Whedonesque : Comments on 22167 : (SPOILER) Tonight on ABC - It's the Halloween episode of Castle.

Awww, that was sweet!
I stopped watching Castle (too much stuff to watch... not enough time), but I might have to start it again with this episode! =)

maxsummers | October 27, 00:13 CET

I cannot wait for tonight's episode. Looking for that familiar brown coat.

madmolly | October 27, 00:20 CET

And they left out Dr Horrible? For shame. :D

Jewels | October 27, 00:24 CET

Haha, that is pretty awesome. Although my brain does sometimes hate it a tinyyyy bit when universes collide like this. If Buffy exists, then so does season seven, and so does Caleb. You know how it goes.

NathanG | October 27, 00:32 CET

And this is number how many for this topic posted here in the last few days :) Glad to see a chat thread is here. It is going to be an awesome episode. In addition to the obvious nod to Firefly there's also an item from the Firefly set somewhere hidden on the set of Castle - Nathan has been twittering about it for weeks and today he said:

"If you are thinking the Easter egg of lore is the browncoat you are mistaken. I said you have to be clever, astute, acutely aware, and cute.".

There are also references from past work of other actors in the show to look out for.

ETA: Next week is Jose Molina's episode.

ETA Also: And anyone who's not following Jose Molina on Twitter - shame on you! LINK (I think most people missed it when he mentioned this here on Whedonesque

[ edited by Beth on 2009-10-27 00:44 ]

[ edited by Beth on 2009-10-27 00:48 ]

Beth | October 27, 00:42 CET

Hope he gets a gun holster for that costume he's "trying out."

C | October 27, 01:01 CET

Can't wait to watch! :D

Jossfan_21 | October 27, 01:20 CET

I'm confused; ABC has Monday Night Football all evening?

sab39 | October 27, 01:56 CET

sab39 Unfortunately some areas have the football thing (I just read this elsewhere) which really stinks for those of you in those locations. Might pay to call the your local TV station to find out when they will air the episode, otherwise you have to wait for it on Hulu or iTunes, it should be up by tomorrow.

Beth | October 27, 02:22 CET

Bleh. Thanks for the info Beth. I'll catch it on Hulu :)

sab39 | October 27, 02:36 CET

With Castle about to air in the East/Central areas...where is everyone?

Beth | October 27, 02:56 CET

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is still wearing the outfit. They even mentioned Firefly on Dancing with Stars. That was so cool.

[ edited by RavenU on 2009-10-27 03:05 ]

RavenU | October 27, 03:05 CET

Love the Buffy and Firefly parts. Very cool!

maje | October 27, 03:05 CET

He totally played it up. You know he loves it. And so do we.

The Xan Man | October 27, 03:06 CET

It makes me both really happy and really sad to see Nathan done up as Mal again.

Nolan | October 27, 03:07 CET

I think I'm having a geek seizure from all the pop culture references in this episode. Firefly, Buffy, Dark Horse Comics...

EvilFirePixie8 | October 27, 03:12 CET

AGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

So, this episode isn't going to air at all in my city?!? For fracking football?!? I've been waiting for weeks for this, and now it's being pre-empted entirely for my area! Once again, the Browncoats get screwed over. It's sad that the episode of Castle that makes an explicit Firefly reference won't air in some key markets.

Fuming now.

IMForeman | October 27, 03:13 CET

Oh my.... Nathan Fillion sure knows how to deliver! That was wonderful--I'd buy the season 2 box set for that scene alone! RavenU, the DwtS shout out to Firefly was great, wasn't it? ABC sure knows how to promote their shows. Unlike another network which shall remain nameless.

Like you said Nolan. =\ Tonight I'm deciding to be happy though. :)

CellarDoor | October 27, 03:14 CET

That made me all kinds of happy. And the best part was that I didn't even know that it was coming. Total surprise!

This offsets the fact that I busted out the Jayne costume for the Halloween party last Sat. night and NO ONE in the whole place knew who Jayne was. The worst guess was that I was "one of the South Park kids?" (and this was no slouch of a costume)

Just when I thought my personal favorite cultural reference was now apparently too old for the cool crowd to get... Cappy puts his Browncoat on again and makes me feel all better.

[ edited by MikeTMC on 2009-10-27 03:25 ]

MikeTMC | October 27, 03:27 CET

Ok did anyone else think the evil laugh and cough was a shout out to Dr. Horrible or was it just me?

**silence**

Yep it was just me.

RavenU | October 27, 03:34 CET

"Didn't you wear that, like. five years ago?"

Well played, Castle. Well played.

