Patrick, TNT's showing Season 4 in syndication currently and being a cheap bastard, I've taped the episodes. I checked out the moment you're talking about and there does seem to be a very slight pause where you mention it to be. So since the version I have is taped of TV, it might not be a mastering error.
Thanks for the information Ray. At least I know I don't have to exchange the set. I just hope there is nothing major wrong with the other discs as I haven't been able to watch them yet.
I guess I'll be saving my money and forking over the 100 bucks (horrible dollar to pound rate) for R2. I need my "previously on..." and I really wish studios wouldn't mess with the TV DVDs that way. They were shown that way on tv...put them that way on the DVD.
Maybe I'm not watching the DVDs 24/7. I might forget a plot point. And, as someone mentioned before, a chapter break after the intro is all they need to give people choice - watch or not.
Soon to be digging for change in the couch cushions...
I know completely that this answer is selfish, but I'm kind of glad the "Previously On..." segments are deleted. As I tend to blast through these sets in a matter of days, it becomes pretty repetitious to watch the same footage over and over again.
Give me a few years though, and I'll probably be right there with you guys
A good solution would be to include them, but include a menu option, like "PLAY EPISODE" and "PLAY EPISODE WITH INTRO." Sort of like the Log Lady things on the Twin Peaks DVD.
Speaking of season four, does anyone else think it looks like Angel put on about twenty pounds while he was sealed up in that box at bottom of the ocean?
Back in "Pangs," I thought Spike said vampires looked like living skeletons when they were blood-deprived.
He gained weight and his hair got darker and shorter. Something I guess you have to overlook in order to enjoy the otherwise terrific 4th season. And at least David Boreanaz appeared to get his weight problem under control by the time the final arc kicks in during the last few episodes.
Ah... that's another thing that bothered me about Angel's time deep down.
I would think that his hair would've grown some. Presumably, vampires' hair grows, because we've seen Angel with different lengths of hair, and at one time, a moustache. So presumably they can grow facial hair, too.
But we never really see them "grow" it. Back in Buffy Season 2, when we saw flashbacks of Angel living on the streets and eating rats, his hair is long and shaggy, but he's clean shaven. He may be Stink-Guy, but at least he takes the time to shave every day.
And in Buffy season seven when Spike is living under the high school, apparently driven insane by his new soul, his hair has grown out and his dark roots are showing, but he doesn't show any facial growth.
Which... I don't know, it's sort of unrealistic, but I've also seen these kinds of errors on a lot of television/movie productions. Where, like someone will be lost somewhere for a week or so, but won't be showing any facial hair.
My explanation for that is he couldn't grow any hair since he hadn't had any blood the entire time he was down there. I know, I'm reaching. But what else could possibly explain it?
Regarding Boreanaz's weight gain - according to the message boards, he suffered some kind of knee injury, so he wasn't able to keep up with training. And sterioid medications can make you puff up terribly.
But, that said, it does spoil the illusion of vampiric agelessness when you go from seeing BuffyS1 young skinny Angel to the final seasons of Pillsbury dough boy Angel.
I don't know if it's just weight. Between Buffy S1 and S3, he still seemed to bulk up rather considerably. It's what I found most jarring about watching the first episode of Buffy a few months ago.
I think I heard somewhere that a person deprived of a certain vitamin can gain a big pot belly.
I was more jarred when around season two or season three of Buffy the whole cast seemed to have had their teeth whitened considerably. Maybe it was just the improved film stock that came with the show being a success. But it seemed that one day all their teeth were just stunning white.
Besides steroid treatment for the knee injury, and the changing hormones that come with maturing, there's also the added factor of becoming wealthy enough to afford food. Something the thin young teenager actor Angel of Buffy didn't have at first.
Can we discuss the season here too? I'm onto the third disc of the set so far. I'm watching them rapidly out of an evidently futile hope that something good will happen to any of the characters. This season is so morose! And they just yammer on and on - it made me think of the tv show "Dark Shadows" which I hear was a lot of talking.
I'm also upset with how they are playing so fast and loose with the characters -- killing some characters here, changing other characters there... there's no consistency. This isn't drama, this is just a cacophony as characters are made to experience every possible shade of glum.
I'll stick with it, because I heard they went in a lighter direction for the next (last) season... but I'm really not pleased with this so far. Even the color scheme of the show is bland. On purpose of course, but still, it makes me wish someone had spiked the production crew's water bubbler with some antidepressants.
Maybe I'm just pissed that they haven't killed that annoying Conner kid. (That's not really a spoiler, I mean, you know he's alive because he's on the box).