this all an attempt to put Buffy into a situation where she has nowhere to turn, and then the Mayor offers her a job?)
Xander could get into a lot of trouble by not telling Buffy about Willow's plan, here. Hasn't he learned anything? I mean, ok, so he is jealous, and maybe he really does think that Angel is irretrievably evil. Still. I don't think anyone will be very happy with him, were they to find out.
OK, at first I really enjoyed Spike's "He's going to kill her." *shrug* bit. But, wait a minute. Didn't he do all this to stop Angel from destroying the world? Sure, there was revenge, and getting Drusilla back. But they gave him that nice speech about not wanting everything to get sucked into hell, and then, when it looks like everything is going to get sucked into hell, he just bails? I realize that the whole ending wouldn't work if Spike rushed in and joined the fight, but, maybe he could have thrown something at Angel, you know. Distracted him a little, at least.
Anyway, re: ending: Sad.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I think the argument, with regards to Xander, was that he was actually trying to protect Buffy. He knew that if she went into the fight thinking "Maybe he can be saved", then she would quite likely be killed, and Angel would be free to do all sorts of nasty, evil things. So he psyched her up.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I also liked Buffy's speech to her mum, and how she aknowledged the fact that Joyce had been pretty dense not to notice anything was wrong. One of the strengths of the show is that it knows when it has done something for just long enough, and then it changes it.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Stupid crashes. I'll try again, I guess. Things are not going well with me in regards to making snarky Buffy comments today.
"Anne"
I don't think it is as easy as this show makes it appear to dig your way out of a grave. Oz throwing the stake at the vampire is funny. Xander and Cordelia not having seen each other all summer is kind of weird.
Hey, Buffy is happy. It must be a dream. Yes.
Baseball caps + overalls = jerk, apparently.
There are STUDENTS in the LIBRARY. Lots of them. Crazy.
If I ever push someone out of the way of a moving car, I think I'll try running after them, rather than just standing where they were and being hit by the car.
Completely nonthreatening and believable social worker/religious man: "They get old fast." "It drains the life out of you." And I believe we have a description of our monster.
Xander's plan to use Cordelia as vampire bait seems like a bad idea. Aren't vampires supposed to be dangerous?
So, what, demons run factories? For what? And former vampire cultist girl says "We're in hell," and Buffy says they aren't, but, I mean, consider: The entrance is a mystical portal, the place is run by demons, and time works differently there. It sounds like a possible hell dimension to me.
And then, Buffy saves the day and comes home. Yay!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Dead Man's Party"
So Buffy has been cleared of all charges. I can see the cops dropping the murder charge. But, uh, what about that cop she beat up?
Some scenes of Buffy being upset that other people have lives. It would sure be ironic if someday Buffy had a younger sister who would experience something similar in the future and Buffy was in the mother role! INDEED.
Uh, is this dead cat supposed to have been in the basement long? Because, you would notice a decaying cat, trust me. But you wouldn't notice a zombie cat! Or, I guess, you would, as they do.
More scenes of Buffy being not so pleased that everyone has been busy in her absence. Boohoo.
OK, Giles is researching zombies. NOTE: Here is my syllabus for the first day of Librarian School: Actually look at the book as you flip through it.
Joyce has no problems with the huge party? Huh. Uh oh, Buffy overheard the wrong part of the conversation. Time to runaway again! That's rational.
Giles, in the car, evading zombies, is great. Thumbs up, etc. "Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty, it raises the dead."
This whole scene, where Buffy's friends and family yell at her at her party, and even Xander is kind of mean, and only Cordelia sticks up for her, feels kind of uncomfortable and forced. The uncomfortable part is intentional, I imagine, but I'm not sure about the rest. I guess it is "canon" that Xander does not always choose the best way to deal with his emotions either. But yelling? They should be worried about zombies! Which reminds me. Willow says something portentious, like 50% of the dialogue around here. "You can't just bury things, Buffy. They have a tendency to come right back up to get you." Anyway, Willow, upon a zombie crashing into the room: "I was being sarcastic!" Me: Let that be a lesson to you!
Joyce has made a friend, so clearly she must die. And in a disturbing way, too. (I mean the coming back as a zombie part. The zombie demon's death is neat, but, I mean, "Kat" (?) was already dead then.)
It ends with another scene of Giles being tough. Yay!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Faith, Hope & Trick"
Is that really the title of this episode? I'm not getting these from any official title source or anything, so I could be way off. Is there a character named Hope running around that I missed? (Yes, yes, ok, so we've got a cute Biblical reference, too, fine.)
It is kind of obvious that something is up when the supposedly dead Angel is still in the opening credits. I'm just saying.
Another dream sequence.
Hey, is that Faith in the dance crowd? I like how she's just in there, before we know who she is or the camera makes special notice of her. And she quickly enters the group dynamic. Quick with the nicknames, too, if "B" counts. Xander should be a bit less girl-crazy, though. I mean, he is dating Cordelia, who isn't, you know, tough to look at or anything.
A Watcher retreat? How many Watchers do they need, anyway?
You know, at my high school, I don't think they'd just let random youths walk through the halls like Faith here. You need permission for a guest.
"T1 line!" "Database!" Etc. Mr. Trick is a hip hop nerd vampire? Ok.
Today's portentious dialogue: "It's probably good you were an only child."
Faith must have watched Aliens a lot back in Boston.
Regular Boy Scott Hope: Let's go to a Buster Keaton festival, Buffy. Ok, first of all, Hope! Now I get it. Second of all, this is a line that I suspect works less often on attractive high school girls from Southern California in the real world than it does on the show.
Regarding the vampire with the odd name: So old he has cloven hands and feet? Uh, really? Is this something vampires need to watch out for, as a rule? Was he a satyr once? Well, whatever, his crazy revenge plan is doomed, as all such plans are on this show, something Mr. Trick is not unaware of, and as an added bonus he gets a support beam through the chest, though not entirely convincingly. It would have been neat if he left bones behind, like the Master.
Until now, I had only seen Faith episodes after she became sort of evil, and was kind of curious about her fan appeal. But, she seems kind of infectiously outgoing. So, that makes sense.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Beauty and the Beasts."
Technically, there were multiple beauties too, no? Anyway:
Oz looks less like ALF now, which can only be an improvement. He still doesn't look much like a wolf, though. More of a sort of werebigfoot, or something.
The counselor Buffy gets sent is different than the old guy Cordelia was talking to way back when, though, come to think of it, Sunnydale High should by all rights have a whole wing of psychological professionals. And this breaks rules and is approachable, so he can't be long for the world. (If only I could claim to have realized this while actually watching.)
Angel! Ultimately chained to a not very sturdy looking piece of framework.
Willow is very Scully with her autopsy of Dead Student #1. Except for the fainting. She has gone from well-behaved person to blatent law-breaker kind of quickly. Or at least it seems that way watching two episodes a day.
Uh oh, the students who have never before appeared in the show but are suddenly friends of Buffy appear to be in peril. Surprising. Meanwhile, our counselor is told not to say anything while sitting with his back turned, so he's probably dead. And I'm really unclear about this janitor's closet makeout/creepy abuse scene. They keep their glowing moonshine on school grounds?
After most of the big revelations: "Anybody who really loved you couldn't do this to you." Buffy should keep that in mind.
This fight between soon to be Dead Student #2 and Oz is like Frankenstein vs. The Wolfman.
Vs. Dracula! This episode is multitiered. I mean, with the multiple beasts and such.
That's four deaths in a couple days, with three of them on campus. How does this school stay open?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Homecoming"
Scott dumps Buffy? Huh. Good for his life expectancy though, I imagine.
This is sort of like an episode of Seinfeld, only with Mr. Trick playing Elaine. Uh, also with monsters. Ok, just this one scene, with the guy in the chair and his computers and such.
Enter the Mayor. Who doesn't really do all that much, yet, other than establish his wacky "I'm evil but also friendly" personality. He has a red phone.
Cordelia is sent to tell Buffy about yearbook photos, but gets distracted by schmoozing. Well, priorities are important. At my high school, seniors were supposed to submit our own photographs. And then Cordelia is mean. Like, more mean than usual. More mean than season 1. I'm not sure I see why.
A slayer-hunting contest? Odd. Hey, it's that cowboy vampire. And a...stegosaurus demon?
I notice I have less to say about scenes that don't have some potential for snarky commentary, so, here, Xander and Willow have a moment. Yay! Sort of. Except for Oz and Cordelia, though Cordelia is not really winning any sympathy from me today.
I like that, in his introduction video, Mr. Trick went to the trouble of putting together a logo for Slayerfest '98. That's dedication. Also good is hunter guy spilling the beans quickly rather than being, you know, taciturn and dumb. Though I guess it doesn't get him out of that trap.
(Charisma Carpenter is, um, not bad looking.)
Cowboy vampire talks funny, but he really is pretty smart. Running away rather than fighting that last time. And now just waiting for Buffy to show up. And then he runs away again! He is very sensible, though he gets marks taken away for coming back to Sunnydale in the first place.
Great episode. That spatula didn't look like wood to me, though. And what was Cordelia's sudden reversion into Days of Our Lives mode? (See, because of the soap opera-like meanness.) Oh, yeah, and Faith went to the dance? Is she supposed to be enrolled in school now?
Oh, and I forgot to mention the bit where the dinosaur guy tried to jump out the window only to find it was boarded up. Whoops.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I append "and such" to way too many sentences, it seems.
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
It completely confuses the Buffy plots to me, to be sure.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
My readership is 33% bewildered, then. A brief synopsis may help: In the following episode, magic candy makes everyone who isn't already a teenager act like one, and a giant snake tries to eat some babies but is foiled.
"Band Candy"
Having Giles help Buffy study for the SATs is a really good idea.
Angel doing Tai Chi is, uh, kind of silly. And if he's concerned about this scene being awkward he could probably relieve the tension by putting on a shirt.
Giles' "friend" Ethan is involved in the addictive candy racket, I see.
Giles, under the influence of magic candy, is sort of like me in this scene where they're listening to albums. In that I like to listen to albums too. Though, I do not smoke. Or frequently have women over. Nor am I cool in any way. But, listening to albums and talking about forming a band? Totally.
Principal Snyder joins the gang!
Young Giles seems to be a lot like Spike.
This plan seems a bit extravagent. Knock out the whole town just to kidnap four babies from one hospital? I would think the Mayor would choose a plan that led to less general mayhem. He's concerned about the sewer system even though he's evil, after all. Think of all the cleanup they'll have to do after this episode above ground.
The giant snake demon is awfully flammable. And...uh, oh, it's dead now? Huh. Wait, the Mayor had to make this tribute every three years? Or did Laconis, or whoever, just move into town recently? Because, if he went to this much trouble every three years I think people would notice.
I wonder if Snyder was the one who wrote "KISS Rocks!" on those lockers.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
Once, when I was young and innocent and unspoiled and terrified of the dark and not ready for the immense world that surrounded me, I gathered all the courage I had and tuned in to the pilot of Buffy. But, it was late at night, and I was tired and drifting somewhere between the realm of reality and illusion (I was deprived of sleep for too long! far too long!), so my comprehension of the episode suffered, and I could not seem to get mentally past all the scary vampires and manhunting and bloodsucking and teenage girls, and stuff. I did not dare watch any other part of the series afterwards. Then, this one time, as I was vainly attempting to zap away my boredom, I stumbled upon a well-choreographed fight scene filled with evil demons acting in an unmistakably devilish manner, who were being kung-fu'ed by Buffy and flying across the screen and in real pain and in various states of being slain, and it brought back those repressed and long-forgotten memories of sinister fiends out to conquer the world and steal human bodily fluids! And it wasn't terrifying anymore!
I am a member of your audience, if it, uh, means anything.
[ May 08, 2003, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Cartmaniac ]
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Fortunately (?) I am desperate for attention, so yes, it does.
This time: A magic glove has the potential for troublemaking, and everyone wants it, and Angel's status of not being in hell becomes public knowledge.
"Revelations"
I find myself wondering what Faith was doing when the adults of Sunnydale were all high on magic chocolate. It seemed like her kind of scene, sort of.
New Watcher lady: 'There is a magical glove and a demon wants it. We should find it first.' What I would do, if I were on the show, would be to look up which magical artifacts had found their way to the Hellmouth before something comes looking for them. It seems like it would make things easier.
More Willow and Xander hijinks, which Xander goes out to wander in a graveyard alone to get away from. At least he recognizes that this was maybe not the best idea. And then he spies on Buffy and Angel chatting. Sunnydale seems like a really small town sometimes. Of course, he gets the wrong idea.
Ok, maybe Xander doesn't have the wrong idea. But his reasoning after that seems kind of buggy. He is really anti-Angel. I wonder if this is why he is not more popular in school. And now Giles is unhappy! What I like about this show is that characters who are friends are not always friendly to each other, and get mad at each other from time to time. I suppose that is not so unique. In fact it might even be considered kind of soap-operaesque. But there are demons and fighting! And, uh, it is completely unlike that Passions show. What I am saying is, it is good TV when Giles gets mad.
