Halting Hex
-
Posts
3.0k -
Joined
Content Type
Blogs
Gallery
Downloads
Discussion
Posts posted by Halting Hex
-
-
So my DVR is recording random episodes, and while I enjoy this series, I don't have it memorized. So I took a squint (pun?) at Sight Unseen and heck, I know Phoebe goes nutso covering for Cole, but how did she actually demand that Prue apologize for suspecting him when Phoebe had just heard Troxa say that Belthazor was working with him? She knows Cole is Belthazor, she knows Belthazor is working for the Triad, how does that add up to "apologize"?
(Yes, Cole is actually being a double-agent, but Phoebe has no way to know that [Cole hasn't told her], so she should at least inform Prue that Cole is a demon.)
Oh, and when the episode suddenly switches to Abbey the (not-quite-)lesbian stalker, why are the sisters suddenly dressed like they're going snowboarding? Troxa, the demon who is vulnerable to cold, is already dead. You can ditch the layers, sisters. Honestly.
-
1
-
-
Meanwhile, back in the Merely Ridiculously-Stupid part of the plot, I was looking for Darren Madigan's famous mockery of the Holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation ("nobody learns anything, not even to stay far away from the incredibly-dangerous and malfunction-ridden Holodeck", IIRC), which I couldn't find the original…but I did find Madigan's review of Season 7, which points out that "don't even get me started on how convenient it is, that this Big Stupid Metal Pentagram was just deep enough in the ground that Xander's construction crew didn't dig it up, but not so deep that Jonathan and Andrew couldn't find it in a half hour's spade work. And let's not even ask how it got down there in the first place; that would be just a little too picky."
So, combining this with my notes above…
• The Seal of Denzel's Car is somehow buried in the basement, unseen
• It is too deep for Xander's crew to find, but right there for Jonathan and Andrew to find
• They need to bleed Spike on the Seal, which makes it really lucky that Wood didn't report finding Jonathan's corpse, or even cover up the Seal
• Whoever is behind all this sacrifices a pile of eyeless priests to "rescue" Spike from Buffy's house, despite how both last episode and this have explicitly shown that Spike can just be ordered to come to the Seal, given that Spike is under mind-control.
Sloppy, sloppy work. This is what show-runners are supposed to catch. I know Marti Noxon is on maternity leave, but somebody should be minding the store.
-
1
-
-
On 9/10/2018 at 4:07 AM, Joe Hellandback said:
Buffy always tried to make Dawn's life better (and vice versa) but remember Buffy's is the only birthday we ever see celebrated on the show.
Wow. I never really thought about that. Benefits of being a lead character and all, but still.
I guess it makes sense that I didn't think about it because we hear about Xander (Nightmares) and Willow (Where the Wild Things Are) having had rough birthday experiences in their childhood, but even so. A little bonding time for the gang would be cool. Even if it's only Cordelia griping about how lame it is that it's just eight people (and Giles and Jenny are teachers!) at her birthday this year, whereas last year they had to rent a hall.
Missed opportunities, I guess.
-
On 11/1/2018 at 12:42 AM, Halting Hex said:
Fairly well-constructed, except for stretching out the rape scene for cheap shock by taking a commercial break in the middle of it. (In contrast, in The Pack, Hyena!Xander's attack on Buffy is resolved during the break; we don't come back to "rejoin the action already in progress".
Further along these lines, in The Initiative, we go to commercial with Spike attempting to rape (and murder and vampirize) Willow, but when we return, the attack is over. A neat way to avoid the most brutal moments.
(Of course, the ensuing "comedy" scene is more vile than perhaps anything else in the show, what with Willow, the Avatar of Innocence, pouting because she didn't get raped and cheering up her rapist and seeking sexual validation from him. It's as if there were a scene in Passion where Angel can't do the neck-snap because his arthritis is flaring up…and Jenny is disappointed and wonders if this means she's no longer attractive, and rubs his wrists and tells him to try again.
Even typing "jokes" like this makes me angry…)
-
1
-
-
Topical, but hopefully not overly-political:
QuoteSynopsis: Buffy is dismissive when Spike returns from Africa, as she's far more focused on helping to prevent terrorist attacks on Israel.
Q: What is Beneath Jews?
-
Quote
BUFFY: I don't know. Different circumstances, [Faith] could be me.
