From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V4 #139 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Wednesday, September 25 2002 Volume 04 : Number 139 Today's Subjects: ----------------- b/Lessons ["Donald G. Keller" ] Re: b/Lessons ["Susan Kroupa" ] Re: b/Lessons [Todd Huff ] Re: b/Lessons ["Susan Kroupa" ] Re: b/Lessons ["Marta Grabien" ] Re: b/Lessons [Joseph Zitt ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 22:23:29 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: b/Lessons Yes, I did: I rewound the tape and watched it a second time right away. Not sure where to begin. I could begin, simply: Rupert Giles on a horse! (Sounds like some ancient imprecation, doesn't it?) Or: Help me. The new =Buffy= season begins with a patch of Middle Eastern music. (Is everyone here aware that I, political situation to the contrary notwithstanding, am overwhelmingly susceptible to Middle Eastern music?) Got things off to a perfect start. Although I =will= note that that opening sequence was never followed up... But the first thing that really ought to be said is: You can tell a Joss Whedon script a mile away, can't you? I was already wondering before the credit came up, and then I just watched it unfold (like that flower!). Sharp cuts in odd places; but relevant cuts (everything is connected!). Same first and last lines in the episode. Juggling several storylines at once. The way the couple of Giles/Willow scenes (beautiful all on their own) were patched in in the proper places. The nicely-calculated act breaks. The way you eventually conclude the principal is =probably= a good guy, but Joss toys with you and makes you suspect him for a while. And what I suspect is a heartfelt but very oh-by-the-way tribute to Damon Knight tucked away in there. And Spike as crazy-psychic-guy. How interesting. My first sudden realization/speculation of the season: I think I know who the entity with Spike at the end is. Hint: "Amends." More later. I could go on. And probably will. And probably will watch again soon. (Funny how differently I felt about =Firefly=...) Pop quiz: spot Dawn's two friends-to-be before she meets them. Hm. Maybe that's all for now. I have to get up and go to work in the morning... But suffice to say I'm a very happy boy this evening. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 20:30:34 -0600 From: "Susan Kroupa" Subject: Re: b/Lessons Yes, it was fun and compelling and new-hair, new-soul Spike was very different than what I was expecting. Marsters is sure a good actor! Sue - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald G. Keller" To: Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 8:23 PM Subject: b/Lessons > Yes, I did: I rewound the tape and watched it a second time right away. > > Not sure where to begin. > > I could begin, simply: > > Rupert Giles on a horse! (Sounds like some ancient imprecation, doesn't > it?) > > Or: > > Help me. The new =Buffy= season begins with a patch of Middle Eastern > music. (Is everyone here aware that I, political situation to the contrary > notwithstanding, am overwhelmingly susceptible to Middle Eastern music?) > Got things off to a perfect start. > > Although I =will= note that that opening sequence was never followed up... > > But the first thing that really ought to be said is: > > You can tell a Joss Whedon script a mile away, can't you? > > I was already wondering before the credit came up, and then I just watched > it unfold (like that flower!). Sharp cuts in odd places; but relevant cuts > (everything is connected!). Same first and last lines in the episode. > Juggling several storylines at once. The way the couple of Giles/Willow > scenes (beautiful all on their own) were patched in in the proper places. > The nicely-calculated act breaks. The way you eventually conclude the > principal is =probably= a good guy, but Joss toys with you and makes you > suspect him for a while. And what I suspect is a heartfelt but very > oh-by-the-way tribute to Damon Knight tucked away in there. > > And Spike as crazy-psychic-guy. How interesting. > > My first sudden realization/speculation of the season: I think I know who > the entity with Spike at the end is. Hint: "Amends." More later. > > I could go on. And probably will. And probably will watch again soon. > > (Funny how differently I felt about =Firefly=...) > > Pop quiz: spot Dawn's two friends-to-be before she meets them. > > Hm. Maybe that's all for now. I have to get up and go to work in the > morning... > > But suffice to say I'm a very happy boy this evening. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 19:51:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Todd Huff Subject: Re: b/Lessons - --- Susan Kroupa wrote: > Yes, it was fun and compelling and new-hair, > new-soul Spike was very > different than what I was expecting. Marsters is > sure a good actor! > Nothing like I was expecting either. Very neat way to take the character. > ----- Original Message ----- > > Although I =will= note that that opening sequence > was never followed up... I bet it ends up having something to do with how to defeat this particular big bad. > > My first sudden realization/speculation of the > season: I think I know who > > the entity with Spike at the end is. Hint: > "Amends." More later. Bingo. Thoughts on the Principal? I don't get an evil vibe from him. Maybe he does know more than he's letting on and is glad to have the Slayer hanging around. Real wild thought: he's from the Watcher's Council, working behind the scenes. It'll be interesting to see if he and Giles ever meet. New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 22:29:47 -0600 From: "Susan Kroupa" Subject: Re: b/Lessons Could you explain that for the slow of wit like myself? Sue - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald G. Keller" . And what I suspect is a heartfelt but very > oh-by-the-way tribute to Damon Knight tucked away in there. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 21:46:41 -0700 From: "Marta Grabien" Subject: Re: b/Lessons > Rupert Giles on a horse! (Sounds like some ancient imprecation, doesn't > it?) > In that coat, and those boots..... aieeeeeeeeeee We had a Buffy dinner, about 14 people. A collective ahhhh went up when Giles appeared. How nice of Joss. Eye candy. > > Help me. The new =Buffy= season begins with a patch of Middle Eastern > music. (Is everyone here aware that I, political situation to the contrary > notwithstanding, am overwhelmingly susceptible to Middle Eastern music?) Have you heard AfroCelt? I play thier first album constantly. > Although I =will= note that that opening sequence was never followed up... It will be. I trust in Joss. > . And what I suspect is a heartfelt but very > oh-by-the-way tribute to Damon Knight tucked away in there. Yeh, To Serve Man is a cookbook. Nice. > > And Spike as crazy-psychic-guy. How interesting. Yummers. I like his new hair too. > Nite. :) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 21:59:59 -0700 From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: b/Lessons On Tue, 24 Sep 2002 22:23:29 -0400 (EDT) "Donald G. Keller" wrote: > Help me. The new =Buffy= season begins with a patch of Middle Eastern > music. (Is everyone here aware that I, political situation to the > contrary notwithstanding, am overwhelmingly susceptible to Middle > Eastern music?) Got things off to a perfect start. My silly thought was that they lost the soundtrack and had slapped in some of the score from Firefly :-) > And what I > suspect is a heartfelt but very oh-by-the-way tribute to Damon Knight > tucked away in there. Yup -- though I wondered how Dawn might know about "To Serve Man". > My first sudden realization/speculation of the season: I think I know > who the entity with Spike at the end is. Hint: "Amends." More later. Hm... off to double check the script archive. I was watching it with a friend who had never seen the show. I gave up trying to explain that final scene until it was over. But I wonder if it will point to a return to the issue of whether Buffy, and slayers in general, have something demonic about them. I found the tossing-aside of the problem last season a bit lame. The friend with whom I was watching, BTW, is a devout Christian. He was curious that there seemed to be a complex demonology developed for the show and wondered if there was any similar complexity to the forces of Good. I couldn't think of any, and noticed that as curious. All the could think of was The Powers That Be, who seemed to be kind of added on to the Buffyverse for Angel. - -- | josephzitt@josephzitt.com http://www.josephzitt.com/ | | http://www.metatronpress.com/jzitt/ http://www.mp3.com/josephzitt/ | | == New book: Surprise Me with Beauty: the Music of Human Systems == | | Comma / Gray Code Silence: the John Cage Discussion List | ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V4 #139 *****************************