Monday, March 30, 2009

R.I.P.

Oh god....Rest in Peace Andy Hallet "Lorne" from Angel



Andy Hallett, who starred as Lorne ("the Host") on the TV series Angel, died of heart failure last night at age 33, according to his longtime agent and friend Pat Brady. The actor passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with heart disease, with his father Dave Hallett by his side

Source.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sorry for lack of updates. I've been meaning to do Never Kill a Boy & The Pack, but have been swamped with school work (and seeing Lady GaGa in concert this past week! Woo!)

But, wasn't Dollhouse this week hilariously awesome? Joss sure knows how to write drunkish/drugged/crazy/hallucinating people. It made me want to watch "Tabula Rasa" & "Spin the Bottle", haha.

Next week's episode looks amazing, too!

Until I can make a real update, let's all oogle and be jealous over this person's Whedon collection.


So. Not. Fair. I especially love the bottle of 'Dawn' with a key taped to it, haha. I should inventory my Buffy paraphenalia because I have a ton. Next on my list to get: the Buffy scythe.

Monday, March 9, 2009

'Teacher's Pet'; Buffy Season 1, Episode 4



Xander rescues slinky dressed clad Buffy from a vampire in the Bronze and concludes his heroism with a guitar solo as Buffy looks on with supreme adoration. Suddenly, Buffy tells him he's drooling as poor Xander wakes up in science class. And we all thought that was real. Oh well!

Buffy: "Destructo Girl. That's me."

The science teacher, Dr. Gregory, is the only teacher who seems to have any faith that Buffy won't destroy the school. So, of course, he dies a horrible death as soon as she leaves the room.

At the Bronze, Xander has his manliness tested by some fellow high school boys and tries to be a pimp with Buffy and Willow. Willow is SO into it, but Buffy sees Angel stalking the shadows and is entranced. He gives her his leather jacket, which looks quite adorable on her (although most of us are probably distracted by Angel's very very nice arms). And he warns her about an evil fork-handed vampire.


(Mmmm...Angel..)

The next day, Buffy's wearing the leather jacket, and a very skanky looking older woman walks by causing Xander's mouth to fall open. We find out she is Miss French, the substitute science teacher, who likes to eat bugs and twist her neck all the way around.




Buffy: "We're talking full on exorcist twist."

Cordelia finds Dr. Gregory without a head in the freezer and Buffy and Willow mourn his loss with Giles. Buffy goes off to hunt for fork-guy and sees that Miss French scares him away.

Buffy: "So I'm an undead monster that can shave with my hand. How many things am I afraid of?"

Miss French tells Xander to come to her house that night to work on the egg sac science project, while Buffy, Willow, and Giles research and discover she is a praying mantis. Xander chalks this up to Buffy being jealous and goes off to her house anyway. Miss French drugs him and her buggy self starts to show through more. Grosssss. She lets the human glamor wear off and the giant praying mantis lady drags Xander into her basement cage, where another student, Blayne, is also caged.



Willow: "No, no, no! See? Xander's, I like his head! I-it's where you find his eyes, and his hair, and his adorable smile!"

Off they go to rescue Xander. After going to the wrong house, Buffy finds fork-guy and has his fear lead them to the correct house as the praying mantis lady is getting ready to mate with Xander. Upon finding the right house, she kills fork-guy and they break into the house. The bat sonar makes the praying mantis go all wonky, Buffy chops her into bits, Xander destroys the egg sacs, and Willow kills Xander and Blayne's masculinity by proclaiming Miss French only went after virgins.

Back to the Bronze, Angel congratulates her on destroying the fork-guy.

Buffy: "Well... Anyway, you can have your jacket back."
Angel: "It looks better on you."

*dreamy sigh* Oh, Angel. Anyway, the ending is rather ambiguous because we see the eggs Miss French laid with Dr. Gregory open in the science closet. Dun dun dun!



