Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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lance
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buffy

Post by lance » Jun 6th 2003, 9:54 am

Hmmm,

Picking the best buffy seasons...

(Best) Hard, I guess I would go with Season Two:

That year had such intensity that was definately lacking from later seasons. The arcs were so well planned out that it reminded me of Babylon 5 Seasons 2-4. Joss started the season dealing with Buffy's issues left over from Season One. There was Buffy's greatest challenge taking down the love of her life. In addition she had to deal with the consequences her relationship had on her friends.

(Really Good) Season One, Three:

Season One set the stage. Yes, it ocassionally had the "creature of the week" feel to it, but I was okay with it. The characters got set up and the actors got to get a feel for the parts.

Season Three was a great season. Again we see how Joss resolves the issues left over from Season Two. We see the intensity crank up again as the gang goes to deal with the mayor. The addition of Anya (Sab-one of my favorite charaters too) to the cast is a welcome one.

(Good) Season Four, Five:

Season Four: While not one of the best IMHO still a good season. The characters have to struggle with life after High School and they do drift for a while. More great Anya scenes! The addition of Spike as a regular was really cool.

Season Five: A decent series with a pretty good bad ass.

(Okay)

Season Six: Season struggled mightly to get on track. I think the lack of a clear bad ass didn't help. Still nice to see Willow and Tara.

(Worst:)

Season Seven: I think MSCL's own Candygirl had the most revelent observations: We showed up on Tuesday night (in the US) to watch Buffy but we weren't eager to see as we were in previous seasons. The writing was extremely disjointed, as if the writers of the episdoes didn't talk to one another nor had the bothered to bone up on what had happended previously.

Also, those of us in the US had to suffer through one new episode, followed by three weeks of repeats before another new episode. What ever moment the show was starting to build was lost by the frequent repeats.

Buffy was not as likable as in previous seasons. She was very preachy and bitchy. Season 7 even poked fun at this with the episode where Andrew uses his camcorder to document events.

I did like the finale.

Best,

Lance Man

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Post by lance » Jun 8th 2003, 1:39 pm

candygirl wrote:Someone on another forum said that they were able to buy the Buffy S4 set at Walmart today, even though it isn't being released until next Tuesday!

:shock:
I went out to my local Media Play yesterday (Media Play is part of the same corporate family as OnCue, Suncoast and Sam Goody) and their were 25 copies of Buffy Season Four.

Maybe Media Play and other retailers knowing that Wal Mart is ignoring the street release dates, just went ahead and put out Buffy. The may have figured that the sales that they made by releasing Buffy early would make up for any grief they would get from the studios.

Has anyone ever heard of a retailer being fined or penalized by a studio for releasing DVDs earlier than the street date?

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Lance Man

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Jun 10th 2003, 3:40 pm

So did you buy a copy at Media Play?

I did not go to Wal Mart to buy S4 a few days early. I already can't stand Wal Mart on multiple principles, but now the latest "we won't sell Maxim" and "we're hiding the cover of Cosmo" business is above and beyond how annoyed I have been with them for the past five years or so. Granted, I haven't been inside a Wal Mart for about three years now, so it's possible that they are all clean, well-organized, and staffed with competent employees, but based upon my phone call last week to verify that they had Buffy S4 in stock (which resulted in being asked, "Jody the Vampire Four?" and then having an employee put he phone down (not on hold) for five minutes until another employee wandered by, picked up the phone, and asked, "Hello? Is someone helping you?"), I'm gonna go with "Wal Mart still sucks."

I am so excited about being able to buy S4 - I am counting the hours until I can leave work and give my hard-earned money to Cost Co! Seven commentaries and three of them by Joss, plus four featurettes (five if you include the S4 overview one). Mmmmmmm.
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Post by fnordboy » Jun 10th 2003, 4:08 pm

Jody the Vampire Four was by far the best spin off Joss has done. Angel is nothing compared to it. :lol: :shock: :roll:

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Post by Nostradamus » Jun 10th 2003, 7:51 pm

fnordboy wrote:Jody the Vampire Four was by far the best spin off Joss has done. Angel is nothing compared to it. :lol: :shock: :roll:
No way! Joss should have cut it off at JtV3; Jody Four just didn't hold up to the previous standard...