WILLOW: No way. Some people just don't have that in them.
I know that Whedon was nowhere near as responsible for the B/F subtext as David Greenwalt ("Hungry?" "Starving") and Doug Petrie ("I am going out with someone tonight") were, but I can't help looking at that exchange and wondering how Buffy would react to Willow's certainty that the two slayers were fundamentally different if Buffy and Faith really had been Fuffying it up all over town.
(Of course, this might mean that Aly would have to play some of Willow's lines a little differently ["…and I think I'm kinda gay!"] so best not to mess with success, most likely. I was merely quoting that exchange elsewhere, and the thought amused me.)
-
On 2/6/2020 at 6:00 AM, lembergwatcher said:
And Joss forbid those few Xillow 'shippers out there get an impression Xander still cares about Willow's well-being (even in purely platonic/friendly way).
It isn't even about 'shipping Xillow romantically; it's about the oldest friendship in the series, going back to "Willow! You're so very much the person I wanted to see!"
We spent the first few seasons learning that Xander is hard-wired to risk his life to save Willow (1.01, 1.06, 2.04, 2.14)…
Spoiler(He'll even do it again at the end of this season)
…is it really so much to ask that he push back against Anya's "Willow is gonna snap, she's so dangerous!" slander? So far, all Willow had done is give two guys with bad lez-dar an hour or so's worth of cage-dancing. As "menace to society" goes, that's a little short of "1100 years of slaughter", Ahn.
SpoilerOf course, it does get worse…next episode, Willow takes Dawn to the competition! Where's your loyalty to Anya and Giles's high-class drug-addiction (if we run with the metaphor) shoppe, girl? Surely you get your magicrack from your pals, no?
I mean, that whole black-haired vengeful Apocalyptic crap at season's end was largely fueled by Anya's "Darkest Magick" book; all Willow got from Rack was power, and if you ask Warren, she was pretty powerful enough without it. Who has the most danger-y dangerous texts in town? Anya! Show some respect, "Strawberry"!
I think Willow might deserve a stronger defense (or any at all, honestly) than
QuoteXANDER: It's human nature, Buff. Will's getting a taste of something powerful, way bigger than her.
ANYA: Yeah, she was getting out of control with it before Tara left, and now that she's gone...
XANDER: It's gotta be seductive.
Buffy looks up in alarm at the word 'seductive.' Her eyes widen.
XANDER: (OS) Just giving in to it. Going totally wild.
Buffy stares at him.
XANDER: We need to keep an eye on her.
I mean, I get that Greenberg wants us to see Buffy having her "I really want to fuck Spike" revelation and Xander (who is only in two scenes this ep) is desperate to pad his line count (he pumps it up to 10…well done!), but come on now. Willow has been doing magic for four years by this point. I think you can trust her a little, regardless of what her ex says.
QuoteBUFFY: I don't know. Different circumstances, [Faith] could be me.
WILLOW: No way. Some people just don't have that in them
—Döppelgängland
By this time, Willow's magic has enabled her to restore Angel's soul (I know, I know…but theoretically a good thing), restore Buffy's soul, return Buffy's spirit to her body, cast the enjoining spell that beat Adam, teleport a Hell-God, weaken said Hell-God, restore Tara's sanity, and bring Buffy back to life. I think that going into this complete tizzy because Willow is crossing boundaries by using spells in her relationship is a bit much, given that Willow and Tara's relationship is over. A few honest talks with Willow about where things went wrong is probably better than treating Will as a bomb about to explode and being all patronizing when she brings out the laptop, honestly.
(Yes, yes, Willow also wanted to cast an incredibly-stupid spell at the Bronze in All the Way, but the issue there wasn't so much "magic" as "stupidity", given that Willow had much better magical "find Dawn" techniques [telepathy, Tinkerbell light, locator spell] in her spellbook than "shift people to an alternate dimension."
Also, there's no way that Buffy/Xander/Anya should even know about that incident, unless Tattletale Tara's been sp-sp-spilling the beans.)
A little "let's not generalize, Ahn. Willow needs our support, not our paranoia" would go a long way here, Harris.
(Even if it wouldn't set Buffy's clit a-tingling with thoughts of Ice Dildo the way "seductive" does. We'll just have to make do.)
