There is little more fascinating than a Geostationary Banana Over Texas.
12+(22×6)=144 episodes.
7 seasons.
40 DVDs.
That is a lot of Buffy, let me tell you.
If I had to pick an episode or two out as my favorite(s), I would have to pick “The Body” (Season 5, Episode 16 — dealing with Joyce’s death) and “Once More, With Feeling” (Season 6, Episode 7 — the musical), which was one of the first episodes I ever watched.
Back in 2001 when it aired we got station 57 (UPN/WB … that sort of thing) for a while with our rabbit ears and such, and somehow I ended up watching the beginning of the season, when Buffy was brought back from the dead after a summer in heaven. About this time a woman my brother knew from college visited us for a few days and she was a Buffy fan, and I saw her again back in Idaho over the holidays when my brother and I went home to see the relatives. But then our reception (for channel 57) went down the tubes so I gave up on the show. It was one of the first things I’d watched on TV in ages and I didn’t really start watching anything new on a regular basis until season 4 of Alias.
I say “really” because in 2003 I tried to watch “Veritas: The Quest,” which I rather enjoyed, but it suffered from low ratings and as soon as we invaded Iraq it was replaced by war-related material.
I also come late to these things.
Seeing how it all came together was a pleasure, and one of those things that works best when one has all the seasons, all the episodes, available at once … thus, I suppose, much of the joy in Netflixing seasons of TV and doing marathon viewings.
And if you wait until the end by getting things on DVD, you at least know ahead of time that they were not cancelled, that there is a complete storyline to watch.
I am, however, eagerly awaiting the return of Battlestar Galactica (and the Stargates) … I need my pop-culture-fix.
If one still needs some Buffy-related material, there is always the amusing but not-safe-for-work Adventures of Buffy and Evil Vampire Willow.
In other pop-culture news:
1. Listened to far too much Arockalypse, Asian Dub Foundation, and Ausgang today. From the latter I am always amused by “I am a Horse” (see the “best of” compilation “Last Exit: The Best of Ausgang”).
2. Got up-to-date with Uncanny X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Ultimate Power (a crossover event between Marvel’s “Ultimate Universe” and “Supreme Power Universe”). Ultimate Fantastic Four has the best-paced story of the three, but it’s barely holding my attention, whereas the other two seem drawn out, written for the trade paperback, not the monthly comic. The only really good mainstream Marvel comic at the moment is X-Factor, which enjoys a specific but effective artistic style and great dialogue.
3. Went shopping with Jen at Woodman’s. I ended up buying lots of turkey. Turkey sausage, turkey kielbasa, ground turkey, and turkey breast tenderloin. Bought even more Klarbrunn. Alas I have no pita bread for my hummus … it seems difficult to find there.
