I take it everybody knows that Giles is getting his own show on the UK's BBC. It's called Ripper and is supossed to have a more mature tone than Buffy and Angel. It is to be only 6 episodes as it is a trial run. Personally I think that he should stay in Buffy. I hear that the US won't be seeing it for a while at least. That's a shame. I wonder if Buffy or the others will make an apperance. That would be cool.

I'd heard he'd be doing a show in England, but wasn't sure what it was about.

I wonder if PBS will run it in the states?

I wonder if they'll be a board for it?

It is supossed to have a Johnathan Creek sort of feel (that's another show over here.) with ghost stories, mysteries and crimes. That's all I know about it so far.

Anthony Stewart Head is also starring as The
Doctor along with Peter Davison and Slyvester
McCoy in the Doctor Who BBC Radio adventure
Excelis.(source:Sci-Fi Channel official website)

I think there's some confusion here. ASH is appearing in the Big Finish Doctor Who 'Excelis' stories, which aren't produced by the BBC.
However, he did appear briefly in the Doctor Who 'Death Comes to Time' webcast on the BBC website.
In both cases, he's not playing the Doctor.

Does anyone have the First Season DVD set? I do and there's one major nit with it. The shrinkwrapping has a sticker that says The Complete First Season 3-Disk Set All 24 Episodes, yet the back says there are 12, which of course is the case, with 4 eps per disk. I wasn't sure if I remembered correctly or not that the show was a midseason one till I got this set. It didn't say it was, it's just what I figured it had to be.
It's very sparse on extras, too. Its "exclusive" interveiw with Whedon and David Boreanaz is hardly that, being only a few minutes long at best. It would've been great to see interviews with all of the stars and maybe even some guest stars, as well as how they do the vamp makeup and SPFX. You know, the kinda stuff fans wanna see. Someone at work I talked to about it knows someone who's worked on the show (or knows someone who knows someone) and said they said that the producers needed the permission of the other stars to be shown doing interviews, which surprised me, cuz I thought Whedon or the show's producers could use them (had they given any) without their permission, but I guess not.

So far I've only seen the first five eps but what I discovered is that when you install the PCFriendly program to watch the disks, and then afterwards try to load up Netscape shortcuts like I did it won't happen (it's the main browser I use). You'll get a message that the link can't be found. There's no such problem with Internet Explorer. I found this out when even after uninstalling the PCFriendly program I still had the same problem so I searched for Netscape and was able to open it that way. Thankfully, if you already have a Netscape page opened before installing the program then you can keep using it, so all hope was not lost.

Anyways, despite all that (I'd totally missed out on the first season, unless I've seen one or two of those eps, but I'm not sure if I have yet, not till I watch all of these first) it's great to be able to see them without worrying about when they'll be on TV, and using the subtitles which are accurate and not screwy like close captionin is. Season Two's coming out in June, is 6 disks and 24 eps. It's probably twice the price, too.

The DVD set now has the correct sticker saying The Complete First Season 3-Disk Set All 12 Episodes.

I just got the Season 2 DVD set today, which is its release date, consisting of 6 disks and 22 episodes. Today I've already watched the first two disks. Some of them I'd seen in repeats on TV but decided to watch them again cuz it was only the second time for me. I'm learning more about Giles' past, too, as well as more on the origins of Angel, Spike (who's intro'd in ep 2) and Drusilla. Good to see the evil Spike again. His voice has slightly changed since the early years, too, I've noticed. Disks 1-5 each have 4 eps on them and 6 only has two, "Becoming" parts one and two.

BTW, if you're gonna buy it shop around. The highest I've heard it's going for is the abominable price of $69.99 at Best Buy, further reinforcing the fact that they aren't, cuz their's is one of the (if not the) most misleading names for a company. Other places have it for around $45, give or take a buck or two. I got it at Target with a 10% employee discount, making it an even better deal for me.

On Tuesday (6/11) I bought the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season Two DVD set at Best Buy for $39.99 plus tax. On the shelf at Best Buy where the DVD set was on display, each DVD set had a price of $69.99 on the packaging. However, in front of the display (at the base of the shelf) was a big yellow laminated tag that had each DVD set listed at $39.99. When I took a set to the checkout counter, I told the cashier about the discrepancy and asked for the correct price. He scanned the barcode and the price came up as $39.99, which between the two prices ($39.99 and $69.99) was the only price at which I would have bought the DVD set at Best Buy. So I made the purchase. That was one of the better deals around for this DVD set. However, Best Buy isn't always the "best buy" when it comes to DVD sales prices. It's best to compare prices at different stores and with different internet sellers. For high priced individual DVD items, such as multi-disc items, the internet is probably the best way to go, because the shipping and handling fee for internet purchases is usually cheaper than the sales tax for in-store purchases.

