Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Seventh Season

Rating:
Summary: I give three stars with my heart bleeding....
Review:
I give this season three stars with my heart bleeding.... Why? Because I must agree this was not a great season. But, like someone before said, even a mediocre season of Buffy is good to watch.

For the first time since I began buying the DVD sets, I found myself wanting some episodes to END as soon as possible (while inother seasons all I wanted was for them to never end, so good they were!)This was a shock. The episode "HIM" is one of the worst ever.

AS for The POtentials. When they were three or four, you could stand them. When they became dozens of people, it was awful. So awgul that I became to dislike all of them, even the first ones to take shelter in Buffy's house: Kennedy, Amanda, the black girl, everybody! It simply left no room for the scoobies. Michelle Tratchenberg suffered the most. COmpare her with her screen time in season Six: almost gone. Anya, except for the episode that she kills a dozen students, is also absent.

Nothing against gay relations, but... maybe it was securing the show some points in the audience ratings, but it was absurd the amount of times that they showed Kennedy and Willow kissing each other. It was annoying. By the way, it seems six months it's all that you need to forget the love of your life! (Tara).

The introduction of Andrew as the comic relief was good in my humble opinion. It worked fine. James MAsters's Spike is top notch as always. The return of Faith was welcome, but say what you want, I think Eliza is simply not a good actress. She delivers her lines in an unnatural manner, it always seems forced.

The ending... well the ending was much less climatic thatn I had anticipated...





Rating:
Summary: Buffy Ends
Review: An excellent end for the best series on television. Although the soon-to-be removed crutch that we still had Angel to hang on to made it easier to let go, its passing was nevertheless difficult to bear. The most imaginative series on television marked and highlighted real issues in demon form throughout high school, into college and beyond. Certainly not without missteps along the way it still always braved ahead and we were able to take courage as our own person fears took evil shape and were slayed. If it had to leave us alone in the dark it went out as a show worth remembering.

Rating:
Summary: I was sad watching this season
Review: Being a huge Buffy fan, I found myself sad when I walked in the door with my Season 7 set, so sad that it was over.

Now on to my review. As many have said before, it felt rushed, main characters were basically ignored, and the character I loved the most was killed off. I hated the potentials, they were irritating, the relationship between Willow and Kennedy was irrelevant, grose and showed disrespect seeing that her "lover" died so recently before.

I am reluctant to criticize someone's appearance, but I have to here. SMG is a beautiful woman, but for some reason, the glamour department threw her hair in a unattractive ponytail through most of the season, and her makeup was underrated. I didn't get that at all. Plus, they used pictures from Season 6 Box set for the Season 7 Box set. Buffy and Spike are wearing the same clothes in both sets. Cheesy.

I will say this though, it made me so happy to finally see Buffy acknowledge her true feelings for Spike in the end. However it was bittersweet because he didn't believe her. He was so guilt ridden, he couldn't possibly believe someone that he tried to rape could actually love him.

I hope and pray that the story continues between these two as there have been rumors of a spinoff or movie. I will even go so far as to say that I would take a different actress playing Buffy, if it meant Buffyverse could continue.

Rating:
Summary: Buffy Crashes in a disappointing season
Review: Buffy was one of best and most original series on television, but sadly, petered out in the end. The series took it's first hit after season three, ending the high school years, and creator Joss Wheden having to work on Angel more than he expected. Still, while not as good, it gamely strode on with some good episodes, until Buffy was killed at the end of Season Five. In many ways, the series should have ended here, inspite of the wonderful Season Six episode "Once More With Feeling," one of the best episodes of the series. However, one episode isn't enough to make up for the bad Season Six and Seven Episodes.

In Season Seven, after a promising start, the series faltered through poor writing and plotting. New regular Principal Wood had real chemistry with Buffy, but the addition of Nathon Fillon from Wheden's Firefly bombed. The characters were no longer the people they were once before, having to have their personalities changed for the banal stories to work. Death looses it's meaning. When Anya dies, and Zander is told at the end of the finale, he just says "That's my girl." Hardly the reaction one would suspect from her former fiance, but then, when Buffy the series died, I just said, "well, it was overdue to end."

Where does the blame lie? Executive Producer Marti Noxon seems to use here writing chores as a way to release her own emotional issues (which we don't care about, Marti). David Fury is a master of the padding department, taking an hour to tell a story other writers can tell in 20 minutes. But ultimately, it must be laid at Joss Wheden's feet. He was the creator and producer in charge all along, and he should have had the knowledge and strength to fire the dead weight he had accumulated in the production offices. But he didn', he let them ruin his show, and thus must bear the ultimate blame. He's an extremely gifted writer and director, but by season seven, he showed he doesn't have what it takes to be a series producer.

