Welcome to the midpoint of season 2 of the greatest show ever! Buffy the Vampire Slayer! And on top of that it has the one and only, the great John Ritter. You Know, Jack Tripper from Three's Company. Oh yeah, before I forget, this episode was written by David Greenwalt & Joss Whedon and directed by Bruce Seth Green and is staring John Ritter! Yes John Ritter! Did I mention John Ritter is in it? Good. If you haven't seen it yet stop reading this and check it out on Netflix before it's too late or click on the iTunes link, you know if you want to buy it, which you should, because well John Ritter.
Now if you are asking who is John Ritter or what is Three's Company, well you are missing out and I'm sorry for you, but here is a taste. Okay, now let us get to why you are all here, to talk about John Rit. . . I mean Buffy the vampire slayer. The episode starts off with Willow and Xander having a friendly argument while Buffy ignores them completely. She is lost in her own head, not really listening. They make it to Buffy's house where they find the door slightly open. She tells the others to wait outside while she goes in for a look. Seconds later she hears glass break and her mom squeak. She rushes to the kitchen to find her mother, the annoying Joyce, kissing John Ritter, or well his name on this show is Ted. Ted cooks for the gang and impresses Willow with free demos, which causes her to freak out in a good way. Everyone seems to love Ted, but for Buffy who pretends to be okay before taking all of her anger out on some poor vampire. He never asked for any of this but does the slayer care? Oh no, she just wants to cause him pain. Even Giles is trying to calm down. Buffy complains to Giles about vampires but it is clear that she is talking about Ted. The next day at school Xander is raving on and on about Ted and even Buffy can't find anything bad to say about him. She just doesn't like the guy and doesn't know why. It doesn't help when he shows up at Sunnydale High and invites them to play minigolf and Xander signs them up. Now let's move away from Ted for a bit and go and check in on Giles. He makes his way to Jenny's classroom to tell her that he has some of her text books. It is clear he wants to talk to her but doesn't know how, not since she was possessed by the demon that was after him in Dark Ages. She tells him that she needs space, he can't keep coming around and trying to fix things. It makes her feel bad that she doesn't feel better. Giles leaves heartbroken. God can we just sit here for a moment and cry for our beloved Giles? Buffy is alone with Angel and all she wants to do is bitch and complain about Ted. She seems a bit obsessed with him and Angel tries to get her mind off of it. The next day everyone is playing minigolf and Ted lectures Buffy on her grades before trying to act like her father. This is where we finally start to see that Buffy is right, there is something really off with Ted. He even threatens to slap her across her face. He makes a smart remark about not being wired a certain way which is telling. It is also important to note that everyone loves his cookies. Cookies are evil. As Buffy tries to tell Joyce about Ted, Joyce lets it slip that she might be in love with him. The look on Buffy's face is heartbreaking. Her mother just confessed love for a man who was not only rude to Buffy but scared her, not much can scare the slayer but Buffy is also a teenage girl. A teenage girl whose parents just got divorced and this new man in her life is trying to change everything for her. That would be scary for any child. It all gets worse when Joyce doesn't believe Buffy when she says that Ted threatened her. Xander complements Cordy and she snaps at him. She gets pissed off at him for saying it in front of his friends because she doesn't want anyone to know. He promises her that no one will ever know and then asks if she wants to make out. She is disgusted that that is all he thinks about and then agrees to it. I love them together. Being the tech wizard that she is, Willow finds out where Ted works and Buffy goes to his job to spy on him. This is where things go sideways. Ted is a workaholic who never misses a day but is taking off for his wedding. His wedding to one Joyce Summers. Buffy is going to have a new step dad and she is not happy. At dinner it's important to note that Buffy has yet to eat anything that Ted cooked. This is important to keep in mind. Buffy asks Ted and her mother if they are engaged and they tell her not yet, but Ted asks how that would make her feel. Buffy tells him that it makes her feel like killing herself. Joyce sends her away and apologizes to Ted for her daughter. It makes me sick how bad a mother she is. To be fair she is under a spell, wait what? We will get to that. It's a slow night in the vampire world so Buffy heads home. Sitting in her room is none other than Ted. He threatens her once again, telling her she is to do whatever he says from now on or he will show her journal to Joyce and have Buffy locked up for believing in vampires. Buffy tries to stop him from taking the journal and he hits her. The two of them fight as Joyce watches on in horror. Ted falls down the stairs and lands at the bottom, dead. Buffy confesses to the police that she pushed him and they question her. She tells them that he threatened her and hit her. The cop comments that he must not have hit her hard because she doesn't have bruises. Buffy almost breaks down, it just makes you feel for her so much. But not nearly as much as the silent car ride home. Joyce doesn't say a word to her. The next day at school everyone just watches her, judging her. Xander and Willow start asking her all these questions, such as what kind of demon he was. When Buffy admits that he was human you can see the judgement in her friends eyes. This episode really pulls on the heart strings a lot. The police are at school questioning teachers about Buffy trying to figure out what kind of person she is. Willow tries to find anything she can about him online as Xander rants about how everything is bad and he hates Ted. He takes one bite of a cookie left over from Ted and everything changes. He is no longer worried about anything. He is just in a great mood. The key is in the cookies, in the food. Never trust great tasting food made by people you don't know. It could be drugged. Giles decides to take over for Buffy on patrol since Buffy is riddled with guilt. Buffy tries to talk to her mom about everything but Joyce won't hear it. She wants nothing to do with Buffy right now. Willow finds out that the cookies have something similar to ecstasy. Cordy finds an address and old marriage