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DVD Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fifth Season
The fifth season of Joss Whedon's hit series started out in excellent form as slayer extraordinaire Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) did battle with the most famous of vampires (that Dracula guy) and then went on to spar with another nemesis, little sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg). Wait--Buffy has a teenage sister? Where has she been the past four years? And why is everyone acting like she's always been around? Turns out that young Dawn is actually "The Key," a form of pure energy that, true to its name, helps open the gates between different dimensions. To protect said key from falling into the wrong hands, a group of monks gave it human form and sent it to the fiercely protective Buffy for safekeeping, creating new memories of Dawn for everyone as if she'd existed... well, always. Why all the super secrecy? There's this very, very, very bad girl named Glory (Clare Kramer) who wants the key very badly, and will do anything to get it. Oh, and by the way, Glory isn't just a run-of-the-mill demon... she's way worse.
Some fans will tell you that Buffy "jumped the shark" with the introduction of Dawn, when in actuality this season was the pinnacle of the show's achievement, as there was superb comedy to be had ("Buffy Vs. Dracula," the double-Xander episode "The Replacement," the introduction of the "Buffybot" in "Intervention") as well as some of television's best drama. The Whedon-scripted and -directed "The Body" remains one of Buffy's best episodes, when the young woman who faces down supernatural death on a daily basis finds herself powerless in the wake of her mother's sudden passing. The first third or so of the season was a bit choppy, but once the evil Glory came into her own, Buffy was a television force to be reckoned with. Kramer was the show's best villain (after the evil Angel, natch), and the supporting cast was never better. But as always, it was the superb Gellar who was the powerful center of the show, sparking opposite lovelorn vampire Spike (James Marsters) and wrestling with moral dilemmas rarely seen on television. With this season, Buffy Summers became, like Tony Soprano, one of television's true greats. --Mark Englehart
Review(s): DVD Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fifth Season
i love everything about buffy!
i never really watched the show much when it aired due to conflicting schedules. but, when i did, i loved it! so, i asked for buffy seasons on dvd for christmas several times but never did receive. finally, i bought myself all seven seasons and i couldnt be more pleased. i watched all of them within a matter of weeks!!! i am addicted. you will be too! love it love it love it
Somewhat Enjoyable But Ultimately Weak Series
Buffy The Vampire Slayer" started in early 1997. It was created by Joss Whedon as a sequel to his 1992 movie of the same name. However, according to Joss, the movie's script had been heavily rewritten prior to filming. The series is a sequel to his original script, not the finalized movie, so, if you've seen the movie, there are some changes that you're going to have to get used to. If you haven't seen the movie, then there's no need to see it to understand the series.
The series starts with Buffy Sommers, a teenager, moving from L.A. to a small town called Sunnydale with her mom, Joyce. Buffy's got a secret: she's a Slayer. She hunts and kills vampires to keep the world (or more often just her neighborhood) safe. Every time that a Slayer dies, a new Slayer is called. Buffy's school librarian, Rupert Giles, is her designated Watcher. The Watchers train the Slayers. Buffy learns that Sunnydale sits on top of the Hellmouth, sort of the nexus of evil in the world or something like that. Buffy soon forms a group of friends that help her in their own way. I'll give you a rundown of the major developments and Big Bads (main villains) that Buffy ultimately fights in each season:
1: Sophomore Year: The Master (a vampire)
2: Junior Year: Spike and Drucilla (vampires); Spike later gets his soul back and becomes (somewhat) good
3: Senior Year: The Mayor (a human turned immortal turned dragon); Sunnydale High School is destroyed
4: College Freshman Year: Adam (a type of Frankenstein's Monster)
5: College Sophomore Year: Glory (a valley girl God); Buffy gains a sister, Dawn; Joyce dies; Buffy dies
6: Three nerds and Buffy's friend, Willow, who had turned evil; Buffy is brought back to life but doesn't confront her; her friend, Xander, does and brings her back to the side of good
7: A minister named Caleb and then the entire Hellmouth; Sunnydale is destroyed; all potential Slayers become true Slayers, making Faith and Buffy nobody special; all of the important characters and Willow survive
This series is okay, but I've got numerous problems with it:
1) Sex - All of the characters have sex at one point or another. It's done rather freely with no thought to the consequences of pregnancy or STDs. This is a bad message for children.
