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fajrdrakoEnjoyed it, despite the really stupid title.
Well, you can imagine I liked the way it started out - medieval ritual. Or is that early Renassance ritual? I think this show is a little loose on its history, but no matter. Lovely pseudo-chruch stuff, and "Carlo, caro mio". Am I just terminally oversexed, or did all that talk about love and "I command you, come" sound like pseudo-eroticism? Ah, well, that's Whedon for you, and I love it.
The terrible career of Moloch. The Circle of Kayless. I like all this stuff. They even speak Italian - bonus points. But "Kayless" doesn't sound Italian or old or anything else. I guess it's demon-talk. I didn't notice the word "Corrupter" in the Italian, but that's okay.
Book magic. Cool.
That being said, it's a bit of a suspension of disbelief to think that a high school library would be acquiring an occult text from 1460. Not a very realistic idea. Or that Giles himself could be wealthy enough to buy it. But hey, I'm watching a show about vampires and the Hellmouth, anything can happen. No problem.
Going back to numbered points:
1. They scan a demon into a computer. Somehow that seems much more believable. And the demon likes Willow. Addendum: don't the computers look old-fashioned? This was only ten years ago. Okay, my computer still looks just like those, but I'm not exactly state of the art. Look at the computers in Torchwood - well, okay, they have alien tech and they're a little in the future, but... in just about any show the computers now look snazzier.
2. Giles doesn't like computers? Oh dear. I do like the exchange, though:
Giles: I'll be back in the middle ages.
Ms Calendar: Did you ever leave?
And the exchange:
Ms. Calendar: More digitized information went across phone lines than conversation.
Giles: That is a fact that I regard with genuine horror.
It's okay, Giles, you'll get used to it.
3. Ms Calendar is beautiful and smart and another teacher. Why did this lead me to think she'd turn out to be either irreparably evil or dead by the end of the episode? But she survived, and she wasn't bad. Kudos to the show for not falling into a repetitive pattern. Slap to my fingers for expecting it, just because other TV shows do it.
4. So Willow has a crush on a guy she met on the Internet but never saw. We can guess who it is. Poor Willow. But really. Only a demon could be that smooth.
5. Buffy becomes the voice of reason. Scary.
6. Scary bit of dialogue:
Ms Calendar: Hey, Fritz, I'm, uh, looking at the logs. You and Dave are clocking a pretty scary amount of computer time.
Fritz: New project.
Ms Calendar: Ooo, will I be excited?
Fritz: You'll die.
7. Cute bit from Xander:
Buffy [re Willow]: She certainly looks perky.
Xander: Yeah, color in the cheeks, bounce in the step. I don't like it. It's not healthy.
8. Fritz and Dave are kind of unimpressive.
9. Couldn't help loving this exchange:
Buffy: Besides, I can just tell something's wrong. My spider sense is tingling.
Giles: Your... spider sense?
Buffy: Pop culture reference. Sorry.
Joss Whedon reads all the right things. I confess: I use the phrase "my spider sense is tingling" fairly often. Early conditioning. So I love it that Buffy does, too.
10. I like the way Willow catches on that Moloch may not be what he appears.
11. It's Xander's turn to wear a really ugly coat.
12. Scary, to see Dave watch his own suicide note being written.
13. 1460 was not the "Dark Ages". Giles would know that. Not that he says it explicitly, and he *is* talking to high school kids.
14. Also liked:
Xander: What does he want with Willow?
Buffy: Let's never find out.
15. So Moloch gets himself a body. I liked this. Robot-demon. Kind of corny, kind of fun. Might have been drawn by Jack Kirby or Rob Liefield.
16. I liked Giles' ritualistic stuff.
17. So Willow meets Moloch, and fights back. Way to go, Willow.
18. Giles: Demon, come! - this brings us back to the beginning.
19. I'm not sure I agree with Giles that knowledge should be smelly. Books are only 'smelly' if they have been mistreated or badly cared for, or left undusted. That implies things about his library that I'd rather not imagine.