And now Xander is all excited about going with Faith to kill Angel. Well, alright. I think the time-compressed way I'm watching these episodes may have something to do with it, because for me, Angel wasn't really a bad guy for very long. A week, maybe, in total.
Incidently, New Watcher lady being evil is probably something I should have seen coming at some point before she clocked Giles with that statue thing. I worry that I'm not observant enough, sometimes.
This whole bit, with her hurling lightning bolts around and then getting vaporized by one, is dependant upon Angel's mansion, a mansion picked specifically as a home for vampires, having a huge skylight. He should talk to his realtor.
Faith is more distrustful now. This will make trouble in the future.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Spike comes back to be depressed and drunk, and love goes sour for everybody.
"Lover's Walk"
On SAT scores: I am smarter than Willow! On the verbal. Buffy is smarter than me, though, on all counts. Sigh. Not that I have ever used by SAT scores for anything ever.
Spike is back! I wonder if he keeps driving over that Welcome to Sunnydale sign on purpose.
Willow gets a Pez dispenser from Oz and is really, really happy about it. I don't really like Pez. It's all style and no substance.
Buffy asks if this latest Watchers' retreat is in the Yukon, and Giles says it is near there? Or just similar to it? Because, the site is chosen because of "druidic rituals" there, and I would be surprised if there were druids in the Yukon.
Buffy, about Angel: "Nothing's going to happen." Willow, about a bowling group date: "Something's going to happen!" This show is really fond of that joke.
Did Spike know that Angel was back, living in this mansion, or did he just wander by out of nostalgia? He doesn't seem very surprised, but then he is still drunk. And almost incinerated when he passes out in that...courtyard? Ouch.
Hey, the Magic Shop! I think. Wait, no. The set isn't configured in the right way. But it looks a lot like it, enough to make me think the Magic Shop proper is this magic shop set reworked. But is it the same magic shop from last season?
Xander says he doesn't have good luck with love spells, but I wouldn't know about that, thanks a lot, FX. This does seem like kind of a bad idea anyway, though. Luckily the argument is broken up by a vampire attack. Did Spike just follow Willow back here, then? But it was daytime when they were at the shop.
Spike isn't a very effective force of evil when he is sad. He is seeking comfort from Willow, even. Well, and threatening to either kill or rape her, I'm not completely sure. Maybe both. Creepy. She handles the situation pretty well, all things considered.
"Go find Giles!" So I guess this retreat isn't in Canada, then.
Spike is in Buffy's house. Another thing I should have probably seen coming. Buffy too, for that matter. They've got a handy vampire-uninviting ritual. I guess with the running away and the kind of awkward homecoming she just didn't get around to it.
Now Spike is confiding in Joyce? Huh. I wonder if this episode came about when the writers thought they might like Spike to become something other than just a villain, or if the move to make Spike something else because they liked how this episode worked? And, again, Angel just happens to walk by the house while Spike and Joyce are sharing some hot chocolate? Or does he walk past Buffy's house a lot. Gee, I can't imagine why her mother thinks he is creepy.
Now they must work together, and it is lots of fun. For me, I mean. Between the three of them they do a pretty good job beating up the whole squad of Mayor-employed vampires. Buffy should always take someone else with superpowers with her when she goes out to save the world. Like, say, that other slayer in town.
Oz being able to smell Willow from a moving van is kind of weird. Good thing the abandoned (and now gutted by fire) factory is on the way to the Watcher retreat. And, of course, he and Cordelia show up just when Xander and Willow are kissing. Kissing leads to trouble! And, in Cordelia's case, to a fall through collapsing stairs and a length of rebar through the abdomin. Ouch. (Incidently, abdomin didn't look right to me, so I ran it through Google, which asked me if I meant to type abdominal. This is the first time Google has suggested that the thing I am searching for is simply not popular enough to bother with, rather than simply misspelled.)
Will Cordelia be OK? Cut to a funeral, which Buffy and Willow then walk past saying "Good thing Cordelia is OK!" That's just mean. Also, I'd like to know what Buffy thinks of Willow and Xander as a potential item, since she spent so much time in the past suggesting Willow try acheiving such, if she really wanted to.
Relationship status: All broken. Sad.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Cordelia wishes Buffy never came to Sunnydale, and things, rather predictably, go to hell. HA HA HA! BECAUSE OF THE HELLMOUTH, SEE? I should write for TV Guide. Oh, and Anya shows up!
"The Wish"
Buffy, Xander, and Willow fight a demon in the park. Only, it looks like they've brought a cooler and some snacks. So, did they bring food to this demon fight, or did the demon interrupt their picnic?
Cordelia's first day back at school after her impaling (and breakup), and suddenly Anya has shown up in her circle of friends. Who quickly betray her! They are really fickle. And then hunky guy insults her too. Xander is like popularity SARS.
Is it ironic that Anya shows up originally to wreak vengeance on Xander?
Cordelia's logic seems really flawed. If only Buffy weren't here, you wouldn't have been attacked by vampires and demons? Of course you would have. Despite what certain characters claim, Sunnydale has obviously never been a monster-free zone. I don't even need a dark parallel universe to know that.
Cordelia seems to adapt to being shunted into a different reality pretty well. "Oh, the Bronze isn't cool in this reality." Good for her. And then, after wandering home in the dark (How far away does she live from the school, anyway? If everyone is concerned about vampire attacks, shouldn't the school put some money into expanding its bus service?), she quickly realizes that this reality sucks.
So Buffy is still alive, she's just off being like Faith (bitter, not listening to the Watchers) in Cleveland? Shouldn't Sunnydale be the #1 Watcher priority? The Hellmouth is there! Every apocalyptic scheme ever hatched requires the Hellmouth! At least, until Angel gets his spinoff. I'm just saying the Watchers should be all over Sunnydale, wish or no wish.
Oh no, this Buffy has a small scar, or possibly a minor cleft palate. A sure sign of her tough-as-nails attitude.
At this point in my notes I have written "Ooh!" but I can't remember why. Embarrassing. Maybe it had something to do with Angel. I'm not sure. Incidently, Vampire Willow works a lot better than Vampire Xander, who kind of looks like he should be a villain in a stage production of Grease. Assuming Grease has villains. He's not that bad, though.
Where's Darla in all this? Or the Mayor? With the Master out and about after the harvest, Spike and Drusilla would probably not show up for their St. Whoever festival, since that was all dependant upon Sunnydale not really having a head vampire anymore. (Not counting Colin.) But Darla really should be there, unless she's dead. But who killed her? I guess maybe Angel.
With all this talk about mass production and bringing vampires into the modern age, the Master is like the vampire Lenin. Neat. I've wondered why vampires haven't tried founding their own nation, even if they would have to do so covertly.
Anyanka spans multiple universes, it seems. And she seems to approve of everything being awful in Sunnydale, and maybe even Cordelia being dead. This is not quite how she is later portrayed. And her evil voice seems kind of overdone.
The episode ends with a really cool slow motion/happy music fight scene in an attempt to inject a little John Woo into things, I guess. It is good. Especially the vampire death effects. Buffy dies in yet another quick head twist. That is a very popular move, it seems, among vampires. But, luckily, all is well once Anyanka's necklace is smashed. Except for Anyanka.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:But is it the same magic shop from last season?
Yes, I think this is mentioned in season 4.
quote:Shouldn't Sunnydale be the #1 Watcher priority?
Did they mention that the hellmouth was in Sunnydale. Maybe the parallel universe's hellmouth is in Cleveland.
Forget that theory. I've checked the script:
quote:GILES Yes, I'm aware that there's a great deal of demonic activity in Cleveland. It... Well, it happens, you know, that, that Sunnydale is on a Hellmouth.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I wouldn't think Buffy's physical location would alter that fact. Plus, the best part of that line: "Well, it happens, you know, that, that Sunnydale is on a Hellmouth. It is so!"
And how does one account for the door of this magic shop being near the wall instead of in the middle of the room? Eh? Eh?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Angel has bad dreams and hallucinations brought on by the First Evil, which seems like it should be scarier than it is. Oz and Willow get back together.
"Amends"
Angel and Buffy just randomly run into each other on the street? Yet Sunnydale is a big school?
Xander should keep his voice down while discussing Angel in the hallway. Not that such a thing should be at all shocking to any of the students, but what happened to everyone worrying about secret identities?
The reason I think people like Oz is because he is one of the most reasonable people on the show. An episode or two ago he told Willow he was not ready to talk to her. Now he is ready, and they talk. Meanwhile Xander and Cordelia take a less considered approach to post-breakup reparations.
Angel at Giles' house is a tense scene.
Research montage!
According to the spooky and ethereal Jenny Calendar, Angel was a "drunken whoring layabout" prior to becoming a vampire. But those things are hardly in the same league. What's so bad about being a layabout?
The First Evil, huh? It doesn't really feel integral to this story. Angel was brought back by the spirit of Satan, or whatever? But then he isn't. So we've trotted out the worst thing just to give Angel and Buffy a chance at reconciliation? This whole episode feels pretty ominious, though. How did it seem at the time?
Faith is pretty thoughtful to bring Christmas gifts. For a hard-living runaway, I mean.
Bad news: The Angel POV Cam zooms in on the bed, then Buffy's neck, then Buffy's neck again.
Buffy ends things with a long speech. Then it snows and everything is ok. Is this supposed to be magic snow?
Once again, I seem to have trouble finding things to say about the thoughtful introspective episodes. "Look, a sex scene that turns creepy and murderous!" "Look, a discussion on when a couple should have sex!" Also, there was some sex, if someone is keeping a scorecard. But just dream sex. Oh, and Willow's parents are out of town often, which is convenient.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Some kids are dead, and Sunnydale reacts kind of like a real town might, which is to say they completely overreact by Sunnydale standards. But, that's OK because their reactions are all provoked by Hansel and Gretel, who happen to make up some kind of gestalt demon.
"Gingerbread"
Buffy, to her mother, who thinks she should experience some slaying finally: "The slaying is kind of an alone thing." Traditionally, perhaps, but not the way Buffy does it. Though, I mean, she just wants her mother not to get killed, so I'm not holding it against her.
Buffy, to her mother, post dead children: "Just try to calm down." Next scene, Buffy to Giles: "Don't tell me to calm down!" See?
Hey, since when is Amy in the gang and privy to all the secrets? And since when does anyone in Sunnydale really care about some dead people? Even dead kids? I like the Mayor getting a little concerned at the idea of the voters going on an all out anti-magic campaign.
"Neck rupture." They must have a whole seperate vocabulary inside Sunnydale hospitals.
It's a goth crackdown. So even the students are in on this? Yeah, they sure haven't seen anyone get killed by magical forces before. Hey, I wonder if Sunnydale is going to pass an ordinance banning The Cure? Or gothy bands in general? Because, here's me in Sunnydale: Willow: "Oh my God, they're burning Morrissey albums!" Simon: "Good." But I kid.
Buffy gets respect and fear from the student body? That is a new development. Entirely warrented, but new.
Ok, here's the thing. Magic is real. All sorts of mystical entities actually exist. There is more than one plain of existence. And they choose now to all freak out? Though Buffy's mom has a small point when she says that the slayer thing isn't quite working out as well as it could be. Though, she has saved the world multiple times.
Well, hey, creepy undead kids. So I guess this is all just a posession thing. Or is it the First Evil? No. But, it could very easily have been. I wonder...
I like how that one kid is holding a bottle of choloroform whose label says, simply, "Choloroform." From the makers of Bleach brand bleach.
Cordelia gets to help save the day because she's been so unrelentingly mean lately. Xander and Oz get to fall down because it is funny. Giles gets to speak German because it is funny. OK, probably not, but it made me smile for some reason. And Amy is now a rat. Was that what she was aiming for? Because it did work in the short run. Her family is unlucky when it comes to magic. And what is her father supposed to think? That she just disappeared? That's sad.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
This episode is even more sad. Buffy gets her powers taken away as part of a Watcher test that doesn't seem well thought out at all. Then Giles gets fired. As a Watcher, that is.
"Helpless"
Buffy still likes ice skating. I hate ice skating. It is awful. Oz is into it, but he likes the ice more than the skating? He could just go play with the freezer, then.
Uh oh, ominous British people are bricking up windows. And hey, it's TV's Malcolm Reed, late of Enterprise.
Giles has a crystal that hypnotizes you when you look at it. Awesome. Though, what's this? He is putting it to apparently evil purposes. Boo! Then he drugs Buffy. This surely won't have negative consequences. And Giles is a bad liar.
This particular Watcher test is a dozen centuries old? That's pretty old. I wonder how many slayers live to be 18 to take it? How old was Kendra?
I figured they were keeping the vampire in a box drugged, but I guess he needs his pills. This is a pretty sloppy operation for a 1200 year old test.
The guy who doesn't become a vampire gets chopped up badly enough to gross out Giles, eh?
