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Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Sixth Season

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Sixth Season

List Price: $59.98
Your Price: $44.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ah, Buffy at its best
Review: The sixth season is truly Buffy at its best. The best episode ever is featured in this season: The musical Once More With Feeling. The cast proved they can sing and Joss Whendon proved that he can do anything he puts his mind to. But what made this season truly spectular is the Buffy/Spike relationship. Buffy finally moved on from her silly puppy love high school romance with Angel to her true love and soulmate Spike. Their love story brings a more adult angle to the series and proves that Buffy is no longer a school girl but a grown woman who experiences a sexual awakening and relizes that there is more to life than high school. Spike and Buffy's tender scenes are the most touching ever seen on the show. Spike's "Every night I save you" speech brings tears to my eyes everytime I watch it. The consumation of their relationship makes me blush with naughty thoughts. Watching Spike go through the trials puts me at the edge of my seat and I fell over from the outcome of those trials. Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters always give their best performances especially when they are on screen togher. No other couple in BTVS history has the chemistry and passion that SMG and JM exude everytime they are together. Other great episodes beside the musical are: Afterlife, Tabula Rasa, Smashed, Wrecked, Gone, Dead Things, Normal Again, Entropy, Two to Go, and Grave just to name a few. Yes there are a couple of bad ones like DoubleMeat Palace and As You Were. Especially AYW, Spike is made out to look like and idiot and Reily looks like a hero and the fact he abandoned Buffy is forgotten. This is the dvd to buy and you can erase the aweful memoires of seasons 2 and 3 and be thankful that season 6 has finally arrived.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Underrated
Review: This season deserves a little more notice for episodes such as Once More, With Feeling and the amazing Willow arc at the end, plus the extra's on this set look fantasic and I can't wait for it to be released!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awsome season
Review: Buffy season six is great! People have called it a dark season and some have said that its not on the buffy's best, but I have to disagree. Season six dealt with everyone growing older and really coming into thier own. I think it has of the funniest lines, one of the best episodes(once more with feeling), the best villian/s- the trio was so incredably funny, and Willow was even more scary! I loved watching Buffy go through all the emotions and having to deal with Giles gone and her affair with Spike! I also enjoyed Anya and Zander planning the wedding and then not going through with it, and willow and tara's romance was at its best! I highly recommened this season.. well I highly recommened all the season because I feel that Buffy is one of TV's greatest shows ever!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All Growed Up
Review: This is my second favorite season in the series.

Season five was a hard season to follow. The whole deal with Glory and "The Key" (probably the best storyline in Buffy history) and all the distractions that came with it behind them it was time for Buffy to grow up.

After Buffy dies in the end of the fifth season we start the sixth season to see everyone still going on. The Buffybot is there conveniently filling in for the months Buffy has been gone but we soon find out that Willow and the rest of Buffy's friends are planning to bring her back.

Buffy does come back. This isn't the same Buffy anymore. She's somehow detached and quiet. She doesn't patrol much. She doesn't talk much. She's just there.

Season six deals a lot with Buffy's transition back to the land of the living. With Buffy's mom, Joyce, gone she also has to deal with raising her teenage sister, paying bills, and taking care of the house.

It's also a lot about relationships between some of the show's secondary characters. We see relationships change over season six. Some fall apart and some change in ways we never imagined.

It's a dark season of Buffy. It moves away from some of the lightheartedness we'd seen in previous seasons and into the darkness most of us realize to be adulthood.

The highlights of this season are the obviously fun episodes like "Tabula Rasa" and "Once More, With Feeling", the incredibly hot and passionate Spike/Buffy sex scenes, and the appearance of Evil Willow.

