phungus's Full Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 1
Academy Award Nominee (Toy Story) Joss Whedon got the idea for Buffy the Vampire Slayer from all the horror movies where the staple ‘cute blonde girl’ gets killed while she screams bloody murder. He thought it would be cool if the blonde girl fought back and won, thus breaking all the age-old stereotypes set by the genre. Since high school is horrific in and of itself, it made the perfect setting for this series. Buffy is still cute and blonde, but she’s also a vicious fighter and retains all the teenage sass you would expect from someone her age.
Whedon also wrote the original story for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, but that film was pretty far off from his original idea. This TV shows continues where his original story left off and not from the movie. The original story ended with Buffy blowing up her school’s gymnasium after herding all the vampires inside. This got her kicked out of school, of course, so the faculty and students at her new school are suspicious of her. Rumors and whispers abound regarding ‘the new girl who blew up her school’ and Buffy does her best to forget about the past.
Four actors make up the primary cast of the show, with several other supporting players making appearances in almost every episode. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Scooby Doo, The Grudge) is Buffy and this is the role that launched her career. She’s got the looks and the ability to carry this show through seven seasons and now is turning into a major movie star. Alyson Hannigan stars as Willow and she’s the opposite of Buffy in that she’s not the bubbly, confrontational boy magnet that Buffy is, but she’s still cute and brilliant and serves as the inside brain on many adventures. Nicholas Brendon is the goofy boy that rounds out their trio. He’s got the hots for Buffy and Willow has the hots for him. This is the only character I really don’t like, mostly because Brendon horribly overacts most of his scenes and I find his character annoying. Brendon was 25 years old when he started playing this role and I think he is overcompensating the goofy act while trying to play a teenager again. He and Hannigan both stayed on the show during its entire run so hopefully he will get better in future seasons. The final main character is Giles the Librarian, played by Anthony Head. He’s the staple guy-with-an-accent who knows everything there is to know about vampires and demons and the occult. Giles is the student’s mentor and his library serves as the meeting place for the group. Since most high school students totally avoid the library, it is the perfect place for them to meet without being bothered and still make it look like their work is school-related.
Two of the main recurring characters are Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Angel (David Boreanaz). Cordelia is the typical hot, clueless, mean girl who wants to steal everybody’s boyfriend and make trouble for Buffy and friends. Her character ends up on the spin-off TV show called Angel. The Angel character is a vampire with a soul (much like Brad Pitt’s character in Interview With the Vampire) and falls in love with Buffy. Angel and Buffy are like Romeo and Juliet in that their love is forbidden. He’s a vampire and she’s the chosen vampire slayer, so their romance was not meant to be. Boreanaz’s quiet intensity resonates on screen every time he makes an appearance. I’m waiting for this guy to start making big screen movies any day now. He’s got more star material than a lot of the leading men headlining movies these days.
The Buffy television series is set in a small town called Sunnydale that is described as a 'hellmouth'. Living up to its name, a hellmouth is a sort of gateway to hell that provides an endless array of evil oddities for Buffy and crew to battle. Each episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not always about vampires just like each episode of The X-Files was not always about aliens. In this first season, which lasted 12 episodes because it only aired for half a season, we see vampires as well as a witch, a demon, a weird praying mantis thing, and more. For example, in one of the weirdest episodes called I Robot…You Jane, a demon is transferred into the computer system and manipulates some of the students, including Willow. In another episode called Witch, an aspiring cheerleader uses spells to help eliminate the competition for the cheerleading squad. This show combines horror, science fiction, action, and humor to great effect. Watch this first season and you’ll see why the show lasted as long as it did. It is hard not to like the idea of the ‘cute blonde girl’ fighting back.
This DVD boxed set has only 3 discs which span 12 episodes and that is why it costs much less than the other seasons. There aren’t a whole lot of extras other than two audio commentary tracks and a few short interviews with the creator, Joss Whedon, and a small photo gallery of promo stills of the lovely Gellar. Since this was the first season and the show hadn’t gained its popular cult status yet, most of the episodes are pretty low budget and may come off as slightly cheesy. The stereo sound is nothing special, but at the time of its airing I don’t think there were too many surround sound television shows. Check the used listings on eBay or Amazon.com and you should be able to pick this set up for less than twenty bucks.
A really good television show will leave you wanting more each time the episode ends, and Buffy does just that. The most important thing about a good show is the story itself, and that is where Buffy the Vampire Slayer excels. Creator Joss Whedon has become famous for his witty dialogue and snappy come-backs, and his signature style is all over this show. With its cross-genre appeal and well-written stories, I highly recommend this series.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD Video Occasion: Good for Groups
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