Episode reviews from a first time watcher
POSTED BY: fredgiblet
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 07:40
VIEWED: 16323
PAGE 7 of 10
Quote:Tongues.
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
Incidentally, what does rhyme with lungs?
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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
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Quote:
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
Episode 205: Reptile Boy
[snip]
A bit too heavy-handed but a decent ep.
Well, I decided to rent disk #2 of season 2 on 2-1 night (along with the first disk of Brisco County). This is the first episode *without* Spike that I've enjoyed. I suspect that reason is simple...I've watched enough episodes that the characters are starting to grow on me. As a result, I'm starting to appreciate the dynamics between the characters as well.
Truthfully, if television depended on the likes of me, there would be nothing to watch. I hated ST:TNG when it came out, but once it came out in syndication, I gradually came to like it. BSG has a similar history (albeit more condensed); the mini-series struck me as incredibly boring (I tuned out after about 30 minutes), but the series aired at a time when I'll often leave the TV on while I do other things (like putter about on the internet), and eventually I became curious enough to buy the DVD and watch the first season.
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Quote:
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
Episode 206: Halloween
Spike summarizes this episode nicely with the line, "Well. This is just neat."
Solid episode. Great fun. Possibly as good as anything from Firefly. Am I being sacrilegious?
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Quote:
Originally posted by jolly:Quote:
Originally posted by fredgiblet:
Episode 206: Halloween
Spike summarizes this episode nicely with the line, "Well. This is just neat."
Solid episode. Great fun. Possibly as good as anything from Firefly. Am I being sacrilegious?
Depends on who you ask, I won't publicly state my opinions so far on Buffy vs. Firefly because this is a FF website (though a Buffy (sub)board).
EDIT: for anyone who reads my opinons into this post and wants to crucify me for them just know this, Buffy season 1 wasn't very good, if Firefly had more than one season my opinon might be different.
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Episode 219: I Only Have Eyes...
I usually refrain from commenting on this, but that band sucked.
The first re-enactment thing was a little bit of a shock, usually it's not ordinary-looking people killing people in Sunnydale. Oh, it isn't ordinary people...it's ordinary possessed people, alright that is ordinary for Sunnydale.
The scene with Willow giving Giles Jenny's necklace thingy was a little on the touching side, but I have a question...didn't Angelus break Miss Calendar's computer? And if not, wouldn't the ritual files be in there?
Xander has an awesome line early in this one: "Something weird is going on...isn't that our school motto?", by this point I think we can all agree that it should be.
The scene between the janitor and the teacher was great, the sudden switch was pulled of very well IMO. I didn't really care too much for Giles thinking it was Jenny, I understand him wanting it to be her, but there just wasn't any real reason for it IMHO.
I...can't...resist...Snakes In A Cafeteria!, sorry. I thought the snakes thing was a little dumb and unneccesary, but I suppose it gave them a reason to show that the powers that be really do know what's going on.
First off, my customary "Snyder is an ass and I hope he dies", now on to the interesting stuff, Snyder (and others in the government) know about the Hellmouth, it would seem to make sense to me for them to move the school...it shouldn't be too hard to manufacture a reason for it.
The tension racheting up between Angelus and Spike is great, Juliet Landau is amazing as the freaky, crazy Seer.
I don't like how vindictive Buffy is in this ep, but I suppose that the whole Angelus thing (though none of it is really his fault) has got her pretty well worked up against males. It was interesting how this whole ep seemed to be metaphorical for Buffy\Angel, I thought it was very well done. The swap with Buffy playing James's part was a little weird but made sense. The whole possessed scene was great, I think it was written for Buffy/Angel and then tweaked to fit it's "original" circumstances. I thought it was good at the end how Buffy realized why she was chosen by James.
And last but not least, Spike is finally back on his feet! Awesome.
A whole episode devoted to metaphorically exploring Buffy and Angel\Angelus' relationship, this is some amazing TV. An awesome episode, I just wish the next ep carried it on and wasn't just filler.
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Episode 220: Go Fish
"you're forgetting our high mortality rate" truly a high mortality rate is something every school should strive for.
Cool, empty skin...wonder where the insides went. Mmmmmm shelled human, tasty.