This may not be a stellar episode by any means, but you have to enjoy the hilarity of a giant praying mantis. Plus, this is one of the most referenced episodes throughout the series. Poor Xander and his awesome luck with the 'ladies.'

'The Witch'; Buffy Season 1, Episode 3

Giles: "You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You were chosen to destroy
vampires, not to... wave pompoms at people. And as the Watcher I forbid
it."



After Buffy shockingly declares to Giles that she wants to join the cheerleading because it's 'normal,' we see a stereotypical witch image of a cauldron with thick green goo brewing and barbie dolls hanging over it. Dun dun dun, ominous? Not at all. During tryouts (which Xander is thoroughly enjoying--'Ooh, stretchy!') we meet Amy, and then witness one of the girls getting caught on fire as she does her routine.

Cordelia: "Who does she think she is, a Laker girl?" (Funny side note for those who don't know, Charisma Carpenter used to be a San Diego Charger cheerleader.)

Buffy saves her, but everyone is majorly wigged out, although Giles seems quite excited by the prospect of weird occurrences other than vampires and demons. Maybe the poor guy didn't get out much before Sunnydale. He was stuck in stuffy old England with his scones, Masterpiece Theater, and tea.

Willow: "Yeah! You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes!"
Buffy: "I just don't like putting you guys in danger."
Xander: "Oh, huh, I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it
goes away."
(Ahhh, adorable line of quotes! <3) style="width: 334px; height: 250px;" src="http://www.deadinthescene.org/coppermine/albums/buffy/one/03%20witch/witch_%28329%29.jpg">

Xander: "Nah, I gotta be a man and ask her out. Y'know, I gotta stop
giving her ID bracelets, uh, subtle innuendoes, taking Polaroids outside
of her bedroom window late at night, that last part is a joke to relieve
the tension because here she comes."

We also witness some mother/daughter tension with Joyce & Buffy. We learn Joyce works at some sort of art gallery and enjoys constantly reminding Buffy of how much she screwed up at her old school. Harsh much?

Buffy: "Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I am not ready to know
that you had Farrah hair."



Anyway, after Amy didn't make the team, we can hear her voice (though much raspier and evil-er sounding) casting more spells with her cauldron of goo, making Cordelia her new sacrifice. Poor unsuspecting Cordy is pretty dazed and confused, so Buffy follows her out to her driver's ed practice. After Cordy crashes the car through a fence and almost gets hit by an apparently blind truck driver (that dude was, like 100 feet away, how could he have NOT stopped?), Buffy saves her to see that Cordelia's eyes are completely white! Creeeepy!

Giles: "Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?"
Willow: "Maybe because they met her? Did I say that?"

They narrow down the witch suspects to Amy. During science lab, Buffy very not subtly steals hair from Amy's brush (I'm pretty sure Amy was watching her the entire time; smooth, Buffy) so she can spill a potion on her to tell if she casted any spells recently. She successfully spills the substance, which proves Amy had done some spells, just as another cheerleader's lips are sealed together and she can't open her mouth. Totally creepy again.

Amy comes home, obviously pissed off, yelling at her mother, and now has Buffy's cute bracelet to cast some spells.

The next morning Buffy is all giddy, singing 'Macho Man' (of all the songs!), and skipping around in her cheerleading uniform. She basically seems quite drunk.



Buffy: "Willow! Xander! My buds are here! I love my buds! Hi!"

After Buffy accidentally threw another cheerleader across the room 'Oops!', she was cast off the team, Amy gaining her spot.

Buffy: "No, no, no. You don't want her, she's a wi--"
Xander: "A wise choice indeed!"



More giggling from our slayer as Xander and Willow drag her out. She proclaims her love for Xander as one of the girls (Willow looks super happy by this declaration, while Xander quite downtrodden) and soon Buffy's happy skippy buzz wears off. Giles immediately knows it's a vengeance spell and Buffy has only a few hours left to live unless they stop the spells or cut off Amy's head. After heading to Amy's, Buffy figures it out that Amy's mother switched their bodies because Amy was 'wasting her youth.' They get her spell book and all three head back to school. After Giles does some intense magick, the bodies switched back and Buffy gets up, punching the crap out of Catherine. Catherine attempts to banish Buffy to the nether world, but she kicks down a reflective surface causing Catherine to get caught in her own spell, poofing forever.



