Here is the Hellmouth Podcast for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Season 3 Episode 3 – Faith, Hope and Trick. Join me and my co-host Ryan as we discuss the introduction of a new Slayer to Sunnydale Faith LaHane. (mp3 version here)

This episode of the podcast has a news segment for those of you with the iPhone app.

Don’t forget to check out the Potentialcast.

Be sure to check out Crimson Snow the book review for this episode of the Hellmouth Podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:08 — 30.7MB)

HMPC 0303 “Faith, Hope and Trick”  – Buffy The

Vampire Slayer

• Hello Sunnydale and welcome to the Hellmouth Podcast for the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series, Season 3 Episode 03 titled “Faith, Hope and Trick”
• For those of you who may be new to the podcast, here are all of the ways that you can be a part of the show.
  • Twitter @hellmouthcast
  • Facebook page – search for Hellmouth Podcast
  • as always you can email me at hellmouthpodcast@gmail.com
  • www.hellmouthpodcast.com
• Book Review – Crimson Snow
  • Crimson Snow was written by David Shone
  • Crimson snow is a novel which centers around an attempted coup in Russia during the first I believe the first world war. It is based in historical fact and follows a very intriguing story of intrigue betrayal and the threat of war.
• Podcast Promo – Potentialcast
• 2 Minute Buffy
  • The group heads off campus for lunch, they’ve hit the big time now that they are seniors.
  • Buffy is not back in school yet, but she’s back in our hearts after the blowup in Dead Man’s Party.
  • One of my favorite vampires comes to town Mr. Trick, one of the most dangerous vampires of the series. Don’t worry we’ll get there.
  • He is in town with a mysterious vampire looking for the Slayer… wait for it.
  • Buffy has another Angel dream and drops the ring he gave her.
  • Buffy meets with Snyder and he begrudgingly admits her back to school.
  • Now that Buffy is back in school, her first stop is the library. Giles wants to talk to her about a ritual he is working on to ensure Acathla remains dormant.
  • Buffy is glad to be back in her old life. Hanging at the Bronze.
  • Scott, a semi-random boy from school tries to get Buffy to dance with him. I like Scott, we will talk about him later. Mental bookmark people.
  • Buffy spots a girl dancing with a vampire on the dance floor.
  • The two of them leave and Buffy follows to protect her.
  • Turns out this girl doesn’t need protecting she is Faith the new vampire slayer in town.
  • Faith and the Scoobies return to the Bronze where Faith entertains them with countless stories of life as a wild and crazy slayer. Xandergate continues as he continues the exercise of sticking his head up his butt.
  • Faith gets introduced to Giles and turns on the charm.
  • Giles asks more questions about the Acathla ritual.
  • Faith throughout the next few scenes starts to move in ever so slightly on Buffy’s territory.
  • Faith comes by Buffy’s house for dinner. Joyce thinks face is the bees knees.
  • The girls go patrolling and are attacked, Faith goes a little nutty and pummels her vampire leaving Buffy to fend for herself.
  • Buffy talks to Giles about kissing toast and what that means.
  • Giles is going to try and reach Faith’s watcher.
  • Scott gives Buffy a ring which totally backfires. Further proof that guys need serious help picking out jewelry for girls.
  • Buffy and Giles learn that Faith’s watcher is dead. Buffy goes to see Faith to find out what is really going on.
  • Kakistos attacks them and herds them into a trap.
  • Faith kills Kakistos and they escape as does Mr. Trick with his uncanny skills at self preservation.
  • The council decides that Giles will be Faith’s watcher as well for the time being.
  • Giles approaches Buffy one more time and gets the final details needed for the Acathla spell. Turns out Willow’s spell worked and Angel was cured just before she killed him.
  • Willow tells Giles she wants to help with the spell and Giles says ‘ psyche’ there is no spell. Burn Buffy, Burn
  • Buffy agrees to go out with Scott
  • And oh yeah, Angel returns from hell.
  • End Episode
• Scott  – what does he bring to the group?
  • Normal guy – After all of the trauma that Buffy went through in her relationship with Angel, the Scoobies, most notable willow are anxious for Buffy to start dating again. I think that Willow’s intentions are pretty noble, she thinks that getting back on the horse so to speak and Buffy having the opportunity to do that thing with her mouth that boys like so much is just what Buffy needs to start moving on from the Angel situation. Maybe not so much in the you need a new boyfriend capacity but at least in the go out on a date it will be a good distraction capacity.
• Xandergate – Xander continues to be obnoxious in this episode. He flirts with Faith constantly, in spite of the fact that Cordelia is sitting right next to him at times. You can see that even Cordelia is getting annoyed with his antics and thus Xander continues to frustrate and annoy me.
• Introduction of Faith
  • Faith LaHane I believe is how you pronounce her last name.
  • Faith is very much a study of opposites. Buffy and Faith are a negative image of each other.
  • All of the things that make Buffy a hero have a corresponding opposite in Faith. The amazing thing is that they are both Slayers, both fighting the same battles against evil. They are both doing their bit to make the world a safer place but their approach, their mindset couldn’t be more different. This is something we will continue to talk about in more detail but a concept that I wanted to introduce here.
