I just started Buffy...
 

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Buffy is good. Angel is better. You'll see!

Joss Whedon was an Executive Producer, Creator, occasional director, and Head Staff Writer (until Season 6, whe he shared this duty with two other people for the finale two seasons of the show)...



All I have to say is welcome to the Buffyverse, and hold on cause it is one hell of a ride!

Ahh, I was once like you. Totally mocked Buffy and thought it was crap. Then I borrowed Seasons 1 and 2 from a friend cause I was bored one summer and lo and behold, I was absolutely hooked. It's become one of my favorite shows of all time. And Buffy and Angel really shouldn't be compared. Yes, Angel takes place in the Buffyverse, and is a spinoff of Buffy, but the styles of the show are very different. Yes, Joss Whedon created both of them. If I had to decide which is better, I'd say Angel. I just finished the last season a couple weeks ago and I was blown away by this series. But they are both excellent, and highly recommended.

All the seasons just dropped to $29.99 new. There also available in the smaller, slim case style packaging. There is also the big Buffy Boxset which is $150 at Best Buy.

Please oh please fox, release a big angel box set so i can get all of the season's cheap, (i am on season 4 of buffy), thanks to the big le box set with all 7 seasons for 169.99.

FINALLY!

SOMEONE agrees with me...they shouldn't be compared as they are very different shows.

ANGEL was and is the greatest series I've ever seen.

ANGEL was created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt.

Greenwalt was an executive producer alongside Whedon for the first 3 seasons of Buffy, and they were essentially the head writers of that series at the time.

When ANGEL began, Whedon's actual involvement with it was not nearly as hands-on as with Buffy. Greenwalt should be credited with evolving the Angel character, and leading ANGEL through its first 3 seasons.

On Buffy, Greenwalt was succeeded by Marti Noxon, responsible for the short lived "Point Pleasant" (as well as ruining season 6) and on ANGEL he shared the reins for seasons 1-3 with Tim Minear, a former "X-Files" writer who produced the short lived "Wonderfalls" and "The Inside".

That's interesting, because I started out watching ANGEL, when it originally aired in 1999 without ever seeing a single Buffy episode. When Buffy began airing in reruns, I watched it only to catch up on Angel's back story on that show.

DarkEssenz, you are for one hell of a ride with Buffy and Angel. They are the two greatest TV series that I've ever seen. Also, you may want to check out Joss Whedon's final tv masterpiece of TV, if you haven't already, Firefly (and the Serenity movie, which is basically the finale). One thing Buffy will do is open your mind to other shows you may have thought of as lame. I doubt I ever would've gotten hooked on Veronica Mars if it weren't for Buffy. I probably wouldn't have been led to Alias either.

BTW, I highly recommend you checking both of those series out in the near future. If you like Buffy there's a very good chance you'll really dig Veronica Mars (this one has very Buffyesque dialogue and delivery) and Alias as well. They are great for when you're going through Buffy/Angel withdrawal (which will happen wehn you're done. :)).

I once thought Buffy was lame as well, but luckily I agreed to watch the series if my sister would watch my then favorite series, The X-Files. I became hooked like I never thought possible and my sister became an X-Files fan too. After becoming a fan I actually got my best friend hooked on Buffy (and man was it hard, because he was VERY negative towards it at first, so it took awhile), Angel & then way later Firefly.

Getting hooked on Buffy led to him getting hooked on several other great series as well and now he's as big of a Buffy, Angel, Firefly & Whedon fan as I am (I'm talking buying the musical cd, downloading the songs all stuff he NEVER would've even contemplated before watching. He even got an Angel puppet. lol.). His top 3 favorites series are all Whedon series now. After he became a fan of Buffy he then ended up getting his girlfriend hooked on all three Wehdon shows too and she was also a Buffy hater at first. That just goes to show the power of a Whedon series.

Just wait until the amazing season 2 finale. You will be really addicted then. BTW, you should check out the HUGE Buffy thread over at AVSForum (you'll need to do a seach in the movie/music section). It could use an update from a new fan. There's a lot more discussion there.

