tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75219944345948649092024-03-14T00:15:06.940-07:00The Trainspotters' Guide to Buffy and AngelBungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-3290602553052431282010-07-27T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-27T12:00:04.431-07:00#4: Willow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TE5rTXc3vCI/AAAAAAAAAag/ql9Q-zBSCqA/s1600/04+-+Willow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TE5rTXc3vCI/AAAAAAAAAag/ql9Q-zBSCqA/s400/04+-+Willow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
The 'best friend'. You know how some people just naturally become other people's best friends? That's Willow. While by most standards over seven seasons on <i>Buffy</i> Willow evolved almost beyond recognition, one thing that remains constant about her is her loyalty as a friend. It's what made her and Xander such a tight unit, it's what kept her from destroying the world in season six, it's what made them (and, increasingly from season to season, <i>her</i> more than him) inseperable to Buffy. Something absolutely central to the story of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> is the importance of friends: how friends are the family we choose to have, the love we choose to give. It's made explicit on the show that what distinguishes Buffy from other slayers (the First Slayer, Kendra and Faith in particular) is the fact that she has friends, that she's a member of a team. It's a message that got lost in the shuffle of Season Seven, but still a powerful message, and Willow – science-nerd Willow and powerful-witch Willow in equal parts – was a powerful part of that message.<br />
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In the beginning, when we first meet her in Joss Whedon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Welcome to the Hellmouth</a>” and throughout the first season, she's shy and inarticulate. This is why Willow, second-overall character on <i>Buffy</i> and the only character to have a speaking role in all 144 episodes (in that Buffy, as opposed to the Buffybot, doesn't say a word in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bargaining, Part One</a>”), starts off with a rather dismal fourth-place and 4494 words. She never ranks above number four in a single episode, not even the 'Willow episode' “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">I, Robot... You, Jane</a>”, where she somehow manages a mere number five and 453 words. Her highest word-count is in Xander's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Pack</a>”. Even at that it's a fairly unimpressive 562 words.<br />
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Willow slowly comes out of her shell in season two, though not enough to raise her above number four. 9238 words is a decent improvement, and she gets her first number one, though in a sense it's a technicality. In the possession-episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">I Only Have Eyes for You</a>”, I give words spoken while under possession to the possessor, not the possessed – so James speaking through Buffy counts as words for James. Willow sneaks past Buffy with 687 words, but she would fall back to number two if I calculated differently. Her vital roles in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Halloween</a>” (625 words) and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Phases</a>” (841 words, her highest that season) still come in at number two.<br />
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In Season Three, Willow is a senior at high school. Her evolution as a character is in full effect, having performed her first spell at the end of season two. And while 9820 words does not represent a <i>huge</i> leap above last season's totals, it's enough to leapfrog Willow past Giles and Xander into the number-two position. And even more exciting, she <i>finally</i>, almost at the end of the third season, gets her first fully-deserved number one with “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Doppelgängland</a>”, with 1394 words in total, and 34.9% of the dialogue – a bravura performance in which she plays two characters: herself (1055 words) and the vampire version of herself from a dimension created a few episodes previously by Anya (339 words, good enough for a fourth-place finish if they were different characters). A highly significant episode that foreshadows many of Willow's future developments, it's her highest-ever word-count, but her only number-one this season.<br />
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So if you're wondering how, being three seasons in and still with only two number-ones, Willow amasses a total of 11 number-ones, well they start to come fast and furious from now on. Season Four is the first University Year, and it's Willow's pivotal year. Not only does she lose one love of her life and find a second, but she settles into her post-geek self and begins to devote herself more seriously to the magic. With Xander and Giles off campus, her role as Buffy's best friend becomes all the more crucial, and 12,176 words is not only an easy number-two but is by a large distance her highest word count, beating even 'her' Season Six. She gets a total of three number-ones this time out, to say nothing of six number-twos and seven number-threes. She gets only a single minor the whole season, and is a long way from her humble Season One beginnings. Those three number-ones include the largely symbolic “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Hush</a>”, which after all has to be <i>somebody's</i> number one. As most of the episode is wordless, she wins it with a paltry 246 words. And while the other two are 'Willow episodes', they are more accurately 'Oz episodes': their breakup episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Wild at Heart</a>” with 834 words, and the thwarted reunion “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">New Moon Rising</a>”, with 771 words. Oddly enough, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Pangs</a>” with 1046 words has a much higher word-count but a number-two finish.<br />
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Season Five is a bit topsy-turvy, and not just with Spike's unexpected predominance. Willow's 7923 words is just a few below Xander, but she still drops a massive amount compared to Season Four, and drops all the way to fourth. She gets no number-ones, and gets ten minors, including an all-time low of 26 words on “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Fool for Love</a>”, appropriately a Spike episode. She plays a significant role in each of her four number twos, peaking at 1009 words in the Anya/Willow episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Triangle</a>”.<br />
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Season Six definitely restores the balance, though, with Willow being absolutely central to the season, reviving Buffy, dealing with magic addiction, her break-up and reconciliation with Tara, Tara's death and Willow's subsequent descent into evil as 'dark Willow', the season's true 'big bad'. Back to number two with 10,575 words and a jaw-dropping five number-ones, unsurprisingly the largest number of number-ones in a season on <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> for a character whose name isn't in the show's title. What are they? Well, in order, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bargaining, Part One</a>”, where she leads the team in their efforts to revive Buffy, with 1020 words (her season high); “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Afterlife</a>” soon after, where Buffy's dazed readaptation to being alive keeps her lower on the list, with 851 words; “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Wrecked</a>”, where her magic addiction spirals completely out of control, with 821 words, and the final two episodes of the season, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Two to Go</a>” with 681 words, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Grave</a>” with 695 words. If we were to treat 'dark Willlow' as her own character, she'd be good for 1817 words, which would put her just outside the top ten.<br />
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Season Six was a tough act for the character to follow, and Season Seven featured a drop-off for most of the principal non-blonde characters. Willow stays, somehow, as high as number three for the season, but at 7174 words puts in her lowest word-count for a 22-episode season. She gets ten minors, including, sadly, each of the final seven episodes. The extent of Willow's marginalisation (despite the crucial role she plays in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”) can be seen in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Empty Places</a>”, where she's <i>eleventh</i> on the list. The writers gave her one last hurrah, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Killer in Me</a>”, where she gets 1065 words inhabiting both her own body and that of Warren. This confusing episode features 680 words spoken by Alyson Hannigan and 385 spoken by Adam Busch. Were I to treat them as different characters, this would be a number-one for Kennedy, of all people. Even “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Same Time, Same Place</a>”, a Willow episode, is a number-two, though at 785 words it's a decent total. Her highest in Season Seven after that is a paltry 422 words.<br />
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So while she survives “Chosen”, you can't help wondering if it was worth it, or if the <i>true</i> story of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> is that the reward for unwavering friendship and loyalty (barring a brief dalliance with evil) is increased irrelevance and marginalisation.<br />
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I have failed to mention Willow's three cameos in <i>Angel</i>. I needn't mention “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb</a>”, where her cameo is completely silent, but I should mention “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Disharmony</a>” a few episodes before it, where she speaks 55 words over the telephone. And I should <i>definitely</i> mention the Season Four epic “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Orpheus</a>”, where 74.4% of the dialogue is spoken by characters who originated on Buffy and Willow comes in at number two with 566 words.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #4</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #2</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #52</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 61,400</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 4494</li>
<li>Season 2: 9238</li>
<li>Season 3: 9820</li>
<li>Season 4: 12,176</li>
<li>Season 5: 7923</li>
<li>Season 6: 10,575</li>
<li>Season 7: 7174</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 621</li>
<ul><li>Season 2: 55</li>
<li>Season 4: 566</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 62,012</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 144</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 11</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 18</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 20</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 23</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 31</li>
<li>Minor: 41</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on Angel: 2</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 1</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 146</li>
</ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=d0736aa8-cbf6-4b86-a820-33c3df56c5da" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-47227803478885370472010-07-26T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-26T12:00:03.898-07:00#5: Xander<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TE0LOvb1JHI/AAAAAAAAAaY/82-dDYXj-F4/s1600/05+-+Xander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TE0LOvb1JHI/AAAAAAAAAaY/82-dDYXj-F4/s400/05+-+Xander.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Xander himself says it best in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Potential</a>” - watching his friends become more and more powerful, while he's the guy who fixes the windows. The progress we see in Xander across the seven series is not really one of him ivercoming his faults so much as learning to accept who he is despite – and to a certain extent – because of his limitations. In a series filled with superheroes, Xander's the 'everyman', and to keep on the good fight despite having nothing in the way of 'abilities' requites a certain heroism that, as he's come to understand by Season Seven, the others will never comprehend.<br />
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Mind you, that doesn't excuse how the writers treated Xander as the series was coming to a close. Xander's tale was a good one, one of a person taking halting steps toward maturity in an adult world, but once he left Anya at the altar (a missed opportunity, perhaps, to underscore Xander's development into responsible adulthood), the writers appear to have decided thay had nothing more to say about Xander, and though he's still all over Season Seven, he's not really doing much of anything.<br />
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Which is something you can't say about Xander early on. Oddly, while Nicholas Brendon was the inexperienced one next to child stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan and experienced thespian Anthony Stewart Head, in those initial episodes he seems to carry a lot of the action. It might be that paling Xander was not much of a stretch for him, character-wise, but Nicholas Brendon fit into Xander's shoes way more quickly than the rest of the cast did in to their respective characters, and the difference is plain to see. Xander comes in third in the short first season, with 6392 words, and remarkably turns in only one minor performance. Revealing that Xander gets only a single number one in this season would leave the curious fan to wonder whether it was “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Teacher's Pet</a>”, in which Xander falls for a substitute teacher-cum-praying mantis, or “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Pack</a>”, in which he becomes possessed by a hyena (it's a peculiar season, this one). In fact, it's neither: Xander comes in number two in each behind Buffy, with 774 words (his season high) and 651 words, respectively. Xander's number-one, surprisingly, is in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Prophecy Girl</a>”, where he gets 758 words in around the season-concluding events of the episode.<br />
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Xander comes in #2 for Season Two (whatever its red-toned DVD box cover might otherwise imply), with a remarkable 12,265 words by far his largest single-season word-count. It's hard to believe, really, that Xander would ever come in at number two – but he really is all over this season, not only with three number-ones, but with 18 top-five apprearances: Xander is just always around, earning that title of the 'heart' of the Scoobies that we'll see at the end of Season Four. Anyway, Xander's three number-ones include the surprising “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Innocence</a>”, the episode where we first meet Angelus and where he shatters the fragile Buffy with his cruelty, but where these two still lag behind Xander's 614 words. The other two are less surprising, being very clear 'Xander episodes': “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Inca Mummy Girl</a>” at 1034 words a great leap forward for Xander the character, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered</a>” at 1314 words (his peak this season) a hilarious episode with Xander having messed up a spell and causing the women of Sunnydale to fall in love with him, from a time when <i>Buffy</i> wasn't afraid to be laugh-out-loud silly from time to time.<br />
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Things change <i>a lot</i> for Xander in Season Three, and the reason is, frankly, Willow. As the series progresses, the character of Willow evolves greatly and becomes more and more important. Though it would seem that Season Four is where we see this come to fruition, it's happened by Season Three, really, as Xander drops down bwhind Willow to third place for the season, with 8451 words a big step down from the previous season. Seven minors this season and, excluding his one-and-only centric episode, no more than 572 words in an episode. He might be the 'key' for the fight at the end of the season, but he's not very important to the season as a whole, something his sole number-one, the excellent “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Zeppo</a>” plays on. A great episode that reveals a lot about what being Xander means in the evolving Buffyverse, “The Zeppo” barely ever takes the camera off of him, and gives him 1441 words of dialogue, an impressive 35.2%. But it's very much a one-time thing; without this episode, he'd have only 7010 words this season, barely higher than his worst-ever full season.<br />
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This, while the decline continues in Season Four, with 8059 words though still number three, Xander appears to appear more often: more to the point, with Xander not living on campus and attending university with Buffy and Willow, the writers need to consciously find ways to <i>include</i> Xander. Thus three number-ones, though none are in any way 'Xander episodes'. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Fear, Itself</a>”, a Halowe'en episode, has Xander feeling like a 'townie' outsider, in 849 words and 21.3%. The next episode, the much-reviled “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Beer Bad</a>” defaults to Xander as the bartender at number one, since Buffy spends much of the episode grunting. 664 words but exactly 21.3% again. With 803 words and an almost-identical 21.5%, Xander's third and final number one of the season is “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Where the Wild Things Are</a>”, like “Beer Bad” also written by Tracey Forbes but in my personal opinion even worse. At the risk of being rude, I could recycle the previous sentence about the number one defaulting to Xander 'since Buffy spends much of the episode grunting'.<br />
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In any case, though, by now Xander's descent as a major character is inexorable. Season Five features even less of him. He still finishes at number three (detecting a pattern here?), but with 7986 words this time. And as with Season Three, without his single standout episode of the season, Xander would finish at 6206 words, which would drop him down to fifth. That standout is “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Replacement</a>”, a great episode featuring two Xanders, 'ScruffyXander' who speaks 853 words, 'SuaveXander' with 486 words, and normal Xander at the beginning and end of the episode with 441 words. In total, this is 1780 words: Xander's highest word-count ever by 300 words, Season Five's highest by 400 words, and the second-highest in 144 episodes of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> (losing out only to Andrew). Apart from that, though, it's mostly bad news for Xander.<br />
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Xander's sole number-one in Season Six is in the atypical episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bargaining, Part Two</a>”, which is more of an ensemble episode. That he gets no other times in the sin this season might lead one to see it as a further step in Xander's downward trajectory, but it is in fact a respite: with a thwarted wedding and with his role as the best friend to the season's 'big bad', Xander has more to do, and say, this season: 9077 words being his second-best season. He may have had only one number one, but he had an impressive six number-twos, including unsurprisingly “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Hell's Bells</a>” and more surprisingly “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Once More, With Feeling</a>”, where he sings his way to his season best of 768 words.<br />
