119 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
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...
8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
"But My Mommy Might Yell At Me!!!"
Although it probably remains by far the most popular fantasy series of all time, built on some of the best acting, the deepest drama and the most hilarious comedy ever seen on TV, in the end, the whole basis of `BTVS' always fills me with rage and disgust.
"Three whiney little teenagers who never grow up, crippled by the same emotional problems year after...
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.
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.
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.
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This boxset is just the new releases in a solid card board box. Ok, the box is better then the Angel set which I also own but it's not worth buying again. What can be said that hasn't been said before? Don't be put off by the title - this is by a large margin the best US drama / Fantasy series ever made. Joss Whedon is a genius and at this price you'd be crazy to miss it! Go back to the beginning and see what all the fuss is about. The price at the time of writing is £10 a series - hu? What a great deal -for 144 episodes and all those lovely extras. This should be on your to do list
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Of course, you must buy this as it's the best TV series ever made bar none. BUT this is a warning to people who are discovering Buffy for the first time. DON'T WATCH ANY OF THE EXTRAS UNTIL YOU HAVE GOT TO THE END OF THE SEASON. There are sometimes extras, featurettes, etc. on Discs 1-5 [particularly on disc 3, which only has 3 episodes], but these often give away important parts of the plot that happen later in the season. So best to leave all extras to the end of the season. Note also that the 'Season Summary' extras on disc 6 and some of the commentaries can also give away parts of the plot in later seasons too. So if you're a spoiler-phobe, like me, I suggest you just watch all seven seasons without watching any of the extras. Then, when you watch Joss's masterpiece the second time (as you surely will), you can watch all the extras too, as a bonus. You have been warned. Enjoy!
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Buffy is brilliant. You could be forgiven to believe it is just another american teen-drama, it does have most of the usual tell-tale signs of impending irritance: annoying teen-isms, rubbish music (aside from the title score, which rocks) and it has been known to reach levels of cheese so high it would have the French running for air. However, if you can learn to ignore them underneath is just one damn fine example of telly-gold.
Series one to three are fantastic, I even got swept away in the tide of coagulated dairy produce on more than a few occasions.
Series four gets just a wee bit too silly, however it manages to pull it off by containing some of the best episodes of the franchise. I really didn't care much for the love interest Riley either (nothing personal man).
Series five seriously hams it up by a good few tons of bacon, mostly due to the main baddie Glory. Some people hate her, some love her. I'm the latter. It's worth mentioning that this series also introduces one of the shows main downfalls, Dawn. The whining little sister who will plague the show right 'til the end.
Series six is one of my personal favourites, the Trio (the baddies, of sorts, for the series) are fantastic and stand as a testament to those who believe in the power of the geek. Sadly though, Dawn's still with us. Although she does get bashed about a bit, which is worth savouring.
Series seven is frankly terrible. Although by the time you've watched your way up 'til this point you'll still get a lot of enjoyment from it. I suppose terrible's not the best word to describe it. It does consistantly entertain and it's got some very dark and disturbing moments (Spike's mum anyone?). It's let down by the entirely unbelievable (even by Buffy standards) series plot arch, the introduction of even more annoying teenagers and the baffling rubbishness of the finale. It'd still probably still get 4 stars were I to review the series individually though.
So yeah, now you can get all the Buffy you need in one handy box. Considering the original dvds (the ones with the packaging that scratched the disks) was £80 a pop you can't really complain about the price tag of the set either, you may even rejoice it in fact. Take a week off, shut the curtains, stoke the fire and boil the kettle and settle down to watch Buffy in it's entirety. It's better than Disneyland.
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For years I hadn't watched this TV series because the title sounded so silly to me. Boy, was I mistaken! Luckily, I tuned in before the end of the series, and understood what everybody was raving about. Buffy is frankly one of the best things that ever aired on TV. It strangely appeals to a wide variety of audience, even though it's aimed mainly to teenagers and young adults. I won't go into details here, suffice to say that the main idea is a girl with superpowers, fighting demons with help from her closest friends.