C. A. Bridges | October 27, 03:36 CET

That was amazing. :) It's like a Christmas and birthday gift rolled all up in one! hehehe...

fizz6kitty | October 27, 03:39 CET

No, it wasn't just you, RavenU. :) Maybe a stretch, but it wasn't just you. :)

CellarDoor | October 27, 03:49 CET

That opening scene made me do the dance of joy and then rewind ye olde TiVo and watch it 5 more times. How much fun must have he had getting to do that? It was perfection.

hmbscully | October 27, 04:00 CET

The dude from Generation Kill was in his camo. Another callback to a cast members previous show.

SuperWes | October 27, 04:01 CET

Where was the elusive reference to Firefly Nathan tweeter about? We watched like hawks but we didn't see it.

The Ninja Report | October 27, 04:03 CET

Ok, apparently Castle will be aired at 1:05 AM in Philadelphia. WPVI can bite me.

IMForeman | October 27, 04:04 CET

Where was the elusive reference to Firefly Nathan tweeter about? We watched like hawks but we didn't see it.

I was wondering the same thing.

But there were so many fun references in the dialogue: Shindig, "summering," etc.

palehorse | October 27, 04:09 CET

The "didn't you wear that, like, five years ago?" line is going to have me squeeing all week. Plus, you know, the part when he burst in guns a-blazin'. ^_^

Taaroko | October 27, 04:13 CET

Castle became a trending topic on twitter for awhile. Also I wonder how long before it's on iTunes and becomes the best selling episode.

:D

Still cannot stop smiling. Terri Miller is a genius, wrote the episode.

RavenU | October 27, 04:16 CET

That was the best episode of Castle ever...not just for the Firefly reference which was epic

"Weren't you that 5 years ago? Don't you think you should let it go?"

Awesome. just plain awesome.

lax01 | October 27, 04:17 CET

Not only were the shoutouts to Firefly, Buffy, Dark horse, etc., fantastic...

The storyline and subplots for this episode were terrific. The writing on this show just keeps getting better and better. I'll be curious to see what the Viewer numbers are for tonight's Episode. Bet it gets it's highest numbers yet!

TDBrown | October 27, 04:18 CET

I thought the brief Firefly-esque music was the best touch.

ftloosenfanzfree | October 27, 04:23 CET

I LOVE my Captain

rivergirl | October 27, 04:26 CET

For those "Nathan-twitter-followers"...Did you catch the "Feed The Birds"? This episode was awesome with all the pop culture references.

Jamison | October 27, 04:31 CET

Okay, this is it. I'm officially going to play catch-up from where I stopped watching Castle last season (1x07, an episode guide tells me), because of schedule overcrowding. Although I may cheat a bit and watch this one first ;)

GVH | October 27, 04:40 CET

Yeah ftloosenfanzfree, I noticed the brief guitar-y piece in the score. This episode was a geek's dream come true. I still don't know what the easter egg on-set is though. Oh, and ads for V were a cool plus to watching the broadcast version!

CellarDoor | October 27, 04:48 CET

Didn't I hear awhile back that the Easter Egg Nathan showed Jewel will appear in an Episode after the Halloween Episode? I could be wrong, so don't take that as Gospel or anything...

TDBrown | October 27, 04:59 CET

Loved it! So many great moments. Didn't catch the egg. I stopped my Tivo many times to look and found nothing. *Sigh* "I'm giving you the bird." Loved it.

mongorules | October 27, 05:04 CET

Oh, man. I love this show. And Nathan Fillion.

kishi | October 27, 05:11 CET

This was so much fun. I have really been enjoying Castle, and they did this show very very well.

newcj | October 27, 05:31 CET

NathanG | October 27, 00:32 CET

Although my brain does sometimes hate it a tinyyyy bit when universes collide like this. If Buffy exists, then so does season seven, and so does Caleb. You know how it goes.

Isn't a problem. Richard Castle http://twitter.com/WriteRCastle is friends with http://twitter.com/NathanFillion.

Anonymous1 | October 27, 05:35 CET

TDBrown,

I thought it was the episode after this one too.

Anonymous1 | October 27, 05:47 CET

I haven't felt this happy in a very long time.

edited to add:

Alexis is right about there being no cows in space you know.

But now they see the sky and remember what they are.

[ edited by Kiba on 2009-10-27 06:06 ]

Kiba | October 27, 06:05 CET

I LOVED this episode!

The entrance of Our Captain Reynolds was wonderful (Especially the musical "cameo") and the "Buffy does the Big Apple" line was cute. But how about the other references?

Egg-sitting, a la "Bad Eggs"
Morlock(loch) - "I Robot, You Jane"
Spiked drinks @party - "Reptile Boy"

Or maybe I was just seeing "Buffy" where there was none.

Such a geeky episode tonight. Loved all the vampire mythology, and how they presented both sides of things.

And, on a personal note - one of my costumes this year (I'm going to the costume party @Tech, and can dress up @work) is going to be Morrigan. She's the Celtic battle goddess, and is most often associated with crows. Wish I'd thought of buying a small one to sit on my shoulder, so I could tell customers "I'm giving you the bird."

