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Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete First Season

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete First Season

List Price: $39.98
Your Price: $27.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great for fans and for all others who merely enjoy the show.
Review: Yes, I always considered myself one of the 2nd type of people: I always enjoyed watching an episode whenever it came on, but I never followed the series consistently, so after the first few seasons I lost touch with all the new developments / new members of the gang, and the series wasn't as interesting to me as it first was.

But this is Buffy as fresh and as she was originally meant to be: both a vampire slayer, and a struglling high school student. We see her and her gang face vampires and all sorts of other unpleasant creatures and demons (and most of the episodes deal with non - vampire creatures...). But we also get to see other aspects of teenage life: Buffy's struggles with being unpopular and being teased by thepopular crowd, especially Cordelia, after being popular herself in her old school. Or the romantic triange she's in with Xander and Willow. Or better make it a square if we throw Angel into the equasion...

The series also manages to combine comedy, drama and scares / creeps very well...

Now for the point I really don't like about this set: the extras. There are a few, and they're interesting (Joss Wheadon's commentary, a few explanations by him on a few episodes), but there are so few of them! The commentary, for instance, is only for the first 2 episodes, but a commentary on the last episode would have been great too. Another idea would be to add a little 'in depth' explanation of the vampire mythology behind the series - even if it's gathering the bits and pieces Giles drops in the episodes...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Maximum Buffy, Maximum Slayage
Review: The first season of a great television series. An irresistable mix of campy horror and teen comedy/drama. If you haven't seen it, watch it.

The packaging looks great, and the extra goodies (like character and actor bios, Joss Whedon's commentaries) on the DVDs make it worth it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: surprisingly good
Review: After watching a pretty awesome season finale of Season Six of Buffy (and haphazardly watching other episodes off and on) i decided once and for all to finally start seeing all these episodes. (thankfully the first season is not that [much] and is easier to commit to buying). i found that this is a surprisingly well written and well acted series. i recommend at least the first season, even if you decide later not to go on to the other seasons, this first season is good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Collection of the 1st season is THE BOMB!!!...
Review: I've been a huge Buffy fan ever since this season, and all i can say is holy ... Even though the other season themes were better nothing can beat this season. If you are a buffy fan you need this or else stop saying that you are a Buffy Fan. Enjoy

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have for every Buffy fan
Review: I only have 2 complaints about these DVDs. First, and I think this was addressed by others, the "Previously on Buffy" scenes were deleted, which is a little jarring. The music was apparently all scored together, so when you start an episode it feels like you start 2 or 3 bars into a piece of music.

Other than that, my only complaint is that I want more commentaries!! The two commentaries and several featurettes by Joss Whedon are superb. He really brings exactly what I want to a commentary track -- info on the actors, and decisions that were made during the episode, and why. He explains his premise for a lot of decisions, and is able to admit when he could have done better. It is especially interesting on this first season DVD, having already seen most of the other seasons on broadcast TV, because I already know how many of the characters and specail effects have evolved.

As for the really good parts: The actual media is a very good quality. Nice sound, nice crisp images.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an excellent show, in that Joss Whedon and the writers are able to bring up a lot of issues relevant to "growing up" with out being preachy. In a lot of ways, Buffy is about 2 things: breaking stereotypes and peoples expectations; but also growing up in a very *normal* way, despite being or dealing with the supernatural and supernormal.

Overall, I highly recommend this box set. The show itself is great, and any one who has ever enjoyed Buffy on TV will love to have the whole season in one place.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Show on Television
Review: Since it's debut six seasons ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been one of the most original and inventive shows on television. Many critics believe that Buffy is one of the best shows currently airing, if not THE best. The show cleverly uses the supernatural and dark forces as metaphors for everyday teen struggles, and the process of growing up into adulthood. The Complete first season on DVD is the best way to start from the beginning to see how your favorite characters have grown over the years, if you haven't done so already.

FOX has been releasing the Buffy series on DVD for the past several years over in the UK, while the US fans had to wait impatiently for their chance to own them. And now, Fox has finally released season one here in the US while the show has just ended its sixth season on UPN. For all Buffy fans, this is the best way to own your favorite show. Not only do you get extra material, DVD provides crystal clear digital picture, and whopping audio.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this series, this is the perfect chance for you to start. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was picked up as a midseason replacement on The WB in 1996, therefore, the first season was only composed of 12 episodes, where the seasons following each contained 22. The characters are unique and funny, and brilliantly acted. Buffy Summers played by Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Scooby Doo", "Cruel Intentions"), is the chosen one. She must protect and defend the world against evil demons and vampires, and at the same time, she must balance that with her personal life. Willow Rosenberg is the quirky computer nerd played by Alyson Hannigan (the "American Pie" series), who quickly becomes one of Buffy's best friends in the first episode. Xander Hariss, who has known Willow for years, is played by Nicholas Brendon. Cordelia Chase is the stereotypical popular girl that every school has. She portrays herself as someone who is higher and above everyone else, but towards the end of the season, it also becomes clear that she also has problems and that her life isn't perfect. Giles, played by Anthony Stewart Head, is Buffy's watcher and must guide her throughout her challenges. He quickly becomes a father figure to her. And lastly, the mysterious, intriguing man known as Angel is played by David Boreanaz. In the beginning of the season, he seems to be a goodguy, but in the episode entitled 'Angel', Buffy finds out that he's actually a vampire, but seemingly a 'good' vampire. It is not until the next season until we learn Angel's complete past. Buffy and Angel somewhat seem to have a 'thing' for each other, even though they both know that it can never be. The show also contains some of the most wittiest dialogue seen on television.