-
Quote
Synopsis: Buffy is dissolving into tears when Giles and Angel read her Inescapable Fate in the Codex…she will spend her life working at the chemist's!
Q: What is Pharmacy Girl?
Apothecary, Apocalypse…potato, potahto…
-
On 12/3/2019 at 5:38 AM, lembergwatcher said:
Numerous cliches are among the series' weaknesses, I must say. Be it "librarians know nothing about sex" (S.02E.17 Passion), "girls like guys with cars" (S.03E.13 The Zeppo) or "prom is the happiest night of every high schooler's life" expressed in this particular episode.
To be fair, the first two citations are examples of clichés being subverted.
In Passion, it is Willow who is being rather naïve about Giles's knowledge of the Buffy/Angel tryst, given that it's been rather a while since the Big Mistake, and it's logical that Buffy would have told him. Just because Willow got the "seizing is pretty inevitable" memo ahead of the actual event (BFF privilege and all), that hardly means that Buffy (or Angel) hasn't had the opportunity to bring others up to date.
(Although, in Innocence, Angel does conceal the reason for his reversion to soullessness ["You wouldn't believe me if I told you"], so it's possible that Spike and Drusilla are still in the dark, just as it's possible that Xander and Cordelia are. Still, even though Willow, Jenny, Giles and Joyce are the only people we see explicitly being told of the tryst [or, in Willow‘s case, the plans for the tryst…while we don't see Buffy tell Willow "I slept with [Angel]" in so many words until I Only Have Eyes for You, it's clearly not news to the redhead], it's hard to believe that others haven't put it together by now.)
And if Willow thinks that Giles is simply ignorant of the entire topic of sex (on account of his profession), she's really being blind. Never mind that Ethan's buckets of subtext might have passed her by (Ethan does only tell Buffy that he and Giles "used to be close. Very close" when they're alone, I grant you), but you would think that Willow might have tuned in to all the "squirming" that Giles/Jenny did between Ted and Surprise.
Although it is amusing to imagine Giles having to deal with Willow's thinking he's a 42-year-old virgin even as he's raring to finish up at Buffy's house so he can get back to his flat, where (for all he knows) Jenny might be in his bed this very minute!
(Never let it be said that Angel isn't considerate. Giles was expecting Jenny in his bed, Giles gets Jenny in his bed.)
As for Lysette being impressed by
Xander'sUncle Rory's Bel Air, the remainder of Whitney Dylan's screentime in that episode rather plainly clarifies that girls who like cars that much aren't worth the cost of the gasoline you put in the tank. (Even at 1999 prices.)So, yeah, this episode is Prom being wonderful in all its Prom-my glory. But I think it's the exception, rather than the rule.
-
We don't know if Willow will succeed in bringing "help" back from LA, so spec goes under spoiler bars.
Spoiler
On 4/10/2020 at 3:39 AM, Joe Hellandback said:I always wondered what Willow and Faith talked about on their journey back to Sunnydale?
"Say, Red, do you think the Sox are ever gonna win the Series? I'm getting sick of the Yankees every year."
Perhaps once the gang got time away from the Hellmouth, Willow discovered that there really was a "Curse of the Bambino" and broke it, and Faith has totally mellowed out now that championship banners fly over Fenway.
(Or not, lol. But we know that Willow has never been to New York [Inca Mummy Girl], so why not help out the Southie Slayer against the Evil Empire?
World Series titles, 1919-2003: NY Yankees 27, Boston Red Sox 0
World Series titles, 2004-2023: Sawx 4, Yanks 1.
Definitely magic at work. 😉 )
I'm hoping it's Conner, so he and Dawn can hook up and spontaneously combust.
But let's face it, anything to avoid talking about this particular pile. Although I believe this is a milestone of sorts: after 74* episodes of Buffy giving Spike a ridiculous free pass for his previous murders, she breaks new ground here…by giving Sparky a ridiculous free pass for his hypothetical future murder of Robin. New worlds to conquer, etc.
*-74 episodes counting Becoming Part 2, Lovers Walk and from Pangs onwards, excepting Bargaining Part 1 (Buffy can't do much about Spike, being dead and all), Bargaining Part 2 (newly-resurrected Buffy can't really comprehend where she is, much less where Spike might be) and Villains through Grave, where Buffy may miss her rapist and be gladly taking her virginal 15-year-old sister to enjoy Spike's "hospitality" as well, but she has no idea that he's gone to Africa, and she doesn't own a motorcycle to follow him there, so slaying opportunities are thin, I'll admit.