Here's the thing: Buffy's powers are sapped by the drug. But, shouldn't she still have her aim? Or her fighting moves? It sure doesn't seem that way. And at the beginning she seemed to lose herself before we got any sign that she had been drugged. So what exactly is going on here?
Buffy tends to overreact, or at least express herself in a manner that could be more tactful, but here, yelling at Giles? She's pretty much totally justified.
I admire Buffy's courage here, but, she does have at least one superpowered friend who would be more than willing to help her out, and several nonsuperpowered friends who would be willing to help anyway. That would take away from the really creepy fight in the bricked up and locked house, I suppose.
After knocking vampire Watcher out, Buffy should really stake him. I mean, vampires heal quickly.
The body which sent Giles running doesn't seem to phase Buffy. She prioritizes well, and is observent. For instance, grabbing crazy vampire-formerly-in-a-box's pills? Great idea. Swapping his water with holy water? Even better. I'd think he'd notice it while swallowing, though.
And then Giles shows up only to be attacked by...who? Is that the vampire Buffy knocked out? I told you she should have staked him.
This was a pretty traumatic experience for Buffy, but she should remember that Xander, among others, wind up having to do this sort of thing fairly often. Albeit without the crushing personal betrayal.
To sum up: Crushing personal betrayal.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
I guess my only question now is, are you enjoying Buffy?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, sure. This would be a frightful amount of effort to put forth otherwise.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
It is fun and entertaining!
"Now Spike is confiding in Joyce? Huh. I wonder if this episode came about when the writers thought they might like Spike to become something other than just a villain, or if the move to make Spike something else because they liked how this episode worked?"
Apparently, when he was originally introduced, it was always planned that he'd die (like the Master, and the Mayor, and so forth). But they just loved him too much, so he left. I'm not sure when they decided to keep him around more permenantly. I'd say not even at the start of season 4.
"At this point in my notes I have written "Ooh!" but I can't remember why."
Perhaps it was when the Master first appeared? That made me go "oooh". Or maybe it was because they killed Cordelia (and quite early, too).
I think Joss said the reason Darla wasn't in the episode was because it would take away from the evil Xander-Willow double-act. But he also said that Angel probably killed her (again).
"According to the spooky and ethereal Jenny Calendar, Angel was a "drunken whoring layabout" prior to becoming a vampire. But those things are hardly in the same league. What's so bad about being a layabout?"
HIS FIRST NAME IS LIAM! I therefore beat you on the witty "he's just like me" humour-a-thon.
"Buffy ends things with a long speech. Then it snows and everything is ok. Is this supposed to be magic snow?"
Yes. I think it's suppossed to be the initial creation of the idea of "The Powers That Be", who pop up on Angel. So, yeah, magic snow that saves Angel because he has a task to do.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Xander falls in with a bad crowd who happen to be zombies, and learns an important lesson about self-reliance. Also he has sex with Faith. Meanwhile, the world is going to end, but then it doesn't.
"The Zeppo"
Buffy's experience last week has made her more concerned for Xander's well-being. But Willow is apparently more than welcome in the thick of things, even though her sole power consists of making things foggy. Other than that, things seem pretty much business as usual, despite Giles no longer working for the Watchers. (The sole line from "Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer": "You're fired.") What use do the Watchers serve again?
Xander is comically unpopular! I'm not at all sure I buy Cordelia having any knowledge at all of Zeppo Marx, though. I barely know who Zeppo Marx is. I had to look him up to get the jokes.
My problem with this episode begins right around here, more or less. To recap: There is a group of weird female demons who want to open the Hellmouth and make everything bad. Well, ok, that's common enough. But, suddenly, it is the Most Serious Threat Ever. The Sisterhood of Mean are described as being incredibly tough, though we don't really see much of that. Meanwhile, Xander has an adventure of his own that's much more comical, and the MSTE is just there for comic contrast. In theory this works, but in practice, I felt a bit cheated. It was very boy-who-cried-wolfesque. Because if this was so scary and harsh, then how worried was I supposed to be about the Judge, or the Master, or that stone demon with the big mouth?
Another example: Giles knows a spirit that sees the future? Since when? Shouldn't they be going to this thing more often? "Hey spirit, this Judge guy can't be beaten by any weapon." "Any weapon FORGED. HINT HINT." This scene seems here mostly so that Xander, fresh from participating in a zombie-raising, can have a scene where he doesn't tell Giles what's going on, even though it would make sense to do so.
Is the name of the magic store Willow walks out of "Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet?"
Xander: "Buffy will know what to do." Buffy: "I don't know what to do!" There's one in every episode.
Despite not thinking that these two stories mesh very well, I really like The Adventures of Xander, though some of the jokes depend on him being painfully slow on the uptake. "Wait a minute...they're not baking any cake." I still laughed, of course. I also kind of enjoyed the apocalypse going on in the background while he was busy with important things like foiling zombie troublemakers. I don't know.
In my notes, from the scene where Xander chases a zombie down a hallway and around a corner only to come running back, zombie close behind, both pursued by the Sisterhood of Mean: "Han Solo!" Because, see, that scene is my favorite part of Star Wars, and quite possibly the pinnacle of George Lucas' creative career.
Despite all this talk of Xander not being up to the challenge of saving the world (which I think is largely fair), he seems to do pretty well fighting for his life. A lot better than I would do, I'm sure.
Xander has adapted, Borg-like, to Cordelia's powers of belittlement. Good for him.
Lessons I learned: I am not as smart about movies as the stereotypically shallow girl, nor as tough as the stereotypically nerdy boy. Thanks a lot, TV.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Buffy decides to be more like Faith for reasons I'm not very clear on, a new Watcher arrives, and Faith kills the Deputy Mayor, though it is an accident, and she doesn't know who he is at the time.
"Bad Girls"
These are some oddly dressed vampires. And they have swords! I guess that explains the vaguely knightlike get-up. And good for them. Vampires should carry weapons more often.
It's another peak inside the Mayor's closet of evil...and sanitary napkins. Huh.
I don't really see why Buffy should feel obligated to do anything the Watchers say. They haven't been very trustworthy, and it isn't like she volunteered. I see they must teach that eyeglass-removal move at Watcher school.
Faith wanders into the library and then wanders back out. This is during school hours. So she's officially attending now? I wonder what the other students make of her. Buffy, for instance, apparently has a bit of respect from the rest of the student body, for her various acts of heroism. What about Faith? Is she just the weird girl who seems to be from Boston despite clearly enunciating her R's?
Buffy should have searched the crypt for this magic amulet in the daytime. That might lower the chances of being surprised by a group of vampires. And are they calling these guys the Illuminati? That's kind of odd.
Buffy, on the fight against large numbers of sword-wielding vampires: "I don't think I'm explaining it well." Xander: "You're explaining it a lot though." I approve of this joke. I do not, however, approve of Xander's very TV eye twitch whenever Faith's name is mentioned.
Now Buffy is just sneaking right out of class to go on slaying adventures with Faith? That doesn't seem very wise. Now they're at a rave! Is it an evil rave? No, apparently not. Still, that is a kind of weird choice of imagery. Look, they are cutting class! Now they are dancing closely with boys! They are bad girls! Right.
Balthazar is one fat demon. I presume what's going on here is that the Mayor beat him up, or whatever, and kicked his vampire society out of town. Was he always this fat? He seems to have magic, uh, grabbing powers. I thought maybe he was a vampire himself, like in the movie Blade. But apparently not. Anyway, what I'm getting at is, was he crippled as a result, spending the next century eating and not getting any exercise? Or is he a slob demon or something? He doesn't seem very happy.
Now Faith and Buffy are breaking into a well-armed sports store located right across the street from the current abandoned warehouse/demon headquarters. To get weapons? But the library is full of weapons! Buffy has a whole crate herself, at home. Then the cops show up. Good for them, I suppose. But, hey cops, right next door there's a crazy murderous gang. And your boss even wants them wiped out. Incidently, if I was the Mayor, I'd think about having a special team of police officers that was made up of vampires or something. They could go around and take care of things without having to be all sneaky and covert about it. I mean, other than having to operate at night. But I'm sure, in Sunnydale, an explanation for that could be made up.
So, Buffy is now known to police not only as that girl once wanted for murder, but as that girl who was in a squad car just before it mysteriously crashed. Aren't the cops going to follow up on this? I guess not.
The lesson here is, it is really unhealthy to be lurking in the shadows in an alley in Sunnydale at night, no matter who you are. The Deputy Mayor was sort of evil, though, I think. So at least there's that.
Then there's a denouement, which features a fight and Balthazar getting electrocuted and some nice sword work from Giles, but I didn't write anything down about it.
Faith is on a bad track.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
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Spoilers for last episode of BtVS
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Dawn: "Looks like the hellmouth is officially closed for business."
Giles: "There's another one in Cleveland... not to spoil the moment."
[ May 20, 2003, 02:25 PM: Message edited by: Spike ]
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: Another example: Giles knows a spirit that sees the future? Since when? Shouldn't they be going to this thing more often? "Hey spirit, this Judge guy can't be beaten by any weapon." "Any weapon FORGED. HINT HINT." This scene seems here mostly so that Xander, fresh from participating in a zombie-raising, can have a scene where he doesn't tell Giles what's going on, even though it would make sense to do so.
They get annoyed if you call on them to often.
quote: Xander is comically unpopular! I'm not at all sure I buy Cordelia having any knowledge at all of Zeppo Marx, though. I barely know who Zeppo Marx is. I had to look him up to get the jokes.
I think that became semi popular slang. I don't know what brought it on. I'm a fan of the Brothers, so I knew about Zeppo and Gummo. Gummo is another brother, he didn't make the jump from Vaudeville to moives with the others.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Evil spoiler person! Now you have made me afraid to come in to this thread, lest my eyes wander upwards and be tainted. Curse you.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I dodged a bullet! (Because I am not watching current Buffy, to avoid knowing everything before it happens. So I will not see the end of the show until either it is released on DVD or repeated on FX.) Incidently, I've got season one on DVD now, so I guess I could go back and do the first two or three episodes I didn't write about.
This time: Buffy and Faith pretend they don't know anything about the death of the Deputy Mayor (whose body Faith didn't do a very good job of disposing of, seeing as how it was found just one episode later), Xander's unluckiness continues to be magnified, and Faith turns evil for real.
"Consequences"
Wesley sends Faith and Buffy to investigate the Deputy Mayor's death. But, are slayers necessarily good detectives? I mean, it might be part of their general education, and Buffy has certainly made it a part of her routine. The thing is, investigating seems like something the Watchers should do. (I'm aware of my inconsistant capitalization of slayer and watcher.) It at least gives them a reason for existing. At any rate, Faith and Buffy are on the case.
Angel, on the other hand, has apparently had plenty of time to work on his detective skills, not to mention his hiding in the shadow skill. I suspect that will come in handy next year.
Hang on, after breaking into City Hall and overhearing the Mayor say something fairly typical for mayors to say, Buffy knows he's evil? I don't get it.
Giles is unconvinced by Faith. Good. She hardly seems trustworthy. Ominious focus on Wesley. Why is it "Giles" but not "Wyndam-Pryce?" Or did I just answer my own question?
Oh, I get it. They know Mr. Trick is evil, and saw him with the Mayor. Ok, that makes sense. Though, when did Buffy or Faith get a good look at Mr. Trick?
Joss Whedon, in some interview somewhere, mentions that whenever they want to make a point of something being bad, they have it happen to Willow. Poor Willow. Though, I mean, come on, surely you realized that he wasn't the clearest thinker. Anyway, Xander means well, at least, though obviously his attempt to have a dialogue with Faith is doomed.
See? Also, kinky. Also, when did Angel get invited to Faith's room?
At least Angel does a better job of chaining up Faith than Buffy did chaining up Angel. Though, Angel did proceed to help her out with, what was it, Dr. Jekyll? So I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
Boy, these Watchers sure are on the ball. Their elite teams of slayer-detainers should get some better training. And their vans should be more slayer-resistant. Oh well, it isn't like they've had 1200 years of experience or anything.
Mr. Trick's plan to kill the slayers doesn't seem quite up to his usual standard. I bet he figured he'd get to stick around at least as long as the Mayor. Oh well. And now Faith is going to take his place? Uh oh. Though, I suspect she'll be a little less effective a liason to the vampire community. Or will she? I guess she can be persuasive.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Vampire Willow from the alternate universe several episodes ago shows up in Sunnydale to wreak havoc thanks to Anya's attempt to get her necklace back. I don't have many notes about this one. It's quite good, though.
"Doppelgangland"
Anya is back! I suppose, at this point, were I watching when I should have, I wouldn't be very excited, but Anya is one of my favorite characters, thanks to seeing later seasons first.
What's with Giles sucking on that lollypop? That's really kind of weird. In fact, it seems to me that lollypops show up a lot in this show.
The Mayor: "I'm a family man." Is he? In the sense of having one? That's still living? Faith's new apartment isn't bad. And she has a Playstation. The only game people I know play on the Playstation these days is Dance Dance Revolution. Which would make for an odd scene.
