Asked to chose among his children, Joss Whedon picked three.

As you know: Whedon created The WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fox’s Firefly and Dollhouse; is a director of films such as last year’s blockbuster The Avengers, indie breakout Much Ado About Nothing and online sensation Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. We asked Whedon during an extensive interview for this week’s issue which title among his body of work that he was the most proud of and he offered a trio that he said “felt transcendent.” Interestingly, all his picks were TV episodes, and all were from two shows — Buffy and Firefly.

Whedon cited:

— Buffy‘s popular and trend-setting musical episode “Once More, with Feeling.”

— Perhaps Buffy‘s most acclaimed hour, “The Body,” where the vampire slayer faced the non-supernatural death of her mother. Among other things, “The Body” is distinctive for omitting the show’s usual background score (clip from the episode below).

— Firefly‘s premature series finale “Objects in Space,” where the Serenity was infiltrated by a bounty hunter; an episode that managed to be both suspenseful and existentially meditative.