Much Ado About Nothing - DVD Review

Joss Whedon: the man behind my fave show ever, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2012 he made a movie for love. And it got picked up by the media, went to many film festivals so I finally got to see it during Amsterdam Film Week in 2013. Let me tell you: It was well worth the wait. As I was going to meet several actors during HalloWhedon 5 I really wanted a dvd as well, so I could get it signed. However, as this drama/comedy of 109 minutes, wouldn't reach me before the convenion, my dear friend, Captain Rhys, who lives in England, ordered it for me and gave it to me during the con. And what better way is there to show how much I love this dvd of Much Ado About Nothing, than to write a review?

My review
Joss Whedon, creator of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and recently Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, is probably most famous for the action feature The Avengers with Robert Downey Jr and many others. When he had some time off after filming the previously named movie, he was supposed to go to Italy with his wife Kai. However... Joss can't sit still. Because in those two weeks off, he decided to film his dream project: Much Ado About Nothing.

Much Ado About Nothing is modern version of Shakespeare’s play with the same title. The story remains mostly unadapted, except for the opening which includes a 'one-night-stand’ with Beatrice (Amy Acker) and Benedick (Alexis Denisof). Some time later they meet again in her uncle's house, Leonato (Clark Gregg); Now Benedick is fiercly against marriage and Beatrice against men. But Leonato has more guests. His own daughter, Hero (Jillian Morgese), falls in love with Claudio (Fran Kranz), friend of Benedick and Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) – to whom Hero is engaged/betrothed. The most dangerous guest, however, is Don John (Sean Maher), brother of Don Pedro, who wants nothing more than destroy the happiness of others. 

The Bard
You don't mess with classics. That's a message Whedon clearly understood. Even though the ‘one night stand’ is a small adaptation, the dialogue remains mainly unchanged. While Shakespearean English may be hard to understand, especially for those who didn't get English literature in high school, the story is understandable. The fact that ‘Old English’ is the spoken language in this movie, it doesn't have to be something to hold you back. de gesproken taal is, hoeft absoluut geen drempel te zijn. The quick dialogue is so energetic that you're simply taken by the actors emotions and actions. Other than that the story in itself is a classic filled with comedy, drama and exciting.

An extraordinary filmlocation
For the entirety of the movie they only used one location. You kinda have to when you shoot the entire thing in just twelve days. Joss used his own house for this, which can been seen as a character itself in teh story. It's a beautiful mansion, full of stairs, a large kitchen, and many rooms big enough to host a party. Not to mention the beautiful view from the garden. More than a (castle of a) house isn't necessary for the story. The many plotlines all have a the space to develop, from the many secret get togethers and conconting plans in back rooms, up to the staircases and windows from where the characters can eavesdrop. It creates a dynamic play between the many actors and storylines. A big bonus to the Whedonians themselves (fans of the works of Joss) is that they get to see the house where the 'genius' himself lives and where many of his works came into existence. 

The Whedon family
For Whedonians such as myself, this movie is one big party. Whedon has drum op his actors and crew from most of the tv shows and movies where he worked on. Which means: Lots of familiar faces, with whom he - while his tv shows were still on air - used to have Shakespeare readings at his home. And then to think that most of them only had little to no experience in Shakespearean theatre. That they know how to convey the story to the audience - even when Shakespearian can't have been an easy language to speak - is admirable. Everyone knows just what their characters needs: From the puppy dog eyes between Fran Kranz and Jillian Morgese, to the cold stare from Sean Maher, the funny dynamic between Tom Lenk and Nathan Fillion to the sneaky planning of Clark Gregg and Reed Diamond. There's no moment where their performance falters. The most enchanting performance however is from Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof. They can open their box of skills and completely let themselves go: From slapstick comedy to drama. These two know how to bring this love story in an entirely new way and let you enjoy the whims which go hand in hand with being smitten.  
(FYI: A couple of other known faces are Romy Rosemont, Riki Lindhome, Ashley Johnson)

With tears in your eyes
Comedies are always tricky. Especially when you use an old language that few people will understand/be able to follow. Whedon understood that Shakespeare's work never fades. The jokes are just as funny, but even more important is how you bring them. And this is where Whedon's Much Ado excells. You'll have tears in your eyes from laughing because this Much Ado About Nothing is funnier than you've ever seen before. If you've seen the Kenneth Brannagh version, you'll probably compare the two. But these movies are beyond comparison. Whedon and his actors bring humor to a new level by using the location and the talents of the actors to the max. Whether it's Denisof' singing or Acker's and Denisof's clumpsiness in the garden and kitchen. Nothing is funnier then when these two are trying to eavesdrop on conversations about each other while sneaking through the house.

Back to black (and white)
It may seem as a contradiction to film this movie in black and white when you want to tell a classic story in a modern way. It's a risky choice of style, but in this case it absolutely works. Because it high lights the timelessness ofthe story and accentuates both the location as the acting. The white fades in between the scenes falls in line with this style perfectly as it makes for a sublte transition, without abruptly jumping from scene to scene. It all fits perfectly together which is a joy to see. 

Alright, I admit it: I'm partially biased. Joss Whedon is a genius and hero in my book and can't really make mistakes. But aside from that Much Ado About Nothing is one of the best movies I've seen in the past years. It has all the right ingredients: A great cast, a fantastic script that can make you laugh, cry, scared, but mostly takes you up in it's story. That Whedon chose this style, and the location as well as using the original Shakespearean dialogue, enhances all the aspects that made the play a succes. The modern twist (contemporary clothing, home, cell phones and setting) provides a fresh look on the story and shows that love stories like these remain timeless. It doens't really happen that right after watching a movie I want to see it again, but after seeing Much Ado I knew right away that I could watch this movie at least ten times more. Much Ado About Nothing is without question the must-see of the year!

Extra's
What is a dvd without extra's? There aren't too many extra's on this dvd, but it does include a commentary by Joss Whedon himself. In his eyes his Much Ado About Nothing is simply the latest version and not THE version. There have been many versions before and he knows there will be after. Without giving too much away, there are several subjects that he talks about. You get to learn about a lot of fun facts of the movie, such as it being a home party for Joss Whedon and like the fact that the children's room was actually pink. Therefore a black and white filter wasn't really all that strange. Whedonians will also love some of the comments, like how Fillion plays a little Captain Hammer in his role. He also explains his choices in the movie itself. For instance about how he didn't understand everything Shakespeare wrote and to make sense of it, it sometimes contains changes to the script.
Other than that my edition also contained some Limited Edition Art Cards which are a nice little something extra. As for the dvd details: the menu is very dynamic with moving pictures and the dvd contains the commentary as well as a trailer of the movie. You could also choose to use the audio description, which pretty much tells everything that's happening on screen. And if you'd like to just watch a particlar scene, you can do so easily with the scene selection.

