Nubbins (106)

[NumberSix]

I have to agree with you on that.
Henry breaking the 4th wall...

Yes. Henry's expression at what she says plus making the connection with the viewer makes the scene one of my all-time favorites.

[meredithchandler73]

I recently rewatched this episode and it's such a fun one. I love the "put out the fire" scene with Helen and Will and even more I love the scene between Ashley and Henry talking about "her" nubbins. Ashley says something like "don't you just want to squeeze them?" and Henry's expression is just priceless! LOL

As funny as Ashley and Henry are in the "don't you just want to squeeze them?" scene, I personally can't get enough of Helen and Will talking on the couch. We so rarely get to see Helen's sensuality and I love how it manifests in that scene. Also, the cute exchange later on when Helen explains to Will how the nubbins affect people. "Are you asking me if I've been feeling randy?"

[StarSancFar]

I loved the Nubbins episode! One of my faves from S1!
It's got so many great Henry quotes!
'Your Mother's a sewer rat!'
'Ladies and geeks first...oh wait, that's all of us'
'These guys just happen to be a pack of viscious, over-sexed, hyperthyroid invisa-rodents!!'
^^ Quite possibly Henry's best quotes! His expressions are priceless too!

*There needs to be more Nubbin envolved eps in S4!!!

[selene0789]

I was reading some gutterized smut fanfiction the other day, and I totally saw someone utilize the word "nubbins" in a totally NOT Abnormal Furby way. I dang near peed my pants I started laughing so hard!

The thing is, when I first watched "Nubbins", and I saw the exchange between Ashley and Henry, I laughed so hard because I instantly got the joke... but on consequent rewatches I was like, maybe I was just seeing things, it wasn't meant to be *that* way.... but now I'm like: "I was so totally right!".

Hilarium ensued

[Starfist]

I admit to having to rinse my mind with 'mental' bleach whenever I watch this episode.

[mathpiglet]

Hilarious! My local station just started replaying these, and this is the first time I saw this episode.

Henry: "I've got wood."

Great double entrendres!

I also noticed that Peter DeLuise directed this one. Does anyone know if there are commentaries on the DVDs?

[JanSam]

Henry made this episode for me .
"Threat level Holy Crap, check."
The B story with Sophia was nice. I'm sure it would not be easy to find you have a misunderstood abnormality like a family member. Especially when that family member was placed on a mental ward and died there.

[fems]

Oy, here we go again... this is not one of my favorite episodes.

Hm, interesting opening scene. I never realized how many times we've seen or heard mentions of helicopters, planes and ships!

On one hand I like how Magnus and Ashley seem to be on first-name basis with everyone they work (closely) with, but on the other hand it's not all that convincing with them all ending up dead (either before or after we meet them) and they aren't all that affected by them. Magnus I could understand because of her age and experience, but Ashley? Or even Will?

I do like how Magnus told Ashley to cover Will, since he's the untrained civilian. Yet at the same time you would think a former FBI forensic psychiatrist would have weapons' training and could defend himself. Even if not, I would insist on him getting the proper training if I were Magnus. Now he's just a liability and him slowly following them around on a ship with murdered people doesn't really make me feel any better. He should stick close to them and they should probably tell him a room (where the Nubbins and 'predator') is clear and that he should either join them or follow them into the room in the first place.

Oh and I also liked how Ashley and Magnus quickly changed their magazines to switch to tranqs.

It's nice to see a different side of Ashley when she's naming the Nubbins and talking about how cute they are, opposed to her normal 'ghoul' this and 'tracking/bagging' that.

I would have liked to learn/see more of Eric and I find it intriguing how Magnus avoids answering Will's question about a personal relationship.

Nice scene with Henry and Ashley and the Nubbins! Great acting by RyRo!

Ugh! Is this the first time Will starts doing his 'accents'? That is just so annoying and I really wish he had never started doing them. I don't care how much fun RD (and AT) has off-screen but that's not something you have to add to the character you're playing onscreen.

