Buffy The Vampire Slayer

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

Three Discs
1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
English & French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
English & Dutch Subtitles
TV Spots
Commentary by Joss Whedon on 2 Episodes
Interview with Joss Whedon & David Boreanaz
Original Pilot Episode Script
Photo Gallery

MOVIE - Overall Season Rating
Not Rated, but the equivalent of a PG-13 for violence and scares sometimes.

I was skeptical too. I mean really, Buffy, The Vampire Slayer? That was a REALLY stupid movie, so four years ago (back in 1996.) So, I didn't watch. And a season passed. And I didn't watch. And another half season passed. And then a strange thing happened. Dawson's Creek premiered after Buffy. And thinking Dawson was a two hour premiere, I set a tape and got Buffy. And being lazy I watched it. And loved it. I haven't missed an episode since.
Now, I'm sure you're sitting there spouting incoherent and meaningless gibberish at the horror that I, Windom Earle, was watching DAWSON'S CREEK! Okay, let me spring to my own defense here. You see, back in the beginning, Dawson's Creek was NOT 90210. It was a little show about a young filmmaker in a small town. That's how it was pitched, that's how it began, that's how Kevin Williamson created it. You forgot the creator of Scream was behind it, didn't you? So, long story short, I stopped watching Dawson at the end of the first season, but I kept watching the goofy show about a hottie Vampire Slayer. The show wasn't about the monsters, it was about life, about high school. This was high metaphor here, created by perhaps the most brilliant and misunderstood mind working in TV and film, Joss Whedon. (He is after all one of the first writers of a little movie called TOY STORY!)
And so it was, eventually I caught up with this first season, when the show was a bit more uneven, when the characters weren't fully developed, when they were "just getting warmed up!" So, for those not in the know, most deliberately shielding themselves from what they prejudged to be a very stupid show, this is a show about a young girl named Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who suddenly finds the weight of the world thrust upon her as the one and only Slayer, one in every generation, who stands between the world and the forces of evil. Lead by her mentor Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), the school librarian, and aided by a group of friends later to be called the Scooby Gang including the incredibly talented Allyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendan as Willow and Xander (no, not THAT Willow.) Along for a ride in this season, is the most powerful vampire on Earth, the Master (Mark Metcalf [Niedermeyer from Animal House]), school bitch Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Buffy's long suffering mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) and an outstanding performance by Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder. What follows is, like my Simpsons reviews, an episode by episode breakdown.

Welcome To The Hellmouth/The Harvest
The episode that started it all, broadcast as a two hour season premiere. Written by Whedon, this episode effortlessly introduces us to all the characters and the mythology of the show without becoming dull and plodding, a tribute to his adeptness at writing for television. The first half is slightly better than the second half if only because they're shot by two different directors. Buffy encounters Angel for the first time and manages to thwart the Master's plan to ascend from his captivity beneath the earth. Very enjoyable.

The Witch
We meet Amy (Elizabeth Anne Allen) a girl who may or may not be using supernatural powers to advance her career as a cheerleader. This is really the only episode on the series that harkens back to the movie where Buffy was a much more stereotypical dumb blonde cheerleader. Luckily, by the end of the ep, Buffy's cheerleading career is over. Allen would show up as Amy several more times over the series run, whenever the producers needed her. Strange, fun, and this marks the first time Buffy has almost died.

Teacher's Pet
I make no secrets about my identification with Xander Harris, I was so much like him in high school some of his decisions make me cringe because I already know the results. Well, this is the first Xandercentric episode of the series and they tend to work better when they're stranger and wackier. This one plays it a bit too seriously as Xander is seduced by a substitute teacher who just happens to be a gigantic praying mantis. It sounds hokier than it is.

Never Kill a Boy on the First Date
Buffy falls for a poetry loving classmate named Owen who finds he loves her even more when the date turns dangerous and vampires arrive. Owen unfortunately is a bizarre wishful thinking stereotype, an amalgamation of the perfect guy who wanders around the library looking for a copy of Emily Dickinson's poetry because he feels lost without her. He does have his about face, but that too feels contrived. His presence in an otherwise fun episode brings it down.

The Pack
This is one of the first blatant metaphor shows. It explores the pack mentality and how cruel high schoolers can be by, well, turning a bunch of them (Xander included) into a pack of hyenas. They roam the school terrorizing the weak and Xander says some especially cruel things to poor Willow just before they EAT THE PRINCIPAL. Another Xandercentric episode that begins to tap in the weirdness of later ones without the wacky side, but it's very powerful. I think it's interesting that they would play with a main character, making him this mean, so early on. But it pays off.