If you're still not sure if you'd like to watch this movie, than I end my review the trailer, to have you decide for yourself ;-)

Why I love... Buffy the Vampire Slayer (my 100th blog)

It was bound to happen, me talking about my love for Buffy. I think I can even say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is kinda like my first love. I know how this sounds, but it's the truth. A lot of people don't get how people can get this excited about a tv show (or about anything for that matter). And partly I understand them. I can't really explain it either, but in this blog I'm gonna lay my soul bare for you and try for three simple reasons:

1) This is my 100th blog and I wanted to do something special
2) Today it's been 17 years since the series premiered with 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' and 'The Harvest' (10 March 1997)
3) Buffy has been a huge influence on my life and I simply love talking about it

Starting from A: My first episode 'Anne'
I have a thing with numbers and important dates. Now, I don't remember the exact date on which I found Buffy, but I do know when I watched my first ep. It was a friday night and my big sis was going to her first high school party. We were doing the dishes, while my dad was zapping through channels. My dad came across this show, where there was a young girl, dressed in a long coat, walking alone through a dark street. For some reason it captivated me because I asked my dad to go back to this show. Back then I had a thing with drama, the stories behind people always interested me, especially the ones that were based on true events. Anyway... that's what I thought it was. Some drama show about a girl having to live by herself in a big dark scary city. Boy was I wrong! I could explain the entire scene here: How someone came up to her, asking her for money to come to a party, how a man walked into the street in front of a car and how this lonely girl ran to save him. Which she did. It got my interest to say the least. So I kept watching and I asked my dad what show it was, so he looked it up. He answered: "....Buffy the Vampire Slayer...." I remember that it sounded very weird to me. 'Buffy,' what was that? A name? And a 'Vampire Slayer'?? What the hacky-sack was that? My dad just couldn't be right. Surely it was a misprint. But after the commercial it appeared on the screen as well. But this girls' name was 'Anne', at least for a minute. As the show progressed I was more and more intrigued by this character who put her own needs aside to help others. The moment I completely fell in love with her, was in this epic moment, where she found herself again: "Hi! I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. And you are?" She said this in the most perky way to a demon who was going to smash her brains in with a club!!! After that a big fight scene followed and the show had stolen my heart.

(I didn't make this, but found it on Google)

Becoming a fan
I don't know what it was, but for some reason I didn't wanna miss another episode. So I watched everyday (they were reruns of the third season) and everyday I couldn't watch it, I asked my parents or sisters to tape it for me. After season three ended, I was hoping they would start again from the first episode, so I could catch up. But when it started again, it was the first episode of season four. By then I already found VHS boxsets in stores such as VanPiere and the FreeRecordShop, so I bought the first season. The other ones I got for my birthday and then came the dvd's. It started out with me catching up on everything I missed, which was a lot. I only watched a big part of the aftermath of the Bangel relationship and I HAD to know what happened. There were many characters that came back as well as characters talking about things that had happened in the past, which I had all missed out on. Soon I was caught up and I couldn't get enough of it. I got action figures on my birthday and  when me and my mum went birthday shopping in Amsterdam (I was well in my teens now) we pretty much only went to the American Book Centre. That's where they sold Buffy books as well as the magazines from both England and America. My room filled with posters, books, scripts, I even saved clippings. Of course the internet helped as well: This way I could read interviews. And it was in this time when the trialers started to come online and by either season five or six episodes could be downloaded! Thinking back it was the worst possible quality (sound and/or image), but I simply couldn't wait till Net5 would get caught up again. And when they did, of course I was the first to sit in front of the tv to tape it. I guess I became a fan without even realizing it.

(Again, not mine, but I do like how it looks)

Laughs, love and heartbreak: Why it's so good
When you hear the cast and crew talk about why Buffy is such a great show they talk about how unique it is. And it truly is. Buffy was one of the first shows that broke genres: It was funny and romantic as well as action packed, horrific and scary. But another reason is that the heroine of the story is a teenage girl. Not some Amazone like woman 'bigger with muscles and all that' (as Angel put it in the first episode). She was just a girl, like all of us (girls), going through high school. And THAT made her very relatable. She wasn't some all powerful Slayer, she wasn't made of stone, but she had emotions, friends, loves and made tough decisions. She broke down in tears telling her Watcher (her mentor/tuder if you will) "Giles... I'm sixteen years old... I-I don't wanna die" (1x12 Prophecy Girl). A teenage girl with the weight on her shoulders and she came through in the end.

One of the shows strong points is the metaphore that high school is hell. Personally I never really found high school hell. I guess I was lucky to have great friends and a small school where there weren't really groups like they show in the movies and series. But the metaphore still holds. Joyce (Buffy's mom) once said 'Everything's life and death when you're a sixteen year old girl' (1x02 The Harvest) and she couldn't be more right. You go through so many changes in high school and you juggle to do everything right. Buffy was trying to hang with her friends, do her school work, find love as well as fight monsters. Except for the monsters, we all go through it and even without the monsters it's a lot to handle. The pressure that goes with it. The monster aspect also highlighted the issue that a lot of teenagers face, namely that they're not understood. Grown ups and parents have all been teenagers, but for some reason they can never really understand what it's like to be a teenager. Lot's of things have changed since then and if all the changes (technology and all the new rules, exams/ways of testing) weren't enough, there's always the reason that you can't know what a person is going through: Everybody is unique, so that makes it hard to give advise or really understand them. In that aspect, Buffy was the embodiment: She couldn't tell her mom or her teachers. She wasn't even supposed to tell her friends, but that happened. And with every boy she dated, she had to make up stories for her extracurricular activities. So in short, the stories on the show are relatable, monsters or not. By using metaphores the cast and crew also got to go where other shows hadn't gone before. They were breaking bounderies and took social issues further. Whether that's Willow getting addicted to magic (a very on the nose metaphor) or issues like not being born into a family or dealing with death.

Another reason why it's so good is the humor. Living in Sunnydale a lot of the time it looks like summer, which also means that they wear a lot of light colored clothes. And that's the feeling of the show. Just like there are darker episodes, a lot of them are funny as hell. And even if the the episode isn't exactly a funny one, there's always something to laugh (or maybe smirk) about. The characters are gripping and take you into their lives. When they laugh, you laugh, when they love, you love and when their heart breaks, your heart breaks. They created their own family and in a way you become part of it. I also just loved it because it was about a girl kicking ass, making puns while being in danger and honestly there hasn't been a female heroine like Buffy since. There are glimpses of strong women or some essences of them, but it's almost shocking that this wonderful show didn't inspire more of these characters.

