More linkspam and a poll

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We've got a snow day here in DC! \o/ Even though there's no actual snow. We were supposed to get a foot. If I didn't have the day off, I might be very disappointed in you, weather people.

* Following up on yesterday's Catching Fire posters, we now have Katniss, Haymitch, and Cinna as well. I wonder if that's the mockingjay/wedding dress Katniss is wearing.

* Lots of Community tidbits from the PaleyFest panel, plus the study group as puppets.

* Pics from the upcoming (half) season of Doctor Who, featuring the new companion.

* I've linked things like this before, but here's another set of nifty floorplans for a bunch of pop culture homes.

* Also, this article made me nostalgic for Buffy's secondary character episodes, so have a poll!

Poll #12957 Favorite Secondary Character Episodes

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 20

View Respondents

Favorite Willow Episode?

View Answers

I, Robot... You, Jane
1 (5.3%)

Doppelgangland
14 (73.7%)

New Moon Rising
1 (5.3%)

Grave
1 (5.3%)

Same Time, Same Place
1 (5.3%)

The Killer in Me
0 (0.0%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.3%)

Favorite Xander Episode?

View Answers

Teacher's Pet
1 (5.3%)

The Pack
3 (15.8%)

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
0 (0.0%)

The Zeppo
11 (57.9%)

The Replacement
2 (10.5%)

Hell's Bells
1 (5.3%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.3%)

Favorite Giles Episode?

View Answers

The Dark Age
1 (5.3%)

Passion
8 (42.1%)

Band Candy
4 (21.1%)

A New Man
6 (31.6%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
0 (0.0%)

Favorite Cordelia Episode?

View Answers

Out of Mind, Out of Sight
2 (10.5%)

Some Assembly Required
0 (0.0%)

Homecoming
15 (78.9%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
2 (10.5%)

Favorite Oz Episode?

View Answers

Phases
7 (36.8%)

Wild at Heart
3 (15.8%)

New Moon Rising
8 (42.1%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.3%)

Favorite Anya Episode?

View Answers

The Wish
4 (21.1%)

Triangle
4 (21.1%)

Hell's Bells
1 (5.3%)

Entropy
1 (5.3%)

Selfless
8 (42.1%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.3%)

Favorite Tara Episode?

View Answers

New Moon Rising
3 (16.7%)

Family
13 (72.2%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
2 (11.1%)

Favorite Dawn Episode?

View Answers

Real Me
1 (5.3%)

Blood Ties
7 (36.8%)

All the Way
0 (0.0%)

Him
2 (10.5%)

Potential
9 (47.4%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
0 (0.0%)

Favorite Angel Episode?

View Answers

Angel
1 (5.6%)

Innocence
4 (22.2%)

Passion
3 (16.7%)

Becoming 1&2
8 (44.4%)

Amends
1 (5.6%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.6%)

Favorite Spike episode?

View Answers

School Hard
1 (5.0%)

Lovers Walk
3 (15.0%)

The Initiative
0 (0.0%)

Fool For Love
12 (60.0%)

Crush
1 (5.0%)

Intervention
1 (5.0%)

Sleeper
1 (5.0%)

Lies My Parents Told Me
1 (5.0%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
0 (0.0%)

Favorite Riley Episode?

View Answers

The Initiative
6 (35.3%)

The I in Team
4 (23.5%)

Goodbye Iowa
2 (11.8%)

Out of My Mind
1 (5.9%)

Into the Woods
1 (5.9%)

As You Were
2 (11.8%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.9%)

Favorite Faith Episode?

View Answers

Faith, Hope, and Trick
1 (5.3%)

Revelations
1 (5.3%)

Bad Girls/Consequences
3 (15.8%)

Enemies
1 (5.3%)

This Year's Girl/Who Are You?
10 (52.6%)

Dirty Girls
2 (10.5%)

You forgot my favorite! (tell me in the comments)
1 (5.3%)

Comments

[likeadeuce]

I had instant reactions/ strong feelings on more of these than I expected. Interestingly I picked a lot of ones where they're a bit out of character -- "Band Candy" b/c of 'young' Giles, 'Amends' where Angel is doing the Wiseguy thing (I think that's the right one?), TYG/WAY where Faith is SMG half the time, 'The Pack' where Xander is a hyena. But I think those moments only work because the baseline of the character is so strong, if that makes sense.