2) Buffy dies temporarily in Season 1 and is brought back to life by Xander through CPR. In Season 2, a new Slayer shows up. She's killed, and a new Slayer, Faith, shows up. Faith is the true Slayer. Buffy isn't, but she still has Slayer powers. Basically, by Season 2, the series' title was no longer accurate.
3) Shoddy vampire physics - In this series, vampires immediately turn to dust when staked. This was probably done to avoid gore, but it's still dumb. What's worse is that the vampires' clothes turn to dust as well. Why? The vampires are harmed and killed by sunlight. This is not part of any vampire mythology. Vampires don't cast reflections. This makes no sense at all. The origin of this myth is the idea that the reflection is of the soul, which vampires were thought to not have. On Buffy, vampires don't have souls, and they don't cast reflections, but they can still be video-taped and photographed. Also, Angel, a vampire that had his soul restored, doesn't cast a reflection either. Vampires on Buffy also have these weird foreheads whenever they "vamp out" (bear fangs). It looks ugly.
4) Humor - While the humor on Buffy is often very clever and funny, there's also a lot of sexual humor, which gets annoying after a while.
5) Buffy The Everything Slayer - It's not enough for Buffy to kill just vampires; she goes up against witches, demons, dragons, gods, etc. It doesn't stay true to the title of the series.
6) Angst - This started out as a WB series, so this was probably unavoidable. You'd expect a series called "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" to be fun to watch, like the movie is.
7) Sunnydale - It sits on the Hellmouth. Murders happen there all of the time. There are constant vampire attacks. One year, the high school actually boasted to having the lowest annual death toll in recent history. Why is the local populace completely unaware that Something Strange is going on in town? Why doesn't the FBI come in to investigate?
8) Made-up mythology - The world has plenty of real mythologies that the series could have used. It did use some, but the writers often made stuff up. This gives the series a false feeling. It would have been great if the writers had chosen to educate the audience about the world's many different vampire myths as well as entertain, but they didn't.
9) Sarah Michelle Gellar is too short and scrawny as Buffy. In the original movie, Kristy Swanson was better built and more believable as a Slayer. While having some special abilities, she fought vampires with her own strength. In the series, Buffy gets her super-strength from her Slayer powers, which is a cheap explanation.
The series has many supporters that love it for its witty humor and Joss' "clever" way of turning the traditional "helpless blonde girl" into the heroine, and they overlook/forgive the series' many faults. Let's not give Joss Whedon too much credit.
I admit that I watched this series from day 1 through the series finale. I can't imagine myself buying this series on DVD - until I got it used, very cheap. Starting with Season 4, Buffy had crossovers with its spin-off series, "Angel". This means that you won't get the entire story of some episodes unless you buy the "Angel" boxed sets as well. The series is not even the way that it originally aired. There are scenes missing and added; there are audio alterations. Rent it and try it out before you decide to buy it.
Buffy transitions from light to dark
I found this season perfect, from beginning to end, with a fine and subtle use of imagery, a fascinating and clever story arc, with even the so-called "filler" episodes being of outstanding quality. It was even on par with the excellent season two, which is quite an accomplishment.
The beginning of the season finds the cast in a good place emotionally- Xander & Anya are together, as are Tara & Willow. Also, it seems that Buffy has finally found a loving "normal" relationship with Riley. Thus the first three episodes are somewhat light-hearted romps reminiscent of the lighter side of season four, in spite of the fact that Buffy has a new little sister, and nobody but the audience seems to notice the fact that she did not exist until this season. Episode four is where the season begins to make a turn- Riley risks death rather than revert to a man of normal strength, Buffy's mother turns mysteriously ill, and Spike has a revelation about his feelings for Buffy that horrify him during a dream sequence that is one of the highlights of the series. From this point on, life becomes darker for the slayer. She discovers the truth about her new sister and realizes that she must protect her from an unknown evil source that turns out to be a god from another dimension - the vain and evil Glory. Also, Buffy's mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor, and Riley leaves Buffy for a government assignment in Central America when he believes she no longer cares for him. In "Into the Woods", Xander makes Buffy realize what she is about to lose by letting Riley go, and she races to stop him from leaving, but is too late. In spite of the negative feelings many fans had for Riley's character, the last few scenes of this episode were particularly moving. Buffy's mother, seemingly cured by surgery, dies suddenly in one of the series best episodes "The Body". In it, the scoobies first confront death that is caused by invisible disease, rather than some supernatural power that they have always been able to outsmart or overpower. This leaves Buffy the guardian of her little sister, whose emotional state has become complicated by the fact that she now knows she is not just an ordinary teenage girl, and that all memories of her, including her own, have been planted. Buffy's new duties as head of the house force her to drop out of college, ripping yet another earthly possession from Buffy. In the final episode, with Glory having ripped the fabric that holds alternate realities apart so she can return to her own, the slayer decides to take her sister's place and jump into the breach to stop the destruction of the world. At that moment, it is hard to believe that this is a difficult decision for Buffy considering all she has lost during the past year, and in particular given her last words to her sister -"The hardest thing to do in this world is to live in it."
