'Buffy...',along with 'The Sopranos' & 'The West Wing' is the best programme on TV. What started out as fluffy indulgence has become obligatory viewing- with episodes that had evil-Angel/Buffy replaying a doomed love affair of a schoolteacher & pupil who killed her as if a Nietzschean-script (see 'The Gay Science')& the death of Joy episode being closer to the work of Kryzsztof Kieslowski than 'Dawson's Creek'...Over the seasons the dialogue has become killer, as have the regulars (Anthony Head, Alyson Hannigan,James Marsters,Nicholas Brendon and,of course,Sarah Michelle Gellar)- though Amber Benson & Emma Caulfield are the greatest assets of the show. The daring writing of Joss Whedon- killing off the lead character in 'The Gift' shows that this programme can go anywhere. The restrictions of TV compared to film can be vast- then again, the scope of TV and index of possibilities is vast.
The sixth-season episode,'Once More With Feeling', I think is one of the best programmes I've ever seen. As good as any film- though we do have back-story. And, unlike 'Moulin Rouge!'it is actually a musical- in the sense of having original songs and dancing that advance the narrative. I s'pose as a whole it was somewhere between 'Joseph & His Technicolour Dreamcoat' (which I saw Anthony Stuart Head in at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in the late 70's!) and Dennis Potter's 'The Singing Detective'.
The episode opens with an altered credit sequence, before moving into sweeping images of a typical day- set to preludes of the songs to come. It then cuts to the first song in the cemetery ('Going Through the Motions')- which is rather splendid. We then move to the Magic Shop, where the group singalong 'I've got a Theory' develops Anya's on-going fear of bunnies (Emma Caulfield stands out here; Alyson Hannigan er,doesn't- but hey!- she had a go!!). We then get to see a surreal dance concerning dry-cleaning!! The next song, 'I'm Under Your Spell' is the highlight- Amber Benson is wonderful here, the standout of the episode. She sounds not unlike Judy Collins or Sandy Denny (if they ever appeared in godspell)- the harmonics remind me of Radiohead's 'Karma Police' for some reason! There is a sublime moment of acting when Tara gives Willow a gaze of pure adoration- really, acting like this is just amazing!! The next song is an old fashioned musical number- very studio Hollywood- between Anya & Xander ('I'll Never Tell')- with killer lines like "His penis caught diseases from a shoe marsh tribe" & "When I get so old & wrinkly will I look like David Brinkley?"...After a brief interlude, it's night again & Buffy goes to visit Spike- where he can't help but serenade her in a Bowie does 'Rocky Horror'-manner- 'Rest in Peace' is another great song concerning Spike;s problematic feelings for the Slayer. Nicely undercut by Spike;s "You're not staying?"...Next Tara discovers Willow's spell and Dawn is kidnapped by the strange wooden henchmen- leading to a dance number prior to the Demon's song- which is somewhere between 'The Mask' and Tom Waits...Anthony Head sings the next song (after a wonderful intertextual ref to the terrible movie "80's film montage")- which extends on his doubts about his r'ship to/with Buffy- this melds into Tara's refrain of 'I'm Under Your Spell' before Benson & Head (the two best singers here) take turns at singing their doubts. Buffy, sent alone to the demon at the Bronz, starts the next song ("I touched the fire")- which ends up being sung by the whole cast- Spike & Tara are great here (Willow is quite tuneless however!!). At the Bronz Buffy sings 'Life's a Song'- which is great- a hint of vocoder and some great backup by Anya & Tara- the end being sung by Dawn & Spike (the former revoices the line "The hardest thing about this world is to live in it" from 'The Gift'). After another ref to Xander's penchant for being dragged into homosexual situations (the best was the 'Dracula' episode where he declared "He's turned me into his spider-eating man-bitch"!). Demon gone we get the finale and a suprising exhange between Buffy & Spike...This episode is fantastic and stands up to reviewing- unlike detractors who state Buffy is 'over'- I believe this programme is getting better & better- as the characters & dialogue improve with age. And I think Amber Benson is a complete star here- if anyone's thinking of remaking 'Cabaret'? I would love to see a musical from those who wrote this episode. Proof that TV can be great when it feels like it (and it is left to develop)- I mean, 'Buffy' under the cloak of a teen-horror show has become more adult than adult shows!!! Oh, and if the 'Ripper' series ever gets made in the UK- can I write an episode?