licenses, something isn't right and the gang heads out to his house. Jenny tracks down Giles and tells him that she forgives him for putting her in danger, seconds later she is once more put in danger as a vampire attacks. Speaking of attacks, Buffy is alone in her room when Ted attacks her. He man handles her in a way that no human should be able to. We intercut between this and Jenny shooting Giles with an arrow. It's a funny moment, lucky he isn't hurt too bad and uses the arrow to dust the vampire. Buffy hits Ted and we see that he is a robot, say what!!! Ted knocks her out and heads downstairs to find Joyce as the Scoobies break into his house. Turns out he has been married four times and is a lot older than he looks. They find nothing in his house until they find a rug out of place. It leads to another house below that one. Joyce is in shock at seeing Ted standing before her. He makes up a story about only being dead for a few moments before waking up. His house is right out of the 50's. He clearly has been around for a long time and he as for his old wives. Yeah he keeps them in the closet, well their dead bodies anyways. Ted tries to talk Joyce into coming away with her but she is more worried about Buffy, for once. Ted's programing starts to act up and Joyce thinks that something is wrong with him, still not thinking that he is a robot because, well, who would? On a happy note, Giles and Jenny patch things up. It's good to see them happy together. They were really cute together. Buffy wakes up just as Ted is trying to get Joyce out of the house. She is stalling for time but he won't allow it. She now sees that the man is insane. He throws her into a wall and is about to carry her out when he hears Buffy and goes in search of her. She hits him with a pan of all things and we see his robot face. It is right out of terminator, very cool. Another hit and he is down for the count. No more Ted, poor John Ritter. Joyce and Buffy are back on good terms, I'm glad for Buffy even if I'm not a fan of Joyce. The police also know he is a robot so Buffy is not in any legal trouble. This is truly a great episode, and even hints at the fact that Willow never grows. She kept part of Ted because he is a robot and she finds that cool. She will go on to keep the Buffybot because it's a robot and that is cool. Damn Willow, try to learn. Okay before we go, this is the 20th anniversary of Buffy and Entertainment Weekly did a great reunion video for the show so I thought I'd put a link to it down below if you guys want to check it out. It's about 40 minutes and worth the watch! I love this show!!!
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Okay, so I don't know why I named the last episode Teacher's Pests when it was the review for Herc and Seek. My mistake but I have corrected it and now here is the review for Teacher's Pests. It was written by John Loy and directed by Chris Graves.
So our episode starts out with Jason and Herc training just as the bell rings. The cadets are getting ready for a nice break from the school. Iolaus tells his friends he has a date with Kora but none of them believe him. This turns into a bet between the three about who can get out of the school gates first. While running they knock over the administrator, Fiducus, and it cause the three of them to get in trouble. Losing their time off. Iolaus is beside himself. He admits that he doesn't have a date with Kora, instead he is a bus boy and needs the job in order to afford the school. Herc and Jason agree to cover for him so that he can get to work. Now not only do Jason and Herc have to do all the bullshit work that Fiducus puts on them, they also have to cover for Iolaus so that all three of them don't get in trouble and end up kicked out of school. They pretend that Iolaus is in the rafters of the barn and keeps dropping hay bails on him "by mistake". It is a very funny scene and just one of the many reasons that the Xenaverse is so great. Iolaus shows up late for work and Kora is not happy. They are under staffed and Iolaus is thrown into the role of waiter. His first customer? Cheiron, the headmaster of the academy. He has to take his order, serve his food and collect his payment all without being seen. Back at the academy Fiducus is giving Jason and Herc more work and once again asks where Iolaus is. Jason tells him that he is taking care of the hogs. Fiducus goes to check on him, which bothers Jason because he didn't believe him. Herc rushes to try and get there first to once again cover for his friend. Iolaus gets through collecting the order without being caught but Cheiron starts to suspect something. Herc dives into the mud with a mop on his head, it works in fooling Fiducus. This is getting to be more of a pain than any of them thought it would be. Kora finds Iolaus behavior to be extremely odd. She demands to know what is going on with Iolaus but he tries to avoid the question. Kora is not happy. The whole episode is physical comedy from start to finish. They don't make shows like this anymore. The whole episode Fiducus goes on and on about how great his son is and how none of them are as good as his son. Jason finds his records and they learn that his son failed all his classes and never finished the program. They get caught where as Iolaus doesn't. Cheiron leaves Kora's without catching Iolaus. Kora lets him keep his job but he loses his pay for the day. It's a small victory. Fiducus tells Herc and Jason all about his son and how he tried to cover for him but he just kept getting worse and worse until he ran off. It's a nice touching moment that teaches us about Fiducus and why he is such a hardass. I love episodes like this, where you get to learn the back stories of supporting characters. Herc relates to him how being a son without a father, he wishes he had a father like him. The touching moment is ruined by Iolaus showing up and being caught by Fiducus. Herc tells him everything and Fiducus covers for them with Cheiron. It all works out for our heroes in the end. They think they got away with it until Cheiron gives Iolaus a tip. Lucky it comes with a smile so he knows he isn't in trouble. And before you leave here thinking Iolaus made any money, Jason took it as payment for covering for him. Very funny episode. It's time for another slide boys and girls. Where are we going to land this time? Well thanks to the writers Sean Clark & Scott Smith Miller and director Allan Eastman we land on a world run by gangs, right out of the 20's. The episode starts off with us hearing Wade write in her journal about how scared she is that they will never make it home, no matter how much Quinn tries to tell her otherwise.
