What episodes to introduce S4?

S

sranjan

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May 26, 2008
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3
Hi all,

So I need some help selecting episodes, and I was hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of the buffyboards community 🙂.

I'm a college student, and last spring I started a Buffy-watching group in my living group. A bunch of us got together on a weekly basis to watch 3 hours of Buffy. It went pretty well; we got a fair number of people, including several new people.

With the new semester starting, I'm going to start running the group again -- but there is a problem. Since a new school year has started, we have a bunch of freshmen in our living group. They are awesome and we think many of them will also enjoy Buffy -- but the problem is our group finished through season 3 last term and is going to start season 4. We are worried that the freshmen will find it hard to get into Buffy jumping in midway through. Season 4 is a relatively good starting point since it has a relative dearth of very involved plot lines (IMO) and since the setting changed to college, everyone else changed too, but we are still fairly concerned. We really want to get the frosh into the show; once they are, they will watch S1-3 on their own. We just want to get them started.

So what's the punchline? Well, to ease them into the show, I was thinking about doing a introductory 3-4 hour showing of various episodes from S1-3, just to contextualize S4. By this I mean to introduce them to the Scoobies, Oz, Spike, and Anya, and a little of the gang's baggage going into S4. I need to be really ruthless here and cut out a lot of good episodes -- for example, Angel episodes are out since he plays such a minor role in S4. Same for the Faith episodes, though it makes me weep to say that. But that still leaves a whole lot of awesome episodes to choose from. A lot of episodes are good but need context -- I'm looking for stuff that is *relatively* stand-alone.

So what do you guys think? For approximately 4 hours of viewing time (4-5 episodes), which episodes should I show to 1) contextualize S4 and 2) keep the kids attracted so they come back and start watching Buffy on their own?

Any help is appreciated. Come, let us expand the Buffy fandom together! Let us build our hordes of loyal viewers for the premiere of Dollhouse this winter!

Thanks,

SR
 
Well me personally, s4 is when i started watching it(harsh light of day) and i loved it streight away, and instead of not knowing what was happening and being put off it just made me want to keep watching and find out more about the show, like how they all came to be here. Id reccomend The harsh light of day followed by In the Dark.
 
My first instinct is to say The Wish (S3), so they understand who/what Anya is. But that episode won't make sense without Prophecy Girl (S1), plus there's a whole lot about how Buffy died, so better throw that one in, too. Maybe School Hard (S2), so they'll know who Spike and Drusilla are. I want to say Earshot (S3) just because it's such a great episode. And maybe Halloween (S2), or another humorous episode, so they'll be totally drawn into Buffyhumor.

Wow, that was hard.
At any rate, whichever eps you choose, you'll have to do a lot of filling in the blanks. 🙂
 
A
AvatarofTruth
Exactly what I would have chosen.
I'd personally just start S4. S4-S7 is totally different than S1-3, so it's not that big of a deal. Besides, if they have questions, just answer them.

Hey, maybe you could like have an hour long like "meeting" and talk about a summary or something of S1-3. And people could ask questions, and such. Hmm... maybe.
 
Oh i think they will have seen btvs already, and if not... its their own fault. make them get the dvds and watch it from the start. just pick up where you lot were, i wouldnt be fussed about them. wow im feeling less than nice at 4am.
 
Well I think to introduce Anya to them Doppegangland is your best bet, and it has of course loads of Willow and quit a bit of everyone else relevant to S4. As for the other two... lets see... Well for the purposes of hooking an audience I wouldn't do any of S1. From S2 I'd do either Halloween (cause its a fun episode that deals heavily with all the scoobies including Spike) or Phases (we get our wereful oZ intro which is vital to S4). From S3, other than Dopplegangland, I'd go with Band Candy or Graduation Day 2 since its the obvious lead in to S4. Hope that helps 🙂
 
Fly on the Wall has the best list, in my estimation. For the rest, you can say 'Anya lost her power and became human, and Oz is a werewolf', and that's all you need really.
 
I'd choose Welcome to Hellmouth (s1) cos it's the start
School hard(s2) Can't get into the series without knowing who Spike and Dru are!
Becoming, part 1-2, also kind of important
Lover's walk(s3) Cos besides a lot of funny Spike there are some huge turning points
The Wish(s3) Anya, and an alternative universe
 
pernilleborup: the only problem with your list is it's too long. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" is a two parter, which leaves you 1.5-2 hours over the stated limit.
 
AvatarofTruth said:
pernilleborup: the only problem with your list is it's too long. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" is a two parter, which leaves you 1.5-2 hours over the stated limit.
Click to expand...

Oh... I didn't know it was a two parter O.O
Dang... Well... there a lot of other good choices than mine then 🙂
 
Well, you put "Welcome to Hellmouth"(sic) but not "The Harvest", yet you wrote "Becoming, part 1-2", so I just wanted to clarify.
 
I would definitely include Halloween, as it's a funny episode, has a lot of scoobie interaction, and gets refereed to in later episodes. Then maybe School Hard, as it introduces Spike. Next, I'm also suggesting "The Wish"(that's the one I used to introduce the whole show to someone), because it has a very interesting concept, introduced Anya and goes beyond Buffy just as a simple show. Then, because it's a follow-up and a funny episode, Doppelgangland.

So in the full order

School Hard
Halloween
The Wish
Doppelgangland
 
okies im sticking with my whole.. carry on where you all were.. not them. hopefully they have seen the show anyways.. but its wrong if they aint lol
 
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