Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Series 1-7 - Complete [DVD]

£134.99 may seem like a lot for a set of DVDs - that's what put me in two minds about buying it last year - but it isn't, not for this. Buffy the Vampire Slayer stands head and shoulders above any other American drama series of the 90s. For seven series, we watched as Buffy and her friends fought against demons, vampires, spooks and their own hormones. We watched them mature and grow up.

144 episodes in all, and hardly a weak one amongst them. The opening series was only 12 episodes long and saw the programme finding its feet, but by the second series (the best by a whisker) it was striding far ahead of anything else and was ready to introduce a major twist into the proceedings...

As the series progressed, characters departed, others arrived and bad guys turned good. Stand out episodes include 'Once More With Feeling' - the musical show, which worked infinitely better than it was feared - and many peoples' favourite (including my own), the near-silent 'Hush'.

If you're in two minds, as I was last year, all I can suggest is that you take the plunge and buy it or you'll regret it for many months. And buy the 'Angel' set, too - in spite of the brilliance of 'Buffy', its spin-off actually managed to eclipse it...

So I vowed one day to sit down and watch the entire series from start to finish to take in this epic opus. After finishing it I can say its pure class, the thought that goes into structuring the entire flow of the series. Little throwaway lines that pop up referring to events that may have happened seasons ago, little clues dropped in about the appearence of Dawn in Season 5 as early as Season 3. There are episodes that are standalone pieces of amusement (take Xander and the 'all women love me' episode for example) or those that tackle more serious aspects of life such as the rather sombre The Body. There are episodes the pushed the boundaries of normal US TV viewing such as the musical Once More With Feeling, the silent Hush and the surreal Restless, all episodes that I will recommend to friends to check out to show that there is more to Buffy than initially perceived.

I found the DVDs to be absolute quality, Season 4 onwards are presented in widescreen which is a bit of a treat. Its also the first time that I've actually wanted to sit down and watch through a commentry, Joss Whedon expanding on the excellent episodes of Hush and Restless for example. There aren't as MANY features as I was expecting and there appears to be a surprising lack of Sarah Michelle-Gellar from the mini docus that punctuate the various boxsets. In defence of this, its a joy to hear Joss expand on the creation of the series where you find he approached Buffy from the mind of a film-maker. Hence the absolute quality of visuals, something you take for granted when you're used to mega-epics like Lord Of The Rings. Perhaps we assume too much that when it comes to TV, everyone has the time and budget to knock up something as impressive as this.

All in all, its a top box set. Something you will, and I have, watch over and over again. The characters are absolutely wonderful and have now become popular culture icons, Buffy will become a piece of history so you should really make sure you own it.