Buffy Season 5 thoughts (1 Viewer)

[Zen Butler]

I did a search, if there is something I missed please close this and direct me.

For all of us johnny-come-lately and old-schoolers, how have you guys enjoyed this set so far? I have just finished it. I would have to say Season 5 is the most cohesive of all Buffy seasons. Very dark. Where are you all right now? Any thoughts would be nice.

Warning: Spoilers Being Spit Everywhere

 

[Chad R]

I feel the same way I did when it aired, a step up from season 4, not on par with season 2.

 

[Malcolm R]

And the series should have ended right there. The last two seasons were just painful to watch. Season 5 would have been a perfect finale.

 

[Mark Silver]

Funny. I hated this season......Due to certain things going on behind the scenes, the ending was published in newspapers months in advance. I thought the adding of the new character (don't want to put in any spoilers) tried to be too clever for its own good and unnecessary.

In my mind this season goes astray from everything I love about the series.

Season 6 & 7 have their problems but not nearly as much Season 5.

 

[Joe6pack99]

i found 5 to have the best PQ for the R1 releases. Would have loved to get the ws sets but i'm not gonna use a crappy region free player and not goign to risk sending my rp82 in to be modded.

 

[Matt Stone]

I wasn't the biggest fan of Season 5 when it first aired, but I'm almost finished going through the box set and I can't believe how much more I enjoy it now. Definitely up there as one of my favorites (if not the favorite).

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I liked Five. Plot wise stretching the storyline out when Glory probably just could have inialated them early was straining a bit but overall it was a strong season.
After watching the dreadful Season 6 and 7, I too feel that they should have ended it at the end of this season

 

[Lance Nichols]

Some where around season 3 or 4 is when I started to really watch Buffy full time. That is, I twisted my schedule to more or less match BtVS when ever possible.

I still think Season 5 is pretty good. They successfully integrated a new central character (or two considering Anya's increased presence). The series could have ended here, and did stumble a bit after switching networks, but was still pretty solid till the end.

Season 5 has grown on me. I think it as enjoyable as season 2, and I never did understand the dislike of Dawn. She gave Buffy someone to really look out for. Xander had grown into a competent, useful adult. Willow was in some ways more powerful then Buffy. Anya was, well, an ex-demon and seemed a capable scoobie. Tara, although loved by Buffy as Willow's soul-mate, was not the same thing. Dawn and Buffy together covered story lines that Buffy alone never could (or not as well).

My greatest dislike in the entire series isn't until the 6th season when Tara is killed.
. f there was nay character I loved/enjoyed more then Buffy herself, it was Tara. I understand the why, don't like how long the consequences were stretched out, but I still hate that it happened.

 

[Kevin_M_M]

i didn't hate 6 and 7 as much as everyone else but i have high hopes watching them on dvd once the sets are released will improve the overall feel as it did for season 5, at least for me.

 

[MartinTeller]

Lance -- you should spoilerize the rest of your post. Everything after your spoiler pretty much gives away what's in the spoiler.

I like season 5, not as much as 3 or 4, but I think Glory is the best Big Bad they ever had.

 

[Zen Butler]

I liked the overall doom of S5. Not many monsters of week either, very story driven. I simultaneously watched Angel S2 and found it :
turned into a bit of a circus towards the end while they were in Pylea. Then suddenly turns dark for a quick moment, when we see Willow sitting in the lobby

I was very happy:
Riley left (I thought his character was awfully wooden.) I find it funny that he was just starting to get interesting when he leaned to the darkside and then ultimately left.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Glory was good, but was introduced far too early. She honestly could have just walked over and killed them all much sooner...

 

[MartinTeller]

I take that back. Massive brain fart, but somehow I totally forgot about the Mayor! But Glory is #2.

 

[ChrisBEA]

Would any of you believe I love this series, but didn't start watching until season 6? talk about starting late!
I have all of the seasons but haven't started 5 yet....
So much to watch, so little time....

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I liked Riley. Named my new puppy after him.
I think anyone they had brought in would have suffered through the fans eyes after Angel Left.
Too bad.
I disliked Dawn a lot more who was increasingly whiney and even more so in season 6.
Once they brought here on, they didnt know what to do with her.
When Joss left to do Firefly in Season 6 I believe the show was not as clever and the characters were very unlike themselves.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i had forgotten just how much i loved this series until S5 was released.
i still haven't gotten to that set yet, but for the first time since i bought them on their street dates, i've finally felt drawn to watching the first and third seasons.
i had originally bought the second, but i was having second thoughts about tieing up so much money on a set of discs i never felt like watching, so this one went back to the store.

after finally polishing off the first 12 eps, i'm jonesing to pick up S2, but am going to wait for funds to loosen up a bit after the holidays.

i can't believe i forgot what great fun this series was.

as for S5, at the time i thought it was incredible.
sure a couple episodes stumbled and tripped, but it had a very cohesive overall vision, and it explored territory that the series hadn't tapped before.
and i like Dawn. i like the conception and execution of the character along with the changes her presence brought to the main character.
wonderful season.

i never got a chance to see the show once it had moved to UPN so, no matter how disappointing the quality, i will be there for S6 & 7- and looking forward to them now.
at the time i was a little burned out on Buffy, so they weren't a high priority trying to track down.

 

[Scott_F_S]

Just finished S5. I'm watching Buffy for the first time on DVD, never saw it when it aired. I really liked S5. I think Dawn added a nice new dimension to the series. I would rank S5 right up there with the best of Buffy. I hesitate to say it's better or worse than S3 or S2 because it is markedly different from those seasons and hard to compare. S5 is much more consistent than S2, and it's themes darker than S3. And it's a very nice rebound from the schizophrenia that was S4.

 

[Dave Mack]

Jarrett, modding your RP82 will only make it region free for NTSC... The player doesn't convert PAL to NTSC... :frowning:
And there are some VERY good region free players BTW....

D

 

[Joe6pack99]

Dave,

Damn thanks for letting me know that. I may eventually have to pick one up thats for sure.

 

[Adam_ME]

When it originally aired, I thought Season 5 was a major improvement over the previous year. And it plays even better on DVD. The second time around, you don't have the agonizing wait to see where Dawn came from, what Ben's connection is to Glory, how serious Joyce's illness is, and whether or not a soulless Spike can be reformed.

Plus, I enjoy "The Gift" a lot more now than in May 2001. Right after the episode was first shown, I was pissed because it turned out I'd accidentally seen the season's ending on some website(I thought it was just fanboy speculation). I also thought it was a cheap way to close out the season since we all knew it was coming back for a 6th year(albeit on another network). Now I can just view it as the brilliant, emotional capper to a comeback season it truly is. And yes, it would've been a much more satisfying end to the series than what we were subjected to the last two years.