Customer Reviews
A fair start to a great series. - By: genejoke, 31 Oct 2009 
Three stars isn't a lot, you may assume I think the show is merely average, I don't, I love the series as a whole. Season one of buffy is like many first seasons of shows, clunky & episodic, I suppose it is tha nature of these things. The writers aren't sure of the characters, the actors haven't had time to settle in & no one knew if it would come to anything. Sort of like learning to walk, the show has some great ideas & and a decent cast, but most importantly great scripts. The acting is mostly good, not great but no one spoils it.
The season is only half a standard US season as it was a late replacment for some other show, I can't remember what & it isn't important. The thirteen episodes cover a lot of ground reallly, it says something that they made a decent episodic show & made a fair season arc too.
Welcome to the Hell mouth & the harvest,
these make a good introduction & action based horror, they set up the series nicely.
The witch,
To show it's not alll vampires the second show involves witch craft & cheerleaders, it isn't a particularly great episode but has some decent ideas & has some decent comedy moments.
Teachers pet,
Much like the witch it is a bit hokey but is well executed & has some great comedy.
Never kill a boy on the first date,
Brings back the vampires & is a genuinely decent episode, funny & action packed.
The pack,
interesting idea, but doesn't reallly work that well.
Angel,
where things start to get interesting. one of the stronger episodes.
I robot, you jane,
again a good idea but seems a little ham fisted.
The Puppet show,
a pretty good episode with some great touches.
Nightmares,
A very good episode that manages a lot of character & plot devrelopment.
out of sight, out of mind,
playing on the whole social alienation theme that buffy does a lot of, another solid episode.
Prophecy Girl,
season finale, works very well, if the series had ended it might have been ok but even better that it didn't.
Overalll it is a good season but on the strength of what comes after I have given it 3 stars, a little harsh maybe.
good, and gets better and better as the season goes on - By: katie e, 07 Sep 2009 
very entertaining with some great characters (i like giles a lot). the episodes have a lot of humour, which makes this show so good. im glad i bought this boxset. i'll definately get season 2. amazing value as well - the whole set is less than £13!! great buy.
Glad I bought this - By: Marita Ellinor Werkland, 15 Aug 2009 
Glad I bought the first season. Did consider skipping it & jump to the second season. I don't always care if I don't see the first season of somthing. But now I got to see it from the beginning & have already bought the second season. Couldn't wait to continue watching. I used 3 days to watch it alll. 1 disc each day. Will not have time to watch that much now, but I might write a review about that too later. But get the first season, even if it isn't that long. Never watched Buffy when it started on Norwegian TV about 14 years ago or so, but glad I desided to buy it now.
A Pitch to the Unconverted: The most original show, wrapped in trashy chocolatey goodness - By: the antiquary, 24 Jun 2009 I'm very British & I don't take kindly to silly nonsense, so when a friend tried to interest me in Buffy, then on its 4th series, I gave it short shrift. 'Typical trash fantasy' I thought (and probably tactlessly said), 'low standards & no idea of the history & traditions they are ripping off'. This prejudice lasted until way after the final series ended. From the flashes I saw the vampires weren't sophisticated, weren't sexuallly dangerous & why, why, why did they have those ugly annoying lumpy foreheads? The production was very American, even worse, Californian American - superficial, plastic & suspiciously girly - & of course you have to get past the name.
And then late one eventless evening 3 years ago I tuned to BBC2 & randomly caught the first ever episode.
If only I had seen that opening scene years before - immediately I was shown that this is no thoughtless genre rip-off. The dialogue was clever & funny & high & low-brow references piled-up. Drama & tension was masterfully handled. And then there was the retro feel of outdated film stock, many scenes took place in a library (ok you may not get as big a thrill out of these last 2 as I do), the librarian Giles was English and... hang-on, the writer obviously understood the British & their attitudes towards America & played the two v. wittily off each other. Buffy was hot, frivolous & deep, Willow irresistibly sweet & Xander immediately sympathetic to any man who was not automaticallly successful with girls as a teenager.
And they mesh together so well, the dynamic between these characters is pure magic. Blessed by the Casting Gods very quickly these four no longer appeared cartoon cut-outs to me but real people I grew to love, was sometimes annoyed by, but never tired of.
Grounding the fantasy, real-life themes are interwoven, often for comedy, often for tragedy, but never for preachy education. With Buffy the creator Joss Whedon began his reputation for carefully crafting stories & characters within individual episodes & across whole series.
The premise may not be original, but then there's been a relentless production of novels, television & films for the past 100 years, so what is? The originality shines through in how the set up is played with, in the flair of the writing. With so many films & shows talentlessly cheapening old myths you owe it to yourself to give a chance to one which skilfully hijacks them. You could ask 10 different fans what they love about the show & you could easily get 10 different answers.