Is 'being a few cups shy of a tea service' an actual expression or something Magnus came up with? I like it, very her. Kind of like how Jack (Stargate SG-1) used three fries short of a happy meal.

Will has been really grating on my nerves in the last few seasons and I thought that maybe I could learn to appreciate early season Will more on the rewatch, but unfortunately I just keep noticing more things about him that I dislike. Like his introduction to Abnormals or other Sanctuary guests: "I'm Doctor Zimmerman. Will." Either just say you're Dr Zimmerman or Will. He did the same thing with the Morrigan, which annoyed me a great deal considering they were supposed to be his patients. Here with Sophie it makes a bit more sense, but he could just say "I'm Dr Will Zimmerman" or "Dr Zimmerman, but you can call me Will'.

The background traffic sounds are distracting, by the way, and completely unrealistic if you look at the size and setting of the Sanctuary from the outside.

Awkward scene with Will and Magnus. That first bit of music reminded me of Scooby Doo when they entered a scary house! Some great lines by Magnus. I think it's odd how Magnus and Will seemed affected by the Nubbins when sitting by the fire yet are completely unaffected the next day, when standing next to a bunch of Nubbins! I wonder if the same thing happened to Henry and Ashley earlier on, when she asked him if he'd seen her Nubbins or if that was just normal awkwardness. I'd like it to be the former, considering we learn more about Henry's background later on and how long he's been at the Sanctuary...

Oh and when Ashley comes asking about what's going on with the Nubbins and Magnus tells her about the babies, they clearly seem to have known one was female and the other male. Then why put them together in the first place? Kind of a stupid mistake to make...

Later, when Magnus is talking to Sophie I find it odd she tells her about the blood similarities and then tries to reassure her that the final results will be back in 24 hours. Why bother telling her anything at all and upsetting her? She could have just given her an update about the autopsy and say she's awaiting further results.

Awkward scene between Will and Ashley. I thought it was odd that she had taken the Nubbin out and to her room; you would think someone with her experience would know better. Same with then she was telling Magnus she was keeping it as a pet. I would have expected Magnus to tell her they couldn't be sure of the creature's nature. But instead Ashley is just cuddling with it in her room, without telling anyone!

Why does she have a man's shirt lying around? It was also kind of distracting to see Ashley's hands not fitting properly around the Nubbin because of the CGI. Also, it looked like his shirt wasn't wet anymore when she pulled it off? Yes, I focus on details when I don't like a scene!

Wow, is Biggie wearing more makeup than usual (or later on) when they're checking out the Nubbins' escape route?

I'm glad Magnus told Ashley she should have shown better judgment with the Nubbins but at the same time I feel it was a bit too late and she should have told her in the beginning the Nubbins weren't pets.

Nice moment between Ashley and Will, talking about the perfect Nubbin!

Not too impressed with the Sophie side story this time around. It gets a bit old and it's too bad we never saw her again.

I like the awkward scene between Will and Magnus when she tells him about the pheromones; she's so comfortable with her sexuality and he just looks like a nervous teenager. Wonderful acting. Normally I would applaud both performances but in this case I feel it's more down to AT than RD, since Will always looks like he's trying to be one of the cool kids unfortunately. His teen outfits aren't helping his credibility either. For some reason they fit with Henry but Will just looks weird.

I must say I've missed these Abnormal of the week stories. I didn't like how they did season 3, with a mix of both (arc and standalone eps) but after season 4 and now seeing these episodes I realize these were nice as well. With Magnus and the team trying to find out what they're dealing with and giving some background information, like the cultural meaning of the Nubbins or their hive mentality.

Nice scene between Will and Sophie. I wished they had kept Will more in that sort of capacity, rather than forcing him into being Magnus' apprentice because he looks much more suited and comfortable in the 'doctor' moments than apprentice role. It's not just how he looks but his performances are also more credible as doctor rather than 2IC of Sanctuary, in my opinion. He hasn't really changed much since these early episodes, no growth whatsoever. If possible, perhaps even the opposite.

