Somehow I missed the Buffy bandwagon. I enjoyed the movie, but never really watched the show. Joss Whedon had other notable writing credits (such as Toy Story), but I did not become a real Whedon fan until after renting the entire season of "Firefly" and "Serenity." I now count myself among those who would love to see a second Firefly movie.

I've now watched a few "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episodes, and I found some to be quite clever -- as is the underlying concept of a blonde cheerleader named "Buffy" becoming vampire killer. It's a well done show. One episode that I found particularly interesting (and helped inspire the title of a recent paper) is "Once More with Feeling," aka the Buffy musical. Admittedly, Whedon was not the first TV writer to think of this idea, but I think he pulled it off better than most (see, e.g., "Cop Rock"). From the opening song there is a self-referential wryness that permeates the episode and makes the conceit work. Here's how the episode begins:

Every single night, the same arrangement,
I go out and fight the fight.
Still I always feel this strange enstrangement,
Nothing here is real, nothing here is right.
I've been making shows of trading blows
Just hoping no one knows
That I've been going through the motions,
Walking though the part,
Nothing seems to penetrate my heart.

The title of the episode (and my paper) is taken from this reprise of "What You Feel" sung by the demon Sweet, who is responsible for making everyone sing.

What a lot of fun
You guys have been real swell
And there's not a one who can say
This ended well
All those secrets
You've been concealing
Say you're happy now,
Once more, with feeling
Now I gotta run
See you all in hell

The full lyrics for the episode are available here.