Cheap Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fourth Season (Slim Set) (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fourth Season (Slim Set)

Buffy's least coherent season
I consider Buffy season 2 its least consistent season, but four is easily its least coherent. It transitions between the Scoobies in high school and post-school, between Jonathon the nerd and Jonathan the villain, and between Faith the villain and Faith the hero, but these stories don't span the entire year. There are fewer characters in every episode of this season (only the core four) than in all others. Many of the best episodes feature Oz, Faith, and Jonathan, but they seem more like epilogues to the high school years and prologues to the later ones because these characters are only in a few episodes. It lacks a central theme: college is not the focal point of this season the way high school was in the early years, nor is it about family like the fifth season or self-destruction like the sixth. <
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>This is also the lightest season of Buffy: while most seasons deal with death or likable characters going bad, the only sad thing that takes place in this entire year is Oz' departure. The strange thing about Joss Whedon shows is that they are often funnier when they are dark, so this season is neither as humorous nor as heartbreaking as the second, third, and fifth seasons. <
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>And yet there's a tremendous amount to like about this season. Joss Whedon's writing talents became evident in season 2, but it's not until the fourth season that his direction becomes equally important. With the silent "Hush" and the all-dream "Restless", Whedon became the first television creator since David Lynch whose direction stood out as much as a great movie director's. <
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>I prefer the way Oz was handled this year than in season three: rather than being in the entire season but always staying in the background, he's in a third of this year but is the star of two of the episodes. Giles' mid-life crisis this year is fun as well, as he takes up alcohol and music as he no longer has a job as a librarian or watcher. <
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>One of the main problems the writers faced was balancing the show's past with exploiting the potential of college. The first two episodes capture the bewilderment of the first weeks of college wonderfully, but feel disconnected from the rest of the show, as if they were the pilot of a brand new series. In the third episode Spike, Anya, and Harmony are reintroduced and it starts to feel more like Buffy, but there's hardly any college humor from this point on. All of the funniest characters (Xander, Spike, Giles and Anya) have no connection to the university, which is a stark contrast from the first three seasons when everyone but Angel was a high school student or employee. <
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>This season also receives some flack for The Initiative plot, which is an X-Files-ish sci-fi conspiracy that's very different from the other seasonal plots and not terribly great. I think it receives too much of the blame for this season's shortcomings, as season 2 is the only season of the show where the plot was the central force. Joss Whedon, who had written most of season 2's plot and a little of season 3's, doesn't even touch this one, making it obvious that it is of little importance. I still find Adam more interesting than the first season's Mayor and the last year's First Evil, and the episode where he is defeated is Buffy at it's Hollywood action best. <
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>The vast majority of these episodes are good (I recommend skipping the infamous "Beer Bad", and a few of them are downright classics, but there is barely any connecting thread uniting these episodes. Luckily the remaining seasons will build on the foundation led by season four and make it clear that these episodes were important. You shouldn't skip season four, nor should you want to. <
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>NOTE: Even if you have no desire to watch the "Angel" spinoff, you should at least watch its 18th and 19th episodes, which wrap up this year's "Faith" story arc wonderfully.

Joss Whedon's favorite season.
Before I say anything else, I will say that I do not own the slim set I own the original bulky version. I will give some people advice right now, if you do not own any of the buffy season's on DVD get the slim version because it helps your DVD's from getting damaged being that all six discs come in three silm dvd cases or just buy all seven seasons super pack might cost more money but it's worth it, if you don't any of the seasons and if you are superfan like I am. I have heard some mixed reviews about the fourth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. This was a challenging year to say the least for both the characters on the series and for Joss Whedon and company. Not only did Joss and his team have to work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer but they also had to work on its new spinoff Angel which leaves the original series and it's spinoff kind of missing something. But that slowly goes away as the episodes progress. One thing that is the main arc "some people would argue did it even have an arc" is that college is a period of change. Some good, some bad, some that you didn't see coming. I have find it interesting that the thing that everybody was complaining about, meaning most of my fellow Joss Whedon loving univirse fans saying things like "Why is everyone changing and why are there more stand alone episodes?" That was the point that college was about experiencing new things and realizing that some things happen very quickly and you get over them and some things stick around for a while. One of the things that interesting through this entire season is the fact that additions and subtraction of cast members. Which you'll see by the changing title sequences this season. Another thing that's interesting is the fact that the main villian does not arrive until episode 13 which is late for a Buffy The Vampire Slayer season. Some episodes to look out for as really some of the best of the series "Hush", "Restless", and "Who Am I" all written and directed by Joss Whedon. And just for you factoid nuts out there "Hush" and "Restless" are two of Joss favorite Buffy The Vampire Slayer episodes ever. The special features are very good in this package. The audio commentaries can be boring for those of who have no interest in learning about how these episodes were made. So, if you're looking for a Will Ferrell commentary you're not going to find it here. The featurettes are probably the best special feature in particular the season overview. Lastly, Joss Whedon said "That was probably our best season episode by episode". It has been almost four years since Buffy The Vampire Slayer had it's last episode on the now extinct UPN network and looking back on all seven season he is probably right. But if you're looking for a season that has a very strong arc see season five and season seven.