Saturday, September 19, 2009

End of Round 3! September Silliness - The Buffy Episode Tourney

THIS ROUND IS CLOSED FOR VOTING

Finding out which Buffy episode is the fan favorite has definitely been interesting so far. We've already knocked out a whopping 120 episodes and after this next round we'll have the top 16 eps, as voted by you. The last round was crazy and most matches were extremely close. Let's recap:

"Restless" beat "Selfless" 157 to 84
"Consequences" took "Hell's Bells" out of the running 138 to 105
"Becoming Part 2" beat "The Wish" 143 to 107
"The Gift" beat "Who Are You?" but the latter scored 73 votes! I thought that was a lot!
"Hush" beat "Amends" 202 to 44
"This Year's Girl" beat "Crush" by a mere 5 votes! A fandom divided!
"Innocence" beat "The Prom" 170 to 76
"Graduation Day pt 2" beat my beloved "Halloween" 147 to 102


So Round 3 B below will have 8 matches. Voting for this part ends Sunday at 11:59 pm EST, at which point The Sweet 16 will begin.

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

Region 3: Scotland
Location: Base at the Citadel























































Region 3: England
Location: The Watcher's Council





















































If your curious to see the entire bracket so far (and what's up next), click here to enlarge:







26 comments:

skyroom80 said...

This round was easier but, still, a couple of choices were very hard!

Becoming, Part 1 over School Hard. An easy choice.

Helpless over Prophecy Girl. I'm a bit surprised that any S1 eps have made it this far.

Once More With Feeling over Pangs. Damn! That was hard. Pangs is my Thanksgiving show of choice each year. :-( But, yeah, OMWF is the far better episode.

The Body over Fool for Love. Even though I still find The Body excruciating to watch, it's a masterpiece.

Dopplegangland over Enemies. One quote: "And I think I'm kinda gay." I love Willow!

Surprise over New Moon Rising. Very tough! But Surprise leads right into Innocence. That will beat Oz's werewolf, even if I wish it weren't necessary to choose.

Band Candy over Faith, Hope, and Trick. Giles and Joyce. Snyder. Does anyone need any more? ;-)

Tabula Rasa over Welcome to the Hellmouth. Again, how are S1 eps getting this far? I truly do not understand.

Gio said...

NOOOOOOOO!! Fool for love against The Body??? Just nooooooo! Sigh.. I voted for FFL though, because it's one I rewatch a hundred times a year, while the Body, once again, loses cause it's too sad..
Also, OMWF against Pangs??? NOOOOO again! Poor Pangs..!
Surprise vs New Moon Rising was a tough one, too.. But I guess the easy choices are probably over from now on, ah?

Steph said...

Dammit all to hellmouth this is difficult! There are some ridiculously hard decisions to be made.

STACEY MCCOOL said...

it's weird. this entire competition, every episode i pick - i'm in the minority. i'm scared to see which episode wins because i feel i might be in a different age group/mindset than alot of the other voters.

The Groosalugg said...

Becoming Part 1 vs. School Hard. Easy choice. Becoming Part 1 was so earth chattering.

Helpless vs. Prophecy Girl. I really love those finales!

Pangs vs. Once More, With Feeling. Unlucky Pangs :(

Fool For Love vs. The Body. The two strongest S5 episodes face off! Poor Fool For Love.

Doppelgangland vs. Enemies. Difficult, I think I'll rewatch them both before I vote.

New Moon Rising vs. Surprise. Sorry New Moon Rising.

Faith, Hope, and Trick vs. Band Candy. Two great S3 episodes have the bad luck to come up against each other. I've always loved Faith, Hope, and Trick and Band Candy lost some of its appeal to me on repeat viewings, so I'm going with Faith's introduction.

Tabula Rasa v. Welcome to the Hellmouth. I'm still not a big fan of Tabula Rasa.

Unknown said...

Pangs vs Once More With Feeling?
Fool For Love vs The Body?

GAH! Those are my four favorites of all time....

I voted for Pangs because I figured OMWF would get the ubervotes anyway.

And though I love Fool For Love and all things Spike, The Body is and will always be my favorite. It's the most eloquent expression of the nature of death ever shown on television. Every moment, every performance and every editorial decision touches me.

Michelle said...

I went with "Becoming Part I" because of the scene where Buffy is running in slow motion to the school and the Whistler voice over. Strong stuff. Also, RIP Kendra.

The next one was hard for me because I LOVE "Helpless", but in the end "Prophecy Girl" is emotionally stronger for me.

I gave a sympathy vote to "Pangs".

"The Body" is the stronger of the two.

"Enemies" has fake Angelus and I love how this episode shows Buffy and Faith's vulnerabilities/insecurities.

"Surprise"!

"Bandy Candy" was so funny.

The last one was tough, but I went with nostalgia in the end.

Tara said...

I feel that way too, mccool...that my picks are always the minority. Not really this round, but I wonder if everyone else thinks that way too.

