Buffy Season 1 DVD... what gives? (1 Viewer)

[Adam Tyner]

Of course, if it had been widescreen I'd have bought it the day it came out.

Joss Whedon recently said the following:

"I like the idea that Buffy stays square...Whereas Angel, I think of as a dark, melodramatic film, I think of Buffy as a comforting TV show, even though it's the darkest, bleakest world, and I want to keep it that way."

If Joss Whedon sees 4x3 as the series' original aspect ratio, that's good enough for me.

 

[TheoGB]

:b

I shoulda kept my mouth shut. Can o' worms, can o' worms!

Season 4+ will be in widescreen. The show is filmed protected for widescreen, i.e. the version you see as 4x3 is a 4x3 section of the 16:9 section of the 1.37:1 super35 negative.

Watching my S5 videos (for example) you can can see that they no longer frame in the same way as they did - it feels slightly cropped.

S3 is an odd one. There are definitely 'wider' shots to be seen in the 'previously' bits of S4. There are some anamorphic widescreen shots from S3 in the featurettes on the DVD itself!!!

I will buy S3 because I love it but £55-80 is a LOT of money, esp when I have the VHS boxed sets already, and when I've now heard quite a few of the series writer/directors' commentaries, so they no longer have the same mystique.

The point is that had S3 been widescreen (esp. anamorphic) I would have shelled out that £55-80. It may well be there is no hope of a widescreen version but in which the U.S. edition will be out in about a year and be a fraction of the cost of the UK.

We've discussed this before. While Joss may prefer the 4:3 view of his series, it is not essentially an OAR we are talking about. The directors do not necessarily share his viewpoint and can direct for widescreen.

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

Well you beat me to the punch on making a thread on this DVD ^^. Anyways, I was going to ask if this is worth buying, even so I have seen the show, I only got to watch the Puppet Show only from the first season(and maybe another one). My question is, should I buy this tommorow or pick up Tron instead?

 

[TheoGB]

Well some of the episodes are pretty lightweight but over all it's a good series to watch if you already like the show. I reckon at least half the first series is good to excellent.
What's more, Whedon gives an inspired little commentary for my money so go for it.
My only complaint is they haven't toned the sound down on the commentary so that when he's not speaking it's unbelievably loud!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The only super-stinker episode of the first season is "I Robot You Jane", and it's fun to see Neidermeyer as the big bad: "What's this, Slayer -- A pledge pin on your uniform?!!!". "The Puppet Show" is one of my favorite episodes of the series, and you get to see the hilarious complete ending of the episode which is usually either not shown or voiced over in syndication.

Regards,

 

[TheoGB]

The shame with the Puppet Show is if you happened to see any of the later episodes before you saw it.

When it first came on I had no idea Armin could possibly do DS9 and Buffy so it really made it likely he was the villain. However, that double bluff is missing when you know Schneider's such an important player.

 

[Frank Doorhof]

Series 3 on PAL is a step up comperable to the X-files DVD's.

Series is wonderfull, a very unique show.

Greetings from Holland,

Frank

 

[Kyle McKnight]

I just picked up my Buffy DVD's a couple days ago, and have watched the first disc. I must say I'm glad I picked them up. Reading what some of you said, it made it sound like they were nearly unwatchable. They're 100x greater quality than what I was expecting. They are very nice quality, and they're only gonna get better as more seasons come Now if only FOX would release DVD sets every 3 or 4 months instead of 6.

 

[Anthony Connor]

I have 3 seasons of Buffy R4 here in Australia and I think the video quality it excellent. The day time scenes are of course much brighter and I cannot fault the transfer. The night seasons are darker however I think this is the intent of the director.

I purchased Season 3 last Monday and I have already watched 13 episodes. ( 3 1/2 disks ) I guess I will have to by Angel next week.

Cya

AXE