I hope ANGEL S4 is reviewed soon...

[Nick Martin]

...as I loved Adam Tyner's reviews of Seasons 2 and 3.

They were great!

[Adam Tyner]

Thanks! It's in the mail and should hopefully be here sometime in the next few days.

Because the story is one monstrous arc, it'll be a tougher review to write since I try to be light on spoilers, but this is my favorite season of the series.

[ThickAsABrick]

That's strange AT, I've always found S4 to be the most hated out of all of them. I didn't hate it, but it's not my favorite..

[Adam Tyner]

Nah, season 1 is much more widely disliked. I'm curious to see if I still consider it my favorite after a second viewing. I'm four episodes in right now...

[Josh Z]

Originally posted by Adam Tyner
Nah, season 1 is much more widely disliked.

I think you're dead wrong on that. Season 1 is a little uneven, but it sets up the formula for the show and has a lot of good episodes. Most fans seem to enjoy it. Season 4 is when the show lost track of what it was originally supposed to be, and almost irredeemably ruined some of the characters' personalities. I'm just glad that season 5 wasn't as dreary as season 4, and seemed to bring things back around.

[Adam Tyner]

Originally posted by Josh Z
I think you're dead wrong on that.

Just going from the impression I've gotten from the various message boards I read, such as this thread on Television without Pity (http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=2772471&st=0). I don't dislike the first season (and the word "dislike" in my original post doesn't really reflect what I mean; "is the least liked" is more accurate), but I do think it's fairly bland and uninvolving. I didn't start to really get into the show until Faith showed up.

I really liked season three my first and second times through, but a recent revisit was almost unbearable. The best episodes are still wonderful, but that stretch of "Dad" through "Couplet" is borderline-unwatchable. It took me longer to rewatch those few episodes than it did to watch the first two and a half seasons combined.

We definitely do not see eye to eye on the last two seasons of the show. I think season five got on track around halfway through, but the first batch of episodes are horrendous. It'll be interesting to see if the Jasmine arc plays as well the second time through. The more I think about it, the more astonished I am that I bought into it with that first viewing.

[Gil Jawetz]

I think season 4 is terrific. It's totally bizarre, very dark, extremely complicated, and very different from the seasons that came before. I like all the weird twists and i remember trying to fill a fan of the previous seasons who had missed four in on everything that had happened. There were just so many insance twists that it was impossible to convey it all. Cool stuff.

[Lara Means]

Season 4 was a terrific season. It truly was Angel at his finest.

[Zodiac_Speaking]

Hey Adam, stop posting and hurry up the review ! ;)

Kidding, even though S4 is a must purchase, I like reading your reviews. Good luck writing a non-spoilerish review (I personally think its a tad impossible).

I enjoyed all 5 seasons of Angel. People say claim S1 was scattershot, but remember Whedon wanted a anthonlogy tyoe show like XFiles or Twilight Zone, but we all know Buffyverse works better in continuity, so when S3-4 rolled around, it was deemed too continuity heavy, so S5 was beginning to be like S1 and then people bitch, so it was ended in continuity. Sheesh! People are hard to please!

[Gil Jawetz]

In the Buffyverse nothing is ever a true anthology. Even S1 of Angel has a ton of threadds running through it. Angel was never truly bad. It had some rough spots but it's the rare case of going out on top (which is more than I can say for Buffy)

[Josh-da-man]

Angel's first season is probably the weakest of all of the twelve seasons of Buffy/Angel.

For most of the first season, the show didn't have much in the way of an arc, and there were quite a few "clunker" episodes. "She" and "I Fall to Pieces" are easily two of the worst Buffyverse episodes ever aired. "She" is like a lame first season DS9 ep, and "I Fall to Pieces" would've made a forgettable X-File.

Another problem with Angel's first season is the limited cast. All you have is essentially Cordelia in flaky Sunnydale mode and Wesley in goofy mode. Which isn't a whole lot to work with, characterwise. At least on Buffy they had a larger core cast to fall back on. Fortunately, these two characters were allowed to develop over the next few seasons.

Even so, there are still a handful of decent episodes scattered throughout the series, and a solid arc began to gel by the final five episodes.

[Gil Jawetz]

Originally posted by Josh-da-man
Angel's first season is probably the weakest of all of the twelve seasons of Buffy/Angel.

Even if I didn't like Angel S1 so much I'd have to disagree. Buffy S7 is just dreck.

[Mike Long]

I've just finished Episode 13 of ANGEL season 4, and so far I'm very impressed. As noted above, there are many great twists and even things that I knew were going to happen (from hearing others discuss the show) didn't happen in the way that I thought it would. I may have a marathon session tonight just so I can see how it all ends!

[Adam Tyner]

Originally posted by jonpeters
Hey Adam, stop posting and hurry up the review ! ;)
<a href="http://dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12183">Okay.</a>

(Sorry it took so long, but when I review these sorts of sets, I watch every episode and sit through every commentary. There's around 21 hours of material on this set.)

[Zodiac_Speaking]

Good review. I like reading them even though I'm a rabid buffy/Angel fan and purchasing their season sets are a no brainer.

[Adam Tyner]

Thanks!

[critterdvd]

I think im the only one that found Angel season 1, the best in the angel series...

[Doughboy]

Based on your review, Adam, it sounds like the R1 transfers are about on par with the R2 set. The episodes look good(certainly better than they did when first broadcast on the WB), but I found Season 3 to have slightly better video quality.

The "Previously on Angel" intros being removed was to be expected, but it's still a terrible decision. Especially given that in Season 4, a lot of those intros led directly into the episodes. In fact, Tim Minear addressed that in his commentary for "Home" on the R2 DVDs. I imagine those remarks will just be deleted on the R1 set.

Originally posted by critterdvd
I think im the only one that found Angel season 1, the best in the angel series...

I think Season 1 is Angel's worst, although "Five By Five" and "Sanctuary" are my favorite episodes in the entire series.

[Adam Tyner]

Originally posted by Doughboy
I imagine those remarks will just be deleted on the R1 set.

They must have been -- I don't remember that being brought up. I think the commentary for "Orpheus" might have been shifted around too -- the introductions come after the first set of comments.

[Elpresidentepez]

I think Angel is a rare example of a show getting better with each season. The first two seasons had the most stand alone episodes and many of them were boring. Angel was at it's best when the focus was on the main (or some recurring) characters.

[Gil Jawetz]

Originally posted by Elpresidentepez
I think Angel is a rare example of a show getting better with each season. The first two seasons had the most stand alone episodes and many of them were boring. Angel was at it's best when the focus was on the main (or some recurring) characters.

And although S5 wasn't the most even season, the finale was so fantastic it really made up for it.

And just one quick comment about how annoying the removal of the previously's from Fox shows. What is their problem? I remember being pissed about this back on Xfiles S1. And to not have it for Buffy S5 finale is a friggin crime!

[Meglos]

For most of the first season, the show didn't have much in the way of an arc, and there were quite a few "clunker" episodes. "She" and "I Fall to Pieces" are easily two of the worst Buffyverse episodes ever aired. "She" is like a lame first season DS9 ep, and "I Fall to Pieces" would've made a forgettable X-File.

But even "She" is redeemed by Angel and Wesley's "goofball" dancing and the presence of the lurvely Bai Ling.

[Zodiac_Speaking]

Originally posted by Meglos
But even "She" is redeemed by Angel and Wesley's "goofball" dancing and the presence of the lurvely Bai Ling.

That WAS classic.