Monday, September 7, 2009

September Silliness - The Buffy Episode Tournament (Round 1b)

ROUND 1 -B POLL IS CLOSED

All month long, we'll be trying to determine which Buffy episode is the fan favorite. We started with 128 randomly paired episodes fighting for the title. In the first round, there were already some tough choices. Here's a rundown of the results:

"Restless" is advancing, beating "Seeing Red" - 114 to 95
"I Only Have Eyes For You" is advancing, beating "Villains" - 122 to 95
"Selfless" beat "Never Leave Me" - 135 to 43
"Normal Again" is advancing (I'm surprised) beating "No Place Like Home" - 149 to 58
"Hell's Bells" beat "The Witch" - 137 to 73
"I Was Made to Love You" beat "Go Fish" but not as much as one would think - 135 to 79
"Phases" is advancing beating "Tough Love"- 122 to 87
"Consequences" beat "Empty Places" - 154 to 51
"Bargaining Part 1" beat "Out of My Mind" -142 to 71
"The Wish" beat the ass of "The Weight of the World" - 176 to 36
"Becoming Part 2" beat The Dark Age" with the largest margin - 201 to 20
"As You Were" beat "Teacher's Pet" - 128 to 106
"Ted" narrowly edged out "Bring on the Night" - 120 to 113
"The Gift" took out "Fear, Itself" - 175 to 44
"Storyteller" beat Xander-in-a-bra "Reptile Boy" - 169 to 56
and finally
"Who Are You?" beat "Dirty Girls" - 168 to 49

Just like the last round, Round 1b below has 16 matches. Voting for this part ends Tuesday at 11:59 pm EST at which point Round 1c will begin.

If you need a refresher, click here for the full list of episodes and their descriptions. Happy voting!

Region 2: LA
Location: Hemery High School


























If your curious to see the entire bracket of Round 1, click here to enlarge:



24 comments:

Tara said...

Dude, "Real Me" and "Blood Ties" are like the same episode (in my memory at least.) Better look them up.

"A New Man" is one of my fave funny eps and we NEVER watch it at Buffyfest and it pisses me off every year. True story.

crystalsinger said...

You're surprised Normal Again got through? Srsly? Or was that sarcasm?

Normal Again is such an excellent, excellent episode! In my top 5, fer shure.

Tara said...

Wow, I know I get frustrated by it (can't even watch it) and always feel like many people hate it, but apparently not! This tourney is an eye opener so far.

Gio said...

Real Me and Blood Ties, really..I don't know how to pick, same arc, same Dawn..O_o..
A New Man is brilliant and an obvious pick for me, but Halloween vs Superstar shouldn't be one against the other..(cause, me likes both ;-)P)
Pretty easy choices, for the rest..Apart from Hush vs LMPTM, that is easy cause Hush is one of the best eps ever, but I still voted for LMPTM cause-hello flashbacks! and I know Hush is gonna win big time, so I kinda gave a coin to the loser..;-)P
Voting the "Something Blue" vs "the Prom" round is pretty much like voting your favorite ship-well, that kinda makes it easier-LOL!

Anonymous said...

"Real Me" has the Harmony hilarity, so it got my vote for sure. Her minions (one was Tom Lenk) cracked me up. Plus all the unicorns?! And Anya playing "the game of LIFE" & wanting to trade her children in for money. Hilarious.

Aerliss said...

Hush or Lies My Parents Told Me? Come on... don't do that to me!

Gotta say some of these were a lot harder to pick between than last round. Sometimes the only deciding factor was whether or not Riley featured. Sorry Riley fans... just not mah cup o' tea.

Guess I should vote for LMPTM then...

Harvin said...

Whoa... "The Initiative" is getting stomped! =(

It would be interesting to see Graduation Parts 1 & 2 up against each other. But with episodes like "Hush," "Innocence" and "Earshot" (Ok, maybe that just me) in the same bracket, I doubt they'll both make it that far.

Nolan said...

I don't mind "Help," but "The Zeppo" is a lot of fun, and I like the supporting-cast centric episodes a lot.

"Graduation Day" pts 1 + 2 could easily beat "Amends," and pt 2 could probably beat it on its own, but pt 1 I don't like quite as much.

I like "Lies My Parents Told Me" a lot, but come on, it's "Hush."

I've never really like "When She Was Bad," it never really felt right to me. I like when the Scoobs are at odds with one another, but in that case it didn't feel natural. "Earshot," on the other hand, is rad.

