Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Cibo Matto

Cibo Matto is a group made up of two Japanese women singers, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, Timo Ellis on Drums, and Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, on bass guitar. They disbanded in 2011, but soon got back together again for several fundraisers sponsored by Yoko Ono, including a benefit for the Japan Earthquake survivors. Their blog is Here and you can read more Here.

Both songs found in this episode are included on the 1997 album Super Relax. "Sugar Water" is also found on the imported UK version of Radio Sunnydale.



Cibo Matto played at the Bronze in Episode One of Season Two - "When She was Bad." In that episode (written by series creator Joss Whedon) Buffy is still reeling from her encounter with the evil Master Vampire in Season One that left her literally dead until discovered underground by Angel and Xander, who brought her back to life with CPR. Despite a summer away from Sunnydale with her well-meaning father, Buffy comes home acting sullen and quiet, plagued by nightmares and dark thoughts of death. Buffy mistreats everyone close to her, not just Cordelia who deserves it, but Xander who is still in love with her. In a famous scene, Buffy acts like a bitchy femme fatale, making both Angel and Willow jealous while she dances with Xander, whom she also torments by coming onto him sexually. The background music to all this is Cibo Matto's otherworldly sound.



It's such an interesting plot twist to have the superhero behaving badly, and it works to humanize Buffy, who is physically strong but often emotionally vulnerable.

The two songs by Cibo Matto in this episode are "Spoon" and "Sugar Water."





One more interesting note: during the dance sequence, a man who looks very much like the vampire Spike dances in front of the band while watching Buffy and Xander. This predates the arrival of Spike later in Season Two, Episode 3 - "School Hard". And it isn't Spike because the same young man appears in the final classroom scene, ironically sitting in front of Buffy's desk, and in the sunlit classroom - so definitely not a vampire either. It's quite possible thought that Joss Whedon was foreshadowing Spike early in the season - he knew William the Bloody was coming to Sunnydale, after all, and this guy has exactly the same hair. Maybe the make-up artist was practicing, LOL.

Spike or Angel? Who is more Heroic?

Here's an excerpt from a great essay comparing the characters of Spike (William the Bloody) and Angel (Angelus).

Spike Versus Angel by Eleanor Kuhns

Transformed to a vampire, (Spike) becomes part of Angel’s coven, and for the first time, he becomes part of something. He has his own little family and is too scary to be mocked. Recalling his experiences with Angel and Drusilla during the Russian Revolution, Spike tells Buffy that it was the best time of his life. His wistful regret for a happy time that has passed really resonated with me. He is never really happy again.

Angel, on the other hand, never worries about fitting in. Why should he? He is always the leader. As a vampire, he has a rep as the baddest of the bad, with no pity or remorse. But when he reforms, he reforms all the way, becoming, to my way of thinking, a little self-righteous. He strides through the episodes like Cotton Mather in a leather coat. Yet, when he loses his soul, he becomes über evil. There are no gray areas with Angel.



Spike is a mosaic of gray. He certainly never achieves Angel’s almost arrogant level of self-confidence. In fact Spike remains always insecure, a feeling he covers with a flippant swagger. He wants someone to love him, first Drusilla and then Buffy, but never succeeds in attaining the relationship he wants. He wants to fit in but he just can’t manage it. Not and stay who he is. He wants to be good but only sometimes and not yet. Totally understandable.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a multi-layered show with many strands that explain its popularity and its following even now. And Spike is certainly a big part of it. He is villain, hero, and antihero all at once. In the final episode, Angel expects to save the world by sacrificing his life. After all, he is the hero and the good vampire. But it is Spike, the very flawed character whose journey we have shared, who is chosen. And that feels right.

My own feeling is that Spike becomes a true hero - the "champion" at the end of the series - not just because he is more complex, but because he makes a conscious choice to "be a better man" and get back his soul. Angel, of course, has a soul at the beginning of the series, but only through the gypsy curse - he never sought it out. Both characters suffer terribly and struggle with right and wrong - with backsliding, and even murder - but I agree with the essayist that Whedon got it exactly right in the end ~ Spike's journey is more noble for it being more unlikely.

Buffy Season One ~ Promos and Trailers

I've been watching some great old promos for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Enjoy how it all began, back in 1997.

Vote Buffy for Best Guilty Pleasure on Netflix

Netflix is gathering votes for the Flixies on Facebook.

Vote for Buffy in the Category Best Guilty Pleasure.

God knows how many hours of Buffy I've watched on Netflix just in the last month! :) 

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday ~ Darling Violetta

Darling Violetta first appeared in the Whedonverse in the dark episode "Faith, Hope and Trick," which introduces three characters: the second slayer, "Faith"; Scott Hope, a boy who likes Buffy; and last, but not least, the vampire "Mr. Trick," who became an evil minion to the Mayor of Sunnydale in his "Ascendancy" as a Giant Snake.

This is also the episode in which Angel returns from the demon realm.

The band played two songs in this episode. "Cure is from The Kill You EP, and "Blue Sun" is from the album Bath Water Flowers




The first is "Cure" which is playing in the Bronze when Buffy dances with a boy named Scott Hope (the "Hope" in the name of the episode). Beautiful song!




The second is "Blue Sun," and plays while Faith is telling the kids about her past adventures as a Slayer.



Darling Violetta then went on to write "Sanctuary," the moody theme song of the "Angel" TV show, which can be found on the album Angel: Live Fast, Die Never [Music from the TV Series]

Joss Whedon Names Favorite Buffy Episodes

In an Interview with Digital Spy Joss Whedon said his two favorite episodes of Buffy are the musical "Once More, With Feeling," and "The Body," in which Buffy discovers her dead mother on the couch.

Nathan Fillion Talks "Firefly" Revival

In a previous post I noted that TV Guide Listed Firefly as the Number One Show fans want to Revive.

Now Huffington Post has done an interview with Nathan Fillion, the star of Firefly, on his feelings about the show. Fillion also played the evil Preacher Caleb in Season Seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dogberry in Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing," and Captain Hammer in "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog." And those are just the shows in the Whedonverse - he has other credits including a recurring role on "Desperate Housewives" and the lead in the ABC series "Castle."

From Huffington Post

...When The Huffington Post visited the "Castle" set for the celebration of the show's 100th episode (airing Monday, April 1 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC) we couldn't resist asking star Nathan Fillion about his thoughts on a potential "Firefly" revival, as well as what's on the horizon for his other collaboration with Whedon -- a "Dr. Horrible" sequel.
"We talk about it, we dream about it. I don't think you could find a cast member, a writer, a director, any of the crew who'd say, 'No, I'm out,'" Fillion admitted of "Firefly." "People are pretty busy right now, Alan [Tudyk] is always working, and obviously Joss is pretty busy. But that would be something that I would do again in a heartbeat. There's something about 'Firefly' -- it was my first love. So if you get a chance to go back to your very first love, you'll do it, right?"
Regarding "Firefly," Whedon recently told the Toronto Sun: "I'll never really accept [that it ended]. And I always, in the back of my head, think, 'What if I could get the old gang back together? ... It's something I would love to do."