My 110 favorite TV Episodes part 2

Buffy the Vampire Slayer edition.

Pashion (1998): Angel turns to the Dark Side with a shocking murder.

http://www.tv.com/shows/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/passion-29/


Graduation Day (1999): A spectacular season finale. Who didn't want to blow up their high school?

http://www.tv.com/shows/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/graduation-day-1-55/

Hush (1999): An episode with very little dialogue and very scary bad guys. One of the most terrifying TV episodes ever.

http://www.tv.com/shows/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/hush-66/

Chosen (2003):  The Buffy Series finale...in the end, Buffy is not alone

http://www.tv.com/shows/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/chosen-232720/

Sci-Fi History: Dracula (1897)

Bram Stoker did not invent the vampire. The creature has existed in myth for several thousands of years. Stoker did popularize the vampire and has influenced its mythology ever since. All vampires today derive from Dracula either as a counter to the Stoker story or as a continuation. In addition to the vampire myth, Stoker’s work examined several Victorian themes including folklore, the role of women, sexuality, colonialism, and immigration.

What makes Dracula so appealing is Stoker’s historical research. He based his fictional character on a real person. Stoker read Romanian history and discovered “Dracula”, which means “Son of the Dragon.” Dracula was Vlad the Impaler, whose bloody reign may have involved drinking the blood of his victims, whom he impaled on stakes. Stoker directly references Vlad within the pages of Dracula.

Dracula has appeared in a number of movies and books. Stoker wrote the first adaptation for the stage. The most popular film versions include Nosferatu (1922), Dracula (1931), The Horror of Dracula (1958), and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). There are many other adaptations and sequels. He has even appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In fact, there are over 200 films featuring Dracula as a major character. Additionally, his influence is in any movie, TV show, play, or book featuring vampires.

Nosferatu (1922):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=patgT_qG65U

Dracula (1931):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVPxAgy7lBA

The Horror of Dracula (1958):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gBRe2XMljg

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j6b4Cd3OZo

 

Top 10 Angel Episodes

Smile Time (2004): Angel is turned into a puppet while investigating an evil children’s show. The fight between Puppet Angel and Spike is classic.


You’re Welcome (2004): Cordelia awakens from her coma to put Angel back on the right path. Even though she interacted with the gang, it turns out she never awoken from her coma and died in her hospital bed.

Hero (1999): Angel and Doyle battle The Scourge, a Nazi-like Demon Supremacist group hell-bent on persecuting those that are not “pure demon.” At the end, Doyle gives up his life saving innocents. The episode ends with Cordy watching Doyle on a videotape. Before fading to black, he asks “...Is that it? Am I done?" This might be the only show in history to kill a major character less than 10 episodes into its run.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? (2000): Angel recalls his experiences in the Hyperion Hotel in the fifties. In 1952, Angel worked to eliminate a demon feeding on the guests. However, he gets caught up in the paranoia of the McCarthy-Era and the hotel turns on him. He is lynched, but being already dead, escapes the noose. A bitter Angel tells the demon to “Take them all” and leaves.

City Of (1999): Angel sets out on his path to redemption sans Buffy and the Scooby Gang. However, working alone is costing his “humanity.” He ends up meeting and teaming up with Doyle, who receives visions from the Powers That Be. Cordelia Chase also turns up in LA. After an encounter with Wolfram and Hart, the three open a Private Investigators office. The episode included one of the best death scenes in TV history when Angel tosses Russell Winters (vampire) out a high rise window.

Reunion (2000): Angel races to find Darla before she awakens a vampire after being re-sired by Drusilla. He fails and the girls wreck havoc upon L.A. Angel tracks the pair to a Wolfram and Hart party where he refuses to intervene allowing the vampires to feed on the partygoers.

Underneath (2004): Angel, Spike, and Gunn travel to a Hell dimension to rescue Lindsey. In the dimension, Lindsey is forced to live the so-called “American Dream” with the house and family in the suburbs. At the end of each day, Lindsey has his heart ripped out. (Quite a commentary on modern life).The gang rescues Lindsey, but Gunn is forced to stay behind and take Lindsey’s place.