My lack of notes is going to be acute here. Lots of this episode can be summed up with: "Wacky doppleganger hijinks!"
Willow, on finding her friends extremely greatful to see her, having been laboring under the impression that she was now a vampire, and thus both dead and evil, a fact which Willow is not yet aware of: "Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did you?" And she says it so sweetly. Later, her wave to Oz is funny.
Willow gets to hit someone! The good Willow, I mean. Vampire Willow has been hitting things for a good while now.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Buffy and Giles and Angel come up with an elaborate (and painful) way to find out what Faith is really up to, though we the viewers do not find that out until the end. Meanwhile the Mayor and Faith come up with their own plan, involving the removal of Angel's soul.
"Enemies"
Say, what was the Deputy Mayor doing in that alley anyway? The Mayor wondered about that a few episodes back, but it doesn't look like we're in for an answer. When that fat demon first showed up it was implied that the Mayor was going to try and maneuver Buffy and Faith into killing it. But it doesn't appear that's what was going on.
Another example of a not really evil demon here with the guy who wants to sell some books. Everyone acts shocked now, but this sort of thing is commonplace later. About these Books of Ascension; are they something the Mayor needs to do what he's planning, or are they just about what he's planning to do? Because it seems awfully convenient for them to turn up just when he needs them.
See, this demon even has a pet fish! Or, I guess, possibly a snack he's saving for later.
Once again, someone walks past Angel's mansion and gets a wrong impression. I wonder if Faith is just performing evil reconnaisance here, or if she really is kind of confused?
Evil recon it is, then. Look, the Mayor summoned one of the characters from Diablo II.
I've seen this episode before, by the way. So I know what the twist is. At this point, I'm curious, who knows about the secret good-guy plan here? The look shared between Giles and Buffy suggest they do, at least.
The Mayor seems to think that when Buffy dies a new slayer will be called.
The soul-stealing effect is pretty good, as flashly light shows go. Compared to earlier seasons, at least.
Joyce knows that Angel is a vampire now? And she apparently knows that he's an OK guy again as well? When was this information shared?
Faith has taken to evil pretty quickly, with the taunting and such.
After Angel's trickery (not actually losing his soul) is revealed, Faith and Buffy fight, and then before Faith runs away she kisses Buffy on the forehead? Huh.
One thing I'm confused about: The spell to remove Angel's soul didn't work because the guy (demon?) that the Mayor summoned happened to owe Giles a favor. Was this just a happy coincidence? When did Giles and Angel and Buffy hatch their plan? They're really lucky this worked out. Or is there only one creepy magician around who can remove the souls from cursed vampires?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Something happened somewhere, and I lost the ability to sleep. I suspect ruin lies ahead. Oh well.
Today, Buffy develops a case of demonic telepathy. (Not in the sense that the telepathy is evil, though it isn't good, but that it comes from a demon.) Via her power to read minds she saves Jonathan from suicide and helps Xander save lots of other students from poisoned Jello.
"Earshot"
It does not take Buffy long to tell Giles about her hand being (apparently) itchy from where she got some demon blood on it. That's good. All too often stories are propelled, maybe not so much in this show, but on TV in general, by characters not saying things when it would make sense to say them.
Oz, to Xander: "You're a complex person, aren't you?" Not really. Hey, wait, it seems that every person to ever talk about this episode on the web somewhere made this joke. Bah!
Now Buffy can read minds. It sure feels like it took a long time for what's apparently the centerpiece of the plot to show up, but we're only fifteen minutes or so in. Curious.
Buffy is not altogether happy reading the minds of her male classmates. I was going to say, I really doubt someone like that would want to know what was going on, mentally, around her. Though, really, I think telepathy is probably the worst thing imaginable. I am already certain that random passersby hate and despise me. The last thing I'd need would be to prove the people who seem to like me do too. A curse, I tell you!
Buffy goes to visit Angel and nearly gets him burned to a crisp by not taking into account the fact that it is daytime. First of all, he should put up a door, at least, between him and the sun, instead of just a curtain. Secondly, he should invest in an anteroom.
Vampires are immune to telepathy, huh?
Hey, Willow's in charge. I love scenes where Willow gets to give orders and tell people what to do, and then look kind of sheepish about it, and then insist they do it anyway.
This scene where Buffy climbs up to the clock tower via super gymnastics in front of everyone has a definite era-changing feel to it.
So, Jonathan climbed up to the highest point on campus, with a good view of the courtyard, with what looks like a decently-powered rifle with a nice-sized scope on it, intending only to shoot himself? With a rifle? That's going to be an awkward shot. This is supposed to be a bit of misdirection setting us up for the next scene, which is very funny. But it doesn't really hold together for me. I guess we could imagine that this is the only gun he has access to, but later events make it clear that Jonathan has other abilities at his disposal. (Or do those only come about post-high school? I suppose I'll find out soon enough.)
Really, this scene, where Xander comically stumbles on the school cook pouring rat poison into the food, should be too Simpsons to work here, but it does. I am a definite fan of awkward pauses. Then she comes at him with a cleaver, though he has enough to time to reenact the ending of Soylent Green. And Buffy saves the day.
Oh, one other thing. I think this is the first time we see a vampire running around in daylight underneath a blanket with smoke rising from it, when Angel rushes to Buffy's house.
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
quote: Oh, one other thing. I think this is the first time we see a vampire running around in daylight underneath a blanket with smoke rising from it, when Angel rushes to Buffy's house.
They did that in the movie DUSK TO DAWN and it was priceless.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, thanks to Ms. Loudmouth in class today I now know what happened in the series finale despite my best efforts of avoidance. So, I am in a funk.
Anyway, uh, the Mayor gets a magic box of death spiders, Buffy steals it, Faith kidnaps Willow, and they make an exchange.
"Choices"
So Buffy has an aunt with family in Illinois, eh? I will remember this, show!
Xander is looking into a post-high school career as a beatnik.
The Mayor has entire armies of vampires working for him, apparently. I wonder if these are, like, long-term employees, or does he just hire them off the street every week? I wonder because, we don't get much insight into vampire culture on this show, and I wonder if the Mayor's vampires were at odds with the Master's vampires. Come to think of it, the Mayor was around back when the Master was trapped. I wonder if he had anything to do with it? Anyway, this particular vampire employee looks unsettled when Faith cuts the hand off the courier she just killed.
Xander suggests that Cordelia's personality would make her bad at college interviews, but I'd think she would interview pretty well, really. She must have some popularity-gathering skills. And she got into colleges anyway, so take that!
Wesley has a van? I wonder if it's the same one they tried to haul Faith away in.
Despite getting the chance to make fun of Wesley's suggestion that they synchronize their watches by not having any watches, they should probably get some for the future. Synchronized watches would come in handy. Plus, it's fun.
Where did Angel get that fancy winch and harness setup?
This is all very tense, thus proving the Willow-in-harm theory. Oz is terse yet...well, not really violent, but intense, let's say.
I think it would take a lot of force to put a pencil through someone's heart like that, even if you went in through the back and between the ribs. Though, probably less than it took to put a similar pencil into a tree a few episodes back. Willow should grab a few more pencils to take with her.
Hey, Willow, now isn't the best time to be reading. I told you.
So I guess the Mayor did have a family, or at least a wife. I wonder if he was evil from the start, or just sort of evil at first, growing more so over time?
Me, on a cop being mauled by a demon spider from the Mayor's magic box: That's one vote lost. See, because this scene is all about "normal" characters, namely Snyder, finding out the Mayor isn't what he appears to be. Which causes me to wonder just what Snyder knows. He would seem to know the truth about vampires, based on comments a year ago. And he's been in close contact with the Mayor. But he didn't seem to expect the Mayor to have a magic box full of demon spiders, and he doesn't seem particularly on his side on this issue, though he doesn't really take a side, choosing instead to just stand there and be scared, which is an understandable choice.
And Cordelia has a mystery job. Well, the job isn't a mystery. But why does she have it, and why does she look so glum about it? Stay tuned! Is what they would say, if this was being shown in 1966, or something.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
There is a prom, threatened by a not all that threatening villain and his slightly more threatening hell hounds. Buffy saves it. Also, Angel breaks up with her.
"The Prom"
Honestly, brick up every window in your home, Angel. You survived for 200+ years like this?
Anya! "Men are evil. Will you go with me?" Interestingly, she implies that this is her first time as a human.
This scene with Joyce and Angel discussing the future of Angel and Buffy is every man's nightmare. Or so TV has led me to believe. Awkward. Only it isn't, really, because despite not being very happy about it, everyone seems to agree that Buffy and Angel have some problems when it comes to happy relationships.
Angel's dream stars the guy from Mathnet as the priest! I loved that show. Then Buffy burns up in the sunlight. Impressively.
Did people who were watching this at the time know that Angel was getting a show, or did it just seem like he was leaving for good?
Xander discovers Cordelia's secret. But would the IRS take her clothes, as she implies? Fortunately, I don't know. And then, a fortuitous monster attack!
How did Cordelia get this security tape, exactly? She's just a salesperson, and her boss doesn't seem to like her. I enjoy Xander explaining why they can't zoom in on things.
The werewolf looking thing is a hell hound, which is a demon soldier bred for the wars of something or other, huh? Someone could (I don't go so far as to say should) write a Secret History of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, detailing all these demon wars and vampire crusades and such, and why no one seems to remember them, or remembers them wrongly.
Sunnydale's butchers/meat professionals are probably experts on vampires.
Anya's stories aren't very fun.
What exactly is Wesley doing at the dance? What is he doing at the school, for that matter? Did he get a job there?
Jonathan has a pretty hot date for...well, Jonathan. Would they even let him back in school?
This guy, with his plan to ruin prom because no one wanted to go with him; this guy should be Andrew, for continuity's sake. Or did Andrew go to Sunnydale High?
Buffy gets recognition! That was very nice of everybody.
Oh, also, buying Cordelia's dress for her was a very nice gesture on Xander's part.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
The end of "The Prom" made me sniffly. And possibly blustery red too, but that's likely to happen anyway.
I knew Angel was getting his own show. I think it was pretty much common knowledge (amoungst nerds at least), since the beginning of season 3.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I enjoy this thread.
A friend of mine -- a big Buffy fan, she has the soundtrack: "It could be bunnies -- what if they aren't just cute as everyone supposes, they got them hoppy little legs and twitchy little noses, and what's will all the carrots? What do they need such good eye-sight for anyways? Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies! Er, or maybe midgets?" memorized -- wrote a 10-page paper for her Literary Research & Crit class on "From Brains to Blonde: The Evolution of the Vampire Hunter", beginning with Van Helsing and tracing up to Buffy. It was a good paper to read, very enjoyable. I learned a lot about the show.
Anyway. Carry on.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Anya is the greatest character ever.
Hmm, with Buffy over, and Enterprise looking for some new characters...
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:This guy, with his plan to ruin prom because no one wanted to go with him; this guy should be Andrew, for continuity's sake.
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Minor Season 6 spoiler
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Funny that you mention it. He's Andrew's brother. And yes, he was at Sunnydale High. Once he summoned flying monkeys to attack the school.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Damn it! I wasn't logged in, apparently, and my nice long "Graduation Day" entry is lost. Maybe later.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I picked up Season One on DVD. I spent the last week watching the episodes in order. Watched "Prophecy Girl" tonight -- wow. All I gotta say is, two classic moments: first, enroute to the high school, the Nerf Herder theme playing, Buffy, flanked by Angel and Xander ... and two, the Master's reaction "But ... but, you're dead!"
(PS - this isn't an attempt to copy Sol's nice little style, but he didn't do any season 1, so fuck him).
(PSS - I didn't realize before the Buffy is actually the same Buffy from the movie. I sort of thought that the movie had been "brushed under the rug" and that the premier featured Buffy learning for the first time that she was a Vampire Slayer. Instead, no, apparently this show picks shortly after the movie ... wow).
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay: (PSS - I didn't realize before the Buffy is actually the same Buffy from the movie. I sort of thought that the movie had been "brushed under the rug" and that the premier featured Buffy learning for the first time that she was a Vampire Slayer. Instead, no, apparently this show picks shortly after the movie ... wow).
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Sort of. If you notice it also knocks two years off of her age, and mentions that she burned down the gym, which she didn't do in the movie (I don't think).
The official line is that the show is a sequel to Joss Whedon's original movie script, rather than the movie itself. So it roughly follows it, but some details are different.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Is there any where to GET Joss' original script? It's been so long since I saw the movie, I had forgotten quite a bit about it.
(WOOHOO! Got Season 2 on ebay for $41 including shipping ... )
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Hey, I thought I had. Hmm. I've got the first, um, three seasons on DVD now as well. So I guess I could go back and do the first season. Plus "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" and "Go Fish," which I missed, thanks to FX.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Graduation Day, Part 1"
For real this time. Uh, the summary is: everyone gets ready to graduate.
