Buffy for friends

I

Ilovefred

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Jan 30, 2005
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So here's a question for y'all:
I am trying to get my friends to at least accept that Buffy is not total crap (I am ridiculed frequently) Some are more open-minded than others. I am hosting a "The Buffy Challenge", where all my sports-loving skeptical friends (and some girls who just never saw the show) and I'm making dinner for everyone if they will sit and watch 3 Buffy episodes stright. I plan to explain the characters and any necessary back-story first. My question is this-
What 3 episodes would YOU show to first-timers?

Currently, I'm planning on showing Becoming, Pts 1&2, and Hush. I was shooting for something fairly typical of the show (not too heavy or comical) but something that shows the depth and humanity as well as creativity of Buffy. I have all 7 seasons of Buffy and Angel on DVD. Whad'ya thank?
 
Old Master 3.0
Old Master 3.0
Excellent choices.
I'd definitely stay away from Season 1. As much as I love it for the nostalgic factor, it's not as quality as the later seasons.

I think my episode choices would be:

Becoming Part 1&2
Chosen

Because it's fun to see how it all ends 🙂
 
I agree with Becoming 1 & 2, but I would add Surprise at the end to keep them coming back for more 😀

I don't agree with Chosen though...if you're trying to get people to start watching the show, why would they if they already know what happens?
 
Their are so many to chhose from... i suppose it depends on your friends tastes and preferences... but i had a friend who always rejected buffy, they said it was crap without watching a single episode, then i made him watch a few of s2/3 but he still wasn't too keen however one night when he was bored with nothing to do he watched buffy on bbc 2 and it was the episode from series 6 tabula rasa and he loved it, hes still not like a dedicated fan but he admits its a good program

Although personally i would chose passion, the gift and maybe for the more action movie type people the 2nd episode of series 4... although for your romantics i'd choose amends, which called also be used for your shakespearey type friends cos for me that episode is very shakesperesque, dont ask me why lol

oh, oh (suddenly screams) once more with feeling is a must, especially as it is many people favourite, i think i even read somehwere that joss whedon said he thought it was the best buffy episdoe!!!

wow i just realised i argue that s6 is one of the worst series yet i've chosen 2 episodes from that series, how weird am i, sorry im a rambler.

I know that may not have helped much as i chose a lot more than 3 eps but, well i tried
 
I rather like Ilovefred's current lineup of episodes. Good choices. I would more than likely have chosen the same eppies.
I'm just sorry you can't throw in a little "Band Candy" in there for flavoring.
 
Good choices, but Becoming needs an awfu lot of backstory... If you were going to show it, you'd have to prep 'em with Surprise/Innocence first, only fair. Earshot might not be a bad idea, or maybe I Only Have Eyes For You...
 
Maybe you could show the pre-The Gift montage, which will explain the backstory and yes have clips up to S5 (presming you'll play Becoming) but apart from the "Hi im..." its all flashed, so won't spoil too much.
 
I know that I would show them my favorite episodes, which probably wouldn't be good at all for many reasons. I'd show them The Body, and if they didn't like that I'd probably have a hard time not screaming at them for not understanding.. It should be easy to understand that The Body is a very serious and real episode, but I get that if you know nothing about Buffyverse, it wouldn't be as great as it is to me, of course.
Your choices are probably really good though. That'll give the not-Buffy-fans a pretty good idea of what the show looks like.. Well, I've started liking Hush less recently (but that's a totally different story so.. ).
(Btw, I'm planning on having a Buffy speech in my English class to get my friends to kinda understand that Buffy isn't that bad, ehh, we are gonna talk about anything having to do with America.. It's really stupid of me and my class will think I'm a total freak but I couldn't think of anything that didn't have to do with BtVS..)
 
I agree with Jill that Becoming does require you to know quite a bit about the series.

And I think you could actually show WTTH and The Harvest, because even though most of Season 1 wasn't as good compared to other seasons, these are two spectacular episodes. And it makes sense to show them since ya know, they're the first episodes and require no previous knowledge.