Rewatching it... again and again
I can't get enough of Buffy. Every year there's several moments when I think about something that happened on Buffy and I want to watch it again. But I don't just want to start half way... I start thinking about all the fun stuff that happened before a certain episode and I would want to watch that one too. So... Every year I start from the first ep and rewatch the entire series. All because I love the storylines, the quotes, the characters and...well maybe there's a little nostalgia in there as well. I love how it made me feel, because in high school  everyone was catching up kinda slow, while I already had the boxsets. So I had inside information. I remember overhearing some 'more popular' girls talking about Angel and asking questions about his curse or something... I responded and I loved being able to talk about it. But even before... When I was like eleven or something, after I had just seen it, I had to tell my friends. So I was all excited and one of my friends was like "Oh, yeah... That's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it's a great show", so we talked about it for a while. But a week later, when I talked about it again in all my enthousiasm she simply responded "it's not like I'm a fan or something. It's just a tv show". I for the life of me couldn't understand this, because everyone was always talking about soaps - which I didn't watch. At all! The brilliance of it was lost on them I guess. Or maybe they stopped watching because when I started catching up, all episodes had already been aired. Anyway... For most of the time I was the only one I knew who loved the show that much. Hearing my classmates talk about it during gym class and being able to talk to them about it, was wonderful.

After the show had ended on the 21st of May 2003 I stopped watching it a while, until I got my final dvd boxset. When I felt like it, I got them out and started from season one again. But every now and then I also stopped watching Buffy, focused on my school work and I started watching other shows. However, when I came across a fan vid on some website, it made me want to watch all these episodes again (as I mentioned above). It's pretty much goes around in a circle like that. The beauty of a show like this is that you can watch it over and over again. It's pretty much timeless. Maybe the first season stands out because of the clothing and make up, but all the issues that are addressed as the social and family situations the group finds themselves in, are of all times. As I grow up I realize that I'm watching episodes differently, look at situations differently and sometimes only now getting the metaphores. To me this proves that you can never watch it too many times, because there's so much to see and discover.

I learned this in another way. When I went to university I decided that, as Buffy was more about high school and teenagers growing up, to stop watching it for a while. I was gonna be an adult and get a new start. Boy did I see things wrong! In my second year of Film and Television studies I realized just how much of the things I was learning about I had already seen on Buffy. So I started doing case studies for my uni, I even did my Bachelor thesis on both the show and the movie. I soon learned that there are actually Buffy and Whedon studies, that there are online journals (Slayage and Watcher Junior) and the many many academic books that are written about Joss' work. Nothing gave/gives me more joy than reading those books and learning how other people see things. I think it's safe to say that I didn't hold up my decision to not watch Buffy anymore for long. I think that only lasted for about a year ;-).

My season five and six: the breakdown
So... there's this... It's something that I actually never ever talk about. Or at least not in relation to Buffy, because I know how it sounds. It's something that most of my friends and family members don't even know about... I don't like talking about it, because I guess I'm ashamed of it in a way, but also because it was a pretty dark time in my life that I don't want to dwell on. Anyway there was this big thing in my life... My great aunt died at the age of 98(and a half) in december when I was fifteen years old. Not too much later, coming back from Christmas break, I found out that a friend of mine had a brain tumor... And yes, that was a lot to deal with. It was hard. But I got to visit him and went by his house sometimes when he was released from the hospital. I really thought he was making progress, because after his operation and all the visits I noticed that he could start to speak again and even use his hands. Then in June a classmate died, this boy was hit by a car and we ended that school year with a funeral... Two days before our new high school year started in september 2004 (I was sixteen by then) I found out that my friend with the brain tumor had also died...

I can't say it in any other way than that my heart broke. Old people dying, that's one thing, but a friend, so young... that's ....  I'm sorry but there just aren't any words... I literally broke. For about a year I was extremely down, possibly depressed. I just couldn't see why life was worth living or doing anything for that matter. I couldn't really talk about it with anyone, I couldn't pretend to be cheery all the time or to care about silly things such as nail polish or school work or parties... I remember crying myself to sleep for weeks after he died. Hystericly crying, and wanting to kill myself (this is something I haven't actually admitted to anyone of my friends). I still don't have an answer for it, but for some reason birthdays were the worst. On my sisters' 15th birthday I went to bed early but I simply couldn't take it anymore. So I opened the window in my bedroom intending to jump out. They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die and I think I understand what they mean. I didn't jump...(obviously), but I did think about what it would mean to my family if I did. I remembered all of my family and friends, my youth and everything I went through. And I thought of Buffy. I know it sounds cheesy, but for the longest time, she was my hero. Still is. She had been through so much in her life, and at least when she died, she did it to save the world. She was someone I looked up to and - despite being a slayer - wanted to be, because I loved everything about her. In a way she gave me the strength to close that window, walk down the stairs - still crying hysterically - and scaring the crap out of my parents and sister who had no idea what was going on. It was literally my cry for help (which I got) and in a way I do feel that Buffy was part of me not ending my life, but I guess... saving it. It's something I will always be greatful for and won't ever forget.

This was me laying my soul bare and sharing a piece I had never shared before. And in a way this blog doesn't even come close to all the reasons why I love Buffy. Like I said: I can't really explain why Buffy means so much to me. But I think sharing all this information should give a better idea into some stuff that might have been connected to it. If you're still not convinced, you don't have to take my personal word for it... You coud also take the academics words for it, like Rhonda Wilcox with Why Buffy Matters, or Televised Morality by Gregory Stevenson or a book like Fighting the Forces (edited by Wilcox and David Lavery).

The awesomeness of quotes pt 13

I know it's been a while since I've done a Awesomeness of quotes page lately and I also found out that Firefly hasn't been done yet. So it's about time! Firefly is the shortlived scifi television series which stars Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin and many more. When Joss Whedon and Tim Minear created it for Fox, Fox totally screwed it up by airing out of chronological order. But even though there were some problems, the show gathered an amazing and dedicated fanbase called the Browncoats and the show - after being cancelled after thirteen episodes - got a movie sequel to tie up loose ends. Withour further ado, I give you their awesomeness of quotes from both show and movie!

BTW's: Nathan Fillion will forever and always be The Captain ;-) 1x01 - Serenity
Mal: We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so very pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

Mal: "I don't believe there is a power in the verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful."

Wash: "Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail."

1x02 - The Train Job
[Mal is insisting on continuing the job, despite the train car full of Alliance soldiers] 
Mal: "Hell, this job I would pull for free."
Zoe: "Then can I have your share?"
Mal: "No!"
Zoe: "If you die can I have your share?"
Mal: "Yes."

1x03 - Bushwhacked
Zoe: "Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something."
Wash: "[alarmed] Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!? [deadpan] Oh right, that would be me. Back to work."

Harken: "Seems odd you'd name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of."
Mal: "May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."
1x04 - Shindig
Zoe: "Planet's coming up a mite fast."
Wash: "That's just 'cause— I'm going down too quick. Likely crash and kill us all."
[As the ship begins to shake, Mal calmly leaves.]
Mal: "Well, that happens, let me know."

[Badger notices River wandering into the cargo bay]
Badger: "Who's that, then? Here, look at me. What's your story, love?"
Simon: "She's just a... just a passenger."
Badger: "Yeah? Why ain't she talkin'? Got a secret?"
Simon: "No, I'm—"
River: [suddenly speaking in Badger's own Cockney accent] "Sure. I got a secret. More'n one. Don't seem like I'd tell 'em to you, now, do it? Anyone off Dyton colony knows better'n to talk to strangers. [pokes Badger in the chest] You're talkin' loud enough for the both of us, ain't ya? I've met a dozen like you. Skipped off home early. Minor grift jobs here and there. Spent some time in the lockdown, but less than you claim. And you're what? A petty thief with delusions o' standing? Sad little king of a sad little hill."
Badger: "Nice to see someone from the old homestead."
River: "Not really. [to Simon] Call me if anyone interesting shows up." [Leaves]
Badger: [grinning] "I like her."