This season is incredibly underrated. I think, over time, it will become more appreciated and seen for the masterpiece it really is.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Mixed Bag
Review: Just like the title says, I think Season 6 is a mixed bag. First of all, right off the bat, you can see that there is something wrong with Willow. I mean, she's not even going to tell Dawn or Spike, the two people besides Giles who were hurt the most by Buffy's death, that they are going to bring her back. Then, at the the end of Afterlife, when everything seems to be resolved, we find out that Buffy wasn't in hell after all. She was in heaven. She tells Spike that her friends can never know. Why can't they know? They're not in high school anymore. If Willow is mature enough to bring Buffy back from the dead, then she's mature enough to handle the possible consequences. Besides that, I liked the B/S relationship.:) In "Smashed" right at the end, you look at Spike's eyes and you can tell that he still loves her. I think he even started to cry. "Wrecked" was bad though. I mean, Willow loses her lover because she is using too much magic. Then, she lets Amy drag her to Rack and pump her full of dark magic and get her even more addicted. Then, they have the return of who? Oh yeah, Riley and his perfect wife Sam. They just had to have him come back. He rubbed his relationship in Buffy's face. Then they added that shot where they go up into the helicopter together. The look in Spike's eyes when Buffy told him it was over was heartbreaking. Anya sleeping with Spike? I could have done without that. The only real positive point was Willow and Tara's reunion. "Once More With Feeling" was good though except for Dawn. I mean she's stealing all these things. I had to ask, what is wrong with her. I mean she steals all these things and what's her excuse? Noone's paying attention to her? Well, why doesn't she tell Buffy or Xander or Spike what's wrong? Oh and by the way, anyone who likes evil Willow is sick in the head. I mean she's practically spitting on Tara's grave. She's doing the one thing Tara didn't want her to do. I was relieved when Xander stopped her. The relationships were okay. They put everyone through the wringer in this season. I'm just glad the next season is better.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Failures Outnumber Accomplishments.
Review: Season five left viewers in shambles with the deaths of Buffy and her mother, Joyce. Though it was a tightly written arc, it's replay value is still high, with each episode having a twist of it's own. Not only did each episode set itself apart from the rest, but they all contributed wholy to the main story.

Season six had the makings of a wonderful story in the same vein. Though Buffy's return from the dead was the initial premise and a continual theme as she continued to feel disconnected from life, and with it, the living, Willow's abuse of magic was in the foreground most of the year.

I've read a lot of reviews tonight that say true Buffy fans weathered the storm of season six and came out better for it---that it was one of the show's greatest years. This could have been, but wasn't....

I'm a true Buffy fan, if there even is such a thing. I know the little facts: Spike was slated to die in season 2. The 'Polgara' demon in season 4 borrowed it's name from a regular at a Buffy website. Seth Green broke his contract to do movies, and Joss let him go as long as he shot more footage to clean up the year. Sure, these aren't the mind-blowing tidbits of information, but I'm obviously not watching the show for just the fighting hotties.

I get the themes of season six, and they are important to the story. They were probably the most logical direction after the fifth year. BUT THE PROBLEM HERE WAS WRITING. The topics in some episodes were so blown out of proportion that it was like the writers were screaming in our ears. Problem is, season six wasn't full of tough concepts. They were easy, managable ideas that people would understand without having to be talked down to like little children.

It was a dark story, as many claim, but it wasn't THAT dark. If you've seen Angel Season 2, you know what I mean. People wouldn't avoid a good story like the one contained in season six in lieu of "dark writing." No. We're loyal. And in my opinion, season five was darker, with the exception of that one life-taking bullet.

And now, a couple direct references to this year's errors:

Doublemeat Palace: I watched as Buffy started working at a burger joint, and I thought to myself, "this is the end of your world? How holier-than-thou are you??" An edgy crew of employees are the central misguiding tool, and Buffy suspects a few of the employees are grinding up 'human' until they mysteriously get ground up as well. Meanwhile, a fallic-looking demon paralyzes Buffy because she has to break into work at night and solve the problem without any of her friends' help. Buffy became narrow-minded this year, as she couldn't think of reasonable ways to solve problems. This is a failure.

Once More, With Feeling: A demon named Sweet is mysteriously summoned to cause song and dance in the townsfolk, yet they tend to spontaneously combust in the end. Though it was well-written and entertaining as both an episode and a disc in my cd collection, the reason for all the mayhem at the end was more than disappointing: Xander did it. He did it intentionally. He thought it would be fun. Didn't he learn his lesson in season two when he tried to break Cordelia's heart, only to have all of Sunnydale's female population try to slaughter him?? I guess you have to offset a wonderful episode with something amazingly dumb. Sure, something this year WASN'T Dawn's fault, which had to be proven at some point.