Angel
Angel (David Boreanaz), who's been lurking for all the episodes thus far this season, is finally explored, and revealed to be a Vampire just as he and Buffy share a kiss. We learn about some of Angel's past and that he is a vampire with a soul. Interestingly, this episode is written by David Greenwalt who would later become show runner on the spin-off Angel. A truly great episode and one where the deeper mythology of the show is being built.

I, Robot - You Jane
Jenny Calendar arrives at Sunnydale High as the new computer teacher. This is a momentous moment, but really won't become relevant until season 2. The episode at hand is a Willow show, and gives Allyson a great opportunity to come into the spotlight and show off her acting chops. She shines with a fairly weak story where a demon gets injected into the computer system and starts up an online relationship with Willow. Once again, sounds hokier than it really is, but still isn't great.

The Puppet Show
As the talent show approaches, and Giles is forced by new Principal Snyder to direct, Buffy, Xander and Willow are forced to join in. While preparing for the show, they notice odd things about a ventriloquist's relationship with his dummy and people start turning up dead. The highlight of this show is during the closing credits when we get to see Buffy, Xander and Willow performing a scene from Oedipus.

Nightmares
My favorite show from the first season, dealing with fear. A little boy is in a coma and refuses to come back out. Somehow, his coma nightmares merge with the real world creating an environment where everybody's worst fears come true. There's some very scary imagery (including an empty eyed clown) and the fears reveal a lot of depth in the characters. This is one of the first opportunities Giles has to truly rise above the British Stereotype that he was in this first season, as his greatest fear is that his slayer will not only be killed, but will be turned into a vampire. He has a fantastic moment at her grave.

Invisible Girl
A girl is so roundly ignored at Sunnydale High that one day she just pops invisible and goes insane with power, causing first little troubles, then bigger ones. Clea Duvall makes an appearance as Invisible Girl. This is another heavy metaphor show, making the effortless metaphors of the second season seem very breezy, but it still comes off quite well.

Prophecy Girl
Another very good episode that, as Joss Whedon stated as his desire, could wrap up the loose ends of the entire series thus far if the network decided not to renew. Buffy is faced with the prophecy of her death from ancient manuscripts at the Master's hand. She feels betrayed by both Angel and Giles who didn't tell her of the impending doom. A great introspective episode without the epic feel of later finales (The Becoming and Graduation Day specifically) but definitely on the way towards true greatness.

VIDEO QUALITY
The first and second seasons of Buffy were shot on 16mm with the first season on a very low budget, and the visuals reflect that. This transfer of those visuals is good, but has limited range. Buffy is presented in its original television ratio of 1.33:1. The compression of so much material also degrades the image, but it's still much better than it looked on TV and light years ahead of the only other way you can catch it these days, on FX.

AUDIO QUALITY
The sound is well mixed, though unambitious, sticking with the 2.0 soundtrack from the original recordings and that's just fine. The mixes are deeper and richer than before and the Nerf Herder theme kicks butt.

EXTRAS
The extras are rather slim on this set, but the best has to be Joss Whedon's full commentary for both Welcome To The Hellmouth and The Harvest, taking us through the entire Buffy process from concept to movie to show and how the network reacted to it, how everybody was shocked by its popularity and his attempt to wrap up the entire show for the final episode of the season. Especially interesting are his tiny tidbits of information, i.e. their Sunnydale School set is just a single hallway that they use over and over at this point. Whedon is friendly and knowledgeable and self-deprecating, all the attributes you look for in a good commentator and it's a shame he didn't go the Simpsons route and record commentaries for all of them.
The other extras are mostly useless. There's a short photo gallery, the pilot's script (which all true Buffy fans should already have now that the scripts are in print) and the recycled interviews with Whedon and David Boreanaz that we already own via the video collections. Well, at least I do. Hopefully future seasons will contain more in the way of special features because, with the exception of that commentary, I'm surprised they're not touting "interactive menus" as a selling point.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Buffy, The Vampire Slayer runs neck in neck with Twin Peaks for my favorite TV show of all time, and thus, I'm ecstatic to own all the episodes in any form. In that event, this set is a complete success, but by improving the video quality, remixing in 5.1 sound and adding some real extras, subsequent season sets could be collections truly worth a place of honor in the collection. Nevertheless, at a rather low asking price, and to see where it all began, I would definitely recommend picking it up.