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Yet Season Seven reverses the trend again, his worst-ever season with a number-four finish, an all-time low of 6980 words (more than Season One, yes, but with ten more episodes), the sole <i>Buffy</i> episode in which he doesn't appear (“<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Conversations With Dead People</a>”), the almost-as-bad 23-word episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lies My Parents Told Me</a>”, no number-ones at all, no Xander-centric episodes, and no character development across 22 episodes. His highest word-count this season, surprisingly, is “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Him</a>” at 658 words (and still only #3). One of the 'core four' and at one time the most important character on the show after the titular character, Xander was reduced to a mere 199 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”, a minor role for what had at one time been a major character. He survived, of course, one-eyed and about to take a far greater role in Season Eight. I should mention, in passing, that Xander is, like everyone else in the top six, introduced in Joss Whedon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Welcome to the Hellmouth</a>”, and that he's the highest-ranking character never to have appeared on <i>Angel</i>.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #5</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #3</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 59,210</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 6392</li>
<li>Season 2: 12,265</li>
<li>Season 3: 8451</li>
<li>Season 4: 8059</li>
<li>Season 5: 7986</li>
<li>Season 6: 9077</li>
<li>Season 7: 6980</li>
</ul><li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 121</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 10</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 18</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 18</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 29</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 20</li>
<li>Minor: 48</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=b80dffcf-5748-48e0-8b94-cc57ca987126" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-57129018303477636382010-07-23T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-23T12:00:04.388-07:00#6: Giles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEj_6yDdSoI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/w4AktqMnFXE/s1600/06+-+Giles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEj_6yDdSoI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/w4AktqMnFXE/s400/06+-+Giles.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
'For real this time?', a frustrated Anya cries out in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Tabula Rasa</a>”, right before the spell that gives everyone amnesia, 'a young shopkeeper's heart can only take so much.' Giles has announced his intention to leave, once again. It's not tough to understand Anya's frustration: for all of his talk about 'standing in the way', for all of his departures, Giles never goes away very far. His decreased involvement in the final seasons of <i>Buffy</i> give the impression that he's less central a character to the show than perhaps other characters. But in fact, Giles appears in 121 of 144 Buffy episodes: however you look at it, he has a well-earned place in the so-called 'core four'.<br />
<br />
The fact is that Giles was absolutely essential to the show in the early episodes. To rewatch season one and season two is to see just how great a watcher's role in an immature slayer's life can be. To the extent that <i>Buffy</i> is also a show about growing up, leaving childhood things behind, accepting responsibility and getting by as an independant adult in an adult's world, it makes sense that gather-figure Giles would drop down the list of important characters as the show progressed. But the extent to which that's true is quite amazing. Looking at the total words spoken per character per season, Giles in season one is the second most verbose character. As the seasons progress, though, he falls steadily: from #2 to #3, then to #4 and #4 again, then #5 and then, as a special guest, #8 and #10.<br />
<br />
But Giles in the beginning – stuttering, stuffy, over-dramatic Giles – is truly a force of nature. Introduced, like every single remaining character in our top 50, in Joss Whedon's series opener “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Welcome to the Hellmouth</a>”, Giles finishes <i>every episode</i> of Season One in either second or third place. His <i>lowest</i> word count that season is still 541 words (his highest being 1007 in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Never Kill a Boy on the First Date</a>”). As the cast was gelling and settling in, Anthony Stewart Head, the most seasoned actor, was so significant to the season that his word-count of 8372 words is his second highest ever – even though Season One was barely half the length of the other seasons.<br />
<br />
In the full 22-episode season two, Giles still gets only two minor counts. Otherwise it's six number-fives, five number-fours, five number-threes and four number twos. This is his highest overall word-count – 10,410 words – but already there is a much more rounded cast this season, and more of an contribution from other characters. And perhaps there's a trend we can notice here concerning Giles: a very strong supporting role, but very few lead roles. His highest word count this season, 916 words, is in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Dark Age</a>”, very clearly a 'Giles episode' yet still with a higher word count from Buffy than from Giles. The fact is that on <i>Buffy</i>, despite the importance of the character, 'Giles episodes' are rare and Giles number-ones are rarer still, with only three across seven seasons.<br />
<br />
Thus it is in season three, where Giles's word count drops to 8183 words and still no number-ones. As a consolation, there are four number twos, including “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Helpless</a>” at 580 words (his season highest) and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Band Candy</a>”, perhaps the most enjoyable performance we see in the series from Anthony Stewart Head returned to his thuggish adolescence across 542 words. Yet as much as this episode and “The Dark Age” called out for an exploration of Giles's 'Ripper' teenage years, we never got one.<br />
<br />
Season three ended with the destruction of Sunnydale High School and the graduation of it most important students. Without a job and with Buffy on the other side of town, Giles spent much of this season in search of purpose. And while the numbers do in a sense bear that out, with a further drop to 7948 words, the fact remains that this is the season where Giles gets two in three of his number-one finishes. With 1231 words, his highest ever word count by far, and 25.9% of the dialogue, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">A New Man</a>” is a classic example of an episode centred around a single character. With Ethan Rayne turning Giles into a demon, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill slapstick episode, but it gives Giles a chance to hog the limelight, and to shine doing it, buried under all that make-up. It's also, oddly, the only of the three Giles number-ones that can in any way be construed as a 'Giles episode'. The other episode this season where Giles comes in number one, for example, would be rather hard to guess: it is in fact season finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Restless</a>”, the surrealistic 'dream episode', where Giles squeezes in a mere seven words more than Buffy (sung, no less).<br />
<br />
Season Five starts with Buffy begging Giles to take a more active role in her life, and while it would appear that the Dawn/Glory plotline features him in a more central role than, say, the Riley/Adam plotline, Season Five shows another significant drop-off in Giles's word count – almost 1300 words, to 6665 words. Fully 14 of the season's 22 appearances are minor. He never gets higher than number two and never gets more than 696 words in the Watchers' Council episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Checkpoint</a>” (a number three finish). The season finale, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Gift</a>”, is a number-two finish and could concievably have been Giles's final episode. It was, in fact, his last episode as a series regular.<br />
<br />
Giles appears in eight episodes in Season Six: the first episode, a stretch of five from episodes number four to eight, and the final two. This includes “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Two to Go</a>”, at six words ('I'd like to test that theory') his smallest-ever word-count. Giles's final number-one occurs in this season, again at 582 (a small amount for a number one) only a few words more than Buffy, and again in an episode few could have predicted: the abovementioned amnesia-episode “Tabula Rasa”, which ends with him leaving on an airplane. At a total of 3637 words, Season Six represents Giles's smallest overall word count.<br />
<br />
Season Seven features a slight increase, at 3778 words, but over 13 episodes (well over half the season). In this overcrowded season, Giles only makes it onto the top five on five occasions, with two number twos in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bring on the Night</a>”, where he brings the first group of Potentials to Buffy's house, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lies My Parents Told Me</a>”, which is by no means a 'Giles episode' yet still features Giles in a significant role as one of the three 'parents' who have been telling lies. Joss Whedon said he knew he couldn't kill off any of the 'core four' in season finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”, so on that bus is Giles, ending the series by leaving Sunnydale. As he had already done so many times.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #6</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #4</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 48,993</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 8372</li>
<li>Season 2: 10,410</li>
<li>Season 3: 8183</li>
<li>Season 4: 7948</li>
<li>Season 5: 6665</li>
<li>Season 6: 3637</li>
<li>Season 7: 3778</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 121</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 23</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 23</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 15</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 15</li>
<li>Minor: 42</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=809af0d9-0954-42aa-b036-54e4f1a88e1d" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-73753163039676354972010-07-22T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-22T12:00:02.815-07:00#7: Spike<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEZYedoYlNI/AAAAAAAAAaI/a8GFQ5LT0ow/s1600/07+-+Spike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEZYedoYlNI/AAAAAAAAAaI/a8GFQ5LT0ow/s400/07+-+Spike.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The sensitive poet William was hardly the obvious candidate for vampirehood that the lusty Irish ne'er-do-well Liam had been some 130 years previously. Though the extent to which the personality of a human affect the personality of the vampire he or she becomes is debated within the Buffyverse, it seems clear that differences that exist between Angel and Spike, the two principal vampires of the Buffyverse, have some connections to the differences that existed between their human predecessors.<br />
<br />
A hundred years and change later, when Spike strutted into Sunnydale with his love and his sire Drusilla (who was sired in turn by Angelus), in David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">School Hard</a>”, with 749 words and the first of 23 top-two appearances (number two), he was an arrogant, self-assured 'punk' bearing little relation to the man he used to be. It was this character that became <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>'s 'breakout' character, progressing from a one-note villian designed in early Season Two to replace the rapidly-aging 'anointed one' through to comic relief as a desperate vampire neutered by a chip in his head to a more noble ally of Buffy's and protector of Dawn to a lover of Buffy's (her second and final 'big love', excluding Riley) to an ensouled teammate and, finally, after the termination of <i>Buffy</i>, as again a comic foil on <i>Angel</i>. That simplifies Spike's role on the shows, but does give an indication of the ways he's progressed from minor recurring bad guy to central figure in the Buffyverse.<br />
<br />
Season Two seems to feature Spike and Drusilla as the 'big bad' until Angel loses his soul and turns Spike into a kind of ally for Buffy. His 3117 words that season are surprisingly few, but across twelve episodes he's mostly minor, excepting his first appearance and his final one that season, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Becoming, Part Two</a>”, where he's again #2 with 454 words. He finishes number seven for that season.<br />
<br />
In Season Three, Spike appears in only one episode, the great “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lovers Walk</a>”, where he returns to Sunnydale a mess, having broken up with Drusilla but manages to break up two of the Scoobies' main couples. It's just one episode, but at 1098 words and a number one, Spike's left his fingerprints on this season too.<br />
<br />
Season Four starts to feature Spike more regularly, in 18 of 22 b, and with a number six finish. The Initiative have implanted a chip in his head that makes him 'harmless', and he spends much of this season as a comic element – intended, apparently, to replace Cordelia, who had departed for <i>Angel</i>. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Yoko Factor</a>” is his sole number-one this season, where he uses his 'Yoko' status to break the Scoobies' friendships apart. He spends 1014 words doing so.<br />
<br />
I should have said his sole number one that season <i>on Buffy</i>, as he also comes in at number one with 979 words during a one-off appearance on the début season of <i>Angel</i>, in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">In the Dark</a>”, where he has come to L.A. to torture the Gem of Amarra out of Angel.<br />
<br />
No one would doubt that Spike has a significant role in Season Five, the season of Glory and Dawn. I'm not sure, though, how many people would correctly guess just <i>how</i> important. Somehow, this season, Spike manages to eke out an incredible <i>number two</i> finish: ahead of Willow, ahead of Xander. He does it by saying 8144 words in 21 of the season's 22 episodes (he's absent from the stark “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Body</a>”), finishing number two twice: in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Out of My Head</a>” with 678 words attempting to get a doctor to remove the chip from his head, and in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Intervention</a>” with 546 words hilariously together with the Buffybot and less comically braving torture to protect Dawn. However, these pale next to his amazing contributions to two 'Spike episodes' revolving around his history and his love life. In “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Crush</a>”, he says an amazing 1322 words confronting a shocked Buffy with the fact of his love while Drusilla laughs in the background. Tough to see why Buffy's shocked, though, as it's obvious from seven episodes hence, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Fool for Love</a>”, an amazing episode where we learn a lot about the character of Spike. He bests “Crush” by one word, with 1323 words being his highest word count on <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>, and with 40.6% of the dialogue – not far off half of the whole script – being the highest percentage of dialogue in the entire 254-episode Buffyverse.<br />
<br />
Progressing quickly from Buffy's confidante to her lover, Spike would appear to be just as crucial to Season Six as he was to Season Five, but in fact his significance drops off greatly, with 7238 words and a number five finish. There are no real 'Spike episodes' this season, and as such no number-one finishes, though he scores number two in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Smashed</a>”, where he and Buffy violently consummate their relationship (645 words) and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Dead Things</a>”, where he tries to prevent Buffy from turning herself into the police. He finishes number four in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Seeing Red</a>”, the episode where Tara's death overshadows the other ugly event: his attempted rape of Buffy. This leads him to see the season out in Africa, attempting to regain his soul.<br />
<br />
The final season of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> once again features 'soulful Spike' in a greatly expanded role: though 7279 words is barely any more than the previous season, it's enough to pole-vault him back to a number two finish. He has an impressive <i>three</i> number-one finishes: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Beneath You</a>”, with 1143 words his peak that season, revealing to Buffy the fact of his newly-returned soul; “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Sleeper</a>”, with 746 words, killing humans again under the influence of the First; and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lies My Parents Told Me</a>”, a resolution to Spike's mother-fixated weakness which the First had been abusing, a resolution to Robin's mother-fixated vendetta on Spike, and incidentally a resolution to Buffy and Giles's father-daughter relationship. With 301 words, Spike finishes fourth in series finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”, where an amulet given to Angel by Wolfram & Hart allows Spike to save the day but at the cost of his life. “Spike...” is the last word Buffy says, and he appears to join Anya as a sacrifice to the final battle with the First.<br />
<br />
But... something so simple as burning up in the sunlight while destroying the whole town you're presently underneath isn't enough to get rid of Spike... not when his fans were so vocal. As <i>Angel</i> carried on for one final season after the termination of <i>Buffy</i>, Spike was sent to Wolfram & Hart as a non-corporeal ensouled vampire to play Angel's 'frenemy', engaging in constant bickering spats and for a second time 'replacing Cordelia' as Angel's funny man. In so doing, Spike had by a considerable distance his most talkative season, with 12,740 words, three number twos and five number ones (and a very obvious number two for the season).<br />
<br />
Spike's number twos include “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Underneath</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Power Play</a>”, but the most impressive one is “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Girl in Question</a>”, a buddy comedy sending Spike and Angel to Rome in search of Buffy. Spike's 1155 words are less than Angel's 1444, but between them, the pair speak 51.8% of the episode. Spike's five number ones are all tucked into the first half of the season, starting with episode number two, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Just Rewards</a>”, in which he comes to terms with the fact of his ghost-like existence within Wolfram & Hart over an amazing 1606 words, his highest ever. Two episodes later, Spike's back at number one with 1180 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Hellbound</a>”, a bit of a continuation, in which he comes to believe that he is drifting permanently toward eternal damnation. Four episodes after that, Spike becomes corporeal, and we have “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Destiny</a>”, another buddy-movie episode where Spike finds out that his and Angel's destinies are intertwined in several ways. His 1175 words are only 15 more than Angel's 1160, and between them they get 52.8% of the whole episode. Two episodes after that, we get the impressive “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Soul Purpose</a>”, where Angel dreams about Spike stealing his destiny. Spike's 878 words give him a number one finish, while Angel ekes in at a mere number five – perhaps due to the fact that David Boreanaz was busier behind the camera than in front. Spike's final number one is the very next episode, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Damage</a>”, a great follow-up to the legacy of “Chosen”, where Buffy's plan to activate all potential slayers has created in L.A. a psychotic slayer who blames Spike for the trauma she suffered as a child.<br />