I feel that this round is a bit of a no-brainer. The right side of the bracket always had some classics paired with throw-aways and that still hasn't really stopped yet. Doppelgangland vs. Enemies was tricky, but there are several fantastic and memorable moments in Doppel (particularly when Angel goes to the library to tell everyone that Willow's dead and sired...fucking hilarious.)

Fool For Love vs. The Body gave me pause for a moment. I love FFL and The Body is, as everyone agrees, unwatchable. But The Body is so well done and I like FFL best as the "Crossover Event" that it is...so I went with The Body. For the record, I regret that now.

My Indian friend calls me Dooltun said...

Hi guys....

Becoming over School Hard.

Helpless over Prophecy Girl. Tough choice, but for me Helpless allows us to see the Slayer without her powers. And you know what? She still kicks ass. Even without her powers, she's still the Slayer. Plus, Helpless totally gives me the willies...

OMWF over Pangs. Toughie from hell.

The Body over Fool For Love. Toughola City. I'm totally with the non-Buffyfest crew Tara on this one. The Body is so touching and eloquent, particularly the end scene with Dawn and Joyce. This ep is close to my heart...

Doppelgangland over Enemies. Not so tough since I love Doppel.

Oz is the man. NMR got my vote. Who cares if the Buff gave it up to Angel, but I see all you Buffy wannabe lovin' on Angel lock/step conformists care since Surprise is winning. I bet all the Buffyfester chicks are voting for Surprise....

Joyce definitely has the MILF factor goin' on, and Giles got some of that. Band Candy all the way, baby.

Tabula Rasa over Welcome to the Hellmouth. This was tough, but I LOVE Tabula Rasa....

Anonymous said...

OK, this round was hard again. I'm glad a lot of season 1 eps are still in the running, though, cause I think they are classics that don't get all the love they deserve.

Becoming Part 1 vs. School Hard. Very hard for me, cause School Hard is one of my faves, but Becoming Part 1 *sigh*....I went with School Hard cause I figured Beoming would win without my help.

Helpless vs. Prophecy Girl. So easy, hated Helpless, hated it.

Pangs vs. Once More, With Feeling. Two of my faves, but OMWF had to win. I'll still watch Pangs every Thanksgiving though. ;)

Fool For Love vs. The Body. The Body is a masterpiece, but I love Fool For Love. In the end, The Body won, but only just.

Doppelgangland vs. Enemies. This one was easier, cause two Willows is a winner for me.

New Moon Rising vs. Surprise. Surprise had to take this one. Sorry Oz.

Faith, Hope, and Trick vs. Band Candy. This one was easier, too, since I'm pretty anti-Faith and Band Candy has Snyder stoked!

Tabula Rasa v. Welcome to the Hellmouth. I like them both, but Welcome to the Hellmouth started it all.

Anonymous said...

OK, this round was hard again. I'm glad a lot of season 1 eps are still in the running, though, cause I think they are classics that don't get all the love they deserve.

Becoming Part 1 vs. School Hard. Very hard for me, cause School Hard is one of my faves, but Becoming Part 1 *sigh*....I went with School Hard cause I figured Beoming would win without my help.

Helpless vs. Prophecy Girl. So easy, hated Helpless, hated it.

Pangs vs. Once More, With Feeling. Two of my faves, but OMWF had to win. I'll still watch Pangs every Thanksgiving though. ;)

Fool For Love vs. The Body. The Body is a masterpiece, but I love Fool For Love. In the end, The Body won, but only just.

Doppelgangland vs. Enemies. This one was easier, cause two Willows is a winner for me.

New Moon Rising vs. Surprise. Surprise had to take this one. Sorry Oz.

Faith, Hope, and Trick vs. Band Candy. This one was easier, too, since I'm pretty anti-Faith and Band Candy has Snyder stoked!

Tabula Rasa v. Welcome to the Hellmouth. I like them both, but Welcome to the Hellmouth started it all.

Michale (mbatz) said...

Like Tara, I went with Pangs (my all time fav)because it needs some love and OMWF is mopping it up. SADLY:(...But I get it. Everything else was easy...never a huge fan of Fool for Love...I'm an Angel guy. Spike's a bloody rapist and a killer:)- I sound like the X man:) And a horrible poet...ha. And I never could understand Buff's complete ineptitude when it came to staking him time and time again. The Body is awesome of course, yet I can never watch it..I hope it doesn't win. welcome to the Hellmouth is not the best of eps by a long shot and I always liked T Rasa. Most of my personal favs are gone now...and this tourney is looking like the typical showdowns i.e., OMWF, The Body, Hush, Becoming, Grad Day, The Gift etc. what are the odds of something unusual winning??? Slim? I 'm hoping for Prophecy Girl...it's just a superb ep.

Michael said...

Ha I spelled my own name wrong WTF!

Unknown said...

I have to take one little bitty moment to debate with you Michael... Spike was a rapist without a soul (and so was Angel, think gypsy girl). The difference is soulless Spike knew it was wrong and wanted to be better, Angel was punished for it and forced to feel guilt.

