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List Price: $199.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 2648
Released: August 1, 2006 |
| Our Price: $173.99 |
| Used Price: $173.99 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 19-SEP-2006
Media Type: DVD
Description of Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Collector's Set (40 discs):
From its charming and angst-ridden first season to the darker, apocalyptic final one, Buffy the Vampire Slayer succeeds on many levels, and in a fresher and more authentic way than the shows that came before or after it. How lucky, then, that with the release of its boxed set of seasons 1-7, you can have the estimable pleasure of watching a near-decade of Buffy in any order you choose. (And we have some ideas about how that should be done.)
First: rest assured that there's no shame in coming to Buffy late, even if you initially turned your nose up at the winsome Sarah Michelle Gellar kicking the hell out of vampires (in Buffy-lingo, vamps), demons, and other evil-doers. Perhaps you did so because, well, it looked sort of science-fiction-like with all that monster latex. Start with season 3 and see that Buffy offers something for everyone, and the sooner you succumb to it, the quicker you'll appreciate how textured and riveting a drama it is.
Why season 3? Because it offers you a winning cast of characters who have fallen from innocence: their hearts have been broken, their egos trampled in typically vicious high-school style, and as a result, they've begun to realize how fallible they are. As much as they try, there are always more monsters, or a bigger evil. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the core crew remains something of a unit--there's the smart girl, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) who dreams of saving the day by downloading the plans to City Hall's sewer tunnels and mapping a route to safety. There are the ne'r do wells--the vampire Spike (James Marsters), who both clashes with and aspires to love Buffy; the tortured and torturing Angel (David Boreanz); the pretty, popular girl with an empty heart (Charisma Carpenter); and the teenage everyman, Xander (Nicholas Brendon).
Then there's Buffy herself, who in the course of seven seasons morphs from a sarcastic teenager in a minidress to a heroine whose tragic flaw is an abiding desire to be a "normal" girl. On a lesser note, with the boxed set you can watch the fashion transformation of Buffy from mall rat to Prada-wearing, kickboxing diva with enviable highlights. (There was the unfortunate bob of season 2, but it's a forgivable lapse.) At least the storyline merits the transformations: every time Buffy has to end a relationship she cuts her hair, shedding both the pain and her vulnerability.
In addition to the well-wrought teenage emotional landscape, Buffy deftly takes on more universal themes--power, politics, death, morality--as the series matures in seasons 4-6. And apart from a few missteps that haven't aged particularly well ("I Robot" in season 1 comes to mind), most episodes feel as harrowing and as richly drawn as they did at first viewing. That's about as much as you can ask for any form of entertainment: that it offer an escape from the viewer's workaday world and entry into one in which the heroine (ideally one with leather pants) overcomes demons far more troubling than one's own. --Megan Halverson
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Collector's Set (40 discs) Reviews:
The best $190 I ever spent 
2008-10-03 - I put off buying this collection for awhile. It's pretty expensive for an average Amazon purchase, so I argued that I just couldn't spend it. But, I'm a huge, huge fan of the show and I found out that I was spending more money and valuable places in my Netflix queue on Buffy episodes. So, I finally had enough one day and bought it. And I don't regret it at all.
Lots of other people have evaluated the show, so I'm not going to do that. What I am going to do if give you an idea of what to expect in the actual collection.
The pictures are accurate: it's a boxed set with all seven seasons forming one Buffy cast shot. The same extras that come on the individual seasons are included on their original discs. But, as a bonus, you get a booklet with an episode-by-episode breakdown, a note from Joss, and an extra disc that has extras not released before this Collection.
The only downside to this collection is that the box is not particularly sturdy. I don't recommend leaving it open at any time. I only had my set a week and already the box lid is coming off because it was left open. It opens in a rather strange way, so the whole thing will collapse if it's not closed. So, construction is a little iffy, but not so bad that the set isn't worthwhile.
Slaying with Style!
2008-09-29 - This every bit the beautiful and impresive package that I imagined it would be. It looks as great on my bookshelf as it does on my TV screen. Seems like alot of cash (It took a couple of years to finally be able to aford the cost) but, being a huge fan of this show, it was well worth it.
BUFFY is just plain bad 
2008-09-25 - Buffy the vampire slayer is an oddity. Its a show that had terrible plots, terrible acting and terrible production value yet has a following here on amazon. A show so bad that it was cancelled twice and no 3rd willing to take a chance on it. This is clear dumming down of sci fi. The onluy bright spot was Sarah Michelle Gellar.But even she couldnt save this show from disaster. My advice is there is much better sci fi than buffy. save your money for something better. something good
Top Notch Show
2008-09-22 - I am not that young anymore and I have to say that this is still my favorite television show of all time!! It is fun to watch for all ages and has some interesting and fun story lines. I am a HUGE fan of Buffy and friends and hope that someday we can actually see a reunion movie!!
Outstanding epic series
2008-09-21 - Shortly after my 52nd birthday (May, 2008), I received the complete series DVDs. I had never watched the show, but many people recommended it to me, since I liked Firefly/Serenity and science fiction in general.
I figured I'd watch them to fill the summer void. I'm retired, and have a lot of free time to allocate as I choose.
I started watching June 3rd... and ended up devouring all 144 episodes in 10 days. At the end, I just wanted to hug the DVDs. I've since watched the series four times in as many months.
The program is incredible. I didn't really connect with the characters until the 7th/8th episode, but after that I just couldn't get enough.
I've been a science fiction fan all my life. I've read all the greats. I've watched all the movies. I've seen all the TV programs. No book, movie or program has made me feel a genuine emotional connection to the characters the way this program has. I've laughed, I've cried, I've been shocked, confused and amazed.
I have since discovered that the show won many awards (33), and even more nominations (99). Not enough. It will never be enough.
Thank-you to everyone involved in creating this. I'm now a fan for life.