• Faith moving in on Buffy’s territory. – The writers kind of set Faith up a little bit in this episode. There are a lot of people who really like Faith, if you follow the facebook page this was a topic of conversation this last week that really seemed pretty equal on both sides. A lot of people felt like if Faith’s character had a little more time to develop before she went bad then she might have been a pretty strong rival to Buffy in terms of favorite Slayer. As it is she is pretty stiff competition. But in this episode the writers are kind of pitting these two slayers against each other from the very beginning by having Faith almost immediately move in on Buffy’s territory.
  • Scoobies
  • Scott
  • Joyce
• Giles and the way he handled the Acathla ritual and getting Buffy to talk about Angel’s death.
  • The perfect way to deal with it.
  • Get the impression that he knew all along that there was something to the story that they didn’t know.
  • Giles understands better than any of the others that Buffy had to be allowed to talk about what happened with Angel on her own terms. All he did was gently continue to provide her the opportunity to talk about it as much or as little as she wanted to and it payed off. At the end of this episode there is that moment where Buffy explains everything that happened with Angel in the Season 2 finale. There is that moment where she seems to let go a little bit of that sadness and then what happens Angel comes back.
• Kakistos – he is so old he has cloven hands, talk about the Master and his batlike appearance.
  • He’s here to kill Faith, just like he killed her watcher.
  • I really wish that we had been able to get more of the back story about Kakistos, much like with the master. It would have been nice to know more about him. I also think that it would be interesting to understand why the master looked batlike and Kakistos was more, goat like, I guess.
  • That is the real reason faith is in town. She is running.
• Mr. Trick, why is he so dangerous in my opinion.
  • the changes in the world around him and use them to his advantage.
  • He doesn’t adhere to the old ways.
  • He also has a very strong sense of self preservation. We see slayers over and over stay in a fight that they can’t win simply because they fail to believe that they could ever fail.
  • Mr. Trick is more than willing to walk away from a fight that he is not certain that he can win. I think that this has probably kept him alive much longer than the average life span of vampires. It definitely keeps him alive in this episode.
• End Episode.
• Rate the episode
  • This is a really good episode. It is a pivotal episode in that it introduces Faith who is a character that will play a role in both the Buffy and Angel series and even has a role in the season 8 comics. Bonus point for the introduction of Faith.
  • Lose a point because of Xandergate.
  • Giles gets another bonus point in this episode.
  • Buffy get’s a point for getting her life back.
  • Willow gets a point for trying to help her firend through a tough time.
  • Bonus point for Mr. Trick and how cool and dangerous he is.
  • Episode starts at a 10, this episode had everything. Starts at a 10 with the bonus points we get 14 for a final score.
• Weekly Poll – Final verdict on the Angel podcast
  • The Hellmouth Empire listeners have spoken and though the margin was not overwhelming, there is a clear majority and so we will have a separate Angel podcast that begins at the end of this season of Buffy.
  • So now for the next task. We have to choose a name for the Angel podcast. So what I need from all of you this week is to send me your suggestions for names for the Angel podcast and then I will pick the top four and in the next podcast I will announce the names and the weekly poll will be your chance to choose the name of the podcast.
• Listener Emails
• Beth – I agree with you that Buffy is the more sympathetic figure in the Buffy v. Joyce/Willow/Xander bout.  Though she is the one who disappeared without revealing that she had killed Angel ( and not Angelus), there were plenty of other reasons for leaving which J/W/X should have understood — Buffy isn’t the only one keeping secrets here.  It seems unlikely that Joyce told W and X that she kicked Buffy out, which might have made them less harsh in judging her.  Nor has Xander revealed his lie about Willow telling Buffy to kick Angel’s ass, which would have explained her reluctance to confide in Willow about what happened.  So J and X, at least, don’t come to the argument with clean hands.
• Michelle – As far as how I got into Buffy – I actually first started watching the show back in 2002 when FX was showing reruns.  I would catch an episode here and there (I think they were showing Season 4 when I actually first caught it) and at first I was somewhat embarrassed that I was watching it, for a while it was my secret shame that I was starting to love it.  Around this time, I was looking for a new roommate and my friend Emily had mentioned her co-worker Colleen was looking for a place to live, so Colleen and I met and got along well enough so we decided she’d move in the summer before our senior of college.  One night while I was out with Emily, I’d had a little to drink and suddenly blurted out “I have a secret!  I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer!”  Emily was so happy, because as it turns out, Colleen was also a huge Buffy fan!  So, after she moved in my Buffy love was fully realized.  She had all the episodes that had already aired on video tape (remember those?) so I was caught up with the series once Season 7 starting airing.  And now, I feel like without my slight Buffy obsession I wouldn’t be me.
• Peg’s Voicemail
• OMWF Project

