Which was your favourite "experimental" episode of BtVS?

Fave experimental episode

  • Hush

    Votes: 3 20.0%

  • The Body

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • Once More With Feeling

    Votes: 8 53.3%

  • Normal Again

    Votes: 3 20.0%
  • Total voters
    15
Mr. Pointy

Mr. Pointy

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Black Thorn
I thought I'd already posted a thread on this but couldn't find it after a recent search, so here goes...

Which of the "experimental" eps of Buffy was your fave and why?

Hush - no dialogue for much of the ep ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush_(Buffy_episode) )

The Body - no music ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_(Buffy_episode) )

Once More With Feeling - lots of music ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_More,_With_Feeling_(Buffy_episode) )

Normal Again - was it all a dream? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Again )

There may be others that you consider to be experimental...if so, what are they? I thought about including Superstar but then I considered that it wasn't quite as left-field as the above. I couldn't think of any for Angel, hence the Buffy only list...let me know if I'm wrong 🙂
 
Drive me crazy much trying to pick. 🙂 They're all so good.

You know what's unique about these compared to similar experiments in other series? They all worked.
 
nerd4hire said:
Drive me crazy much trying to pick. 🙂 They're all so good.
Click to expand...
I know exactly what you mean...I still haven't decided and I started the thread 🙂 I'm torn between Hush and Normal Again...OMWF is a bit too obvious (although it was a good ep) and I always felt that The Body (again a great ep) was not as experimental as all that IMO.
 
Normal Again is my all time fave ep, so of course i went for that.
i love the fact that it might have all been and dream, that everything that happened for the past six years could be nothing more than the delusions of a sick girl.
 
I enjoyed OMWF the most... I enjoy Hush, The Body, and Normal Again.. but only if I have the commentary on. I have no idea why, yeah I'm weird.
 
In terms of being fun to watch, Once More With Feeling.
Hush was art. Pure and simple.

The Body was....amazing. And profoundly disturbing to anyone who has actually been through that.
 
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
Too true, on The Body.
I've finally decided on Hush, simply because I remember enjoying watching it the most of the four eps...that's not to say that the others aren't brilliant, as they are, but Hush seemed to have a little more for me. For me the four eps fall into this order -
1. Hush
2. Normal Again
3. The Body
4. OMWF
 
I loved 'Hush', but i reaallllyyyy dislike Riley. But it wins points for the Willow/Tara in it.

'Normal again' was good, but not one of my favorite episodes I have to say. (I like funny eps the best).

I agree that 'the body' is pure art, i enjoyed it, but again, my favourite ones are the ones with humor.

which leaves 'OMWF'! Loved it loved it loved it. So thats what i chose.
 
Personally, I don't see Normal Again or The Body as being any more "experimental" than Superstar or Restless. Just a thought.

But I chose OMWF. It was the riskiest, I think, and they pulled it off beautifully. Plus, it was the "official" beginning of Spuffy. :silly:
 
jruby82 said:
Personally, I don't see Normal Again or The Body as being any more "experimental" than Superstar or Restless. Just a thought.

But I chose OMWF. It was the riskiest, I think, and they pulled it off beautifully. Plus, it was the "official" beginning of Spuffy. :silly:
Click to expand...

I forgot about Restless...that could've been a contender. I ummed and erred about Normal Again but it got included for its mindf**k (it's a real "literary" term, honest. Search Wikipedia if you don't believe me) quality...as for The Body, the almost total lack of a music soundtrack, which I thought was pretty unique, qualified it IMO - it had no non-diegetic music in the body of the ep and virtually no diegetic music (to use the jargon 🙂)
Click here for the Wikipedia article about diegesis
 
J. Ruby
J. Ruby
The Body definitely qualifies. I just thought Superstar and Restless *also* qualified. :-)
Normal Again was a good episode, I don't find it that engrossing though. I have a short attention span, the lack of dialogue in Hush makes it difficult for me to focus on the screen. Once more with Feeling was pure entertainment, and I have seen it more times than the other episodes.

The body I have seen the least. It is the only episode, even after the two viewings, where my focus never deviates from the screen. From the first moment it draws you in, and there you stay until the ending credits. And pretty much nothing happens. That's good tv, for it to be so much with so little.
 
Normal Again poses the question "Has this all been a fantasy?" and my answer is "I don't care," and I like that. I appreciate the fact that not only could everything before the episode be an illusion, but everything after the episode could be too. And I don't care. If it's a hallucination, then that's where I want to be. I guess that's what Buffy ultimately decides too.

Hope that made sense. :drunk:
 
S
Spirit_Of_Fred
[No message]
Honestly, Normal Again kind of grated on me. Mabye because I'm old enough to have seen Newhart and Dallas. The whole "It was all a dream" thing, even for just an episode kinda gets on my nerves.
 
J. Ruby
J. Ruby
I know, it used to tick me off when they did similar things on The X-Files too. I think Normal Again is kind of a newish twist though, because maybe it wasn't all a dream! Mwahahaha! ;-)
Dallas was all a dream? I did not know that. I keep worrying that's what they're going to do with Lost.

Oh, oops OT. Back on subject then. Would The Gift qualify as an experimental ep? I mean killing off the lead character...
 
An entire season of Dallas was a dream. JR got shot. A full season of no JR. Cut to the next season premiere (Or was it the finale. Whatever.) and JR gets out of the shower and the whole season was his lady's dream. Holy God, that was BAD.
 
out of the choices listed above I picked Once more with feeling, since I enjoyed it the most and it always comes to mind when I think of all the 'unusual' episodes of any show I've watched. But in terms of being the most 'experimental' there's something to be said for Restless.
 
I picked Hush...the Gentlemen, the eerie music, the no talking and the bits of humour here and there....as much as I love Once more with Feeling, I love Hush more.

That part where Olivia sees the that Gentleman floating past the window...I know it's coming but it still makes me jump every time.
 
I voted for Hush, but I also really love Normal Again.

I like Once More, With Feeling but it's sooo overrated.
 
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