:? :P
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Post by Guest » Jun 11th 2003, 3:26 am

I know most BtVS fans buy the DVD sets as soon as they are released, but for anyone who needs S2 or S3 (or would like to buy them as a gift for someone!), Cost Co is selling all three sets and AtS S1 for $40 each. If you buy Buffy S4 along with any of the other sets (Buffy S3-4 or AtS S1), you get an automatic $20 discount at the register. My youngest sister, who is the one who got me hooked on Buffy and consequently Angel, just got a DVD player so I bought her Buffy S2 for her birthday - coincidentally this week!

Best Buy is running a similar sale - if you buy any 2 Buffy sets, you get an additional $15 off. If you buy any 3 Buffy sets, you get $30 off. If you buy all 4 sets, you get $50 off. The only catch is their price is $46 per set, so if you are like me (only need S4 and figure that a $20 set makes a good gift), Cost Co is the better deal. However, if you have been putting off buying all the sets until now, Best Buy has a deal for you!

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Post by fnordboy » Jun 11th 2003, 10:37 am

Anonymous wrote:I know most BtVS fans buy the DVD sets as soon as they are released, but for anyone who needs S2 or S3 (or would like to buy them as a gift for someone!), Cost Co is selling all three sets and AtS S1 for $40 each. If you buy Buffy S4 along with any of the other sets (Buffy S3-4 or AtS S1), you get an automatic $20 discount at the register.
Very cool. Thanks. I need to get Angel so that will work perfectly for me. Guess I'm hitting CostCo soon. :)

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Post by lance » Jun 11th 2003, 11:56 am

candygirl wrote:So did you buy a copy at Media Play?
Actually this time I got my copy via Amazon.com. This was a birthday present from my mother-in-law and I got with one day shipping. Woohoo!

Also picked up Farscape 3.2 via Amazon.

I did not go to Wal Mart to buy S4 a few days early. I already can't stand Wal Mart on multiple principles, but now the latest "we won't sell Maxim" and "we're hiding the cover of Cosmo" business is above and beyond how annoyed I have been with them for the past five years or so. Granted, I haven't been inside a Wal Mart for about three years now, so it's possible that they are all clean, well-organized, and staffed with competent employees, but based upon my phone call last week to verify that they had Buffy S4 in stock (which resulted in being asked, "Jody the Vampire Four?" and then having an employee put he phone down (not on hold) for five minutes until another employee wandered by, picked up the phone, and asked, "Hello? Is someone helping you?"), I'm gonna go with "Wal Mart still sucks."
I hear you about Wal Mart. I don't shop there unless the wife insists on going. I had heard about the fact that 3 out 5 of their employees are unable to afford health insurance. I had heard of numerous charges that Wal-Mart made employees work unpaid overtime. I had also heard that Walmart was being sued in mulitple states for sexual discrimination in its hiring for management positions.

My source on this can be found at:

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/index.html

Scroll down to the Special Features section and select "Wal-Mart's Social and Economic Impact".

I had not heard "we won't sell Maxim" and "we're hiding the cover of Cosmo" business. However, this does not suprise me. Kroger here in Cincinnati, at the urging of local conservative evangelical groups, keeps Cosmo behind a cover.

I know many of you here are not a fan of the Dixie Chicks or their political beliefs. They were featured on the Entertainment Weekly. However, no retailer in my area (Media Play, Kroger) would carry that issue. I called them but they refused to tell me why they would not sell that issue of Entertainment Weekly.
I am so excited about being able to buy S4 - I am counting the hours until I can leave work and give my hard-earned money to Cost Co! Seven commentaries and three of them by Joss, plus four featurettes (five if you include the S4 overview one). Mmmmmmm.
I am glad that your are excited about Buffy Season Four. Enjoy.

Best,

Lance Man

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Post by lance » Jun 11th 2003, 11:57 am

Anonymous wrote:I know most BtVS fans buy the DVD sets as soon as they are released, but for anyone who needs S2 or S3 (or would like to buy them as a gift for someone!), Cost Co is selling all three sets and AtS S1 for $40 each. If you buy Buffy S4 along with any of the other sets (Buffy S3-4 or AtS S1), you get an automatic $20 discount at the register. My youngest sister, who is the one who got me hooked on Buffy and consequently Angel, just got a DVD player so I bought her Buffy S2 for her birthday - coincidentally this week!

