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Television
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: New to Sunnydale...
Review: Programs on Fox, are not a regular part of my TV menu, so believe it or not, prior to purchasing this set, I had never seen a complete episode of "Buffy" before. The program premiered in 1997, and is still going strong, and this seemed like a good opportunity to check out this series from its genesis, and see what all the fuss is about.

The series gets off to a strong start with the opening episode "Welcome to Hellmouth", where the characters are introduced, and premise of vampires running loose in southern California, and being challenged by beautiful teenage heroine Buffy Summers, and her high school friends, is established. Buying into the basic storyline is essential. This is made easier by the quirky and engaging characters, strong writing, "hip" dialog, and relatively well done action sequences. The American high school experience, though it has certainly evolved over time, contains elements of commonality that make it somewhat universal. No matter how many years have past, most of us can still identify in some way, with these characters, and situations. If you can't believe that there are vampires running loose in California, then this program I'm afraid is simply not for you.

Buffy, the series, travels an interesting path, as it targets a young audience, and seeks to present a mixture of humor, horror, science fiction and adventure. This is a challenging task, given the limitations of the medium, and the target audience. The focus of the episodes varies, as the different elements are emphasized. With such a diverse range of subject matter, it is to be expected that the program does not always succeed in delivering a high quality, original episode every time out. Still, the overall story quality of the 12 episodes of Season One, is pretty good.

The ensemble cast, is more than a collection of "beautiful people". These young actors are quite talented. Sarah Michelle Gellar, makes you believe in this unconventional story. Though it is often hard to believe that this character is supposed to be only sixteen years old. Alyson Hannigan simply shines as "Willow". And the rest of the cast of is also very capable, with Nicholas Brendon, David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter. Anthony Stewart Head, is vital in the role of "Giles", providing guidance, and when necessary an unsteady physical presence. Regarding the "look" of the show, this is not a criticism, merely an observation, but this show appears to be very "white". It doesn't seem to realistically reflect the ethnicity of southern California, with few Latino, Black or Asian characters featured. Perhaps this changes over time.

Creator and executive producer Joss Whedon's comments are featured on the first two episodes. His comments, delivered in a rather droll manner, are both extremely informative, and humorous. Always conscious the budgetary constraints, his insights are so enlightening to a newbie. Too bad he wasn't able to comment on more episodes, but at least this collection has some commentary tracks, few DVD collections of TV programs feature them. I must disagree with one of Whedon's assertions concerning the lighting of the show always being well done, as there are numerous instances where the picture quality was a bit too dark and grainy, but that's not unexpected for a TV production.

This compact, attractively packaged set, covered with images of the beautiful Ms. Gellar, is probably a "must" for long-time fans. As a newcomer, I generally liked what I saw, and was still able to find the series understandable and entertaining, despite my advancing years, and have since purchased Season Two of the series. Looking forward to the continuing adventure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An excellent series
Review: This is a must for Buffy fans. Nuff said.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not The Best Season, But....
Review: In my opinion, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still great, if not better, even in its seventh season. But nothing can compare to the very first season, when everything was a little darker, a little freakier, a little newer. I didn't start watching Buffy until its fourth season, so I had to rely on those handy reruns on TV in order to catch up on everything from the very beginning.

Now, I have to say I like the later episodes better (mainly because Spike is my favorite character, and he didn't become a series regular until season 4), but season one was great nonetheless. The later episodes have been wittier, and sometimes sillier, but they can't compare to the creepiness of the first season, when Buffy first appeared at Sunnydale High, which just happened to be built over the Hellmouth. This was back when Buffy was a cheerleader by day, slayer by night; Xander was a total nerd; Willow was a sweet little wallflower; Cordelia was a snob; Angel was a vampire; and Giles- well, he was the trusty librarian/watcher. They were the good old days, when Buffy and the gang made all the high school viewers in the world appreciate their own high school, because no matter how bad their school was, they could at least say it wasn't built over a camping ground for every kind of evil imaginable.