We quickly learn that they are on a world full of lawyers where everyone is so terrified of being sued that almost nothing gets done. They try and order a burger but need different forms of ID and insurance. It's funny but also a bit sad because we aren't that far from being there ourselves. Remy accidently bumps into an old lady who almost imminently tries to sue him and an attorney runs up to Remy and gives him his card, wanting to defend him in the lawsuit. The gang laughs as they open the vortex and leave this world behind. After the credits we get a scene that would not have been out of place in the Godfather. Two rival families are getting married together and the bride to be doesn't seem to happy about it. The vortex opens and the sliders pop out, only to find themselves face to face with a wedding party armed with guns. They all seem to know Remy, calling him by his last name and referring to them as the Incorruptibles. He hugs the singer and tells him its been a while since they worked together, the man denied ever working with him. Everyone turns to give him a dirty look. This will not go well for the man. The hotel clerk, that seems to have the same job on every world, calls and reports that the sliders checked into his hotel. Things are not looking up for our heroes. Arturo quickly learns that there is no liquor in the room. We also learn that gambling is big here. The hotel clerk sends Quinn outside where we see the singer that Remy IDed by mistake at the wedding. Turns out he is working for Remy and that was a happy accident. Or an unhappy one. Quinn makes it back to the room only to find that Remy and Wade accepted a bribe by mistake. Remy, Wade and Quinn want to return the money but Arturo wants to avoid the mob at any cost. Not such a bad idea. Nothing good can come from messing with the mob. Quinn takes the money and heads to the informants show. He hopes to find this world's Remy and figure out what to do about the money. Quinn tries to order a beer and the bartender tells him it isn't a speakeasy, clue Quinn, that is called a clue! A beautiful woman is being manhandled and Quinn jumps in to save her. She rewards him with a kiss and Quinn goes all googly eyes, not noticing that she stole the money. Well at least until it's too late. Arturo quickly figures out everything that is going on in this world, right down to the two families trying to form an alliance by getting married. Meanwhile Quinn tells the informant what happens and he seems to believe him. He tells Quinn he will put in a call for him. He goes on and on about how he wants to go home and be done with all this, all but telling you what is going to happen before it does. He gets in his car, turns it on and it explodes. Can't have a gangsta film without a car explosion, it is just too bad that it had to be him. This world's Remy shows up to find out what happened. He now hears that he was the one who exposed the informant. He is now out to find our Remy, thinking that he is a gangsta trying to impersonate him. This episode is getting so good, God how can anyone not love this show? I hate remakes, I really do, but if I was ever going to work on a remake it would be a sliders remake. I don't think any cast could be as good as this one but I would kill for the chance to tell stories in this world. The way you can comment on our world, our society, so well. This is the type of story telling I need to work on. The bride to be shows up at the hotel room and asks Remy to put her in protective custody. She tells Remy that they talked about it over the phone. She even hands him a list of her father's illegal contracts. Remy tries to tell her that he isn't the man she is looking for. Wade tells her they will go to the police but she freaks out. She tells them they don't have time. Arturo changes his mind. He tells Remy to stay with her while he and Wade go to the FBI. Quinn tries to hunt down the woman who stole from him. It doesn't take long to find her. He tells her where the money she stole came from. She gets scared quickly. Turns out she lost almost all the money gambling, only having 5 grand left of the 100 grand that she stole. Quinn takes the 5 G's and tries to win it back. Arturo and Wade find out that the FBI is located in a building that looks more run down than most slums. They end up talking to this world's Remy who doesn't seem to believe them. Wade accuses him of being on the take. He threatens to arrest her. He tells them to tell the bride that there is nothing he can do. Victory seems out of their grasp. Quinn is cleaning up at the black jack table but the casino kicks him. Lucky he won back the money he needed. The bride's father finds out that his daughter has turned on him. Arturo and Wade give the DA, who doesn't seem trustworthy in the least, the CD with the names on it. He sends Arturo and Wade to a safe house he has. Quinn walks into the hotel room to find the mob already there. Trouble is afoot. Arturo and Wade are taken prisoner by the mob as well. Seems the DA is just as corrupt as I thought. To make matters worse they only have 11 minutes until the slide. The bride's father shows up and tells them that if they want to live he has to turn over his daughter, they refuse. Remy and the daughter are listening in as we learn that the DA is working for him. We all knew that. The second he says it the FBI storms in, just in time to save Wade. A shoot out happens, somehow our heroes and the mob boss are all okay. Seems this world's Remy was planning this with Quinn and our Remy. Quinn leaves the bride 5 grand and tells her to give it to the girl who stole from him so she can leave this world. All's well that ends well, and this episode proves it more than any other. Right as Quinn is about to slide we find out that the informant is still alive and kicking. Now that is a twist no one saw coming. I say again, what a great show! On a less upbeat note, we learn that the girl Quinn sent the money to, yeah she played him both times. She was working with the bartender and the black jack dealer. The only upside with that is that we see that Quinn being the great guy he is, has got into her head and made her think twice about the life she is living. It is never too late to turn your life around. That's right folks, another issue of Buffy The High School Years! This one takes place right after the last issue. It was written by Kel McDonald and once again drawn by Yishan Li.