"Women and geeks first!" I like it! Henry still has some of the best lines in these early eps and RyRo delivers them so well. I do wonder why he considers Will a geek though! Will certainly looks the part but it's not like he's very geeky. Unless he thought of him as a woman...

Magnus and Will finding the tracking device still confuses me. Every time I see it I think the Nubbins killed the predator, but then they turn the corner and there he is! But he was the one with the tracking device inside of him! And then he really is dead. Nice and gruesome.

"I've got wood!" *awkward silence* Even Magnus and Ashley give him the look! "... you know, for the fire."

Nice to see Will doing his detective thing again, with the thermostat. It's odd though that Magnus apparently didn't find (or look for) any notes from Eric that mentioned these things. You would think they'd keep logs about those things and she'd be smart enough to look for them. Then again, we didn't see them searching the ship for anything once they found Erik's dead body, a severed arm, the Nubbins and the predator, which was odd as well.

I like the solution with the distress signal and the fire extinguishers! The Nubbins all sounded so cute too, with those noises they make. It's also nice to see them again in the end of the season, if I'm not mistaken. Although that's only one, isn't it?

Anyway, it was a nice enough episode. Not as bad as I'd feared but that's probably because I was typing along with it and doing the laundry in the boring scenes...

[Skydiver]

So is it a scifi requirement that every show do a 'naked time' remake? As in something makes them libidinous which opens all sorts of worms.

All in all, not horrible. There are later season episodes that I do find far more 'bad' but it wasn't great either. Abby of the week, some good lines, and an interesting premise, but I just couldnt stop thinking tribbles + naked time = nubbins

[fems]

I think it would have been better if they hadn't used the scene between Will and Ashley in her room. Or at least not the nubbin peeing on him and then her removing his shirt.

[Skydiver]

Yeah, the sexual tension was almost cringe worthy, at least to me. I don't find that kind of stuff funny, although I know others do. I just fine it embarrassing and painful to watch.

although, given their limited characters, beyond doing a girl on girl with ash and sophie, there was no one else to play up the tension with. henry is like ash's brother so will is the only other male (biggie isn't even an option) so i think Damian didn't really have a choice.

the only other pairing could have been henry and sophie, but it would have to had been him perving on her because her empathy and the way she was cast made her more innocent and in secure than sensual.

[blueray]

this was one of the best in season 1. i loved the scene with ashley and her nubblins, the scene where henry vacuums the nublin and of course "i got wood".

as for the plot, yeah a lot of shows have episodes like this. and the idea of the nubblins obveously comes from tribbles .

[selene0789]

I like this episode for different reasons. At some points, the suggestiveness is really subtle-- subtle enough the first time I saw it I was like "wahoah, what have we here?" but then the second time was "i'm not sure it was intended to be that way. Case in point was when Ashley and Henry were looking at the nubbins in the cage, and she's all "they're so cute! don't you just want to squeeze 'em?" and we are treated to a view of Henry via a grazing boob shot of Ashley. Then Henry gives that deadpan look of his, and I bust out laughing.

I also like it because it's very clearly an "early" episode. You know, those episodes where we can tell (post-current season) that TPTB are kinda experimenting, putting their feelers out, seeing what works and what doesn't.

It's almost like watching a creative process happen, and I love that sort of thing. It's we're being taken along for the journey.

[NumberSix]

Case in point was when Ashley and Henry were looking at the nubbins in the cage, and she's all "they're so cute! don't you just want to squeeze 'em?" and we are treated to a view of Henry via a grazing boob shot of Ashley. Then Henry gives that deadpan look of his, and I bust out laughing.

That's one of my favorite scenes. I liked the one with Helen and Will too. When I first saw the nubbins I thought of tribbles and that they looked a little "fake" so I wasn't sure about this ep but as the story moved along and the predator appeared, and strange occurrences I did like it.

[Sparky She-Demon]

Here's a youtube video dedicated to this hilarious episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj4n2...6A2475EAB8026B

The song is "That's Amore" by Dean Martin.

Nubbins are tribbles with faces, ears, and a technological upgrade!