Rating:
Summary: Good Buffy,but not the best.
Review: Buffy,Buffy,Buffy.The writers turned Buffy into a bitch.She gave a speech everytime someone asked her something.By the time seven came on first run,everyone involved acted like they were going through the motions.The average BTVS fan could tell Joss Whedon,Marti Noxon and David Fury wasn't giving this season 100%.Despite being a substandard Buffy season,season 7 had it's moments."Him" is pretty funny."Same Time,Same Place" is textbook BTVS.If the whole season could be as good as that episode.
In a nutshell,this is a brief summary of S7:

Buffy gives speeches for close to 22 episodes.The new principal,Robin Wood,has a vendetta towards vampires because one killed his mother.Spike is just...here.Dawn is reacting to high school life.Xander loses an eye,Giles is training a bunch of "potential" new girls to be slayers,Andrew is comic relief and Anya is Anya.Faith comes back towards the end of the season.Angel makes an apperance.
The season starts out and ends strong,but falls somewhat flat in the middle.

I'd still recommend this one because subpar BTVS is still better than most of the TV (including cable) out there.

Rating:
Summary: A few let downs, but still a must have
Review: I am a fairly critical person, and after some of the nearly pornographic episodes of season 6 that were dry as the Sahara, I can understand any wariness of season 7. There were a few episodes that were not up to par with the true nature of Buffy as determined in seasons 1-3, I still thoroughly enjoyed most of season 7, and any true Buffy fan must own this season, if only for the last episode that Joss managed to create as a true memorial to end the legacy of Buffy. I give this a 5 star because every season has a few duds, but overall, it so deserves a 5!

Rating:
Summary: Not the worst season.
Review: Many people seem to feel let down by the final season of Buffy. When a show is so good, you come to expect a lot from it. However, season 7 has some very good points: 1. They covered new ground. While on the surface the season seems a re-hash (the worst of the worst, death, apocalypse) they took a previous baddie, and explored the idea of the "Potentials" The concept of Buffy being unable to fight her status as the "Chosen One" has been a central theme to the show. The writers therefore explored where these girls come from. Answer: everywhere. The central theme of empowerment to women is key here: these girls are all different, but they all have something in common. 2. The further development of Spike's character. From the glimpses provided over the past seasons, who he was and where he came from, the writing for his character was perfect, completely in line with previous seasons. AND dramatic and fun to watch. This is also true of most of the Scoobies. 3. It was spooky. Conversations with Dead People is actually one of the scariest episodes in any of the seasons, as is Same Place Same Time. As Buffy progressed, vampires and other baddies become so common place that they are no longer frightening. Its amazing that after seven years writers can still scare us. 4.The return of Faith. 5. The ending. Some didn't like it. However, it was creative, it changed the Buffyverse, and I didn't see it coming.
Not that it was a perfect season. Some complaints: Giles returns to his complete stick-in-the-mud position, and is grouchy most of the season. True, living with ever growing numbers of teenage girls is probably his nightmare after dealing with Buffy as a team. But he becomes a total contrast to the season's humor. Yeah the world may end. Not like its the first time. Also, Jonathan gets killed. I know, it was essential to the plot, but I loved Jonathan, as did many others. Also, Xander and Anya go into a holding pattern. Anya realizes she can no longer inflict torment the way she once did, but then what? And Xander has finally matured: he has a job, he does well at it, he's more confident, he's working on getting over Anya, and he goes back to being the show's punching bag and comic relief. What are the show's writers trying to tell us: there really is no life for an adult?
Still, those are all minor complaints. This was a really strong season, more cohesive than season 6, and more fun than season 5. Season 4 remains the worst season, saved by a few good episodes.

Rating:
Summary: A must-have for fans, but quite lacking in many ways
Review: Obviously, any Buffy fan will buy this collection, and they should- great picture and sound and hey, it's the final season. My disappointment stems from the extras and commentaries- they are sorely lacking. The outtakes are brief and lame, and the commentaries add next to nothing to the series. Emma Caulfield (Anya) was supposed to do commentary on her spotlight episode, but she was a no-show. It would have been wonderful if there had been more behind the scenes footage of the last episode, but nothing. And Joss Whedon's commentary is just boring. It probably would have been better if a fan or critic had interviewed him during the commentary, in order to get him to talk about things that would have been interesting to the viewers. Maybe some insight as to why Sarah Michelle Gellar didn't do any commentaries, what their working relationship was like, why did he give Dawn the last line instead of Buffy, anything like that. Otherwise, who cares what we think about this particular season? A Buffy fan will buy this set no matter what.

