Angel season 5 (MERGED THREAD) (1 Viewer)

[JoshuaB.]

Re: bilingual packaging in Canada

Yes, there's a bilingual slipcase for Angel Season Five, but when slid off, it reveals the English-only case that is consistent with the four previous seasons on DVD. No real packaging changes here!

No, Canada isn't screwed up being bilingual and French isn't a soon-to-be-dead language (I'm bilingual!)--that sounds like an Alberta comment.

Anyway, back to Angel...

I'm really enjoying the final season again; I remember being disappointed by the first half of the season, frustrated at the seeming lack of a major story arc (a condition imposed by the WB for being renewed), but I've had a change of heart! The A/V is excellent, the extras, particularly the commentaries are quite good and I'm looking forward to the pitch-perfect series finale again (it's a fantastic ending!).

So when are we getting a feature film or telefilm from the WB?

 

[Derek_J]

I'ld like to see one too. Too bad it got canceled. I didn't like the whole 'some demons are good' angle, on either show, but they shied away from that for the most part in the last season, despite the irony of them working for Wolfram and Hart.

 

[Dave>h]

Hi,

I marathoned this season a bit over the weekend 14-15 episodes ro something silly like that. But damned if this show does just get better and better. I didn't find the season dragging at all at the beginning. Although you can definitely see the "stand alone" episode aspect coming through. I can understand this from a week to week perspective, although I would have thought for viewership #'s, an over all story arc would have been more enticing.

The episode where Charisma Carpenter returns
was very emotional. That was a TERRIFIC episode. Probably one of my favorites from the whole series.

And then the death of Fred
was another heart wrencher.

I guess my only problem with the series thus far is the use of "shock" writing. And by that I mean, just when you think everything is going just fine, they really put the screws to the character. Or when you think things should be going really badly, they don't. That is fine once or even twice. Repeated though, it gets a bit annoying and unoriginal.

Probably finish it up during the week. Looking forward to it and then, like Buffy, not looking forward to knowing there aren't any more.

Dave

 

[Andreas_K]

Can somebody explain to me why they put a featurette on episode 14 (Smile Time) on the first disk on the set? I don't know the season yet - so I find that a bit inconvenient. Is there a logic behind it that I don't understand?

For me as a first time viewer it would be practical to:

• put it on the disk with the episode the featurette is about
• put all features (except commentaries of course) on the last disk of the set to avoid spoilers completely[/list=a]

 

[Citizen87645]

It seems pretty illogical, so my only guess is they would have exceeded their "bitrate budget" to put it on Disc 4 or Disc 6.

 

[Dave>h]

I think with all these releases - not just Angel but Buffy too - you should just never ever watch or listen to the special features or commentaries until you have finished every signal episode of the series, not just the season.

Okay, maybe if you have seen them all on TV before, then it is okay, but otherwise, forget it. I think in Season 1 of Buffy, they spoiled like the first 3 seasons, repeatedly. After my one Joss Whedon commentary, I knew Buffy dies and comes back to life and that Angel was a vampire. That is a lot to give away in a single commentary. So I stopped (or tried too and found out that Joyce dies for my trouble! - d-ooh)

Watch every single episode and then watch special bits and listen to commentaries. Words to live by in the Whedon universe.

Dave

 

[Citizen87645]

In some cases you should close your eyes as you're taking the discs out of the package so you don't see photos or quotations from the show

Before the DVDs started coming out the only way I could catch up (I started watching with Buffy S4) was to read the Watcher's Guide book. So it was kind of interesting to know everything about an episode but not actually SEE any of it. When I finally got to see the episodes it had a sort of "read the book first" effect and definitely proved it's not what it's about but how.

 

[Citizen87645]

Looks like the replica of the Angel puppet is finished, but I have to say it looks really bad. It's made worse by the fact there is a photo of the real puppet on the package, showing how far off the replica is. The replica actually looks like it was modeled on the guy who played the conspiracy theorist/bookstore owner from the last few episodes of S4.

http://www.buffy.nu/article.php3?id_article=8320

 

[Dave>h]

Just finished up Season 5 and have to say they ended this season and the series on a high note. What a fantastic ending to a terrific series which just kept getting better and better IMHO.

I am left with the question, why oh why did they cancel this show? IT just went from strength to strength.

I love how basically all the humans died assuming Gunn doesn't make it through the final battle
. Maybe love is the wrong term, but thematically, it makes a lot of sense in the crazy world of Angel. The strong survive, the weak die. It is a rough world and there are consequences.

