[Showtime] Introducing...! -drum roll-

[Fehmina]

so i spent today broadcasting a select few Buffy episodes to my best friend.
granted i only took my season 3 & 4 boxsets to his house, i started off with Anne, then Dead Man's Party (he likes zombies), then Band Candy, Lover's Walk, The Zeppo, and then Fear, Itself and Hush.

considering i only had 6 hours, i think i did pretty well in my selection... but this got me thinking. I was almost forced to screen those episodes in that order, but if you yourself were to air BtVS to any previous non-viewers, or to some die-hard BtVS fans which episodes would you choose?

I say 'or' since i think the lists would differ greatly depending on whether the viewer had any previous knowledge or not. So having the choice of all 7 seasons and only having 6 hours to screen them (i.e. 8 episodes), the episodes i would pick for the first screening (assuming there would be more to come) would be:

Noobs:

1. Welcome To The Hellmouth
2. School Hard
3. The Zeppo
4. Hush
5. Fear, Itself
6. Restless
7. Doublemeat Palace
8. Chosen

Veterans:

1. Touched
2. Tabula Rasa
3. Graduation Day Pt.2
4. Primeval
5. Showtime
6. Grave
7. The Gift
8. The Body

I'm still undecided about the running order, so the lists may change...

btw, if this had been done before, i'm sorry!!!

anyway, get planning for your own screenings! i can't wait to see what everyone comes up with
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[Nina]

To introduce people to BtVS I would show;

1. What's my line part 1
2. What's my line part 2
3. Halloween
4. Schoolhard
5. Lie to Me
6. Welcome to the Hellmounth
7. The Pack (or the Harvest or Angel, depends on the person)
8. Prophecy Girl

The first two are great episodes to show somebody the series. Halloween is funny and a great episode ... Schoolhard and Lie to Me are some random episodes from a decent quality (Maybe I would show SchoolHard first ... I'm not sure yet) and after those you can risk season 1 episodes to finish with a great final to show the real potential of the series). Not one of the episodes contains real spoilers. If you show some random episodes people will get spoiled and I think that the light tone of the series, pre-Angelus ... is a nice way to get into the series and to start caring about the characters.

For people who already saw Buffy, I would show the Angelus arc ... because I still think that those episodes are brilliant; acting and writing. And it's more fun to watch an arc than some random episodes, at least that's my opinion.

so;
1. Suprise
2. Innocence
3. Phases (or Killed by Death after Passion)
4. Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
5. Passion
6. I Only Have Eyes for You
7. Becoming part 1
8. Becoming part 2

[Fehmina]

If you show some random episodes people will get spoiled and I think that the light tone of the series, pre-Angelus ... is a nice way to get into the series and to start caring about the characters.

You're so right... i picked in order to wow, make people laugh and introduce characters. now i'm thinking I shouldn't show some of the episodes i picked on the first list...
good selection btw, and i agree with you on Halloween and School Hard.

And it's more fun to watch an arc than some random episodes, at least that's my opinion.

Again, you have made a good point. My selection was focused on the major eps that would cause great conversation during coffee breaks and intervals.
And you've chosen, probably, the most successful arc on the show.

good selections... i'd buy a ticket!

x

[Rowan Hawthorn]

You know, I wish I could remember the selection that I pulled for a friend of mine just after Season 7 ended. He'd never seen the show (just the movie.) We were talking about it one day and he was like, "Ehhh..." (which is pretty much how I feel about the movie, too,) and I was insisting that the series was way better than the movie and not making much headway. Anyway, I pulled about 12 episodes from all 7 seasons, and next time I saw him he said, "You know, I see why you like it. Can I borrow the rest of your DVDs?"

[NileQT87]

1) welcome to the hellmouth
2) the harvest
3) angel
4) prophecy girl
5) surprise
6) innocence
7) passion
8) i only have eyes for you
9) becoming, pt. 1
10) becoming, pt. 2

imo, i think these 10 episodes are the ones you have to show. welcome to the hellmouth and the harvest are the two i'd knock off if you absolutely had to only have 8. angel is the episode that actually sets up season 2. you might just have to preface the watching with a little speech about how buffy just moved to sunnydale and she's a vampire slayer. basically what giles says in the library.