(However, I do count The Body, even though Marsters doesn't appear in the episode. No reason Buffy couldn't have worked off her "My Mommy's dead" grief by popping over to Spike's crypt, popping Spike in the chest with a stake, and thus saving the lives of Holden, Charlotte and at least a dozen other people that Spike ultimately kills.)
-
On 4/18/2019 at 4:14 AM, lembergwatcher said:
Oh no. Not five years ago, but four: This Year's Girl/Who Are You took place in February 2000
And this is 2003, so only three years later, in fact.
(I know, I need to cut back on the nitpicking, sorry.)
-
A reactor (I forget whom or when; Darcie, perhaps?) thought that Giles would be overjoyed when the spell ends, and thus would be reading everything he could see on the way out of Sunnydale General.
(e.g. "Radiology", "Men's Room", "The Heimlich Maneuver: a Beginner's Guide" and so on.)
But it does beg the question…if normalcy isn't restored before Billy awakens, how does Giles know that's Buffy's grave in the cemetery? I mean, he can't read, right?
QuoteWILLOW: Whose nightmare is this?
GILES (anguished): It's mine.
He kneels by the headstone.
XANDER (reading): Irving Krelzmeyer, The Hot Dog King. "Have I Got A Weiner for You!" (beat) Friend of yours?
Also, not to nitpick, but I think this is actually Buffy's nightmare, with the vampirization and having been buried alive, Tweed Boy. Not everything is about you.
(A bit presumptive for Giles to assume that Buffy's death would be more nightmarish for him than the other two, honestly. Yes, yes, failed his duty, we get it…but Slayers die, rather regularly. "One Slayer dies, the next one is called" and so on. Arguably worse for the kids, firstly because they're probably not as used to death as Giles may be, and because Willow is possibly losing 60+ years of friendship where Giles may only be losing a few of mentoring.
The situation with Xander is less-clear, since how close he stays with Buffy from now on may depend on whether she ends up returning his affections or not. Just because Angel has apparently beat feet out of town [relatively wisely, given how most Slayer/vampire interactions end], that hardly means that Xander is next on Buffy's dance card, obviously.)
-
On 12/11/2018 at 5:49 AM, Joe Hellandback said:
Anya and Andrew are funny,
To quote Xander, "Funny 'ha-ha' or funny 'back away slowly'?"
-
On 9/25/2018 at 12:31 AM, Joe Hellandback said:
Best line; Buffy; "I've had it with superstrong little women who aren't me!"
While the show had worked to have a number of female antagonists (Glory, Harmony, Drusilla), I don't know that Clare Kramer, Mercedes McNab and Juliet Landau are Smidge-sized, necessarily. Let's check.
Juliet is 5'6"
Clare is 5'4 1/2"
Mercedes is 5'4"
So none of them exactly tower over the 5'2" SMG, but I don't know if I'd say we'd been subjected to an Attack of the Teeny-Tinies, either.
(Nor would this have applied to the original casting choice for April-bot, the 5'4 1/2" Britney Spears.)
-
On 12/9/2023 at 9:18 PM, Halting Hex said:
And nobody seems to give a shit. Not Mr. Watcher-man, who gets paid to deal with this stuff. Not his never-seen family, who might want to stop this unending curse. Not Buffy, who validates her life by protecting the Innocent. Not Xander, who is so desperate for "guy friends" that he spends much of S3 trying to chill out with the guy he cuckolded. (Which might be a subtly cruel burn, but still.)
And not his exceptionally smart and empathetic girlfriend, who gets emotional about dead people, but doesn't seem terribly upset at her boyfriend's torment. Nor Oz himself.
I should probably add the New and Improved (?) Watcher-Man to this list, too. Wesley's social skills could use some polishing, but he is rather a book nerd, and runs rings around Giles on at least two occasions. (Identifying the El Eliminati in Bad Girls; figuring out how to get the demon's heart in Earshot.) I'm not saying Wes can name the "Top 5 Ways to Cure Lycanthropy" off the top of his head, but he probably could help.
I grant you, once Wes insists on trading Willow for the Box of Gavrok, Oz is less-likely to trust him, but still. If you want to stop howling, you'll need to stop scowling, kid. Put your pride aside.
And while I'm at it, why not blame Angel, too? He knows what torment it is to have a monster inside of you. He knows how to research the supernatural (he wasn't using the Codex as a doorstop, and he knew where to find the Glove of Mynhegon without guessing), and he and Oz seem to get on, even in In the Dark, despite the growl-off their monster-selves had back in S2.
Could have gone like this:
QuoteANGEL: Hey.
OZ: Hey.
(Pause. And pause some more.)
ANGEL: Ah-heh, how you doing on the Phlebotinase? I know it takes getting used to sometimes.
OZ: Huh?
ANGEL: You know. The stuff you take to avoid going wolfy.
OZ (stunned): Never heard.
ANGEL: Really? They sell it at GNC, you know.
OZ: Huh.
ANGEL: They keep enough in stock, i notice. It's not like how the witches are buying up all the sage, so the stores can't keep it on the shelves.
OZ: Wow.
ANGEL: Surprised Giles didn't tell you.
OZ: Me, too.
(pause)
ANGEL: I don't he's doing his best work, lately.
OZ: Willow agrees.
(pause)
ANGEL: You think my killing his girlfriend and torturing him had something to do with that?
OZ: Could be.
ANGEL: Oh. (beat) Sorry about that.
OZ: We're cool.
Yup, still following my "Oz only says two words at a time" fanfic rule, lol.
-
1
-
-
Here, have a Waybacked link to Sarah's essay. (No pictures available.)
Quotethe plot [of Helpless] means, functionally, that the Watcher's Council is killing off the majority of its Slayers at age 18, presumably to make room for more pliable candidates. This, and Giles's membership in this organization, is problematic enough,
I've actually always thought the Cruciamentum made sense, since if most Slayers are called around age 14/15 (as Buffy was), by the time they get to be 18, they should be able to handle the test (remember, the Council completely flubs things; normally the vampire is tranq'd out of its skull. Joyce could probably do the job) and it's a good way to remind them that they are more than just their muscles…while at the same time giving those who have grown tired of The Burden of Slayerhood an excuse to lay down and "retire" without getting any innocent bystanders hurt. I would think that failures are relatively rare, honestly.
That said, a certain amount of girls do die, which should probably call Giles's ethics into question. In the aired episode, he ends up sabotaging the test to save Buffy, but you might think he would be a bit more prepared, if he had been waiting nearly two years (Buffy arrives March, 1997, and this is January of 1999) for this moment.
(Of course, this was only a David Fury spec script [Go Fish hadn't led to a full-time gig, as yet] and so it would be tougher to cue the upcoming Test in previous episodes…but not impossible. A nervous and confusing call from Giles to an unknown "visitor" in Miracle Snow, WtF??? might have provided some justification for G-Man "getting the cHannukah Spirit", instead of (say) putting a crossbow bolt through Angel's chest straight off. But Joss didn't do that.)
And of course, that runs into Cruciamentum's second purpose: shedding Watchers who would be likely to get so freaked about a prophecy of their Slayer's impending death that they would, say, try to attack The Master with only a machete, and thus possibly allow an Apocalypse that Buffy was supposed to sacrifice herself to stop. The Mission, not the Maiden, Travers would claim.
But again, Giles being fanatically devoted to Buffy hasn't been much seen of late, other than his allowing Fang to stay intact. Needs a bit more set-up, perhaps.
QuoteAnd then there's Angel revealing that he loved her from afar when she was in, what, ninth grade? The writing usually stays on the right side of "...ew" with that, barely. Not this time.
True, I tend to give Broody grief about "falling in love" with a 14/15 year old at first sight, but I don't think of it in academic terms so much. Possibly because we do see Buffy being a capable 10th grader in S1, but Freshman is different.
SpoilerAs we shall see next season, at the University.
It's true that Buffy turned out to have Grade 9 nailed, to the point where the Hemery High yearbook was "pretty much the story of me", but still.
I can only imagine what would have happened if Buffy had been called 8 or 9 months sooner…would Angel have been lurking in the local middle school, waiting to meet her during 8th grade lunch?
