From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V2 #194 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Thursday, September 28 2000 Volume 02 : Number 194 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: b/season premieres ["Hilary L. Hertzoff" ] Re: b/season premieres ["Berni Phillips" ] Re: b/season premieres [GHighPine@aol.com] b/vs.d/&A ["Donald G. Keller" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 18:32:27 -0400 (EDT) From: "Hilary L. Hertzoff" Subject: Re: b/season premieres On Tue, 26 Sep 2000, meredith wrote: > Hi! > > This goes without saying, but SPOILER WARNING!!! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > So they handled Dracula pretty well, I thought. I really didn't know what > to expect until I read the 4-star review in USA Today this morning. The > review gave away a bit more than I really needed to know beforehand, but it > didn't detract from my enjoyment of the episode at all. I thought they struck a nice balance between all of the versions of Dracula. And it was rather clever giving him those extra powers (and notoriety) - explaining why in a world where vampires are so common, people would have such misconceptions of their abilities. I'm not that familiar with the historical Vlad Drakul, but the gypsy ties go back at least as far back as Stoker's novel. > > "Restless" reference count is 2, unless I missed something: Dracula calling > Buffy "killer", and of course the whole "you have no idea..." declamation. > > When Buffy dusted Dracula at the end, Rob chimed in from the other end of > the couch, "Well, *that* was too easy." So we both laughed really hard at > what happened after that. "I'm standing right here!" The thing I was most afraid of when they first announced this was a single episode deal was that they would make him too easy to kill or twist him too far from the original story...they did neither. > Questions raised: > > -- Is Dracula responsible for Dawn? > -- For that matter, is Dawn responsible for Dracula? I suspect (but have nothing more than a hunch to go on) that Dawn's existence is tied to the scenes with Joyce - commenting that the house felt empty since Buffy left. I find myself really looking forward to the Dawn storyline. From the few scenes we saw, I think she's going to mesh really well (in a sibling rivalry sort of way) with Buffy. > > Oh yeah, and I actually enjoyed _Angel_. The karaoke bit was actually > pretty funny, and made sense within the context without being a stupid > gimmick. (I *loved* the emcee! Boy George with horns. ) What > made the hour for me, though, was the scene with Faith at the end. Either > I slept through the opening credits or they didn't mention Eliza Dushku's > name in the list of guest stars, because it was 100% a surprise. Very, > very cool. I hope we get to see a lot of her this year. This episode was better than I expected in so many ways. I wasn't expecting Faith either and that was the icing on the cake. (Though the fact that Angel _couldn't_ sing was a nice touch.) Hilary Hilary L. Hertzoff From here to there, Mamaroneck Public Library a bunny goes where a bunny must. Mamaroneck, NY hhertzof@wlsmail.wls.lib.ny.us Little Bunny on the Move hhertzof@panix.com by Peter McCarty ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 17:22:50 -0700 From: "Berni Phillips" Subject: Re: b/season premieres From: "meredith" > This goes without saying, but SPOILER WARNING!!! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- What the hell was up with Willow's makeup?! Did she get a trowel for > her birthday?? Willow's makeup? I never noticed hers because Dracula's was so bad! I wasn't sure if we were supposed to think that Dracula chooses to wear poorly applied, very obvious makeup (a white base that didn't cover well and which didn't cover his neck and a coppery eyeshadow) or that the makeup department was having a really off day. > Anyone else think Buffy had a huge Emma Peel thing going this week? The > costume department must've gotten a deal on vinyl pants her size. I noticed that, too. I was wondering if she had leather pants in every color of the rainbow or if they did something to her normal clothes. > I also detected a difference in the fight choreography this week. I can't > put my finger on exactly what it was, but there was *something* lacking as > compared to previous seasons. Anybody know who took over the job this year? I liked the fight choreography much better. I didn't see it as anything lacking (obviously, since I liked it better), but it looked different to me. Much of that is attributable to the shots of Buffy running, and I think this is deliberate, relating to her changing Slayer powers. Dracula told her she's a hunter, and I think that's what they were trying to show. > 2.) Buffy will be exploring just what it means to be the Slayer (I'm > guessing she's the Slayer who has managed to survive the longest, and thus > is the first to get to this stage) That would be my guess, too. > 3.) Giles is going to Get A Life And it's about time. > 4.) Xander is going to Get A Life No more butt monkeys! What did that mean? > Oh yeah, and I actually enjoyed _Angel_. The karaoke bit was actually > pretty