Sorry to see it end but I guess I will have to wait for an Angel movie or a Spike spin off or a Faith spin off. Or something completely new and different from Mr Whedon. It has been a great ride and I am very happy I discovered both series and that I can now re watch them whenever I feel like it.

Dave

 

[Tony Whalen]

Hey. Watch the "Alberta comment" comments. We're not ALL rednecks out here ya know.

Personally, I was MORTIFIED when I saw the bilingual cover. Why make a change on the last set? Then I discovered it was merely a slip-cover over the usual packaging. PHEW.

 

[Ray H]

It doesn't make sense to me either. I guess Disc 4 (with Smile Time) was a little heavy so they wanted to put it on another disc. This is understandable. But why Disc One? The disc features four episode while Disc three only has three and extra room for extras. Usually for Buffy/Angel discs, discs three and six will only have three episodes so that they could also carry extras.

 

[Michael Reuben]

While we're all enjoying our season 5 DVDs, isn't it nice to know that the FCC has ruled that the show didn't violate standards of decency?

Yes, folks, episode 8 ("Destiny") was the subject of complaints to the FCC, because it aired at 9pm and showed (among other things) Angel in flagrante with Drusilla. The FCC didn't buy it. Full story is here.

M.

 

[Erik*N]

They talk about Harmony and Spike on the desk too.

Quote: In the scene depicting the female vampire biting the neck of her partner, also a vampire, both characters had clothes on and "their breathing is heavy," the complaint said.

 

[Mitch Stevens]

Am I the only person, in the entire universe, who absolutely *HATED* the ending on the last episode?

We are left without any sort of clues as to who lives or dies. Does Angel die? Does Spike die? What about Connor? Does he come back to fight with Angel? Why does Lorne kill Lindsey? So many questions left unanswered. They should have shown the fight.

 

[Matt Thompson]

You missed the point of it. It's not supposed to wrap up as cleanly and plainly as Buffy's 'Chosen.' The show's motto has always been the fight goes on, and you keep fighting no matter the odds or if you have a chance of victory, and that's what they did.

It doesn't matter who lived and died, it's the fact that they fought.

 

[Alex Wagner]

 

[Erik*N]

I don't understand how TVshowsondvd.com rate extras. In the review for season 1, they give a 6 out of 10 when there is 2 commentaries, and average featurettes that are very short and season 4 and season 5 have great extras and seven commentary tracks and yet they give it a 4 out of 10. What?

 

[Joshua_W]

Regarding the finale:

It was implied, though never stated outright, that Lorne killed Lindsey on Angel's command.

I believe that Angel's rationale was that it was likely that none of them would make it out alive, and he didn't want Lindsey to survive and be able to fill the power vacuum at W&H that would be left by their demise.

In many ways, I find Angel's behavior very troubling in the final two episodes. Not only did he have Lindsey murdered (even if he was untrustworthy, having him killed is still a morally troubling act), but he also killed two innocents -- Drogyn and Mr. Pee-Pee -- to further his goals. Sure, Mr. Pee-Pee was a demon, but he wasn't exactly a threat, and from what little we saw of him, all we wanted was his freedom.

And there's a whole other question about Angel's treatment of his friend Lorne, by putting him in the position of having to commit an immoral act.

 

[Holadem]

First time viewer, I am midway thru S5, I just finished watching Damage.

Spoilers up to that point.

I have a problem with Spike's motivations to become Human: Why on earth would he want that? .

Spike seems to have quite easily (to Angel's dismay) have accepted the fact that his past deeds were done by a demon, not him. I suspect his sleeps are no more troubled than yours or mine... His soul is not a curse, he can *gasp* have sex.

Sure, I would miss the sun (bah...), and I could do without the occasional human bloodlust, but these are small prices to pay for being an immortal being with superior strength AND the soul/conscience which makes us human.

Am I missing something?

--
H

 

[Michael Reuben]

Yes and no. Spike is still perfectly willing to kill people (go back and look at the end of Buffy 7/16, "Lies My Parents Told Me"), and he still regards himself as a monster (see the end of "Damage"). Whether he sleeps peacefully at night is open to question (see the Buffy finale: "I'm drowning in footwear!").

Almost from the beginning, Spike has been presented as a cynic who punctures the pretensions of those around him. If you go back to the second season finale of Buffy, where Spike allies himself with Buffy, there's an interesting speech in which Spike contrasts himself with Angelus ("The truth is, I like this world. . . . then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction."). The terms may have changed, but the difference in attitude remains.

M.