Buffy: Season 7 or... When will Fox stop spoiling the series? (1 Viewer)

I just received my copy of Buffy: Season 7 from DeepDiscountDVD.com. Though I think the topic implies it enough, I should mention this post contains numerous SPOILERS for Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final season.


When you slip off the outer cover, you're greeted to a shot from the end of the season... Buffy kissing Angel, with Spike watching. On another flap is that final group shot, with Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Giles, Faith, and eye-patched Xander.
Gee, think they're hinting at something?

And finally, on the back of the booklet with episode listings, they quote this conversation --

WILLOW: The First is scrunched, so... what do you think we should do, Buffy?

FAITH: Yeah, you're not the one and only Chosen anymore. Just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?

DAWN: Buffy? What are we gonna do now?

Gee guys, I sure hope they make it through the final battle!

As for the set itself, I've watched "Lessons." The scenes in the Sunnydale High basement are grainy to the point of reminding me of the first two seasons of the show. Sure hope the set picks up after that.

Matt,

Perhaps you could spoiler protect all the spoilers in your post? Please? I've already seen more than I wanted to...

Jimmy!

Done, and I apoligise

not trying to sound rude or insensitive... but the "spoilers" given away on the box are those that basically any Buffy fan knows by now. Season 7 last aired over 18 months ago and FX has aired the season quite a few times (they're on season 7 right now as we speak). If you don't know what happens to who during that season, you're the one who has been hiding in the dark too long. I know people who only saw about three episodes in season 7 who knows what happens on the series finale, and haven't seen that episode yet.

I got into the show around season 3, but even then, I already knew about Angel=Angelus in season 2 (or is that a spoiler too?). I think after a tv show or movie dates a certain point, the "spoilers" become common knowledge. Think of all the movies on VH1's I Love The 70's, 80's and 90's that the panelists discuss and give away the endings to (and I'm not just talking about "duh" endings like "Luke I am your father" but other less famous movies)

considering all previous seasons contain quotes... why should it be wrong for the final dialogue in the entire series be printed? I hate to sound insensitive to the newbies of the show, but after a certain point, we should be able to discuss what happens on the show without worrying about offending. We can discuss Star Wars and say Leia is Luke's sister, and Darth is Luke's father, etc.... and yet I know people who still have never seen a Star Wars movie in their life, but you're not going to see them going "how can you spoil it for me that way?". The Buffy finale has been aired about 7 times so far (twice on UPN, 4 times on FX and once in weekend syndication), it's been shown enough times we should be able to discuss it without worrying about offending.

Except some people never watched these on TV, and the boxsets are their first looks. It's spoiling it for them.

Yet another reason that the R2 sets are superior. The closest they get to spoiling the plot on the packaging is the episode summaries that are listed, and you can easily avoid reading those.

As far as the grainy picture in "Lessons", I don't remember the R2 DVD looking that way. The picture was fairly clean. Let me know how Disc 4 is though. A couple of episodes had a washed-out look to them.

Exactly. Not a huge deal to me, but the point is that there a lot of people that have bought into Buffy and Angel blind. Why should they be penalized for not seeing the show in its first run or syndication? I agree that for some older shows (like decades older), it shouldn't be an issue. But Buffy Season 7 just aired not even 2 years ago.

Exactly. Not a huge deal to me, but the point is that there a lot of people that have bought into Buffy and Angel blind. Why should they be penalized for not seeing the show in its first run or syndication?

then why did those of us who didn't see Sixth Sense until it came out on DVD (like 8 months after release) get penalized and get spoiled the ending because we didn't see it in the theater and waited until video?

Buffy is a very involving show. If you miss an episode, you're screwed. For crying out loud, there shouldn't be any pictures on the box at all because people catching up on the show and are only just finishing season 2 will see the season 7 cover and see Spike on it, doesn't that spoil that he returns to the show?

When it comes to other shows, it's "okay" to spoil what happens, why not Buffy? Most everyone I know buying the Buffy sets were fans of the show either during WB or at least UPN, or caught up with the reruns through FX. My friend Lisa got into the show in April 2003 (barely a month before the series finale) and yet she's seen every episode 4 or 5 times by now.

Is there a website anywhere that has good comparison shots showing the differences between the R2 and R1 sets? (i.e., to see if one is in fact, grainier than another)

I've purposely have NOT watched any of the Buffy repeats on TV. And I've ONLY seen it on DVD. In order. Maybe I'm in the dark, but I can't think I'm the only person like this.