funny, and made sense within the context without being a stupid > gimmick. (I *loved* the emcee! Boy George with horns. ) What > made the hour for me, though, was the scene with Faith at the end. Either > I slept through the opening credits or they didn't mention Eliza Dushku's > name in the list of guest stars, because it was 100% a surprise. Very, > very cool. I hope we get to see a lot of her this year. Ditto on all that. I also did not notice Eliza Dushku in the opening credits. They probably wanted to surprise us. The scene at the end was great and very appropriate. If we want to see Faith redeemed, steady contact with Angel is very necessary. It was also an amusing scene, with her saying her being attacked by another convict and beaten with guards was a petty little problem compared with Angel singing a Barry Manilow song in public. I also really enjoyed the teaser for the show. It was nice to see Cordelia actually show some talent as an actress and Wesley being not quite such a loser (which we know he's growing out of) as they get paged to join Angel. It was a kick, these normally less than capable characters aping a teaser for an action team being called to action. Berni ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 22:23:45 EDT From: GHighPine@aol.com Subject: Re: b/season premieres Basically agree with all comments. Just wanted to add about Angel's hilariously awful singing -- his voice actually had a nice timbre that the actor seemed to be making an effort to hide, and to sing =that= wretchedly off-key he had to have been doing it on purpose; IOW, I got the impression that that in real life Boreanaz is probably a pretty decent singer. The scene -- and the whole demon karaoke thing -- had me in stitches, though. Which reminds me, there is a movie promo currently playing on tv which has one character saying, "Is it karate-oke?" and the other responding, "No, it's carry-oke," with the implication that that's the correct pronunciation. Gets me, because except for the extra syllable the karate-oke guy is closer to the correct ka-ra-o-ke pronunciation. The "kara" in both words is the same word, meaning "empty" (respectively empty hand and empty orchestra, "oke" being derived from the English word "orchestra") Gayle ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 00:20:55 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: b/vs.d/&A Gonna keep this brief. Sleep to catch up on. My luck held, my VCR worked (yes, I'm paranoid), and I got to watch the season premiere of =Buffy= when I got home this morning (and =Angel= when I woke up, and then =Buffy= again). I'm with Meredith: the Faith scene was a complete surprise (no, she wasn't in the credits, because I remember remarking on the Wolfram and Hart lawyers being in there), and an extremely welcome one. Wonderful scene, struck exactly the right tone, it seemed to me, Faith not exactly happy with where she is but satisfied she's doing the right thing. And her expression when Angel told her about the karaoke was priceless. There were a number of ways they could have developed the Faith saga (Wolfram & Hart getting her off after all?), but I like this way so far. How they're going to get her involved in plots while in prison (riot? jailbreak? Faith getting information from other inmates?) is a problem, but I feel sure they'll think of something. The karaoke schtick was decidedly odd, but well-done (the emcee's performance was first-rate). And Julie Benz was excellent in the one Darla scene. That's an angle I expected more from (the preseason previews of both shows seem to have scenes from more than just the premiere episodes), but I'm sure we'll get more soon. As for =Buffy=, I'm still thinking about it. Dracula's mythology is quite different from established =Buffy= vampire mythology, and sits very oddly within it. And I'm still trying to puzzle out just how =much= in thrall to him Buffy was: she seemed to waver in and out of influence, and it was hard to keep track. Sucking his blood seemed to snap her out of it, which is more food for thought. We do in fact seem to be leaning towards =some= kind of quasi-demonic nature for the Slayer. OK. Here's the main puzzler for me. Waking-world Tara, as far as we can see, has little to do with Buffy's dream-Tara in "Restless," and we have to inquire in Buffy's direction why she "borrowed" Tara to intermediate with the first Slayer. And obviously, since Dracula repeated Tara's "oracle" word for word, he either knows or has some connection with Slayerness. So what's the deal? Some really good dramatic scenes, especially Buffy acting very weird after Dracula bit her, leading to the confrontation with Riley over her scarf. And good scenes between Giles and Willow, and Giles and Buffy at the end. Seems we're going to get a lot more of Buffy & Giles this year. Let's hope. Nicely-timed coda about Dawn (especially the comic simultaneous "Mom!"s). My favorite line was from =next= week's show: "I'm telling Mom you slayed in front of me!" Several other points of Meredith's I want to think a bit more about. Let the discussion begin! ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V2 #194 *****************************