I realize that we are still a ways off from the Once More With Feeling episode but seeing as how it was such a defining moment in television, paving the way for countless imitations and because it is such a beloved Buffy episode I thought the Hellmouth Podcast should do it’s own tribute. Here is the Hellmouth Podcast Once More With Feeling project.

I have found audio tracks for the following songs from the show:

• Going Through The Motions
• Under Your Spell
• I’ll Never Tell
• Rest In Peace
• Something To Sing About

Here is my plan, I want all of you to record yourselves singing all or part of these songs and send them to me. I am then going to edit all the submissions together and create our own Hellmouth Podcast soundtrack to Once More With Feeling featuring the voices of all of the Hellmouth Podcast listeners. I will release the songs through the Hellmouth Podcast on iTunes and the website so that we can all enjoy them.

Note to all of you who have just found the podcast! If you just found the podcast and are concerned that you have missed your chance with this project, don’t be concerned at all. I plan on releasing many different versions based on however many people submit their voices. Send them in and I will include them at any time.

So here is what I am looking for from everyone:

• Sing every song or pick one
• Sing the whole song or just part of one
• Sing melody or harmony
• Don’t worry if you don’t have the greatest singing voice, this if for fun!

I am bringing this up now because the amount of editing this is going to require will take me some time so I wanted to get a head start on getting the first round of songs released.

How To Record Yourself

Here is what I recommend. Find some way to listen to the songs through headphones, if you own the soundtrack this is pretty simple, otherwise if you have the DVDs or Netflix you can run that through a pair of headphones. While listening to the music through headphones, record yourself on your computer or other digital recording device. If you have some kind of microphone for your computer this will work best, some computers come with a built in microphone, this will work as well (sound quality may not be as good).

It is important that the recording you send me has just your voice singing and not the score (music). I would also prefer that the files be in .mp3 format as much as possible. I will then take all the recorded voices and add them all together to create the completed song.

Depending on the file size, you may or may not be able to email it to me directly but you can certainly try at hellmouthpodcast@gmail.com. If that doesn’t work you can upload it directly to the Hellmouth Podcast website and I will work with each of you one on one to get that accomplished.

In addition, if you know of a place where I can buy the remaining song’s audio tracks without the vocals, let me know.

Remember, this is just for fun and I would like as many people as possible to participate. Even my voice will be in there. If you have any questions about any of this, don’t hesitate to call the Hellmouth Hotline or send me an email.

• Thanks to everyone for tuning into another episode of the Hellmouth Podcast.
  • See you guys next time for the episode titled “Beauty and the Beasts”, Stay Classy Sunnydale.

• News
  • Emma Caulfield is joining the cast of Life Unexpected on the CW.
  • Jed Whedon has new album out and available in iTunes. I haven’t bought it yet but previewed and it was very good.
  • James Marsters returning as braniac for Smallville’s 200^th episode.
  • Jane Espenson is now writing for Torchwood, rumors abound that Marsters will return to his role of Captain John Hart.
  • Joss Whedon officially announced at the San Diego Comic Con that he will be directing the Avengers and now we hear that Filming is set to start in Feb of next year as Joss is currently rewriting the script.
  • Avengers released May 4^th 2012.
  • Julie Benz new show No Ordinary Family is getting ready to premiere in September so if you haven’t already go check out the trailers for that show.
  • Syfy’s new show copies Drones, an office worker finds out he works with aliens trying to destroy the world.
  • Expendables is out in theatres, starring Carisma Carpenter and Jet Li, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Stathom, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold schwartseneger.

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