The snow did a little trick, because where I am (west of Richmond) was only supposed to get rain until tonight, and we have 3-4 inches and still counting.

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"Amends" is the one with the Angel flashbacks, the First, and the magic snow.

Hey, maybe there is a vampire in your area that the Powers That Be are preventing from committing suicide by making it snow...

[likeadeuce]

Oh maybe not then! Close enough, though, that one's pretty good :)

[slaymesoftly]

Gah! I tried, I really did. But I would have had to go to transcripts for reminders of what most of these were about. I'm no better at remembering titles from the show than I am titles of fics. I knew some of them (mostly Spike-centric ones) but most were just a 'oh yeah, isn't that the one where...." responses. So I cheated and just put "you forgot" as my answers.

Yeah, they're already backing off from the rather obvious fact that stuff this wet and heavy isn't going to accumulate anywhere. It's collapsing in on itself as fast as it piles up. Nasty out there, though. Cold, wet and windy. Brrrrrr!

ETA which may not matter - the poll didn't want to function. Tried twice.

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LOL I was about to say, I didn't get any votes from you.

I did have a problem where I tried to edit the post and the poll disappeared? But then I undid the edits and the poll came back. So it should be okay? Who knows.

[slaymesoftly]

I dunno. I tried twice. I'll try again later and see what happens. Like I said, my answers were "other" for a lot of them.

ETA - it worked this time!

[pocochina]

fun! This makes me want to do a whole-show rewatch someday. I tend to just watch my favorite arcs and then get distracted but this whole show <3

Willow: I almost went with Grave because that's my favorite episode on the list, but a lot of that has to do with the arc as a whole, and with the gorgeous Buffy & Dawn stuff as well. Doppelgangland is my go-to for Willowy goodness.

Innocence wins for Angel, because I'll never get over how much of a BOOM, BIG BAD moment that was for me. FFL wins for Spike because LOL WHAT BIG BAD.

Riley: I'm not sure Out of My Mind is his finest hour as a person, but it's definitely the episode where I feel for him the most, as he's clinging to his identity and purpose tighter and tighter as it crumbles.

Faith: I think I like Bad Girls/Consequences better as an overall episode, but more for Wes-related reasons. (Those reasons being: OMG IT'S WESLEY. Mine is a profound and inscrutable intellect.) Focusing on Faith, though, those S4 episodes and the follow-up on Angel are some of the best storytelling the show ever did.

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Those reasons being: OMG IT'S WESLEY. Mine is a profound and inscrutable intellect.

LOL your predictability never fails to amuse me. :)

[frayadjacent]

Fun poll! I mostly went with the crowd, though after seeing the results I sort of wished I'd voted for "The Replacement" instead of "The Zeppo", because I actually think the former is the better episode, especially in terms of character development. "The Zeppo" is just so damn funny, though.

Similarly, I went with "A New Man" for Giles not because I think it's his best character episode, but because two moments from it make me laugh as hard as just about anything else on the show:

- When Fyarl!Giles starts talking about "snapping necks until everyone is dead."
- When Fyarl!Giles chased Maggie Walsh! I think I had to stop the DVD the first time I saw that, I was laughing so hard.

Interestingly, the "Giles" episodes don't stand out for me as having his best character moments, in comparison to, say, "The Gift". Oh, wait! I realized you left off "Helpless" -- not a Giles episode per se (but then again neither is "Passion", IMO), but a really important one for his character nonetheless.

"Doppelgangland", "Fool for Love", and "Selfless" are among my favorite episodes, so those were easy choices. No great ones for Cordy, IMO, though she got some good development in little moments throughout.