Ah yes, the classic athlete-gets-a-free-pass thing *sigh* if only this only happened on TV...and of course we can trust Cordelia to champion the cause of the more fortunate.
The scene with Buffy being talked at by the swimmer was really funny, "oh it's not me I'm worried about", I would think that by now Buffy would have a pretty strong reputation as a bad-ass, but whatever. It must really suck for Buffy to get blamed for everything.
I would think that Buffy would have a little more practice being discreet by now. If you're keeping someone under surveillance, you don't stare at them constantly, I mean it's not like you're going to miss something attacking them. The scene with Angelus seemed a little gratuitous, like it was thrown in just to remind us of what's coming next week.
Xander's reaction to the gang seeing him in the speedo was priceless, as was Cordelia's reaction before she saw who it was.
But...this is where I have to lodge a complaint, the sea creatures are larger than the guys they came from...that doesn't really work out too well. That's also ignoring the whole thing where they suddenly lose the ability to talk, and somehow went through all these structural changes without noticing anything before. I know this show doesn't strive for (or even really give a passing nod to) scientific accuracy, but c'mon.
As for the sewer scene, I just can't help but think, if the Watchers are such an ancient group, shouldn't they have made some investments of some kind? Shouldn't they be able to afford...say...some night-vision goggles? Seems like it would pretty high on their priorities.
I can't really think of anything to say about the last 10 minutes or so, so I'll just skip to the end. A below average episode in my opinon, but then every show has to have some filler.
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Episode 000: Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)
Just got the movie, figured I do a review here. This will contain some spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the movie
First off, I'd heard that Donald Sutherland was in it (from Joss's complaints), but I didn't know that Hilary Swank, Ben Affleck, Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) and David Arquette were in it too. In fact it's Swanks first movie.
The first third of the movie is really bad, I can see several instances where they were supposed to be funny, but just weren't IMHO. I can also see what Joss was saying about Donald, I've seen him in other roles and in this one he is much worse than normal.
It doesn't really pick up until Donald throws the knife at Buffy, the training sequence was pretty cool. It looked like Kristy Swanson actually did most of it herself, which was a little impressive.
It was nice to see people figuring things out for once (Pike wanting to bail after benny shows up), not like the show where weird stuff happens all the time and nobody notices. The scene with the vampire on the van was cheesy but kinda fun.
The basketball sequence was just a little retarded...just a little. But Buffy taking the motorcycle was pretty cool.
Was it just me or did Pike look like someone called "Vinnie" at the dance? The first scene with Lothos during the dance was just kinda weird and seemingly pointless, then he shows up at the dance and has a Katana? I would think that a European guy would have learned swordsmanship with something more...European. The end was very anti-climactic, and fairly unsatisfying.
I would like to see the original script and the re-written one to see what parts were Joss and what parts were re-written. It was interesting to see the parallels between the show and movie though, you can see parts of the first season in the movie.
Overall a mediocre action movie and a mediocre comedy. Too many times it tried to be funny and failed, too many times it tried to be cool and failed. I'd give it a B-.
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I started watching the first season of Dark Angel for the first time, then I started playing EVE online. But I'm back now.
Episodes 221 and 222: Becoming
Angel's turning was an interesting watch, he didn't seem to be a particularly high-quality person before he became a vampire. It was very intriguing to watch Angelus talking with pre-vamp Drusilla, pushing her to evil. Watching him and Whistler in Manhattan was funny, I liked Whistler and I wish he'd stuck around (like I hear was intended). Angel wanted to make something of himself because of Buffy...this is an interesting plot development. It was funny watching Buffy's first kill, and it brought up an interesting issue, namely how liberal the show can be at where they can stab vampires and kill them. So often they seem to stab them in the gut or sternum instead of the middle-left chest area.
This is perhaps the first time I agree completely with Cordelia. Of course I am referring to her opinon of Snyder.
I was kind of wondering when they would find the disk, I guess I should have known it'd be at the finale. I have to say that the scene in the library was a little off IMO, Xander never seemed to be to close with Miss Calendar, yet he's spent a great deal of energy advocating for avenging her death. I suppose that it is probably a byproduct of his dislike of Angel\Angelus (he hates both of them), but it still seems excessive. Additionally, I once again have to commend Buffy's restraint, I would've punched him in the face.
