Thank you, TV, for giving me so much joy
I had a very full movie weekend this weekend. We watched Timeline (I thought it was crap - don't even get me started on the "carbon dating"; but it did have shirtless Gerard Butler!); Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (I was terribly disappointed by this movie and the dialogue was painful; but it did have Obi/Anakin slash and my new favorite anvillicious line ever: "I have the higher ground!"); and King Arthur (I really enjoyed this, even though I fell asleep during the climactic battle scene; and it had not just Ioan Gryffud but Clive Owen, too - there is no bad there). I also spent much of the weekend clipping for my VividCon premiere vid and actually vidding. I've been planning and planning and planning this vid for a couple of weeks and I still haven't totally pinned down the idea but my time to work on it grows woefully short so I just had to start vidding.
I still need to discuss fannish reactions to Stargate: Atlantis, Deadwood, and now Numb3rs, which I've also started watching, but I'm not sure I'm up to that today.
The farscape_weekly post for this week has been posted. And I've updated the links on my LJ page to include the Vid Feedback 101 post.
Someone on my flist several weekends ago commented about a show that was their favorite hour of television ever. And that got me wondering - what is my favorite hour television? And how would I even define that?
The ultimate problem I have in choosing is that I have a different favorite comedic hour and a different favorite tragic hour and a different favorite unique hour. Or is it just sheer overall quality + rewatchability factor = favorite hour. Because there are episodes of tv that I thought were absolutely brilliant that I just don't re-watch ("The Body," anyone?). Or maybe it's just the Fun Factor. What hour of television do I flat-out enjoy the most?
If I could choose single favorite hour from each show, that might be easier. Let's do that. ;)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Who Watches the Watchers." Easy choice; I've seen this episode a ridiculous number of times and I always enjoy it. I love Lida seeing the Enterprise and getting to see her world from the view window (on a side note, the scene where Picard brings the lady up to the ship in First Contact is also my favorite movie scene; I think because I put myself in those women's places, and imagine seeing my world from the stars). I have most of the dialogue memorized and the end scene contains my single favorite piece of music from the entire show, not to mention the glorious warm hand grasp between Picard and Lida (see icon!). Seriously, I could wax rhapsodic about this single episode for a really long time. (Other frequent re-watchees: "Measure of a Man" and "Q Who.")
Firefly: This one is a lot harder. I think ultimately I have to go with "Out of Gas," but "Ariel" and "Objects in Space" are very, very close behind. OoG wins the battle because it contains my all-time favorite Firefly scene, and possibly all-time favorite scene in tv ever, when Mal first sees Serenity. I cannot make it through that without crying. And I've watched it a lot. We also get all of the wonderful flashback moments, the cool narrative method that is used in the episode, and crew togetherness at both the beginning and end of the episode. "Ariel" is a fun episode that sneaks into my top list because of the final scene between Mal and Jayne ("You did it to me, Jayne, and that's a fact"); "Objects in Space" is just genius. Early is one of my favorite villains and I always get verklempt at River's speech about how she'll just fade away. *sniff*
Farscape: Uh. Heh. Yeah. My favorite hour of Farscape is very, very, very difficult to choose. I could (probably) choose one from each season, but one overall? Yikes. My favorite episode in season 1 is "A Human Reaction." It's the episode that officially hooked me on the show, and it's got that lovely scene of John leaving at the beginning, as well as the incredible scene between John and the Ancient at the end, and then is packed with goodness in the middle. For Season 2, my favorite hour is still "The Way We Weren't." Aeryn! Pilot! Season 3 is a choice for me between "Scratch N Sniff," "Infinite Possibilities part 2," and "Fractures." Apparently I enjoy the pain. Heh. I think ultimately I'd have to go "Fractures," though because it has D'Argo being so honest and loving to John, as well as Aeryn making that decision to stand by John's side at the end. IP part 2 is my guaranteed go-to episode in any show if I need to cry, though; SNS is my guaranteed "need to laugh" episode. Season 4 has a lot of favorite episodes for me - "John Quixote," "Unrealized Reality," "Terra Firma," "We're So Screwed Part 3," and "Bad Timing." Favorite of the season is probably TF. My overall favorite for all the seasons is...oh, heck. Can I get back to you on that? Ok, ok. Um, "A Human Reaction," probably, because I've re-watched it the most and I still enjoy it. Plus, great, great music.
Buffy: "Once More, With Feeling." I love so many Buffy episodes, but this was the first one I saw, this was the one that brought me back to see my next episode, and this is the one that if I'm re-watching the show and I can only catch one episode, is the one that I pull out. I love OMWF. I love the musical, I love the humor and the scene at the end with Spike and everything that happens because of what happens here. I also really love "Chosen," too. Oh and "The Gift"!
Angel: "Not Fade Away." Also an easy choice. There is no episode of Angel I would rather re-watch. It's sad yet still triumphant to me, and the perfect end for the series. Everything Angel is, is here. Other episodes I adore include "Epiphany," "Smile Time," "The Girl In Question" (I thought it was funny, ok?), "Soul Purpose" and a bunch in Season 3 and Season 4. Heh.
Deadwood: I'm not sure I can choose this. DW's episodes are so intricately linked that if you pick one, then it's usually because of something that happened earlier that is significant. For rewatchability + enjoyment, though, I'd have to go...um....probably "Sold Under Sin," the season 1 finale. So much happens, and it has some of my favorite moments, including "I'm as nimble as a forest fairy." Although there are a couple of excellent episodes in Season 2, but I haven't re-watched any of those yet except for vidding purposes. :)
Battlestar Galactica: I would have to say probably "Act of Contrition," because of the funeral scene where just...I just love it. I've re-watched that funeral scene a really sick number of times. Following that, probably, um, hm. Probably either '33' or 'Kobol's Last Gleaming, part 2.' Tough choice. Interestingly enough, there are no episodes of this show that really stand out for me; it fits together as sort of a whole and episodes have favorite parts but there are no episodes that I think "Oh, I really want to re-watch THIS one!" when I think of the show.