1x05 - Safe
River: "They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see sky, and they remember what they are."
Mal: "Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?"

Zoe: "Cap'n'll come up with a plan."
Kaylee: "Well, that's good. Right?"
Zoe: "Possible you're not recalling some of his previous plans."

1x06 - Our Mrs. Reynolds
Inara: "So… explain to me again why Zoe wasn't in the dress?"
Mal: "Tactics, woman. Needed her in the back. Besides, them soft cotton dresses feel kinda nice. There's a whole… airflow."
Inara: "And you'd know that because…?"
Mal: "You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like woman, I am a mystery."
Inara: [laughs] "Best keep it that way. I withdraw the question."

Mal: "Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back! Wife or no, you are no one's property to be tossed aside. You got the right same as anyone to live and try to kill people."

 

1x07 - Jaynestown
Wash: "I think they captured him, though. Captured his essence."
Kaylee: "He looks sorta angry, don't he?"
Wash: "That's kinda what I meant."

[Shepherd Book prepares a meal as he absentmindedly addresses River.]Book: "What are we up to, sweetheart?"
River: "Fixing your Bible."
Book: "I, um... What?"
[Pan over to River, who works on a book with pens, brushes, and loose pages.]
River: "Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics... doesn't make sense."
Book:  No, no. You—you can't..."
River: "So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem."
Book: "Really?"
River: "We'll have to call it 'early quantum state phenomenon'. Only way to fit 5,000 species of mammals on the same boat."
Book: "River, you don't... fix the Bible."
River: "It's broken. It doesn't make sense."
Book: "It's not about... making sense. It's about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you."


1x08 - Out of Gas
[Flashback to Mal's years-earlier encounter with three bandits, one of whom is Jayne.]
Marco: "Reason? He's gonna talk to us about reason now."
Jayne: "Yeah, that's a joke."
Mal: "Which one you figure tracked us?"
Zoe: "The ugly one, sir."
Mal: [nods, pauses] "Could you be more specific?"
Marco: "Do we look reasonable to you?"
Mal: "Well, looks can be deceiving."
Jayne: "Not as deceiving as a low-down... dirty... deceiver."
[Marco laughs]
Mal: "Well said. Wasn't that well said, Zoe?"
Zoe: "Had a kind 'o poetry to it, sir."

[River peeks in on Book, who is reading his Bible.]
River: "Don't be afraid. That's what it says. Don't be afraid."
Book: "Yes."
River: "But you are afraid."
Book: "Yes."
River: "You're afraid we're going to run out of air, that we'll die gasping. But we won't. That's not going to happen. [Book looks up at her, hopefully.] We'll freeze to death first."

1x09 - Ariel
Wash: [to Inara] "Could you please tell my wife the fun she's missing out on?"
Inara: "Ariel's quite a nice place, actually. There are some beautiful museums, not to mention some of the finest restaurants in the core."
Wash: "But... not boring, like she made it sound."

[Mal and Zoe wheel out the medicine-laden containers.]
Wash: "How much did we get?"
Mal: "Enough to keep us flying."
Zoe: "Can we fly somewhere with a beach?"
Wash: "Maybe a naked beach?"
[Wash and Zoe go into a passionate embrace.]
Mal: "Cut it out! The job's not done till we're back on Serenity."
Zoe: "Sorry, sir. Didn't mean to enjoy the moment."

1x10 - War Stories
[River and Kaylee are running recklessly through the cargo bay. Inara and Mal are conversing on the stairs.]Mal: "Ah, the pitter-patter of tiny feet in huge combat boots... [to River and Kaylee] SHUT UP! .... One of you is gonna fall and die, and I'm not cleaning it up!"

[Jayne and Book are working out in the cargo hold. Inara and the councilor are coming down the stairs; the two kiss, and the councilor exits the ship. Jayne shakes his head. Inara rolls her eyes as she catches Jayne staring, and climbs the stairs back to her shuttle.]
Jayne: "I'll be in my bunk."

Zoe: "Okay, people. If it moves, shoot it."
Kaylee: "Unless it's the captain!"
Zoe: "Unless it's the captain."

[Zoe, Wash, and Jayne come across Mal's struggle with his tormentor. Jayne raises his pistol, but Zoe stops him.]
Zoe: "Jayne. This somethin' the Captain has to do for himself."
Mal: No! No, it's not!"
Zoe: [surprised] Oh."
[They open fire, killing the torturer.]

1x11 - Trash 
Inara: "Well, since I can't seem to find work as Companion, I might as well become a petty thief like you!"
[An uncomfortable silence descends for a moment.]
Mal: "Petty?"
Inara: "I didn't mean petty."
Mal: "What did you mean?"
Inara: "Suo-SHEE?"
Mal: "...That's Chinese for "petty".

[Jayne is on the infirmary table, temporarily paralyzed after his spill.]
Jayne: [mumbling] "Is [s]pine okay?"
Simon: "How much did they offer you to sell out me and River on Ariel?"
Jayne: [mumbling] "Das crazy talk."
Simon: "Then let's talk crazy. How much?"
[Jayne's eyes move toward the door.]
Jayne: [mumbling] "Anybody there? [River pokes her head in.] Anybody else?"
[Simon continues to work on Jayne as he talks.]
Simon: "No matter what you do, or say or plot, no matter how you come down on us… I Will never, ever harm you. You're on this table, you're safe. 'Cause I'm your medic, and however little we may like or trust each other, we're on the same crew. Got the same troubles, same enemies, and more than enough of both. Now, we could circle each other and growl, sleep with one eye open, but that thought wearies me. I don't care what you've done, I don't know what you're planning on doing, but I'm trusting you. I think you should do the same. 'Cause I don't see this working any other way."
[He leaves. River pokes her head in again.]
River: "Also... I can kill you with my brain."

1x12 - The Message
Jayne: "I got post?"
Book: "Might we all want to step a few paces back before he opens that?"
Jayne: "Ha ha! It's from my mother."
[Inara and Kaylee catch up to the post-office crowd.]Inara: "So, do aliens live among us?"
Kaylee: "Yeah. One of them's a doctor."

[River to Simon after he is blown off by Kaylee.]
River: "You are such a boob."

1x13 - Heart of Gold
Kaylee: "Everyone's got somebody. Wash, tell me I'm pretty."
Wash: "Were I unwed, I would take you in a manly fashion."
Kaylee: "'Cause I'm pretty?"
Wash: "'Cause you're pretty."