Wrecked: I can't bring myself to write about this episode. This was the worst episode in BtVS recorded history. Not because of the themes, no. I've tried to make that clear. It was horribly written. It was no longer the Buffyverse. It was the Martiverse.

Two To Go / Grave: Okay, the finale failed in more ways than it succeeded. In the end, love overruled all the pain of the year, and the process of healing began. I think I'm going to tear these two apart with their titles alone. TWO TO GO?? You've got to be kidding me! The episode prior, One of the three geeks (The Trio) was killed. Willow blames all of them however, and ends the episode saying "One Down." At the beginning of "Two To Go," the group comes to the astonishing conclusion that Willow is implying that she must kill two more. Hence the title. What happened to ingenius titles, huh? Because that's a direct reference to how the episode will be viewed in retrospect. Remember "The Gift?" They talked about the gift for a year. Buffy knew her gift was death, but the reference was lost. She finally figured it out in that episode, as she learned that HER death was the gift that would save the world. Anyway, to continue, the following episode was titled "Grave." Why? Well, for one, Willow's going to end the world. She's bent on the idea that the world is overloaded with too much pain, and she wants to help everyone by killing them. The world dying sounds kinda grave. But here's the kicker: It ALSO refers to Giles dying! That's right, the guy who ALWAYS looks like he's going to die! Let's see, we drove a spear through his chest in last year's finale, and in season seven we let the audience believe for several episodes that his head had been chopped off. In season two, he was tortured by Angelus. Let's not count the millions of times he's been knocked out. Folks, it's too much! Thank God the shows over now; we can stop using Giles as a human pin cushion. Lastly, these two episodes were riddled with the most trite dialogue ever:

(paraphrase)
Willow: "You really need to have every square inch of your ass kicked."

Buffy: "You think you know what a slayer is? I'll show you what a slayer is."

Bla bla bla. Sure, they were beyond reason by this time, but did they need to attempt punning??

Anyway, I'm done. I just put my order in for this product, because the first half of the year was incredible, from Bargaining 1 and 2 to Tabula Rasa and OMWF. That, and I can't ignore the world that was created, even if it is disappointing. I'm a true fan, if ever there was one.