By the way, the "Buffy" Season Two DVD set is worth the price. Aside from the 22 Season Two episodes, there are four episode commentaries (David Greenwalt for "Reptile Boy", Marti Noxon for "What's My Line? Part 1" and "What's My Line? Part 2", and Joss Whedon for "Innocence"), there are several episode scripts, there are several short interviews covering other episodes, there are three featurettes that add up to a little over an hour in length (one about the show's set design, one about Season Two's villains, one about the show's makeup), and there are TV spots, cast biographies, and photo galleries. Additionally, the menus and menu transition sequences are fancier than they were on the Season One DVD set.

The only thing I'm disappointed with, regarding the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" DVD releases, is the pacing of the releases in the U.S., which lags behind the releases in the U.K. I understand this is because "Buffy" is syndicated in the U.S. (as will be "Angel" one day, hopefully), and TV networks or stations that carry the show in syndication probably wouldn't be as willing to do so, or pay as much money to do so, if the potential audience could immediately check out the episodes any time on DVD. Still, here's what "Buffy" and "Angel" DVDs are currently available in the U.K. (region 2 DVDs), but not in the U.S.:

1. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season Three DVD set - with an overview of Season Three by Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon, David Fury, Doug Petrie and Jane Espenson; documentaries on the weapons, clothes, special effects, and the show's speech/verbal tone ("Buffyspeak"); commentaries for the episodes "Helpless", "Bad Girls", "Consequences" and "Earshot" (by Fury, Petrie, James Gershman and Espenson); scripts for "Faith, Hope and Trick", "Band Candy", "Lovers Walk", and "The Wish"; gallery; cast bios.

2. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season Four DVD set - with commentaries for "The Initiative", "Hush", "This Year's Girl", "Superstar", "Primeval" and "Restless"; four featurettes ("Inside the Music", "Introducing Spike", "Hush", and "The Sets of Sunnydale"); scripts; outtakes; trailers; photo gallery; and cast bios.

3. "Angel" Season One DVD set - with commentaries for "City Of " and "Room With a View" (by Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, and Jane Espenson); interviews with creators Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt discussing the series' genesis and "City Of "; three featurettes (Cordelia, Angel, and demons); scripts for "Five By Five" and "Sanctuary"; trailers; photo gallery; cast bios.

4. "Angel" Season Two DVD set - widescreen episode presentation; commentaries for "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" and "Over the Rainbow"; four featurettes ("Making Up the Monsters", "Inside the Agency", "Season 2 Overview", "Stunts"); scripts for "Disharmony" and "Darla"; trailers; photo gallery; cast bios.

"Buffy" Season Three has tentatively been set for U.S. DVD (region 1) release in winter 2003. To my knowledge, tentative U.S. DVD release dates for "Buffy" Season Four, or "Angel" Seasons One and Two, have not been officially announced.

Aside from the 22 Season Two episodes, there are four episode commentaries (David Greenwalt for "Reptile Boy", Marti Noxon for "What's My Line? Part 1" and "What's My Line? Part 2", and Joss Whedon for "Innocence")...
None of which I can get to work on my computer's DVD drive, although the eps play fine for the most part, but with some glitches here and there. When I first put Disk 1 in the drive it said something about upgrading the InterActual Player the Series 1 set installed, so I did but nothing seemed to have happened so I dunno if it did it or not. I watched Harry Potter a couple weeks ago on it and it had some upgrades so maybe Season 2 really didn't have anything to override it. Still, I can't figure why I can't get those Special Features to work.

...there are several episode scripts, there are several short interviews covering other episodes, there are three featurettes that add up to a little over an hour in length (one about the show's set design, one about Season Two's villains, one about the show's makeup), and there are TV spots, cast biographies, and photo galleries. Additionally, the menus and menu transition sequences are fancier than they were on the Season One DVD set.
Well, I can't get these to work, either. I wonder if I'll have to buy a player for the TV, which wouldn't be so bad cuz it's got a much bigger screen, 27", as opposed to the computer's 19", which ain't too bad, actually, cuz I'm closer to it than I would be the TV so it's pretty much a fair tradeoff.

I called Best Buy and the guy quoted me that price on the phone. I didn't go into the store but I guess I should've cuz I'd've gotten it a bit cheaper than at Target but oh, well. It wasn't by much, maybe a buck or so. I know Season 3 is scheduled to be released this winter in the US, but why does England get it so much sooner than us? And Ryan, where'd you find all that info on the other Buffy and Angel sets?

It's do with syndication as he said, which I assume means that the TV stations which are buying the rights to show it don't want it released on DVD\video so that their audience will be bigger. That nonsense doesn't affect us as much over here. Stargate is also way ahead of releases in the U.S.

