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Post by Clare on Sept 21, 2008 7:47:44 GMT -5
Review and discuss season one here - also include your scores for each of the episodes.
Which episode was your favourite and which was your least favourite? And why?
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Post by partcynic on Dec 5, 2008 11:44:17 GMT -5
Erg. I keep meaning to catch up with these posts, but have never gotten around to doing it. It's sad to them sitting there with no responses, so it's time to remedy that.
Season One Episode Ratings
All ratings are on a 0-10 scale, used purely for Buffy (if I were ranking these eps against those from another series, then almost all the Buffy scores would be in the 8-10 range). There aren't many shows I would give a grade of '4' or higher to, so anything in the upper marks is just great TV.
6 1x01 Welcome To The Hellmouth
6 1x02 The Harvest
6 1x03 Witch
5 1x04 Teacher's Pet
6 1x05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date
8 1x06 The Pack
7 1x07 Angel
4 1x08 I, Robot... You, Jane
6 1x09 The Puppet Show
5 1x10 Nightmares
5 1x11 Out of Mind, Out of Sight
9 1x12 Prophecy Girl
Average Score = 6.08
General Thoughts
One of the big mysteries in the Buffy fan community is in how almost everyone looks down on S1, some even going so far as to declare it the worst year of the lot. Although time has admittedly not been too kind to it, the season managed to take a ridiculous-on-paper premise (that got Joss and co laughed out of the meeting rooms of the bigger TV networks), and turned it into something engaging, clever and incredibly fun to watch. In fact, the critical praise and decent viewership that the show got for the then-fledging WB network was what encouraged its renewal in the first place, meaning that all the seasons to come owe S1 a huge debt of gratitude.
Whenever I watch S1, I always look at it as being a foundation akin to that of a house. While you probably wouldn't take time to show guests your home's basic construction, it would collapse without it - and all the fancy decoration you might do later would end up meaning nothing. S1 may not be overflowing with brilliant episodes, but all of the groundwork for what Buffy would become was expertly laid down here - the dialogue sparkles, the characters are warm, three-dimensional and behave like real people might in supernatural situations, and the ensemble cast snaps together in a manner that's pretty much unprecedented - by "Witch" (the second 'proper' episode), all of the characters' personalities have been established, and it feels like they've known each other forever. No wonder Buffy, Willow, Giles and Xander are called the "core four" - each of them brings something vital to the show, and they do a great job of filling in the missing gaps in each other's personalities.
In addition, it's interesting to observe that the real problems with the season are mostly in superficial areas - the score music is tinny, cliched and cheap; and the non-vampire monster make-up and costuming needed a lot of work (though what we got was okay given the series' low budget and status as a mid-season replacement based on a flop movie). However, the important things (plot, dialogue, acting, cinematography) are all well-handled, and even the weakest episodes have an innocent bounce that makes them likeable. In fact, S1 might just be the most consistent season of the lot, possessing only one or two truly great episodes, but making up for it by not featuring anything as lame as "Ted", "Dead Man's Party" or "Wrecked", either. As such, I'd call it my third or fourth favourite year of the show.
S1 Awards
Best Episode - "Prophecy Girl". The first time that the series stood up and announced that it wasn't going to be a predictable, disposable romp. There's massive development for almost every character, lots of dark humour, and plenty of genuine emotion.
Worst Episode - "I, Robot... You Jane". Certainly not a bad ep (it's generally fast-paced and witty, and the introduction of Jenny - and her interaction with Giles - is wonderful), but the monster is over-the-top silly, and the theme heavy-handed and over-stated.
Best Writer - Joss Whedon. He does a great job establishing the show's characters and universe in "Welcome To The Hellmouth"/"The Harvest", and "Prophecy Girl" speaks for itself. Not to mention that he was doing major rewrites on every single script to ensure that the tone and characterisations remained consistent.
Most Valuable Player - A tie between Sarah Michelle Gellar and Anthony Stewart Head. Both shine whenever they're on screen, and their hip student/rigid teacher dynamic is great.