Included on this 3-DVD set are the series' first 12 episodes (remember? It was a mid-season replacement), interviews with creator Joss Whedon, commentary on the pilot episode, "Welcome to the Hellmouth", trailers, and more. For any Buffy fan, this is a must-have. Although I would have preferred a few more special features (how about interviews with the cast?), it's still a fine compilation for a fine television show.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The season that started it all!
Review: Buffy is a great show, which may not appeal to many different age groups, but does appeal to fans of many different genres, horror, comedy, action, fantasy, romance, and drama (the last two being far more abundant on season 2). Season 2 and 3 are considerably better than season 1, but season one is still a must to own, particularly if you are new to the show. If you're pretty new to it, or have only caught a few random episodes on TV it'll get you started, and you'll enjoy the other seasons much more. And even if you've seen every episode it's still nice to have around to watch every now and then. Some episodes are rather dull to see over and over, but some such as the pack, and teachers pet are a joy to watch countless times! The show really has it all. Oh, and the special features on the disc are pretty nice, but too few.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's Buffy, need you say more?
Review: This was a great CD series. I loved it, the sound and immage quality where wonderful. I could swear there where parts in the episodes that I didn't see on TV or maybe I just have a fualty memory. But overall it was great! The only thing I would change is the interface for navigating. It needs to be rethought for future collections.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great content, below average picture quality
Review: The Buffy content of this DVD collection is great, but the picture quality is below average. I have a few broadcast episodes on VHS that have better picture quality that what's on this DVD. Even so, hearing Joss W's commentary on a few of the episodes makes this collection worth the price for Buffy fans. It's worth having, even if it's not up to the video quality you would expect from a DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good!
Review: This is a great Tv-series. If you want to see Sarah Michelle Gellar, then you should see Scooby-Doo. I give it... (5 out of 5 [stars]).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: To all US fans!
Review: Hi there,
I live in europe and would like to share some thoughts..here in europe(I live in holland) we have season 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5(in a couple of days/weaks) released on DVD.
The US sets are much cheaper than what we get, our sets are about the same price as your X files box sets and sometimes even expensiver than that.
We also have a more beautifull packaging(kind of a book thing).

Back to this set, Season 1 is not the best season(if we are talking about quality) that is/are season 4 and up(widescreen(!), better sound, more extra's etc.
but still it's worth buying, the quality of our season 1 is okay but not stunnig.
A friend of mine has also got the us edition and we compared it and i think the region 2 is slightly better(my opinion).

But season 3 is a lot better!(If you wanna buy a good set, this is for u) the quality is verry much improved compared to season 1+2(wich are the worst quality of all)the menu's are easier and you don't have that symetery walk trough thing.

Season 4 is really good, it's in my opinion not a good season but the dvd's are the best! Widscreen finally.. and it looks soooooo much beter! the sound and extra's are also fare more beter than the previous sets.
Season 5 is also verry promosing, this box has probally the best extra's and is also widscreen blablabla...

I just wanted to let you know what you can suspect, it's a shame you don't get the same packaging...season 1 fold out to a crussifix(is this the right way to spell it? ;) and season 2 and up had some sort of book style wich is verry beautifull and easy to use.

So keep in mind that this is info about region 2 sets(region 4 has other packaging wich is not really nice)I don't know if the upcoming us boxes will have the same quality..because there's such a price difference..
If you decied to buy region 2(because you cant wait or someother reason) keep in mind that only th UK, and Dutch and Belgium sets have the special packaging..
The German(cut's the season in half(except S1)) and frence(cut's the season in half and also has whole season in a different packaging, like the us packaging) and australian(region 4, cut's the season in half)editions have other different packaging..
I have all the seasons and have never had had any problems what so ever with these dvds(no skipping, no pixelateting(is this the way to spell it?), we almost never had those kind of things..
I hope this helps in your decicien.. :)

*sorry for spelling errors, but i was in kind of a hurry*

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Skip Season 1 and buy Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5 instead
Review: I am definitely a Buffy fan. It's one of the best series ever produced for television, second only to Babylon 5. BUT I recommend you *not* buy season 1, because none of the episodes are really worth seeing. They range from almost entertaining to disasterous. Like Babylon5, this show did not explode with drama until Season 2. So if you want to save yourself some money and time, skip Season 1 and buy Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5 instead.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BUFFY IS THE GREATEST!
Review: Into every generation a slayer is born.She is the chosen one.She alone will stand against the vampires,the demons and the forces of darkness.There are 12 episodes in season 1(Welcome To The Hellmouth,The Harvest,Witch,Teacher's Pet,Never Kill A Boy On The First Date,The Pack,Angel,I Robot...You Jane,The Puppet Show,Nightmares,Out Of Mind,Out Of Sight,& Prophecy Girl).Buffy is the Slayer.At her previous school in L.A. she burned down the gym(which was full of vampires) and started "fights".Now shes in Sunnydale,a small town in CA.First day at her new school,Sunnydale High,& what happens?A boy is found dead in the locker room!However Sunnydale isn't your usual small town,it has a secret.& What is this secret you might wonder?Well its located on the Hellmouth!


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