Well...that's just not right, I tell ya! It's not!

One thing I've noticed between the first two seasons, and which doesn't really surprise me, is that Season 1's eps were 45 minutes long, give or take a few seconds, and Season 2's are at first about 30 seconds less and then a minute or so less by the end of "Becoming, Pt. 2" (the last ep on Disk 3).

I don't know about this in the UK but here in the US it used to be you couldn't have real product placement in TV shows at all, and then eventually it was allowed but with a letter blocked out but you could still tell what the name was. Well, Buffy first premiered in 1997 and I don't remember but I think some of the Season 1 eps used actual products. I've sure noticed it a lot in Season 2, though, like Coca-Cola and Tropicana orange juice, and what's funny (for some reason that escapes me) is that there are a lot of closeups of a vending machine at the high school loaded with tons more Cheetos and Doritos than are usually put in them, and about half of them are upside-down! Any self-respecting vending machine loader guy or gal would put them ALL upright.

MarkN,

Mr. Video keeps and eye on these things and has several remarks and editorials on it (such as this one)

BuffyGuide.com (http://www.buffyguide.com) has a lot of info on "Buffy" and "Angel" DVDs and VHS tapes available in the U.S. and U.K. There is also a link from BuffyGuide.com's section on DVDs and VHS tapes which takes you to Amazon.com's U.S. and U.K. pages, where more information is available. VHS sets now available in the U.K. include "Buffy" seasons 5 and 6, and "Angel" season 3. These VHS tapes are in the PAL format, not NTSC format, which probably means that they won't play on a typical U.S. sold VCR (I'm no expert on this, so don't take it from me). Each season comes as follows:

1st 11 episodes in a 3-tape set
2nd 11 episodes in a 3-tape set

I don't know if there are any extra featurettes on these VHS tape sets. My preference is to wait for the DVD sets.

One thing I forgot to mention about those "Buffy" and "Angel" DVD sets now available in the U.S. is that they are expensive. The "Buffy" season 3 and season 4 DVD sets, and the "Angel" season 1 DVD set, are each being offered through Amazon.com(U.K.) for 73.59 British pounds, or approximately $113.24 in U.S. currency. The "Angel" season 2 DVD set is being offered through Amazon.com(U.K.) for 63.99 British pounds, or approximately $98.47 in U.S. currency.

I also noticed that, in "Buffy" season 2, the episodes started getting a little bit shorter (up to 1 and 1/2 minutes) than the 45 minute length of each season 1 episode. My prediction is that ten years from now, an "hour" show on U.S. television will be 35 minutes of episode footage and 25 minutes of commercials. Eventually, commercial TV will be just that, with 3-minute length sitcoms and dramas interrupting the commercial broadcasts every 12 minutes.

Correction to my 6/18/02, 12:05 a.m. message

In the following, "U.S." should read "U.K.":

"One thing I forgot to mention about those "Buffy" and "Angel" DVD sets now available in the U.S. ..."

I noticed that, too, Ryan. In fact, I've commented on it recently, and have been watching the player to see the timing keep getting shorter and shorter. I probably wouldn't've noticed it at first otherwise, not unless I was watching them on TV and noticed more and more commercials, as is happening more often these days, as is depicted by the above linked URL. Great article!

One thing I noticed a couple of days ago while watching the beginning of "When She Was Bad" on F/X was that in this F/X airing, a commercial break occurred in the midst of an act. On the VHS and DVD versions of television show episodes (such as those of "Buffy" seasons one and two), one can tell where the commercials were supposed to be placed when the episodes originally aired on the WB, usually because there is a dramatic moment and then a fade to black, followed by a return to that dramatic moment. In the F/X airing of "When She Was Bad" which I saw a couple of days ago, the episode went to commercial at a point right after Willow wiped ice cream off her nose while sitting at a table with Xander in The Bronze. By contrast, in the DVD version of the episode, there is no commercial break there, and the scene shifts to a cemetary, where The Annointed One and other vampires are digging up The Master's bones. My guess is that F/X wants to put its commercials where F/X wants to put them, and that doesn't necessarily correspond with where the commercials were intended to be placed.

F/X also cuts a couple of minutes out of each episode for more commercials.

Ahh, the beauty of syndication! That's what I love about the DVD sets: all the eps in their entirety without commercial interruptions. I also hate when a commercial runs too long and cuts into an ep, especially first run ones.

I'm surprised to find out that FX is cutting minutes out of re-runs of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", given that the episode lengths are roughly 43 1/2 to 45 minutes. Seriously, how much commercial time do these networks need in a given hour? There should be a disclaimer before any TV show episode cut for syndication, explaining that the episode has been edited to run in the time allotted for non-commercial programming. I do realize that this will never happen.