Just like last time this issue starts with Buffy doing what she does best, slaying vampires at cemeteries. A quick refresher on who she is and what she does along with some witty banter between her and Willow. The next morning Principle Flutie gives the kids a chance to make extra credit on their worst subject if they take a extra subject. Buffy and Xander decide to take a home ec class while Willow give art a try. For some reason the home ec teacher is at school late that night cooking when a giant tiger of all things attacks her. Not a good start to a home ec class. Things get even worse the next day. The new teacher is a drill sergeant. Screaming and making all of the students lives a living hell. We found out that the real teacher is still alive but being forced to cook for the tiger. Meanwhile as hard as Buffy and Xander have it, Willow is having issues of her own. Nothing akin to a asshole teacher like her friends but for the first time she isn't picking up on a subject. Art is hard for her. Xander and Buffy want to call it a day but Willow talks them into giving it another go. Well Buffy at least, Xander just grins and says he has it figured out. The asshole teacher tears all the students work apart but for one girl who managed to make good food. He keeps her after class. Could this mean trouble for the poor girl? Buffy and Willow have a nice classic sitcom montage where they keep cooking cookies until they get it right. No sooner do they finish when Giles comes with information. It would seem that the real teacher has gone missing. Something we already know. So what does Buffy do? She hits the streets for information. Slayer style. She all but gives up as the morning sun starts to come up. That is when she hears a scream from inside a local bakery. She rushes inside to come face to face with the giant tiger and gets her ass handed to her. The baker runs off and the tiger grows bored, leaving Buffy alone. Now here is how you know that McDonald is a skilled writer. There are a lot of hints at things to come later in the story. All sprinkled in, to the point that you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't paying attention. Buffy almost blowing up her house, the Fry the Tiger Café. All important hints to the ending of the story. That's a master right there. The next day in class the teacher shits on Buffy's cookies but loves Xander's dessert. As luck would have it, Xander bought them from the same bakery that the tiger attacked that morning. The teacher asks Xander to stay after class while Buffy heads off to meet up with Willow and Giles. Giles figured out that the giant tiger likes to collect humans to cook for them, this tips Buffy off to who the tiger is, the new teacher!! She makes it back to class just in time to witness the tiger attacking Xander. She tries to stop him but the tiger is just too strong. He takes Xander and flees, leaving a defeated Buffy behind in his wake. Buffy, Giles and Willow find the tigers hideout in the Fry the Tiger Café. Willow made two fake desserts full of the same ingredients that Buffy almost burnt her house down with. Buffy distracts the tiger while Xander mixes them in with the rest of the food. The tiger takes a bite and it's night night tiger. The day is saved once again thanks to the Scooby gang! Well that and a sword to the eye delivered by Buffy. After everything is said and done Buffy finally turns in good well cooked cookies! To the real teacher this time and Willow even gets a good grade on her art. To be fair it's because the teacher thought it was abstract, it wasn't. But it is a fun end to a fun story and a nice addition to the slayers journey! What if you could travel to another world, where you were the same person but everything else was different. Welcome to Sliders!
Now what could be cooler than traveling to other worlds? Uh Dinosaurs! Duh! See the picture, yeah that's a T-Rex next to Remy. This episode written by Steve Brown and directed by Oscar L. Costo is all about dinosaurs. What could be better? The episode starts off with Quinn and Arturo, well is it our Arturo? We will never know. Anyways, they are standing in a park wearing truth collars. Remy shows up in a car with a beautiful woman, he tries to sweet talk her but keeps getting shocked. I don't know how I would handle wearing a truth collar, it's not that I like to lie, well when I'm acting you have to! It's always nice to be able to twist the truth a bit in order to have a happy life. Something that this world doesn't allow it's citizens. Wade is the last to show, with a full news crew behind her. She had to tell them everything because well, it's tell the truth or get shocked by the collar. They quickly jump into the vortex leaving the news and that Earth behind. This my friends, is where our story begins. They crash land on an egg, breaking it. Arturo quickly notices that San Francisco is nowhere to be seen. It doesn't take us long to figure out who the egg belongs to. A dino quickly chases the sliders out of their cave and through the forest. Arturo hurts his leg and tries to lie about it. The bad news for him, they are still wearing the truth collar. To add to their problems, the timer fell out of Arturo's pocket, forcing Quinn to back track for it. Remy and Wade help Arturo make it to a cave to hide out while the angry mother dino hunts them down and Quinn is off alone in the woods looking for the lost timer. The cave the gang hides out in is a vast empty room. Remy points out that none of them saw the timer before they lost it. They have no idea how long they have on this world or if they already missed their slide. Not good news for the gang. Wade goes exploring in the cave and finds crates full of eggs. Someone is here hunting dino eggs. The mother dino finds them and they try to scare her away when a woman shows up out of nowhere and screams at them to put down the rocks. She tells them that they are all under arrest for poaching. She also informs them that she found their friend's dead body back in the woods. Wade runs out of the cave and starts screaming for Quinn. Remy stops her from going out. The ranger lady tells them that the arrest team will be there in two days and she is a hologram sent there to watch them until they can be locked up. Arturo tries to explain to her what they are and why they are there. She doesn't believe a word of it. She informs them that she has been following them for weeks. Wade tells her about the truth collars. Wade uses this to try and prove her point. Remy tries to stop her but the hologram ranger doesn't want to listen. Now here is the part where we get a lecture on how evil humans are. It causes a fight between Wade and the others. Tension is running high. They decide to let Remy go out in search of Quinn but if he doesn't return in a half hour the others will come out and look for him. As time goes on they make a point of showing us Remy but still no sign of Quinn. It adds to the sense of dread. Wade talks about to Arturo about her feelings for Quinn, as if they never dated or anything but on episodes past they make it seem as if they have something going on. The most confusing thing in this entire show is what is the deal between Wade and Quinn. They are cute together. Arturo starts talking about when he first