Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete DVD Collection - DVD (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anthony Stewart Head, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter - Dir: )

From its charming and angst-ridden first season to the darker, apocalyptic final one, Buffy the Vampire Slayer succeeds on many levels, and in a fresher and more authentic way than the shows that came before or after it. How lucky, then, that with the release of its box set of seasons 1-7, you can have the estimable pleasure of watching a near-decade of Buffy in any order you choose. (And we have some ideas about how that should be done.)

First: rest assured that there's no shame in coming to Buffy late, even if you initially turned your nose up at the winsome Sarah Michelle Gellar kicking the hell out of vampires (in Buffy-lingo, vamps), demons, and other evil-doers. Perhaps you did so because, well, it looked sort of science-fiction-like with all that monster latex. Start with season 3 and see that Buffy offers something for everyone, and the sooner you succumb to it, the quicker you'll appreciate how textured and riveting a drama it is.

Why season 3? Because it offers you a winning cast of characters who have fallen from innocence: their hearts have been broken, their egos trampled in typically vicious high-school style, and as a result, they've begun to realize how fallible they are. As much as they try, there are always more monsters, or a bigger evil. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the core crew remains something of a unit--there's the smart girl, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) who dreams of saving the day by downloading the plans to City Hall's sewer tunnels and mapping a route to safety. There are the ne'r do wells--the vampire Spike (James Marsters), who both clashes with and aspires to love Buffy; the tortured and torturing Angel (David Boreanz); the pretty, popular girl with an empty heart (Charisma Carpenter); and the teenage everyman, Xander (Nicholas Brendon).

Then there's Buffy herself, who in the course of seven seasons morphs from a sarcastic teenager in a minidress to a heroine whose tragic flaw is an abiding desire to be a "normal" girl. On a lesser note, with the box set you can watch the fashion transformation of Buffy from mall rat to Prada-wearing, kickboxing diva with enviable highlights. (There was the unfortunate bob of season 2, but it's a forgivable lapse.) At least the storyline merits the transformations: every time Buffy has to end a relationship she cuts her hair, shedding both the pain and her vulnerability.

In addition to the well-wrought teenage emotional landscape, Buffy deftly takes on more universal themes--power, politics, death, morality--as the series matures in seasons 4-6. And apart from a few missteps that haven't aged particularly well ("I Robot" in season 1 comes to mind), most episodes feel as harrowing and as richly drawn as they did at first viewing. That's about as much as you can ask for any form of entertainment: that it offer an escape from the viewer's workaday world and entry into one in which the heroine (ideally one with leather pants) overcomes demons far more troubling than one's own. --Megan Halverson

Customer Reviews of Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete DVD Collection

eolake.blogspot.com
Lancashire, United Kingdom
1st July 2008

Beware the extras
The show is even better than I remembered, but beware of the extras, some of them contain spoilers, so save them for the end of each season.

Mr. E. O'mahony
London
28th June 2008

Great show, do not agree with one thing Amazon said....
I loved this show from beginning to end. I just loved it and missed it so much when it ended, I'm not so sad that not over it now but really love it! I agree with everything said in all reviews, great show has everything etc. I do not however agree that Season 2 as quoted by Amazon is a 'bob' in the series that can be 'forgiven'. This was an amazing season especially from the episode Whats my line 1 & 2, Angel going evil, jenny calender being killed in passion, becoming 1 & 2. Amazing! This was the season that made the show take off, everyone was watching it by season 3 and season 1 was the very beginning! Amazon, please watch Season 2 again, it rocks! :-) Thanks enjoy.

Roaty

3rd April 2008

Underated but one of the best tv shows ever made
Firstly there are many tv shows that i like

But there are only a few tv shows that i love, House,Scrubs and Buffy. I have only recently got into house and a year ago I was obsessed with scrubs. But I can hand on heart say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my first love. I started watching it as soon as it came out in England and loved it at first sight.

What wasnt there to like, getting to watch the amazingly attractive Sarah Micheal Geller kick ten bells of crap out of vampire's, demons and anything else mystical and evil. I loved it and so did all of my older brothers. The first thing we did was buy series one on video boxset, and we kept building our collection. But slowly the collection became more varried with half of season 2 and all of season 5 ect. And slowly I began falling out of the pattern of watching my favourite programme, mainly due to older brothers change of taste not mine.

Thats why as soon as I saw the change to get the whole entire collection on DVD I took it. And now re-watching from season 1 all the way to season 7 I have been appriciating Buffy even more. You forget this isnt some run of the mill tv show. The acting is top notch alwyas. The storylines are always original and gripping. With some episodes standing out for being truely terrifying such as Hush or I only have eyes for you. And its so watchable that I know as soon as I have finished the collection it likely I will just start watching them again.

I plan to get the entire collection of angel soon. (Need more money though), becuase I was always annoyed that it was put on channel 5 so i wasnt able to watch it. Hopefully it will be as brilliant as Buffy.

If you havent seen Buffy then you havent been awake!

And dont say its not your kind of thing cause its got heart. Violence. Comedy. Romance. And many more. There is no way that it could not be your kind of thing. So get it and watch it and enjoy it.

Ruth
UK
30th March 2008

Quite simply a masterpiece
Buffy is more difficult to sell than 'serious' shows like The Sopranos and The West Wing. The name itself is very silly; the notion of "Buffy" and "vampires" was probably enough to scare off half the population before it even aired. And then there is the main character. Buffy is no cool, serious or attractive man but a blonde, stereotypical teenage cheerleader holding a stake. There seems to be no depth, reality or threat.