Spin the Bottle (2002): Lorne tries to restore Cordelia’s memory with a spell. Instead, the gang is reverted back to their teenage personas. Wesley is once again “Head Boy” at the Watcher’s Academy. Cordelia reverts to the most popular girl at Sunnydale High. Gunn is a rebel. Fred is an insecure pothead. Angel is an 18th century Irish teen named Liam. Gunn and Wesley argue over strategy, Angel and Connor fight it out while complaining about fathers, and Fred spends the episode trying to score weed. In the end, Lorne restores everyone’s memories resulting in bittersweet feelings.

Sleep Tight (2002): Wesley believes Angel will kill his infant son, so he kidnaps him. He is attacked outside his car and has hit throat cut. Angel’s old and resurrected enemy, Holtz manages to get his hands on the baby, but not before he is cornered by Angel and Wolfram and Hart. A porter is opened and Holtz leaps with the baby into a Hell dimension.

Life of the Party (2003): Lorne throws a Halloween party at Wolfram and Hart. As usual in the Buffyverse, weird things happen on Halloween. In this case, people unwittingly are forced to literally follow Lorne’s advice. He tells Fred and Wesley to loosen up, so they got drunk. Gunn stakes out his territory by peeing. Angel and Eve have sex. Spike and Harmony get down on the dance floor. Eventually, everything is righted and the employees claim they enjoyed the party.

Top 10 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episodes

Hush (1999): Joss Whedon wanted to do an episode without dialogue. Hush contains only 17 minutes of speech. In the episode, The Gentlemen arrive in Sunnydale, take away everyone’s ability to speak, and then cut hearts out of their speechless victims. City residents are forced to communicate without speech and have to cope with their affliction.


Once More With Feeling (2001): Xander summons up a demon that forces Sunnydale residents to sing out their deepest secrets. Once the secrets are revealed, the characters have to live with the consequences. The episode was a musical with the cast singing their parts. The songs were original and written for the characters.

I Only Have Eyes For You (1998): A pair of ghosts are haunting Sunnydale High and forcing students to relive his murder/suicide over and over. The pair possess Buffy and Angelus forcing them to relive the incident, but allowing the couple to reconcile. The relationship between the ghosts parallels Buffy’s relationship with Angel who had reverted to Angelus after experiencing a moment of pure happiness. On a side note, the episode uses the Flamingos 1959 hit of the same name, but the murder/suicide took place in 1955.

Passion (1998): Ms. Calendar discovers a way to restore Angel’s soul, but is murdered by Angelus. The vampire then torments Giles by leaving her body in his bed. In a rage, Giles attacks Calendar’s murderer, but has to be rescued by Buffy. The murder forced Buffy to face reality and she vows to slay the vampire.

Graduation Day (1999): The Mayor decides to transform into a pure demon on graduation day. Unfortunately for him, Buffy put Faith into a coma rendering her useless to him. Meanwhile, the Scoobies organize a military-style campaign to fight off the Major in his new demon form. In the end, they blow up the school, but graduate. The final shot is a scorched yearbook.

The Body (2001): The episode focuses on death. Buffy’s mom dies from a brain aneurysm and there is nothing she can do. She is completely helpless. The gang is used to death, but this one frustrates them. They can deal with demons and vampires, but have a hard time accepting something so mundane as an aneurysm.

Becoming (1998): Angelus and Drusilla plan to bring forth the apocalypse and bring hell to Earth. Buffy and Spike move to stop the pair while Willow works to restore Angel’s soul. The episode climaxes with a sword duel between Buffy and Angelus. At the end, Willow is successful and Angelus reverts to Angel. Unfortunately, Buffy is forced to kill Angel to save the world.

Prophecy Girl (1997): Buffy finally faces the Master, but is defeated. He leaves her to drown in a shallow pool of water. However, Xander arrives and provides CPR bringing her back. Meanwhile, Giles, Cordy, Ms. Calendar, and Willow face the Hellmouth which opens revealing a multi-headed creature. After returning from the dead, a stronger Buffy faces the Master a second time defeating him. His death seals the Hellmouth and the gang decides to go to the Bronze.

