I got bored a few days ago. I was staring at my DVD collection when out of the corner of my eye I spied the Season 6 set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Except for reading the season 8 graphic novels/comics (which I highly recommend, btw), I haven’t gotten much of a Buffy fix for a year or two. I especially hadn’t watched the musical episode “Once More, With Feeling” which I remember thinking about doing when I watched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog following the WGA strike. So, I popped in the episode (again), watched the features (again), listened to the commentary (again), and sang along (again). So, why is Joss Whedon evil?

It’s been days and I STILL CAN’T GET THE SONGS OUT of my head. Like fangs in a neck those tunes are now once again rattling around my psyche. It took months for them to exit the last time (yes…I remember now why I hadn’t watched the episode in a while).

I can’t begin to tell you how much I’d love to be able to embed a clip, but that resource isn’t available at the moment :cry: .

The Songs

Overture / Going Through the Motions

Starting the musical with a very tongue-in-cheek Disney homage was brilliant. I mean, there’s a reason why Disney does its own animated musicals this way: it hooks you in from the start.

I was very surprised the first time I watched this episode. SMG (Sarah Michelle Gellar) can sing. No, she won’t be winning American Idol, but given the material Joss wrote for her, she did amazingly well. I’ve heard other people do this, and even if they are better singers, SMG made it her own from the start. Definitely one of my favorites and a brain-sticker for sure.

I’ve Got a Theory / Bunnies / If We’re Together

This was just pain fun. Though it has bits of poignancy, for the most part it highlights that being under the control of an evil demon can also have some lighter moments. I mean, who can’t laugh at Willow pointing out Tara’s “jazz hands” or Xander’s “evil-witches” back-peddling?

I think the thing that really cements it is Buffy’s comment that “Hey, I’ve died twice,” and doesn’t seem much concerned with it.

Still, despite any jazzy hands or quippy having-died remarks, the song is totally stolen by Anya’s hard-rock loathing of bunnies….or maybe midgets.

The Mustard

While short and not really essential to the plot, it’s still a brain-sticker.

Under Your Spell

Easily the most beautiful song in the episode. Amber Benson managed to shine through reserved Tara to reveal that any occasion to have Amber sing would be a goodness.  Plus, you have to thank Joss for his self-described “pornographic” lyrics that culminated with a cycle of Tara singing “You make me cum-plete.”

I’ll Never Tell

So much fun. Emma completely owned the number with her singing and dancing skills, but you had to give Nick his props for being a gamer. He’s neither a singer or a dancer and he managed to bull his way through anyway with good humor. The only thing that has ever distracted me was how over-dressed Nick was compared to Emma. It’s times like these that, while I appreciated the eye candy, I deplore Hollywood’s sexism. (I know it wasn’t intended, but it still makes me think that.)

The banter parts of the song, especially, stick in my brain. I’m big with the screwball comedies and that sort of wordplay in the song definitely fed into that.

The Parking Ticket

Co-executive producer Marti Noxon’s brief moment of vocal exhibitionism (whether or not she was wearing underwear). I like her voice. And damn those lyrics which echo in my mind, “It isn’t right, it isn’t fair…”

Rest in Peace

I want to like this song more than I do. Perhaps it was marred by my high expectations of James going in. Knowing he was a singer I was expecting something different. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not bad at all, it’s just not really my taste. It happens.

Even so, the chorus is diabolically adhesive to the ol’ gray matter.

Dawn’s Lament/Dawn’s Ballet

More of an interstitial than anything. In terms of stickiness, it’s more of a Post-It.

What You Feel

As with James, Hinton Battle’s stylings aren’t exactly my cup of tea. But…I loved the tap. We don’t get much tap dancing anymore.

Standing;Under Your Spell / Standing – reprise

Tony Head definitely can sing. Unfortunately, for plotting reasons he’s stuck with a song that’s a bit depressing. The bit of the song where he and Amber were counterpoint is always the big highlight for me.

Walk Through the Fire

By a nose, this is my favorite song of the opus. The song has so many different elements utilizing all of all of the cast (except MT). SMG totally sells it. Willow delivering the legendary lyric, “I think this line’s mostly filler,” along with the requisite counterpoint elements from the better singers makes this song epic… almost operatic.

In terms of the brain stick-o-meter, this is epoxy, without doubt.

Something to Sing About

In contrast to “Fire” we immediately get a song that is both poppier and dissonant. I love both those things. Dissonance done well is a too-often neglected part of music.

SMG’s dancing was fantastic, but that’s completely overshadowed (in a good way, at least for me) by a choreographic boo-boo. Mid-way through the song, Tara is supposed to spin back to her backup position. Amber unknowingly spins right into a support pillar. Though it’s mostly off-screen, off to the side you can see her rebound off of it. Then, as the scene plays out, you can see Amber trying not to laugh as she very obviously tries to hide from view behind that very same pillar. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Over all, a Krazy-Glue song if ever their was one.

Where Do We Go from Here?”

This is more like the first half of a song as it never quite finishes. The minor key of it added with the lyrics presaging rough seas ahead make it hard to want to cling to this piece. Still, Michelle’s unornamented opening combined with with the temporarily ironic “Understand, we’ll go hand in hand…” just as they fracture makes this memorable. Memorable enough, certainly, that it’s still rattling around my brain as well as the flashier pieces.

Coda

As I wrap this up, I have to again give major props to SMG for not only being the lead singer on several of the songs, but also having to balance the acting, stunts, and choreography as well. It was very impressive to watch.

And of course, despite the fact that he is an evil genius (or perhaps because of that fact), I must give major props to Joss for cobbling this thing together in the first place. I had thought, a few years before this aired, that the musical episode of Xena – Warrior Princess, “Bitter Suite”, was going to be difficult to equal. While it’s still an impressive episode, the fact is that “Once More With Feeling” totally blew it out of the water. Not only was the writing and libretto better, but none of the Buffy cast were dubbed by other singers.

So…when Joss Whedon ascends to his place of Evil Creative Overlord of Evil, I could do worse than have his musical stuck in my head (assuming I survived the apocalypse necessary for his ascension, of course).

Bonus

Here is something unexpected that I stumbled upon as I was trying to find clips to post for this story: a stage version of this episode. It’s actually not too bad…though the sound tech could have been a little quicker with the switching on of mics. (Be sure to linger during the blank bit in the middle that separates the two songs.)