I also think these episodes might work:

WSWB, Suprise, Innocence, Anne, and Earshot

But there is a lot of cheese you might have to deal with. Sometimes when I'm watching with family (because my friends know nothing of my obsession) I cringe at certain lines and such.
 
C
Cordelia
LOL you don't tell your friends...and you think I'm weird...atleast I'm open about it.
Maybe show them "Prophecy Girl" because that doesn't require too much backstory. "Buffy slays vampires, she fancies Angel but hes a vampire, Cordy hates Buffy, Xander and Willow and here we are"
 
I also agree on the needing to know the back story for becoming part 1 & 2. But I think Hush is a good choice. I would probably show Faith, Hope, and Trick, Hush, and Him.
 
maybe you should change from three episodes to like... forty. 🙂

It is hard to pick the right balance, because you want them to appreciate the show's wittiness and darkness, yet still be caught up in the real life drama that is being applied.

I would say first, definitely Hush.
The other two that could follow would be Becoming part II (just explain the backstory) and The Gift.

Those three episodes represent a great balance of what makes BtVS great.

But push for the forty episodes.
 
definitely NOT BECOMING 1 AND 2. Those are my favorite episodes and if I saw those before seeing how Buffy and Angel's relationship developed I wouldn't have liked them together since I'd know the outcome (the same with people who hate b/a because they started watching in season 5 and loved spike). It's ok to have them watch the last 3 episodes of the first season because even the lesser episodes will have jokes and drama and get them to start liking the characters. The reason we loved the emotional episodes was because of the previous episodes where we saw characters develop (like who would care about Anya's speech in "The Body" if they hadn't seen her back story) So probably pick your favorites from season 1. That's what I'd do.
 
Wow. Thanks for all the input. I like the idea of using the montage and Prophecy Girl, is a good idea as well. I guess I don't expect many to watch the show on their own, I just want some respect from the more open-minded. If any start watching, they'll probably just watch whatever's on FX. I would love for them so see Band Candy, Once More w/Feeling, Tabula Rasa, etc, but I just think they wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much without being familiar. Keep the ideas coming- and I'll be sure to tell y'all what I decide and how it all goes!

P.S. Wasn't this a good idea?!
 
I got my skeptical sister hooked with Season 7. I did have to answer ALOT of questions, but she still enjoyed it and we watched for about 6 hours straight one evening 🙂
 
Some day this week I'll be showing three episodes to a friend of mine. She is the one who knows the most about my BtVS and Faith obsession.. So I'll be showing her Faith, Hope & Trick and the two following episodes (hoping she'll get why I love Faith, I kinda think she will, especially since I'll explain every detail about it to her). This friend has never seen one episode before, and she's really skeptical as well.. (But so was I until 15 months ago or something...) Anyway, I'm extremely nervous, lol.
 
Ahhh, many a'time have I tried to convert my friends to Buffyism!

(Its worked on, 4 outta 7, I call that success!)

My advice to you is to avoid character centric episodes, like Real Me, The Zeppo etc...of course, Selfless doesnt apply, because its Anya, and hello 😛
 
Earshot
Hush
Life Serial

Kinda gives a good range of characters, shows the humour, the more serious side, the talent of the actors, some funny bad guys, some creepy bad guys, some normal (human) 'bad' guys. Just a good range of eppys and the issues the show addresses!
 
Just a quick little story. This was probably during the 3rd season of Buffy. I was waiting in line for coffee at a shop. The guy in front of me and the cashier were having a fiendly, flirty fight about Buffy. He was convinced it was total crap, kidstuff. I doubt he'd even seen it. The cashier asked for my input. I told her and him as I was handed my coffee that I thought Buffy was one of the most smartly written shows on TV, on par with the Simpsons. He just looked at me kinda dumbfounded and I walked away. I've never actively tried to convert the poor buffyless heathens. But I always try to correct people when they're describing it as teenybopper pop junk.
 
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