QuoteONE PAIR OF OVERALLS WILL PROBABLY DO IT, WARDROBE And yet Willow has, like, eight.
Yeah, point taken. I noted in the When She Was Bad thread that Cynthia Bergstrom (who took over as Costume Designer with that episode) was scrupulous about differentiating between our Slay Gal and her BFF, visually, but this might be overkill.
Note that these Consequences overalls might be a similar shade of blue to the ones Willow wears in The Harvest (upper right in the collage), but these have a brand patch and contrasting white straps, rather than a uniform blue. So that's at least seven sets, one for each day of the week. (Good guessing, Sarah.)
I mean, Buffy wears overalls, too.
She just knows how to do it. One consistent set, whenever Buffy feels
like a soft butchsad, and that's enough. -
Geez, Ripper! Keep it in your pants! Do I have to call Ethan for you?
-
On 12/7/2020 at 3:52 AM, Joe Hellandback said:
Doesn't she smack him in 'Out of My Mind'? And rough up him and Angel in the ep where they fight?
No, although Riley moronically punches a cave wall in Out of My Mind and Harmony shoots him in the leg with a crossbow bolt, Buffy inflicts zero physical damage on him. Not even a slap to make him "snap out of it". She gets him to go to the doctor by using nothing other than love and logic.
As for The Yoko Factor, while Buffy forcefully shoves her swains apart in her dorm room when they are about to fight (and threatens them with violence), she does not actually hit either of them.
On 11/10/2018 at 3:38 AM, Joe Hellandback said:by the time Buffy sent Dawn to Spike Warren's camera's were disabled.
Seems unlikely. There's only one episode between Entropy (cameras discovered) and Villains (Spike can "protect" Dawn) and not only did Buffy not visit Spike's crypt, but they hardly discussed this issue during Spike's visit to Buffy's bathroom in Seeing Red. And it's clear that the two of them haven't seen each other since the end of 6.18 there.
It's slightly possible that Dawn told Spike about the cameras when she was at the crypt earlier in Seeing Red (the scene ends, but Dawn hasn't left yet), but given that Dawn's entire reason for visiting is to warn Spike to stay away from Buffy, I doubt she took a moment to play "good neighbor" and warn him about the Peeping Nerds. JMO.
-
Haiku for Welcome to the Hellmouth:
QuoteBuffy comes to town
Meets Xander, Willow, and Giles
Perfection follows
I didn't say consistent perfection, but points for getting there when they did. To quote The Who:
QuoteIf I told you what it takes
To reach the highest high
You'd laugh and say,
"Nothing's that simple"
And yet…sometimes it was. Respect.
-
Quote
Synopsis: Buffy finds it distasteful when the cafeteria responds to the snake-a-licious episode by restricting their chicken offerings to one particular piece of fowl.
Q: What is I Only Have Thighs for You?
All else aside, the lunch lady is breaking Willow's heart, since she's a Breast Girl.
Don't like that? Don't worry, I've got worse!
QuoteSynopsis: Buffy is disillusioned when Angel taunts her that his humanity is completely gone, and if they resume their relationship, all he can offer is his impressively-thick* penis.
Q: What is I Only Have Size for You?
*-Yes, yes, this goes against all those "Never mind the Rom, Angel suffers from The Irish Curse" jokes, but The Pun Comes First!
-
On 2/17/2024 at 9:19 PM, MythTaken said:
Her friends were ungrateful assholes, who had been used to freeloading from Buffy after S6.
Willow (and Tara, RIP) had put in a considerable amount of unpaid Dawn-sitting while Buffy was taking her "summer vacation" after Very Pretty Crap.
If you want to reduce friendship to a balance sheet (which doesn't seem so "friendly", IMO), it could well be Buffy who owes Willow, not vice-versa. It's not as if Ms. Rosenberg (whose parents still live in town and who still attends a university that presumably has her on scholarship) lacks housing options, after all.
As for Anya (ha, topic!), Buffy invited her in, back in Him. If she wanted Anya to pay rent, that was the time to raise the subject. Otherwise, Buffy's pulling a bait-and-switch, which is IMO unworthy of her.
-
1
-
-
On 2/17/2024 at 9:19 PM, MythTaken said:
The others didn’t have Buffy’s strength
On 2/25/2024 at 8:30 PM, MythTaken said:Who are you even quoting “strongest fighter” from?