met Quinn and how proud he was of him, even when he first met him. That Quinn was the type of student that every teacher longs for. Kind of makes you think that he is the real Arturo doesn't it? Maybe it is. Gun shots go off in the distance, sending Wade out to go find him. It doesn't take her long to run into and the two return to the cave, still no sign of Quinn. However we have a new friend. The real poacher. He is the one who fired the gun shot and saved Remy's life. He starts to tell them about how he uses Dino parts to help sick humans, and make some money on the side. She calls him a liar and he disrupts her signal, getting rid of the hologram ranger. The way they see it they have 3 choices. Wait for the ranger and go to jail, help the poacher and maybe be save or go for the timer. But no matter what they do, they have to find out if Quinn is alive or dead. They tell the poacher they want to stay but he is not happy about it. He tells them that they messed up his life, putting him on America's most wanted, all because he saved them. They are helping him, if they want to or not. Even tells them he will kill them if they cross him. Not such a nice man after all. While the poacher is asleep Wade sneaks over and steals the disruptor. She turns it off but the hologram ranger doesn't come back. Wade goes out into the woods in search of Quinn, hoping that she has better luck than Remy did. She is calling for Quinn when the poacher puts his hand over her mouth, he tells her that Quinn is dead but moments later Quinn saves her from a dinosaur. The poacher tries to kill it but ends up being eaten. There goes his millions of dollars. Quinn gets the truth collars off of them and the hologram returns telling them that they have an hour and a half left. The poacher has an attractant and a repellent but they don't know which is which. The gang comes up with a plan to get out of the cave, it all starts with Wade and a flare gun. Meanwhile the hologram ranger leads Quinn back towards the timer. Remy stays with the professor. When Quinn gets close to the timer Wade fires the flare gun off. Quinn gets the timer and finds out they only have two minutes. The hologram ranger tells the others and they all rush to Quinn, not an easy thing for the professor and his hurt leg. Arturo and Remy make it into the vortex as Quinn waits for Wade who makes it just in time. Quinn jumps in just as the dino attacks. Ironically they land at a dig site of the remains for the same type of dinosaur that attacked them. You have to love sliders. How could you not? Let's jump back into the Star Trek of it all with episode 9 of Enterprise, written by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong and directed by Mike Vejar. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out with the link below. Otherwise let's get on with the review!
The episode starts off with Captain Archer walking in on his crew as they were going over nearby things to explore. It was one boring thing after another, nothing getting his attention until Trip tells him about an M class planet nearby. Archer finally get excited about something. They soon find out that the planet is far behind us when it comes to technological advancement. T'Pol tells them the Vulcan believe that you should not interfere with a species until they are ready. Archer ignores her and decides that they should just make themselves look like the people down there. At first Hoshi was to be the only one sent down to the planet but once they discovered tech that shouldn't be on the planet, Archer, Trip and T'Pol decided to join her. They had to figure out what was going on down there after all. The away team quickly closes in on the source of the readings but they can't get into the building, well at least until Trip finds a work around. He hacks into the building. After all you always need a lock smith on the team. As they are breaking in someone in the shadows is watching them. The stranger turns out to be a woman who confronts them and tells them that the nightly deliveries are making people sick. Before she can say anymore T'Pol stuns her. Archer sends the others back to the shuttle while he stays behind and tries to get information from her. He tells her just enough information to keep her talking all the while learning a bit more about the shop keep and what might be causing the sickness. Archer and Trip go and pay him a visit the next day. It doesn't take long for both the crew and the shop keep to figure out that neither one of them are from this planet. He tells Archer that he came to this world to explore, much like Archer and co but he was so taken with the world he decided to stay. He assures Archer that he isn't making people sick, that the sickness is natural to the planet and that he is only being blamed because he is new here. He won't allow Archer to look at his replicator. T'Pol goes over Archer's new friends information about the sickness and takes it back to Phlox who seems taken by how intelligent she is despite being from such a back water world. It doesn't take Phlox long to figure out what is making them sick, a contaminate being leaked into the water. Archer and the woman start to hit it off when the universal translator gives out. So he does what any man would do, well what Kirk would do, he went in for a kiss until it could fix itself. He then went on to blame it on some fictional person walking past. Got to give the man credit for being quick on his feet, maybe one day he will be as big a player as James T. Kirk. Archer finds out the ship keep and during a struggle his new friend learns that the shop keep is an alien. Archer ends up telling her everything. The two of them try to figure out how to turn off the field blocking the Enterprise from beaming the reactor up from the planet but they hit the wrong button, trapping themselves inside. The shop keep than calls the Enterprise and threatens to destroy them if they don't leave. The shop keep tells Archer that he will let them go if they agree to never return. Instead Archer arms the woman, telling the shop keep what his answer is. Meanwhile in space Trip and T'Pol argue over what to do. Trip believes that T'Pol is trying to leave the captain but she insists that isn't the case. Archer lowers the force field on the planet and orders T'Pol to beam the reactor up. The battle is helping matters. The Enterprise defeats the aliens as Archer beats the shop keep, saving the day. Archer gives his friend the cure to help her people and tells her that the Vulcans will look in on her people from time to time. He then asks her not to tell anyone, she agrees. After all, who will believe her. Archer kisses her goodbye, he has fallen for her. Poor guy, but great episode! Welcome back to Sliders. Today we dive into an episode written by Nan Hagan and directed by Adam Nimoy the son of Mr. Spock himself Leonard Nimoy. The episode starts with an extreme close up of Remy as he talks to a therapist. It's a great shot, letting you get into his head right off the bat. When watching shows like this you never really think about how much the events of the episodes can affect the characters. It adds to the realism of the show that it not only admits that it takes a toll but that it shows the characters trying to deal with it.