Related DVD's Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fifth Season
The sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer followed the logic of plot and character development into some gloomy places. The year begins with Buffy being raised from the dead by the friends who miss her, but who fail to understand that a sacrifice taken back is a sacrifice negated. Dragged out of what she believes to have been heavenly bliss, she finds herself "going through the motions" and entering into a relationship with the evil, besotted vampire Spike just to force her emotions. Willow becomes ever more caught up in the temptations of magic; Xander and Anya move towards marriage without ever discussing their reservations; Giles feels he is standing in the way of Buffy's adult independence; Dawn feels neglected. What none of them need is a menace that is, at this point,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sarah Michelle Gellar DVD Release Date: Released the 25 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Having battled a hellish vampire master, an evil boyfriend, a rogue slayer, a giant man-eating demon-snake thing, and a particularly nasty high school principal, Buffy Summers embarked on one of her biggest challenges in the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: college. With boyfriend Angel out of the picture (and on his own show) and Sunnydale High destroyed, new horizons were to be tackled for Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang. There were cute guys (Buffy's new boyfriend Riley), cute girls (Willow's new girlfriend Tara--yes, Willow's gay!), frat parties, irritating roommates, harsh professors, and, oh yes, a secret military initiative that was experimenting on the demon population (Riley's part of it).
The seventh and final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer begins with a mystery: someone is murdering teenage girls all over the world and something is trying hard to drive Spike mad. Buffy is considerably more cheerful in these episodes than we have seen her during the previous year as she trains Dawn and gets a job as student counselor at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High. Willow is recovering from the magical addiction which almost led her to destroy the world, but all is not yet well with her, or with Anya, who has returned to being a Vengeance demon in "Same Time, Same Place" and "Selfless," and both women are haunted by their decisions.
Haunting of a different kind comes in the excellent "Conversations with Dead People" (one of the show's most terrifying episodes ever),... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sarah Michell Gellar DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The third season of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer was marked by the arrival in Sunnydale of renegade slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), a moody loner who seemed to like her demon-staking calling just a little too much. While Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was always wary of Faith, the two developed a deep friendship and appreciative rapport--that is, until the evil mayor of Sunnydale (Harry Groener) tapped into Faith's dark side and lured her into his plot to take over the world, first as a double agent spying on Buffy, then as out-and-out nemesis. And as the mayor's ascension approached--which happened to fall on Sunnydale High's graduation day--Buffy and Faith's battles got nastier and nastier, as Buffy attempted to wrestle with her dark side (literally and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sarah Michelle Gellar - David Boreanaz - Eliza Dushku DVD Release Date: Released the 07 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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At the heart of the first years of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the romance between Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), slayer of all things evil, and hunky Angel (David Boreanaz), the tortured vampire destined to walk the earth with a soul. The second season of Buffy took the Buffy-Angel pas de deux from ecstasy to agony in a now-classic plot arc that catapulted the show from WB teen drama to true TV greatness. You see, if the cursed Angel ever experiences true happiness for a moment, he'll revert to being an evil vampire again. And guess what happens after Buffy and Angel finally declare their love for one another and consummate their relationship...
Buffy found its true momentum during the second season, as geeky Xander (Nicholas Brendon) fell in... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sarah Michelle Gellar - David Boreanaz DVD Release Date: Released the 11 June 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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