At my high school, we didn't get our yearbooks until the following year. Or, at least, we didn't for the last one. Which is the only one I bought. Because I edited it. Plus, you know, I figured I probably should. Anyway, only two people signed it, since it was later. Addendum! This is more or less what I wrote in my first attempt, but I've been looking at the book since, and I realize that my friend Perla somehow managed to write in the book. Was she there the day I got it? I no longer recall.
When the Mayor is tidying up Faith's apartment, it seems he makes a nice pile out of the comic books on Faith's table. Comic books, I ask? Really?
I wonder what Faith is supposed to get out of this Ascension thing? She gets to be in charge of daily operations once the Mayor is a demon? That doesn't seem like a job Faith would really like, in the long run. Still, she seems to have taken to the evil lieutenant job pretty quickly. So who knows.
I think it could be argued that Buffy has a moral obligation to tell her classmates of the upcoming apocalypse. They already know about what's going in town, in general I mean, more or less. But her first reaction seems to be the usual "Let's solve this problem ourselves." (Um, let's pretend that I have no idea what's going to happen next.)
What's with the fencing in the library? What's with Wesley there, for that matter. I realize I have asked this before. But not even a token explanation! Everything does sound cooler when accompanied with the flourish of a rapier, at least.
Other things I've wondered about: What does Snyder know about what's going to happen? He would seem to have known Buffy was the slayer for at least this entire year. He knows the Mayor has supernatural interests. But does he know he means to turn into a giant demon and eat everybody? You know what I'd like to see? Snyder teaming up with Buffy to stop the Mayor.
Giles sticks his sword into the Mayor with little warning and to much applause from me. I mean, not really, of course, because that would be the dumbest thing imaginable. But, good job. Though, would a fencing blade go that deep into a human body?
The stage here, or at least I presume it's constructed and not a real location, where Buffy and Angel leave the dead professor's apartment (I don't know what to tell you if you aren't watching these or haven't seen them. Uh, Faith killed a professor earlier.) is kind of odd. There's a crosswalk just kind of sitting there, far from any visible intersection, and after we see a car slowly pass behind them there are people walking right down the center of the street. Is Sunnydale large enough to have those weird streets that the hippies and college students claim for their own?
How did Faith know that Angel would go with Buffy to investigate the professor's death? I suppose she may not know they've broken up. Has she been up there since she killed him (barring the scene where she went back to report that she had done so), waiting?
Anya has a car?
Goodbye, Watcher's Council. Ha!
You know, Angel wouldn't necessarily have to drink all of Faith's blood, would he? Though I guess Buffy is set on killing her.
Hey, she is reading comic books! So much for my suspension of disbelief.
Climactic Slayer Showdown. Good thing slayers all have long hair and wear it loosely. And the winner is...
Buffy. Well, duh. But so much for bringing Faith's body back for Angel, thanks to Faith's spitefulness (Though, Buffy just killed her. She can't really be expected to be eager to help.) and a luckily-timed truck passing below. Time for plan B! Uh, there is a plan B, right Buffy?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Simon,
Two things.
One: I very much enjoy this thread.
Two: This thread has inspired me to begin following Buffy: The Vampire Slayer on DVD ... hence, my purchasing of Season One, and my recent win of Season Two on eBay. Sadly, I am moving in a week, so I asked the seller to delay shipping it to make sure I'm in my new digs when it arrives.
Three: I would very much enjoy season one commentaries.
Oh, gosh, that's three things, isn't it? Alas.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I'm glad you like it. Anything season one related will probably have to wait until the end of the school year (which is, luckily, I guess, not far off). Though they may take awhile to do, since I have no idea what I'm going to be doing this summer. For the same reason, I might not be able to get to season five until I can buy a copy for myself. (Season four, I think, I've got taped, since I've got this huge backlog of episodes I've recorded but not yet watched.) Incidently, I don't suppose anyone is looking for a charming freelance writer who needs lots of free time to complete his senior thesis?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
And if they are, do they want to hire someone to stand around and talk about cartoons? And occasionally try to fix computers?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Graduation Day, Part 2"
Buffy's just leaving the knife out on Faith's balcony? Or, I guess, not really a balcony, since there seems to be no way to get to it, normally. So, out on the roof, then. What if the police find it?
Because, you see, the Mayor is completely serious for the first time, over the apparent fight and disapparence of Faith. What if he brings both his covert vampire enforcers and the Sunnydale PD to bear in tracking Buffy down? Not that either seem to be the most competant of institutions. But that's the necessities of television for you.
Buffy's plan B: "Drink me." First of all, "drink" is just an odd, if accurate, way to put it. Very Alice in Wonderland. Which I suppose was intentional. Then we've got the odd sexual allusions. Which are surely also intentional, because, well, wait and see. Who's keeping that fire in Angel's mansion going, incidently?
I suppose this blood drinking scene is contrasted to the more usual kiss and pan away applied to Oz and Willow last episode. Because they have graduated from their virginity, you see! It is like, layers and stuff.
Angel does look a bit strung out when bringing Buffy to the hospital. I wonder who he's calling first? The library, I suppose.
Hey, Faith is alive. But that fact doesn't seem to cheer the Mayor up much, because she is in a coma. Doesn't he know any healing spells? Maybe he'll take care of that after the ascension. I'd think he'd want Faith transfered to a hospital in some other city, though, so in case he kills all the doctors in town during said ascension she won't die. His attempt to smother Buffy is casual enough to suggest he's done this before. And his invulnerability doesn't prevent Angel from throwing him around a bit. Good.
(Side note: I wasn't at all sure that smother looked right there, so I put it through Google, as I do from time to time, because it is not a bad spellchecker. And, anyway, it seems enough websites with the word smother on them somewhere are pornographic to warrant one of those Google "mature content" advisors. Huh. Also, ew.)
Xander is lucky that Angel doesn't hit him.
Wait, what's this? A prophetic dream? No...it appears to be slayer telepathy. Wait, a slayer mindmeld! This is unexpected.
Buffy has another plan, which involves recruiting all the extras who've gotten lines over the past three years. There's Percy, and Jonathan, and...Larry, I think he's called. And Harmony. That's about it.
Half a season's worth of romantic build up leads to one really awkward kissing attempt. Incidently, though I knew what was going to happen, more or less, the first time I saw this, I really didn't bother to think about just what Wesley and Cordelia were doing in the library. Foreshadowing. Also good, post-failed kiss: Wesley: "Well, I'll drop you a line when I get back." Cordelia: "That'd be neat." I just like the way she says neat.
So it seems Buffy has gone ahead and told her class what's going to happen. I wonder what it took to convince them?
Hey, Willow and Oz, there's no time for love. I was thinking "Hey, this is a great spot for the Indiana Jones line when I write this up," but then I thought that would be too obvious. You can add it in yourself if you want.
One thing about the show that genuinely surprises me is that Sarah Michelle Gellar seems to be a really good actress. Who would have thought? (Because, what has she been in? A Scream? A few of the Scream-inspired spinoffs? That movie about the mean kids? Scooby Doo?) Here I'm thinking mostly about the scene where she realizes that Angel still intends to leave town, despite everything that happened earlier.
Well, it's graduation time. But where are the families? All I see is students.
This is probably not a revelation new to this episode, but I hadn't really thought much about the Mayor's history in relation to Sunnydale. So he founded the town, then? What was there before? And he was the first mayor, I suppose. Has he been reelected ever since? He's Richard Wilkins III, I believe. I'm not sure if three generations is enough time to span 1899 and 1999 without raising too much suspicion, but it seems possible. That explains the vampire-compliant sewer system, anyway. Also, I wonder if the Mayor was the one responsible for foiling the Master's plan the first time? It hardly does him any good if some ancient vampire king comes along and takes over the world before he gets a chance to ascend, does it?
Oh, there are the parents. You couldn't really see that section, earlier.
"Now!" This is surely included in a promotional trailer for the show, somewhere.
Xander's role in this fight is very Army of Darkness.
So much for Larry. And Snyder. Which I'm not that happy about. What did he expect to happen? I think Snyder should have gotten a different death. Somehow. If he had to die. Still, it's kind of neat. And Harmony. The scene where the vampires start up the stairs only to be confronted by an army of angry high school students feels very epoch-making. I wonder if Percy was killed and I didn't notice?
Hey, I thought that Cordelia and Wesley were just grabbing Giles' books, but it looks like they managed to get all the books, demon-related or not. At least, in the sort of foyer area of the library. It's implied that most of the books are through that door in the back, I think. Anyway, good for them. Bad for the Mayor. Huge explosion, which, according to Marti Noxon, made the show no longer welcome in Torrence, California for awhile, because of the noise.
Hooray for good. Maybe I should just stop here for awhile, since this all sort of mirrors my upcoming graduation from college. I mean, minus the demons and the explosions and the fighting and the deaths. Plus I don't actually get my degree for a few more months. I guess maybe it more closely mirrors Oz's aborted graduation from last year. Which is to say, a graduation that isn't, and that's all offscreen. Anyway, I watched this one at a particular resonant time, is what I'm saying.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Good for you. I feel your...er...melancholy?
I seem to recall that Percy isn't dead.
Now watch Angel!
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: Wait, what's this? A prophetic dream?
Anytime Buffy and Faith are in a dream together, pay attention.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Yes. "Little sister's coming", I think. Less cute though that next season's "Be back before dawn" comment.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Buffy goes to college, just as I am leaving it. Synchronous! She fights some vampires that seem a lot like the vampires from the movie, or would if I had ever seen it.
"The Freshmen"
Willow frowns on Buffy choosing her classes late, but as it happens I have never chosen my classes on time. Ever. This is not really a thing to be proud of, I guess.
It has been a busy summer for vampire activity? Shouldn't things have gotten pretty quiet after the death of the Mayor? Unless, I guess, there has been a huge power struggle. Which there should be. I will be expecting such.
Normally vampires seem to love attacking the slayer, but this one takes off after seeing the crossbow and crosses and stakes and whatnot. Though, really, he could have grabbed Buffy pretty easily.
Introducing: New settings! A campus! Assorted buildings! My first day of college, that is, real college, was spent wandering around in a daze too. And this is not a particularly large campus. I don't think.
You know, this library is very tall, but it doesn't seem to have all that many books in it, despite Willow's excitement. And then Buffy says it would be a good place to hold the Nuremburg rallies? That's an odd thing to say.
Least realistic dorm room ever. It's bigger than Buffy's real room, and she's an only child living in a pretty sizable house with just her mother. I won't comment on Celine Dion as a symbol of horror, due to its obviousness.
Buffy, in class, being dressed down by a jerky professor. This feels very odd. Is it a dream? I guess not. This still feels really odd. Who hired this guy?
Buffy, after meeting twitchy guy whose name I don't recall (Eddie?) but suspect it won't matter because being left alone by the slayer at night is never good: "I've never had a security blanket. Unless you count Mr. Pointy." Yikes. And, yes, vampires. Called it.
Vampire thieves, no less. That's new. I guess dorm rooms don't count as private spaces, which could prove to be a problem in the future. These vampires are really goofy. Do they just hang around on campus all the time?
Giles has a lady friend. Good for him. She calls him Ripper, but doesn't seem to know about the slayer. Interesting.
The lead college vampire's name is Sunday? Weird. And she beats up Buffy, while her gang of 80s vampires look on. I get that Buffy is supposed to be feeling alone and out of place. Do I ever. But this Sunday lady is tougher than Angel? Or Spike? I'm not so sure about that. I like how Buffy holds her arm carefully throughout the rest of the episode.
Xander! Finally. I suspect we are supposed to feel relived like Buffy does. And I do. Because I am sappy. Now things can get back to normal.
Thumbs up to Buffy falling through the window. Though she really should have just been sitting on the roof looking through it. Plus, yet another vampire home with a big skylight.
Buffy is not so wounded as Sunday was led to believe. Hooray for trickery. And then Giles shows up, but how did he know where they were?
Ominous covert ops team on campus. Huh.
Oh, yeah, and some guy named Riley got hit by some books, and is a TA and stuff. I'm sure he'll never be back. Extras get speaking parts all the time.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Buffy's roommate is hard to live with, and Buffy acts kind of oddly, and her friends act even more oddly, and the whole thing leaves me very confused.
"Living Conditions"
Kathy wants to keep a log of all calls, to assist in dividing up the bill. That's not a bad idea, really, but who pays phone bills in college? I don't even have long distance. And who's Buffy going to call that doesn't live in Sunnydale? Angel, I suppose. Which leads me, for no reason, to ponder the following: Just what happened to Cordelia? Ok, I realize that there's supposed to be this spinoff show on too, but I couldn't watch it at the moment even if I tried. The least they could do is tell us where she's off to and what she's doing. I'll be waiting.
Kathy, about something I don't remember: "What the blender?" Excuse me? Did she just say "what the blender?" That's the oddest thing to say in a show filled with odd things said.
Giles suspects Buffy is having a hard time living with her roommate because she is an only child. Identification time. Though I've had pretty good luck with roommates, and try to be sharing and forgiving.