[Simon and Inara tend to Petaline during her contractions. River waits at her feet like a catcher.]
Inara: "How many babies have you actually delivered?"
Simon: "As the primary? This would be the first. You?"
Inara: "My first, too."
River: "Mine, too. ....Who do you think is in there?"

1x14 - Objects in Space 
Mal: "If I want a lot of medical jargon, I'll talk to a doctor."
Simon: "You are talking to a doctor."

Wash: "Little River gets more colorful by the moment. What'll she do next?"
Zoe: "Either blow us all up or rub soup in our hair. It's a toss-up."
Wash: "I hope she does the soup thing, it's always a hoot and we don't all die from it."

Mal: "Ugh. What the hell's goin' on here?"
River/Serenity: "I need you to do me a favor, captain."
Mal: "There was a guy. He was very blurry. You gotta be careful. Ugh. How come there's a guy on board and how come you're all of a sudden the ship?"
River/Serenity: "I know you have questions."
Mal: "That would be why I just asked them."
River/Serenity: "But there isn't a lot of time, captain. I need you to trust me."
Mal: "Am I dreamin'?"
River/Serenity: "We all are."
(Mal rolls his eyes)
River/Serenity: "Don't make faces."

Serenity (the movie)

Wash: "Well, if she doesn't get us some extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is gonna get pretty interesting."
Mal: "Define "interesting"?"
Wash: [deadpan] ""Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?"
Mal: [over intercom] "This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode."

Zoe: "Cap'n didn't make 'em fugitives."
Kaylee: "But he coulda made 'em family! 'Steada keepin' Simon from seein' I was there. And I carried such a torch, and we coulda... Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!"
Mal: [shocked] "Oh, God! I can't know that!"
Jayne: "I could stand to hear a little more."

Mal: "This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people…better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave."

Jayne: "Shepherd Book used to tell me, "If you can't do somethin' smart... do somethin' right.""

The Operative: "Do you know what your sin is, Mal?"
Mal: "Ah, hell, I'm a fan of all seven. But right now, I'm gonna have to go with wrath."

The Making of a Slayer: book review

I finally got around to reading The Making of a Slayer, the official guide by Nancy Holder. As a fangirl, I was really looking forward to this. The book is described as follows "Celebrating the 15th anniversary of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, this lavishly produced book is the first authorized, fully illustrated retrospective of the hit show. Offering in-depth commentary on the making of the series, the book explores characters and mythology of the Buffy universe and follows the evolution of all seven seasons. Die-hard Whedon fans will also find insider information on his involvement in other projects, including Angel, Firefly, and more. Housed in a foil-stamped slipcase, this volume features more than 120 images, including rare behind-the-scenes photo's, sketches, props and memorabilia from the Twentieth Century Fox archives, along with stills from the most pivotal on-screen moments. Tucked in the inside of the case is an envelope holding 'Slayer Lore: Texts and Magicks for the Battle'. These 13 removable pieces are replicas of the ancient spells and prophecies the characters used on-screen to defeat vampires, demons, and other monsters, making this the ultimate treasure-trove for every Buffy fan." Clearly, I HAD to have it ;-). Unfortunately I didn't have enough money at the time, but luckily my parents told me it could be a delayed birthday present (my birthday was in may, while the book released in december 2012). I didn't have any birthday wishes at the time, so this made my heart jump!

Let's start at the beginning
If anyone had any doubts this book would be for Buffy fans, it would be gone by the time they read the foreword. It is written by Buffy actress Amber Benson (she played Tara) and she perfectly understands what it means to be part of such a cult show and how the audience views it. Some of my favorite quotes were her opening words "Alyson - who will forever be enshrined in the science fiction and fantasy lexicon as Buffy Summer's best friend, Willow Rosenberg - was trying to explain to me how I was now part of something that wasn't just entertainment, but a bona fide way of life." Having met Amber myself at HalloWhedon I know what an amazing person she is and that she really means it when later on she says "little did I know back than how much this 'sci-fi television show' was going to change my life." She explains perfectly that Buffy transcends its medium and how it became a worldwide phenomenon. Truth be told, it might be a bit unfair to have Amber write the foreword though... considering she's a wonderful writer. But she knows just how to say it and she understands the fan community. And that's what makes it the perfect way to start this book. In short: The book had me at the beginning. Amber Benson's foreword was pure perfection and shows just how well she knows her audience.

The Making of a Slayer
The book is devided into very clear chapters. Chapter one is 'Birth of Buffy' which pretty much contains anything before Buffy was brought to television. Focusing on Joss Whedon's history, his high school and university, his work as a writer and the Buffy movie. It explains how Buffy came to be and how much love Joss already had for it. It also specifies on what his intentions were for Buffy. How people were talking about Girl Power, without actually showing it and was time that someone showed what everybody was talking about. 
The second chapter is 'High School is Hell,' which pretty much sums it up. It's about the first three seasons which focus on their high school years. With character descriptons and where they are now segments, which is really up-to-date. It also focuses on what the crew learned while working on it, as well as on the special effects, make-up, costumes and how for example the library, Sunnydale and such were made.
'College Magic' is about the seasons four and five, while chapter four 'Beyond' discusses seaons 6 and 7. While these chapters basically sum up everything that happend in the seasons, they also provide a little more information about the themes of the seasons, as well as Buffy getting a sister, fighting Dracula and a God, not to mention Dark Willow and the nice little references about going back to the beginning in season 7. The last chapter also provides a little information about 'Beyond Buffy', concerning comics, Firefly, Serenity, books written about Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, The Avengers and Much Ado About Nothing.

Of course the most fun for fans are fun facts. Or lovely quotes. And special photo's of props or sketches of the sets. 'The Making of a Slayer' has it all. A couple of the fun facts are that Sarah Michelle Gellar (who played Buffy) was originally offered the part of Cordelia. Or that Seth Green's character Oz, was originally 'scheduled' to be the character Angelus kills, instead of Jenny Calender. Other than that there's some behind the scenes knowledge about writers and how they came to be on the show and how they worked. Another thing I really liked about the book is how up to date it is. It tells that grainy copies of the twenty-minute presentation pilot of Buffy has been uploaded on YouTube, as well as mention what every cast member is currently working on.

But there's one thing about the book that really bugged me... And that's that the book, unfortunately, didn't have that much new information. Most of the information can be found in DVD commentaries or interviews and such. Therefore if you're a real Buffy fan, you've probably already heard or read it before. Though it might be true for fans that don't own their own boxsets on DVD yet, I think that for the most Buffy fans this book isn't exactly in-depth commentary or inside information. It just sums it up very nicely. Honestly... I just expected more.

Specials
I'm not really sure how to call them, but in between the chapters, there were special sections that focused on other issues. Such as the creative process of Joss Whedon, the writers room, producers or special episodes like Hush, The Body and Once More With Feeling. These provide some extra insight/additional information for those who care for some more background information about certain aspects of the show, episodes, the academics who study Buffy and crossovers and such.