I love Spike, "it's a big rock, can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big." "someone wasn't worthy"
One thing I've never got, if they don't want these demons to be found (Judge, Acathla) why don't they drop them into the ocean? Even now it's damn hard to get stuff off the ocean floor, and that's assuming you know exactly where it is. Course then we woudn't have a show.
"Mr. Pointy"?
The end-of-first-part fight was awesome, Xander's arm broken, Giles taken away, Willow in a coma and Kendra dead, whew! Kendra vs. Drusilla was an interesting matchup, I wonder how widespread the hypnotism thing is, the only vamps we've seen using it so far are the Master and Dru. I can't really feel too bad about Kendra dying, I didn't really have enough time to start to like her.
P.S. Is anyone else getting annoyed at the animated menus on the DVD's, I want to jump straight to the menus so that I can make my selections not fly around for 2 minutes everytime I click on something.
Part 2:
Of course the day wouldn't be complete without Snyder deserving a punch in the face, I found it odd that the other cop started shooting right away.
Another scene with Whistler, he has a lot of potential, too bad. Spike switching sides (sort of) is cool, watching him talk about how much he loves the world really gives more depth to his character.
Willow waking up after Xander says I love you is so cliched that it hurt.
I don't like the scene with Buffy's mom outside their house, the rock band thing was lame and the vampire attacking her just seemed like a completely contrived way to give an excuse for Buffy's mom to find out about Buffy. On the other hand, watching Buffy's mom and Spike uncomfortably sitting together was really funny.
The scene with Buffy trying to explain to her mom was painful to watch, Buffy trying to explain that there isn't any choice and that she can't explain everything and her mom just saying "You'll do what I tell you or else". I think that Buffy's mom regretted what she said immensly as soon as Buffy was out the door.
"...you must perform the ritual...in a tutu" ROFL, it's scary sometimes how Joss can put such funny stuff in the middle of such serious scenes.
Buffy with Snyder in the library...I was so hoping she'd stab him. So let's recap: dead friend (Kendra), kicked out of her house, and now expelled...can her day get any worse? ...Ohhhh yes.
Watching Drusilla\Jenny was creepy, I find it a little hard to believe that Giles would be gullible enough, but then we d
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Episode 301: Anne
I was expecting great things from the ep and I was a little disappointed to be honest.
We start with a quick check on how the gang is doing, they're fighting vamps (poorly) and wondering where Buffy is, no surprise there.
There is a quick "wait...what?" scene next when Buffy's on the beach with Angel, but then we pop back to reality. I have a hard time seeing Buffy working a cafe, but then that's probably the point.
The back-to-school sequence was great, Oz trying to bargain down to eccentric with an option for cool, Larry hoping for less mysterious deaths, Cordelia and Xander being psyched, then barely even saying anything to each other.
I always find it amazing how little attention people in movies\TV pay when they're driving, someone steps in front of them 2 or 3 seconds away and they don't even start to brake.
Hey...isn't that the mole from Firefly?
"What are you doing?""Breaking into your office and going through your private files" honesty is refreshing isn't it?
Watching Cordy and Xander argue is more fun than watching them suck face IMO, it's unfortunate that it didn't last long.
Watching Buffy trying to bluff her way in was painfully funny, and the idea of a foundry staffed by castoffs from society artifically aged and then spat back out is kinda cool.
The fight scenes near the end were cool, Buffy was kicking all kinds of ass. One thing though, the whole Ghandi thing was a little lame. Also, the thing where the portal covered itself was a bit of a cop-out, I think they should've had to actually DO something to seal it.
The ending was decent, but I'd have liked to see another 15 seconds or so.
All in all, not what I was hoping for, I was hoping for some introspection and soul-searching, instead what I got was some angst and a monster(s) of the week. Not a bad episode by any measure, but as a season premiere on the heels of the season 2 closer it falls short IMHO.
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What about where she tossed that demon, and his head caught a ceiling beam? Now THAT'S entertainment!
Ouchy Chrisisall
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