Episode Names

[Airam]

I've always been fascinated by how shows title their episodes and I think overall the Buffy people did a great job naming its episodes. Thought we could use a thread to discuss this... we can talk about whatever....

Which ones did you particularly like or dislike?
How relevant was the title to the episode?
Which are most clever?
Could you think of a more fitting name for any particular episode?
Are there any that you don't understand the relevance to the episode?
Favorite instances where the episode name was actually used in the episode?

etc, etc, you get the point 🙂

I love it when the episode title pops up in the episode in a line during conversation between the characters. For example, "Who are You," Riley is outside the church and Buffy walks up wearing Faith's face acting all in charge asking a bunch of questions and Riley starts to answer but then hesistaes, looks at her and asks, "who are you?" 🙂 I know there are tons more though....

 

[Perny]

I liked Something Blue... Cos it meant two things:
Spike and B's wedding fuzz, and Willow feeling depressed

 

[Fake Shemp]

i liked friends episodes names (but its difficult if you say the one where... but you aint naming the episode and just trying to explain which one it is.. and the friends obsessive will correct you...) and i love monk episode names... "mr. monk and..."

as for buffy ones, i love them! its a shame they wernt up on the start of the ep.... weird how we all know them all tho from books etc on buffy.

The Body is one of my favs of season 5... it hurts when buffy calls her mom the body, and im already starting to tear thinking about it.

 

[Crazy Flakes]

The Killer In Me...Smashing Pumpkins lyrics!

Also, Innocence. It just suits the episode so well.

 

[InsaneMystic]

Another thread for me to bemoan the German version. Lots of the translated titles are SO SUCKY. :sigh:

Among the all-time worst (I'll just re-translate them for you) are "The Beer of the Bad Way of Thinking" (yes, it sounds just as stilted in German) and of course, Angel's "Attack of the Killer Puppets".

 

[nerd4hire]

Welcome to the Hellmouth was a great title for a comparatively bland episode.

Grave was a bland title for a great episode.

Conversations With Dead People worked both ways.

I never liked the title Chosen. I much preferred what I believe was the working title - Parthenogenesis.

Insane Mystic what's Angel's name in German. Surely it's not actually "Angel". Doesn't Angel translate into fishing rod, or something like that? I think I've asked this question of the German speaking before, but I always forget the answer.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Does anyone know why Coversations With Dead People was one of the - if not the - only episode besides OMWF to air with a title screen? Was it just so that people were aware that the people were all dead? It was a bit weird. I liked it though.

One thing that does stick in my mind about episode titles though was that Angel one: "Slouching Towards Bethlehem". That annoyed me for so long, because I KNEW that I knew what it was referencing, but every time I tried to pin it down, I couldn't. Last week I saw the first episode of Heroes Season 3. After the first line of the closing voiceover I was alternating between celebrating and kicking myself! I can be so dense sometimes...

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I always liked the title 'Where the Wild Things are' ... it just sounds nice.

As to german titles: The only one I came across I really liked was the translation of the episode Fredless. They translated that as Fre(u)dlos, which makes a nice pun. Fredlos, the translation of Fredless, is the obvious meaning, and Freudlos (though a little old fashioned) translates as joyless, which was kind of the state of the gang without Fred. SO that episode title in German ruled.

EDIT: And Angel is also names Angel in German. Though if we're talking show, they added something. The show is called 'Angel - Jäger der Finsternis' in German (Angel - Hunter of the darkness (though it's interesting that Jägerin (which would literally mean huntress) is also the German word they used for slayer))

 

[T.I.P]

Buffy v dracula, Prophecy girl, fool for love, once more with feeling, and halloween were all good titles

 

[Lily]

oh I love episode titles!, One Tree Hill always uses lyrics as their episode titles, I love that because then I don't just get a new episode, I also get a new a new song to track down and listen to 🙂

Fave BtVS titles would have to be Innocence, When She Was Bad, Two To Go, Prophecy Girl and Restless.
I just think they sum things up beautifully.