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Oh, wait! I realized you left off "Helpless" -- not a Giles episode per se (but then again neither is "Passion", IMO), but a really important one for his character nonetheless.

Yeah, I had particular difficulty with Willow and Giles, especially, in that a lot of their big moments weren't in character-specific episodes. (Actually, Willow was nearly impossible. I debated whether to put ALL the Dark Willow eps and/or all the eps where she influenced things with a spell - Something Blue, Tabula Rasa, etc. - but weren't strictly Willow eps.)

I tend to think of Helpless as a Buffy episode more than anything else... though I suppose they're ALL Buffy episodes to some extent, haha.

[frayadjacent]

I suppose that's the trouble with a show that gives its secondary (and tertiary) characters so much development! Not a bad trade-off, in the end.

[beer_good_foamy]

Favourite Cordelia: Doppelgangland, funnily enough.

Tara: Once More, With Feeling

...Gaaah, this is impossible. Too many of my favourite character moments are in episodes that aren't centered on them.

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Huh, I don't even remember what Cordelia's doing in Doppelgangland. :\

Yeah, I had the same problem in coming up with the choices. Like, I wouldn't have considered OMWF a Tara ep, because it's so ensemble-riffic. But poor Tara doesn't get much attention otherwise.

[beer_good_foamy]

D'oh. I meant "The Wish" for Cordelia.

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Ah, that makes more sense. :) I considered including that one, but opted against it because she dies so early on.

[rahirah]

Hmm, some of those were hard - all the great Cordy episodes that popped into my head were from AtS!

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True! Maybe I should do an AtS poll, although I bet that would be even harder to define character-specific episodes.

[rebcake]

I agree with BGF that OMWF is the best Tara episode. I had a tough time choosing between Band Candy and A New Man for favorite Giles eps, as they are both so good and, ahem, transformative.

I'd say that some of my favorite moments for many of these characters aren't in their character-specific episodes, though.

Oh, and I still hate "Amends" a whole lot.

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Oh, and I still hate "Amends" a whole lot.

LOL! I would worry if you didn't. :)

[ever_neutral]

Am I the only one who's really not down with those Catching Fire posters? THEY LOOK RLY AWKWARD TO ME TBH.

I do not want to get excited for Doctor Who.

Um, I selected the last option for Fave Cordy Ep because I hate all three of those choices, lol. But my pick would probably be the first 10 minutes of The Wish. ;P

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LOL they do look really awkward. I'm mostly interested in what the new folks look like in character, which I linked today.

[rosaxx50]

Willow: Grave, by far. Dopplegangerland would be my second choice, because I love both Willow and vamp!Willow there.
Xander: Hell's Bells (I feel sad saying that because that episode made me cry so much)
Giles: Passion. Probably not specifically for Giles, but it's my favourite of those episodes.
Cordelia: Homecoming!
Oz: Phases (I think) (because lol @ how quickly he suspects he's a werewolf)
Anya: Hell's Bells.
Tara: The one where she breaks up with Willow, in s6. I can't remember what it's called, though... or what happened... just that that is my favourite episode for Tara.
Dawn: Blood Ties. Whichever s5 episode it was where she ran away from the house and met Glory/Ben. (Haven't watched s7 before, though.)
Angel: Becoming part 1 for Angel himself, though Part II was definitely my favourite episode among them. Though I lean so much towards Passion, too.
Spike: Lovers Walk. Favourite episode among them because LOL.
Faith: Bad Girls/Consequences. I'm not entirely sure why. This Year's Girl would probably come second.

Huh. Most of my favourite episodes for each of them are when they're at low, desperate sad points.

This makes sense.

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Tara: The one where she breaks up with Willow, in s6. I can't remember what it's called, though... or what happened... just that that is my favourite episode for Tara.

LOL, that's "Tabula Rasa" - another one where there's so much going on, it's hard to call it a Tara episode.

Huh. Most of my favourite episodes for each of them are when they're at low, desperate sad points.

We do like to torture our favorites, don't we? :)