I actually quite liked "Real Me," I think it does a great job at introducing a new status quo. "Blood Ties" wasn't memorable enough for me to remember which part of the arc it was.

I like "Crush," but the moment at the end of "The Harvest" with the sunlight gag is one of those 'hook' moments for me that kept me watching at the start of the series.

Something about "The Killer in Me" has always bugged me. I think it starts with a 'K' and ends with an 'ennedy."

I like the fun-times of "A New Man" as much as the next person, but there's something about "Lie to Me" that got my vote.

I think Der Kindestod is one of the creepiest villains the show had, but that's pretty much the only thing the episode has going for it.

"Angel" isn't a bad episode, but there's no way it can stand up to "Innocence." That episode is just intense.

I actually don't mind "Into the Woods." I really like the scene between Xander and Buffy in it. But it can't take my vote away from the finale, even if it wasn't perfect.

"Something Blue" is really fun, whereas "The Prom" is feh.

"Spiral" isn't memorable, could not remember exactly which episode it was without looking it up.

I love Jonathan, so "Superstar" all the way.

Like I said, I like when the group is at odds with one another, so "The Yoko Factor" gets the vote.

And "Graduation Day pt. 2" is just a great season finale. "The Initiative" is a pretty-ok regular episode. No contest.

Hooray!

Michelle said...

"The Zeppo" was funny and it's really the only Xander-based episode I like.

It is so unfair that I had to choose between "Grad.Part 1" and "Amends". Really unfair. In the end, "GD 1" is a better episode. The fight between Buffy and Faith is amazing.

"Hush" because the stuff between Spike and his mom was kinda gross.

I love "When She Was Bad" and have often said that it somewhat foreshadows what happens to Buffy in Season 6. The only difference was that she had support and love to get her through her first death.

"Real Me" and Blood Ties" are both forgettable to me, so I closed my eyes and just picked one.

Love "The Harvest".

"This Year's Girl" starts an amazing storyline for Faith (and Buffy, Angel and Wesley).

Sorry Tara, but I love "Lie to Me" and Buffy and Giles' talk at the end. I also love the scene when Angel comes into Willow's room. So funny.

"Bad Girls", even though I think "Killed by Death" is a pretty scary episode.

I love the episode "Angel" in all it's 90s glory, but "Innocence" is the beginning of the best story arc Joss every wrote.

I went with "Chosen" because I hate Riley.

"The Prom" because Buffy kinda gets everything she wants in that episode - everyone's appreciation for her hard work and Angel shows up.

I know most people hate this episode, but "Buffy vs. Dracula" is so good to me. I like how it starts the exploration of Buffy's slayerness.

"Halloween"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Despite Buffy's horrible southern accent, it's such a good episode.

Love "Anne" so much and the Chanterelle/Lily/Anne character.

Oh, please. Do I even need to dignify the last poll with an answer.

arranee said...

I never understood why "Normal Again" is such a behated episode - it's pure genius! Glad it won =)
It's sad "The weight of the world" (totally underrated imho) and "The dark age" (I just say Ripper) didn't get more votes, but ok, The Wish and Becoming are really really great.

Some of these are really hard to choose :(
Hush vs. LMPTM, why oh why? I love Fanged Four Flashbacks though Hush is one of the best eps ever
A New Man is also one of my favourite funny episodes, but I always loved Lie to Me (and it's the first Buffy ep I've seen...so it has the sentimental value bonus)
Halloween and Superstar are both fun
and Amends and Graduation Day are both equally good

at least some where easy: Zeppo (hated that girl in Help), Real Me (Harmony fun), Crush (I don't really like the first season), This years girl (stupid Kennedy), Killed by Death (almost as creepy as the Gentleman, even if der Kindstod looks somehow like a freaky 3. Reich jew stereotype), Innocence, Something Blue (pure fun! and yeah, more the Spike than Angel fan), Dracula (mocking of chlichés is always a plus) Yoko Factor (though Adam is still a lame villain)

Dalton said...

