Once More, with Feeling (Buffy episode)
- Timothy Anderson as Singing Vampire/Street Sweeper/Henchman
- Hunter Cochrane as College Guy #2
- Alex Estronei as Singing Vampire/Street Sweeper/Henchman
- David Fury as Mustard Man
- Marti Noxon as Parking Ticket Woman
- Matt Sims as College Guy #1
- Daniel Weaver as Handsome Young Man
- Zachary Woodlee as Demon/Street Sweeper/Henchman
- Scot Zeller as Tap Dancing Victim (Incorrectly credited as "Henchman" in closing credits)
[
Music
All the actors sing their own parts without having another singer dubbing their voices (although for "What You Feel", Michelle Trachtenberg had to dub her own voice during post-production when her lines proved to be unclear). Joss Whedon had originally planned to have Buffy's rhythmically complex song "Something to Sing About" dubbed by professional vocalist Jewel, but Sarah Michelle Gellar performed it anyway. All the regular cast are featured in significant solos except Alyson Hannigan (Willow), who had asked Whedon to limit her singing role. In response, Whedon gave Willow an amusing, fourth-wall breaking line for one of her three short solo parts: "I think this line's mostly filler." Hannigan's reluctance to sing - or to perform before a live audience at all - had actually been made part of Willow's character, as was shown in first-season episodes "The Puppet Show" and "Nightmares," which illustrated Willow's crippling stage fright. Amber Benson said in an interview that Joss caught her by surprise when he scored her song "Under your Spell" slightly higher than her normal range because he was sure she could handle it.
The opening sequence is completely changed from its usual form, featuring a 26-second main theme whose rock and dark atmosphere was eliminated through its use of percussion in the background and a stereotypical light drum sequence at the end of the theme, similar to the conclusion of heroic classical films.
The songs "Walk through the Fire", "Something to Sing About", and "Where Do We Go from Here" (all progressive rock-style) were musically inspired by Yes's fifth album Close to the Edge, one of Joss Whedon's favorites. The BBC's website about Buffy states that those are just from the song "Close to the Edge", but "Something to Sing About" is more in style of album's songs "And You and I" (that notably was the inspiration of Whedon's trademark "Mutant Enemy", too) and "Siberian Khatru" (Buffy's whirling dance).
[
Critical and viewer response
Due to a misprint, this episode was left off the list of potential Emmy Award for Drama Writing nominees sent out to voters. This was fixed with an addendum, but it was too late, as many voters had already returned their ballots.
Numerous critics placed the episode on their "alternative Emmy" lists and it continues to win plaudits. It was recently voted the 13th greatest musical of all time in a poll conducted by the British TV channel, Channel 4.[3] It has always been a firm favorite among fans.
The episode was nominated for a Hugo Award in the category science fiction/fantasy for best dramatic presentation, along with the films Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Monsters, Inc., Shrek and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The last won.
The episode won the Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Television - Music, Episodic Live Action.
Shortly after the original episode aired, Singalongs and Rocky Horror-style re-enactments started becoming common at fan festivals and conventions. These events could involve audience members singing along with the projected episode, audience callbacks, props, costumes, and even live casts. (The official posting board party probably had the first cast in February 2002 and Dragoncon in Atlanta probably has the longest running.) Recently, Singalongs have become popular as individual events outside of fan conventions. The first of these events was held in Boston in 2004 and there is currently a group in New York City that has a monthly live cast. Many of these events and casts have evolved independently with no knowledge of other similar groups. Buffy Singalongs have recently received growing media attention with stories done by the AP, MTV News, and the New York Post[citation needed]. At the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, a special screening and sing along was held on June 27th. Both Marti Noxon and Joss Whedon were in attendance and gave brief speeches to the audience.
[
CD track listing
.jpg/220px-Once_More,_With_Feeling_(Buffy).jpg)
A music CD has been released, featuring the entire score and some additional tracks, namely the demo of "Something to Sing About", sung by Joss Whedon and his wife Kai Cole, and three pieces of music from other popular episodes by regular composer Christophe Beck. The art for the CD — also used as cover for related items, such as the script book, the DVD and the poster — is by popular comic book artist Adam Hughes. The booklet includes liner notes by Whedon, the lyrics for the songs, and pictures from the episode.
| Track | Title | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Overture / Going Through the Motions" | 02:57 |
| 2 | "I've Got a Theory / Bunnies / If We're Together" | 02:22 |
| 3 | "The Mustard" | 00:18 |
| 4 | "Under Your Spell" | 02:55 |
| 5 | "I'll Never Tell" | 04:01 |
| 6 | "The Parking Ticket" | 00:45 |
| 7 | "Rest in Peace" | 02:46 |
| 8 | "Dawn's Lament" | 01:19 |
| 9 | "Dawn's Ballet" | 01:12 |
| 10 | "What You Feel" | 03:01 |
| 11 | "Standing" | 02:10 |
| 12 | "Under Your Spell / Standing — reprise" | 01:35 |
| 13 | "Walk Through the Fire" | 03:44 |
| 14 | "Something to Sing About" | 04:40 |
| 15 | "What You Feel — reprise" | 00:46 |
| 16 | "Where Do We Go from Here?" | 01:53 |
| 17 | Coda | 00:40 |
| 18 | "End Credits (Broom Dance / Grr Argh)" | 00:31 |
| 19 | "Main Title" | 00:26 |
| 20 | Suite from "Restless" | 05:02 |
| 21 | Suite from "Hush" | 06:54 |
| 22 | Sacrifice (from "The Gift") | 02:55 |
| 23 | "Something to Sing About" (demo) | 04:27 |
[
Technical information
Other technical differences between this episode and the normal ones are its running time (50 minutes and 52 seconds instead of the usual average of 43 minutes) and its format: the episode aired in letterbox format. On the commentary it is mentioned that the episode was filmed in Anamorphic.