Chosen (2003): In the series finale, Buffy faces the First Evil and an army of Uber-Vamps with Faith, the Scoobies, Spike and her own slayer army. Buffy uses a magical battleaxe which held the essence of the slayer to empower the potentials. In the end, the gang destroy the Hellmouth and Sunnydale. The show ends with Buffy beginning to smile as she realizes she is no longer alone.

Conversations With Dead People (2002): Buffy, Dawn, and Willow all have encounters with the dead. Buffy meets a former classmate turned vampire. She slays him after discovering he was sired by Spike. Joyce visits Dawn and the First arrives to destroy the living room. Willow is visited by Cassie who claimed to have a message from Tara. It turned out to be a ploy by the First who threatens to destroy the Scooby Gang.

The Greatest TV Episodes #21-30

21. Cheers: An Old Fashioned Wedding (1992): Woody and Kelly are getting married and the Cheers gang have to overcome multiple obstacles including a dead priest, killer watch dogs, and Lilith’s spoon playing.

22. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Best of Both Worlds (1990): The Next Generation changed things up. Picard is kidnapped and turned into a Borg. He helps them destroy a fleet and attack Earth. Riker uses unorthodox strategy to stop him. The two part season finale/premier won an Emmy.

23. MASH: 5 O’Clock Charlie (1973): For weeks, an incompetent North Korean pilot attempted to drop a hand held bomb onto an ammo dump. The camp takes bets on how far off he’ll be. Frank convinces General Clayton to supply the camp with a cannon. Hawkeye and Trapper then help Charlie blow up the dump before Frank can hurt someone with the canon.

24. I Love Lucy: Lucy Goes to the Hospital (1953): Lucy gives birth to Little Ricky. In one of the funniest TV moments, Lucy remains cool, but Ricky, Fred, and Ethel flip out. Chaos reigns and Lucy somehow ends up at the hospital. While Lucy is in labor, Ricky has to go to work at the club. He returns in full voodoo makeup to see his son.

25. Magnum P.I.: Home by the Sea (1983): It’s the Fourth of July, Magnum goes out on his surf ski. A motorboat capsizes Magnum and he finds himself in the middle of the ocean. No one knows he’s there. Thomas is forced to tread water and he spends the time remembering his father’s attempts to teach him to tread water. His friends sense something is wrong, but have no idea what. They eventually search for him and perform a rescue.

26. The Simpsons: Cape Feare (1993): In a parody of Cape Fear, Sideshow Bob returns to Springfield to kill Bart Simpson. Before killing Bart, Bob breaks into the HMS Pinafore and is captured by police.

27. Murphy Brown: Birth 101 (1992): Murphy Brown goes into labor in the middle of a broadcast. Once in the hospitals, the contractions hit and she goes into a loud rant against every man in the room. Where was Dan Quayle?

28. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Hush (1999): Most of the episode had no dialogue. Living fairy tales, the Gentlemen, come to Sunnydale and steal everyone’s voices. The episode received an Emmy nomination and vast critical acclaim.

29. Frasier: The Matchmaker (1994): A gay man assumes Frasier is hitting on him. Flabbergasted, Frasier wonders aloud, “What on earth could have made him think I was interested in him? All I did was ask him if he was attached, and then we talked about the theater and men's fashions. Oh, my God!”

30. Battlestar Galactica: Blood on the Scales (2009): A coup overthrows the president and Adama. Tom Zarek murders the colonial political leadership and sentences Adama to death by firing squad. Adama regains control and Zarek faces the firing squad instead.

The Greatest TV Episodes #51-60

51. Magnum P.I.: Limbo (1987): This was originally supposed to be the series finale, but people wanted Magnum back. In the episode, he is shot and ends up in limbo. Magnum tries to communicate with his friends to stop his ex-wife’s murder.

52. The Dick Cavett Show: John and Yoko (1971& 1972): John talks candidly about a whole range of subjects in these classic interviews. He even calls people randomly to tell them he loves them. Footage later appears in Forest Gump.

http://www.openculture.com/2009/10/john_lennon_and_yoko_ono_on_the_dick_cavett_show.html

53. Star Trek Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight (1998): Sisko and Garak engineer the assassination of a Romulan senator to get the Romulans to enter into the war against the Dominion. Some point to this as the beginning of the end of Star Trek as producers move away from Roddenberry's utopian vision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTgGtJ-PisA


54. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001): Buffy arrives home to find her mom dead. The Scoobies have to deal with natural death as opposed to demons and vampires.

55. Friends: The One with the Prom Video (1996): The friends watch Rachel and Monica’s prom video. The gang look ridiculous in their 80s fashions. At the end, Rachel learns about Ross’ feelings ending almost two years of Ross-Rachel crap and launching another decade of it.

56. Rockford Files: So Help Me God (1974): Once again, Rockford has to dodge those that would do him ill. The episode is famous for its lesson in civil liberties as an innocent man is railroaded.

57. Star Trek: TNG: Tapestry (1993): Picard takes a knife through the heart and dies. In the afterlife, he meets Q. The two travel back to Picard’s graduation and events that led to his artificial heart which killed him. Picard changes the past and ends up a lowly junior officer. Q allows him to return to the past to put things right.

58. I Love Lucy: Lucy meets Harpo Marx (1955): This episodes includes the now famous mirror routine.

59. Twilight Zone: Back There (1961): Four braniacs are discussing time travel. Peter Corrigan, played by Russell Johnson (aka The Professor from Gilligan’s Island), leaves for the night. After leaving his snooty club and friends, he finds himself in April, 1865. Corrigan tries to warn the police about Lincoln's impending assassination, but no one will listen. John Wilkes Booth himself later drugs Corrigan who awakes in time to hear news of the assassination. He could not change history; or could he? When he returns to 1961, the club’s waiter was now a millionaire.

60. X-Files- Duane Berry/Ascension (1994): Scully is abducted in one of the iconic pop culture moments of the decade.

The Greatest TV Episodes of All Time #61-70

61. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Passion (1998): Angelus continues to torment the Scoobies. He took his art to new levels by killing Ms. Calendar, who was close to restoring his soul, and leaving her body in Giles bed.


62. MASH: The Interview (1976): Famous newsman Clete Roberts (Walter Cronkite anyone?) visits the 4077th and interviews the gang. Filmed in black & white to approximate 1950s newsreels, the actors improvised their answers.

63. The Beverly Hillbillies: Duke Steals a Wife (1963): Mrs. Drysdale is going to wed her dog with a Parisian Poodle. The dog’s owner accidentally arrives at the Clampet’s house instead. The female poodle hooks up with Jed’s hound, Duke. The couple has puppies and Mrs. Drysdale has a coronary.

64. Cheers: Bad Neighbor Sam (1990): Melville’s is purchased by a famous restaurateur. Sam does not like the new owner and the new customers are yuppies. A feud breaks out. Sam’s new neighbor bricks up the bathrooms and pool room and refuses to take it down until Sam pays rent. Sam loses his mind.

65. Rome: Caesarian (2005): Caesar arrives in Egypt. Pullo and Vorenus save Cleopatra. Pullo impregnates Cleopatra. She later claims Caesar is the father. The end is classic. Caesar shows off his son in front of his men. Pullo and Vorenus exchange looks.

66. Taxi: Cooking for Two (1982): Never invite Reverend Jim over. Jim destroys Louie’s apartment.

67. I, Claudius: Hail, Who? (1976): This episode of I, Claudius covers the exploits of Caligula. The Roman Emperor is living with a prostitute, murders those that annoy him, engages in orgies, has his soldiers collect seashells, and proclaims his victory over the god, Neptune. He is then assassinated.

68. Laugh-In: Nixon (1968): Before Clinton on Arsenio or Obama on Sportscenter, Nixon did Laugh-In. This was a major event as it set a precedent for other presidential candidates to follow. It allowed Nixon to soften his image, define himself, and go around the hostile press.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCp8Edp4pfo

69. Saturday Night Live: The Beatle reunion (1976): Lorne Michaels offers the Beatles $3000 to reunite. They have to sing three songs and can split the money anyway they want--even if that means less for Ringo. John and Paul almost showed that night. George did show up later to collect, but was told he could not collect without the other three.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZuk8N0TgU

70. Curb Your Enthusiasm: Seinfeld Reunion (2009): Larry brings back the Seinfeld gang and hopes to woo his ex. In the meantime, they film an episode. George loses millions to Bernie Madoff. MADOFF!