critterdvd

I thought it would be appropriate since tomorrow (March 10th, 2007) is the 10-year-Anniversary of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' that I should start a thread for everyone to post their memories of this amazing show.

I know tomorrow I'm celebrating with a couple friends at our local movie theater in Santa Cruz, CA is having a marathon of 12 episodes... but are you guys doing anything to mark this occasion?

Slayer2005

Hm, I didn't even realize that. So, I have nothing planned. I may have to watch some episodes. I actually started on season 1 again awhile back, but started going through some other series through Netflix and that got in the way of me continuing.

That is awesome that they're doing a marathon at a theater. Luckily for me though, I at least get to enjoy the show on my 9'2" screen with a CRT projector. So, my inky blacks can't be beaten.

I'm kind of hoping that the next time I go through the series they will be on HD format and on a bigger screen than I currently have. I'm planning on moving up big time in both picture size and sound. It would be cool to experience them again bigger and better than before.

Tracer Bullet

The first two seasons were shot in 16mm- what would they be able to remaster that to? Is it comparable to what they can do for 35mm?

I didn't realize tomorrow was the anniversary. I'll probably watch the first episode.

riley_dude

maybe I'll watch the unaired pilot.
Wow, how time has flown by.
I started watching it half way through season 1. I remember I avoided it because the movie was so bad but was glad I tuned it.
The rest is history.

RobCA

Same here, but then I saw Season 1 at Costco and decided to give it a chance, and I'm SO glad I did. It's now one of my all-time favorite shows.

Thanks for the heads-up, critterdvd, I had no idea that tomorrow was the 10th anniversary. But now that I know, I'll be watching the first episode.

Rob

PatD

I'll have to watch the pilot and the finale tomorrow as tribute.

Maaaaaaybe 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the 40th/bonus disc from the Chosen Collection as a separate release for us guys who got hosed buying the seasons one and a time as a 10th anniversary tribute. Calling Joss!

riley_dude

I'd really like to see the contents on that disc too!

critterdvd

It's actually not that great. The featurettes is all things that have been said/heard before... the only really good part is the Q&A Session that is about 50 minutes long with some of the cast, Whedon, and Marti Noxon...

Draven

I didn't pick up the show as a regular viewer until the Season 3 premiere, but we had picked up the 1st season VHS selections tapes, and I'd done a lot of reading so I was up on everything.

I've long since sold my DVDs, but I was thinking about picking them up again and starting from the beginning. I haven't watched 6 or 7 outside of their first airings, and I think they'll play better back to back.

Either way, it was a great show and I'm glad I gave it a shot! Happy Anniversary!

bullwinkle

I remember one night, aimlessly flipping through channels and I came upon the Season 6 premiere. It intrigued me, so I continued watching. Little did I know that it would be the beginning of an obsession that would last for quite a while. I quickly found the DVDs and watched them all with great pleasure. And because only S1 & S2 were out on DVD at that time, I watched the rest on FX as well as the new episodes. Overall, the series was an amazing thing and really the most enjoyable television that I can remember.

Slayer2005

I don't know why it would be a problem since 16mm is still higher definition than high definition. Unless of course they stored the completed masters on video at lower resolution. That would suck.

Pointyskull

I might have to watch Once More With Feeling....

Jay G.

For something as FX heavy and low-budget as Buffy was, at least in the first few seasons, it's likely that the special effects were only rendered in low-def as well.

Slayer2005

Probably. That doesn't bother me though. The series, even though it had it's share of fx (though most fx were makeup and prosthetics), was very character driven. So, I'd be fine with the rest being HD and the FX merely being technically upconverted. Either way higher resolution will be much better on a bigger screen than I currently have (which is already really big at 9'2" diagonal).

Slayer2005

Haha. Man, I know that feeling and so does my best friend. I tried getting him into after I did and his first response to watching one scene with my cousin, sister and I was "I don't watch that stupid shit." that went along with his expression like we were all insane. lol. Funny thing was he was usually fairly open minded. Well, one day a couple months later I started him off on season 6 by just putting it on one time when he came over. Pretty much forced him to watch it because that's what I was gonna do. He watched like the first 4 or 5 episodes in a row with me.