The region 2 version is slightly cropped at the sides as it shown in standard 16:9 (1.78:1) as opposed to 1.85:1 (this is most noticeable on the opening credits).
Because of the running time, UPN only aired the full, unedited episode once[citation needed] — delaying the start of the following program (a U.S. pilot of Iron Chef hosted by William Shatner). Unfortunately serious technical glitches plagued UPN's broadcast feed to some of its affiliates in the U.S. Eastern and Central time zones when the episode aired on November 6, 2001. In the case of one UPN affiliate, WKBD-TV in Detroit, the only "glitch" involved a few seconds where the picture "froze" during Sweet's initial meeting with Dawn. At UPN's insistence, Joss Whedon supervised the editing of the full length episode into a more advertiser-friendly standard length. UPN never aired the full length episode again, opting instead for the shortened version. The shortened version is also the one that airs in syndication on FX. The editing eliminated parts of certain songs, including Buffy singing "If We're Together" and several bars of "Walk Through the Fire." Loss of certain dialogue resulted in a confusing ending for the audience, with Sweet abruptly announcing "Big smiles everyone, you beat the bad guy," with little apparent cause.
This "one time only" dispensation to air a longer format is not unprecedented for Whedon and Buffy. A first season episode, "The Puppet Show", enjoyed only a single airing (on May 5, 1997) of a closing credits scene in which Xander, Buffy, and Willow perform a scene from Oedipus Rex in their school's talent show. The scene, however, was repeated at least one more time when it was first rerun on FX.
In an unusual effort to garner Emmy support, 20th Century Fox had the full length episode pressed onto special DVDs shortly after its airing for distribution with the industry trade publication Daily Variety. Regular DVD series collections also include the full length episode.
Also available for sale is the original script book (ISBN 0-689-85918-X). Besides the actual screenplay the book features pictures from the episode, articles, sheet music for all the songs and a behind the scenes.
Finally, after pressure from fans, a single (Region 2) DVD has been released in Europe (two editions: in English for the United Kingdom and in German for Germany).
David Fury, producer and writer of the show (who also appeared in the episode as the man excited they got the mustard out) asked Whedon if he could document it, and shot about 40 hours of behind-the-scenes material; part of this material is available on the Season Six DVD set.
All of the Region 1 DVDs have French and Spanish versions, and the songs are done in French and Spanish too.
In Italian TV and DVD version, while all other songs are as original with subtitles, the "Parking Ticket" song, originally played by Marti Noxon, for some technical problems had to be redubbed by an unknown singer.
[
Continuity
[
The Buffy timeline
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 2001 - December 2001 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| L.A., 2001 | Buffy/Angel novel: Cursed |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.01 Heartthrob |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy UPN promos: Scooby Gang talk about Buffy |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.01 Bargaining, Part One |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.02 Bargaining, Part Two |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.02 That Vision Thing |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.03 After Life |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Sanctuary |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.03 That Old Gang of Mine |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.04 Flooded |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.04 Carpe Noctem |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy comic: Reunion |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.05 Life Serial |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.05 Fredless |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel Willow & Tara: Wilderness |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy book: Blood and Fog |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.06 All the Way |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Note from the Underground |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.06 Billy |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel anthology book:The Longest Night |
| Sunnydale, L.A., Monster Island, 2001 | Buffy/Angel novel: Monster Island |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Endangered Species |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Impressions |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.07 Once More, with Feeling |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.07 Offspring |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.08 Tabula Rasa |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.08 Quickening |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.09 Smashed |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.09 Lullaby |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.10 Wrecked |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.10 Dad |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.11 Gone |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.11 Birthday |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Creatures of Habit |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Death of Buffy: Withdrawal |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.12 Doublemeat Palace |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.12 Provider |
[
References
- ^ O'Hare, Kate (November 29 2002), Almost Human: From Beneath They Devour, Los Angeles: Zap2it.com, <http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,274>. Retrieved on 21 October 2007
- ^ Tomooka, Jennifer H. (September 30, 2002), Michelle Trachtenberg discusses "Once More, with Feeling", <http://www.mania.com/36340.html>. Retrieved on 20 July 2007
- ^ 100 Greatest Musicals, Channel 4 Film, <http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/M/musicals/results_15to11.html>. Retrieved on 21 October 2007
[
External links
- "Once More, with Feeling" at the Internet Movie Database
- "Once More, With Feeling" at TV.com
- BBC episode guide
- Buffy body count synopsis of "Once More, with Feeling"
- "Once More, with Feeling" lyrics at AHoleintheWorld.com
- Buffy Singalong webpage
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy.