Buffy Series 1 DVD Boxed Set

One of the greatest supernatural claims is that of the Christian god and it has inspired some tremendous stories including some of my personal favourites such as Ben Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told, El Cid, Life of Brian & many more besides. Admittedly part of the reason I like such films is the thrill of the spectacular, the epic but there's no denying I am fascinated by such stories. Another supernatural genre and one that has profited greatly from its association with religious superstition (particularly Judeo-Christian mythology) is the horror genre and the vampire myth particularly so as, though they can be defeated physically (stake through the heart), they appear to be most deterred by crucifix's, bibles, holy water & churches ... you see the thing about religion is that it makes for wonderful stories and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is no exception.

The show, as most people know, is set in a community called Sunnydale (California I believe) which is set above a "Hellmouth", a place where evil will issue into this world and which attracts all manners of beasties into its vicinity, and that is a good thing, for where would we be without Spike who arrives in series two ... but I digress. That the community is built over the Hellmouth also creates a strange mystical atmosphere which prevents its residents (Buffy & team aside) from becoming too aware of the high number of deaths in the area.

We enter the series just after Buffy (the now iconic Sarah Michelle Gellar) & her mother have moved to the town following Buffy's burning down of her school gym in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Movie (original script only & canon to the series). Incidentally, I thought the movie was absolutely terrible and it is no small surprise to me that this awful piece of film-making inspired such a superb series, fortunately I watched the movie after I began to watch the series so no permanent damage was done. Anyway, in the first episode "Welcome to Hellmouth" and it's follow up "The Harvest" we are not only introduced to the new Buffy & her mother but to her new watcher Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), her gang Xander & Willow (Nicholas Brendon & Alyson Hannigan respectively) and to glamorous wannabe socialite Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) who later becomes an unwilling member of Buffy's "Scooby gang". We also meet the series baddies, the evil Master & his "progeny" Darla. Later in the series we are introduced to the vampire with a soul Angel (David Boreanaz) who is key to the first three series and later goes on to play in a spin-off series appropriately entitled "Angel" but to say much more would potentially ruin the series for anyone who, by some incredible quirk of fate, has not heard of the series.

Despite the darkness of the scenario in which it is set Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not really a horror series but primarily a "coming of age" drama as the most important feature of the series is the way the characters relate to each other and "evolve" (OK the link to science is tenuous but it's there) in their relationships and character ... as one fan said it's not the vampires that are important it's the emotional undercurrent. The show's characters experience major trauma as well as more subtle changes that add to the depth of each character and the writers & director also cleverly use some of the show's themes to highlight current day issues ... Angel (& much later Willow) can be viewed as metaphors for recovering addicts.

The show crosses three genres: horror, right of passage (coming of age) & comedy and because of this is free to exploit a number of opportunities ... the comedy one-liners can be very, very funny, the relationships are interesting, often intense, and it is set against a classic battle of good versus evil. The language that is used in the show is truly amazing and, from what I understand, is due to the authors remembering their college days and reliving their high school past through the show though I dare to say they are more remembering how they would have like to have been rather than how they actually were.

Each episode of the series tends to have a story within itself but each episode does not stand alone and the status quo is not necessarily re-established by the end of each episode as the stories & characters are seen to develop along an arc across the who of a given series (and beyond). Not only does the avid watcher have to beware of the events of past episodes (sometimes several series in the past) but also vice versa i.e. events in an early shadow will predict events far later in the series. This is part of what makes the show so special and it is not the first time I have seen this ... one of my all time favourite shows was Babylon 5 (now coming out on DVD) which developed (although much more seriously and not in a cross genre fashion) across an arc of 5 series. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not so weighty (though it can be at times) and is not so rigorously restricted to its arc but it nevertheless has a long term development aspect to it. Interestingly I found that there is a connection between the two shows as series designer, producer & writer Joss Whedon also wrote some of the material for Babylon 5.

The relationship between Buffy, her mother & Giles (the watcher) is probably the most important in the series though Willow & Angel are also key as these are the primary forces shaping her outlook & character. Giles is very influential and later develops into an important father figure for her which naturally sets him up in opposition to Buffy's mother. Willow, a geeky computer nerd in the earlier series, tends to be Buffy's confidant whilst Angel (despite Xander's best efforts) becomes Buffy's love interest.

The series gets more sophisticated later on but it is nevertheless interesting and amusing to revisit the first series to see how the characters started and how much they have changed since then. Like one fan of the series I agree that the best episodes are the pilot episode and it's follow-up (Welcome to Hellmouth & The Harvest), Angel and Prophecy Girl (mainly because I'm big on vampires) although I was quite fond of the episodes Teachers pet & The Pack.

In terms of video quality the series is better than TV though not as good as movie style DVD's and the same applies to the sound (it could have been remastered to Dolby 5.1). Musically, by which I mean musical content, the show is superb favouring a number of college & university oriented Goth-style groups ... in this respect the show has had a significant & positive impact on my musical tastes.

As a DVD set the package is interesting. The UK edition folds out in three separate directions and includes a 28 page episode guide. The disks are somewhat short on features (a trailer, an interview with Joss Whedon & David Boreanaz, the pilot script, commentaries for episodes 1 & 2, Hepburn's "I Quit" video but little more). There are 11 episodes in all (reviewed very simply towards the end) so it is shorter than all the subsequent series but the price reflects that fact. That does, however, mean that the series has less time to progress stories and develop characters but this may not have been the most important factor in Whedon's eyes as he was probably trying to make a series that could/would be continued on a somewhat limited budget.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an intelligently written show and the acting is some of the best to be seen on TV (beating even my own personal favourite Babylon 5 in this latter respect) and its creator, Joss Whedon, is arguably one of the best TV writers today (but then I thought that of Joe Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5).

I wouldn't go as far as saying that "Buffy is the best show on television" (as one fan put it) though it currently ties for first place with ... um ... something else but (as he also says) it is "a great show and if you don't accept it, it's your loss"

The following are a series of very short reviews for each episode and a personal overall score (based on series 1 only and not on future series) for each.