<br />
A character as important as Spike doesn't really die... well, not permanently, anyway. He is shoulder-to-shoulder with Angel in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>”, about to go into battle, and his character is all over the comic book series that have followed the Buffyverse's televisual demise. James Marsters might even appear in a made-for-TV movie in the role. There's just no killing Spike.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #7</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #5</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #7</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 32,573</li>
<ul><li>Season 2: 3117</li>
<li>Season 3: 1098</li>
<li>Season 4: 5697</li>
<li>Season 5: 8144</li>
<li>Season 6: 7238</li>
<li>Season 7: 7279</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 13,780</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 979</li>
<li>Season 2: 61</li>
<li>Season 5: 12,740</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 46,353</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 95</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 7</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 7</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 10</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 12</li>
<li>Minor: 53</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 24</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 7</li>
<li>Minor: 6</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 119</li>
</ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=c4a5bc74-6dff-432f-8bc3-4da529f20288" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-58804161036678791062010-07-21T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-21T12:00:03.567-07:00#8: Wesley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEZSiiqSDFI/AAAAAAAAAaA/MtDHhJrqCQ8/s1600/08+-+Wesley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEZSiiqSDFI/AAAAAAAAAaA/MtDHhJrqCQ8/s400/08+-+Wesley.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
In Season Three of <i>Buffy</i>, in the wonderful Douglas Petrie-penned episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bad Girls</a>”, Faith's slide into evil picks up pace as she accidentally kills the Mayor's deputy, after giving Buffy a taste of the excitement of living above the law. A great episode, it also happens to introduce a new character: Wesley Wyndham-Price, a new watcher, whose pompous demeanour immediately rubs everyone the wrong way. Described by Xander as 'Pierce Brosnan-y', Wesley is mostly a one-dimensional caricature, an arrogant but clueless authority figure, devoid of courage or grit, a butt of jokes, destined surely for the trashheap of annoying characters who get theirs by the end of the season.<br />
<br />
Who would equate that character with the one who dies in Illyria's arms in the last episode of <i>Angel</i>, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>”, having been killed by Cyvus Vail? That world-weary character has lived a lot in his years on earth, a lot of difficult decisions, a lot of pain, a lot of down-and-dirty battles... those two characters would barely recognise each other.<br />
<br />
Yet so masterful are the writers of these two series (well, <i>Angel</i> primarily) that at no step does the evolution seem forced or unrealistic. Wesley's role on <i>Buffy</i> is limited to that single season, Season Three, where he manages to come in tenth for the season. He appears in nine episodes, though he has a significant role only in one: that début “Bad Girls”, where he's good for 699 words and a number-two finish. His comic relief and embarrassing lusting after Cordelia carry him through to the end of the season, where he's never after seen on <i>Buffy</i> and, I can only presume, Alexis Denisof started looking for new work.<br />
<br />
Wesley appears on <i>Angel</i> in the first episode after Doyle's death, and while the writers went to pains to underline the idea that Wesley was <i>not</i> Doyle's replacement, it's really tough to see it otherwise. Almost immediately, he's accepted as a member of the team, and he becomes a central character on <i>Angel</i>, remaining so until that final episode. He speaks in 98 of the show's 110 episodes (appearing in 100), a number second only to Angel himself. Additionally, only 28 of those 98 appearances are minor, with 70 peaturing Wesley in the top five. For all that, though, he ranks number one only four times, outlining his 'supporting' role.<br />
<br />
Of his thirteen Season One appearances, only one, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">War Zone</a>” with 326 words, is minor. This impressive record gives him a number four finish for the season, with 7360 words just behind Doyle himself. Three number twos include the season finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">To Shanshu in L.A.</a>”, but Wesley's sole number one this season is in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Expecting</a>”, which is actually a Cordelia episode, though Wesley's babbling demeanour gives him 1002 words to Cordelia's 980. While still clearly the same blowhard he was in <i>Buffy</i>, Wesley has progressed to a character with a greater morality, a sense of duty and loyalty, and a valuable team member.<br />
<br />
In Season Two, Wesley makes only four minor appearances among 22 episodes, bottoming out in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Trial</a>” with a mere 110 words. 10,411 words is his highest seasonal word-count, and number three is his highest seasonal ranking (he'll tie it once more). Yet while he gets four number-twos, including “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Shroud of Rahmon</a>” where he serves as a kind of narrator and says 790 words, he gets only one number one. Yet “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Guise Will be Guise</a>”, a fabulous episode where he impersonates Angel, is most definitely a 'Wesley episode', and he says 1037 words throughout. This season, Wesley graduates to de facto 'leader' of Angel Investigations during Angel's estrangement, picking up traits of leadership and responsibility. Right from the first episode of this season, the 'new Wesley' is in evidence.<br />
<br />
Season Three is a major turning-point for Wesley. Rejected by Fred in favour of Gunn, we start to see darkness in him for the first time, and his sense of responsibility (not to mention unwavering belief in prophecy) leads him to kidnap Angel's son and turn him over to Holtz, a shocking decision that puts his life in peril twice, first as his throat is slit and he is left for dead, and again as Angel tries to kill him. This rift between Wesley and the rest of the group lasts for quite some time and helps to explain why Wesley's role this season, with 7893 words and a number four finish, is somewhat diminished. In fact, though he appears in all 22 episodes, he <i>speaks</i> in only 20, having been left temorarily mute by the throat-slitting. Thus, while his two number-twos, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Loyalty</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Sleep Tight</a>”, feature the peak of his Connor-Angel-prophecy arc, it might be a surprise that his sole number-one, with 974 words, is in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Billy</a>”, a monster-of-the-week episode featuring a man who can turn other men into misanthropic animals with a single touch. This episode, though, is our first real taste of the 'darkness' within Wesley, and his behaviour, under Billy's influence, is quite frightening.<br />
<br />
Season four features Wesley's gradual reintroduction to the team. Yet it's an overcrowded season, one that gives Wesley very little to do except participate as a team member: he's of primary importance again when he takes the lead as Angel disappears into the Angelus character. Ultimately, then, his number five season ranking is his lowest ever on <i>Angel</i>, and his 7396 words almost the lowest. He has two number twos, 723 words questioning Angelus in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Soulless</a>” and 917 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Spin the Bottle</a>”, a delightful episode that gives us a sudden flashback to <i>Buffy</i>-era Wesley, a nice reminder by comparison of how far the character had come.<br />
<br />
Once the team moves to Wolfram & Hart, Wesley would appear to be in a familiar role, heading up research into ancient prophecies in a central, yet still supportive capacity. Yet when his finally-blossoming romance with Fred is cut short by her untimely death, Wesley enters a downward spiral into nihilism and alcoholism, entering into a complex relationship with the 'old one' who killed her, Illyria. Ultimately a tragic figure by the time of his death, Wesley is much more central to Season Five than it might appear, coming in third overall after Angel and Spike with 9631 words. Two consecutive number-two finishes in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">A Hole in the World</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Shells</a>” reveal his centrality to the Fred-Illyria storyline, and his only number-one of the season, at 1266 his highest-ever word-count, is in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Lineage</a>”, where a cyborg in the form of Wesley's father comes to Wolfram & Hart intent on harming Angel. Wesley shoots this cyborg, believing that he is in fact shooting his father. His absence from the next episode is attributed to time off to recuperate from the trauma, while the real-world reality is that his actor, Alexis Denisof, needed time off to marry Alyson Hannigan, who played Willow.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #8</li>
<li>Ranking on<i> Buffy</i>: #26</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #3</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 2390</li>
<ul><li>Season 3: 2390</li>
</ul><li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 42,691</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 7360</li>
<li>Season 2: 10,411</li>
<li>Season 3: 7893</li>
<li>Season 4: 7396</li>
<li>Season 5: 9631</li>
</ul><li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 45,081</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on Buffy: 9</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 2</li>
<li>Minor: 6</li>
</ul><li>Total speaking appearances on Angel: 98</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 13</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 20</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 21</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 12</li>
<li>Minor: 28</li>
</ul><li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 107</li>
</ul><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-61225443651492452342010-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-20T12:00:02.962-07:00#9: Gunn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEURLLKCrVI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/PX_wBx3Zn1I/s1600/09+-+Gunn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEURLLKCrVI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/PX_wBx3Zn1I/s400/09+-+Gunn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
It's probably Gunn's curse to be a bit overlooked. In <i>Angel</i>, he's often downplayed as merely 'the muscle', despite having an impressive background and a commitment to 'the good fight' that arguably dwarfs everyone else's on the show, including the 'champion' Angel. In addition, in looking at the series at a whole, his contribution, and that of his actor J. August Richards, feel often inadequately recognised. Who, if asked which four characters on <i>Angel</i> had spoken the most dialogue on the show, would correctly label Gunn for number four?<br />
<br />
Even Gunn's entry to the show, late in season one, feels understated - oddly, since it occurs in an episode primarily devoted to him. While Gary Campbell's "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">War Zone</a>" makes a rather heavy-handed contrast between the poor street-dwelling vampire fighter Gunn, engaged in the netherworld because he needs to be to protect those close to him, and the Bill Gates-modelled David Nabbit, a billionaire dabbling in the netherworld out of boredom, Gunn is clearly the more interesting character, and his #3 finish here with 460 words falls behind her sister Alonna and Angel himself, with whom Gunn has a complex relationship throughout the series. Gunn appears in every episode from then on, though with only two episodes left, he's hardly a major contributor to the season.<br />
<br />
Gunn takes a much more significant role in Season Two, coming fifth for the season with 6417 words, becoming a regular member of Angel Investigations and a central part of it during Angel's estrangement. Still, he gets few opportunities this season to truly shine, topping 400 words only twice: once with 1035 words (his highest word-count ever) but only a #2 finish in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">First Impressions</a>", the episode where Gunn really becomes a permanent team member, with Cordy tailing him out of fear for his life (the two contribute 56.6% of the entire script). The other time is a #1 finish in the estrangement-era episode "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Thin Dead Line</a>", a confused episode about zombie cops set in Gunn's former neighbourhood.<br />
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Season Three features more of Gunn than Season Two, though he still feels largely like a minor character for a good deal of it. He finishes fifth again, with 7501 words. His romantic involvement with Fred brings a much-needed non-work aspect to Gunn's character, and as he played a particular role in keeping the gang together during Angel's estrangement, so he does again during Wesley's. "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">That Old Gang of Mine</a>", the third episode of the season is a much-needed 'Gunn episode', resolving certain aspects of the duality of his life, confronting his former 'gang' as a full member of his new 'gang' (Angel Investigations). His 948 words give him a number one finish. After that, we go all the way to the final stretch of the season for two consecutive number-two finishes, one, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Double or Nothing</a>" is most definitely <i>his</i> episode, in which the bargain he'd made seven years previously exchanging his soul for a truck comes back to haunt him, but he finished number two behind Fred, with 754 words. The next episode, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Price</a>", in which the Hyperion is infested by slug-like creatures and we finally meet teenage Connor, has Gunn at 667 words, partly through his concern as Fred becomes infected by one of the creatures.<br />
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While Season Four is so thoroughly caught up in its main plot that it might appear characters would be pushed to the wayside, it is very much 'Gunn's season'. He and Fred break up and he finds himself constrained by his role in Angel Investigations, but he's given such a chance to shine that he actually winds up at #3 for the season, behind only those two people who appear on the DVD box cover - and even at that, he's little more than a sentence away from #2, with 9103 words to Cordelia's 9111 (and by 'Cordelia', I mean all aspects of the 'Cordelia/Jasmine' character not played by Gina Torres). This expanded role becomes immediately apparent, as he gets a #1 ranking with 744 words in the season opener, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Deep Down</a>", playing the 'alpha male' at Angel Investigations in Angel's absence. In the third episode, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The House Always Wins</a>", he speaks 692 words for a #2 finish behind main character Lorne, and in the fifth, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Supersymmetry</a>", he speaks 686 words for a #2 behind main character Fred and ultimately joins the rather large club of Buffyverse characters who have killed humans. By far, Charles's biggest chance to shine in the season comes in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Players</a>", where he teams up with Gwen, who finished ahead of his 1006-word number-two finish. The two are good for 54.4% of the dialogue in what is otherwise a crucial episode of the evil-Cordelia plotline.<br />
<br />
Season Five sees all of the characters changing their roles, but perhaps none so much as Gunn, who is transformed into a cunning attorney with much more moral ambiguity that we have seen in him to date. 7841 words represents a drop in a character-filled season, but he still finishes a respectable fourth. Despite this, there are no real 'Gunn episodes' this season, as he in many ways returns to being a dependable but apparently inessential team member. The legal knowledge implanted into Gunn's head becomes the main aspect of his storyline, and when it starts to fade, his attempts to get it back lead indirectly to Fred's death. Much of the remainder of Gunn's season is spent atoning for that action. He gets no #1 finishes, finishing #2 only in season opener "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Conviction</a>" with 681 words and again, surprisingly, in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco</a>" with 764 words, ahead of Numero Cinco himself.<br />
<br />
His role in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>", the series finale, is understated: 285 words and number four. In the very final scene, Gunn is alive and kicking, about to go into the battle that Angel's team's actions have unleashed, but he has wounds that Illyria describes as mortal. More than any other character in the Buffyverse, his status as the series ends is unclear. It's resolved in the comic book series, where, unexpectedly, he dies and is turned into a vampire, but when Angel says "Let's go to work" and the credits role, Gunn is still alive, valiantly supporting Angel and selflessly fighting the good fight with no consideration for whether he lives or dies. Just as he always did.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #9</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #4</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>:31,598</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 736</li>
<li>Season 2: 6417</li>
<li>Season 3: 7501</li>
<li>Season 4: 9103</li>
<li>Season 5: 7841</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 91</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 8</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 10</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 12</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 14</li>
<li>Minor: 44</li>