20. Do we meet Ms Calendar again? The pretty techno-pagan?
21. Liked the ending, too:
Buffy: Let's face it: none of us are ever gonna have a happy, normal relationship.
Xander: We're doomed.
Willow: Yeah!
Aww. They just don't know how to cheer up, do they?
Well, you can imagine I liked the way it started out - medieval ritual. Or is that early Renassance ritual? I think this show is a little loose on its history, but no matter. Lovely pseudo-chruch stuff, and "Carlo, caro mio". Am I just terminally oversexed, or did all that talk about love and "I command you, come" sound like pseudo-eroticism? Ah, well, that's Whedon for you, and I love it.
The terrible career of Moloch. The Circle of Kayless. I like all this stuff. They even speak Italian - bonus points. But "Kayless" doesn't sound Italian or old or anything else. I guess it's demon-talk. I didn't notice the word "Corrupter" in the Italian, but that's okay.
Book magic. Cool.
That being said, it's a bit of a suspension of disbelief to think that a high school library would be acquiring an occult text from 1460. Not a very realistic idea. Or that Giles himself could be wealthy enough to buy it. But hey, I'm watching a show about vampires and the Hellmouth, anything can happen. No problem.
Going back to numbered points:
1. They scan a demon into a computer. Somehow that seems much more believable. And the demon likes Willow. Addendum: don't the computers look old-fashioned? This was only ten years ago. Okay, my computer still looks just like those, but I'm not exactly state of the art. Look at the computers in Torchwood - well, okay, they have alien tech and they're a little in the future, but... in just about any show the computers now look snazzier.
2. Giles doesn't like computers? Oh dear. I do like the exchange, though:
Giles: I'll be back in the middle ages.
Ms Calendar: Did you ever leave?
And the exchange:
Ms. Calendar: More digitized information went across phone lines than conversation.
Giles: That is a fact that I regard with genuine horror.
It's okay, Giles, you'll get used to it.
3. Ms Calendar is beautiful and smart and another teacher. Why did this lead me to think she'd turn out to be either irreparably evil or dead by the end of the episode? But she survived, and she wasn't bad. Kudos to the show for not falling into a repetitive pattern. Slap to my fingers for expecting it, just because other TV shows do it.
4. So Willow has a crush on a guy she met on the Internet but never saw. We can guess who it is. Poor Willow. But really. Only a demon could be that smooth.
5. Buffy becomes the voice of reason. Scary.
6. Scary bit of dialogue:
Ms Calendar: Hey, Fritz, I'm, uh, looking at the logs. You and Dave are clocking a pretty scary amount of computer time.
Fritz: New project.
Ms Calendar: Ooo, will I be excited?
Fritz: You'll die.
7. Cute bit from Xander:
Buffy [re Willow]: She certainly looks perky.
Xander: Yeah, color in the cheeks, bounce in the step. I don't like it. It's not healthy.
8. Fritz and Dave are kind of unimpressive.
9. Couldn't help loving this exchange:
Buffy: Besides, I can just tell something's wrong. My spider sense is tingling.
Giles: Your... spider sense?
Buffy: Pop culture reference. Sorry.
Joss Whedon reads all the right things. I confess: I use the phrase "my spider sense is tingling" fairly often. Early conditioning. So I love it that Buffy does, too.
10. I like the way Willow catches on that Moloch may not be what he appears.
11. It's Xander's turn to wear a really ugly coat.
12. Scary, to see Dave watch his own suicide note being written.
13. 1460 was not the "Dark Ages". Giles would know that. Not that he says it explicitly, and he *is* talking to high school kids.
14. Also liked:
Xander: What does he want with Willow?
Buffy: Let's never find out.
15. So Moloch gets himself a body. I liked this. Robot-demon. Kind of corny, kind of fun. Might have been drawn by Jack Kirby or Rob Liefield.
