Cheap Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete First Season (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete First Season

A good start to an incredible series
Buffy is an incredible TV show. It's not as consistent as the best HBO shows, but I like it better than them anyway. It has incredible characters and great variety in the storylines which combine the best of comedy and tragedy. <
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>The first season is a great introduction to Buffy, but it's not that good of a TV season. The characters are dead on from the very beginning: the core actors do a fantastic job here, and Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles are already delivering great lines. On the other hand, the monster plots tend to be dumb, and the season's main villain is my least favorite of the entire 7 year run (The Master is very plain compared to the interesting bad guys they will face later). <
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>I blame the crappiness of these monster plots on the fact that most of the Buffy writing staff joins the show in seasons 2 and 3. The dialog is great because it's rewritten by creator Joss Whedon, but even he can't save the ridiculousness of "I Robot, She Jane"'s take on the internet, for instance. <
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>Still, even "I Robot", the worst episode here, introduces one of the best supporting characters, Giles' love interest Jenny Calendar. Each of these episodes has a purpose, and Buffy is best watched in order. It's also more fun to watch the show improve in quality over the first two seasons than to watch the best episodes first and have to put up with the worse ones later. The question is, will newcomers be turned off by the dumber aspects of season one and not finish the show? <
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>If you're unsure about Buffy, you should start with Buffy season 2's third episode when Spike is introduced and the show finally has a proper villain (or, if you really want to be impressed, skip all the way to season 4's tenth episode, Hush, which goes thirty minutes without any dialog). If you're sure you'll enjoy Buffy (which is how I approached the show, since I was told by many people that it was great) you should start from the beginning. These episodes are actually very fun due to the fun dialog, even if they don't hold up well after seeing the rest of the show.

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Preview of what was to come
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is truly one of the greatest shows ever. It premiered back on March 10, 1997 and eventually paved the way for many other TV shows ("Smallville", "Charmed", "Veronica Mars"). It's pretty mind-blowing to think about how this little show had so much momentum. It premiered on the fledgling WB network. The network that only really had one pseudo-successful show to date ("7th Heaven"). Originally opted as a mid-season replacements, I don't think anyone expected this show to have as much resonance as it did. There are many things that work, namely the acting and writing. All of this is in no small part thanks to the brilliant Joss Whedon who adapted this show from his original 1992 film of the same name. <
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>Let's talk about that 1992 film. To say the least, it bombed. The movie didn't seem to know if it was a comedy or horror film and it often struggled to find a plot. The film did, however, have some brilliant uses of dialogue. Joss Whedon acknowledged that the movie was butchered horribly and wanted nothing to do with it. This wasn't the first time his script would be mishandled and ruined in translation to film. His other feature "Alien: Resurrection" wasn't received too well either. Frustrated with film, it was no wonder Whedon turned to television. What came of this is wonderful. <
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>The show revolves around the character of Buffy Summers. On her first day at a new school she meets a wide array of new cohorts. The first of which is Cordelia Chase (the school bitch). Over the course of the episode she also meets Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris and her would-be mentor Rupert Giles. These cast of characters are portrayed fantastically by their actor counterparts. The brilliance of these actors is what propels the show and sets it apart from many other dramas. <
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>What also sets the show apart is it's refusal to fall under one category. It does what the 1992 film failed to do: seamlessly mix together comedy, drama, horror, satire..you name it. The comedic elements come from the interaction between Buffy and her friends. Much of their dialog is derived from modern communication but hilarious uses of pop-culture recalls and banter is utilized. The horror element comes from the fact that Buffy is a vampire slayer. She protects the citizens of Sunnydale from not only said vampires, but demons and other things. <
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>Drama comes from the humanism of the characters. With so many fantasy elements woven into the show, a lesser show would have delved into a cartoonish formula with cardboard characters. The emotions felt by the characters is raw and most importantly, real. <
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>With all that said, the introduction season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" really was a preview of great things to come. The ratings weren't great but the network the show was originally broadcast on knew they had something special on their hands (and so did critics). A brilliant show made a brilliant first impression and it would not fail to create the phenomenon that the show is known as today. While it has been off the air since 2003, the ramifications of what Joss Whedon created thankfully still live on.

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HDTV/Flat Screen Issue
I'm a huge Buffy & Angel fan, but for those of you with HDTV's or flat screen's, be warned. The picture quality of the DVDs are pretty bad. First, you definitely need to view the episodes in the 4:3 format; 16:9 isn't an option because it looks awful. Even in the 4:3 format, some scenes are fuzzy. Like I said, I'm a huge fan of the series, but watching the DVDs isn't as enjoyable due to the picture quality.