What's with that sliding latch on the closet? It's designed to keep something in, it seems, which is kind of creepy. I am all over the music thing, though. The number of times I've shared musical tastes with a roommate are rare, and I've only had three of them. For instance, there is a (very low level) music clash between Pavement, which I'm listening to, and the radio, which my roommate is listening to.
Also identifiable: fridge space issues. I don't have much to put in the fridge, usually, which works out because it is always filled with lots and lots of water bottles. Who drinks bottled water? Everyone but me, it seems. Also, window issues. I tend to like things a bit warmer than others, it seems. Though right now it is way too warm.
Uh, but back to the show. It is kind of weird for Giles to be in this student lounge. The Student Union Building here is way in the middle of campus, far from any parking space.
Kathy peels her hardboiled egg the same way Xander does. I've never seen anyone do it that way before. It's kind of odd.
Ok, I don't understand this episode at all. Are we supposed to actually think Buffy is losing her mind? Her friends do, on what seems like very little evidence. And now Buffy is going to kill her because she must be a demon? And now Xander and Oz and Giles are trapping Buffy with a net? This is nuts.
So Kathy is a demon, then. Who just wanted to go to college? Aside from liking Cher, she really doesn't seem all that evil. Sure, she was stealing Buffy's soul to hide from her demon counterparts. But who wants to live in a hell dimension? Lots of damage to the dorm room in this fight. And she gets sucked into hell.
Now Willow moves in and eats Buffy's sandwich, leading to a closeup of Buffy's eye twitching, and then my tape cuts off. I presume that was just about the end, and that Buffy doesn't kill Willow.
Eh.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: For instance, there is a (very low level) music clash between Pavement, which I'm listening to, and the radio, which my roommate is listening to.
Notice my complete lack of surprise that I have never heard of the band that Simon is listening to.
Er, unless he is listening to the pavement. Or something.
Since you aren't getting Angel, I feel the need to point out STUPIDLY CUTE crossover. You know in "The Freshmen", when Buffy gets a call, and there's no voice? That was Angel. Yes. Everyone feel smug.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Joyce knows that Angel is a vampire now? And she apparently knows that he's an OK guy again as well? When was this information shared?
In "Lover's Walk".
quote:Or is there only one creepy magician around who can remove the souls from cursed vampires?
$ Angel Season 4 $
There's another one of these magicians, who appears in "Awakening".
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: "Faith, Hope & Trick"
Is there a character named Hope running around that I missed?
Yes, Buffy's boyfriend at this time was Scott Hope.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
quote: Regular Boy Scott Hope: Let's go to a Buster Keaton festival, Buffy. Ok, first of all, Hope! Now I get it.
I write these in real time.
Actually, that's a lie. I make notes in real time, which I turn into posts at a (sometimes much) later date. But I try to make the post look as if it was written in real time.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
After a bit of delay, here's an episode about wacky Halloween events. Keep in mind that it's been, oh, almost a month since I saw this episode, and so I don't really know what I'm talking about in my notes.
"Fear, Itself"
Missed another episode, I think. Incidently, I also failed to record "Hush," so so much for that. I guess the DVDs for season four are out now...
But anyway, it seems lots of stuff happened last time that I missed out on. Anya is back and Buffy and that Parker guy now have a "history." All right, whatever. Anya!
Halloween guy gets mad at Buffy for hitting him after he jumped out of some bushes and shouted at her? What did he expect? And in Sunnydale. Incidently, I'll bet the people who get UC Sunnydale instead of, say, UC Santa Cruz are pretty disappointed. Because of the death rate, you see.
Giles is into Halloween. This is something that will amuse me throughout the episode.
On the one hand, I guess it makes sense for people in Sunnydale to be playing around with magic, because it is so available. On the other hand, I'd think it would make sense to avoid witchy symbols in Sunnydale, because of the demons. But what do I know.
"This school is lacking nice professors," is what I've got written here. Uh, did Buffy have some sort of spat with, uh, what's her name, that Walsh lady?
I'm not sure I see why demons don't like running around on Halloween. It isn't a rule or anything, it seems, because this is the second time we've seen that they can if they want to. Giles says it is because Halloween is too "crass." Demons aren't crass?
Joyce: "Your father loves spending time with you." Oh yeah? Since when? Then she says that she's had trouble making friends since moving to Sunnydale. Possibly because they were all killed by zombies. And she knows Ted was a robot, now? I guess maybe Buffy filled her in on what was really going on those first two years after she came back home.
Uh oh, rubber spiders becoming real spiders. This sort of thing happens a lot. I'd carry around lots of model cars and fake money if I were in Sunnydale, just in case. Though they'd probably turn into evil cars and money.
I'm a little confused about this next section, so I'll just reprint it here: "Ominous spec ops love Halloween. Dead girl? From what? Undead! Bats aren't scary." I don't think that last was a judgment of the effects. It's just that bats are misunderstood.
Anya is in the Flaming Lips!
I hope this reanimated skeleton is going to fight someone with a sword like in those old Sinbad movies.
Giles' home does not seem like a popular destination for trick or treaters. He really likes Halloween. I like happy festive Giles.
Now Buffy and Willow fight, and I'm kind of confused. Is this an effect of the posessed house? I guess they're all facing their greatest fears, or something like that.
Giles slices through the wall with a chainsaw. Good.
Tiny demon.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
You sounded as if you had a heavy dose of the flu, and you are babbling incoherently. As oppossed to babbling coherently, like normal.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
C'mon Simon, you can't have THAT much to do in July that you've stopped watching Buffy.
... or can you?
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
For all we know, Simon could be languishing in clerical obscurity right now. He's such an introvert guy. B)
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
He's probably sitting in his cubicle going, "I have a cubicle now, I rule."
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Maybe in some strange amalgamation of Simon98 and SimonSummer03.
But then it might be more: "Vikings hound me. I am in a cubical. Cal/cle/cul? "
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I just bought the fourth season DVDs, actually, last week, or maybe the week before. So at some point I'll be getting back to things. But I am so busy working out and writing. SO TRUE!
(Plus, a friend of mine has the first three seasons of SG-1 on DVD, and I've been watching those. There are very few hours in the day of a part time obituary clerk.)
Actually, I think I took notes on the next episode, months ago, but I can't find my notebook under the piles of hundred dollar bills ("Benjamins") that fill my room.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I'm half-way through the second season, I'm on "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" at the moment. I've got the third season on the shelf waiting, and I'll snag the fourth off eBay at some point.
Is Amy from "BB&B" the same girl as from "The Witch"? I wasn't expecting this many references to that episode in the 2nd season - i.e., Oz's "the eyes seem to follow you" regarding the Cheerleading statue a few episodes prior.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Yes.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I snagged the fourth season off eBay, as well as the first season of Angel.
Liam: how does the first season of Angel fit in with Buffy? I understand there are cross-overs, so what would be your recomendations on viewing those seasons - should I "intermingle" episodes? Gosh, I feel so daring.
Also (to Liam), since B:TVS is over, is Spike headed over to Angel for the rest of that show's run?
Are there any other spin-off series in the works? I thought I heard a rumor about one focusing on either Dawn and/or Giles.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Spoilers for the end of Buffy will turn me into a roman candle. Not that I've been doing very well in avoiding them. But, like, if you really want to know, I believe Harry Knowles has someone breathlessly explaining things even as we speak.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I'm not looking for spoilers, actually. IMDB just has James Marsters now added to the Angel cast. So I thought I'd ask our local Buffy-whore, Liam. Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Due to my childishness over spoilers, I am now roughly seven billion seasons behind with Buffy and Angel. BUT!
With Buffy and Angel seasons 4 and 1, the ideal way to watch them would be...1 Buffy, 1 Angel. Then you would absolutely not miss out on crossovers.
If you can't do that, then , er, the one with the ring starts on Buffy and ends on Angel, and the one with, y'know, her, does something similar.
As long as you are ahead with Buffy, you should be fine.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, I've still got season four sitting here waiting to be watched. (It's on the floor under my desk, for some reason, back home.) I don't really have much free time these days, unfortunately, so I'm not sure when I'll get to it.
However, I have been catching the occasional episode of Angel on the cable channel TNT. They're about halfway through the first season (Wesley just showed up Friday, as I recall), and I've seen maybe four or five. I am not often home at the time it is on. And, anyway, it's really good, which is a pleasent surprise, because Angel and Cordelia never struck me as the bright spots of the Buffy cast. So, I'm probably buying the first season of Angel soon. That or food and textbooks.
Extremely random Angel comments follow.
Whatever happened to that Whistler dude?
Vampires apparently adhere to a really loose definition of "direct sunlight." Angel is, like, well-lit a lot. The advantages of having an office.
Oz! Spike! Seth Green was kind of an odd choice for the first crossover appearance, I think. I mean, Oz is a peripheral character, really. And Green was on the cusp of relatively big-time movie stardom. Though maybe that's why they chose him. I guess he does have the best excuse to come to L.A. Giles would have been neat, though, and it isn't like he's all that busy during the first part of this television season. "Here is a magic ring that will make you superpowered. Oh, and I hate you."
Speaking of magic rings, why smash it? It wasn't evil. Dangerous, I guess, but come on. Being able to walk around in sunlight has huge advantages. What if a, uh, sun demon attacks? Angel could just hide it in the sewers again. (Though I guess if Doyle could sniff it out, so could other demons.)
Angel, the show, seems to expand on the "how much does the square world know about magic" idea more than Buffy does, or at least more than Buffy has done by this point. (I gather things change a bit in season seven.) I'm not so sure I buy the idea of demons and demon-savvy humans holding creepy magic-item auctions in upscale Los Angeles hotels.
And while I'm ranting, I still don't get the Watcher Council. Wesley is fired because he mishandled Buffy and Faith. Makes good sense to me. But, say, why do you even need more than one Watcher at a time? Kendra's Watcher seemed more respected than Giles, so why wasn't he assigned to Buffy? If the Watchers watch Slayers, then why wouldn't they have their best people doing just that? It would have been nice if someone had bothered to mention another Slayer had shown up, while we're at it. Anyway, I hope that Wolfram and Hart, being another secretive organization that appears to straddle the world as we see it and the world as it is, is better thought out.
Can vampires eat, or not? I mean, I know they don't need to for nutritional purposes. Angel can cook, but doesn't seem to set a place for himself. They can get drunk, so there must be some sort of more natural metabolic processes going on.
Man, this is nerdy.
Wesley's drawn-out and ultimately aborted exit was amusing in a "Hey, I've done that" way.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Useless fact that everyone knows:
In the original Angel Pilot/Promo real, Whistler had Doyle's role. They obviously changed it for the series proper.
Vampires can eat, alhough I think that everything tastes a bit...bland. Being dead affects their taste buds, presumably. I think Angel eats more and more as time goes on, to try and be more "human". He also drinks coffee fairly regularly, apparently (like most people) for the caffine, which makes sense considering that alcohol affects them.
Whether they HAVE to eat...I don't think so, but I can't place my finger on a single quote to confirm that, so I'm not too sure. (Possibly Spike said something in "Becomming"?)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Also, I told you that Angel was really good months ago. You really should listen to me more in future. I am always right.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
It wasn't so much a case of me not listening to you as me not having a chance to watch it until now.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
No excuses!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Why start new threads, I say?
"School Hard" was on FX today. Is there ever an explanation given for what exactly happened to Drusilla to put her in her "weakened" state? (Not that I want to know what it is, but just whether one is presented.) There's reference to a "mob" that gave her and Spike trouble in Prague, but that doesn't seem like the sort of thing that leads to bizarre mystical vampire anemia.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Is this show really any good (asidefrom the eye-candy)? A woman I'm very partial to wants to make me watch (with her) the first couple of seasons all at once in a marathon.
that's great because I dont know where I stand with her and some "couch time" could go a long way in my favor but I have'nt seen anything too intresting about the show (I've only glimpsed it while channel surfing mostly).
Anything to look for in the first two seasons?
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Is there ever an explanation given for what exactly happened to Drusilla to put her in her "weakened" state?
Yes, in the two-parter "What's My Line".
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
The show is very good, Jason. I've seen the first two seasons, I'm downloading the third season right now, and if you can ignore the cornyness it's quite good. Almost like Power Rangers in that way, except a billion times better.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Boo + hiss.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
quote:Originally posted by Spike: Yes, in the two-parter "What's My Line".
Huh. I do not recall that.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
This girl wants to show me the whole "musical" episode wich is, frankly, enough o make me want to scream (and I have'nt actually watch it yet!).
I hate musicals: I even turn off the Simpsons clip-show musical.
quote:if you can ignore the cornyness it's quite good. Almost like Power Rangers in that way, except a billion times better.
..that's....er....quite an endoesment.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
If you actually do not like even Simpsons musical interludes than I do not know what to tell you. I am pretty sure you can't get into heaven.
(I don't know about "Once More With Feeling" as an introductory episode, though. I mean, it is, on its own, great, but despite everyone explaining exactly how they feel and why, there's a bit too much backstory involved.)