Best Scene - Buffy's tearful attempt to quit being the Slayer after hearing the prophecy of her death; "Prophecy Girl".
~~~
So, those are my thoughts on S1. Anyone interested in discussing any points I've raised (agree or disagree) is more than welcome to comment - it would be nice to see these season threads getting some action.
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Post by cyclica on Oct 7, 2009 17:07:47 GMT -5
Here are my ratings for season one. 7.5 1x01 Welcome To The Hellmouth 7.5 1x02 The Harvest 5.5 1x03 Witch 4 1x04 Teacher's Pet 8 1x05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date 5.5 1x06 The Pack 6.5 1x07 Angel 4.5 1x08 I, Robot... You, Jane 6 1x09 The Puppet Show 6.5 1x10 Nightmares 7 1x11 Out of Mind, Out of Sight 7.5 1x12 Prophecy Girl Average score: 6.33 Upon rewatching I noticed I've bumped down quite a few of these episodes from the original ratings I gave to them. This is because I wanted to save the higher ratings for episodes I enjoyed more, rather than a dislike of s1. If anything, I've come to appreciate the originality of the episodes, and I also have a slightly greater appreciation for the master who, dispite not being the most entertaining or threatening big bad in the shows' history, has no real flaws to him, and was consistently fun to watch. Though I have also come to be frustrated with the underuse of cordelia, and the datedness of the season as a whole. And it doesn't help that it's such a short season - there's only a handful of episodes I would watch outside of a series-long marathon (three of the episodes, WTTH, TH and PG are ones you can't just dip into, and many of the other eps just aren't that great). Partcynic, I like your 'S1 Awards' idea, so I'm going to do my own.  Best Episode - Never kill a boy on the first date. It's the classic slayer vs vampires, slaying life vs social life episode, and it's the only s1 episode I watch as regularly as I do the later episodes. Worst Episode - Teacher's pet. Come on, a giant praying mantis? Best Writer - Joss Whedon, obviously. Most Valuable Player - It's hard to choose because the core four are all so great to watch, but in the end I'd have to say giles. I look forward to every scene he's in, and in this season at least, he's never done even a single bad scene. Best Scene - Another tough one, but I've narrowed it down to 2 - the end on NKABOTFD, where giles talks to buffy after she breaks up with owen, and the scene in prophecy girl where traumatised willow tells buffy the vampires have made it 'their world' now. |
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Post by partcynic on Oct 7, 2009 17:41:00 GMT -5
^Yay - I'm so glad you added to this thread. Ditto. They took more risks plotwise in S1 than any other season, and the Master is probably my 3rd favourite big bad. Cool.  I like being able to see lists of ratings - it really helps in getting a better hang of other people's perspectives. Do you think you'll preserve the half-marks as you go on (it'll effectively bump you up to a 20-point scale), or will you round them once you see how 'comfortable' different groups of episodes are together? |
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Post by cyclica on Oct 8, 2009 12:55:24 GMT -5
^ I'm not sure for now.
As it is now I'm giving a .5 mark to indiate a high rating, like 'I give that episode a high 4'. But this system does not allow for a distinction between a low rating and normal one, and I may have to change it in the future. But I also don't really like the idea of giving 2 episodes (eg angel and nightmares) the same rating when I liked one more than the other... and if I made the ratings more exact, like giving a .3 for something I liked more than a .2 (in other words a 100-point scale), well that might drive me insane. :-\
So for now I think I'll leave the .5 system until I can come up with something better.
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Post by partcynic on Oct 9, 2009 15:54:28 GMT -5
Fair enough - I think using .1 increments might be a bit too taxing, plus you end up with the tricky prospect of quantifying just how much better a 6.3 is than a 6.2.
For most of my ratings, there's significant variations in how much I like episodes within certain rankings, but I generally know that I like eps I give 5s to less than 6s but more than 4s. I don't think I could give an ep-by-ep list, so it works as a compromise for me.
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