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-34525462154494068832010-07-19T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-19T12:00:01.297-07:00#10: Fred<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEPCNeU19cI/AAAAAAAAAZw/UQGotygn-Gc/s1600/10+-+Fred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TEPCNeU19cI/AAAAAAAAAZw/UQGotygn-Gc/s400/10+-+Fred.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Anybody looking for proof that <i>Angel</i> was not just your average run-of-the-mill hour-long drama need look no further than the character of Fred. I can't imagine which other TV show would create such a unique character. Or alternately which actor, other than Amy Acker, could inhabit the character so completely and bring her to life so endearingly. Technically, her first appearance is in Shawn Ryan's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Belonging</a>”, the last epsisode of Season Two to be set entirely in LA, though it's only in photos and flashbacks: she never says a word. It's easier, then, to see her début as occurring in Mere Smith's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Over the Rainbow</a>”, where she says 176 words. From those early appearances as a half-insane vagabond on the run from the authorities in the hell dimension of Pylea, through her amazing evolution into the self-confident scientific mastermind of Wolfram & Hart in the first half of Season Five, the character inspires nothing so much as a kind of unconditional love. It's impossible <i>not</i> to love Fred, as becomes apparent in the Season Five episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">A Hole in the World</a>”, where the essence of the 'Old One' Illyria, brought to Wolfram & Hart by Knox and through Gunn's accidental agency, enters her body and kills her. That episode and the ones that follow show a mourning for her loss unequalled in five death-filled seasons of <i>Angel</i>. Fred occupies a unique spot on the show as the single character whose loss affected the team greatest.<br />
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Fred says only 920 words in Season Two, since, as with Gunn a season before, she's introduced only at the tail-end of the season. She's in only three episodes, in Pylea, reaching the top five only with season finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb</a>”, where her 495 words get her a number three finish.<br />
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She comes back to LA with the team, taking residence in the Hyperion Hotel while slowly readjusting to life in the human world. It's touch-and-go whether she'll become a regular member of the team, but by the end of the season, she's well entrenched in her new role, central to the team and dating Gunn as well. Rather shockingly, she jumps all the way up to number three for this season, meaning she speaks more words than everyone else on the show that season save two characters. The 8984 word-count is also as high as she ever got. Though that run contains 10 minors, three number-fives and six number-fours, it does also contain fully three number-one finishes, 1343 words (her largest count ever) in the eponymous “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Fredless</a>”, where we meet her family and she becomes a permanent member of the team, and two back-to-back number-ones, 754 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Forgiving</a>” and 1022 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Double or Nothing</a>”, a Gunn episode, where he still speaks almost three hundred words fewer than his girlfriend.<br />
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Season four features Fred and Gunn's breakup, but otherwise there's not that much for Fred to do until the Jasmine mini-arc at the end of the season. As with the Pylea mini-arc, Fred's character shines in the multi-episode format. She starts off well, with two number twos at the beginning of the season, 730 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Deep Down</a>” as effectively half of the understaffed Angel Investigations and a surprising 669 words in 'Gwen episode' “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Ground State</a>”. Episode number five of the season is a 'Fred episode', “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Supersymmetry</a>”, where the story of her expulsion to Pylea is tied up and Fred and Gunn's revenge on the professor who sent her there puts a permanent wedge in their relationship. At 30.5% of the whole script, her 1138 words are well-earned.<br />
<br />
Its mostly the shadows from then on until Jasmine. In “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Shiny Happy People</a>” she's second only to Jasmine herself (the two characters combine for 59% of the episode's dialogue) and in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Magic Bullet</a>”, she's second to none, albeit with a surprisingly low 557 words (the third-lowest number-one-ranking word count in the series). All in all, if the Jasmine 'epic' is considered as a single episode, Fred ranks #2, behind Jasmine herself but ahead of Angel himself. All in all, in Season Four, Fred finishes fourth with 8801 words.<br />
<br />
Numerologists might be intrigued that Fred finished third in Season Three, fourth in Season Four and, you guessed it, fifth in Season Five. 6857 words is a drop, but one must remember that her character <i>dies</i> in this season. For the remainder of the series, Illyria walks around in Fred's 'shell', played of course also by Amy Acker. If we considered Fred and Illyria to be the same person, and we shouldn't, a total of 9453 words would only raise her to number four. “A Hole in the World” is the episode of her death; 33 words spoken in a dream of Wesley's are credited post-mortem to her, but none of Illyria's experiments with the body (colour) or voice of Fred count. “A Hole in the World” is a comfortable number-one finish, at 826 words, but her other number-one and number-two finishes this season are all in support of other people: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Unleashed</a>”, at 907 words and number one, is a Nina episode. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Hellbound</a>”, at 909 words and number two, is a Spike episode. And “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Harm's Way</a>”, at 700 words and number two, is Harmony's episode. Her willingness to play sidekick might explain that crowd around her deathbed, and might explain why not loving Fred is about as perverse a response to the TV show <i>Angel</i> as one could imagine.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #10</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #5</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 25,562</li>
<ul><li>Season 2: 920</li>
<li>Season 3: 8984</li>
<li>Season 4: 8801</li>
<li>Season 5: 6857</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 63</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 7</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 5</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 11</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 6</li>
<li>Minor: 30</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=a55d47ef-91d0-4aa5-ba3c-6b76f6610463" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-52064721172941504282010-07-16T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-16T12:00:02.565-07:00#11: Lorne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TD9MGyJuESI/AAAAAAAAAZY/mK0xgUvXeLI/s1600/11+-+Lorne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TD9MGyJuESI/AAAAAAAAAZY/mK0xgUvXeLI/s400/11+-+Lorne.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
They say that the character Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, known to friends as 'Lorne' (and known for almost a whole season merely as 'The Host'), was really just the late, great Andy Hallett in green make-up – meaning that the character was very closely modeled on the actor. If that's so, Andy Hallett, who died in 2009 at 33 years of age, must have been quite a loveable person.<br />
<br />
Krevlornswath is a demon from the dimension of Pylea. Possessing few of the qualities usually associated with demons, Lorne gets along well with humans and is much more interested in good than in evil. In Los Angeles, he starts off as the host and owner of Caritas, a demon karaoke bar catering non-judgementally to both the good and the evil, but with time he is fully absorbed into Angel Investigations, becoming a key member of Wolfram & Hart once Angel's team joins the evil law firm.<br />
<br />
Known for his loyalty and compassion in addition to great singing voice and natty dress sense, Lorne is given one of the most unpleasant departures of any character not killed in the Buffyverse. He survives Season Five, but with his faith and enthusiasm severely tested by the events of the season. Unexpectedly, Angel orders him to shoot Lindsey point-blank, and he leaves “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>” promising to disappear from Angel's world and asking not be be sought out (though he does reappear in the canonical “After the Fall” comic book series).<br />
<br />
Until that time, however, Lorne was a great scene-stealer, with a motormouth and an energy that placed him in the centre of a good many episodes. The flashy episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Judgement</a>”, which gets season two off to an exciting start, begins with Lorne's green face unexpectedly breaking into a Gloria Gaynor tune. The episode, by David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon, gives Lorne 532 words and a number-three finish. Lorne appears in a total of 15 episodes that season, finishing fourth, ahead, amazingly enough, of Gunn. He finishes #2 once, in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Reprise</a>” with 427 words, but quite surprisingly, of the six number-one finished Lorne racks up across four seasons, fully half are in this season alone: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Happy Anniversary</a>”, where his 1355 words are nearly a third of the whole script and are Lorne's second-highest word count ever, and two consecutive episodes in the Pylea arc at the end of the season: 972 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Belonging</a>” and 1086 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Over the Rainbow</a>”. Across the Pylean epic, Lorne actually says more words than Angel, though fewer than Cordelia.<br />
<br />
Appearing in 17 season three episodes, Lorne steps back a bit: 5242 words to 6516 the previous season, and a number-six finish. No number-one finishes, and no word counts higher than 675, despite moving into the Hyperion with the rest of the gang and being Connor's main babysitter. Two number-two finishes during Connor's infancy: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Dad</a>” with 498 words and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Provider</a>” with 675.<br />
<br />
Lorne appears in 21 of 22 episodes in season four, missing only episode two. He more than makes up for that in episode three, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The House Always Wins</a>”, where he is trapped in Las Vegas. He has 1047 words this episode, 224 of them sung. The hilarious amnesia-episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Spin the Bottle</a>” might seem like a surprising number-one for Lorne, who spends much of the episode unconscious. But he narrates the entire episode with the framing device of a story told over a piano at some dive bar. 517 of his 945 words this episode are narration, and without it, Lorne would come in at number five. This episode starts the main 'Beast' storyline going, and after that Lorne takes a backseat, appearing no higher than number three in any episode, and again finishing number six for the season, though 6652 words is his highest seasonal word count.<br />
<br />
Lorne again finished number six in Season Five, a second six-six-six finish like Dawn's that might set numerologists' teeth on edge. This is a bit of a strange season. In 21 of 22 episodes, he's very much a background character, never saying more than 386 words and getting only one number-four finish. The exception, though, is quite an exception: in the Lorne episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Life of the Party</a>”, Lorne says a jaw-dropping 1925 words, 39.2% of the whole episode. This is the single largest word-count in Angel, and indeed in the entire Buffyverse. If Lorne in this episode were a separate character, that character would still show up on this list at 47, ahead of Skip, Professor Walsh, Ben and the Groosalugg. 39.2% is not a record, bested once in Angel by Angelus and twice in Buffy by Angel and by Spike. It is still an incredible performance, by an incredible actor in an incredible role.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #11</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #6</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 23,901</li>
<ul><li>Season 2: 6516</li>
<li>Season 3: 5242</li>
<li>Season 4: 6652</li>
<li>Season 5: 5491</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 75</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 4</li>
<li>Minor: 50</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=eb2a7069-587b-4dbd-af82-640797aba1e5" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-72003723082353705752010-07-15T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-15T12:00:03.008-07:00#12: Anya<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TD9J1s6kd3I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/euIt5xiTAJ4/s1600/12+-+Anya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TD9J1s6kd3I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/euIt5xiTAJ4/s400/12+-+Anya.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The rumour goes that Emma Caulfield was brought in for a single appearance in Marti Noxon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Wish</a>”, playing a 'vengeance demon' named Anya who grants Cordelia's wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, with the writers having no plans to bring her back. If that's true, she can probably thank Alyson Hannigan, whose performance as Vampire Willow was strong enough to suggest a sequel, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Doppelgängland</a>”. After that, Anya slowly became a regular, entering into a relationship with Xander and getting used to, and involved in, human life.<br />
<br />
<i>Human</i> life? Well, up there with Darla and Dawn for complex back-stories, the character was actually born human in 860 AD in Scandinavia as Aud. Wreaking vengeance on her lover Olaf leads her to D'Hoffryn, a demon who transforms Aud into Anyanka, a 'vengeance demon' who spends a thousand years wreaking vengeance on behalf of scorned women. The wish she grants Cordelia backfires, leaving her returned to human form in Sunnydale, a high school girl with the name Anya. As the series progresses, she falls in love and gets engaged to Xander. His decision to leave her at the altar makes her return to the vengeance fold, until she becomes human once again, regretting an act of vengeance she's committed against a group of frat boys (the manner in which D'Hoffryn appears able to transform Anya from human to demon and back again is never explained). Finally, she participates in the battle in series finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”, only to die a particularly brutal death at the hands of one of the Turok-Han.<br />
<br />
Anya appears in 81 episodes across five seasons. Her per-season word count arcs, starting at a mere 1265 words in season three, climbing to 2692 words (and a number seven finish) in season four and 4998 words (number seven again) in season five, reaching a high of 8502 words in season six (and remarkably a number four finish) before dropping down to 5836 words in (the character-heavy) season seven (where she still finished number five).<br />
<br />
Of Anya's 81 appearances, 52 are minor (and interestingly for a casted character, there are several episodes, including three in the final season, where she appears only in the opening credits). However, she ranks #2 three times and #1 four times. Never ranking above number three in seasons three or four, Anya gets her first number one in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Triangle</a>”, a humorous, if slightly out-of-character, episode revolving around the aggression that exists between Anya and Willow. She speaks 1056 words of this very wordy episode (its 5116 words are the highest in the whole series).<br />
<br />
Season six, definitely Anya's peak, features three number-twos and two number-ones. Her number-two in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bargaining, Part Two</a>” is suspect, in that my word-count for that episode is problematically low. Though not at all an 'Anya episode', “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Doublemeat Palace</a>” features Anya preparing for her wedding and in dialogue with Halfrek, giving her a #2 finish of 547 words (tied exactly with Willow). Her significant role in the Dawn episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Older and Far Away</a>” gives her 598 words and a #2 finish, yet Anya reaches her absolute peak soon after that, with two number-one finishes separated only by “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Normal Again</a>”, an episode she intriguingly doesn't appear in at all. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Hell's Bells</a>” is the episode of her would-be wedding, where Xander leaves her. Her excellent performance is good for 818 words and a number-one finish. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Entropy</a>” features Anya seeking someone to allow her to grant vengeance on Xander, and ends up with her sleeping with Spike. Her 1101 words, almost 25% of the whole episode, is her highest word count, higher even than season seven's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Selfless</a>”, an Anya episode <i>par excellence</i>, where she speaks 1020 words, including 206 words in Old Norse as Aud, 137 words in revolutionary St. Petersburg, and 254 words spoken and sung during a flashback to the circumstances of “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Once More With Feeling</a>”.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #12</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #6</li>
<li>Total words spoken on Buffy: 23,293</li>
<ul><li>Season 3: 1265</li>
<li>Season 4: 2692</li>
<li>Season 5: 4998</li>
<li>Season 6: 8502</li>
<li>Season 7: 5836</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on Buffy: 81</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 8</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 8</li>
<li>Minor: 52</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=0f9fdeb5-5e71-4906-b4b6-e27670fecc42" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-66512378274593775902010-07-14T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-14T12:00:03.511-07:00#13: Dawn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TD3pECYWt-I/AAAAAAAAAZI/NnAwJhPMo2o/s1600/13+-+Dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TD3pECYWt-I/AAAAAAAAAZI/NnAwJhPMo2o/s400/13+-+Dawn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Poor, misunderstood Dawnie. An amazingly complex storyline, wherein she is in fact a bundle of ancient energy capable of opening a portal between dimensions, turned into human flesh using Buffy's blood by a group of monks and inserted into Buffy's family, and into the memories of everyone involved with Buffy, as her little sister in order to keep 'The Beast', a banished god from a hell dimension, from finding her and using her in order to return home to her own dimension, slowly gels across Season Five, but initially, when she is introduced with a word-count of one ('Mom!') in Marti Noxon's "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Buffy vs. Dracula</a>" (Michelle Trachtenberg's sole appearance outside of the main cast), she is thrust into the story with no explanation whatsoever, appearing for all the world like an example of the Hollywood cliché of sticking a previously-unknown family member into a tired franchise to give it some new life.<br />
<br />