I wasn't sure what his thoughts were when watching it though. He came over the next week and I still have no clue UNTIL, he looked at me, paused, and said "So.......we gonna watch some more Buffy?". Right then I knew it, he was hooked already. Man, that felt good. I was beginning to think my best friend in the whole world would or could never understand why I loved the show.

Fast forward to now. Buffy, Angel & Firefly are now his all time favorite series. Joss Whedon is the man to him. He owns most of the Angel sets (borrows my Buffy sets for his G/F to watch though). He bought the Angel puppet from the "Smile Time" episodes and bought a complete soundtrack of all the Buffy/Angel songs (about 800) on Ebay for about $150. I paid half though. lol.

His girlfriend made fun of him after he became a fan and eventually he got her to watch. She's now on the second half of season 7 of Buffy, has finished all of Angel (and wants to watch it again) and really loved Firefly. As far as I know these the only three series she's made an effort to watch from beginnning to end. Joss Whedon is amazing....just though I'd throw that in there. lol.

One more positive thing that came out of this obsession is that Buffy and Angel really opened my mind, and my best friend's mind too, a lot more. We don't prejudge as much anymore and have given other shows great shows a real chance when we might not have before. I have Buffy to thanks for me discovering what an amazing experience it can be to follow a good series in order from the very beginning. I usually find it far more rewarding than watching movies now and I was a huge film Buffy before who sort of looked down on tv shows. I considered it a lesser medium, but now if I could I'd much rather make a series than a big budget Hollywood film.

whitetigeress

wow! I can't believe it has been 10 years. I remember catching the pilot and being hooked since then.

Tracer Bullet

That's what I was wondering. However, I bet you that you're correct about the masters being video.

wergo

The booklet in the Season One DVD claims that 'Hellmouth' aired on 3/3 and 'Harvest' aired on 3/10. I remember up here, we got the whole thing as a single two hour premiere. Were there some locations that aired it like it now exists in syndication (and on DVD) as two separate episodes? (and got the first half a week early?)

astrochimp

I first caught Buffy during season 2 on YTV on a Friday night here in Canada and i remember the ep was Reptile Boy.Then caught the reruns of the previous eps and then was hooked.I remember season 2 and 3 were on Monday nights here so we used to get the eps one night before the US people

Nick Martin

In addition to Buffy, we had a lot to be grateful for in 1997:

Titanic
Star Wars SE (changes aside, it was nice to see it theatrically)
Batman & Robin

Doughboy

I first watched the 2-hour pilot when the WB reaired the entire first season in the summer of 1997. I'd seen the movie in the theater back in 1992 and was pissed I'd wasted my time and money on that crap.

But it only took about 10 minutes for me to realize the show was about as far removed from the movie as possible. I know a lot of fans say they got hooked during Season 2(either when Spike showed up or after the "Surprise"/"Innocence" two-parter). For me, I was a diehard fan from Day One.

Thankfully all my friends had apparently seen it at the same time and were already fans themselves. So I never had to convert anyone.

Nick Martin

I've never watched the show with anyone. No one to convert, justify, or downplay.

critterdvd

The booklet is a typo... I remember all those years ago I saw a poster for a Buffy TV show, and since this was before the internet really, I went through my newspaper tv guide trying to see if it was coming anytime soon, and was shocked to realize that the show was premiering latter that night. At the very beginning they had a promo stating that '7th Heaven' (also in its first season at the time) wouldn't be on that night for the "special 2-hour series premier" of Buffy...

And then they aried this intro, which is nothing like how the show turned out: Link

RobCA

I decided to have my own marathon, and watch all of Season 1, instead of just the first episode. It's weird watching it again, they all look so young!

Rob

Mercury&Solace

Well I just finished season 6, so I will be kicking off the anniversary by starting season 7. I know a lot of fans of the show didn't care for season 7, but I am still going to enjoy it. It will be sad to see once I finish season 7 that will be it......I say then, lets start over at season 1 and enjoy it again!! That way I can enjoy and see Jenny Calendar over and over again