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dvd.review.buffy.the.vampire.slayer.season.1 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 20 January 2005 00:00 |
"Buffy, when I said you could slay vampires and have a social life, I didn't mean at the same time."
 TV Show
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was originally a mid-season replacement, so
the first season consists of 12 1-hour episodes available on three
dvd's. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a 16-year old high schooler who
also happens to be "the one" choosen to slay vampires. Think what would
happen if you combined an episode of Dawson's Creek with one of the
Blade movies. While it seems like a stupid "...they'd only play that
show on the WB..."-type of idea, it really works quite well. While it's
neither the scariest thing you'll ever see or the funniest tv show
around, the combination of comedy and vampire-ism is unique and worth
watching.
She's helped along by her new friends from her new high school (she got kicked out of her old school). Xander (Nicholas Brendon) spends the whole season trying to figure out how to tell Buffy he has a crush on her. Willow (Alyson Hannigan)
secretly has a crush on her longtime friend Xander, but doesn't know
how to tell him. Vampire watcher/school librarian Rupert Giles (Anthony Head)
is the brains behind the operation basically telling everyone what's
about to happen or explaining why something is happening. The most
popular girl in school Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) has it out for the nerdy kids like Xander, Willow, and especially Buffy. The most mysterious character is Angel (David Boreanaz), a man who seems to come and goes as he pleases yet seems to have "something else" going on.
While I haven't seen any of the other seasons yet, I'm told that
Season
1 is somewhere in the middle as far as quality goes. If that's the
truth, I'm very excited for Season 2 which showed up in the mail last
week! There were a few episodes that I didn't get super excited about
(The Harvest, Out of Mind Out of Sight). At the same time, I though the
pilot and the finale were a fantastic way to start and end the season.
My favorite episode was probably Angel but The Puppet Show was probably
one of the coolest (and most funny) episodes of the year as well. They
do a very good job of mixing up the episodes. Not every episode is
about "just vampires." It is to the vampire and demonic world what CSI
is to the crime scene world. While you can write of the show
saying every episode is about vampires, demons, or something possesed,
they do a very good job of making the show feel fresh.
Video & Sound
Unfortunately, the video (1.33:1 full-frame) is quite poor. Some scenes
look entirely too grainy. Many scenes look too dark and lack the proper
lighting. Because of it, sometimes it seems like you are missing out on
details. I'd be willing to bet as the show goes on, this will probably
get better. When it first came out, the WB was still struggling and
definitely not paying top dollar for their shows. The audio is about as
good as you can expect from a 2-channel stereo track. Unfortunately,
looking all the way through season 7, they never make the leap to Dolby
5.1.
Extras
• Commentary by Joss Whedon on episodes 1 and 2
• Exclusive interview with Joss Whedon and David Boreanaz
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Interviews with Joss Whedon on "Welcome to the Hellmouth," "The
Harvest," "Witch," "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date," "Angel," and
"The Puppet Show"
• Original pilot episode script
Value
Around 9 hours of television show at around $15 = $1.60 per hour. Not too shabby!
Closing Thoughts...
If you are in need of a good show and curious enough, I highly
recommend giving Buffy a try. You can get season 1 at various different
stores for about $15 for the first season. Sarah Michelle Gellar is
definitely a likable tv character, but if you knew nothing about the
show, I'd be willing to bet you'd be surprised how much you liked the
other characters as well.
Overall Score
Show - 8
Video & Sound - 4
Extras - 4
Overall - 7
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 January 2005 23:00 |