Amy: "Well, I know that I'll miss the intellectual thrill of spelling out words with my arms."

Buffy and Joyce reconcile over the fact that she would never want to be sixteen again, Amy goes to live with her dad and make tons of brownies, and Catherine is stuck in her own cheerleading trophy. All in all, a happy ending!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Buffy opening sequence, Dollhose style!



The Dollhouse song is very haunting and oddly addicting, so I found this video used the elements from the Dollhouse opening and it looks nice with Buffy. So, good job, person, whoever made this! Super awesome.

Monday, March 2, 2009

"Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest"; Buffy Season 1, Episode 1 & 2

"Let's start with...'Hi, I'm Buffy.'"



This epic seven season long show begins with a couple of mischievous teens, obviously on a date, breaking into Sunnydale High school, probably so the boy can impress the girl with his daring vandalism. The innocent Catholic school girl, terrified of the possible danger, suddenly turns the tables on the sleazbag boyfriend and her face changes instantly as she sinks her teeth into his neck.

We meet our heroine, Buffy Summers, having terrible nightmares about vampires the morning of her first day of school. "Buffy, try not to get kicked out," her mother warns as the sixteen-year-old Slayer makes her way to the school. Sidekick comedic relief Xander Harris, skates by, falling over at first glimpse of Buffy; and so the crush begins. Xander rushes to tell his stereotypical guy-friend Jesse about the hot new girl as Willow Rosenberg, the brainy, but adorable nerd joins them.

"Uh, you forgot your...stake."

After Buffy goes to history class (after bumping into Xander and accidentally leaving her stake behind) and meets the stereotypically vapid superficial hobag (upon first glance, of course) Cordelia Chase, who decides she's cool and wants to be her best friend, she heads to library wanting books for class. Rupert Giles, the librarian, sets down a big fat book with 'VAMPYR' on it.

"Ew, morbid much?"



After sort of befriending Willow, Xander, and Jesse, Cordelia announces that a dead guy was found in a girl's locker. Further investigation (and the first exertion of Buffy's supreme physical strength) reveals that a vampire killed the guy. Gasp!

"So, what, you, like, sent away for the time life series?"



Giles explains to Buffy that he was sent there for her, to be her Watcher, the Slayer's guide in training her and preparing her for the coming battles. After a long--and unnecessarily loud--discussion about vampires, which Xander, of course, overhears, we see a horribly ugly vampire decked out in leather rising out of a pool of dark liquid we can only assume is blood.

"I'm sorry that's incorrect, but you do get this lovely supply of turtle wax!"

Buffy runs into the dreamy Angel on her way to the only cool place in town, The Bronze, who warns her about the coming darkness and yadda yadda. He gives her the famous cross necklace and disappears.



"Seize the day, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead."

After giving Willow this stellar advice, she decides to get friendly with a vampire, who lures her into a mausoleum. Buffy sees this after honing in on her fashion sense, running into Xander on the way. Both decide to go save them and eventually the Catholic school vampire from the beginning shows up with Jesse. Buffy finally stakes her first vampire, while Xander tries to escort Willow and Jesse to safety only to have their way blocked by numerous vamps. While Buffy fights for her life against a particularily nasty vampire named Luke, she gets pinned downin a coffin as he leaps upon her ready to strike....

TO BE CONTINUED!