The sixth-season episode,'Once More With Feeling', I think is one of the best programmes I've ever seen. As good as any film- though we do have back-story. And, unlike 'Moulin Rouge!'it is actually a musical- in the sense of having original songs and dancing that advance the narrative. I s'pose as a whole it was somewhere between 'Joseph & His Technicolour Dreamcoat' (which I saw Anthony Stuart Head in at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham in the late 70's!) and Dennis Potter's 'The Singing Detective'.
The episode opens with an altered credit sequence, before moving into sweeping images of a typical day- set to preludes of the songs to come. It then cuts to the first song in the cemetery ('Going Through the Motions')- which is rather splendid. We then move to the Magic Shop, where the group singalong 'I've got a Theory' develops Anya's on-going fear of bunnies (Emma Caulfield stands out here; Alyson Hannigan er,doesn't- but hey!- she had a go!!). We then get to see a surreal dance concerning dry-cleaning!! The next song, 'I'm Under Your Spell' is the highlight- Amber Benson is wonderful here, the standout of the episode. She sounds not unlike Judy Collins or Sandy Denny (if they ever appeared in godspell)- the harmonics remind me of Radiohead's 'Karma Police' for some reason! There is a sublime moment of acting when Tara gives Willow a gaze of pure adoration- really, acting like this is just amazing!! The next song is an old fashioned musical number- very studio Hollywood- between Anya & Xander ('I'll Never Tell')- with killer lines like "His penis caught diseases from a shoe marsh tribe" & "When I get so old & wrinkly will I look like David Brinkley?"...After a brief interlude, it's night again & Buffy goes to visit Spike- where he can't help but serenade her in a Bowie does 'Rocky Horror'-manner- 'Rest in Peace' is another great song concerning Spike;s problematic feelings for the Slayer. Nicely undercut by Spike;s "You're not staying?"...Next Tara discovers Willow's spell and Dawn is kidnapped by the strange wooden henchmen- leading to a dance number prior to the Demon's song- which is somewhere between 'The Mask' and Tom Waits...Anthony Head sings the next song (after a wonderful intertextual ref to the terrible movie "80's film montage")- which extends on his doubts about his r'ship to/with Buffy- this melds into Tara's refrain of 'I'm Under Your Spell' before Benson & Head (the two best singers here) take turns at singing their doubts. Buffy, sent alone to the demon at the Bronz, starts the next song ("I touched the fire")- which ends up being sung by the whole cast- Spike & Tara are great here (Willow is quite tuneless however!!). At the Bronz Buffy sings 'Life's a Song'- which is great- a hint of vocoder and some great backup by Anya & Tara- the end being sung by Dawn & Spike (the former revoices the line "The hardest thing about this world is to live in it" from 'The Gift'). After another ref to Xander's penchant for being dragged into homosexual situations (the best was the 'Dracula' episode where he declared "He's turned me into his spider-eating man-bitch"!). Demon gone we get the finale and a suprising exhange between Buffy & Spike...This episode is fantastic and stands up to reviewing- unlike detractors who state Buffy is 'over'- I believe this programme is getting better & better- as the characters & dialogue improve with age. And I think Amber Benson is a complete star here- if anyone's thinking of remaking 'Cabaret'? I would love to see a musical from those who wrote this episode. Proof that TV can be great when it feels like it (and it is left to develop)- I mean, 'Buffy' under the cloak of a teen-horror show has become more adult than adult shows!!! Oh, and if the 'Ripper' series ever gets made in the UK- can I write an episode?