Remy tells the doc about a slide they had a few weeks back where they made it home! Or so they thought. Now a reoccurring test that Quinn does to see if they are home is if his gate squeaks. On this world it does. Moments later his mom exits the house and runs to him. Everything is adding up, they are home! To help convince them even more, Wade has also been missing from this world for a while as well. The evidence keeps adding up. The four sliders fill Quinn's mom in on everything that has been happening. It is all too good to be true. Arturo talks the others into keeping it all hush hush until they can figure everything out. Remy isn't happy about it but the others talk him into it. They all settle back into their lives but right away we see that no one is all that surprised to see Arturo. It is almost as if he hasn't been missing for 18 months like the others. Remy tells his manger what happened while Arturo tells the world all about Sliding, passing the whole thing off as his idea. Wade is beyond pissed but Quinn is in a state of shock. Arturo made them promise not to come forward and then he turns around tells the world. Wade and Remy tell Quinn that they will stand by him if he wants to come forward. Remy quickly uses it to boost his career. Wade is also using it to make herself rich. Quinn feels betrayed by all of them. You can't really blame them. It is all a bit much. Quinn finds proof that they aren't really home but Wade and Remy don't want to listen to him. They won't accept that they aren't home. Arturo won't accept Quinn's calls and to make matters worse the timer is stolen from Quinn's house. What would you do? Everything seems so perfect, so close to how you remember home. Would you accept that you are home even as the evidence mounts that you aren't? I don't know what I would do, it would be a hard choice to make. One that Remy and Wade don't want to deal with but that Quinn can't stop thinking about. Arturo won't stop telling the whole world about sliding and how it works and how smart he is. Quinn shows up and confronts Arturo trying to tell him that they aren't home but all Arturo cares about is if Quinn will try to steal the credit. He blows Quinn off just like the others. Remy and Wade start talking about how they are going to get Quinn to accept that this is home. It seems that everyone is turning against Quinn. Just as you start to forget about the fact the Remy is really on another world talking about this slide they remind you. Back in the past Wade gives Arturo a piece of her mind about stealing Quinn's invention but Arturo tells her that he invented it. That all Quinn really did was take his ideas and expand upon it. Something we know to be untrue. It's at this moment that Wade finds the timer in the museums. It turns out that Arturo stole the timer. Why is Arturo doing this to the gang? After all that they have been through. It's just too much. Wade tells Quinn where the timer is but hangs up on him when he once more tries to tell her that they aren't home. Moments later she sees the Golden Gate bridge and notices that it is blue. She breaks down, Quinn tries to cheer her up but it's hard. You make it home after 18 months of being lost and not only do you make it home to see all your lost love ones but you also made a name for yourself only to have it all taken away from them in a moment. It's too much for anyone. Wade and Quinn confront Arturo who they quickly learn knew all along that they weren't home. This episode really makes you go from liking Arturo to hating him. Quinn asks for the timer back but Arturo tells them no. He threatens Quinn when Quinn tells him that he will steal the timer back. The team is breaking up and it is so hard to watch. Not in the episode is bad way but in it is so good but heart breaking way. Meanwhile Remy's life is going better than ever, at least until his old bandmates demand that they be allowed to cry on stage as well. So much for everything being better. Fame comes with a price just like anything else in life. Quinn and Wade steal the timer only to learn that it is a fake. They broke in and ended up getting caught all to steal a fake timer. Back in the present Remy is about to leave the office when the doctor asks him to stay just a bit longer. The doctor leaves the room and tells his secretary to order a strait jacket for Remy. He wants to have him committed. Quinn and Wade spend the night in jail before Remy bails them out and tells them that he has learned they aren't really home. That on this world his band own part of his music, something that never happened on Earth Prime. The gang break into Arturo's house where they find him chained to a chair in the basement. It seems that this Earth's Arturo had never left this world. This Arturo backed out of sliding and went into hiding trying to recreate sliding on his own. When our Arturo showed up they knocked him out and kidnapped him. The timer is gone and this world's Arturo shows up. He claims to be the real Arturo, confusing the gang. He tells the gang that he escaped and captured the fake Arturo. He then starts telling them facts that only he would know. The Arturo tells them that anyone who read Wade's book would know the truth. Now, think for a moment. How would the real Arturo have known that Wade sold her book if he was chained up the whole time? It makes you wonder doesn't it? Quinn and Wade say goodbye to their parents doubles before opening the wormhole. The other Arturo shows up in a cab. The others slide while the two Arturos fight it out. One of them slides away with Quinn while the other one, the one who might be the real Arturo stays behind. Is it him or did the real Arturo slide? It's a hard call to make and one that is never really answered. One that to this day I want to know the answer. Seeing how the Arturo who went with them goes out, I think he was the real one, but how cool would it be to finally have it answered? Now for my favorite part of this episode. Quinn, Wade and Arturo show up in the therapists office and they get Remy as they slide out, right from inside the office. The doctor watches it all, his mind snaps. The episode ends with the doctor in the strait jacket being carted away, the same fate he wanted for Remy. It's poetic justice at it's finest. Okay Buffy fans this is a weird one. It is out of order but for a good reason. This story, at least as best as I can figure it, takes place Teacher's Pet, season 1 episode 4. So we are way past this point in our reviews but we are back tracking for this and the next story. Freaks & Geeks, the first of the high school year books. It's always nice when stories go back to the golden days of