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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."
Registered: Mar 1999
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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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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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)
posted
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")
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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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.
-------------------- Sparky:: Think! Question Authority, Authoritatively. “Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.” EMSparks
Shalamar: To save face, keep lower half shut.
Registered: Jun 1999
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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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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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?
Registered: Mar 1999
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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.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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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.
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Oops![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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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