Buffy Bracketology - Round 1

POSTED BY: batmarlowe
UPDATED: Monday, May 17, 2010 09:24
VIEWED: 3523
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BATMARLOWE

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:39 AM

One day I was listening to an interview with these guys who had written a book called Bracketology. And they talk about things like determining all-time best movie villain or best Superhero movie, stuff like that. So I decided to do it to determine what I think is the best/my favorite episode of Buffy.

It’s structured similarly to the NCAA basketball tournament. What I decided to do what randomly order the episodes and pit whichever ep came up first against whichever one came up one-hundred and forty-fourth. And whichever one was second on the list went against the one-hundred and forty-third, and so on and so on.

So, there’s no such thing as a #1 seed. The eps aren’t ranked and seeded because if I ranked and seeded them, the work would be done. The point is to see who survives. The other point is this is a fun and different way to approach watching Buffy. The one bit of fallout from this system is a great ep won’t advance to the second round because it lost to an even greater ep; while a sucky ep will advance because it defeated an even suckier ep. But, this system isn’t designed to determine anything other than who’s number 1.

I will be giving my opinion from time to time. It will be stated as though it is fact--something along the lines of: “This is a piece of crap”. Please be aware I am aware it is only my opinion and just because I think something’s great doesn’t mean it is and just because I think it’s bad doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Also I would suggest to anyone who’s watched the whole series a few times to try watching it in random order. Why? If you know the show well then seeing the episodes isolated rather than as part of the big sweep of events can give you a different perspective and appreciation of each one. Just a thought.

And now if anyone’s still reading this, let’s check out the results of Round 1.

001. Doppelgangland (3-16) Vs. 144. Bargaining, Part 2 (6-02) Easy. This is like a match between Buffy and Andrew. Winner: Doppelgangland.

002. This Year’s Girl (4-15) Vs. 143. I Was Made to Love You (5-15)
An early upset. TYG always sticks in my mind as one of the notable events of Buffydom. But the Aprilbot’s demise really gets to me. Winner: I Was Made to Love You.

003. Flooded (6-04) Vs. 142. The Real Me (5-02)
Winner: The Real Me.

004. Prophecy Girl (1-12) Vs. 141. Older and Far Away (6-14)
Not a contest. PG has some of S1’s most powerful moments while OaFA is one of the low points in a season chock full of low points. Winner: Prophecy Girl

005. Lovers’ Walk (3-08) Vs. 140. Killed by Death (2-18)
Winner: Lover’s Walk

006. Hell’s Bells (6-16) Vs. 139. Hush (4-10)
This is like a match between Buffy and a gnat. A particularly vomitous and repugnant gnat. While Hush is…well, Hush. Winner: Hush

007. Sleeper (7-08) Vs. 138. Tough Love (5-19)
Winner: Tough Love

008. The Puppet Show (1-09) Vs. 137. Beneath You (7-02)
Y’know, BY has never moved me the way it’s meant to. Whereas I’ve thought TPS was good twist on the whole ventriloquist thing. Winner: The Puppet Show

009. Fear, Itself (4-04) Vs. 136. New Moon Rising (4-19)
A Four against a Four! Winner: New Moon Rising.

010. The Body (5-16) Vs. 135. I Only Have Eyes for You (2-19)
One of those times when a worthy ep won’t make it to round 2. Winner: The Body

011. Seeing Red (6-19) Vs. 134. Dead Things (6-13)
Bit of an upset here. I HATE Dead Things. Turns out I found more to dislike about Seeing Red. Who knew? Winner: Dead Things

012. Crush (5-14) Vs. 133. Wild at Heart (4-06)
Winner: Crush

013. Witch (1-03) Vs. 132. Inca Mummy Girl (2-04)
Another upset. Always think of Witch as one of S1’s best and IMG as kind of ordinary. But there’s a lot good character moments in IMG. Winner: Inca Mummy Girl

014. Graduation Day, Part Two (3-22) Vs. 131. Nightmares (1-10)
Nightmares is also one of S1’s best but... Winner: Graduation Day, Part Two.

015. Passion (2-17) Vs. 130. Entropy (6-18)
Winner: Passion

016. The Dark Age (2-08) Vs. 129. Conversation

THESOMNAMBULIST

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:37 PM

Bartmarlowe:

That is incredibly dedicated of you! I'll have a really good thorough look a little later but I had to say well done for seeing all that through. Amazing.

One thing in reference to re-watching Buffy. I'm doing so right now and my approach this time around has been to re-watch them in reverse order. Kinda fun. Presently on season 5.

Nice one!

Would you like to see some cartoons? http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com

BATMARLOWE

Monday, May 17, 2010 7:47 AM

Thanks for taking a look, Somnambulist. Reverse order seems like an interesting approach too.

Took a look at your webpage, and I must say I think you're a terrific cartoonist. Your work has a sort of three-dimensionality to it. What I mean is some cartoonists draw in a way that looks like lines on paper. Whereas others draw in a way where it looks like their characters inhabit their own world. I think yours have that quality. I hope it's going well for you.

Right now, I'm watching this great show you might have heard of called "Firefly" but when I finish with that I'll start round two of the Buffy tournament. You're the only Whedonite on Earth who has shown any bit of interest. But that's okay.

THESOMNAMBULIST

Monday, May 17, 2010 9:24 AM

Bartmarlowe.

No problem Bart - I'm always happy to engage with Buffy questions, conundrumns and or debates. I can waffle on about Buffy for ages.

Thanks so much for your remarks about my cartoons. I really appreciate it. Cheers. It's going OK. I've had better years, but with the way things are at the moment, I can't grumble. But really. Thank you.

I'm fully engrossed in your 'formula' for rating Buffy episodes. I'm about half way through. It's actually a really interesting way of looking at the shows. I've had one or two very difficult calls aswell, which is an eye opener, and if I had to make an early assessment; it's amazing how the shows I regard as entertaining and perhaps a little silly are actually winning out of the heavy handed dramatic ones. But it's early days yet. Things could change.

Best thing about this method is that I'm curious to see which will be top of the list! :D
So keep me posted on how things go with you - this is fun.

Cheers

Would you like to see some cartoons? http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com