Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Complete Fifth Season Slim Set

Customer Reviews

"We will bring you the limp and beaten body of Bob Barker"

2008-08-06
RELAX...the quote in my review title is straight from Season Five. No actual Bob Barker was harmed during the filming of this review.

As Season Five opens, this show had safely made the full transition from Sunnydale High to the college years, and instead of getting entrenched in "Buffy Hills 90210" petty collegiate fluff, it headed straight into death, loss, and gut-wrenching emotions.

As a season-long central villain, Glory mixes the every-hair-in-place diva obsession of Cordelia with the twisted and consistently disturbing psyche of Drusilla (who returns to find her ex-lover Spike "tired of playing" her kind of games). Glory's "minions" provide fawning comic relief in an otherwise heavy season (one of them is the source of the quote mentioned above). Think "Smithers" from "The Simpsons" in little ogre bodies.

The new "central hub" for meetings is Giles' new business venture, the magic shop. After witnessing the death of the store's umpteenth owner, he sees profit in his future, buys the store, and hires Anya as his cashier (more comic relief). Naturally, it also becomes a favorite visiting place of demons with heavy blunt objects, who inflict thousands of dollars worth of damage on the store and its merchandise as the season progresses.

There's some closure with the characters of Riley and Buffy's mom (hence much of the season's dire weight), as well as the show's writers filling in the blanks on the mystery / backstory of Buffy's little sister Dawn (and her link to Glory).

It would have been extremely easy for the show's creators to play it safe in Season Five by establishing a formula and cranking out tiresome episode after episode. They chose to do the opposite...to take some big risks, to pull out some major surprises, to defy expectations.

There's a significant emphasis on Spike in Season Five, culminating in a "spoiler moment" that comes at the end of Episode 18, "Intervention." As actor James Marsters has mentioned on a number of occasion, Whedon's original plan for the character was to kill him off after his initial appearance. Luckily for the series, they took a sharp left turn and decided to develop Spike into one of the show's most memorable characters.

In the Season Four box set, there's some discussion of the episode "Hush." Apparently someone told creator Joss Whedon that THE reason for the show's success...the SINGLE REASON...was the dialogue between Buffy and the other characters, the verbal interplay. It was shortly after receiving that feedback that Whedon decided to craft an episode that was completely silent after the first few minutes.

I've got to believe that a similar desire to defy expectations and "think outside of the box" went into the production of this season.

Buffy Season 5

2008-07-27
I love this series, I like season five. Glory is a great villian, but so far season six is the all time best!!!

Wonderful! Have you checked out the comic books?

2008-07-03
I'm a big Buffy and Angel fan, so 5 stars goes without saying. But have you checked out the comic books? Finally season 8 by Joss Whedon!

Great

2008-07-03
The Slim set is so nice, fits on the shelf well and the episodes are fantastic. I love the special features.

Another slam dunk for Joss!

2008-05-04
I became hooked on the Buffy series after my brother forced me to watch it. That's all it took and I was completely addicted. Season 5 presents a completely new challenge for Buffy, which makes it one of the more interesting seasons. My favorite season is 4 (I give that one 5 1/2 stars); I was worried this one would be a let down, but Joss continued to deliver quality television once again.

Buffy Season 5

2008-05-03
No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 30-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD

Love the show, but my set was missing a disc!

2008-04-30
I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I have all 7 seasons on DVD. But when I bought this season, it arrived missing disc 5, which is a crucial part of the season. I contacted customer service, and they said since I had opened the DVD set I could not return it. I think they didn't beleive me about it missing the disc. But other than that I highly recommend this season! But you have to watch season 4 as well - That's when the show really starts to build.

the herion revealed

2008-04-28
i really enjoyed this year of buffy the vampire slayer from its ups to its downs. i remember when dawn was origianlly interjected in the tv series and people where taken aback..what insert a new character with no intro, lol.well it worked well for this series..the sisterly interplay betwween dawn and buffy through the year were outstanding and allowed the developement of the other characters as well...all in all a great season.

Buffy the Vampire slayer

2008-04-20
For those who love the Buffy series, this was great. Arrived quickly and no problems. priced well.

Love this series!

2008-03-19
I really love this series and the DVDs always have lots of extras. Start with season one and enjoy them all. (My husband loved it too once I talked him into giving it a shot!)