Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Nicholas Brendan, James Marsters

Hard to believe a series, originally made as mid-season filler, has become quite the phenomenon by season six.

The brainchild of screenwriter Joss Whedon (“Roseanne”), “Buffy” took it’s cue from the 1992 movie of the same name, picking up the events of Buffy Sommers, high schooler by day, vampire slayer by night. Unfortunately Whedon’s film was a major misfire [he blames that on the powers that be who didn’t share his vision], and the series was a chance to rectify what went wrong first time around.

Firstly, besides just being your typical “monster of the week” TV series, he would integrate some much welcomed angst and sentiment into the weekly serial, with the assimilation of relationship, family and adolescent issues. Yes, its titular character had to fight off fanged freaks by moonlight, but she also had to cope with morose boyfriends, do her homework and help iron out quandaries between pals. Oh, as well as fitting in time to train with her watcher.

To sum it up short, “Buffy” was an instant success for America’s WB network, soon becoming the networks corner stone of youth programming.

Flash forward 5 seasons on, and “Buffy” is exiting the network. Seems the station thinks the series is too costly to make each week and hence are letting it rest. But thankfully, for cast and crew, cable station UPN is waiting in the wings to pick it up.

When we last left Buffy [her last episode for the WB], she had dived head first to her bereavement, ultimately saving sister Dawn from an awaiting kismet.

In Episode One of the new series we quickly learn that Sunnydale has a real fiend setback, namely due to the dearth of the departed Slayer. So with a piff, and a poff, witch-in-training Willow brings the much-dead Buffy back to life.

Many complained that season 6 was a very dark departure for the once light, campy series - and rightfully so. The dramas flow thick, the blackness swims through the themes like rabies on a rabbit and the torment is clearer than the sun on an autumn day.

But what many are forgetting are some of the ingenious episodes this season also spawned. For instance, who could forget “Once more with Feeling”, the sensational musical episode. In this one, the entire cast belt out in song - and by Jesus, they’re bloody fantastic. Whedon wrote and composed a bunch of great tunes for his cast to sing, and boy do they resonate. Sure, Sarah Michelle’s talent is a little debatable, as is little Michelle, but Amber, Tony, Emma and James really knock your socks off. And the whole step design for the episode is just as well in-tune.

Ok so “Buffy” seems to be still finding its feet in season 6 and for that reason there’s only a small handful of outstanding episodes, but all in all it’s a worthy prolongation to one of today’s best-written, most enjoyable television series.

Extras on the disc [and boy are the extras getting better and better every season released] include a lengthy making-of featurette on the aforementioned musical episode, an in-depth documentary on the success of the series, a few bloopers, season 6 overview and various episode commentaries.

Kudos to Twentieth Century Fox for their unending admirable handling of “Buffy” on the DVD medium.