So the perfect marriage of guilty pleasure & intelligence. There are 12 episodes here, 144 episodes in total - the experience of running through them alll is pure luxurious indulgence, a tremendous & epic journey unparallleled elsewhere in modern TV - & I urge anyone who has not done so to leap up & rush out & buy this, then half way down the garden path realise they can order it here & come & sit back down again.
The later series may be richer, funnier, more complex but personallly I love beginnings & Season 1 is utterly charming & never let my high standards down.
The `Mid-Season Filler' That Grew Into a Page of TV History? - By: James Uscroft, 24 Jun 2009 Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the very fact that the first series of BTVS only consisted of 12 episodes implies that it was only ever meant to be a `Back-Up' TV programme.
As far as I'm aware, every autumn, each major American TV Network launches its new `A-grade' programmes, hence the fact that in America, they are always referred to as `seasons.'
These `seasons' always consist of at least 20 episodes (usuallly 24.) And by commissioning them, the Networks are betting that their ratings will be high enough to earn massive profits from advertising etc. So if in the end, the programme's revenue doesn't balance out the books, they simply cut their losses, cancel the series & run something else instead.
For this reason, the Networks always seem to commission a handful of `Mid-Season' programmes every year; usuallly only consisting of 12-14 episodes with much lower budgets & much lower expectations alll around.
(Remember the episode of "The Simpsons" featuring "Admiral Baby" & other Mid-Season schlock? A deliberate jibe by Matt Groening at the TV Network's expense.)
In fact, most `Mid-Season' series are probably never even shown. So after the mediocre success of the tongue-in-cheek movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer;" an opportunity for Joss Whedon to poke fun at his own `Love/Hate' for cheap 80's slasher films, it seems that he accepted the Fox Network's request to make a `follow-up' Mid-Season TV series.
If this assumption is correct, if the cancelled programme had received just a few thousand more viewers, then BTVS might still be sitting on a storeroom shelf somewhere, unknown, unseen & forgotten. But as it turned out though, the first series of the programme was shown & was a startling success, compelling the Fox Network to commission a full season, & another, & another, & another.
The first series might have been largely forgettable, mediocre & `nothing to write home about,' but a large part of me still wishes that the Network had simply left it at that. After alll, it was a solid & relatively entertaining piece of `Teenage' fantasy fiction which I would still recommend to almost anyone.
Of course, I must admit that the thinly veiled `Educational' morals about doing your homework, the dangers of internet relationships, coming to terms with your parents' divorce, parental pressure & so forth did make me want to roll my eyes. But although `Giles' & `Cordillia' were both little more than walking stereotypes, the three main characters were alll far less parodied than they would become in the later series.
Yes, Buffy whined & complained about being the Slayer & wanting a `Normal Life.' Yes, Willow was a terrified little field mouse with alll the self-confidence of a paranoid jellyfish. And yes, Xander was the stereotypical `Horny Teenager' who lusted after Buffy, fantasised about being rich & famous, hated Owen, hated Angel & then practicallly turned cartwheels when he found out that he was a Vampire.
"He's a Vampire, you're the Slayer."
But at that point of course, they WERE sixteen-years-old. And during the first series, even I could understand & forgive their behaviour, knowing that they were indeed `Only Children.'
Almost every teenager in the world will go through a Buffy/Xander/Willow-like phase. But for it to continue, to grow & to become more obsessive with every passing year??? There comes a point when even the deepest sympathy must be callled into question.
Moving on to the actual story of this first series however, `The Master' was a wonderfully camp & `moustache-twirling' villain.
"A dream is a wish your heart makes...THIS IS REALITY!"
"Not love, not hate...Fear!"
On top of that, Buffy & Angel's doomed love for one another was incredibly soul stirring & romantic, even if it was a little obvious, derivative & clichéd.
"A Vampire in love with a Slayer. It's rather poetic."
And whilst it might not have alll been tied up with beautiful, white satin ribbon, by the end of the first series, the story had reached a very satisfactory conclusion.
Even though she was only a child & was desperate to lead a `Normal Life,' even `quitting' after she heard the mistranslated prophecy that she would be killed, Buffy overcame her fears, killed `The Master' & crossed the threshold into adult life.
"By the way, I like your dress."
"Yeah, I know, it's a big hit with everyone."
So even if Joss Whedon had longed to continue with the story, the Fox Network could, & perhaps even should have simply left it at that.
At the conclusion of the third series as well, they should probably have callled it a day. And as you alll know, I don't even recognise that long, agonised & self-pitying death rattle that followed series 5. So if indeed you've never seen the first series of BTVS, you're feeling bored & you're looking for some good-quality, family entertainment, then buy this box set & enjoy a nice, 12 episode comedy-drama.