ShadowQuest | October 27, 06:11 CET

LOVED.

Also, I saw the 'feed the birds', and I think Nathan was holding back a cackle when he did it. The smirk on his face was a little too big. ;)

VeryVeryCrowded | October 27, 06:19 CET

Best. Opening Scene. Ever!

I must be dense. Please explain the Feed the Birds stuff. I hate not being invited to the party.

And Rivergirl- you beat me to it again!

madmolly | October 27, 06:29 CET

That. Was. Epic.

Even now I'm having involuntary cheek-twitches and sub-vocalizations recalling the many blatant references to other shows. For a time there, I had a massive recursive metafictional embolus start forming in my head, requiring the timely execution of a preventative squee lest I have a seizure or an urgent need for the application of neuraleptics. Luckily, my housemate was out for the evening at the time and the cats don't have cameras in their cellphones.

No, they don't actually have cellphones.

Yes. I actually squeed.

...Well... I got better.

Grotesk | October 27, 06:33 CET

That episode was like an instant fan pill. I've never managed to catch one before and now I think I might be hooked. (Would it be considered the "Belonging" of "Castle" so far, by longtime-watcher consensus?) I'm going to need to rewatch at least once on Hulu because the spouse and I ended up chortling/giggling over so much of the dialogue. What a sweet, well-done tip of the hat to our beloved Firefly.

And while Captain Mal was undoubtedly an exemplary costume choice, suspenders and all, who could fault Castle for going with Poe? "I'm giving you the bird" -- classic! ;)

Wiseblood | October 27, 07:54 CET

I posted this on io9.com a few days ago........

"Imagine, if you will...... ABC executives see how Castle takes off with the ratings from this ep....... same execs know of the popularity of Firefly, Serenity and all the DVDs..... aforementioned execs begin to wonder "could WE remake a Firefly/Serenity with Joss Whedon?" Oohhhh, the possibilities........"

jperiodrperiod | October 27, 08:14 CET

Thanks so much, you guys! Glad you liked the show. And thanks for promoting it over here so all the die-hards know where to go.

Next week -- my ep! Hope you like.

Jose Molina | October 27, 10:33 CET

For those who missed last nights show it is up on hulu now.

RavenU | October 27, 12:39 CET

I haven't seen the episode yet, but I thought it was amazingly cool for them to name it after one of the coolest new bands I've heard recently.

deepgirl187 | October 27, 12:56 CET

It makes me both really happy and really sad to see Nathan done up as Mal again. Exactly how I felt Nolan when I saw the trailer.

The Do That Girl | October 27, 13:09 CET

The ep "Vampire Weekend" is now 3rd Most Popular episode on Hulu and up to #9 on iTunes and the West coast hasn't even woken up yet.

[ edited by Beth on 2009-10-27 14:00 ]

Beth | October 27, 13:59 CET

I asked last night but it was late. Could someone clue me in on the Feed the Birds thing? Thank you.

madmolly | October 27, 14:20 CET

Loved this episode! Nathan is WONDERFUL (which we all aready knew)!

Passion | October 27, 14:22 CET

Feed the Birds (FtB) is Nathan Fillion slang meaning to give someone accolade or a high-five. Started on his Twitter, didn't it? Castle also says it at some point.

Jayme | October 27, 14:31 CET

Thanks Jayme.

I'm going to have to start doing this Twitter thing.

madmolly | October 27, 14:45 CET

Thank you Jose, y'all are doing a great job. My husband and I are enjoying Castle immensely- can hardly wait until next week. Maybe next year Nathan can dress up as Caleb!

Amrita | October 27, 15:09 CET

Or Captain Hammer!

Taaroko | October 27, 15:10 CET

Fark: Nathan Fillion plays Castle dressed up as Capt. Malcom Reynolds making a Buffy reference. And there was much rejoicing.

ShadowQuest:

Egg-sitting, a la "Bad Eggs"
Morlock(loch) - "I Robot, You Jane"
Spiked drinks @party - "Reptile Boy"

If i heard correctly, they also called his party a "shindig."

I was buried with work all day Sunday and Monday, so I had no idea it was coming. Suffice it to say, it was an awesome surprise. Made my whole day.

Vague That Up | October 27, 16:24 CET

That opening sequence lifted my spirits and warmed my heart. What they say is true, you know. The GEEK shall inherit the earth. I see it happening, little by little. All my loves, fandoms, popculture picks are slowly coming to the frontlines. MWAHAHAHA. And yes, I was another who thought the evil laugh and cough were a Dr. Horrible reference.

Carmencita | October 27, 16:47 CET

TRULY a great geek moment for moi.
I sat there, mouth open, at the beginning of Castle.

iwantthefireback64 | October 27, 17:32 CET

Lest we forget the vampire named Crow and "Vampires don't have normal names like Dave"
OK maybe I'm reaching.
'Twas Whedonrific.