Now you know.
-
On 2/25/2024 at 8:39 PM, MythTaken said:
Please. The opening of your first line was patronising and belittling.
Say what? That's a heck of a reaction to "A cute way". Would you prefer I had said "clever"? "Sly"? "Sneaky"? "Ingenious"?
Literally all I intended was to praise your creativity (in trying to tie your condemnation of Xander to Whedon's less-pleasant character traits) while stating that your conclusion was inaccurate, and you were perhaps using your creative skills to obfuscate the issue. I'm allowed to disagree with you, and I know that you know that.
I honestly don't feel you have grounds for umbrage here, and I'm a bit put off by what I feel is a personal attack on me. I wish you wouldn't do that. I feel it lowers the tone unnecessarily. JMO.
Other posters have pointed out Xander’s sexism and you responded afterwards.
Not actually true, as far as I can see. I just went through the entire thread and while X certainly takes his share of brickbats, it seems to be more about his dating choices and conduct in relationships than a general "sexism".
If you can cite specific posts (and my responses), feel free.On 2/25/2024 at 8:39 PM, MythTaken said:When posters have to compare a character to a murderous vampire in order to make him look decent,
This charge, OTOH, was made a decade ago (I'm…so…old…), back on page 1. However, a closer look at the posts showed that it was an anti-Xander poster who first compared him with Angel and/or Spike, so not actually "defending" Xander, after all.
-
Took a look at Turnabout Intruder Friday night (I've always had a soft spot for it) and I noticed that when Janice/Kirk first calls up to the Enterprise, she not only says "Captain Kirk to the Enterprise. Captain Kirk to the Enterprise" (savoring her victory by being extra formal and perhaps not even knowing that Jim usually just says "Kirk to Enterprise" [obelisks and Miramanee be damned]), but that Shatner gives a little bit of reaction when Scotty replies "Mr. Scott, sir".
Whether that is Shatner having Janice not be prepared for the volume (the research station probably only had a table-top transmitter; Janice may not be used to having her ears so close to the receiver) or that Janice studied the Enterprise crew, but has never actually heard Scotty's voice, it's a nice bit of detail work.
(Especially impressive in that, as Joanie Winston detailed about her set visit in Star Trek Lives!, these scenes were shot on the final day, after New Year's Day 1969, and Shatner had caught the Hong Kong Flu [the last major pandemic in the US pre-COVID; the flu that scared young Stephen King so much it can be found in several fo his early short stories and forms the basis of The Stand] and so was feverish and feeling badly. Quite the trouper, our Shat.)
I was, however, sad to see that I had misremembered, and that the cast had actually lost the argument they had with "Firehorse" director Herb Wallerstein (a derisive name Ralph Senensky gave to directors who don't do complicated set-ups but just point the camera and go; Ralph is of course bitter about being fired during the shooting of The Tholian Web in favor of Herb over that specific issue) about Janice/Kirk's apparently storming out of the briefing room at the end of Act 3 by walking through a wall. (Wallerstein has Shatner storm off by walking past the camera, even though we've already seen that the room's door is to the right of the frame, when Kirk/Janice enters that way. They try to cover for it by adding a "whoosh" sound effect as we fade to black off of Scotty's reaction, but no.)
I had thought the cast won that one. (Must be my sentimental pro-labor heart.) I'll have to re-read Winston's account; she describes the incident in some detail. Ah, well.
-
1
-
Note that these Consequences overalls might be a similar shade of blue to the ones Willow wears in The Harvest (upper right in the collage), but these have a brand patch and contrasting white straps, rather than a uniform blue. So that's at least seven sets, one for each day of the week. (Good guessing, Sarah.)
Buffy Calendar
in Buffy The Vampire Slayer
How did I manage to not only miss Aly Day, but the Big 5-0 at that?
Seriously, there's March Madness, and then there's utter insanity. Sigh.
(March Madness is the annual 64-team university basketball tournament. Four days of more hoops than you could ever dream of, merely to reach the round of 16. [Final Rounds proceed at a less-congested pace over the coming two weeks.] Obviously, no sane person would ever attempt to use his DVR so that he could view all 48 of the games so far, but then there's the whole "you're a thundering looney!" angle to consider.
Still doesn't excuse my neglecting Aly Day, though.)