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I like Simpsons musical interludes ("Rock me Dr. Zeaus" is a classic!) but the whole episode being a musical really grates on my nerves.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
I agree with Sol System. You should watch Season 5 and Season 6 first before watching OMWF.
Posted by MarianLH (Member # 1102) on :
Originally posted by Spike:
quote: I agree with Sol System. You should watch Season 5 and Season 6 first before watching OMWF.
I disagree with half of that. Don't watch Season 6. In fact, there is no Season 6, any more than there's a Highlander sequel. She died. It was poignant. The end.
Dumb question, but as introductory episodes go, what's wrong with the pilot? Why not start at the beginning?
Marian
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
(Season six is just fine, and people who do not like it are old timer contrarians.)
((Well, I kid. But, anyway, I register my vote for the opposite claim.))
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Looks like I'll be watching the movie that the show spun off from instead.
Sounds good to me.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
The movie does not have much to do with the show, though. They are sufficiently different that enjoying one isn't much use in determining whether you will enjoy the other. So, if you want to see the movie in an effort to "get in at the ground floor," as it were, I don't think it's the best decision.
Posted by deadcujo (Member # 13) on :
You could always download the unaired pilot in which Willow is a more realistic and believeable Wiccan-to-be.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: The movie does not have much to do with the show, though. They are sufficiently different that enjoying one isn't much use in determining whether you will enjoy the other. So, if you want to see the movie in an effort to "get in at the ground floor," as it were, I don't think it's the best decision.
I'm trying to get in on the "ground floor" of a relationship with this lovely woman so whatever she wants to watch is what it'll be.
Man, I got it bad.
Posted by Ultra 2 Legit 2 Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Grow a pair of testicles, you libidinous megrim.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Megrim?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ultra 2 Legit 2 Magnus: Grow a pair of testicles, you libidinous megrim.
I've dated several women in the past year and this one's actually something special- besides, sitting throgh a movie is not the worst comprimise I've ever made.
....though if she suddenly wants to watch the entire run of the TV show, we may have to talk about it more throughly....
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I was going to watch the last Fight Club commentary track tonight but noticed that Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Motion Picture was on TV, so, I figured, why not. So, the special movie edition of this dumb thread.
I missed the first five or ten minutes, though. And at one point in my notes a brief rant at VH1 appears.
So I came in on this flashback scene. Kristy Swanson is a barmaid and dives out a window! And, it is, uh, not so impressive. Like, this Olde Village is not really trumping its various TV counterparts.
Then a commercial selling some sort of inventor "service."
quote:My idea for the mop was called "Swishy."
Hey, it's Stephen Root! Playing some sort of school authority figure. (The principal, I guess.)
Sideshow Luke Perry. And his character is named. . .Pike? Lots of my notes are just repetitions of what happened rephrased in the form of a question. And David Arquette. And Hilary Swank plus various nobodies. Being the obnoxious sidekick in a teen comedy/action movie is kind of a step down from starring in her own, isn't it? Anyway, is this supposed to be Los Angeles, like in the TV show? Because it feels awfully small-towny.
I like how Donald Sutherland just stands and watches while David Arquette's character is murdered by a vampire before going to help Luke Perry. After the vampire has left. And vampires can fly?
Here I missed a part, because I was seeing what was on IFC. (Buffalo '66, as it turns out. Vincent Gallo reminds me of, all people, Woody Allen.)
"My name is Merrick?" John Merrick?
I wonder what's involved in finding a new slayer, under these rules. She gets a special birthmark, but this seems an inefficient way to find a single girl among the entire human population. Maybe Merrick gets his own version of Buffy's vampire pains. Like he has a trick knee that points the way.
These vampires just fall over when you stab them in the heart. Is it ever specified that she has to use wood to do it? Because if so I missed that. She should just get a knife or something. Also, they get goofy elfin ears instead of wrinkled foreheads.
I'm going to assume someone has already got plenty of snarky message board milage out of Donald Sutherland/Keifer Sutherland/Buffy/Lost Boys.
This dream where Buffy encounters the head vampire is strange and suitably dreamlike, but why did she tie her jaw shut? Or I guess that's just holding her hair back.
And now Merrick is lurking in the girl's locker room and throwing knives at people. He's coming on a little strong, really.
"That may not sound exciting to a sconehead like you." What is this, rhyming slang?
Training montage! Where is this room, anyway?
OH MAN SHE KILLED A FLY WITH A THUMBTACK VIA SPITTING! Which was, to me, sort of an odd way to emphasize her super reflexes.
Actual vampire fighting. And I guess Merrick is living in that big room from the training montage? It looks like an empty ballroom.
So, slayers are warned of the presence of vampires by intense abdominal pain? This seems suboptimal. And Watchers, or, OK, just this one guy, gets reincarnated too? Only he "can't interfere." What sort of sense does that make?
The menace in this scene where Paul Reuban is clinging to Pike's van takes awhile to build. I mean, for at least a minute or so he's just hanging on to the hood and growling, and I'm reminded of that one Father Ted episode. Look out for that low branch! Ah, that old gag.
"Kill him a lot."
These fights are a little uninspired.
Pike is nonplussed by the existence of vampires, which is probably a necessity for a film like this, because otherwise the rest of the film is just "No, seriously, what's going on?"
Rutger Hauer's mustache looks ridiculous. Or does he even have one? In some shots I see it, in others I think I am just imagining it. If he does, it is silly looking.
So far the only things that seem to carry over into the television show are the name of the school and the fact that monsters like to eat kittens.
Here's where I turned over to VH1 and saw yet another program featuring "comedians" "discussing" current events and pop culture, which is 140% of their programming now. (They export the extra to stations like E! and CMT and Bravo, all of which have their own 100 Best or This Week In shows, all featuring Michael Ian Black and Hal Sparks. I only passed by the Country Music channel, I swear.) Anyway, VH1 continues to pioneer programming from which the bottom of the barrel can only be discerned via vast arrays of radio telescopes.
Meanwhile, in the movie, it's the big game. I read the (or rather a) script once, on one of those websites that have movie scripts on them, and in that this was, I think, a football game, but here it is a basketball game. In any case, fangs and goofy ears are apparently no cause for concern. (Because there is a former student/current vampire on the team, in case you have not seen this movie.)
When Buffy runs out to kill the vampire: "There's a girl on the court!" made me laugh.
Luke Perry to the wise-cracking rescue!
It appears the, uh, curious teen slang from the TV pilot was actually a toned down, more realistic version. "Get out of my facial"? Honestly.
Earlier, Pike's motorcycle made dirt bike noises, but here it is clearly not a dirt bike.
Apparently the vampries can't come into a school unless invited, which is strange considering the TV show rules, but I like: "Uh, I invited them." "What!?" "They're seniors!"
The producers apparently decided to make up for some uninspired fight sequences by having Buffy cartwheel wherever she goes.
Really, though, these are pretty slow fights. And what's all this music talk? Buffy can't break Rutger Hauer's spell over her until the power goes out at the DJ booth, but I don't know what the deal is. And now he has a katana, which at least suggests a certain sense of style. And now the day is saved. Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a fire?
"I do think the students learned a lesson about safety. Well, except the dead ones, of course."
So. It had its moments. Apparently the only connections to the show, or at least the only ones I can see, are that Buffy used to be rather more, ah, conscious of her social standing, and that there was a vampire attack on the high school gym. Was her first watcher killed, though, like here? (Oh, I guess I should mention, if for some strange reason you have bothered to read this and have never seen the movie, that Merrick gets killed by the vampires prior to the big dance seige.)
[Finally, on other channels, CBS' Late Late Show continues being unimaginably awful and NBC runs a commercial for a show this Thursday about how people actually used to watch NBC on Thursdays.]
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
With regards to the gym, Whedon always said that the TV show was spun off from the script for the movie, rather than the actual movie itself. And in the script, there was a fire.
I'm sure he ignored most of the other details, but there you go.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
So, Simon ... let's keep this going. Come on.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
1.) There is not enough praise here to feed my monstrous ego.
2.) I might do an Angel thread, if I ever get my copy of season one back.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by deadcujo: You could always download the unaired pilot in which Willow is a more realistic and believeable Wiccan-to-be.
You've got to be kidding me. The chick in the unaired pilot can't act to save herself!
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by deadcujo: You could always download the unaired pilot in which Willow is a more realistic and believeable Wiccan-to-be.
You mean she was the sort of person who followed the latest fad and decided that saying she was a Wicca was far easier than actually developing a personality?
Still, it could have been worse. She could have become a Goth.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
But.... the actreess that played Willow would have been sooo hot as a Goth.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Gawd, you'd have Clem if he was a goth! Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Umm....No.
I gotta protest the resurection of a thread where I fawn over some buffy-watching chick.
Man, I cant believe I had it bad for that woman. (shakes head in disbelief)
What was I thinking?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
What, you mean Alyson Hannigan would look hot as a Goth? I dunno. I'm not nearly as convinced about her "hotness" as a large number of internet nerds seem to be, and pale skin added to her 24 pounds body would just make her look seriously ill.
Besides, you could always just look at Vampire Willow.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, it's come to this. Should I do some creative writing? Wash the dishes? My clothes? Clean out my car? Bake cookies? Watch Father Ted and Firefly before deciding to start this up all over again? (I just bought the Father Ted DVDs, and I just got my Firefly DVDs back from the place I used to live.)
"Welcome To The Hellmouth"
This announcer guy is weird and unsettling. He sounds like he is offering us something illegal.
A frightening angle on some poorly-lit desks! The ghost of scholastic underachievement will leap out and remind me that I could have probably gone to a decent university if I had just applied myself.
Oh, it is just some guy and a blond girl. I bet this girl will be killed because the guy is a vampire. And then someone will have to save a blond girl in every episode. I am on to the formula! (Julie Benz's little girl voice is kind of disturbing.) On a less sarcastic note, people who graduate Sunnydale High alive should never, ever, ever go back.
I realize Angel (the show) establishes that Darla was a true-blue Master cultist, (Order of Whateverius) and that riding around Europe meeting glamorous people and then killing them with Angel was just a detour, but still, killing kids and hanging out at an all ages club is sort of a step down for her, isn't it?
Buffy conveniently dreams the footage from the title sequence.
The first day of school, set to the nondescript tunes of mid-1990s high school-themed rock.
Sunnydale High is apparently exclusively served by short buses.
Hey, it's Xander's best friend Jesse! He and Willow sure take it hard when Jesse dies.
Should Buffy be carrying a wooden stake to school if she doesn't expect there to be any vampires?
I don't understand why everyone is suggesting that the best place to find textbooks is the library. We got our textbooks in class, and they wouldn't have had any in the library even if we wanted them.
James Spader is the hottest guy Cordelia can think of? The past really is a foreign country. Was James Spader ever cool?
Giles looks extremely disappointed when his book recommendation isn't accepted.
"That's the chatter in the caf." No, I'm sorry. "Pos" and "neg" aren't going to cut it either.
Cordelia claims that nothing ever goes on in Sunnydale? Plenty goes on!
Meanwhile, behind this hedge. . . oh, and underground. I've probably said this already, but I like to think that it was the Mayor who sabotaged the Master's plan.
Here's the introduction of a shadowy and rake-thin David Boreanz. Angel wisely doesn't mention how he fell in love with Buffy when she was fifteen and he was spying on her from the bushes.
And now, at the Bronze: rock photography! Check this out desirable youth demographic, we're as cool as MTV!
Giles: "But you didn't. . . hone."
"I hope he's not a vampire because then you might have to slay him." I see Xander starts out at a subtle character.
Hey, let's go make out in this above-ground crypt; everybody's doing it! And how do Buffy and Xander track down Willow and her vampiric kidnapper? Maybe everyone really is doing it?
Darla is shocked to discover that a back-talking teenage girl has killed her fellow vampire. Shouldn't back-talking teenage girls be a segment of the population vampires naturally fear? I mean, "Who are you?" You obviously didn't pay attention to the lugubrious announcer at the top of the show, Darla.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Ah, Parents Television Council, where would we be without you?
Well, this isn't timely, but neither are any of my other comments, OK, so: "Violent scenes including vampires, demons, werewolves, and other creatures make this dark fantasy series a nightmare for parents." Well, sure. I mean, as far as it goes, yeah. There are all those things. But then: "All sex among these young college freshmen is portrayed almost exclusively as romantic or fun, with no reference made to the consequences of such behavior."
And, I mean, this is season four they're talking about.
In a totally unrelated note there's an amusing passage that refers indirectly to Famke Jansen as "middle-aged."
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
Don't stop now, Simon, we're going to get hooked on your Buffy notes. No, really, keep going.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, uh, I'm sure we can all make our own mildly sarcastic comments at home, in the privacy of our own heads, like polite people.
But I do have notes for the first third or so of "The Harvest." I have been distracted from finishing. I sure hope Jessie is OK!
(I think the clue that he is not a regular is in his more or less normal first name.)
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I spent a few seconds trying to come up with a counterexample to that, but all I could find was that Spike's name is William. I am defeated.