Sorry I didn't talk more about the highlights of the year, but it seems everyone else already did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best season of Buffy bar none
Review: Contrary to most fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I find the controversial sixth season to be the best of the series. Much darker and maybe even a little meaner than previous seasons, the sixth season of Buffy was the first season to be broadcast on UPN (after the series' move from the WB) and showed the gang we know and love taking on their toughest opponent yet: life. Beginning with Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Anya (Emma Caulfield), and Tara (Amber Benson) raising Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) from the dead, we find Buffy going through the motions since she was torn from her heavenly bliss. She begins a secret and dangerous affair with vampire Spike (James Marsters) while fighting to keep her sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) from being taken away by social services. Willow gets drawn deeper and deeper into the addicting darkness of magic, while Xander and Anya rush towards marriage without ever bringing up each other's hesitations. But there's more going on as well. Three of their high school contemporaries: Warren (Adam Busch), Jonathan (Danny Strong), and Andrew (Tom Lenk) have taken a criminal turn using magic which begins with petty theft and escalates into murder, ending in the death of Tara and Willow's apocalyptic revenge which threatens the world. Standout episodes include the ever popular and fantasticly produced "Once More With Feeling" in which the entire town of Sunnydale is under the spell of a song and dance demon and features the entire cast singing with their own voices like a musical number, while "Hell's Bells" becomes a pivotal episode as the marriage between Xander and Anya goes up in smoke. In my opinion, season six of Buffy is undoubtadly the best season of the series because it shows the gang more or less going through real, tough life situations that we can't avoid, and by the season's end we are left with a consoling note and feeling of redemption; something that the show richly deserved.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dark But Riviting!!!
Review: Ok, I'm gonna weigh in on the 6th season and say that, indeed, its one of the best. I really don't get why some people didn't get it. It was a season all about what can happen to good people when their life goes awry, spinning out of control. For the evil trio of nerds, things went bad when they wanted too much, got carried away with what they could do and followed their leader into a realm of madness driven by power. In reality, only one (Warren) truly allowed evil to overcome him, they other 2 simply didn't know enough not to follow. And when I saw which way the wind was blowing, even I thought that an evil Willow was far-fetched and hard to believe. Of all the Scooby's, she was the most innocent, most pure, naive and idealistic. Buffy was the driving force of the gang, but Willow was its heart. And just the idea of her being malicious didn't sit well with me at first. But we knew she had that side to her because of the previous season when she was upset enough to take on Glory after Glory had turned Tara's mind to mush. That one episode was a portent of things to come, and came they did. The "witchcraft addiction" might seem silly but its possible to become addicted to anything, so as Willows power grew, I can see why it was so easy for her to become caught up and enthralled by its power, afterall, she did bring her best friend back from the grave, who wouldn't become caught up in that kind of power. When Giles' returned from England, she warned him that he shouldn't want to piss off someone with her power, and the rest of the season demonstrated that quite well. The difference between Willow and the dastardly trio was that she had friends who helped to pull her back from the edge. Much of the season was about what could happen when power took control, with love being the most powerful magic of all. If Willow didn't have Buffy Xander, Tara and Anya to pull her back, her fate probably would have been much like the trio's. And in the end, it did, but not because of power, it was because of grief and heartbreak. Willow didn't turn dark due to the witchcraft and the power it brought her, she turned dark because despite all her powerful magics, she couldn't prevent the death of someone she loved so completely. She and the trio were on simlilar roads for completely different reasons. So as a whole, the season made a great deal of sense. Taken individually, several of the episodes were EXCELLENT, Tabula Rasa had the gang losing their memory due to a spell Willow had cast ( with Spike thinking Giles was his father), "Gone" had a disappearing Buffy (with a new "adorable" haircut no one could see) and was laugh out loud funny, as was "Life Serial" which had the evil trio testing Buffy and her superpowers, I can watch the segment with Buffy working in the magic shop (trying to please a customer wanting a mummy hand) all day and not tire of seeing it. Then there was "Older and Far Away" with the gang and assorted guests unable to leave the Summer's home because of a wish Dawn had that the people she loved wouldn't keep leaving her. And of course, the one thing everyone seems to agree upon was that "Once More With Feeling" was truly outstanding and for me, set that season apart from all the others. It was a season where everyone grew up, began making adult decisions that had far-ranging repercussions no-one could have predicted. Even Buffy's sexual relationship with Spike made a lot of sense when you stop and remember that of all the other characters, he was the only one that could truly understood what being dead and then not dead could do to a person...... In the end, you realize that the Willow character set the tone for the entire season, It was her love for Buffy that had her dabbling in things that shouldn't be messed with, it was her love for Tara that led her down a path of revenge no one should willingly travel and it was everyone else's love for her that brought her back from the edge of destruction. At season's end, the lessons learned made it all worthwhile. This was a great season and this DVD set is a must have for any Buffy fan, be he a casual fan or a diehard one. You can't go wrong with any Buffy set, but this is one you definitely won't want to be without.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worth Viewing "Once More" - B/c of this season's "Feeling"
Review: Rather than add my "two cents" to defending the merits of this season as many reviewers have already so elequently done, I would simply like to add the following:

Anyone who has ever doubted Joss Whedon's talents or the validity of BTVS has merely to watch the episode "Once More With Feeling", realizing that this all-musical episode was written not only within the context of Joss's many duties @ Mutant Enemy (Angel, etc.), not only within the course of a 22-episode season (while other shows have huge shooting delays- think 2 of my other faves, NYPD Blue & Friends), but first and foremost, Joss's first-time forray into "musical theatre" actually did something that nearly every other "stunt" show has NEVER done- move the plotline forward, provide huge emotional pay-off and provide us with nearly 50 minutes of amazingly melodic and heartfelt songs/singing - all for free on network TV!! Folks, please don't overlook the enormity of Joss's accomplishment here (nor that of the amazingly versatile cast). From Tara's heartbreaking "Under Your Spell" to Spike's "Rest In Peace" and Giles emotionally-telling "Standing" , the songs AND the performances were moving, first-rate and at times mesmerizing, and again, all within the context of a (slightly more than) one hour network television show. One doesn't even need to speculate about what Joss "could have done" if given more time to create- likely, being under the gun to write/produce this amazing episode caused Whedon to use every ounce of creativity he could muster, and the results speak again to his amazing talent! The cast did a surprisingly remarkable job of taking what could have devolved into campiness and, feeling so comfortable in their character's skins, found a way to utilize the plot-point of breaking out into song as another way to shed light on their deeper breadth of feelings, shedding light on various plot-points, as well as being damed entertaining.