Now, for this DVD set:
Pros: It's Buffy! It's an excellent series, with outstanding writers, very good actors, and its fair share of special effects. A very entertaining mix of action, comedy and drama. The British version of the DVDs are wide-screen for seasons 4 to 7. The featurettes are nice, although I would like MORE of them. But maybe that's just me, it seems I simply can't get enough of BTVS!
Cons: The first two seasons are not top, quality-wise. Very good quality from season 3 onwards. In the description of the product, both English and French are listed, but that's misleading. I haven't watched seasons 5-7 yet, but so far only Season 1 had french audio as a second audio track.
Still, very good value for money, definitely worth buying.
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season 1-great start to an amazing show the master was a cool villain BEST EPISODES=prophecy girl/angel/the pack-RATING= 4.5 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=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*
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Now I remember when I first saw Buffy it was 1998, on BBC2 i loved it from day one but I sometimes missed it due to schoolwork commitments. I have to say this is one of the best tv shows to ever grace our TV screens. The teenage angst ridden story lines with great sypnosis all about growing up with pain, guilt and emotional baggage that comes with life. Even though we know that Vampires dont really exist an if they did my dream job would be to be a vampire slayer (:P). Seasons 1 starts off with getting to know the scooby gang and what the hellmouth is all about - the earlier days (bad hair and clothes) was a little "trying to hard" with dimissable effects. Season 2 kicked and in and became more dark and watchable, as we start to feel the burden of our chosen one, being a teenager falling in love, losing your love, difficult relationship with mothers etc which most teenagers can relate to. We get introduced to music that is heartfelt and totally works with the episodes. season 3 - all about growing up, making tough choices, making mistakes that could risk losing people that matter to you the most. season 4 saw buffy all grown up in college with the introduction of the ever so tall Riley , who does kinda resemble Angel, Tara (soon to be willows girlfriend)Anya making the credits and the exit of OZ. The emmy nominated episode (hush) was an acolade to the season. This season also sees what Buffy is about to become and how it will chnage her life forever as she searches for answers about who she is. Season 5 we find out (Shock,horror!!!) Buffy has a sister that has been missing since season 1! not to fear there is an explanation which I wont spoil for the people who havnt watched the series yet (I cant think how not) but Buffy makes the ultimate sacarfice in this season and with Christophe Becks composure of music makes the final episode of the season truly touchin and leaves tearsin the eyes and my favorite episode the body with well deserved applause to all the cast. Season 6 yes! magic, darkness evil and a lot of comedy from the "baddies" we see our beloved Willow transform into summat scary - (episode 22 with the evil gothic music)hate/love/lust filled obsession with Buffy and Spike and the death of another loved one.Season 7 the final season (sobs) I loved the show so much that I cried! - Season 7 starts off with Lessons for our lil mini wannab slayer with big sis Buffy showing the ropes we also see "the First" make a comeback after last time we saw the being in season 3 - with the actually great quote of "from beneath you it devours" we see a one off return of our fave baddies from all seasons to reveal the plans for our ever so lovely heroine Buffy and we see Spike go doolally, the school being reopned wierd monks and yay! Angel makes an appearance and the rogue slayer Faith herself!. It would have been nice to reuinte Angels gand with our Scoobies. But ultimately the last episode goes out with a sensational bang!!! overall a good buy and honestly u will cherish this boxset cos I have i love it - and I also know its a little sad!
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Preorderd this dvd when i saw this boxset for only £64.99 :), Item it self is not bad for what i payed very happy. Still great tv, Like most people i got in to buffy from season end of season 2- 3, so yes still some of these i havent seen yet which is nice. The item its self is small and compacted, which is kind of nice if your running out of space to keep your dvds. People should keep in mind tho this boxset does not have the same packaging as the seasons sold by them selfs. Tho i guess that is a small price t pay when you still get all of buffy and all the special features still. In all this boxset was a bargin 5 stars :-)
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