our heroes and the best part, they didn't force Dawn into it. Not slamming Dawn but there is no reason to force her into stories that take place before she showed up on the show. This look back into season one of the slayer is written by Faith Erin Hicks and drawn by Yishan Li. Like so many episodes of the show the episode starts off with Buffy at the cemetery with Giles over looking her training. She makes quick work of a few blood suckers before heading home. The next day at school we start to see just how much the late nights are taking on her. She sleeps through class, she is having trouble passing any of her classes. She longs for the days when she was the Cordelia of her school. Which brings us to the story of the day. A group of nerdy vampires lead by a girl named Hester. Even as an undead girl she still doesn't fit in with everyone else. They try and fail to get into a club made for vampires but can't get past the door man. He tells them that the only way in would be to kill the slayer. And we have a story! Willow tries to help Buffy study and we start to see just how different the two of them are. A very important theme for this issue. Buffy doesn't like her new life and Willow can sense it. Meanwhile Hester hates her friends and the fact that they aren't cool. She talks them into trying to team up against the slayer. They find her at a graveyard, where else would she be? Buffy makes quick work of some vamps while Xander and Willow talk about if they are cool enough for Buffy. If she would even like them if she wasn't the slayer, if she was still "cool". She tells them she will meet up with them later when she is attacked by Hester and the other nerdy vamps. Before she can get a chance to slay them Hester points out that Buffy is a "cool kid", that she thinks she is better than everyone else. It gets into Buffy's head and gives the vampires a chance to escape. Buffy never shows up at the Bronze, instead going home and going to sleep. She has horrible dreams about being mean to her friends. This is the type of story that I wish I was better at writing. It fits in with the show so well. The underlining theme fitting perfectly with the monster of the week. Faith Hicks knows how to write! Buffy goes to school the next day and over does with the trying to show her friends how much she cares about them but it blows up in her face. Willow knows something is wrong and is hurt when Buffy won't tell her what. It also gives us the most amazingly Giles moment when he tries to cheer her up but is horrible at it. Giles is just the best! While Hester and Buffy seem to have a lot in common we quickly see just how different they are. Buffy may not always be the best at showing her friends how much she cares but she does care. Hester on the other hand doesn't. Maybe it's the vampire in her but more than likely it is the fact that she wants so badly to be liked that she will do whatever it takes, even turning on her friends. She sacrifices them to summon the demon she needs to kill Buffy but missed the part where she needed a fourth vampire to make the demon obey her. It turned on her and killed her without even giving it a second thought. Whereas Buffy's friend's showed up in the nick of time and saved her life. Showing that the Scoobies are true friends who always come through for each other when needed. This is a great addition to the slayer lore and if you want more Buffy you should really pick it up! It fits so perfectly with the show! Buffy kills a vampire while Giles lectures her on not being good enough. In the ashes of the vampire she killed he finds a ring. The Master reads the prophecy about the anointed one, how five will die and he will rise. The anointed one will lead Buffy to her death and the Master is pissed that they almost messed it up by going out a night early. This episode by Rob Des Hotel & Dean Batali sets the stage for the rest of the season. Pretty much everything until Spike shows up and kills the little brat.
Buffy is showing off to Giles that she can figure out what is going on just as well if not better than he can. Buffy in on her A game so she has to get knocked off, enter Owen! The cute guy that Buffy has a crush on. He seems like a bit of an awkward loser to me but Buffy and Cordy both seem to love him. Go figure. Giles tries to get back on track with finding out about the vampires that are in town but Buffy could care less. All she can think about is Owen. Buffy brags to Willow and Xander gets jealous, that is his favorite color this season. Everything makes him jealous. Buffy tries to sit with Owen but Cordy blocks her and makes her look like a fool. Karma is a mean mistress. Cordy asks Owen to come out to the Bronze and he in turn invites Buffy. Cordy is heartbroken. Giles tells Buffy about the prophecy of the anointed one and that it happens tonight, the same time that Buffy has her date with Owen. She is forced to blow it off and go to the graveyard with Giles where nothing happens. He lets go and she rushes to the Bronze only to find Owen in the arms of Cordelia. Leaving Buffy heartbroken. She leaves and goes home feeling defeated. It turns out that Giles wasn't wrong. It was this night, they were just in the wrong place. A nearby bus is attacked by the vampires. Five people were killed. Owen tells Buffy how sad he is hat she never showed. He tells her how Cordy kept throwing himself at him and he has no interest. He only likes Buffy. She says yes to their date. Giles shows up and shows her the article about the bus crash. He thinks that it might be the prophecy, turns out he is right, but Buffy won't hear it. She is going on her date with Owen no matter what. Giles decides that he is going to check it out on his own. Buffy and Owen left before Giles but when Willow says that they should go with he jumps to going with Buffy and Owen, Giles is far too gone. I love the writing on this show. It is always so witty. Buffy and Owen are having a great time on their date. Cordy shows up and right away tries to steal Owen away from Buffy. He isn't having it. She isn't use to getting shot down and doesn't handle it well. She storms off, leaving Buffy and Owen alone. No sooner does Giles get to the morgue than he is attacked by a gang of vampires. He runs inside and locks himself in a room. He is out numbered and out fanged. Willow and Xander show up, talking to Giles from outside a barred window. Giles sends them to go and get Buffy. Cordy is bitching about Buffy and Angel walks in. She says Hello Salty goodness, the same thing she says in Spin the Bottle when she goes back to being a teenager and meets Angel. I love call backs like that. When Cordy sees that Angel