Buffy The Vampire Slayer

THE TOP 25 BEST EPISODE TITLES

25 “Apocalypse Nowish” Angel

Other shows have tried adapting Coppola’s war epic for their own uses (Charmed’s “Apocalypse Not," Medium with "Apocalypse… Now?”). But the little extra twist Angel gives it is by far the best example we’ve seen.

24 “The White Lightning War” The Six Million Dollar Man

Summons up images of Steve Austin facing off against Zeus. Which isn’t what happens, but it‘s still one hell of a title.

23 “Nubbins” Sanctuary

Just a brilliantly dopey word. We need more episodes called things like "Bobbins”, “Piffle” and “Balderdash”.

22 “A Priest, a Doctor and a Medium Walk into an Execution Chamber” Medium

Sadly we never get the punchline.

21 “An Unearthly Child” Doctor Who

Sometimes simple works. Three words that suggest so many possibilities.

20 “My Maharishi Is Bigger Than Your Maharishi” Life On Mars USA

Maybe, just maybe, it’s trying a little to hard to be wacky, but it’s still a wonderful head-scratcher of a title.

19 “Criss Angel Is A Douche Bag” Supernatural

Who cares if it’s barely relevant to the episode (Angel doesn’t appear) – a great, gutsy tonal mission statement of a title.

18 "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" Millennium

Clever inversion of a cliché.

17 "Conversations With Dead People” Buffy The Vampire Slayer

A slight hint of pretentiousness (it sounds like the title to a collection of essays by a lesser known member of the Bloomsbury Group) but an intriguing hint of pretentiousness.

16 "Electric Twister Acid Test" Sliders

Knowing Sliders, you somehow feel the episode could never live up to a title like that. This is much, much better than the show’s usual efforts, which usually relied on sticking the word "slide” into the title (“This Slide Of Paradise” being a typically cringeworthy example).

15 “Dim Sum, Lose Some” Pushing Daisies

In the "Worst" list, we’ll be naming and shaming some truly awful puns, but this one is sheer genius.

14 “The Psychobombs” UFO

Perfect marriage of two disparate concepts into one cool concept.

13 “So What’s The Purpose Of A Platypus?” Saving Grace

Good question.

12 “I Sing The Body Electric!” The Twilight Zone

Surely this must have inspired Gary Numan?

11 “The Girl Who Was Death” The Prisoner

Hyperbole in action.

10 “Demon With A Glass Hand” The Outer Limits

Trust Harlan Ellison to come up with a title that suggest something both schlocky and yet philosophical, that promises SF with a clout.

9 “Seven Serpents, Sulphur and Salt” Ace of Wands

Best example of alliteration ever in an episode title.

8 “A Vintage Year For Scoundrels” Adam Adamant Lives!

So British. So right.

7 “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” The X-Files

Eschewing its love affair with foreign language titles (“Excelsis Dei”, “Die Hand Die Verletzt”, “Teso Dos Bichos”), The X-Files occasionally came up with some memorably cheesy titles, usually for episodes written by Darin Morgan.

6 “Bring Me The Head Of The Hulk” The Incredible Hulk

You’ve gotta watch that, haven’t you?

5 “We’re So Screwed” Farscape

Farscape episode titles were all over the shop, from bad puns (“I Shrink Therefore I Am") to multi-part missives (“ Look at the Princess (1): A Kiss Is But a Kiss”). But this one is short, punchy and to the point, with a dash of self-effacing humour: almost a mission statement for the show. It could only have bettered by an episode called, “Uh-oh!”

4 “The City On The Edge Of Forever” Star Trek

Amongst some fairly mundane episode titles, original Trek could often offer up examples that sounded almost like poetry, such as "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky” and "The City On The Edge Of Forever". Admit it, even if you’ve never seen this episode, its title is conjuring up wonderful images in your mind’s eye.

3 “?” Lost

Well, some show had to have the balls to do it. And, let’s be honest, Lost could have used this title for any episode…

2 “The Flying Fish Zombification” The Middleman

Often The Middleman simply indulged in unashamed silliness in its episodic nomenclature, and never offered up a dull title (“The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation", “The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome”). But the promise of zombie fish? Who could resist that?

1 “Look (Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers...” The Avengers

With so, so many to choose from, The Avengers is a magical sweet shop of exquisite episode title wittiness (“The Forget-Me-Knot", “Homicide and Old Lace"), but this mini epic is the Citizen Kane of its genre.

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