Man, I was so upset about that the first time. So, I love this episode because it is adorably and deliciously cheezy. It makes me so nostalgic after knowing everything that happens in the future. The clothes alone are even nostalic, the super short dresses, mid-riff shirts, and Willow's overalls. But, Buffy is at her best, quip-wise. Also, knowing how old Darla is, I find her actions extremely naive, as though she was made a vampire only a few days ago. Of course, I chalk this up to the fact that everyone's history hadn't been completely worked out yet. Also, Willow, I thought you were a genius! What are you doing walking down dark alleys and in graveyards with some creepy older dude with bad clothes? Come on, now. Also, my favorite Cordelia line EVER is in this episode. After Buffy attacks her with the stake in the alley, and she opens her purse, gets out her clunky 1990s cell phone and says, "Excuse me, I have to call everyone I have ever met, right now." That cracks me up everytime.

'The Harvest'

Well, Buffy obviously kicks this Luke guy's ass enough to get away and save Xander and Willow. Guess Jesse got left behind. Woops! The next day, Giles gives his enjoyable vampires, demons, and apocalypses speech to Willow and Xander, who are taking it pretty well.

"I need to sit down."
"You are sitting."
"Oh. Well, good."



After some vampire scolding by the creepy vampire, who we learn is 'The Master,' we find out there's no hope for poor best friend Jesse. They begin to prepare for the harvest and want to lure the Slayer down to kill her before she can ruin it for them. After literally escaping school grounds, she makes it back to the mausoleum, where Angel is there to make more creepy speeches to her. But, us viewers don't really care because he is quite dreamy in his velvet jacket and mysterious ironic phrases. *dreamy sigh*



Back at school, Cordelia and her BFF Harmony are making fun of crazy Buffy and her attacking with a pointy stick, while Willow researches apocalypses. After ripping on Willow as per usual, while attempting to finish a project in Computer Science? class, Willow pretty much pwns them. While wondering how to save their work, she tells Cordelia to push 'Deliver'. Cordelia presses the 'del' button and deleted everything. Ha! Go Willow.



Xander comes to 'help' Buffy in the sewers because he already feels useless, even though he's known about vampires for about 10 hours. Jesse lures them into a trap, shows he's a vampire, and they escape through a manhole, where Buffy is apparently too weak to pull her leg out of the weakening vampire's grasp.

"I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good."

Xander and Buffy spill the bad news about Jesse to Willow and neither seem too broken up about it. Guess they weren't that close? Giles spills the beans about 'The Harvest' and so the four of them go into battle mode as vampires take over the Bronze, as Luke starts feasting upon the teenage populous to release the Master from his underground church forcefield. When it's time for Cordelia to die, Buffy pops in and saves the day, slaying a few vampires on the way before she gets to Luke. Xander faces off with Jesse, not wanting to stake him and hoping that his BFF is still in there somewhere. Xanders gets off pretty easy as someone bumps into Jesse, causing him to literally fall on Xander's stake. Woops! Giles and Willow face off against Darla, causing her to run away screaming after throwing holy water in her face. And Buffy bests Luke by tricking him into thinking it's daylight after some bright light pours onto the stage. The rest of the vampires run away. The foursome have a pleasant day at school the next day as the recover from the previous night, while no one else seems to have realized that vampires killed a bunch of people. Just another gang on PCP.



"The earth is definitely doomed." :)

That last line gives me a slight tear because of the final episode, but it'll be a while before I get there. Anyway, this two parter is a great way to kick off the show and really thrusts us into the Buffy world. Some people don't really like Season 1 or 2 the first time around, but after watching these episodes as much as I have, you really come to appreciate it the simpler times and innocence of the show and characters.

But, don't worry, the earth isn't doomed.

Intro

Hey all,

I've been meaning to do this for ages. I'd like to have a little blog set aside for my Whedon-related ramblings, reviews, and spazzes. This includes Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible, and Dollhouse.

Also, I'm going to start a Buffy re-watch and give my own little review/analysis about every episode starting from the beginning. I've been dying to do this for quite a while. Angel may be included in that once I get to Season 4 of Buffy.

In between that, I'll be writing reviews for Dollhouse as they air, as well as the new issues of Buffy Season 8 comics and probably Angel Season 6.

So, all things Whedon are a go here! Thanks for reading! :)

~Steph