 

[Airam]

Ooh, Two to Go IS one of my absolute favorites, its so clever how the last line of "Villians" is "One down..." after Willow flays Warren and then the next episode is titled "Two to Go". love it!

 

[T.I.P]

I loved This years girl and Who are you titles, and Five by Five.

 

[InsaneMystic]

Insane Mystic what's Angel's name in German. Surely it's not actually "Angel". Doesn't Angel translate into fishing rod, or something like that? I think I've asked this question of the German speaking before, but I always forget the answer.

While the German word "Angel" indeed means fishing rod, it's pronounced very differently (UNG-uhl), so it's not really a problem. 😉
As to the series' title, Cangel beat me to the answer, lol.

And Chosen was originally meant to be called "Parthenogenesis"? Didn't know that, how cool is that?

 

[horrorshock666]

Hmmm... Great thread firstly. I also love titles to shows!

Its such a hard one because they are all so great really (mostly).

I love HIM, simply because its also the name of a band i adore, and it makes me think of HIM the band when i see that episode (Not that there is anything slightly to do with HIM in it, just the title)...

I also really like OMWF, again as a music thing, because there is a song by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly with the same name. And because its a fabuloso episodo (WTF?)...

Doppelgangland is a cool one for obvious reasons, and the episode is so great that even if it was called something crappy i would still love the title... ha ha.

The Yoko Factor is also cool, because if all memory serves me correctly i think it has something to do with Yoko Ono (or however you spell it), who was married to John Lennon... Anything Beatles related and i'm in! ha ha.

I don't really have a fave title, its too hard to choose, but they are some of my faves... most of which are music related. Oh, how sweet!

x

 

[Tranquillity]

So often the titles of the episode are so freaking clever and have all kinds of double meanings.

Some faves:
Fool For Love - of course is shows that Spike is love's bitca but also, Reilly is pretty darn foolish in the name of love too
Lineage - on one level it is about Wes's relationship with his dad and on another level the ep. is all about metaphorical lines that divide or sometimes are crossed
Why We Fight - is the title of a WWII propaganda film
Into the Woods - is the title of a Stephen Sondheim musical

I didn't know that about Chosen either - Parthenogenesis is very clever but much harder to say.
Crush was originally called Crush, Kill, Destroy (or so it says on the booklett that came with the Radio Sunnydale soundtrack)

 

[Kean]

I always thought Becoming was very apt for the episodes in question.

I love Slouching Towards Bethlehem...it was just such a perfect name for that episode.

Not Fade Away is also a very well picked title.

Fool for Love, The Body and Selfless are other favourites.

Oh yeah and 'Out of mind out of sight' is another great one.

 

[hazzard]

from buffy the titles i love are:
never kill a boy on the first date
lie to me
becoming
faith, hope, and trick
earshot
the harsh light of day
fear itself
where the wild things are
new moon rising
family
weight of the world
once more with feeling
tabula rasa
older and faraway
as you were
hell's bells
normal again
conversations with dead people
the killer in me
lies my parents told me
end of days

i've only seen seasons one and two of angel but so far i like:
city of
rm w/ a vu
somnambulist
guise will be guise
over the rainbow
through the looking glass
there's no place like plrtz glrb

 

[Lily]

I can't believe I forgot to mention What's My Line? I love that title.
It's perfect for pretty much everypart of the double.

 

[Karol]

The Yoko Factor!! So clever, funny and make reference to The Beatles *_*

 

[Alexannah]

I liked Something Blue... Cos it meant two things:
Spike and B's wedding fuzz, and Willow feeling depressed

Before I saw the episode, I thought the "something blue" was referring to D'Hoffren, because on the DVD menu there was a big picture of him by the episode title. That could be a third meaning.

I personally think the titles improved greatly as the show progressed. Half of the series one titles were pretty unimaginative. I liked I Robot You Jane, Out of Mind Out of Sight, Teacher's Pet and Welcome to the Hellmouth, but the other series one titles lacked that witty or subtle episode sum-up that most of the later episodes have.