Posted by Mighty Blogger Snay (Member # 411) on :
Sarcastic?
No, really, I enjoy your commentary and I'm glad you're doing them. Stop being so "Oh, people hate me, woe is me."
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
It is called charm!
(Gunn's first name is Charles, but almost no one calls him that. I have never met a Wesley, but it doesn't instantly strike me as California weird. Also consider how many characters on Firefly have names that are also nouns: Wash, Book, River. . . well, just those three. But unusual = the usual, is what I'm saying.)
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"The Harvest"
In retrospect, I probably shouldn't put so much space between watching an episode and talking about it, because once again my attempt at clever note-taking proves too clever for me to figure out several days later.
Buffy, to distract a vampire: "Hey!" She gets quippier as time goes on.
Jesse is how it is spelled, according to the captions. In my notes here is another "Boy, I am sure hoping Jesse is OK because I totally buy that he is a core character" bit, but I think we can skip it.
"This world is older than any of you know." So, what, six billion years? Seven? Followed by the first pass at a comprehensive metaphysics of vampires and magical things in general.
On cops: "They'd only bring guns." Well, I mean, come on, guns are pretty good on their own.
Time to harness the power of the "internet" to solve crimes. And then Willow says she has "decrypted the city council's files," which makes me wonder what other mysterious things would (or ought to) be there.
Buffy is wearing some pretty stylish sunglasses to go monster-hunting.
"That may be how they do things in Britain. They've got that royal family and all kinds of problems."
Re the locked gate in the crypt: who locked it, I wonder? I mean, it is locked from the outside, yet all the vampires ought to be on the inside right now. And how did Angel get in there? I mean, it's the middle of the day. Did he just hang around for 12 hours on the off chance she might show up?
Later, under the surface, the sewers teem with domesticated rats. (Well, there is one; and it walks over Buffy's feet.) And there are what look like welder's rigs in the background.
Now I am distracted by Xander's necklace. Is that a ring hanging from it? It is an odd choice, whatever it is. Plus more vampire backstory, but what I really like is this sort of bizarre and out of nowhere wipe edit. They're sneaking around inside the card catalog.
Having high school kids programming computers breaks my suspension of disbelief more than vampires, but it turns out that kids actually do this in modern high schools. At my school we just learned how to type. (I have a series of stories involving myself, a girl I liked a whole lot, some other people, the back room with the only PCs where we all sort of sequestered ourselves during class, and an almost daily routine of adolescent disappointment, but maybe later.)
Harmony has a very confused look on her face whenever the subject drifts from how cool Cordelia is. And who is this guy who just pops into the frame eager for details about how Cordelia was assaulted at the Bronze?
Anyway, back in the sewers, and I guess they made a choice to not spend much time having the main characters adjust to the situation, because Xander already seems pretty blas� about running around in sewers from vampires.
"I've got an idea. You can die." Jesse is pretty new to the whole villainous banter thing.
Re the Master's magical blood energy connection: "My soul is your soul." Oh?
Giles' explanation of the Hellmouth suggests that it is both unique and previous unknown.
"The world will end if you can't go out tonight." Time to literalize those metaphors.
Are those communion wafers in Buffy's chest of antivampiric things? She didn't mention them in her earlier list of things they don't like.
The song that Cordelia likes is really short, which is either an editing choice or a clever attention span gag. And then, I used to think you were just a loser Jesse, but now that I see that occasionally you are also an aggressive loser I guess I will dance with you.
I wonder if there is a website that keeps track of how many hostage situations the Bronze has seen?
Luke is allergic to the Master's blood, I guess. (Get it? Because where he drew on him with blood, Luke now has this bumpy welt. See?)
Xander, on a head being cut off by a cymbal: "Head's up." He is new to bantering too.
Though with the benefit of hindsight it is a pretty obvious gag, I think I fell for this sunrise thing the first time.
And for the wrap up: How come no one remembers the vampire attack? Uh, because they forgot! OK. And then some music, and Giles is really excited about all the things they could do if the show gets picked up.
"Maybe you could blow something up. They're really strict about that." The solution, apparently, is to blow everything up.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Witch"
Oh, the "which witch?" jokes I finally convinced myself to discard. In this episode: witchcraft and cheerleading are dangerous.
Giles: "I make allowances for your youth." Somehow Watchers normally can make teenage girls follow orders. Yet of the three slayers who get any lines, one is rebellious and another is evil and rebellious. So, I don't know. Watchers, go figure.
And now inside the witch's layer. Spooky dried flowers! This witch has set up shop in a particularly menacing arts and crafts store.
re Giles' disapproval of the cheerleading life: "He totally lost his water." Gross.
Buffy: "What's this?" Willow: "What's that?" Only Willow says it all accusatory, see. It is a good line delivery, is what I'm getting at.
Willow: "She's on fire!" Cordelia: "Enough with the hyperbole." Oh, I'm afraid not, Cordelia. I bet there is a "figure of speech turns out to be literal description of magical thinger" gag in her very last episode.
Now, OK, normally I avoid this sort of thing, because, I don't know, it seems kind of creepy and weird; not so much the reaction, but putting it up on the internet. It's sort of OK now, being in my mid-twenties, but someday soon I will be old, so, internet cache of the future: I totally disavow this statement once it gets weird. Anyway, Sarah Michelle Geller looks nice in a cheerleading uniform.
Moving on: discussing the aftermath of a cheerleader catching on fire, Xander seems angry that the monster problem wasn't solved for good last week. Speaking of which, I wonder how much time is supposed to have passed, since everyone seems like the best of friends already, and Xander and Willow are eager to get started solving mysteries. They should do a prequel movie with the two of them running around town as junior detectives who always come up with plausible but wrong solutions.
I wish there would have been some scenes in Joyce's art gallery at some point. Or her life in general. What happened to the gallery, anyway?
There's probably a problem between the way Buffy, in her show, is a super-nice person who always sympathizes with the put-upon and the unpopular, and her alleged history of being more Cordelia-like prior to becoming a slayer. Like, I'm not sure becoming a sacred warrior automatically makes you more considerate and fair-minded. (Though I have my own, uncharitable, theory, namely that her character is designed to be the cool friend who isn't too cool to hang out with you. "Uncharitable" because, I don't know, sometimes you do not want to see behind the curtain, as it were. You know? Or something.)
I think you're supposed to let the water stop boiling before you add the Jello. And the ritualistic totem. (The bubbling vat from the credits. In fact, a lot of credit footage is from this episode.)
Yet another attack against the noble and hip yearbook staff!
Cordelia's driving instructor really ought to have a brake mounted on his side of the car. I'm not sure why she wouldn't mention not feeling well. It's not like she usually shies away from letting people know how she feels.
Is the UPS guy who doesn't even slow down when there is a wreck and a dazed woman in the middle of the street blind too? (Bam! Because, see, I have just laid a smackdown of epic proportions on this guy.)
The two experiments being conducted in science class seem to have nothing to do with each other. Dissecting frogs and then something with acid? (Not to mention that frogs != newts, unless those medieval sorcerors were really sloppy with their lab notes.) But we are distracted by a student coming down with a bad case of no-mouth. The true witch is Charlie X! How do you explain away sudden mouth-sealing, anyway? People do catch on fire from time to time, or become blind, or take X and go to cheerleading practice (more on this later), but skin growing over a mouth?
And here is an actual problem, I think, as opposed to just some jerk's snark: the solution turns blue, meaning Amy has cast a spell recently. Yet their next clue is that she seems shocked by the girl with the mouth problem. And she was inept at cheerleading just yesterday. But now the big reveal is that Amy and her mother have already switched bodies.
Based on later revelations of backstory, Joyce should probably be a lot more concerned when Buffy idly mentions vampires.
"Is it me or is Buffy a bit looped?" And here I have written down: "ADR Joke," in the hopes that I would come up with one, but no luck.
Zoidberg: "Oh my God, I'm coming down!"
Giles: "This is a bloodstone vengeance spell." What is this, Dragonlance?
"She needs a sacred space. A pentagram. . . a large pot." "Her home." Or an evil Bed, Bath & Beyond. (I was so proud of myself for that one I chuckled and thought "they will eat this up." I really, really don't like myself.)
Now Amy and her mother switched bodies months ago? Well, whatever you say.
Sunnydale High has a really small gym.
Here there is some magic and a brief fight, for those curious and yet not already aware.
Did Amy's mother ("Catherine the Great," proving that whatever else went on in Sunnydale before Buffy got there, teenagers from the sixties were total squares.) intend the "dark place" of her spell to be the trophy cabinet?
Really, no one should be surprised that Amy has some problems later in life.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Oh, and I'm not sure anyone deserves to be stuck in a trophy for the rest of eternity. I guess if she's lucky it gets destroyed along with the rest of the school.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I think I read there was a cut scene from the rubble of the school with her still there...
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Smelly Simon: (I think the clue that he is not a regular is in his more or less normal first name.)
Does the fact that Xander is just a weird abreviation of a normal name count?
I love Simon's episode comments and would collect them and make a web-page about them if I could. But my hands are tied and it is pointless. I do agree that being stuck in a trophy for eternity is just a wee bit harsh though.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Omega: I spent a few seconds trying to come up with a counterexample to that, but all I could find was that Spike's name is William. I am defeated.
Angel's not weird and sexy name.
(And failed-wit aside, did they intentionally give Spike and his sire-no-wait-he-wasn't-we-got-that-one-wrong-oh-I've-come-up-with -an-explanation-it's-what-I-meant-all-along-honest related names? Or does Joss just have a bit of a lack of imagination when chosing non-American names that aren't odd?)
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
And is it also a coincidence that they're the names of the two male leads on Earth: Final Conflict? I think not.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Well, not in that case, because one was a replacement for the other. Or something. I dunno.
I suspect that in BtVS's case it was more: "Spike's English, so we'll call him either Charles or William", and then "Angel's Irish, so we'll call him either Liam or Guinness".
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Do they explain why Angel manages to shake off an accent after several hundred years of life but Spike cant?
That always bothered me about the Highlander stuff as well- the characters seem to stagnate and remain the same as they were when they first become immortal.
Spike and Angel's conversions to a good guy aside, that is. Mabye it's just that sweet slayer lovin' that does it. Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Highlander was a GREAT premise that was never fully developed as it should have been. The first movie was pretty good, but everything after that really needed about ten more rewrites and Endgame was a joke of inconsistency. As was H2, oh and H3... well ALL OF IT. I always considered Endgame to be a Fanboy offering.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Spike's a good hundred years younger than Angel, and while Angel spent most of Spike's lifetime living in America, Spike was wandering around Europe. So, I mean, Angel was surrounded by American accents while Spike wasn't.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
America has no accents: some of us just speak strangely.
Go to rural Maine sometime- you'll swear it's not english they're speaking.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
It also applies to people who don't live for several hundred years. You ever heard Jane Leaves (Daphne from Frasier)? Her accent is a weird mixture of American, London, and a hint of Mancunian. Patrick Stewart on the other hand still sounds as RSC as ever.
Or my own mates, one of whom lived in Newcastle until he was 7, and still has a Geordi accent 15 years later, while another moved from Liverpool to Wales when he was 8 and now sounds Welsh, if anything.
I am stopping with the examples now.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
And just what do you sound like, eh?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I'm at a loss to describe his accent, really. In terms that you'd be able to relate to. We lack a common frame of erefence, as it were. Making Liam's accent akin to death, from a Spockish perspective. Oh, I'm bored. Stuff this, I'm going home.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I thought my accent was Eastury English.
Tom and Di are foreign types who have heard me talk, so you could ask them. (About Lee's too. Not Tom there though, for he was scared of him.)
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Estuary, he means. Not that I'm one to talk with my spoonerisation of 'reference,' however. But I'm at a loss to give Cartman an example of what Estuary English sounds like.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Blair apparently speaks Estuary English. He was told off by the "overly pronounced Engish Society" for saying "Britain" with glutteral stops instead of hard "t"s.
So, er, imagine Blair and or Lee, but a bit less posh. Maybe.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Is Estuary English the same as Liverpudlian English (Liverpool being located in Mersey estuary (this I know from having been there (during a wild and adventurous high-school road trip through Britain)) and all), only less, erh, plebeian? Because I don't think my mind will accept Liam sounding like Blair. Ever.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Thames estuary, not the Mersey estuary.
Blair, yes, I guess. Imagine Blair making a half-assed attempt at a cockney accent and you've got Liam. 8)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cartman: Because I don't think my mind will accept Liam sounding like Blair. Ever.
But it will accept me sounding like Dave Lister?
Howsabout crossing Giles with Spike? FORCEFUL DEFLECTION BACK ON TOPIC!
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
More mockney than Jamie Oliver. . .
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
Double Meat Palace. I think this episode was meant to be a warning by Whedon: "Don't finish college and you're only hope is working in a nasty fastfood joint."
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Oops
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That's not so bad compared to the events in "Some Assembly Required". Yeah sure, two Highschool-Kiddies are able to make a girl from parts of dead girls without using any magick.
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