16. I liked Giles' ritualistic stuff.
17. So Willow meets Moloch, and fights back. Way to go, Willow.
18. Giles: Demon, come! - this brings us back to the beginning.
19. I'm not sure I agree with Giles that knowledge should be smelly. Books are only 'smelly' if they have been mistreated or badly cared for, or left undusted. That implies things about his library that I'd rather not imagine.
20. Do we meet Ms Calendar again? The pretty techno-pagan?
21. Liked the ending, too:
Buffy: Let's face it: none of us are ever gonna have a happy, normal relationship.
Xander: We're doomed.
Willow: Yeah!
Aww. They just don't know how to cheer up, do they?
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-24 07:29 pm (UTC)Good. Makes it all worth it, doing the comentary and all. I feel like such an innocent. That is an unusual feeling for me.
though it is different because you have future!knowledge of the series.
Yes. Some.
I never know if the questions you ask in your posts are rhetorical or demanding answers!
It's safest to consider them all rhetorical. I'll try to make special notation if I mean otherwise.
(It's a bummer to me that people are giving things like The Watchers' Council" away in the comments, but possibly it bugs me more than you.)
It doesn't really bother me because (a) I'd heard of the Watcher's Council and (b) don't know anything about it except that it exists. I'm not sure how much Buffy knows about her own mythology and situation - or how much I'd have learned if I'd seen the movie. They really haven't said much about Giles or his role regarding Buffy - it's implied he's a sort of supernaturally appointed sensei - which is a bit confusing, since her situation is very prosaic and he doesn't seem to be much of a martial artist. So I assume she knows more than we do... er, I mean, more than I do.
If I were Buffy, I'd be peppering him with nonstop questions.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-24 08:48 pm (UTC)As I recall? Not damn much, and most of it stupid. Seriously, DO NOT watch the movie version, it's rubbish.
I'm not sure how much Buffy knows about her own mythology and situation
Regarding Slayer mythology, I'd say at this point she knows as much as you do - "one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, she alone has the power" etc.
But yes, I think she knows more about Watchers than you do at present - after all, Giles is not her first Watcher. A guy called Merrick (I think) was. How the whole Watcher deal works does become clearer over the seasons.
it's implied he's a sort of supernaturally appointed sensei
Erm, I'd say even at this point he's shown to be more of a guide and mentor, supplying knowledge rather than fighting skills. I admit he does introduce her to new weapons occasionally, but it's pretty clear that Buffy never really needs any instruction in using them! And he does make sure that she actually does training and keeps her edges sharp.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 02:19 pm (UTC)Okay.
Giles is not her first Watcher
I didn't know that, but it makes sense. She expected to have one, then?
he does introduce her to new weapons occasionally, but it's pretty clear that Buffy never really needs any instruction in using them!
So it seems, and fighting clearly isn't his strong suit. Not even an interest or a hobby.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 03:36 pm (UTC)I didn't know that, but it makes sense. She expected to have one, then?
This gets a little complicated since the film is canonically set before the series, but not really taken as explicitly canon as Joss disagreed with how they did it - plus I saw it years ago and don't really remember much other than it was pretty dire. But from the first episode we know that Buffy is aware she is the Slayer and aware of the Chosen One mythos, so while her backstory for the series may not be precisely the same as the film that's not the sort of thing a she could find out for herself, implying that the Watcher aspect of the film still applies, ergo Giles is not her first and it was the other Watcher who told her all that stuff. (Donald Sutherland played him in the film and totally phoned it in.)
But I don't think that Buffy expected to have one when she moved to Sunnydale - it seemed like she thought she was getting away from all the Slayer stuff.
fighting clearly isn't his strong suit. Not even an interest or a hobby
Welll, he's had training. With quarterstaff at least and he mentions traditional training methods.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 03:43 pm (UTC)I like the idea of Giles in training - but he does seem more interested in books.