It's hard to recommend purchasing a DVD boxed-set in the neighborhood of $40 based on a single hour's worth of material, and believe me, the evolution of the show's main characters in and of themselves, both in their emotional growth as well as the interesting plotlines for each of the main 7 characters (Buffy, Spike, Anya, Zander, Dawn, Tara, Willow: Dark & Light), not to mention the timely cameos of Anthony Head as Giles, for me, makes season six a highly recommended purchase. Add to this the ground-breaking episode "Once More With Feeling", and you realize that at only $40 (ballpark), this DVD boxed set is truly a bargain! (Now my Tivo will love me as I can finally erase this episode from it's hard-drive).

Forgive me, but one last thing- imagine shows like The West Wing, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, or even those from yesteryear, like Kung Fu or even The A-Team, attempting to pull off an hour-long, all-musical episode...it would surely have been an example of that show's "jumping the shark"... this merely makes Whedon and cast's accomplishments that much greater. And the CD is still available- and well-worth the money as well.

Enjoy, and as Spike said, "Let me rest in peace..."

Okay- I lied, because I do have to comment about the last episode of Season Six: As rare as it is to have a so-called "stunt" episode like this work, it is almost as rare to have a scene as emotionally heart-wrenching and poignant as the scene in the season finale between Zander and Willow, Yellow-Crayon Willow, which gave new depth to the relationship between them, as well as to the show itself. I rarely cry at movies or when watching television shows...anyone with any emotional investment in this show, or seeking to find their emotional investment in this show need look no further than the last ten minutes of this episode to find it or receive their pay-off. Yes, I cried... (and I'm better now- LOL!)

Now about those bunnies...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dark- but with light at the end of the tunnel
Review: I'm no writer but I recognize good writing when I read it, or in this case, see it. This season is absolutely spectacular. I've read reviews claiming the opposite is true and that's okay. They are entitled to their opinion, even if they are wrong.

People have put down this season because our beloved Scoobies are taken to the darkest places they have ever known, internally that is. But I ask you, what's wrong with that? Why is it that having everyone hit rock bottom is viewed as a bad thing? By doing so the writers remind us of how human these characters really are, despite the awesome powers some may possess. We witness their emotional decay as they delve into feelings of depression, remorse, rage, lonliness...the list goes on. They've brought the characters down to a level where anybody who has experienced any of the emotions depicted in this season can relate to (and, btw, relating to the audience, good writing). Then they take it a step futher by successfully blending the saga of their sad stories with the well-choreographed butt-kicking fight scenes we all know and love. And then, to top it all off, they have very talented actors who make it all, including the inner turmoil, believable. Yes, this season is dark, but more than that it's powerful, it speaks to people on a human level. And dare I say it, it is even entertaining.

For those of you who think good television means everything should work out in the end and life should be perfect by the end of the season, you are right, this season of Buffy isn't for you. In fact, you should probably go watch some episodes of "Full-House".

For anyone who enjoys amazing, thought-provoking, clever, intelligent television with entertaining action as well, then this season is it. Especially Buffy fans. We have witnessed each step in these characters' lives. It's only natural and logical we witness this next step as well. This season isn't like the other seasons, the naysayers at least got that part right. None of the previous seasons have put Buffy and the gang through so much emotional pain, without which we wouldn't see them grow and mature into adulthood. By the end of this season they aren't being coddled any longer, they aren't naive about how hard life can sometimes be. And they are better for it. They are able to appreciate all that life has to offer more.

It is a season of internal conflicts, suffering and loss. We see them grow apart and not as close as they once were. But without witnessing this, without the darkness of it all, how can any of us appreciate the end, when they reconnect with one another? Through eachother they find strength, courage and redemption, proving there is light, and hope, at the end of even the darkest tunnel.


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