Thanks for the spoiler warning, Matt. (Though by now I do my best not to read the quotes on the box and once I put the disk in my player, I turn my head after clicking on the episode I want to watch because I know those bastards puts spoilers in the episode menus.)

I guess it comes down to degrees. Finding Spike is featured in a season probably isn't a huge deal for most. But having a picture of Xander with an eye patch on the season 7 ad inside season 6
is not cool.

Regarding the Sixth Sense, I think films have a shorter shelf life when it comes to the ending being common knowledge. Not that I think it should be that way. My thinking is that with a TV series you're investing dozens (and in Buffy's case hundreds) of hours with a show, you prefer not to have it spoiled at the end. I admit that I spoil myself like crazy for Star Wars, but with TV I do prefer to let it unfold naturally.

I think there's a feeling from those who have been with the show longer that they have "seniority". Should it make a difference if someone discovered Buffy in 1997 or 2004?

That's cool that some can go through a series 5 times in a year, but I know I don't have that kind of time to devote to one series, especially when I'm trying to view dozens of films every month.

When will they stop...? After season 7, I guess

I'm guessing Angel: Season Five will feature DR. SPARROW: Winifred Burkle's soul was destroyed in the fires of resurrection
, with a picture of Wesley dying in her arms
.

John, the point is that this is the first home video release of the season. It's not like Star Wars, which has been available multiple times on multiple formats. These season DVD sets are how quite a few people discover the series.

If The Empire Strikes Back's first home video release featured the quote "No, I am your father!" on the back cover, would you say the film is pop culture already and it doesn't matter?

Matt:

I was aware of some serious picture quality heinousness during the original airings of some of the early, basement-bound sequences of Buffy: Season Seven...so not to worry. There was a definite under-exposed, grainy, sort of greenish-tint to some scenes there which might've been caused by some bad film-stock adventures or just plain botched shots--again, under-exposed--that they didn't have the means or money to go back and reshoot.

Expect it to pick up from there. Not at all characteristic of the PQ of the rest of the season.


--Jack

actually, spoilers were big even when Buffy was current.

I remember peeping in the old alt.tv.buffy forum weeks before "Chosen" (the series finale) aired, and everyone there already knew what was gonna happen. I knew some spoilers but I made sure I knew as little as I could about the series finale.

So how are the special features? Amazon doesn't ship mine out until November 23rd *groan*

Oh, I know. In fact, I'm a rather large spoiler junkie. I knew about every episode of Buffy weeks, sometimes months, in advance. Same with Angel, where the first half of the final season was available to download a day before air-time. But I realize I'm in a basic minority for most people, which is why I don't think spoilers should be posted all over the box.

I'm one of those folks who has only seen Buffy on DVD, and I've managed to remain spoiler-free regarding season 7. Thanks for the warning.

I'll just whip the disks out without looking at the packaging too long... although the spoilerish packaging on previous seasons didn't wreck anything for me... I didn't have the context to put the images in. So evil-Willow photos meant nothing to me, other than "ooOOOoOo...wonder when THAT happens?"

in regards to Tony's last post.

I agree, if anything, knowing Willow's descent into evil at the end of season 6 is coming makes it more interesting watching her "downfall" that season knowing what it culminates in. Whereas when we watched it at the time, we had no idea she was going to go evil, as if she bottomed out in "Wrecked" and was improving.

Another first-time Buffy watcher here. I used to tease my dad (who was a fan) mercilessly about watching young miss SMG flounce around on the TV every week...then I got curious, started renting the discs from NetFlix, and now I'm hooked.

I've managed to stay pretty spoiler-free, too, never having watched the show before this, and it's made it a lot more fun for me. There were a few things that I'd heard about, but as they were entirely removed from all context and surrounding backstory, I haven't always known when they were going to pop up until they actually happened.

After reading this, I'm starting to think that not having the budget at the moment to buy the sets may be a bit of a bonus -- renting them from NetFlix, I don't have to worry about box art spoilers ruining any of the surprises! Now if only NetFlix would just start shipping season seven to me...I finished off season six a month ago after going hell-bent to that point from the beginning, and I've just been waiting since then.

Good thing my mom suggested West Wing to me so I've got something to watch while waiting for Buffy....