The mistakes
Being a gigantic Buffy fan myself, I notice little mistakes. Of course being a fan and knowing this stuff, to me... they are huge mistakes. Nobody is perfect, but when you make mistakes about things like episodes, it really gets me though. I mean, if I can know these things - without looking them up - how come other people can't take the time to verify this? I'm not blaming anybody, because honestly, some descriptions could have been written by other departments and what not... And I have to be fair: Buffy is one of my main passions, so I like knowing these things, while for others... it was just work. Anyway... enough complaining, here are some of the mistakes that made me itch:

page 31: Holder states that "Unaware that another student, Xander Harris, is lurking in the library, Giles sets the scene for season one: Sunnydale was founded by Spanish settlers who originally called it Boca del Infierno." It's true that Xander was lurking in the library in the first ep and overheard Giles talking to Buffy about being a Slayer, BUT it's only in the second episode that THEY start doing research and Giles KNOWINGLY tells Buffy, Willow and Xander the story about the Spanish settlers... This is later partly rectified in the photo description on page 37, where it's indeed the exposition scene between the four of them.
Page 50: It's written that in this picture Buffy 'meets' her mother's new boyfriend... Though I understand the choice of words, it's not actually their first meeting. I would have just used 'and'. 
Page 55: The photo description states that "Angel loses his soul and becomes Angelus again." My problem is that this picture is from Enemies, in which Angel PRETENDS to be Angelus to find out if Faith has gone over to the dark side... He didn't even lose his soul. Arrrgh!
Page 71: The photo description says/references that the Mayor's face splits open in Graduation Day Part 2, while this was actually in Bad Girls. *sigh*
Page 73/76: In this picture the Hunga Munga is shown which Buffy ONLY used in the season three opening episode Anne. On page 76 you can read "the unusual ax-like weapon Buffy is holding in the credits of season two." Which of course isn't possible... But it was in the credits of seasons three, four and five.

page 76: It's mentioned that Giles was given a sword fight to get rid of his stuffy image, but this wasn't in Band Candy like the book said. It's actually in Bad Girls when Wesley first appeared.
Page 113: Though this isn't technically a mistake, you can see that Sarah and the other actor are waiting to play the scene, while the descriptoin says that 'Buffy face off against one of the Knights of Byzantium'... It just didn't feel like the right description to me for this particular picture, but I might be wrong.
Page 116: I don't really have a problem with this description as we are all meant to believe that it's Buffy, while it's actually the Buffybot. 
Page 123: The picture shown was actually right before they start singing 'Walk through the Fire', not 'led by Giles, the gang theorizes about the cause of the singing' which happends in 'I've Got a Theory' which was at the beginning of the episode while this is near the end. 
Page 130: While the Evil Trio is actually spying on Bufy in the episode Life Serial, in this picture they just discoverd free porn I believe... You can see why the description doesn't really fit for those in the know ;-)
Page 152: The description states "Here, Faith listens to Buffy's speech to the Potentials in 'Chosen'". Buffy does explain the plan there, but it's to the group and not the potentials... I admit, that this wasn't easy to spot, because Faith is wearing the same outfit. But you can see it in the background (wallpaper). 

Slayer Lore - The extra's

There's this beautiful envelope in the case, which contains several replica's of things used on Buffy. And I have to admit: It's pretty awesome to hold the Ritual of Restoration (to make Angelus Angel again) in your hands. Or an excerpt from the book about the Slayer's origin from Get it Done as well as the shadow puppets (made out of paper) which tell the story!!! It would be too much to describe all of them here, but just to give you an idea of the other items in here are: the page with Lethe's Bramble, text written in the Nezzla demon language, the word of Valios, newspaper articles about Lowell, the page about The Harvest (with drawing), the floor plan of City Hall and even a never-before seen page from the Watchers Diaries about a previously unknown Slayer named Rebecca. I think there are a couple of things I left out right now, but I think you get the point ;-).


Even though I had trouble with the mistakes that were made and the book didn't offer that much new information for me, I can highly recommend this book. Especially the version with the Slayer Lore and all these little collectibles. It's amazing to see so many pictures on the set and the book shares some eye opening moments as well as fun facts about the beginning, the running and the ending of the show. The pictures are beautiful, but the a lot of them are official photographs. Therefore it's the sketches and behind-the-scenes poloroids from make up departments and the like that give it something extra. It even had me wishing that I could own one of the props like the Sunnydale map, which is featured in this book on a double page picture :P. This book has it all. It is (and will probably always be) one of my most prized collectibles.

Art and technology: The Pixar Expo

On saturday the 13th of july it finally happened: I visited the Pixar Expo with my dad. Truth be told, I didn't think I'd seen that many Pixar movies and I wasn't at all familiar with the background story. So I mostly went out of curiosity, and to hopefully see some of the character 'dolls'. I wasn't expecting much, I mean, Pixar is an animation studio, so what could they have to show but pictures and drawings right? Boy, was I wrong. 

The origin story
When you first enter the expo, the chronological origin story of Pixar is told on the wall with a couple of pictures. Interesting, but not all that fascinating. On the other wall some general facts were explained, such as how they worked with lighting and adding sound on a movie. Again: Interesting, but nothing much that you wouldn't be able to Google for yourself. Since I studied film and television, this is also stuff that I pretty much knew by heart. Luckily Pixar really came alive in the next room.

The Expo
It was a bit chaotic at the expo. For the most part the expo was divided into sections per movie. But the sections weren't clearly divided, so sometimes it would just overlap with different movies. Just from a practical point of view, this wasn't very thought out in my opinion. But let's get to the main focus here, which is the studio and their movies. I loved that both the feature movies as well as their short movies were highlighted in the exposition. You could watch several short movies for yourself, which ordinarily wouldn't be shown in Netherlands (at least not to my knowledge). It really gave the chance to see some of these amazing works that you would have missed out on. 

What most people will know Pixar from is their feature movies, such as Toy Story (yes, I'm gonna bring his name up again: Joss Whedon, because he was also on the writing team that won the Oscar), Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, Cars, Finding Nemo, Up, and so on ;-). Unfortunatly we weren't allowed to take any pictures of the expo, but of course you can find some through Google. Some of the things that were shown, were drafts.... like character sketches. These were one of the things I really enjoyed, because you can see how much work goes into creating these characters. And you can see how different they could have been. Too me, this is truly fascinating. They had sketches/drawings in pastel, gouache, carylic, you name it. The ones I just named are the ones I like the most, because the colours really came out. Then there were the character 'dolls', sculptures, made from 'urethaanhars' (sorry I only know the Dutch word). Mostly they simply had one of several characters in grey, but then there was 'Remy in a jar' (from Ratatouille) and they also had about four with different expressions from Bob (The Incredibles). But one thing I wish I could have taken with me was a little sculpture/doll from Wall-E. He's just so darn cute!!

Another part of the expo was a sort of behind the scenes look about how characters were created and how their technology worked in videos. These short videos were able to strip down the magic of the movie and make it into something technological. In other words, they put it in reverse. People that work in Pixar make animated movies out of mathematical formulas/calculations and all we see is the end product. We never really stop and think about what the skeletons of these characters look like and in this expo, you finally find out. You could also see them working on how to make hair move of how they made muscle movement for a character.