This show has something for everyone's tastes. One of the most unique things about this series is that everyone has a character or two on the show that they can personally relate too. This DVD collection is one of the best. The collection is lacking much extra material, but to have the series first sesaon on DVD is enough alone. Any true Buffy fan needs to own this. And if you're interested in becoming a fan of the show, start here and work your way up.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Nice Collection
Review: This is a great box set to own. The beginning episodes of this series bring the characters to life. Since it had been a while since I saw the first episodes I enjoyed watching them very much.

The only thing that bothered me was the menu system. You choose the episode you want to watch, and from there you can choose the chapter you want to see. Once the episode has finished, it goes back to that episodes menu instead of the main menu. It didn't just play through the episodes, starting another one when the first finished.

Other then that, this is a very nice collection and I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer; The first season
Review: Buffy is one of the best series on television today. It incorporates the normalicy of everyday life where everything is not black and white, The creator Joss has put together a very good series. It is the classic good vs. evil but with exceptional writing and acting. The only bad thing about the cd collection is that you are not able to play all the episodes on the cd at one time. You can only watch one episode then you have to select another episode on disc.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Buffy - Coming of Age
Review: The story of Buffy is basically teenage girl coming of age and having to deal with her divorced parents, a new high school, making friends and oh yeah vampires. In all the shows you have that sci-fi element but if you look closer you see there is an underlining story that you need to pay attention to. In one of the shows you see the importance of a good mother daughter relationship and long before high school violence became broadcast news Buffy was trying to show us how important it is to not treat people like they are invisible. Buffy is a great show that just can't be defined. One minute you fear for Buffy's life and the next you are laughing. If you haven't gotten into Buffy yet then there is nothing better than starting at the beginning! I'm sure that the quality of the show will make you a die hard Buffy fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A 12 HOUR PRIMER ON LIFE (spoilers)
Review: There's a great moment toward the end of the premiere episode of Buffy. Buffy encounters the villain of the piece after two hours of struggle, and I, as an audience member, was expecting some sort of epic clash between good and evil. Rather than that Buffy chooses to remind the vampire villain of his inability to venture into the sunlight, lest he be killed. "You forgot about one thing," she says to the vampire. "Sunrise..." She then throws a weapon at a dark, painted window and breaks it, allowing light to spill through into the vampire's face. The vampire screams in agony for a few seconds before realizing it is just an outdoor lamp making all the light, and that the sun has not yet risen. Continuing her previous sentence about the sunrise, Buffy says, "...is in about nine hours, moron." She then puts a stake thorugh the villain's heart and all is, at least for the moment, well.

It is this willingness to play with expectations that keeps Buffy as fresh and funny as it is. The trivialization of evil through humor also gives the show its own identity amongst a great many other television shows, movies, books, and plays that use allegorical stories to make their sweeping points.

More than just its uniqueness and storytelling flare, however, make Buffy as great a show as it is. It is also about people-- real people, that live down your street, or go to your school. It's about everybody, and it is very easy to identify with different elements of each of the characters. But, then again, none of the characters are static. They change and grow, shedding old ways and developing new ones. You may identify with a character one weeks and then become uncomfortable with their choices and ideas the next week. The characters are peeled like onions, and none can be properly defined without the aid of each and every episode that they have ever appeared in. Sitcom characters are uniformly sarcastic, but Buffy characters are multidimensional entities. More even than the fun and actions of the episodes, this element of the show sticks with me as a viewer. I care about Willow, and Xander, and Buffy, and Giles, and Tara (God rest her soul), and Anya, and Dawn, and Spike, and Angel. Their actions and attitudes make a difference to me, and that is a frightening thing to discover as I remind myself that those people, real as they may seem, are fictional. In its many famous ways Buffy is a fictional show, but so far as the depths of the personalities go, it is more real than any examples of the new wave a reality television.

The first season is not the best season of the show, but neither is it the worst, and compared to any other show on televsion, this year of Buffy will blow your mind. Make the investment and enjoy a bright future where even theatrical movies look pretty stupid next to the glory of Buffy.


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