[ edited by AngelDiva on 2009-10-27 19:38 ]

AngelDiva | October 27, 19:37 CET

That was about the best shout-out(s) i've seen I think. Just immaculately weighted (not too much, not too little) and so well delivered by Mr Nathan Fillion, esq. Bravo.

Saje | October 27, 21:04 CET

I sat there, mouth open, at the beginning of Castle.

Me too.

[ edited by korkster on 2009-10-27 21:19 ]

korkster | October 27, 21:19 CET

i also went ballistic at the beginning of this epsiode!... the gun, the coat... firefly is back! squee! oh wait...

thumper | October 27, 22:40 CET

maxsummers: what other shows could be so much more important that you had to stop watching castle?!? shame on you! ^_^

thumper | October 27, 22:40 CET

How fun was that? After seeing the quick-draw-in-full-Mal-gear in the preview, I was SO hoping for something silly/fun to follow that particular moment. I was not disappointed. There was much squeeing in my household. (Which, okay, the cats don't actually squee all that much, except over fresh-roasted chicken. It was mostly me.)

Also enjoyed the other Whedon-related shoutouts to Buffy, Dark Horse, etc. I don't have a problem at all with him referencing Buffy. Buffy the TV series likely exists in the Castle universe.

MaryQue | October 27, 23:11 CET

We all exclaimed "Dr. Horrible!" at the evil laugh.
Someone at FFF.net captured a catalyzer on a shelf right by the pocket of the browncoat when it swirls.

FloralBonnet | October 27, 23:43 CET

I am such a geek. Remember Nathan saying, about Mal and his darkness, "I am so not this guy." Well, as far as Castle goes, I think Nathan is this guy. And it's a lot of fun.
I thought they handled the 'omage scene pitch perfectly. And now I want to know, does Nathan own a Mal coat?

WomanWhoWeaves | October 28, 00:17 CET

IIRC some browncoats made him a present of one a while back.

Referencing Buffy is fine IMO, it's breaking the fourth wall but at one or two removes. If they e.g. showed Castle watching season 7 and Caleb came on then that would be going too far. If he (or anyone else) then did a Dirk Benedict style double-take, made an "amusing" comment or otherwise noted their "uncanny similarity" then that would probably be the last time I watched 'Castle' ;).

Saje | October 28, 00:20 CET

Watching that episode ... like coming home.
Watching that episode with 12-13 other Browncoats ... priceless.

[does her best Oliver Twist imitation] Please sir(s), may I have some more?

MizBehavin1 | October 28, 00:31 CET

I did the dance of joy! Which, in retrospect was not a great idea considering I watched this episode at work.
All firedness aside, amazing! Loved it, so happy to see Ma-I mean Nathan in suspenders again. Buffy's in town. Wut!

luv4whedon | October 28, 00:56 CET

On twitter today Shawna said that it was all Nathan's idea. She also asked if we'd noticed Crow's sister's shirt. It said Haley Blue on it. Jose Molina then twittered "Who is Hayley Blue? http://bit.ly/2Uyqy" but it's a link to itunes. Can anyone elucidate further? (I don't have itunes on this computer.)

Lioness | October 28, 01:11 CET

Floralbonnet- do we think the catalyzer is the Easter Egg?

madmolly | October 28, 02:01 CET

So... does this mean Mal would dress up as a mystery writer from ancient Earth? I think we need another movie to find out.

quantumac | October 28, 02:16 CET

what a fantastic ep!

Astonishing_Chaos | October 28, 04:12 CET

Dunno if catalyzer is the EEgg, mebbe just an EEgg, since the episode was full of refs. to our favorite Whedonverse shows.

FloralBonnet | October 28, 06:47 CET

Considering Nathan is the one who said on Twitter that the catalyzer is the egg, it's the egg.

The One True b!X | October 28, 06:53 CET

And since I don't do Twitter....I wouldn't have known that.

That is very cool. Can't wait to watch again.

madmolly | October 28, 20:10 CET

Best. Castle. Ever!

micro | October 29, 02:55 CET

Where was the elusive reference to Firefly Nathan tweeter about? We watched like hawks but we didn't see it.
The Ninja Report | October 27, 04:03 CET

Along with all the other references, did I imagine the "I'm a space cowboy" and (his daughter's?) reply, "There are no cowboys in space".
(I was falling asleep and havent re-watched it).

Shey | October 30, 10:35 CET

Way late, but I just rewatched and caught two more: Castle's daughter talking about being his candy beard ("Fear Itself") and Castle talking about the importance of negative space in the art of pumpkin carving ("The Body").

[ edited by ActualSize on 2009-11-02 05:00 ]

ActualSize | November 01, 17:03 CET

October 26 2009