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List Price: $59.98 | | Label: WB Television Network, The
Salesrank: 18938
Released: January 7, 2003 |
| Our Price: $26.60 |
| Used Price: $10.99 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
All 22 classic episodes are available for the first time in this exclusive 6-disc collector’s edition. From "Faith, Hope & Trick," "Band Candy" and "Bad Girls" to "Consequences," "Enemies" and "Graduation Day, Part Two," these Season Three episodes are a must for every true Buffy fan.
Description of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season:
The third season of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer was marked by the arrival in Sunnydale of renegade slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), a moody loner who seemed to like her demon-staking calling just a little too much. While Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was always wary of Faith, the two developed a deep friendship and appreciative rapport--that is, until the evil mayor of Sunnydale (Harry Groener) tapped into Faith's dark side and lured her into his plot to take over the world, first as a double agent spying on Buffy, then as out-and-out nemesis. And as the mayor's ascension approached--which happened to fall on Sunnydale High's graduation day--Buffy and Faith's battles got nastier and nastier, as Buffy attempted to wrestle with her dark side (literally and figuratively), save the world and her friends, and keep her lover Angel (David Boreanaz) out of Faith's evil clutches.
Chock-full of exceptional episodes, this third season started out with a bang (the superb season opener "Anne," in which a runaway Buffy finally returns to her Slayer calling) and never let up. Among other highlights, the season introduced former vengeance demon and soon-to-be regular Anya (Emma Caulfield), fleshed out Angel's tortured character (and readied him for his own series), and featured a hilarious doppelganger Willow (Alyson Hannigan), a vampire from a parallel universe, who in Willow's own words was "evil and... skanky... and kinda gay!" (Total foreshadowing there, folks.) The season's pièce de résistance, though, was the two-parter "Graduation Day," wherein Faith tries to kill Angel, and the students of Sunnydale High prepare to do battle with a mutated mayor and his army of demons. Aside from the series' exceptional writing and acting, this compelling year of Buffy was anchored by the consistently excellent Gellar, as well as Dushku's complicated Faith, a girl you truly love to hate. By the time you finish these episodes, Faith will have cast a spell on you that you'll find very hard to shake. --Mark Englehart
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season Reviews:
Not quite what I expected.... 
2009-11-22 - I ordered the slim set, and received the older wide set. I'm not too upset because the discs still worked and the delivery was pretty fast, but still, you expect to get what you ordered.....
When door closes another one opens 
2009-10-17 - Angel's last full season on Buffy, Faith's first. Just as the final year of high school ushers in a new chapter in the characters lives, it also brings in a rogue slayer as a protagonist for Buffy and the Scoobie Gang. Dusted Vamps, killed critters, heroic action, just what the doctor ordered. The big finale sees the loss of the high school and Buffy's one true love. Excellent writing and compelling acting with plenty of special effects to boot. The Joss Whedon blueprint.
Great follow-up 
2009-10-16 - This third season of Buffy was great, it picked up right where season 2 left off. Buffy is now living in LA, in a depression after being forced to kill Angel at the end of the last season. Back in Sunny dale, her friends are trying to fill the void left by her absence, hunting the vampires on their own. The very first episode, "Anne", is one of my favorite episodes in the series, and also my favorite season premiere. I mean, the season just opened with a bang. Somehow, that whole slave thing underground reminded me of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." Anyway, Buffy eventually returns to Sunnydale after remembering her calling. At first, her mom and her friends seem happy to have her back, but with time, Buffy realizes that they are all very angry with her for leaving the way she did.
Now I just want to say something here that I haven't said in my earlier reviews of this series. I hate Buffy's mom. She's such a control freak. I mean, in the first two seasons, it was understandable for her to be so overbearing. She didn't know that Buffy was the slayer. She thought Buffy was just immature. Now that she knows, she's going to be more understanding, right? Well, no. She, along with Willow and Xander, are very angry at Buffy for leaving Sunnydale. Um, WHAT!? Buffy just killed the man she loved, she sacrificed him to save the world! And let's not forget the fact that she lost just about everything else, too. She was, at the time, wanted for murder, expelled from school, and kicked out of her house by her mother. You know, the same one who's angry at her for leaving. So Buffy left for a few months to be alone for a while. Only someone as strong as Buffy could have had all that happen to her and not gone insane or committed suicide. And her friends are mad at her for putting them through...what? I would have expected this from her mom, but her friends? I don't know. This whole thing seemed kinda contrived to me.
So Buffy makes up with her mom and her friends. The next episode, "Faith, Hope, and Trick", introduced Faith, a character that many people love and/or love to hate. She's a new slayer, the one who was called after Kendra's death. Faith is the polar opposite of Buffy. Not a lot is said about her childhood, but we get the impression that she came from a very disfunctional family. Her watcher has been killed, and a very dangerous vampire named Kakistos is after her. Her and Buffy are able to kill Kakistos, and they start to become friends. However, Faith's dark side starts to take over her, and she ends up allying herself with the Mayor of Sunnydale, who wants to take over the world by turning into a pure demon. I love the character of Faith, and I love what they do to her in future seasons of Buffy and Angel.
Angel is somehow brought back from Hell. How? We don't really know. It's hinted at that the First brought him back, but we never really find out for sure. That's kind of annoying. Angel and Buffy try to stay apart, but find it too hard to not be involved with each other. At the end of the season, Angel decides to leave Sunnydale and seek out his own spin-off show in LA. I think this was a wise move on the part of the writers, since Angel didn't really have all that much to do in this season. And his show was awesome.
There were a few things I didn't like about this season. First of all, the relationship between Cordelia and Xander ends when he cheats on her with Willow. And then Cordelia goes back to being a snotty brat like she was in season one. That kind of disarmed what they did to her in season two, starting to make her into a nicer person. Secondly, Principal Snyder. At the end of season 2, when he expells Buffy from school, they make it seem like he's working for the mayor. He knows that they are on a hellmouth, and it's hinted at that he knows Buffy is the slayer. However, in this season, it seems that he does not know anything about the mayor's plans. Thirdly, this season introduced the character Anya. I loathed this character. I will have more to say about her in upcoming reviews. There are a few instances here and there where you can see small mistakes the writers made. They are not huge, but you can see that this was leading to the crap we had to watch in seasons 4, 5, and 7.
Even with my minor complaints, this season is very good. There are excellent comedic episodes, such as "Homecoming", "Band Candy", "Lover's Walk", and "The Zeppo". There are also dark episodes, such as "The Wish", "Amends", "Bad Girls" and "Helpless." There are also some stupid episodes, like "Dead Man's Party" and "Gingerbread". The season finale, "Graduation Day", was excellent. My friends and I actually did something like that at our high school graduation. Only we used guns. Lots of guns. Overall, this season was very well-done, and a good followup to season two. I didn't like it as much as season 2, but it was still very entertaining.
Thanks Guys
2009-10-16 - Product better than expected (which always nice), received earlier than expected, and I am very very pleased!
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season Slim Set
2009-10-11 - Product arrived as described on time and in great condition. We will purchase from this vendor again.