That was fun, reliving my favorite moments. So. What are your favorite hours of television?
I still need to discuss fannish reactions to Stargate: Atlantis, Deadwood, and now Numb3rs, which I've also started watching, but I'm not sure I'm up to that today.
The farscape_weekly post for this week has been posted. And I've updated the links on my LJ page to include the Vid Feedback 101 post.
Someone on my flist several weekends ago commented about a show that was their favorite hour of television ever. And that got me wondering - what is my favorite hour television? And how would I even define that?
The ultimate problem I have in choosing is that I have a different favorite comedic hour and a different favorite tragic hour and a different favorite unique hour. Or is it just sheer overall quality + rewatchability factor = favorite hour. Because there are episodes of tv that I thought were absolutely brilliant that I just don't re-watch ("The Body," anyone?). Or maybe it's just the Fun Factor. What hour of television do I flat-out enjoy the most?
If I could choose single favorite hour from each show, that might be easier. Let's do that. ;)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Who Watches the Watchers." Easy choice; I've seen this episode a ridiculous number of times and I always enjoy it. I love Lida seeing the Enterprise and getting to see her world from the view window (on a side note, the scene where Picard brings the lady up to the ship in First Contact is also my favorite movie scene; I think because I put myself in those women's places, and imagine seeing my world from the stars). I have most of the dialogue memorized and the end scene contains my single favorite piece of music from the entire show, not to mention the glorious warm hand grasp between Picard and Lida (see icon!). Seriously, I could wax rhapsodic about this single episode for a really long time. (Other frequent re-watchees: "Measure of a Man" and "Q Who.")
Firefly: This one is a lot harder. I think ultimately I have to go with "Out of Gas," but "Ariel" and "Objects in Space" are very, very close behind. OoG wins the battle because it contains my all-time favorite Firefly scene, and possibly all-time favorite scene in tv ever, when Mal first sees Serenity. I cannot make it through that without crying. And I've watched it a lot. We also get all of the wonderful flashback moments, the cool narrative method that is used in the episode, and crew togetherness at both the beginning and end of the episode. "Ariel" is a fun episode that sneaks into my top list because of the final scene between Mal and Jayne ("You did it to me, Jayne, and that's a fact"); "Objects in Space" is just genius. Early is one of my favorite villains and I always get verklempt at River's speech about how she'll just fade away. *sniff*
Farscape: Uh. Heh. Yeah. My favorite hour of Farscape is very, very, very difficult to choose. I could (probably) choose one from each season, but one overall? Yikes. My favorite episode in season 1 is "A Human Reaction." It's the episode that officially hooked me on the show, and it's got that lovely scene of John leaving at the beginning, as well as the incredible scene between John and the Ancient at the end, and then is packed with goodness in the middle. For Season 2, my favorite hour is still "The Way We Weren't." Aeryn! Pilot! Season 3 is a choice for me between "Scratch N Sniff," "Infinite Possibilities part 2," and "Fractures." Apparently I enjoy the pain. Heh. I think ultimately I'd have to go "Fractures," though because it has D'Argo being so honest and loving to John, as well as Aeryn making that decision to stand by John's side at the end. IP part 2 is my guaranteed go-to episode in any show if I need to cry, though; SNS is my guaranteed "need to laugh" episode. Season 4 has a lot of favorite episodes for me - "John Quixote," "Unrealized Reality," "Terra Firma," "We're So Screwed Part 3," and "Bad Timing." Favorite of the season is probably TF. My overall favorite for all the seasons is...oh, heck. Can I get back to you on that? Ok, ok. Um, "A Human Reaction," probably, because I've re-watched it the most and I still enjoy it. Plus, great, great music.
Buffy: "Once More, With Feeling." I love so many Buffy episodes, but this was the first one I saw, this was the one that brought me back to see my next episode, and this is the one that if I'm re-watching the show and I can only catch one episode, is the one that I pull out. I love OMWF. I love the musical, I love the humor and the scene at the end with Spike and everything that happens because of what happens here. I also really love "Chosen," too. Oh and "The Gift"!
Angel: "Not Fade Away." Also an easy choice. There is no episode of Angel I would rather re-watch. It's sad yet still triumphant to me, and the perfect end for the series. Everything Angel is, is here. Other episodes I adore include "Epiphany," "Smile Time," "The Girl In Question" (I thought it was funny, ok?), "Soul Purpose" and a bunch in Season 3 and Season 4. Heh.
Deadwood: I'm not sure I can choose this. DW's episodes are so intricately linked that if you pick one, then it's usually because of something that happened earlier that is significant. For rewatchability + enjoyment, though, I'd have to go...um....probably "Sold Under Sin," the season 1 finale. So much happens, and it has some of my favorite moments, including "I'm as nimble as a forest fairy." Although there are a couple of excellent episodes in Season 2, but I haven't re-watched any of those yet except for vidding purposes. :)
Battlestar Galactica: I would have to say probably "Act of Contrition," because of the funeral scene where just...I just love it. I've re-watched that funeral scene a really sick number of times. Following that, probably, um, hm. Probably either '33' or 'Kobol's Last Gleaming, part 2.' Tough choice. Interestingly enough, there are no episodes of this show that really stand out for me; it fits together as sort of a whole and episodes have favorite parts but there are no episodes that I think "Oh, I really want to re-watch THIS one!" when I think of the show.
That was fun, reliving my favorite moments. So. What are your favorite hours of television?