In all probability, the writers intended to play with that hackneyed device, before introducing the elements of the storyline by which Dawn becomes a central part of the season's storyline. "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Real Me</a>", the following episode, is the proper introduction to the character, though her 637 words (147 on-screen and 490 in a voice-over to her diary) are merely enough to get her a number three ranking. This presents the single most amazing stat about Dawn: in 66 episodes, every episode of the final three seasons, Dawn never on a single occasion gets a number-one ranking. There is no episode of <i>Buffy</i> in which Dawn says more dialogue than any other character. Three number threes, seven number twos, but no number ones. Always a bridesmaid... Unsurprisingly, number-thirteen Dawn is the highest-ranking character in the Buffyverse never to have had a single number-one episode (she's the highest-ranking character to have had less than <i>three</i>).<br />
<br />
This might have to do with the fact that, while Dawn is a constant presence, she's all too infrequently given much to <i>do</i> in the Buffyverse. An average word-count of 243 words belies the fact that, outside of the occasions where she features in the plot, her word-count is frequently much lower than that. There are in fact sixteen episodes in which she speaks fewer than a hundred words.<br />
<br />
In 'her season', Season Five, Dawn says the sixth-largest number of words of anyone in the season. She ranks number three in the aforementioned "Real Me" and also in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Body</a>", where she speaks a mere 352 words mourning the death of her mother. The following episode, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Forever</a>", is more properly a Dawn episode, and the 644 words she speaks gives her a number-two ranking. Her highest word count in the season is 868, in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Blood Ties</a>", the episode where she discovers the truth about herself. This is still a number two, however, lagging behind Buffy's 950 words.<br />
<br />
A sense of arrested development mars Dawn's contribution to Season Six, where she appears all too frequently to be gratingly petulant. While petulance is excusable given the circumstances of her life and upbringing, Dawn's character could have benefited greatly from a greater sense of balance, if some of the growth she exhibits in Season Seven were more apparent in this season. Nonetheless, she ranks number six once again this season, with one number three, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Wrecked</a>", where Willow's magicoholism threatens Dawn's life, and two number twos, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">All the Way</a>", a definite "Dawn episode" where her meagre 472 word count belies the fact that she's on-screen for most of the episode and is a mere three words less than Buffy's number-one ranking 475 words, and "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Afterlife</a>", rather surprisingly her highest performance of the season with 539 words despite not being in any way a 'Dawn episode'.<br />
<br />
In Season Seven, a more grown-up Dawn begins to make tangible contributions to the Scoobies, even though she's all but a non-entity in as many as half of the season's episodes. Once again, for a third and final time, she ranks number six, her three consecutive number-six finished perhaps fodder for those who see her as the Devil. In fact, her word-count per season is remarkably consistent: 5225 words, 5556 words, and 5467 words. She ranks number two on three distinct episodes in which she plays a crucial role: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lessons</a>”, where she receives lessons on fighting from Buffy and settles into her new high school with a bump or two, the excellent “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Potential</a>”, by far Michelle Trachtenberg's best performance in the role, with 787 words, and “Him”, where Dawn (and three other Scoobies) fall under a love spell. In this performance, Dawn says 1030 words, her most by far, and <i>still</i> doesn't capture the number-one spot, far behind Buffy's 1405 words.<br />
<br />
“Yeah, Buffy, what are we gonna do now?” With this words, spoken by Dawn, the seven seasons of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> came to an end. The fact that Dawn says the final words in the whole series certainly suggests that she came out of it alive, and she has a greatly increased role in the comic book Season Eight.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #13</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #7</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 16,262</li>
<ul><li>Season 5: 5225</li>
<li>Season 6: 5556</li>
<li>Season 7: 5467</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 66</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 7</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 5</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 3</li>
<li>Minor: 49</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=0e2ce391-b43a-42b7-afaf-c418fc9e760c" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-68221835220069624092010-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-14T09:32:24.620-07:00#14: Faith<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDtW2jxWJqI/AAAAAAAAAZA/F08e7rZ4kO0/s1600/14+-+Faith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" rw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDtW2jxWJqI/AAAAAAAAAZA/F08e7rZ4kO0/s400/14+-+Faith.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
As regards the total word count, Faith is the character in the whole Buffyverse to have spoken the most words without ever appearing in the opening credits (or more precisely without the actor Eliza Dushku's name appearing in the credits) – and, though Tara and Joyce are the obvious main contenders here, arguably the most important.<br />
<br />
Though originally a <i>Buffy</i> Season Three phenomenon, with her entire story seemingly wrapped up by the end of that particular season, Faith then became a recurring character thereafter, appearing in seasons four and seven of <i>Buffy</i> and seasons one, two and four of <i>Angel</i>. She speaks more words outside of <i>Buffy</i> season three than she does within that season, and appears in precisely as many episodes after as she does during.<br />
<br />
So in other words, Faith is no one-season phenomenon. Buffy's clinical death in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Prophecy Girl</a>" led to the creation of Kendra the Vampire Slayer. <i>Her</i> (permanent) death at Drusilla's hands created Faith, who rolls into town in the eponymous David Greenwalt-composed episode "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Faith, Hope and Trick</a>" (the only of those three characters of any long-term significance). Not only extremely talkative but possessing every inch of the charisma that the other characters perceive her to have, Faith stomps all over every scene she appears in from the very beginning, with 732 words and a number-two ranking in this first episode. Though there are two 76-word episodes among eight minor parts, Faith is still no backgound character: there is also a number-five finish, a number-three finish ("<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bad Girls</a>", by far the highlight of people who enjoy the Faith-Buffy dynamic but also the episode where Faith accidentally kills a human) and two number-ones in this season alone, as her arc begins to turn darker and darker: "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Consequences</a>", examining the, well, <i>consequences</i> of her stabbing of a human, with 1016 words, and "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Enemies</a>", where Buffy and Angel put their relationship uner extreme tension in order to trick Faith into giving up important secrets, with 1127 words (her highest word-count ever).<br />
<br />
In 'her season', Faith has enough dialogue to be the fifth most-spoken character for the season. Her touching father-daughter relationship with the season's Big Bad, the Mayor, has turned her towards evil, and ultimately Buffy puts her into a coma, which is why her only (still pivotal) words in the season finale "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Graduation Day, Part Two</a>" are spoken in Buffy's dream (or however you interpret that event). Her coma lasts well into the next year, where you then get an impressive mini-arc across both series, as follows: in <i>Buffy</i> Season Four's "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">This Year's Girl</a>", Faith speaks 756 words for a number two finish. This word-count includes 17 words in Buffy's body, which sets up the following episode, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Who are You?</a>" The Mayor had left Faith a device that could let people switch bodies, and Faith switched her and Buffy's body. The amazing episode that follows gives Faith 1011 words of dialogue, and easy number-one finish with almost twice as many words as anyone else, but <i>all 1011</i> of those words are spoken by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Eliza Dushku speaks only 332 words this episode. No matter, as it's the 1011 that I include in Faith's word-count, whoever's body she's in. Amazingly, these mere two episodes still put Faith at number two for most words spoken in Season Four.<br />
<br />
After this, Faith runs to Los Angeles for a further two episodes on <i>Angel</i>, "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Five by Five</a>", where she ranks number one with 814 words (her highest word-count on Angel) operating as an assassin hired by Wolfram & Hart to kill Angel, and "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Sanctuary</a>", where she ranks number four with 442 words in an incredible episode featuring <i>eight</i> characters that originated on <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>. This episode ends with her 'redemption' as she turns herself into the police (though this remarkable arc still continues without her back on <i>Buffy</i>), and this two-episode run remarkably lets her finish number eight in Season One overall.<br />
<br />
134 words in a conversation with Angel in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Judgement</a>" (Faith's only minor appearance on that show as a whole) is all we see of Faith between <i>Buffy</i> Season Four/<i>Angel</i> Season One and <i>Buffy</i> Season Seven/<i>Angel</i> Season Four, where something remarkably similar happens: Wesley gets Faith out of jail (she lets herself out in fact) to help their little Angelus problem, and in a three-episode series, Faith ranks number two with 605 words in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Salvage</a>", number five with 308 words in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Release</a>", and number four with 421 words (290 of which are in the headspace she shares with Angelus) in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Orpheus</a>". This run unfortunately leaves Faith outside the top ten for the season.<br />
<br />
At the end of "Orpheus", Willow takes Faith back to Sunnydale, where she appears as a (mostly) reconciled part of Buffy's team in the final five episodes of the series. Though her final two episodes are minor, the first three are, in typical fashion, larger than life (Faith is not a character willing to resign herself to a bit part). In "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Dirty Girls</a>" she says 762 words for a number two finish, in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Empty Places</a>" 673 words and a number two, and in "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Touched</a>", her sole episode as 'leader' of the Scoobies, she finishes at number one with 778 words. "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>" features her alive and kicking on the bus out of town, and she carries on the good fight in Season Eight. Still, she falls outside of the top ten for Season Seven.<br />
<br />
A final stat about Faith: at 469 words, her per-episode average word-count is higher than any character in the top fifteen excepting Buffy, Angel and Cordelia.<br />
<div></div><div></div><ul><li>Overall ranking: #14</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #12</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #19</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 9480</li>
<ul><li>Season 3: 5058 </li>
<li>Season 4: 1767</li>
<li>Season 7: 2655</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 2724</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 1256</li>
<li>Season 2: 134</li>
<li>Season 4: 1334</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 12,204</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 20</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 10</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on Angel: 6</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 1</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 26</li>
</ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=966e41be-d8e8-4728-ac22-0e1b9c8b55bf" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-54385109564611796672010-07-12T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-14T09:35:20.900-07:00#15: Riley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDtVTCzcGsI/AAAAAAAAAY4/tMKNgxrlxPo/s1600/15+-+Riley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" rw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDtVTCzcGsI/AAAAAAAAAY4/tMKNgxrlxPo/s400/15+-+Riley.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Poor, misunderstood Riley Finn. Chronologically falling between Angel and Spike, Riley was one of Buffy's three main love interests on the show, but the endless debate 'who was Buffy meant to be with?' tends to be a binary discussion, with Buffy's sole major non-vampire love interest cast by the wayside.<br />
<br />
There are many reasons why this should be the case: all in all, Riley is not an especially loveable character, in Season Four being unnervingly clean-cut and goody-goody, and in Season Five being excessively whiny and needy. Riley was well-written, but ultimately spoke to a real truth that exists in the real world all the time: that no matter how much someone can try, how much someone can adapt, some people are just not meant to be together, however much you might 'will' it to be different. In that, I mean not only Riley and Buffy as love interests but Riley and the rest of the Scoobies as confidantes, comrades and team-members. Riley might get a harder time than he deserves, but even at that it's tough to view his exit from Sunnydale with anything but relief.<br />
<br />
Anyway, getting his start with 185 words in Joss Whedon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Freshman</a>”, Riley manages to appear in an amazing 20 of 22 episodes in his first season – the two he misses are episodes two and three, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Living Conditions</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Harsh Light of Day</a>”. Marc Blucas is a regular member of the cast from episode ten on, by the time he's not merely a TA but Buffy's love interest and a member of the secret quasi-military organisation that serves as a major part of the season. Number five on the list of characters for season four, he's important enough to the season to break 1000 words on two occasions (“<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Initiative</a>”, 1038 words and a #1, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Doomed</a>”, 1007 words and a number two), rank number five twice, number four five times, number three twice (“<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">A New Man</a>”, 516 words, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">This Year's Girl</a>”, 453 words), number two twice (the other being “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Goodbye Iowa</a>”, 813 words) and number one once. At the other end, though, he gets only 22 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Wild at Heart</a>”<br />
<br />
Riley is so very central to the story of season four that (a) he says 7538 words in that one season alone, which is by itself more than Oz's total word count across the seasons but that (b) he seems woefully out of place in Season Five. To the writers' credit, they made that awkwardness the main thrust of Riley's role in Season Five, allowing his inability to connect with Buffy to drive his character into darker and darker places. This occurs across the first ten episodes of the season, in which he gets two number fives, one number four and three number threes, but nothing higher than that, not even “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Into the Woods</a>”, his finale, where his 624 words are a season high but are still lower than Buffy's or Xander's. He barely scrapes into the top ten this time, coming in at number nine.<br />
<br />
While the last we see of Riley in Season Five is his flying away in a helicopter, as with several other characters, this is not the last we see of him in total. In Season Six, he gets a chance to return to town for a single episode in order to tie up loose ends. That episode, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">As You Were</a>”, is actually his third wordiest appearance, at 960 words and with a number two finish. Riley doesn't die this time either, so as he flies away a second time, this time with wife in two, we can say that he survives the end of the series, appearing in the Season Eight comic book as well.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #15</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #9</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 11,916</li>
<ul><li>Season 4: 7538</li>
<li>Season 5: 3418</li>
<li>Season 6: 960</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 31</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 5</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 4</li>
<li>Minor: 12</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=1a1a067d-ba79-44bd-9263-c316c101831a" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-20568466483081175232010-07-09T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-09T12:00:01.013-07:00#16: Joyce<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDVJPA28W9I/AAAAAAAAAYw/JnfgrHbYy_8/s1600/16+-+Joyce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDVJPA28W9I/AAAAAAAAAYw/JnfgrHbYy_8/s400/16+-+Joyce.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
With an amazing 56 episodes across each of the first six seasons (she doesn't appear in Season Seven; the First appears in her body on two occasions), Buffy's mother Joyce is a comforting and familiar presence, going all the way back to the second scene of Joss Whedon's series début “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Welcome to the Hellmouth</a>”, speaking her first word before even Buffy does), so much so that her premature death (from a brain aneurysm; one of only two natural deaths in the whole show) signals the main shift in the whole series, and in Buffy's character, from child to adult. Being that Joyce was such a regular presence, it's perhaps a surprise that Kristine Sutherland was never a member of the main cast.<br />
<br />
Or perhaps not: for such a regular presence, Joyce very rarely had much significance to the plot, appearing mostly in a few brief scenes per episode. Of those 56 episodes, fully 46 are minor. There are only ten episodes where this character makes it onto the top five. At number five, there's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Becoming, Part Two</a>”, where Joyce learns Buffy is the slayer, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">No Place Like Home</a>”, where Buffy enters into a trance expecting to find magic affecting Joyce's health, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">I Was Made to Love You</a>”, the episode in which Joyce dies. Joyce's only number fours are “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">School Hard</a>”, where she is trapped in the school and threatens Spike with an axe, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Ted</a>”, where her relationship with the titular character still brings her no higher than number four on the list. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bad Eggs</a>”, where she is possessed by the same creature that possesses much of the rest of the cast, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Band Candy</a>”, where she reverts to being a teenager and has a relationship with Giles, are her number-three appearances. Her only number-two appearances are in Season Three, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Dead Man's Party</a>”, one of the only episodes to really qualify as a 'Joyce episode', where she deals with Buffy's absence over the summer (at 789, her largest word count), and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Gingerbread</a>”, where she witnesses the apparent murder of two children and is moved to form 'MOO', cracking down on witches and slayers. Joyce's sole number one is “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Listening to Fear</a>”, where a significant percentage of her 776 words consists of rambling monologues caused by her brain tumour.<br />
