Seeking advice: How to watch Buffy/Angel DVD's?

POSTED BY: Succatash
UPDATED: Saturday, September 11, 2004 05:40
VIEWED: 10923
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ECGORDON

Sunday, March 21, 2004 3:38 PM

Okay, I'll admit I am another who has not given Buffy/Angel a chance. Wasn't interested when Buffy first started, and the few times I caught it after that I didn't care for it, and of course have never seen more than a minute or two of Angel while channel surfing.

But I'm also willing to give it a chance now that I am a certified Firefly junkie. Only problem is I can't afford the DVD sets, and probably won't for a long time.

Can anyone tell me where in the show the FX repeats are right now, and when they might get back to season one of Buffy?

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

PHLEBOTININ

Sunday, March 21, 2004 4:41 PM

ecgordon,

you'll have to wait a while to start with Buffy season 1. They're now wrapping up season 2 and they'll go all the way through season 7 before returning to season 1.

Check the FX website for a running schedule, plus a quickie episode guide, which lists them all in order.

Definitely give Buffy a chance. It's fun, but more than that it's a brilliant series of nested metaphors for the hell of growing into adulthood. Joss is a genius alone for the "high school on a hellmouth" metaphor. All ages can enjoy watching Buffy, though. I know a few ardent fans in their sixties. No kidding. They're perfectly sane, too. And smarter than all hell.

LINDLEY

Sunday, March 21, 2004 5:26 PM

It won't take as long as you think to wrap back to season 1. There's 7-10 episodes a *week*.

I just started watching with the latest run-through on FX, actually. I think that restarted on Feb 25th. Its not even a month later, and its already gone through two seasons. (Well, the first season *is* only 12 eps, but still....)

Its possible that Angel might wrap back to the beginning sooner than that, depending on whether TNT adds season 4 to its 5pm rotation.

BEEJ

Sunday, March 21, 2004 6:02 PM

Greetings FFers,
Welcome to my very first post! I've been lurking for ages, loving the interaction here.

In reply to Eggordon, I have a confession. I haven't owned a tv in 6 1/2 years. Please, no stone throwing...don't want to crack the screen on my iMac. Which, of course, is where I was introduced to Firefly, and where I've seen 5 seasons of Buffy and the 3 seasons of Angel. All at my leisure and without pesky commercials.

You might ask HOW?

Enter the greatest service since pump-it-yourself gas...NETFLIX. If you aren't into investing in the dvd box sets...toddle over to Netflix.com and click on 'rent the series', then watch the discs file into your mailbox. It's a thing of wonder, I tell you. Since they opened a distribution center near me, it's nearly a one day turn around from disk to disk.

Email may be killing the post office, but Netflix is reviving it.

"It's what space trash does..."

ECGORDON

Monday, March 22, 2004 12:36 AM

Concerning Netflix

You can only have three discs out at a time, right? That's fine for the first season of Buffy, but the second season set is six discs. Do they treat the television box sets differently than they do movies, or are you still limited to three discs at a time?

Also, with my very erratic work schedule, I'm not sure I could get good use out of that service. There are days (sometimes weeks) at a time I don't have much time for watching tv or anything else. That's why I rarely rent dvds from local stores either.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

SASJA

Monday, March 22, 2004 12:26 PM

Back on topic: If you're watching the shows like they're meant to be, with one episode each week, I agree that alternating between Buffy season 4 and Angel season 1 is the best way to watch them. However, if you're like me and watch as many as you can in one sitting, it's too frustrating to keep being interrupted - when you're watching Angel, you want to keep watching Angel and the same for Buffy. So in that case, I'll recommend another order: switch as few times as possible, while preserving the order of cross-overs.

*** Mild spoiler warning: From the order of the episodes below you'll be able to tell when the crossovers will come. If you'd rather be surprised, don't read further ***

Optimised for minimum number of switches, while preserving the order of all crossover story lines:

Buffy 4x01 - 4x03
Angel 1x01 - 1x07
Buffy 4x04 - 4x08
Angel 1x08 - 1x17
Buffy 4x09 - 4x16
Angel 4x18 - 4x22
Buffy 4x17 - 4x22

Very rarely, the above list will have a comment postponed. Assume for instance that there is a story line which starts at Buffy week 1, continues at Angel week 1, and then gets a single comment on Buffy week 2, and there are no crossovers until week 6. In that case, the above list will recommend Buffy week 1, Angel week 1-5, and then back to Buffy. So the comment on Buffy will come after you've seen a few more Angel episodes. If you in that case would rather have seen Buffy week 1, Angel week 1, Buffy week 2, take the order below. It has every little crossover remark not only in the correct order, but also in the exact right place - yet you don't have to switch quite as often as every episode, and you'll still see cross-over story arcs spanning several episodes consecutively:

Buffy 4x01
Angel 4x01 - 4x02
Buffy 4x02 - 4x03
Angel 4x03 - 1x06
Buffy 4x04 - 4x07
Angel 4x07
Buffy 4x08
Angel 4x08 - 4x17
Buffy 4x09 - 4x16
Angel 4x17 - 4x19
Buffy 4x17 - 4x22
Angel 4x20 - 4x22

I recommend the first list, but anyway, now you have the options
Enjoy!

BEEJ

Monday, March 22, 2004 3:52 PM

Sorry Sasja,
I clearly posted this to the wrong thread, but Eggordon did ask the question. So, I'll make a quick reply and then slink away. [feelin'the love!]

Yes, E. Basic membership allows 3 disks, but really, it works out well for me. If I had ALL the episodes at once, I'd be a zombie...poor impulse control. And an erratic schedule is precisely WHY it works for me. No trapsing to the video store, standing in line and/or late fees. And even if I had a tv in my home, I couldn't schedule around broadcast times!

The optimum choice is to buy the set but in the meantime...

"That's what space trash does..."

EMBASSY

Monday, March 22, 2004 6:02 PM

Dear Succatash,

Your experience mirrors my own. On Thanksgiving in 2001, a friend forced me to sit down and watch the first three episodes on FX in reruns. I managed to see the rest of them in order, although it was a real effort not to peek ahead. Buffy-binging is the only way to really get into the 'verse.

Here's how bad my family got the bug. We actually went to http://www.bombayelectronics.com to buy a region-free DVD player (Only about 80 dollars -- come on, you know you want one) and bought the DVD sets from http://www.amazon.co.uk. We've even talked others in our neighborhood into doing likewise. So when we're on vacation in England next month, we're scooping up the season 7 Buffy and season 4 Angel DVDs.

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Monday, March 22, 2004 10:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Succatash:
So I must ask, what's the best way to watch Buffy & Angel on DVD?

They used to release the Buffy and Angel seasons on the same day over here, half a season at a time on video. I used to watch Buffy up till the crossover episode, then swap to Angel, then back. In this era of multi-DVD players, I guess you could watch an episode of each easily.

Oddly, as time went on, I found myself wanting to watch Angel first, because it was the better show IMO - hence I watched Buffy first all the way to avoid poor (comparative people!) comparisons.

"I threw up on your bed"

SPIKEANDJEZEBEL

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 10:18 PM

All lights off,
naked,
slathered with Vaseline,
brand new tub of Red Vines at your side.

Wow, sounds great - do you live in California by any chance? :-)

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