Another round bites the dust, folks.
The Zeppo is great. So cool.
Need I say anything about Hush? One of the best.
I'm in the minority with When She Was Bad, although Earshot had some heavy philosophical overtones, which is so Buffyish. Nothing can beat the intro scene to WSWB when Xander and Willow are walking, talking, and almost kiss. Loved that and Buff's dance with Xander. A real tough choice.
Always loved The Harvest.
A New Man was sooooo cool.
In the minority again with Angel, but that reflects my love of Julie Benz. Darla rocks. Benz is so talented and beautiful. Why do you torture me so, Bog? Why, oh why?
In the minority again with Chosen. Chosen sucks, mainly because of the new Slayer paradigm, which totally sucks. Whedon was doing crack when he thought of that one. Hate him for it, too. I'll stick with Into the Woods.
Something Blue all the way.
Buffy vs. Dracula-one of my favs
Halloween vs Superstar-come on, is there really anything to decide on here?
Tough between Anne and Yoko.
Ahhhh, September Silliness and Buffy memories. Am I the only one getting all touchy/feely and syrupy sweet?

Anonymous said...

I gotta put out a sales-pitch for "The Prom." This episode is a great one to re-watch over an over again. I always cry when Buffy gets the class protector award (a happy cry, not a sad one)--one of the best Buffy moments ever. I even own "The Prom" action figures, because I love that episode so much. Not for shipper reasons, just for all around "pulls at my heartstrings" reasons. C'mon people! (said kindly and with respect to the subjective nature of this vote)

Tara said...

I think I have to agree here. People love their Spuffy and their Bangel, but these eps really aren't about either of them (except basically, the end of Bangel.)

The Prom is a legendary, game-changing ep. Something Blue is a cute/silly spell ep and way pre-dates the Spuff so I'm not sure what's happening there. Don't get me wrong, Something Blue is great, but I personally didn't think it challenged an ep like The Prom.

Michelle said...

Wow, A few of my picks are loosing. Oh well.

I'm surprised that Something Blue is winning myself. It was a funny episode and all, but not deserving of a "Best of" title. "The Prom" is filled with character development (Xander/Cordy), relationship goodness (Buffy/Giles, Buffy/Angel) and has Buffy winning her cute prize.

Dalton said...

Tara, I love the cute/silly eps, sometimes even more so than the game changers. For me, the cute/silly insignificant eps are in a lot of ways like the heart and soul. Hence, my choice of SB. But you're right. In terms of magnitude, The Prom wins. I remember Buffy's anguish over Angel and Buff sobbing on Willow's lap, telling her "I can't breathe, Will." Damn. That'd put a lump in anyone's throat. I love their friendship. But honestly, I've always struggled with liking Angel. For me, he's like an acquired taste. The Angel idea is very good. Maybe it's David Boreanaz. Perhaps he just sucks. Can't quite put my finger on it. I'm liking him more and more, but it's difficult. I hate to say it, but I don't think I'd be all that upset if someone staked Angel. :::looking at Michelle and smiling:::

Kaaren said...

Although I loves my Bangel, I stil voted for "Something Blue" cause of the funny.

mandy jojo said...

Oh, it was so hard to choose between Graduation Day Part 1 and Amends. Both of which I really love. Ugh, in the end I went with Amends. Tough choice.

Tara said...

oh, same problem, same answer, mandy jojo. I think I have a fondness for Amends bc it was my first Buffy ep...not to mention it's very well done. Grad day 1 is great, but I definitely think pt 2 is better so I felt ok about sacrificing it.

Tara said...

however, it's getting the axe anyway...so pining over the decision was rather pointless, in retrospect.

Michael (mbatz) said...

Can't believe The Prom and Spiral are losing so far!!! So Sad:(

dcubedandtothethoidpowa said...

My first episode of Buffy was...uh...let's see...hmmmmm. It's coming to me. Maybe not. When my uncle had brain surgery due to a clot, the doctor told him he had a "young brain," despite being in his 60s. I say Tara has a young brain for being able to remember her first Buffy episode. She deserves a prize, or at least a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

Michael (mbatz) said...

The Prom has the best tear jerk ending perhaps of all the eps...(class protector, the dance with Angel)imo. And Spiral, come on, on the road...willow to Buffy "don't hit the horsies" Buff "we won't" then to Giles "aim for the horsies". Good stuff:)

mbatz said...

And I went with When She Was Bad too. Sexy Buff:) Great ending in the classroom.

Michael (mbatz) again:) said...

And Tara, Blood Ties stands out because it's establishes Dawn having 'Summer's blood" which sets up Buff being able to die in the finale instead of Dawn. But I'm sure you already know that. It's also the ep where Ben learns that Dawn is the key...