<br />
Joyce is the sixth highest-ranking character in season one, where she appears in seven of twelve episodes and says 1304 words. While she's dropped to eight place in season two, she says more than twice as many words: 2748 in 12 episodes. Season three sees her at ninth place, with 3297 words in an amazing fifteen episodes. Season four is set largely at the University of California Sunnydale, where Buffy is living in a dorm, so we see much less of Joyce: a mere 620 words across five episodes. Obviously she's not in the top ten for that season, but surprisingly nor is she in the top ten for season four, where she speaks 2731 words across 16 episodes.<br />
<br />
As noted above, The First takes Joyce's form twice in Season Seven, once to Dawn and once to Buffy. Those are not included in Joyce's word-count, but there are three posthumous appearances which are: one, 52 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Body</a>”, the groundbreaking and brutal episode devoted to the aftermath of Joyce's death, in a Christmas flashback and in a fantasy in Buffy's mind (her lifeless body is also never far from the camera). Two, 48 words in Buffy's mindspace in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Weight of the World</a>”. Three, 231 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Normal Again</a>”, where an alternate reality in Buffy's addled mind has both of her parents visiting her in an asylum.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #16</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #11</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 10,931</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 1304</li>
<li>Season 2: 2748</li>
<li>Season 3: 3297</li>
<li>Season 4: 620</li>
<li>Season 5: 2731</li>
<li>Season 6: 231</li>
</ul><li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 56</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 3</li>
<li>Minor: 46</li>
</ul></ul><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=3272679e-861c-4bc3-bfc0-f850dc1d0a2d" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-9779504036232135182010-07-08T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-08T12:00:00.550-07:00#17: Lilah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDUzUhxpwnI/AAAAAAAAAYo/W7mfs1YQgAg/s1600/17+-+Lilah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDUzUhxpwnI/AAAAAAAAAYo/W7mfs1YQgAg/s400/17+-+Lilah.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Lilah is the first character on our list to have spoken a total of 10,000 words or more. An incredibly ambitious and opportunistic lawyer for Wolfram & Hart, the character of Lilah Morgan is all but defined by 'tenacity' – so all the more appropriate that she holds the record on <i>Angel</i> for most appearances for a non-cast member. Stephanie Romanov's name appeared in the 'guest starring' list for 34 episodes, almost one in three of the total number of episodes. Those 34 appearances span the first four seasons of the show, during which time she averts death at the hands of Darla and Drusilla, beheads her boss, enters into a don't-call-it-relationship relationship with Wesley, averts death at the hands of the Beast, finally dies from an icepick to the neck courtesy of Codelia/Jasmine, and yet <i>still</i> comes back as what we might call Angel's 'spirit guide' in dealing with Wolfram & Hart.<br />
<br />
None of this was apparent in Howard Gordon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Ring</a>”, her inauspicious début. She seems to be just another bit-player in the vast Wolfram & Hart employee roster, though she appears in most of the rest of the season, alongside Lindsey McDonald and Lee Mercer, a troika who for some reason all have the same initials. Five episodes but all minor appearances with just 648 words, Lilah in Season One is hardly a significant character.<br />
<br />
Lilah tends to grow from season to season, registering 1879 words across seven episodes in Season Two. This gets her in the top ten, at number eight just below Lindsey but just above Holland. Her seven appearances include three number fours, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Untouched</a>”, where she acts as Bethany's so-called 'friend', working to bring her into the Wolfram & Hart fold, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Redefinition</a>”, the first episode after Darla and Drusilla spare her life, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Blood Money</a>”, where Angel hatches a plan to publically humiliate Lindsey and her. The others, however, are minor.<br />
<br />
In Season Three, Lilah has an important role in the Darla/Connor saga. Additionally, she starts her relationship with Wesley by the end of the season. 12 appearances in a 22-episode season is her all time high, as is #7 on the top-ten list, with 3798 words. The talkative Lilah makes it into the top five in more than half of those appearances: seven, in fact. That's two fives, three fours and two threes: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Quickening</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Tomorrow</a>” (if that latter surprises, it's not a huge role at 311 words, but almost half the dialogue os spoken by its two principal characters, so the remainder of the top five is a bit of a crapshoot). “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Carpe Noctem</a>”, the episode where she almost has sex with Angel, or rather with an old man in Angel's body, is sadly a minor entry.<br />
<br />
Season Four is by far Lilah's pinnacle. Not only does she speak the most words, 4209 (a number-eight finish), but her ten appearances include six in the top five and, remarkably, <i>two</i> number-ones. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Habeas Corpses</a>”, where the Beast destroys Wolfram & Hart, gives Lilah 652 words, more than anyone else. 581 words gets her a #2 finish in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Calvary</a>”, where she is on the run from the Beast. Of great significance to the season is both the fact that Lilah has a book containing information on the Beast, and the fact of her death reveals to the audience for certain that Cordelia is, indeed, evil. Lilah's death is hardly the death of her, though. In the very next episode, a vision of her in Wesley's imagination speaks 298 words for a #5 finish, and the season ends with Lilah returned from hell in the eternal service of Wolfram & Hart: she ends “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Peace Out</a>” with a mere eleven words (her lowest, obviously) but speaks an amazing 1279 words, by far her highest and 30.8% of the whole episode, in the season finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Home</a>”. This is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the largest number of words in the Buffyverse spoken by a dead person, excluding vampires.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #17</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #8</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 10,534</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 648</li>
<li>Season 2: 1879</li>
<li>Season 3: 3798</li>
<li>Season 4: 4209</li>
</ul><li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 34</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 6</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 5</li>
<li>Minor: 18</li>
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-89421794585206193002010-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-07T12:00:04.903-07:00#18: Andrew<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDK0B_k8hLI/AAAAAAAAAYg/FgEY0Qgzp9c/s1600/18+-+Andrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDK0B_k8hLI/AAAAAAAAAYg/FgEY0Qgzp9c/s400/18+-+Andrew.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
It seems positively perverse to be encountering Andrew so high up on the list: higher than Tara, than Darla, than Oz... much higher than his two accomplices Jonathan (#29) and Warren (#31) – which is interesting, in that uniquely among the three, he had had no prior appearances before being launched as one-third of the season's 'big bad' (apparently, the character of Tucker from “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Prom</a>” was to take the role, but when that actor was unavailable, the character of Tucker's brother was created). However, Andrew is more of a Season 7 character than a Season 6 one, where his partial rehabilitation and semi-involvement with the Scoobies brings him right into the heart of the season. Tom Lenk's impeccable comic timing might, of course, have had much to do with that.<br />
<br />
Andrew says 2084 words in season 6, fewer than Jonathan or Warren and too few to show up in the top ten. Of eleven screen credits that season, ten are minor, with Andrew showing up in the top five only in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Two to Go</a>”, whose title obliquely references Andrew (and Jonathan). He spoke 506 words that episode for a #5 finish. In his first appearace, Jane Espenson and Douglas Petrie's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Flooded</a>”, he says 241 words.<br />
<br />
By comparison, however, after coming back to Sunnydale in order to stab Jonathan and being taken hostage by the Scoobies, the quite talkative Andrew really comes into his own. Appearing in 15 episodes, saying more than twice as many words as in season six, 5443, Andrew is the seventh highest-ranking character for the season. While he gets two number-five finishes, two number-four finishes and one number three, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Showtime</a>” at 408 words, Andrew's <i>tour de force</i> is the episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Storyteller</a>”. Andrew's episode from start to finish, it shows him speaking an amazing 1891 words of dialogue, fully 40.1% of the entire script. This word-count, divided between narration, flashbacks, fantasies and real-time dialogue, is in fact the single largest across 144 episodes of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> (the percentage is second to Spike's 40.6% in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Fool for Love</a>”). It's an impressive feat, almost as impressive as the writers deciding to devote an entire episode to a relatively minor character so late in the season (some speculate it was to gauge audience reaction to potentially an Andrew-led spinoff).<br />
<br />
Andrew is on that bus driving out of Sunnydale at the end of “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”, so we know he survives. Uniquely among the passengers on that bus, with Andrew the story doesn't end there, as we have two appearances from Andrew on season five of <i>Angel</i>, both charting. In a sense the liaison between Buffy's camp and Angel's, Andrew has a significant role in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Damage</a>”, 778 words and a number three ranking, and a smaller role in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Girl in Question</a>”, 283 words and a number four. This isn't enough to get him on the top ten for a character-heavy season.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #18</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #14</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #35</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 7527</li>
<ul><li>Season 6: 2084</li>
<li>Season 7: 5443</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 1061</li>
<ul><li>Season 5: 1061</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 8588</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 26</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 3</li>
<li>Minor: 19</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 2</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 1</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 28</li>
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-80882070135847209932010-07-06T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:42:30.745-07:00#19: Tara<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDKylgYG9sI/AAAAAAAAAYY/2IcsDlMs0Cw/s1600/19+-+Tara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDKylgYG9sI/AAAAAAAAAYY/2IcsDlMs0Cw/s400/19+-+Tara.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
There is only one actor in the whole Buffyverse to have appeared in more episodes than Amber Benson, in the role of Tara, without ever appearing in the title credits. And in the case of Tara, Amber Benson <i>did</i> appear once – rather cruelly when her character died, in the credits for “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Seeing Red</a>”, having been accidentally shot by Warren. Yet until that point, she was certainly a major part of the 'Scoobies' and of the show as a whole, whatever the title credits said, with a total of 46 episodes to her name (six more than Oz): 12 episodes in season four, 18 in season five and 16 in season six.<br />
<br />
As Willow's second major romantic partner after Oz, Tara was in a sense a groundbreaking character – Tara and Willow set many firsts for the depiction of same-sex couples on television, but the overwhelming impression the couple leaves is how little that matters. Making the transition from 'a gay couple' to 'a couple who is gay' very quickly, Tara and Willow were a great example on TV of 'how gay couples behave' – in that they behaved just like any other couple. The most unfortunate thing about Tara (apart from her shocking and premature death, the major catalyst for the events that end Season Six) is that her character is too rarely given the opportunity to be anything other than 'Willow's girlfriend'; much like Oz before her, Tara tends to exist only in relation to Willow, with little in the way of storylines of her own.<br />
<br />
Stumbling, stuttering and painfully shy, Tara is nonetheless perhaps the best communicator in Joss Whedon's groundbreaking “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Hush</a>”, her début in which she speaks a mere 82 words. Underutilised throughout, Tara appears in the top five only three times in season 4: a number four in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Who are You</a>”, and a number five in each of “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">New Moon Rising</a>” (where Willow 'comes out' to Buffy, and where the love triangle with Willow at its centre comes to a head) and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Restless</a>” (the highly experimental season-concluding 'dream episode', in which Tara has a particular 'narrator' role). So underutilised is she, in fact, that she doesn't even appear on the top ten of characters for that season, even though Oz does.<br />
<br />
Season five features the closest we get to a 'Tara episode' in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Family</a>”. While this episode revolves around the character of Tara and gives her 552 words, the most she <i>speaks</i> in a single episode (italics intentional), it still doesn't give her a #1 finish, as she says fewer words than Buffy. This #2 finish is as high as Tara gets, and in fact is the only time she ranks higher than #4. Despite appearing in 18 of 22 episodes in season five, Tara has a 'minor' role in fully 16 of them, appearing otherwise in the top five only in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Tough Love</a>”, where she loses her sanity to Glory. She is the tenth highest-ranking character in terms of words spoken throughout the season.<br />
<br />
Tara ranks seventh in season six, a big improvement, but season six remains the season where she breaks up with Willow and ultimately dies. She shows up in the top five on both “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bargaining, Part One</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bargaining, Part Two</a>” (though I have my suspicions about the transcripts for those two episodes) at numbers four and five, respectively. She shows up at number five on “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Dead Things</a>”, and at number four on the musical episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Once More, With Feeling</a>” - at 669 words her highest overall word count, though only 212 of those words are spoken, the other 457 sung. After that, though, it's all minor roles for Tara, sinking as low as “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Normal Again</a>”, where despite actually having a role in the plot manages to say precisely eight words. Even “Seeing Red” itself, with 226 words, is a minor role.<br />
<br />
And one thing that makes Tara quite rare in the Buffyverse: when she's dead, she's really dead. The finality of Tara's death is what drives Willow to a grief-driven rampage, and so far the writers have stuck to it, despite several apparent story ideas in season seven. One of the deaths in the Buffyverse hardest for fans to accept, Tara's is grossly unfair and random – just like real life. And after she says her final words, 'Your shirt', and tumbles lifelessly to the ground, there is no coming back at all – just like real life.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #19</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #13</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 8370</li>
<ul><li>Season 4: 1533</li>
<li>Season 5: 2855 <b>(#10)</b></li>
<li>Season 6: 3982 <b>(#7)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on Buffy: 46</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 4</li>
<li>Minor: 37</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-52059035781618028522010-07-05T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:41:34.563-07:00#20: Doyle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDFeJ6jaDdI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/fJTMcNmJmsk/s1600/20+-+Doyle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDFeJ6jaDdI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/fJTMcNmJmsk/s400/20+-+Doyle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
It's amazing how quickly someone can get under your skin. Someone you haven't even met. Someone who doesn't even <i>exist</i>. Doyle appeared in only nine episodes of <i>Angel</i>, but he left such an impression in that brief time, and Glenn Quinn suffered such an unfortunate early death, that I find it tough watching those initial episodes. An everyman half-demon, equal parts loser and hero, Doyle is simply one of the best characters created for television.<br />
<br />
Based on the character of Whistler from “Becoming, Part One” and “Becoming, Part Two”, Doyle first appears in Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt's series début “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">City Of</a>”, with 856 words coming in at number one, saying even more than Angel on the first episode of his own show. This is little surprise: being talkative on a show with a small cast, Doyle's nine episodes include not a single minor appearance and only one below number three. Fully three of those nine episodes, “City Of”, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Bachelor Party</a>” and swansong “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Hero</a>” (with an amazing 1558 words) are number one finishes. He actually <i>averages</i> 801 words per episode.<br />
