Rating: 
Summary: Is this as good as it gets?
Review: Being very late to the DVD game, I wanted to be choosy about my first purchases. I wanted to repay the "Buffy" crew for years of great TV, and made Season One my first DVD(s).
The show was broadcast on a grainy UHF station, and I thought I would be thrilled by the qualiity picture. Well, I was stunned alright.
I now miss that grainy picture I was used to. At least the "fuzz" moves with the characters. On this DVD it just lingers there, distracting me, slightly, from the action.
And the shadows are a little cartoonish looking.
Unless I read very convincing reviews praising the picture quality of later seasons' DVD's, I'll wait a few years to buy any more of this series, when digital transfer technology has improved. I assume "Angel" DVD's will be similar.
From now on, I'll only read professional reviews, like Sound & Vision magazine.
Rating: 
Summary: Buffy sets the standard for beautiful storytelling
Review: NO review can quite capture how strong a show this is, but I'll try to sketch out a few of its strengths...First, as has often been said in other reviews, this series has something to please just about anybody. It is a comedy, a mystery, an action show, a horror movie, a soap opera, a social commentary, AND in later seasons operatic melodrama (YES!). It does this, all while maintaining the basic hipness of the show and the reality of its characters. Each of these elements is done very superbly on its own, but the fact that these are all combined heightens the power of each of these elements. Second, this show defies a whole set of expectations. Every episode is full of twists and turns that are often unexpected even to the most conscious viewer, leaving the viewer never knowing what will happen from minute to minute and week to week. Characters we grow familiar with suddenly have a life-changing event or the show provides us with a new revelation that impacts them throughout the rest of the entire series. The storytelling is superb. Each episode stands alone as its own exciting, self-contained story with surprises and twists, and yet at the same time makes forward movement in multiple plot strands and character development. Characters or events that we see and dismiss now become the basis of important developments later. Already in season one, our perceptions we get of Angel and Cordelia in episode one are radically altered by the end of the 12 episodes (the season's so short because Buffy started off as a midseason replacement). I have never seen a show combine plot and characterization nearly as skillfully. Very few shows capture the emotional depth that this series accomplishes. Many excellent shows, dramas and sitcoms alike, dwell on their own smartness and the characters become subordinate to the plot or dialogue. In contrast, the writers of Buffy throw crises at the characters that resonate with real horrors and struggles in our own lives. The beginning of the series often looks into the horrors of high school and adolescence -- the gulf with your parents, struggling to fit in to high school, loneliness, etc. Also, especially beginning in season two, the characters transcend adolescent archetypes and become vivid actual people who you care about as they struggle through very real traumas and dangers. Many of the characters of Buffy are fleshed out as genuine people, with their generous and delightful moments, who suddenly find out they must find strength and be heroes. The show's combination of humor and action with the real drama makes the drama all the more effective. In this sense Buffy is unlike "real" dramas that dwell too much on the self-pity and self-centeredness of their characters, shows that when you watch them it's like hearing a pianist pounding the same dull key over and over. With Buffy you have a sense of a production team and actors for whom this show is a labor of love. Joss Whedon's enthusiasm for his project is clearly shared by the writers, producers, and the cast. What's especially great is that if you come to love season one (which I'm sure you will), you will be BLOWN AWAY by season two, where the writing is much more consistent, the acting is more assured and nuanced, and the creators knock you over with surprises (some supernatural, others not) that really confront the characters with moral dilemmas and emotional crises where friendship, love, and loyalty are all put to the test. And not everyone passes the test all the time... After watching season one you may be pleasantly surprised by the show but not understand why I am so enthusiastic. Well, leave that season two -- the season that converted the fans into fanatics.
Rating: 
Summary: Buffy kicks @ss!!
Review: To anyone who wonders why the meager 3 stars, it's in comparison to the following seasons which were amazing. After the cancelation of the WBs fantastic SAVANNAH i swore i'd never watch another WB show ever again. Fortunately i broke my promise. The episode that won me over was "The Pack", after watching this episode i became a loyal fan. Buffys first season had its share of problems, some cheap looking special effects here and there, a cheesy script here and there (willow falls for a killer robot, praying mantis lady) but overall the show had a lot of heart and charm. One thing i LOVE a bout Buffy is each season is a self contained story there were never any lame season finale cliffhangers. The main villian in this season was The Master very one dimensional, menacing but not really interesting. It was a solid start for what turned out to be a brilliant series. EP
Rating:
Summary: buffy 90210
Review: This is the first season of my favorite television show of all time. This tirst season was a mid-season replacemnt and it stuck. The first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was fun and light and airy, it wasn't that dark, it wasn't that dramatic (the only really dramatic episode would be the season finalie "Prophacy Girl"). It was fun and you had a girl who could kick butt and look pretty while doing it. From the first time Buffy Anne Summers steped on screan the world was a whole lot safer.