Zoetrope
This is pretty much the icing on the cake for a movie student. A zoetrope produces the illusion of movement or motion from a rapid succession of static pictures. It's a spinning wheel where you look through these slits and inside pictures are drawn. By spinning the wheel, the pictures start to move. They blur together. To explain, or should I say 'show', how animation works - namely showing 24 pictures/drawings per second - the expo made several 'dolls' of their characters and planted them on a disk, which makes them move around really fast. It's kinda hard to explain I guess, so just look at this little vid ;-).

Inside the Pixar Animation Studios
During the expo, they also showed a documentary. This documentary - The Pixar Story - gives you all the background you need. I think it would be a good thing, to start with this movie and then walk around the expo. Because it makes a lot more sense then. You hear everything from everyone involved, including John Lasseter, Brad Bird, George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and so on, about all the movies and what went on behind the scenes in making them and making Pixar come to life.

My watch list
As anyone might have guessed, going to an expo like this makes you wanna watch all these movies again. So here's a little list of Pixar movies:

Toy Story (1-3)
A Bug's Life
Monsters Inc.
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars (1-2 - though I've never seen them to be honest)
Ratatouille 
WALL-E
Up
Brave

I've already rewatched Ratatouille and Monsters Inc and I can't wait to start watching all the others again, as well as all the new ones that just came out or are about to come out. Need me to name one in particular? Easy! That's Finding Dory!!!!! Can't wait to see more of Ellen Degeneres as the forgetful Dory <3.

The awesomeness of quotes pt 8

It's been a while since I did an 'awesomeness of quotes', but  I'm beginning the new year with a doll of a show :P. A couple of years ago Joss Whedon came back to television with the show Dollhouse. A show which he produced with Eliza Dushku (who played Faith in both Buffy and Angel) and she would star in it as well. The show revolves around a corporation where wealthy people can hire 'Actives' and do whatever they want with them: Live out fantasies. Actors could play a different character every week so to speak, because they wouldn't be acting but they would be imprinted with different personalities. It was a good show, that unfortunately had to do with a lot of trouble from the network. So stories were altered and when it became clear that the second season would be the last one, it unraveled like a roller coaster. Dollhouse was full of amazing characters who were played by even more amazing actors. It was definitely criticizing the way things were going in the U.S. as well as elsewhere with big compagnies and how many things are probably wrong with the world. And that makes for some great quotes. So without any further ado, the awesomeness of quotes from Dollhouse!

Season 1

1x01 -Ghost
Paul: "Dollhouse."
Victor: [as Lubov] "What?"
Paul: "Dollhouse. Say it."
Victor: [as Lubov] "Dollhouse."
Paul: "Say it again."
Victor: [as Lubov] "Your brains are... [Ballard cocks gun] Okay! Dollhouse! Doll freakin' house. I keep saying it. It's fun to say. Dollhouse. Dollhouse. Dollhouse. Dollhouse."

1x02 - The Target
Mellie: [After seeing Echo's picture] "Pretty. Who's she?"
Paul: "Nobody, according to the FBI database. No record of her."
Mellie: "Is she in trouble?"
Paul: "Maybe. She just got caught up with the wrong people. Either way, I'll keep looking until I find her."
Mellie: [As Ballard's walking away] "Lucky girl."

Topher: [to Boyd] Anything for you, because I love you. Deep, deep man love.

1x03 - Stage Fright
Topher: "Sierra should come into play in a minute."
Boyd: "I'm glad they double tracked this. Who's handling her?"
Topher: "Joe Hearn. You won't like him."
Voice: "Fifteen minutes to curtain."
Boyd: "Echo's on in fifteen. Okay. Okay."
Topher: "Oh my God. Are you nervous? Opening night jitters? Your little girl out there on the big stage?"
Boyd: "On a stage where the last little girl caught on fire?"
Topher: "Fair point."
Boyd: "I mean, her singing's not a problem. It's not, right? I mean, she is a good singer. I think she's good. She wouldn't freeze up."
Topher: [Laughing] "She'll be fine, Mama Rose."

Dr. Claire Saunders: "You sent Echo on a high-risk engagement?"
Topher: "Doctor Saunders! How nice of you to annoy me."

1x04 - Gray Hour 
Boyd: "They're eating lunch."
Topher: "They're eating lunch together, man friend. The same three. Even the same table. They're grouping."
Boyd: "Are you saying they remember each other?"
Topher: "No, no, no. The wipes are clean. This goes deeper than memory, into instinctual survival patterns. Flocking. A whole mess of sparrows turning on a dime, salmon trucking upstream. This isn't a book club, man friend, this is the herd."
Boyd: "They're not bison, Topher."
Topher: "They're a little bit bison."
Boyd: "They didn't used to be."
Topher: "They volunteered for this."
Boyd: "So we're told."

Ivy: [Reading from a list] "Pizza squares, ice cream bites, beef jerky? Okay, you may be the boy god of all things neuro, and I do worship at the altar of your genius, but I am not getting you all of this stuff."
Topher: "Ivy, babe, add juice boxes."
Ivy: "You're privilege abusing."
Topher: "Do you want to know how to avoid spandrels when aligning rigid designators?"
Ivy: "Grape or apple?"

Topher: "That could lead to a coma state, or it could turn her into Carrie at the prom."

1x05 - True Believer
Dr. Saunders: "One good sneeze could bring on a seizure."
Topher: "Or even worse, a sneezure."

Topher: "Doctor?"
Dr. Saunders: "Topher?"
Topher: "Hello."
Dr. Saunders: "Hello."
Topher: "So listen. Here’s the thing. I was looking -- glancing -- I noticed… Victor."
Dr. Saunders: "You noticed Victor."
Topher: "Mm-hmm. In the shower, and he’s… naked."
Dr. Saunders: "Victor’s naked in the shower."
Topher: "Right. Anyway, he seemed to be having a kind of… man-reaction."
Dr. Saunders: "A what?"
Topher: "A, you know, reaction that a man -- person might have in the… you know, the… naked part. Shower. Victor."
Dr. Saunders: "Victor had an erection?"
Topher: "I prefer man-reaction."

1x06 - Man on the Street
Victor: "I did something bad."
Echo: "What did you do?"
Victor: "Nobody will tell me."

DeWitt: "Why didn't you tell us you were setting up Hearn?"
Boyd: "He had to be clear. He had to be flush with success or he'd never have tried again."
DeWitt: "You will never take action like that on your own again inside these walls. Am I clear?"
Boyd: "You're clear."
DeWitt: "A bonus has been wired to your account."
Boyd: "I don't need a bonus."
DeWitt: "Well I need to give it to you."