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In fact, across those first nine episodes, Doyle says more words than <i>anyone else</i> on the show, star included: 7940 words to Angel's 7779 and Cordelia's 7274. Despite being absent for the remaining 13 episodes, Doyle is still the character with the third highest word count for season one. Somewhere between 'Joss Whedon deliberately introduced an endearing character just to kill him off early' and 'Glenn Quinn's drug habits forced Mutant Enemy to write him out of the show' must certainly lie the truth; we'll never know where, though. The fact remains that this early sacrifice dealt the show a huge blow, while forever enshrining those first nine episodes as something entirely special. No disrespect to Wesley, of course. Doyle sacrifices himself in order to save a group of half-breed demons from a Nazi-like group of demons called 'the Scourge', but not before first kissing Cordelia, transferring his visions to her, and sending her along the marathon journey of character development she takes. That final episode, “Hero”, is bookended with footage of Doyle awkwardly trying to promote Angel Investigations. That video shows up again twice: once, silently, on “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Birthday</a>” and again on 100th episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">You're Welcome</a>”. This video explains why there is a posthumous tenth appearance in the records here. Be it merely a video, Doyle does show up on Season Five. Would that he had been there the whole time.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #20</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #9</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 8014</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 7940 <b>(#3)</b></li>
<li>Season 5: 74</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 10</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 3</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 1</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-10777783373791099202010-07-02T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:40:41.141-07:00#21: Harmony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDFbrVIwdII/AAAAAAAAAYI/M1iw8aqK6cY/s1600/21+-+Harmony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDFbrVIwdII/AAAAAAAAAYI/M1iw8aqK6cY/s400/21+-+Harmony.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
With 37 words in Joss Whedon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Harvest</a>”, the second episode of <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> and 237 words in Joss Whedon's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>”, the finale of <i>Angel</i> more than seven years later, Mercedes McNab's Harmony has a Buffyverse longevity record surpassed only by Angel himself (appearing in the unaired pilot where David Boreanaz did not, she could arguably claim the overall record, but the pilot was never shown on TV, is not considered canon, and has been disowned by Joss Whedon). Of course, she has considerably less to show for it than he does, being a regularly recurring vapid 'frenemy' to Cordelia at Sunnydale High, being a regularly occurring vapid vampire and girlfriend to Spike on both shows thereafter, and becoming a regular cast member only on season five of <i>Angel</i>, where she works at Wolfram & Hart as Angel's vapid assistant.<br />
<br />
Human Harmony manages only 538 words in only six minor appearances across three episodes of <i>Buffy</i>. After that, Harmony the vampire attempts in vain to terrorise Sunnydale in seasons four and five across nine episodes. She racks up a more impressive 2435 words here, including a 761-word, number-two finish in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Real Me</a>”, where the episode's title refers in turn both to Dawn and to Harmony.<br />
<br />
Before season five, Harmony makes only one appearance on <i>Angel</i>, but it's an impressive one: 1060 words and a number two finish in the partially-eponymous “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Disharmony</a>”. She's still primarily comic relief in Season Five, surviving the series to reappear in the comic books, but she becomes a much more regular presence (number seven in the season overall). Or perhaps not: appearing in 16 of the season's 22 episodes, her role is quite small in all but one of them: fourteen minors and one number five. Not much to show for. Except that that tally excludes episode nine, the partially-eponymous “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Harm's Way</a>”, a Harmony episode <i>par excellence</i> in which she says an amazing 1843 words, almost as much as the other 15 episodes combined, an amazing 38.8% of the total script, and the third highest word count for a single character in a single episode across 254 episodes of the Buffyverse. An impressive feat, and who saw it coming from chronic underachiever Harmony?<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #21</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #23</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #14</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 2973</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 133</li>
<li>Season 2: 186</li>
<li>Season 3: 219</li>
<li>Season 4: 796</li>
<li>Season 5: 1639</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 4936</li>
<ul><li>Season 2: 1060</li>
<li>Season 5: 3876 <b>(#7)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 7909</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 15</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 11</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 17</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 14</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 32</li>
</ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-44388537623073628252010-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:38:45.706-07:00#22: Darla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDFZ10feZuI/AAAAAAAAAYA/jjnCb-orlsM/s1600/22+-+Darla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TDFZ10feZuI/AAAAAAAAAYA/jjnCb-orlsM/s400/22+-+Darla.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Of all the characters on the two series, I would suggest that no single one has a story as convoluted as Darla's. Living in the Virginia colony in the early 17th century, she contract syphilis and dies at the hands of the Master, who sires her. Several hundred years as a vampire, during which she sires Angel, and in the first season of Buffy, she's in Sunnydale, before being dusted by Angel himself. She's then brought back to life as a human by Wolfram & Hart, and then killed and sired again by Drusilla before finally taking her own (un)life in order to let her unborn son Connor live.<br />
<br />
Whew. Complicated or what? Four deaths, and the last one seems to have stuck... more or less. That gives Darla, played by Julie Benz, the distinction of most deaths on the Buffyverse. Another significant distinction would be that she is the very first character to speak any dialogue on the series, in the Joss Whedon-penned first episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Welcome to the Hellmouth</a>” - in a wonderful scene that immediately subverts Hollywood cliché and sets the tone for the twelve seasons to come (she's also the first to speak in the unaired pilot, in essentially the same scene). However, Darla is not really a '<i>Buffy</i> character' at all. In fact, her total word count on <i>Buffy</i> alone is enough to put her merely at 47th place among <i>Buffy</i> characters, below Buffy's university roommate Kathy. She appears in only five episodes, only once (Season One's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Angel</a>”, when she's dusted for the first time) ranking in the top five: #2 with 606 words. Of these five appearances, three are contemporaneous, as an overly enthusiastic disciple of the Master in Sunnydale in season one (where, surprisingly, she still says enough to rank as the tenth most prominent character on that truncated season). The other two are in flashbacks in episodes on seasons two and five, where we see the more sophisticated Darla we've come to know.<br />
<br />
Come to know where? On <i>Angel</i>, where Darla's status as Angel's 'sire' and constant companion in the evil old days give her a more important role. Season One ends with Darla brought back to life by Wolfram & Hart – though her panting in that episode doesn't count as a spoken appearance. We'd already seen her in two flashbacks that season, though, and she becomes a much more important character in Season Two, appearing in ten episodes and finishing as the number-six character for the season. Interestingly, in this season Darla's role is eother minor or major. She's off the top five for six of the ten episodes, but the remaining four episodes each have her at either number one or number two in the word count. In “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Dear Boy</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Trial</a>”, Darla finishes as the number-two character with 828 and 865 words respectively, and she ranks #1 in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Redefinition</a>”, in which Angel doesn't say a single word on camera, with 728 words, and in her eponymous episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Darla</a>”, where her 1223 words are over 30% of the dialogue. Like so many of Darla's appearances, this is a flashback-heavy episode.<br />
<br />
Returning in season three pregnant with Angel's baby, Darla makes a further five appearances and comes in tenth for character word counts that season. Her fifth appearance is her last one, in a manner of speaking, the episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Lullaby</a>”, where she clocks in a number-three, 511-word appearance before dusting herself so that Connor may live.<br />
<br />
A season and a half later, we see an apparition that may or may not be Darla in the rather messy episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Inside Out</a>”. Who- or whatever that character is, it says 438 words and finishes fourth. Having no other place to put them, I've given those words to Darla, though that might not be appropriate. A final appearance is a season later, in flashbacks only, in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Girl in Question</a>”.<br />
<br />
As I've done with Drusilla, I'll take Darla's total word-count and itemise it by time and place. In this case, it'll also have to include by 'nature' (human, vampire, other). Are you ready? It's long...<br />
<ul><li>Virginia, 1609, as a human: 97 words</li>
<li>Galway, 1753, as a vampire: 198 words</li>
<li>London, 1760, as a vampire: 70 words</li>
<li>York, 1764, as a vampire: 45 words</li>
<li>France, 1765, as a vampire: 171 words</li>
<li>Marseilles, 1767, as a vampire: 75 words</li>
<li>Rome, 1771, as a vampire: 52 words</li>
<li>London, 1860, as a vampire: 113 words</li>
<li>London, 1880, as a vampire: 54 words</li>
<li>Yorkshire, 1880, as a vampire: 30 words</li>
<li>Italy, 1894, as a vampire: 110 words</li>
<li>Borsa, Romania, 1898, as a vampire: 244 words</li>
<li>China, 1900, as a vampire: 280 words</li>
<li>Sunnydale, 1997, as a vampire: 763 words</li>
<li>Los Angeles, 2000, as a human: 2120 words</li>
<li>The location of 'the trial', 2000, as a human: 49 words</li>
<li>Los Angeles, 2000, in Angel's dreams, 194 words</li>
<li>Los Angeles, 2000-2001, as a vampire: 1361 words</li>
<li>Puerto Cabazas, Nicaragua, 2001, as a pregnant vampire: 21 words</li>
<li>Yoro Mountains, Honduras, 2001, as a pregnant vampire: 97 words</li>
<li>Los Angeles, 2001, as a pregnant vampire: 1100 words</li>
<li>Los Angeles, 2003, as an apparition: 438 words</li>
</ul><br />
Now <i>that's</i> an epic tale.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #22</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #47</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #11</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 834</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 763 <b>(#10)</b></li>
<li>Season 2: 35</li>
<li>Season 5: 36</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 6848</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 301</li>
<li>Season 2: 4609 <b>(#6)</b></li>
<li>Season 3: 1390 <b>(#10)</b></li>
<li>Season 4: 438</li>
<li>Season 5: 110</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 7682</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 5</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 4</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on Angel: 19</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 2</li>
<li>Minor: 11</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 24</li>
</ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-57529103082702545482010-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:37:39.526-07:00#23: Lindsey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCrMlis5ojI/AAAAAAAAAX4/klpIJDrMK_I/s1600/23+-+Lindsey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCrMlis5ojI/AAAAAAAAAX4/klpIJDrMK_I/s400/23+-+Lindsey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Lindsey is, interestingly, the only character apart from Angel himself to appear in both the first and the final episode of <i>Angel</i> – a fact that might make the Wolram & Hart lawyer appear to be more central to the show than he truly is. Though he can carry the title of 'Angel's arch-nemesis' as well as anyone else on the show, his character is of importance only to three of the show's five seasons: the first, second and fifth. For someone whose presence looms over the show, it's odd to think he appeared in only twenty-one episodes.<br />
<br />
Still, Lindsey is one of only two recurring characters to actually be introduced in the series début “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">City Of</a>” (written by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt), though it's a minor role of only 233 words. He's then absent for almost the whole of the season before appearing in four of the season's final five episodes, coming it and number four and number five on “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Five by Five</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Sanctuary</a>”, the two Faith episodes, and coming in at #2 on “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Blind Date</a>”, in many respects a 'Lindsey episode'. Its 802 word count is Lindsey's highest for the season and second highest overall. With all of the season's minor characters and its limited number of significant characters, a mere five appearances still secures Lindsey a number six ranking on the list of top ten characters for season one.<br />
<br />
With almost half of his 21 appearances occurring here, you could really consider Season Two to be 'Lindsey's season', in that he's central to the Darla arc. He actually shows up as the number seven character for the season, one point lower than season one – perhaps because of his ten appearances, six are minor. He ranks number four in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Trial</a>” and number three in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Darla</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Blood Money</a>”, but his highest ranking this season, and on the show altogether, is his swan-song (for the time being anyway), “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Dead End</a>”, where he ranks number two, having spoken 872 words and sung a further 68, totalling 940. There is no single episode of <i>Angel</i> where Lindsey speaks the most words of all the characters.<br />
<br />
Reappearing after 55 episodes with a four-word appearance in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Destiny</a>” ('Well, it's a start'), Lindsey makes six appearances in season five for a #10 finish overall on that crowded season. He ranks number three in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">You're Welcome</a>” and “Underneath” and number two in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Soul Purpose</a>” and, surprisingly, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>”: more than any cast member save Angel himself in the series finale. Perhaps he really is more central to the show than I give him credit for. Or perhaps it's a testament to the actor, Christian Kane, and his close friendship with the series' star David Boreanaz.<br />
<br />
Anyway, in a shock move reminiscent of Giles killing Ben, Lindsey meets his end being shot point-blank by 'flunky' Lorne on Angel's orders, after seemingly joining Angel's side, with no chance at redemption.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #23</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #10</li>
<li>Total words spoken on Angel: 7469</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 2015 <b>(#6)</b></li>
<li>Season 2: 3122 <b>(#7)</b></li>
<li>Season 5: 2332 <b>(#10)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 21</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 10</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-54767658843520174422010-06-29T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:36:41.348-07:00#24: Connor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCl6EgXJhoI/AAAAAAAAAXg/HH-CQBVUh98/s1600/24+-+Connor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCl6EgXJhoI/AAAAAAAAAXg/HH-CQBVUh98/s400/24+-+Connor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
With such creative and well-thought writing behind them, it's no surprise that the Buffyverse is filled with characters that can bring out strong emotions in the viewer. In the case of Connor, however, the strong emotions in question are not exactly the most positive. In fact, you might say that Connor is in all probability the most disliked character on <i>Angel</i>.<br />
<br />
The why has less to do withe the character's back-story, which is fascinating: born a 'miracle child' to two vampires, Angel and Darla, and spending several episodes as a newborn (which are not listed here, since newborn babies rarely have word-counts) before being taken by Angel and Darla's former arch-nemesis Daniel Holtz into a hell dimension called Quor'Toth, where he grows up in a matter of days. <i>That's</i> a story you don't get very often on mainstream TV. It's also not due to Vincent Kartheiser, currently raking up accolades left, right and centre on <i>Mad Men</i>. So it has to be the writing: whiny, insolent, sullen... while these character traits seem to define how teenagers are regularly viewed in the Buffyverse, and while they even make sense given the circumstances of his upbringing, I think they tried the fans' patience, explaining why a character who was a rather significant part of season four (seventh highest character) is all but gone by season five: viewer feedback.<br />
<br />
The character first appears, a crying infant engulfed in the dust that used to be his mother, in Tim Minear's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Lullaby</a>”. Ten episodes later, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Price</a>” (written by Marita Grabiak) introduces us to Connor the teenager, with an impressive two-word total (“Hi, Dad”). To say Connor appears in every episode for the rest of the season is to say little, as there are only three more. Season closer “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Tomorrow</a>” is the only time he rises above minor, with 214 words giving him a #5 finish.<br />
<br />
Season 4 is Connor's season. Appearing in all 22 episodes but speaking only in 21 of them (he has no lines in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Ground State</a>”), Connor manages 4868 words, two number fives, two number fours, a number three and a number two but no number one finish in the whole season. Interestingly, it's toward the end of the season where his numbers start to increase: “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Peace Out</a>”, the final episode of the Jasmine arc and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Home</a>”, the final episode of the season, are wildly different episodes but are of a piece as regards Connor: it's here that the tragic circumstances of his life so far finally catch up with him and drag him down into a violent nihilism. Along the way, Connor's broken English and incomplete sentences have blossomed to 552 words and a #2 finish on “Peace Out” and 470 words and a #3 finish on “Home” - 366 of those words are as Connor himself, 104 words are as the 'recreated' Connor that Angel demands as a term of his accepting the job at Wolfram & Hart.<br />