Rating: 
Summary: A strong beginning.
Review: While the episodes range from fun camp to just plain cheese, the first season of BTVS was a great setup for the greatness that would come. Storylines range from evil robots to hyena people to serious storylines like the growing relationship between Buffy and Angel that would set up the fantastic second season. While corny at times, every episode is pure fun to watch and the Scooby Gang are as loveable as ever. The greatness was yet to come, but this was a strong opening act to the stories that were to come on Buffy. Buy it and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: The DVD is amazing.
Review: "You'll want to watch this DVD over and over again!" I was a Buffy fan when the first few seasons aired, but I always watched them out of order and I didn't have the full effect of the episodes (like the inside jokes and such). Then last summer I was given a DVD player, and I decided to buy the Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete First Season on DVD to watch with it. After the first episode I was hooked. Believe me once you're done watching it, you'll be back online to buy season 2 on DVD. That is what happened with me. I bought seasons 1-4 on DVD and pre-ordered seasons 5 & 6. There are really good extras included. Especially watch everything that Joss Whedon (the creator or Buffy the Vampire Slayer and co-creator of Angel) has to say about the show. He is a genius.
Rating:
Summary: The First Season of a Fantastic Show!
Review: I didn't start watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer until last year, I was changing channels on the TV and I came across an episode from season 5 and an episode from season 6 that both had scenes with Spike that really caught my interest and I was very impressed and than I watched a mini Buffy marathon on FX and I was completely hooked and the only other show that completely hooked me like that was Star Trek: The Next Generation and I taped and watched some reruns of Buffy seasons 5 and 6 on FX and Soon after that season 7 started. When I heard that The complete seasons of Buffy were coming out on DVD I tried at first to see if I could rent season 1 but the video store didn't have it so when I saw the season 1 DVD set in a department store I bought it and I have absolutely no regrets, it may not be as good as seasons, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 but it's still a pretty good season! Season 1 basically tells the beginnings of Buffy moving to Sunnydale from Los Angeles, after getting kicked out of her old high school, meeting Giles who is her new watcher, making new friends, Willow and Xander and them disovering that there are vampires and other demons in Sunnydale and that Buffy is the Slayer plus Buffy who was very popular in her old high school becomes the target of scorn and ridicule by the rich snobby crowd headed by Cordelia Chase. (Hasn't everyone had to deal with a Cordelia type in real life?) Either that or you were a Cordelia type? The Cordelia types I went to school with made her look like a sweetheart! Later on Cordelia became a nicer person but that is more so in the spin-off show Angel. There really are some good espisodes in season 1 but I think one of my favorites is the one where everyones dreams start coming true and reality and their dreams start to blend together creating a nightmarish world that The Master played by Mark Metcalf (Neidermeyer from Animal House) tries to take advantage of. I highly recommend This DVD boxset, I have this season and also seasons 2, 3, and 4 and I'm planning on buying seasons 5 and 6 and 7 when they are available. It is wonderful to be able to watch Buffy on DVD without commercials and annoying station identification logos, etc, and you can choose to watch the episodes any time you Want!
Rating:
Summary: Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!!!!!!
Review: Whoa!!! This DVD is SAWEEEEEET!!!! If you are a Sarah Michelle Geller fan, man, this is the DVD for you! It has good bonus features, and if you are lost in the series or for some strange reason you don't understand something your watching on "FX" channel then this would be it to set you straight.
Rating:
Summary: Change the way people looked at Tv
Review: Season One of Buffy captured the interest of its viewer within the first few episodes. Its clean brake away from its earlier movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, landed this hit TV show among the greatest. I highly recomend you buy it so you can see for your self how Joss Whedon took a simple thought and created a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: The Beginning of Something Great
Review: Joss Wheddon's imagination is very elaborate. This can easily be discovered by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I personally dismissed the show without giving it any chance for six years. I figured it would be childish and not worth the time, like most television. However, when I stumbled upon a repeat of a Season 3 episode, I was attracted. By the end of the Season 3 repeats, I was hooked. The show is a marvelous combination of thriller, action, and comedy. The well crafted episodes, though flawed every once in a while, have interesting underlying themes, personifications, and philosophies. The first season is a bit rougher on the edges than the remaining seasons for obvious reasons, less money. However, as I watch season 1 over and over again, the episodes exhibit a larger charm than from previous viewings. If you like Buffy it is a must have, as all the DVDs are. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is interesting, fun, original and highly recommended.
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