Best Buy is running a similar sale - if you buy any 2 Buffy sets, you get an additional $15 off. If you buy any 3 Buffy sets, you get $30 off. If you buy all 4 sets, you get $50 off. The only catch is their price is $46 per set, so if you are like me (only need S4 and figure that a $20 set makes a good gift), Cost Co is the better deal. However, if you have been putting off buying all the sets until now, Best Buy has a deal for you!
Thanks for the info, I will spread the word.

Best,

Lance Man

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Jun 19th 2003, 4:34 am

lance wrote:
candygirl wrote:Someone on another forum said that they were able to buy the Buffy S4 set at Walmart today, even though it isn't being released until next Tuesday!

:shock:
Has anyone ever heard of a retailer being fined or penalized by a studio for releasing DVDs earlier than the street date?
Not only is J.K. Rowling suing the Daily News for $100 million (insert Austin Powers laugh here) for publishing a preview of book #5 (which was bought at a Brooklyn health food store, but...
In an unrelated incident, the Canadian unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is investigating the premature appearance of the book after a woman bought a copy at one of its outlets near Montreal, nine days ahead of launch, officials said on Wednesday.
For the whole story, see here
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Post by fnordboy » Jun 19th 2003, 11:26 am

I don't understand why the book world is getting all pissy about stores breaking release date. It happens with DVDs all the time, especially anime DVDs. I have gotten some DVDs a month prior to release just because it was put out early. And from what I hear Walmart is one of the biggest perps in breaking release.

As far as Buffy goes, I picked up S4 this past weekend, Suncoast had a deal with if you buy S4 than you can get BtVS the movie free, so I ended up going with that deal. 4 episodes in and I have to say I am not digging this season too much, but I also know that this is one of the worst from some of the comments said here and elsewhere.

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Jun 19th 2003, 1:14 pm

As far as overall arc/big bad, S4 is kind of a stinker but you have to get through it so that you can watch S5 which is much better! Although I am not a big fan of S4, there are some great individual episodes.

I guess I don't understand the book/dvd/music world because to me, early release is similar to finding out the sex of your baby before it's born - some people want to wait and have it be a surprise, but you're going to find out sooner or later, right?

:lol:

In terms of books/movies/music, people are going to read/see/hear your product one way or another, so who cares if it's a week before the release date? Do they really think that the people who work at Borders don't take theirs home the day the shipment arrives? No, of course not because they are paid enough to maintain their integrity and wait until the official release date!
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Post by Nostradamus » Jun 19th 2003, 8:45 pm

Don't forget to watch Angel S1 concurrently with Buffy S4; the crossover stories aren't vital, but they could be confusing if not seen in context.
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Post by lance » Jun 20th 2003, 10:45 am

fnordboy wrote:I don't understand why the book world is getting all pissy about stores breaking release date. It happens with DVDs all the time, especially anime DVDs. I have gotten some DVDs a month prior to release just because it was put out early. And from what I hear Walmart is one of the biggest perps in breaking release.

As far as Buffy goes, I picked up S4 this past weekend, Suncoast had a deal with if you buy S4 than you can get BtVS the movie free, so I ended up going with that deal. 4 episodes in and I have to say I am not digging this season too much, but I also know that this is one of the worst from some of the comments said here and elsewhere.
I guess it would not be that big of a deal, but then why have street dates in the first place? If you can get a book, DVD, CD earlier than the street date it would be cool for the fans if this was widely advertised so all fans could all get their copy early.

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Post by lance » Jun 20th 2003, 10:49 am

candygirl wrote:As far as overall arc/big bad, S4 is kind of a stinker but you have to get through it so that you can watch S5 which is much better! Although I am not a big fan of S4, there are some great individual episodes.

I guess I don't understand the book/dvd/music world because to me, early release is similar to finding out the sex of your baby before it's born - some people want to wait and have it be a surprise, but you're going to find out sooner or later, right?

:lol:

In terms of books/movies/music, people are going to read/see/hear your product one way or another, so who cares if it's a week before the release date? Do they really think that the people who work at Borders don't take theirs home the day the shipment arrives? No, of course not because they are paid enough to maintain their integrity and wait until the official release date!
Candy,

I agree with you Season Four is okay, but they are some really good individual episodes. Interesting that they chose to pattern the box cover art from one episode: Hush.

For Anya fans there is some significant character development.

Questioning the integrity of our vaunted, minium wage paid retail workers
:wink: ?

For shame. :wink:

Best,

Lance Man

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