K.. off my soap box now. :D

PS: I knew a guy named Chris in school who turned in a paper where he wrote his name as "Change" on accident... at least you just mixed up the letters :D

Michael (mbatz) said...

ha. True Tara, true. Which only points out my issues with the character of Spike. Like, how could a soulless vampire 'know" it was wrong. And why would a vampire seek to better himself or even get a soul? For Love???? Getting a soul for love is an oxymoron:) The Angel story made the only sense as far as the soul thing goes. A vamp in Buffy canon would consider a soul a curse not a prize. Spike's character goes against Buffy canon constantly and this always unnerved me. They just threw away everything to get him to where they needed him to be. Vamps can't love (not THAT kind of love) without a soul. Dru n Spike is diff..that's loved based on mutual mass murders...heh (u know what I mean). Anyway, I'm rambling, but let me say i do love Spike's character as I love The Hulk...a rampaging monster who always stumbles into doing the right thing by accident or coercion but not out of some moral altuism. liked him betr with the chip:)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

*I redid this cause I noticed typos and they bug me*

Not necessarily... When you consider what Giles says to Buffy about there being two kinds of monsters... one can be, or more importantly wants to be redeemed. The other is devoid of humanity.

When The Judge encounters Spike and Dru he says they reek of humanity, they share affection. Angelus however he refers to as "clean", devoid of humanity. Spike, and most vamps, do retain some spark of humanity and therefore have the potential for redemption.

All the vamps KNOW what they are doing is wrong,they never claim to be good...they just don't care. Spike's little piece of humanity allows him to care.

:D Does that make it work within the canon a little more for ya?

Confused said...

Hey Tara. I'm confused. When did Giles say that about monsters? I can only remember him saying the opposite - that when a demon takes over, there's no more humanity in there.

Also, I have to agree with Michael on this one. I don't get how on one hand Spike trying to rape Buffy is only because he didn't have a soul, but at the same time he had soul/humanity because he cared for her.

When viewing the character, we can't have it both ways. Either Spike has humanity and does these horrible things anyway or he doesn't have humanity and he does these horrible things because of the lack of it.

Michael said...

Yeah...I'm with confused:) If you really want to split hairs...in a way it's much easier to understand Angel raping the gypsy girl due to his total lack of humanity/soul than it is with Spike who tried it with Buff while having that "spark' of humanity. I stand by my rapist comment:) Spike's character is just way to confusing...I mean that song Rest in Peace is FULL of Shakespearian soul and humaity...from a demon!! WTF! I have a soul and don't get that emo (mostly...hehe). I mean would you love Spike, Tara? After 3 yrs of him trying to literally kill you and saying over and over "I'm evil" "why don't you scoobies get that?"

Tara said...

Here we go!! Took long enough ;)

Unknown said...

Beauty and The Beast... He finds Buffy asleep in the library, she tells him she had a dream about Angel coming back, and she asks what he would be like. He tells her anyone trapped in hell that long would be a monster... then she says "so a lost cause?" he tells her there are two types of monsters...

Michael (mbatz) said...

Oh and Tara did Giles say that about monsters or vampires? Just curious...because I too only remember the thing about when you become a vamp, the demon takes over..etc. Not trying to bum rush ya Tara, just a friendly debate:) I know these Spike/Angel things can get out of hand. For the record, being a hetero male, I'm all about Buffy anyway:)

Unknown said...

Oh and as to his humanity.. if he did these terrible things with that spark and is therefore not forgivable, neither is Willow. His spark lets him grow, and you could say trying to rape Buffy is his "bottom" that's when he realizes he NEEDS to be better.

I would love Spike =D (I mean have you seen Spike?) No, but really, I think it makes sense that Buffy would feel for Spike, she never really loves loves him. Buffy forgives Angel though he hurt her, she forgives Willow, she forgives them when they kick her out, why wouldn't she extend that to Spike as well?

Sidenote: I'm very glad you guys have given me much needed procrastination fodder today =D

Michael said...

Oh boy!!!! Willow had a "drug addiction" and needed an intervention. Spike's a rapist!! And tried to kill her over and over and over and over. Glad he FINALLY realized the error of his ways after all those overs and the whole ...er...rape thing. Kudos Spike!

Confused said...

Tara, I'm not saying Spike can't be redeemed, I think he can be. I also think he can be forgiven.

Where it gets weird for me is when there's arguments that he has humanity pre-soul and that's why he can love Buffy, but in the same breath, he gets a pass for the attempted rape because he doesn't have a soul. It just can't be both.

To me it makes sense this way:
He tried to rape Buffy because he's evil and he really only knows twisted love (ex: Dru). He then goes to get his soul because he's obsessed and knows that Buffy will love a person or vampire with a soul. He then gets his soul and realizes how horribly he treated her because he was void of any moral judgment, but now with the soul he can make amends.

Sorry it's so long, but can you see my point?

Unknown said...

Confused, I see your point and it's a valid one. =)