Episode 4 - The Puppet Show / Nightmares (feat. Alexander Lester)

Alexander Lester, Graduate Student and Teaching Associate in the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, joins me this week for the penultimate conversation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One. Together we discuss the Sid the Demon-Hunting Puppet series that could have (and maybe should have) spun out of 109, “The Puppet Show,” as well as just how perfectly sinister the introduction of Principal Snyder is. And 110, “Nightmares,” gives us some serious wiggins, but it’s not the killer clowns or forcible Chess Club recruitment practices that get to us — it’s the casual child abuse.

 

And what’s with all the Nazis in Season One?

 

Next: James South, editor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, joins me to take a look at episodes 111, “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” and the dramatic season finale, 112, “Prophecy Girl.”

 

THE BREAKDOWN

Intro / Guest (00:00 - 7:14)

Main Topic (7:14 - 1:14:25)

Outro / Next (1:14:25 - 1:17:40)

 

THE LIBRARY

Library Closed For Filing - Please Come Back Tomorrow

 

THE MUSIC

“Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017)

“A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” by Lily James, Cinderella (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2015)

 

THE SCHOLARS

Whedon Studies Association is a non-profit academic organization devoted to the study of the works of Joss Whedon and his associates. They put out Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies, and Watcher Junior​: The Undergraduate Journal of Whedon Studies, both blind peer-reviewed twice-yearly online publications. They also host the biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses, which brings all these incredible scholars together to present papers, discuss ways of incorporating Whedon Studies in education, and basically just geek out together.

http://www.whedonstudies.tv/