1x07 - Echoes
DeWitt: "Are you making any progress?"
Topher: "I'm working! What are you doing, besides ... being ..."
DeWitt: "Being what?"
Topher: "Wait a minute."
DeWitt: 'Sarcastic? Unfeeling? British?"
Topher: "It's an animal."
DeWitt: "Where?"
Topher: "No! The word!"
DeWitt: "Still you have to admit I am very British. I don't say hard ... 'Rs'"
Topher: "You know what I like? Brown Sauce? What's it made of? Science doesn't know!"
DeWitt: "It's made of brown."
Topher: "Brown...mined from the earth by the hard scrabble brown miners of north Brownderton!"
DeWitt: "Oh my god, I find lentils completely incomprehensible."

Topher: "Our problems are huge and indomitable."
DeWitt: "Ooh, I could eat that word. Or a crisp. Do you have any crisps?"
Topher: "You haven't seen my drawer of inappropriate starches?"

Dominic: [drunkenly, with gun pointed at Victor] "Hey, I'm fine!"
Victor: "All right. Easy, buddy."
Dominic: "I know how to solve problems."
Victor: "You bet."
Dominic: [his hold on the gun goes limp] "Oh, man, this is so heavy. It makes my arms tired."

1x08 - Needs
Victor: [as Anthony] "Who are you?"
Echo: [as Caroline] "Hey! I woke up in a five-star floor coffin just like you, buddy."

1x09 - Spy in the House of Love 
Topher: "I found this in the chair."
Boyd: "And?"
Topher: "This chip let someone access the primary imprint protocol, which means they could have altered my imprints. I make a cheerleader. They make a cheerleader that shoots people! Or an assassin that does cheers! Or any active, any time, with a parameter we don't know about."
Boyd: "We have a spy."
Topher: "Inside the dollhouse."
Boyd: "You think it's me? You think I'm the spy?"
Topher: "Not in a bad way."
Boyd: "They find out that you talked to me before you called DeWitt, they'll fry you."
Topher: "Yeah. I didn't really think that through."

1x10 - Haunted
Echo: [as Margaret] "I swear I've never felt this good. Did being young feel this good?"
DeWitt: "I seem to recall it was rather nice. Wonder why we gave it up?"
Echo: [as Margaret] "Please! You're what, ten years younger than me?"
DeWitt: "And oddly fifteen years older."

1x11 - Briar Rose
Stephen Kepler: "Would you look at this place? I mean, first of all feng shui up the yin yang, also I designed parts of it but I did not design the stone cold foxes in the small clothes and the ample massage facilities. I mean, don't get me wrong, I heart my porn, but this is cool!"
Paul: "This is a bad place."
Stephen Kepler: "Bad people, maybe. Good place."

1x12 - Omega
Echo: "You think we're gods?
Alpha: "We're not just humans anymore. We're not multiple personalities. We're many personalities. Uh... one of my personalities happens to be a multiple personality, but that doesn't make me a multiple personality. I'm looking for a little nuance here."
Echo: "We're not gods."
Alpha: "Fine, Übermensch. Nietzsche predicted our rise. Perfected. Objective. Something new."
Echo: "Right. New, superior people. With a little German thrown in. What could possibly go wrong?"

1x13 - Epitaph One
Topher: "If I think I can figure things out, is that curiosity or arrogance?"

Season 2

2x01 - Vows
Whiskey: "What if she went over your head?"
Boyd: "I'm very tall."

2x02 - Instinct
Topher: "Perhaps triggering lactation was a bridge too far. Live and learn."

2x03 - Belle Chose
DeWitt: "Good news on the coma front?"
Topher: "Uuuhhhhhhh... yeah. Good news is that he's in a coma."
DeWitt: "I beg your pardon?"
Boyd: "Just show her what you showed me."
Topher: [Shows Adelle a brain scan] "This is a brain. A healthy brain. Frankly an... overly smart brain... it's my brain. And this is Terry Karrens' brain. [Shows Adelle another brain scan] See these dark areas? How they extend all the way out to here? You know why that looks like that? That's because Terry Karrens doesn't use that part of his brain. And that'd be where you find stored such things as empathy, compassion... an aversion to disemboweling puppies. Basically, this is what some of your more famous serial killers' brains look like."
DeWitt: "You're quite certain of this?"
Topher: "Certain enough that I have serious ethical problems trying to wake him up."
Boyd: "Topher has ethical problems. Topher."
Topher: "Heh. Way to land it."

2x04 - Belonging
Topher: "Do you know where you are?"
Priya: "I'm in hell."
Topher: "You're in Los Angeles. I can understand the mixup."

2x05 - The Public Eye
Echo [as Bree]: "I think her bad guys are badder than my bad guys!" 

2x06 - The Left Hand
Bennett: "No, no, you're very pale. White. Pinkish-white. I mean, your skin. Your skin is like a pig."

Topher: "Okay, so we have had an active, Whiskey. She was rendered unengageable. So we - *I* made her into a doctor. Uh - and you - so I thought maybe - similar - Bennett - the real Bennett would use an active to..."
Bennett: "You thought... That's idiotic. Actives are beautiful."
Topher: "Yeah."

2x07 - Meet Jane Doe
Topher: "Well I punched her in the kisser - not what I was intending to do there, by the way - and knocked her out cold, which she might have been impressed by if she hadn't been out cold."

2x08 - A Love Supreme
Boyd: "Alpha do not do this. There's a part of you that knows this is wrong."
Alpha: "There are many parts of me that know this is wrong. None of them care. And six... they just find it funny."

Alpha: "You're in for a ride. You're not going to get loose. One of my imprints was an Eagle Scout, another one was a sailor. There's a dirty joke in there somewhere."

2x09 - Stop-Loss
Topher: "What did I just tell you?"
Victor: "5 years would seem like... 5 seconds."
Topher: "Welcome to the future, where cars fly, robots serve our every whim, and genetically engineered dinosaurs rule the Earth."
Ivy: "It's pretty much the same as when you left."

2x10 - The Attic
DeWitt: "You gave us extraordinary technology which will be used soon. The question is whether you have anything more to offer. Whether you can accept radical change, or buckle under pressure."
Topher: "I don't buckle. Occassionally, I swashbuckle."

2x11 - Getting Closer
Echo: "She could kill you with her brain."

DeWitt: "Caroline Farrel left quite a trail of unhappiness in her wake, and not a few bodies."
Echo: "Are you saying she's evil?"
DeWitt: "Worse. An idealist." 

2x12 - The Hollow Men
Topher: "I did all of this. I'm the one who brings about the thought-pocalypse."
DeWitt: "Thought-pocalypse?"
Topher: "Is brain-pocalypse better? I figure, if I'm responsible for the end of the world, I get to name it."
 
Topher: "I'm the Tin Man, she's the Lion, and you're the head of the Lollipop Guild who's a traitor."

2x13 - Epitaph Two: Return
Alpha: "Because we're not freak shows. Well, okay, maybe I am, and Echo. Topher's a little off, but Adelle, she's a class act all the way."

One of my favorite characters is definitely Topher Brink. He is supersmart and has the most amazing lines. He's also a geek and in my own way (meaning not the genius way) I can totally relate :P. Just see for yourselves!