<br />
That Season Four ends with a Connor whose memories have been recreated, who has no knowledge of his previous life with Angel and who lives in suburban contentment, explains his almost-complete absence from Season Five. And yet because most characters get a chance in the Buffyverse to tie up loose ends, a chance for some closure. Connor's came in the Season Five episode “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Origin</a>”, and again four episodes away in the series finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Not Fade Away</a>”. He's a minor character in the action-filled finale, but “Origin” is most definitely a Connor episode, and it gives him what 26 consecutive episodes didn't: a number-one finish, with a 927 word-count. The Season Five Connor is a much more mature and eloquent character – and as a result is more likeable. He survives the series and returns in a more regular role in the “After the Fall” comic book series.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #24</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #12</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 6677</li>
<ul><li>Season 3: 724</li>
<li>Season 4: 4868 <b>(#7)</b></li>
<li>Season 5: 1085</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 27</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 3</li>
<li>Minor: 19</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-77262988839280098772010-06-28T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:35:42.893-07:00#25: Kate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCjmWo5Dq-I/AAAAAAAAAXA/KbgZuWQKE6E/s1600/25+-+Kate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCjmWo5Dq-I/AAAAAAAAAXA/KbgZuWQKE6E/s400/25+-+Kate.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And now we're into the Top 25. Never actually a 'main character', Officer Kate Lockley still makes it all the way to number five for individual word-counts on <i>Angel</i> season one – number five behind the four characters who <i>were</i> in the cast, making her the season's most substantial 'guest' character. Certainly in the series' early days, when the emphasis on Angel Investigations as a private eye firm was heaviest, Kate felt like a major character, even getting episodes that revolved around her.<br />
<br />
Yet by season two, she's dropped on the list to #10, and thereafter she was no more. Elisabeth Röhm's Kate was probably a victim of <i>Angel</i>'s initial uncertainty: uncertainty regarding the relationship the writers wanted Kate and Angel to have, and uncertainty regarding the kind of show they wanted it to be. Certainly by seasons three and four, the idea of setting scenes in a police station like a supernatural <i>CSI</i> seemed all but ludicrous; yet, initially it's a rare episode that doesn't have a police station scene.<br />
<br />
Kate was introduced in the series' second episode. Initially, that episode would have been called “Corrupt” and would have featured a <i>much</i> darker Kate (addicted to drugs and working undercover as a prostitute). As it was, David Fury's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Lonely Hearts</a>” shows a very different Kate. A very verbose Kate, as it turns out, one whose 761 words give her a third-place ranking for the episode. This is one of the nine season one episodes to include her, and one of the four to have her in the top three. Though “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Somnambulist</a>”, in which she racks up 853 words for a number two ranking, isn't <i>about</i> her, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">The Prodigal</a>”, in which she says 696 words and finishes #3, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Sense and Sensitivity</a>”, in which she says a remarkable 1336 words for a very obvious number-one finish, most certainly are. 1336 words is the fifth-highest individual word count for the season and, obviously, Kate's highest overall: it's only 112 words less than her total word count for <i>the whole</i> of season two, in which she appears six times, with two #5 finishes: one of those two fifth-places is her next-to-last appearance, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Reprise</a>”, where she says 368 words. It's the very next episode, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">Epiphany</a>”, where Angel saves Kate's life from an apparent suicide, bringing to a simultaneous end both the 'dark Angel' story and Kate's own story. She survives, but has been kicked off the police force, losing her sense of purpose as a person and as an associate of Angel Investigations.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #25</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: #13</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 5940</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 4492 <b>(#5)</b></li>
<li>Season 2: 1448 <b>(#10)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 15</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #2: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 3</li>
<li>Minor: 8</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-91558312970266365992010-06-25T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:34:51.775-07:00#26: Oz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCK89RqbirI/AAAAAAAAAW4/8-tZ6HPCopI/s1600/26+-+Oz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCK89RqbirI/AAAAAAAAAW4/8-tZ6HPCopI/s400/26+-+Oz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Excluding Illyria, Oz is the lowest-ranking member of the main cast on this list, and the reasons should be obvious. Described as 'taciturn', 'monosyllabic', 'laconic', 'non-verbal' and, sarcastically, 'such a chatterbox'. Speaking only in the shortest of phrases, Oz averages only 140 words per episode among the 40 episodes he appears in. I define 'minor role' as not being one of the characters whose word-count is among the top five on any given episode – not the most realistic definition of 'minor', I concede. Yet it must mean something that, of 40 appearances, fully 36 are minor. In fact, in exactly half (twenty) of those appearances, he says less than 100 words each. At least Seth Green never needed to worry too much about taxing his memory banks.<br />
<br />
Of the four times Oz shows up in the top five, only his #4-ranking “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Fear, Itself</a>” does not really qualify as an 'Oz episode'. Apart from that, we get “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Phases</a>”, where Oz's discovery that he's a werewolf and the solidification of his relationship with Willow still barely get him on the top five at all, with 392 words and a #5 finish. Then, we have to go all the way to his final episode as a cast member, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Wild at Heart</a>”, where 632 words still only give him a #3 finish. Like several other characters with sudden departures, Oz makes one return to tie up loose ends, and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">New Moon Rising</a>” gives him 471 words and a #3 finish.<br />
<br />
Just to clarify: Oz appeared in 40 episodes, mostly as a cast member, across three seasons, was the main subject of three episodes... <i>and never ranked #1 or #2 in a single episode</i>. Quite impressive, really, if you think about it. Certainly Seth Green expressed his reservations at the time about the limited way he was being used on the show, precipitating his rather abrupt departure in the middle of season four. Although quite well-rounded as a character (hipster, musician, werewolf, slacker genius), Oz existed on the show mainly in relation to Willow. Oz got an intriguing 'gradual' introduction on the show, where for several episodes he seemed to unwittingly cross paths with Willow but without a proper introduction. The first of these was in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Inca Mummy Girl</a>”, written by Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer. This relatively inconsequential 'Xander episode' is also the screen début of Jonathan. Though, as mentioned above, “New Moon Rising” is Oz's last appearance in the flesh in Sunnydale, he does show up in Season 4 finale “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Restless</a>”, saying 23 words in Willow's dream. Oz survives and, if you're into the comics, moves to Tibet and gets married there.<br />
<br />
Oddly, the only time Oz appears in the top ten characters per season is in Season 4, where his eight appearances rank him number eight. Appearing in 21 of 22 episodes in Season 3 still wasn't enough to get in the top ten.<br />
<br />
Lastly, we need to mention <i>Angel</i>. Among Oz's other dubious honours is what must inarguably be the least memorable <i>Buffy-Angel</i> crossover for a main cast member (Willow has several less significant appearances, but one very significant appearance, so I exclude her; outside of the main cast, certainly the Watchers' Council 'Wet Works' trio beat Oz for lack of memorability): the third episode of the fledgling series, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/angel" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Angel">In the Dark</a>”, where Oz's 184 words put him outside of the top five and amount to less than one-fifth of the <i>other</i> crossover character in that episode, Spike. Note that 184 words is less than a good many entirely insignificant one-episode bit parts, so calculating Oz's ranking on <i>Angel</i> would be all but impossible.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #26</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #15</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Angel</i>: n/a</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 5413</li>
<ul><li>Season 2: 1114</li>
<li>Season 3: 2356</li>
<li>Season 4: 1943 <b>(#8)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Angel</i>: 184</li>
<ul><li>Season 1: 184</li>
</ul>
<li>Total words spoken in the Buffyverse: 5597</li>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 39</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #3: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #5: 1</li>
<li>Minor: 35</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Angel</i>: 1</li>
<ul><li>Minor: 1</li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances in the Buffyverse: 40</li>
</ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-44661832812469463192010-06-24T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:34:11.141-07:00#27: The First Evil<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TClrgDqsQfI/AAAAAAAAAXY/XS4jorbGS6g/s1600/27+-+The+First.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TClrgDqsQfI/AAAAAAAAAXY/XS4jorbGS6g/s400/27+-+The+First.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
In Season Three's “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Amends</a>”, a Christmas episode written by Joss Whedon and the only “Angel episode” of the whole season, Angel is being tortured by a malevolent force of nature called 'the First Evil'. This entity is non-corporeal and can only take the form of people who have died. As such, it's able to taunt people and manipulate them into acting out its will. A truly fascinating concept for a villian, one whose resurrection in Season Seven, where it became the TV show's final Big Bad, should have surprised nobody.<br />
<br />
All told, the First Evil speaks 4820 words in “Amends” and throughout Season Seven. These words are spoken in the forms of a rather head-spinning range of characters. All told, the First Evil inhabits the visages of 20 different characters, 10 of whom appear on this top fifty list. The list in full is as follows, appearing in italics if we see the portrayal in “Amends”.<br />
<ul><li>As Buffy: 676 words</li>
<li>As Jonathan: 607 words</li>
<li>As Cassie: 459 words</li>
<li>As Warren: 440 words</li>
<li>As Mayor Wilkins: 394 words</li>
<li>As Drusilla: 356 words</li>
<li>As Eve: 350 words</li>
<li><i>As Jenny:</i> 347 words</li>
<li>As Spike: 255 words</li>
<li>As Joyce: 238 words</li>
<li>As Caleb: 132 words</li>
<li>As Chloe: 132 words</li>
<li>As Nikki: 100 words</li>
<li>As the Master: 74 words</li>
<li><i>As Margaret:</i> 63 words</li>
<li><i>As a businessman:</i> 57 words</li>
<li>As Glory: 40 words</li>
<li>As a helpless girl: 38 words</li>
<li><i>As Daniel:</i> 31 words</li>
<li>As Adam: 28 words</li>
<li><i>As 'self':</i> 3 words</li>
</ul>Notes about this list: Cassie is the poetry-writing star of “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Help</a>”, whose visage The First uses to manipulate Willow in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Conversations with Dead People</a>”. Eve and Chloe are dead Potential Slayers, Nikki is Robin Wood's slayer mother. Margaret, the businessman and Daniel are characters from Angelus's past who we meet in “Amends” but never otherwise see. The helpless girl is one of Caleb's early misogynistic kills, reanimated by the First in discussion with him. Lastly, when I say 'self', I'm referring to the ghostly spectre we see in the picture above, who shrieks only three words: “Dead by sunrise!”<br />
<br />
The First totals 501 words in “Amends” (primarily as Jenny), for a #3 finish. All other words spoken by the First occur in Season Seven, where it appears in 15 of the season's 22 episodes, the largest number for any Big Bad, depending on how you determine the Big Bads of Seasons Two and Six. It ranks #8 among characters for the season, though it never gets a #1 ranking. It ranks #2 twice, in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Showtime</a>” (primarily as Eve) and in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">First Date</a>” (primarily as Jonathan), the latter's 583 words the First's highest word count. It ranks #3 in “Conversations with Dead People” (in three of the four stories as Cassie, Warren and Joyce), “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Bring on the Night</a>” (primarily as Drusilla and Joyce) and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Touched</a>” (as Mayor Wilkins and Buffy), and ranks #4 in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lessons</a>” (a single monologue where it morphs in succession to each of the previous season's Big Bads before becoming Buffy in the end) and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Never Leave Me</a>” (as four different characters). Its eight minor appearances include a mere 13 words in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Empty Places</a>” (as Buffy).<br />
<br />
While a fascinating idea as a character, as a 'Big Bad', the First lacked a certain fear factor, such that 'agents of the First' such as the Bringers, the army of Turok-Hans and Caleb the Preacher had to constantly be brought in to intimidate the Scoobies. This resulted in a rather messy season, and in more of a sense of looming malevolence than a clearly-defined enemy. And in the final episode, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Chosen</a>”, though Buffy and her friends have destroyed Caleb, the Turok-Hans and indeed all of Sunnydale, the First, while in Willow's words 'scrunched', is not exactly defeated, and can be said to 'live' past the end of the TV show, whatever 'live' means in the First's case.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #27</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #16</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 4820</li>
<ul><li>Season 3: 501</li>
<li>Season 7: 4319 <b>(#8)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 16</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #2: 2</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Minor: 8</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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</script></span></div>Bungle Jerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265636294975450516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7521994434594864909.post-73075765274092594672010-06-23T12:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T13:33:32.088-07:00#28: Glory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCFXQI4ZKdI/AAAAAAAAAWw/uf97Xw9nLBk/s1600/28+-+Glory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5A6fSMDiXaI/TCFXQI4ZKdI/AAAAAAAAAWw/uf97Xw9nLBk/s400/28+-+Glory.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The big-screen disaster that was the <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> movie pitted Buffy against a particularly strong vampire for the climax. Season one of the show pitted her against a thousand-year-old vampire cult leader. Then she was pitted against a vampire she loved. By season three, we'd moved past vampires and she was pitted against a newly-ascended 'pure demon'. Season four brought us a character whose Frankenstein-nature meant he was stronger, and tougher to kill, than other demons.<br />
<br />
Just like any good video game, the 'bosses' get harder and harder to defeat. By Season Five, which might have been the final season of Buffy, they'd taken it as far as they could go: pitting Buffy against a god from a hell dimension.<br />
<br />
Glory, a/k/a Glorificus, a/k/a the Beast, a/k/a “That Which Cannot be Names”, a/k/a “Sweaty-Naughty-Feelings-Causing One” was the 'big bad' of Season Five, and she was an absolute delight: a vain, sassy, ostentatious, funny, psychotic and slightly clueless work of evil portrayed by Clare Kramer. As tends to be the case with Big Bads, she appears only in 'her' season, in this case Season Five, a total of 12 times, where her 4732 words are the eighth largest word count for the season. The First takes her face just once, in “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Lessons</a>”, where he takes the guise of each of the season's 'big bads' in order to torment a half-mad Spike.<br />
<br />
Like the Mayor, Glory gives good speech, in her case tinged with the madness that besets her if she's unable to suck human brains to preserve her sanity at their expense. We meet her in the fifth episode of the season, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">No Place Like Home</a>”, where she gets off fully 315 words of unbridled malevolent madness with only the most minor of interruptions. All in all, that episode's 443 words give her a #3 finish, one of four #3 finishes, alongside “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Shadow</a>”, “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Blood Ties</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Tough Love</a>”. “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">Checkpoint</a>” and “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Gift</a>” (her final episode) are #4 finishes, and she puts in five minor appearances.<br />
<br />
That leaves only “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer" rel="hulu nofollow" title="Buffy the Vampire Slayer">The Weight of the World</a>”, a remarkable episode where her 1162 words give her an easy #1 finish, excluding the 281 words spoken by Ben. Throughout this season, I treat Glory and Ben as entirely different individuals, even though they share a single body. If I didn't, Glory/Ben would rank 25th overall and 6th for the season.<br />
<br />
Through the combined efforts of Willow, the Buffybot, Buffy and Xander, Glory is well beaten by the time Buffy runs up the stairs to save Dawn. Yet ultimately it is Giles who kills her, by smothering Ben. Ben's death is Glory's death too, putting deicide on the list of Giles's achievements.<br />
<ul><li>Overall ranking: #28</li>
<li>Ranking on <i>Buffy</i>: #17</li>
<li>Total words spoken on <i>Buffy</i>: 4732</li>
<ul><li>Season 5: 4732 <b>(#8)</b></li>
</ul>
<li>Total speaking appearances on <i>Buffy</i>: 12</li>
<ul><li>Ranking #1: 1</li>
<li>Ranking #3: 4</li>
<li>Ranking #4: 2</li>
<li>Minor: 5</li>
</ul></ul><a href="http://buffyandangeltrainspotters.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-fifty-buffyverse-characters_21.html">Return to the Top 50 list</a><br />
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