is here for Buffy it pisses her off even more. She isn't the only one who quickly becomes upset. When Angel finds out that Buffy is on a date he gets upset. Xander and Willow show up, Buffy wants them all to leave but they say morgue and she figures out that Giles in trouble. She tries to ditch Owen but he follows her. Buffy gets Xander and Willow to distract Owen while she goes and finds Giles. She tells him to stay hidden while she gets Owen and the others out of there. I don't get how Owen isn't picking up on something being wrong here? He is very slow. Xander and Willow block the door so that no one can get in and Owen just goes with it. He opens a curtain just in time to see the crazy guy from the bus rise as a vampire. The gang think that this must be the anointed one. Buffy and Giles hear him attack the others and rush to their aid. Buffy takes him on so the other can escape but their path is blocked by the other vampires. Buffy and Giles are tossed around like a rag doll and Owen rushes to help her. Xander and Willow follow him, after all they promised Buffy they would keep him safe. Owen knocks out the vampire and makes sure Buffy is ok. The vamp wakes up and kills Owen, not really but that is what Buffy thinks, that's why the episode is named Never Kill a Boy on the first date. His death gives Buffy the anger she needs to beat the vampire by throwing him in the fire. She finds out Owen is alive and rushes to his side. He starts acting all weird and doesn't want to be around her. Poor Buffy. Buffy asks Willow and Xander if Owen asked about her, they tell her no. Xander starts hinting around that she should date him but then Owen shows up and Willow drags Xander away. Buffy and Owen talk about what happened the night before. He asks her out again. He tells her how amazing last night was. He wants to go get in danger with her again. She tells him no. She breaks it off with him because she doesn't want to get him hurt. He is after the wrong thing and she knows it won't end well. Giles shows up and tells her about the time he learned about his destiny, even talks about his grandmother being a watcher, remember we learned about her in Tales of the Vampires? Giles helps Buffy deal with the break up. That this isn't the end of the world and that it isn't her fault that he was almost killed. Buffy and Giles pat themselves on the back for killing the anointed but well the prophecy says the slayer will not know him, will not stop him and she didn't. Turns out the little boy on the bus is the anointed one. The season turns here and we are in for one hell of a ride! Welcome back to Star Trek, today is such a Star Trek day for me, over on the movie review channel I just reviewed the film The Captains! http://www.blueroofproductions.com/movies/the-captains Such a great doc!
Ok so lets start in on this episode, right off the bat we meet Elizabeth Cutler, a character that will pop up from time to time on the show. The crew discovers a new M-Class, Archer and Trip want to head down and explore but T'Pol puts out Vulcan protocol. Seeing as the Prime Directive does not exist Archer blew her off and gathered his people to go Planet side, even bringing Porthos so that he could run around and stretch his legs. T'Pol is not amused by any of it. The captain and his team are late returning to camp due to having so much fun exploring. T'Pol keeps her team over night in order to do more research while Trip and Mayweather stay on the planet to go camping and enjoy the night air. A horrible storm hits the camp ground as Trip and Mayweather deal with a bug in their tent. The planet side crew moves inside a nearby cave for shelter. Reed wants to go down to pick them up but T'Pol points out that it would not be easy for them to land a shuttle in the storm so Archer orders it be placed on standby until it passes. The crew forget the food at the campsite, how do you forget the food? Nothing is more important than food! Nothing! While Mayweather goes back to retrieve it he spots someone out in the storm. No one believes him. The other crew members start seeing people hiding out in the shadows in the back of the cave. He runs out into the storm. Something or someone on the planet is messing with their heads. Trip and Mayweather go out in serech of the crazed crew member while T'Pol goes further into the cave looking for what they might have seen. Leaving Cutler alone in the cave by herself. When everyone returns she tells Trip that T'Pol has been talking to the shadow people. Things are getting tense. The crew member that ran out of the cave tells of Archer when they finally get a hold of him. He doesn't trust them. Archer has to break off his rescue, the shuttle can't land in it. The crew is running out of water and Trip pulls his blaster out on T'Pol to keep her in check. She has sold them out after all, well not really but they are clearly going crazy. Reed tries to teleport the crewman up into the ship but due to the weather leaves and sticks were beamed up with him, leaving him near death. T'Pol is starting to get emotional as well. It took a bit longer but she is just as affected by whatever is doing this to them. The doctor saved the crewman that was beamed up. It turns out that there is some kind of chemical that is causing them all the problems. It makes them paranoid, Trip won't believe him, but he does obey the order to lower his weapon. T'Pol at least understands that she is also affected by this and can try to stay in control of herself. Not long after she stops speaking English and goes back to speaking Vulcan. It turns out that the chemical that is affecting them is toxic, the crewman on the Enterprise is dying and it doesn't look good for those on the surface of the planet. They need to get to them ASAP but have to wait 9 hours for the storm to pass. While speaking to Archer T'Pol speaks English again. Archer tells them that she is sending them an antidote. She falls back into Vulcan and Hoshi translates and Archer tries to talk Trip down but he won't do it. So Archer spins a tale to him, Trip buys it. He lowers his weapon and T'Pol shoots him on stun. She then ejects everyone with the cure. Morning comes and everyone slowly starts to wake up, clear headed. Trip apologizes and T'Pol puts it on the pollen and lets it go. The crewman beamed onto the ship is going to be fine. The shuttle comes to pick them up and everything is going to be fine. At the end of the day there was no real harm done and everything ends on a happy note. This episode was a cool look into the head space of the crew and helped move forward the different character arcs. |
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