A Question about the upcoming Buffy and Angel Sets (1 Viewer)

[Pete Battista]

I have been collecting Buffy sets since the first season was released. One of my favorite things on these sets are the 3 to 4 episodes per set that has commentary tracks. Has it been said which episodes in Buffy season 3 and Angel season 1 will have commentary tracks?

If not which episodes would you like to see them on?

For me... I hope:

Buffy Season 3:
Faith, Hopes and Trick
Amends
Graduation part 1
Graduation part 2

Angel Season 1:
City of Angel
I will Remember You
Hero
Five by Five

 

[Adam Tyner]

Assuming they're like the sets already released overseas:

Buffy Season 3:
Helpless (David Fury)
Bad Girls (Doug Petrie)
Consequences (Michael Gershwin)
Earshot (Jane Espenson)

Angel Season 1:
City Of (Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt)
RM W/A VU (Jane Espenson)

I skimmed a couple of R2 reviews for that list. Apologies if I left one out...

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Nevermind, Adam already posted the information.

 

[Pete Battista]

Thanks Adam... I will be looking forward to listening to them.
Atleast one of my picks for Angel was right.... but that goes to figure they would do one for the pilot episode.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Try http://www.r2-project.org for R2 reviews of Buffy/Angel sets. Sofar the only difference between the 2 is that there will be an additional commentary track with Joss, Seth Green and Marti Noxon on Season 4(recorded LIVE in Buffy's living room!)

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Just to note, CITY OF is the name of the first episode of Angel.

 

[Pete Battista]

Try http://www.r2-project.org for R2 reviews of Buffy/Angel sets.

Hey Jeff... Thanks for the link... but I tried it and didn't work. Came up as page cannot be displayed.

 

[Adam Tyner]

The site is called the R2 Project, but the URL is http://www.r2-dvd.org/

 

[Geoff_D]

Sorry to mention this sore point again, but I hope that the R1 edition of Buffy S4 will be in 4:3, rather than the 16:9 seen on the R2/R4 sets. Argue all you want, but I would rather have S4 of Buffy in 4:3 rather than watch the error-prone framing of the 16:9 version. The US set will have at least one extra commentary, and will be cheaper than the R2/R4, so I'm waiting for the region uno version.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yup, it was probably only widescreen due to the extreme whining of UK fans who want their new widescreen TVs filled. Seaon 4 was completely shot for the 4:3 ratio and protecting for 16:9, and as has been said, they don't protect very well.

I would love to see Season 5 wide, but I'm sure it's the same situation

Angel Season 2 was desired to be run wide by Greenwalt and Joss, and they finally convinced WB for season 3. But as far as I know, Joss still prefers 4:3 for Buffy (OMWF exception)

 

[ChristianW]

The widescreen of season 5 (R4) looks fine.

I certainly didn't notice anything bad while watching it.

Edit: Come to think of it, season 4 was fine too. There was only one episode where I noticed a problem. In ep 'Goodbye Iowa' there are two shots where Buffy and Riley are talking at the murder scene where the little boy was found
in which you can see the rounded edges of the lens of the camera. It's pretty funny, and I don't think I noticed it the first time I watched the ep in WS.

It's only 2 shots and lasts only for a couple of seconds, so it's not really worth getting worked up over.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I do feel that they'll probably be 16:9, and I'd like them to be 4:3 too.

I suppose if Joss really really didn't want it though, he'd be able to have some kind of say. But maybe not...

 

[Robert Ringwald]

A shot from Where the Wild Things are... there's a hand holding a vine.

In This Year's Girl, when buffy/faith are rolling down the stairs, a camera stand can be seen.

also, just to mention, in the shot you're talking about, with the camera sun blocker thing. This can be seen in the season premiere (4), in the 4:3 version, but not as much as the 16:9 version.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

http://www.cyberpomo.com/screencaps/WT/
http://www.cyberpomo.com/screencaps/BuffyS4/
http://www.alanna.net/screencaps/ (check season 5)
These clearly show there's more breathing room, but clearly just extra space in most scenes.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I will continue to go on record as preferring the more restrictive 4:3 ratio which is the one they were framing for. The 16:9 releases are analagous to 4:3 open matte transfers of theatrical films.

On the other hand, I can't wait to get Angel Seasons 3 and up in 16:9 as they should be.

Regards,

 

[Lyle_JP]

I posted this in another thread, but since whether or not Buffy Season 4 should be in 16:9 is being discussed heavilly here, I will repost my 2 cents.

Many of us 16:9 set owners have sets which simply have NO GOOD WAY of attractively presenting 4:3 material. Generally, I'm an OAR kind of guy, and letterboxing has never looked bad to me, but 4:3 looks so bad on my set (in all modes) that I am positively salivating over the idea of Season 4 in 16:9, even if the extra picture is dead space, simply to avoid the ugly distortions that I must otherwise endure.

So I have two ideas that Fox Home Video could do which would satisfy everyone, and give everyone the option of both 16:9 and 4:3 presentations on the same disc with virtually no more overhead in space.

Solution 1 (for 4:3 set owners): Use the Pan and Scan on the fly option. Since the 4:3 presentation is always the dead center of the 16:9 frame, Buffy is an ideal candidate for this solution. This has already been done (accidentally) on the Criterion Collection disc of The Last Temptation of Christ, so we all know it works.

Solution 2 (for 16:9 set owners): Use a subtitle track to create asthetically pleasing black matte side bars for those who wish to see the 4:3 presentation on their widescreen sets. This has already been done for vertical matting on the "The Bride of Re-Animator" DVD, so again, we know it works.

The best thing about both solutions is that it they both can be done on the same disc with virtually no extra space being taken (the P&S on the fly option is just an on/off flag, and the matte bars are a never-changing small subtitle stream).

If Fox made Buffy Season 4 16:9 with the above two options it would make absolutely everybody happy. I hope Fox is still a studio that likes to use every technology that DVD has to offer to create a superior product.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[ChristianW]

Well, all points raised are good ones, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. Despite it all though, the sets will more than likely be 16x9, and it really isn't all that bad. Between S3 and S4 my enjoyment of the show on DVD hasn't reduced at all because of the aspect ratio.

It's still an awesome show, and will continue to be no matter how it's presented.

My advice, is to try not to let it get to you, or you'll be expecting problems and then looking for them when it is finally released. And you won't enjoy it as much as you should.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I take the attitude with S4. If The Joss doth permit it to be 16:9, I don't have issues with it. Thus standeth the official position of the Church of Joss. Lama lama ding dong

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

As i've stated plainly in the season 3 problem thread, I don't care how good these shows look in 16x9, if they're not supposd to be in 16x9 I don't want nor will I buy them that way even though I own a 16x9 set.
Respecting OAR's also extends to tv programs as well as theatrical films.
Are you listening Fox?
Please don't put the OAR lovers here in a position to stop collecting Buffy because you didn't want to strike new 4x3 transfers for R1.
However, as Peter Staddon has stated they will always support OAR over at Fox, i'm not too worried about it, I just said that to make sure that all of my bases were covered.

 

[Martin Rendall]

I want a 16x9 presentation for S4 and beyond!
Are you listening Fox?
Martin.