Rating:
Summary: Good season...
Review: THis is a good season, but as is already well doccumented, tensions were arising between Sarah Michelle and the show producers, regarding the darkness of the stories, and you feel that in some ways Sarah, even very professional as always, is going on auto-pilot, just waiting for the show to end and she goes to another phase of her career. By the way, by buying this set I bought all seven seasons of Buffy, and I should ask: why does Sarah Michelle does not appear in ON SINGLE INTERVIEW along the seven sets?! I found it a huge dissapointment. (the only exception is an interview included in Season SIX , but which had already been aired elesewhere - it was not an interview made for the DVD).

The season was great, but the Potentials were not. I know the show is all about female empowerment, but you could not even recognize the girls properly, since there were so many of them! But I think it was a clever history to make it clear that there was not only one Chosen One anymore, and that Buffy could try to lead a normal life from then on.

"Conversations With Dead People" is the great episode here. The last one, written by Joss himself, is not bad, but I felt something was missing... I think a much more clear ending for the scoobie gang would be welcome: what would they do afterwards, how would Xander reacts about life without Anya, how would WIllos hbehave like a goddess, all this stuff... I think the Scooby Gang (mainly Dawn - man, she was almost entirely forgotten in Season 7) had much less romm than they should. And Spike simply continued to grow and grow, both in charisma and in relevance.

A good season. Hey, this is Buffy, even if Joss Whedon was not around too much since Season Six.

Rating:
Summary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - All seasons
Review: This review isn't going to be about whether I liked the 7th season or how I feel it compares to other seasons, but rather the differences between what was broadcast and what has been made available on DVD for all 7 seasons. This is more of an FYI or things you may not have noticed, rather than a review.

We all know that certain scenes never make it to the final version of an episode, but in the case of the Buffy DVDs, scenes which tie the end of one episode to the beginning of the next are missing. Here are a few examples. When Faith takes the potentials back to the vineyard (season 7) they discover a bomb is about to go off. On the DVD that episode ends with it counting down and stopping at around 7 seconds. The next episode picks up after the bomb went off. What happened to the scene where the bomb goes off and everyone is ducking for cover and you see the force of the explosion throwing Faith up into the air and into the water? These scenes were broadcast as part of the "what happened last time on Buffy" episode recaps. Here's another one - when Spike comes back to Sunnydale (season 4) you see him drive into the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign, get out and say "Home sweet home". That scene, which was broadcast as part of the Buffy recaps is not included on the DVD. Part of that scene can be found in the special feature "Introducing Spike", but the camera angle is different and it's only a partial scene. There are many more scenes like that through out the entire DVD collection, where the very last part of a broadcast episode is cut out and included in the next episodes recaps. Such scenes are missing from the episodes on the DVDs.

Here another thing to watch for. In some cases the camera angle of the broadcast version recaps for certain scenes, is not exactly the same as on the DVDs. Remember Buffy's first day at UC-Sunnydale (season 4) where Professor Maggie Walsh is introducing herself to the class? As she walks out from behind the desk the camera angle shows a full length view of her (recap) where as on the DVD she is seen only from the waist up. In the scene where Buffy says "Adam was at that cave so maybe I'll go back and scope it out...", the camera angle of her when she starts talking is different from the broadcast version which shows her from the front, while the DVD version shows her from the back.

Also the number of frames that make up a scene is different between what was broadcast or recapped and what appears on the DVD. There are 4 addition frames of her face before she turns to walk out after she says "I'm beginning to understand why there is no prophecy about a slayer and her friends".

Now you might be wondering how the heck did I pick up on all this. I produced a "Buffy: Seven Seasons" DVD for people at work. Buffy was and still is a popular topic of conversation at lunch time. There are many people who have never seen a single episode of Buffy but who are now getting into. It is for those people that I created this DVD which recaps (or tries to) the seven seasons into about an hour and 43 minutes. That's how I picked up on the differences between what I recorded from TV and what is on the DVD.

Again, this is in no way a criticism or negative feed back or review. I'd just though that I'd share some of this trivia with all my Buffy fans.