But Buffy triumphs in defeating stereotypes and the preconceptions you have whenever a young blonde woman walks onto the screen. From the very first scene where the blonde victim idea is subverted, Buffy establishes itself as the wittiest, funniest drama around. As the season progresses you realise that this show can also be dark and is as innovative as any other, more acclaimed, modern culture.

The writing is consistently brilliant, avoiding predictability and cliché throughout, unlike most drama scripts. Each character is beautifully created. They are always real, tangible, different and three-dimensional. Although there is a sharp sense of morality in Buffy, the fantasy element never leads the writers into the trap of the superhero versus the evil monsters. Buffy and her friends are not perfect and not even always good.

The writers also seem to be equally at home with the moments of drama and loss as they are with humour and wit - the scenes where death and pain occur never seem forced or embarrassing. Worth mentioning too is the brilliant pacing of the dramatic stories. Although Buffy has its deaths, relationships and disappearances it never falls into the trap of creating these constantly. Each one seems fresh and affecting, not just repetitive.

But probably what makes Buffy great, rather than just another sharp witty drama, is the direction. Buffy is a TV show, not a book or film on the small screen. The strengths of the medium are constantly exploited - the uniquely long amount of time TV has to establish character and expand plot are used brilliantly. Look at Buffy over the 7 seasons and it is clearly a cohesive whole, a journey. A journey you are invited to join over a vast period of time.

The camerawork is also brilliant and the moves from scene to scene fluent. The momentum very rarely, if ever, slackens and it seems the characters, and the camera, are always moving. Buffy is also innovative. The totally silent, "Hush", though not one of my favourite episodes, explores how strong a merely visual medium can be - this show is not just about witty banter. Later, in the heartbreaking episode, "The Body", there is no music at all. This enables a stunned, silent feeling to emerge and true empathy with the characters is created.

Because of these strengths the acting doesn't have to be brilliant but it generally is. Many of the actors here are little more than average but something in the chemistry of the show raises them well above their game. No one sees Sarah Michelle Gellar as an Oscar winner, but here, on the small screen, her acting is pretty near perfect.

The final strength of this show is the concept. The hero is, unusually, a woman and a strong, capable, demon fighting one at that. The often quoted metaphor that High School is Hell does fit the first seasons but there is often a lot more to it that that. There is a sense of morality, goodness and duty that runs throughout. The strength of friendship and the importance of doing what is right even if it hurts you is constantly emphasised.

I do not want to make Buffy something it is not. It is not always deep, serious and meaningful. It is sometimes only silly. But what I can guarantee is that it has moments of breathtaking brilliance and is almost always really good fun. It is wonderfully acted, directed and written. It is different, never clichéd and always fresh.

So if you have resisted Buffy until now, if, like me, you have been put off by the title, the heroine and the concept please give it a chance. I can promise that you will not regret it.

scifihorror fan
Cornwall,UK
27th March 2008

the BEST SHOW EVER!!!
season 1-great start to an amazing show the master was a cool villain BEST EPISODES=prophecy girl/angel/the pack-RATING= 4 out of 5

season 2-a better season, develops ideas, spike and dru make their debut(yay),angel turns into angelus which creates problems for Buffy and the gang and a great close to a season.BEST=innocence/whats my line?/becoming/passion/bewitched bothered and bewildered,RATING=4.5 by 5

season 3-even better with amazing episodes all around,great lines, faith,great use of CGI(one of the first shows to use it),SMG explores greater detail of Buffy,and better writing all round BEST=GRADUATION DAY/DOPPLEGANGLAND/BAD GIRLS/THE ZEPPO/THE WISH/BAND CANDY/ANNE/EARSHOT-RATING- 5 by 5

season 4- a change of direction for the cast, and all for the best as the independent episodes are a whole lot more classy than the main plot, contains the series classic HUSH ;),and spike becomes a member of the scoobies :), i was really impressed with this season although not as tough or brutal as season 3 it is still as classic and contains the return of faith wrecking her bloody path of vengeance(yay)-BEST=HUSH*/WHO ARE YOU?*/THIS YEARS GIRL/PANGS/SOMETHING BLUE/RESTLESS*(CLASSY)-RATING=5 by5

season 5- another astonishing season, brings a tear to my eye when i watch THE BODY or THE GIFT and this season is plain exciting, a real triumph of a show,and it has Dracula,Glory is a great foe. BEST=THE GIFT*(best ever)/THE BODY*/INTERVENTION/BLOOD TIES/CRUSH/FOOL FOR LOVE/FAMILY/SPIRAL-RATING- a whopping 5 by 5(again :).

season 6- slightly slower in pace(but not in quality) but it has to be after three excellent seasons back to back, and this season contains some of the best episodes(EVER) to,especially the best season opener ever,life as the big bad is a genius idea-BEST=ONCE MORE WITH FEELING*/TWO TO GO/GRAVE/SEEING RED/BARGAINING/TABULA RASA-RATING=5 by 5

season 7-the best finish to the show ever,a finale of an epic scale BEST=CHOSEN*/CWDP/STORYTELLER/LESSONS/SELFLESS=RATING= 4.5 out of 5

well done Sarah for becoming the greatest super heroine ever created and well done to the rest of the cast for becoming the best characters ever created(Xander,Willow,and Giles are classic,Anya and Cordelia are hilarious)the amount of awards this show has won,and how long it has lasted,a great impact on my life...WELL DONE JOSS-best show EVER!!!recommend to everyone,it is fanGtastic!!xxxxx*