[Fehmina]

1) welcome to the hellmouth
2) the harvest
3) angel
4) prophecy girl
5) surprise
6) innocence
7) passion
8) i only have eyes for you
9) becoming, pt. 1
10) becoming, pt. 2

hmmm... another angel arc. does anyone else think there could be a wider selection of episodes to display the show to a new audience?
i mean, fair enough you want to introduce the show... but who else thinks we should tease?
so to speak... heh.

x

[NileQT87]

i usually try to introduce an arc rather than random teases. random teases make btvs/ats look like any other show that doesn't have real serial arcs. the serial nature of btvs/ats is one of its best strengths. fact is, the introduction of btvs is pretty much all tied into btvs' first real arc--which happens to be the angel/gypsy curse one. the arc that continues out of season 1 is that one. and yeah, i think it's only right that you start with welcome to the hellmouth.

the problem with a lot of those very special episodes, is the viewer might be left with thinking the show is more disconnected serially than it actually is. a lot of the spell-gone-wonky or monster-of-the-week plots (most of those very special episodes fall into those categories--including omwf, bb&b, something blue, tabula rasa and hush--avoid these, imo!). it makes btvs/ats look not unlike other disconnected episodic shows, even if the quality is higher.

you really want to catch attention--try surprise or something of that ilk. it's a lot more indicative of the idea that its a serial show in one episode. it's an episode that makes you want to find out what comes next. most of those very special episodes don't leave you with a feeling of 'what comes next?'. either go for the feeling of 'how did that happen?' or 'what comes next?'.

i personally tend to cut out the comedy/monster-of-the-week episodes and cut down the seasons into the bare meat of the A story arc for newbies. just the episodes that are absolutely necessary to understand the main plot.

[Fehmina]

thats a really good point Nile, and after all it is our 'duty' as fanatics to present the shows as shows which are so unique to any other shows because of their serial arcs.
now this begs the question, would your following 'screenings' be seasonal and restricted to the episodes which demonstrate the arcs to their best?
or would you theme them? e.g. 'funniest episodes'... 'most dramatic', etc etc.
(question open to anyone btw )

x

[Cinderela]

Awesome idea, Fehmina! My first thought would be if you were trying to get someone *interested* in BtVS the eps would be different than if you were just "showing" the eps to fill up the 6 hours.

If you were trying to show someone why you the show, then all seasons would be up for grabs. If you were trying to get someone *interested*, then I wouldn't go for the late season eps, too many spoilers.

To show why I the show (assuming they had basic knowledge of The Slayer premise of the show), I would pick

1. Welcome to The Hellmouth
2. Surprise
3. Something Blue
4. Checkpoint
5. The Body
6. Bargaining, Part 1
7. Same Time, Same Place
8. Chosen

To get someone *interested* in watching the entire series

1. Welcome to The Hellmouth
2. Angel
3. What's My Line, Part 1
4. What's my Line, Part 2
5. School Hard
6. Surprise
7. Innocence
8. Becoming, Part 1

How could anyone *not* want to see what happens next after watching those eps?

For those that *already* love BtVS, it's harder, because there are so many "ships", for *me*, I'm an obsessive Willow lover, so S6 would be a must, but if the person I was with was an obsessive Angel lover, the eps would of course be very different. Still, from seeing the "top" lists, you could hardly be too far off if you chose

1. Becoming, part 1
2. Becoming, part 2
3. The Wish
4. Hush
5. Something Blue
6. The Body
7. Tabula Rasa
8. Chosen

Hard to narrow it all down to only 8 eps - some of my very favs didn't make the lists!

[Fehmina]

great selections Cinderela... some of my favs didn't make the lists either. Thanks for picking up on another avenue of viewers.
It's quite interesting that again, the Angel arc has been chosen to get people interested in the show. I think everyone agrees that later episodes would spoil, and therefore the most interesting introductory arc would be Angel.
It's rather funny how certain episodes have been picked up on...

x

[BlasterBoy]

Well, honestly, when I introduce someone into a series (if it has comedy), I like to show the comedy, and then the drama, as to not get overwhelmed. However, to get the whole effect of Buffy (and not get spoiled by later comedy eppys lol), the 8 would be:

1. Welcome To The Hellmouth
2. Angel
3. Prophecy Girl
4. School Hard
5. Lie To Me
6. What's My Line 1
7. What's My Line 2
8. Surprise (okay, I want to tease! SO SUE ME! )

[Cinderela]

great selections Cinderela... some of my favs didn't make the lists either. Thanks for picking up on another avenue of viewers.
It's quite interesting that again, the Angel arc has been chosen to get people interested in the show. I think everyone agrees that later episodes would spoil, and therefore the most interesting introductory arc would be Angel.
It's rather funny how certain episodes have been picked up on...

x

Actually, I wasn't thinking so much of the All Angel arc, I was thinking of the scoobies jelling behind The Slayer vs Spike/Dru/Angel. Also, to get someone interested in the show, you would have to stick to the early seasons to avoid being too spoilery and the early eps were the "all about Angel & Buffy" arc.

It just broke my heart that I couldn't find room for Passion!

[Fehmina]

For me Passion is an episode i don't really touch that often, mainly because it's so brilliantly dramatic. I want my first impression to be an everlasting one, so if i were to 'screen' it, it would probably be a climactic episode in the collection i showed.

Alot of people are choosing a similar episode collection for obvious reasons. Do you think they correlate to the best BtVS episodes, in terms of writing and direction etc...?

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