BTW, Buffy was voted the Greatest TV Show of all time on TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest TV Show of All Time" online poll. It ranked ahead of shows like Seinfeld, The Simpsons, The X-Files, Friends, etc. Buffy also placed #2 on DVDTalk's "Best Show Ever" forum competition, which included a ton of shows, and it only lost to the Simpsons by just one vote (on a smaller scale than TVGuide's poll though).

It's nice to see support like that because the fist time I realized I was a Buffy fan I almost began to question my sanity :), but to see such high praise for it online made me realize I simply recognized greatness and getting my best friend hooked proved it to me since his first comment when my cousin and I tried to get him to watch a scene was "I dont' watch that stupid shit.". When someone with closed minded view like that can be turned into a fan you know Buffy must be something special.

During college I had a roommate that watched Buffy religiously...but not because he liked the show, but because his pants got tight for Sarah Michelle Gellar. He didnt even like Angel, but watched just in case Buffy showed up. What made this so annoying is his deaf-ass had to crank up the TV (that was mounted on the wall above my desk) and cut the lights out). So I had the choice of watching Buffy, listening to Buffy, or getting the hell out. Needless to say I wasnt a big fan of the show originally :)

The last summer I stumbled across Firefly and instantly fell in love with that show. I was very tempted to explore the rest of the Whedonverse, but I was also weary of starting another 7 season series from the beginning, especially one that had a 5 season spinoff. I finally picked up season one of Buffy during one of the Fox season 1 DVD sales and I was instantly hooked....which led me to finding a good deal on the UK release of the complete series (yeah, widescreen is bad, blah blah). Im currently halfway through season 4 of Buffy as well as season 1 of Angel....I keep telling myself when I finish a Buffy season Im going to "take a break" and check out that Veronica Mars set I just bought or any of the other sets Ive had sitting around for God knows how long, but then before I know it I start on the next season :). I thoroughly regret that I never gave these shows a chance originally, but I am so thankful I have the chance to partake in them completely and not just in a syndicated fashion thanks to DVD.

My advice is after season 3 of buffy is to start rotating seasons of Buffy and Angel, so you don't get major spoilage, as the shows play off of eatchother, and have several crossover episodes. Angel gets progressively better eatch season whereas Buffy's best was season 5 where it should have ended for good.

Oh man, another one of these threads. Post your running thoughts if you want this thread to reach 100 pages.

S2is my favorite. S3 is incredible as well. As is 5. And pretty much all of Angel. Yeah, watch it all (except Buffy 7 isn't really required.)

I still need to see Firefly. :o

I pretty much agree with your girlfriend, although I think the show started to get good in S4.

Season 4 was definitely a turning point for the show, different but still good.

I'd skip season 6 of Buffy. Very bland and boring. 7 was better but it should have ended with 5. Also avoid the singing episode whichever season that is in.

Hell yes.

that singing episode was season 6. "Once More With Feeling". I have never been able to sit through the whole episode.

I know what you mean, but I'll go ahead and say it anyway: Buffy was "good" from day one and became GREAT during season 2 and only got better the next season. Season 4 was great and different, but a bit of a drop from season 3 as a whole. Season 5 was superb and is arguably as great as season 3. It was definitely epic. Season 6 is one of my most rewatched seasons, but was a step down from season 5 as a whole, despite it featuring arguably the best episode in the series, arguably the best villain and an amazing 3 part finale. The season was very dark and depressing, but it was needed. After what happened in season 5 it was required if you ask me. Actions have consquences on a Whedon series. If it were Smallville everything that transpired during the season 5 finale would've been resolved in the season 6 premiere. :lol:

Actually, the more I've seen of season 6 the more I appreciate it, especially its underlying theme because it's so true. It didn't flow as well on TV since it was up against a very fast paced Angel season 4, but it worked much better with a second viewing on DVD without all of the breaks. Season 7 was a bit of a step down from season 6, but like season 6, it flows better on DVD.

Season rankings (IMO):

1: Buffy season 3
2: Buffy season 2/5 (tie.)
3: Buffy season 6 (The darkest and most depressing season of Buffy is the most unique season. It features a superb 3 part finale and arguably the best single episode in the entire series. The season fits the theme perfectly.)
4: Season 4 (has the most unique & different finale of all. Infact, one of the most unique tv episodes I've ever seen. Another work of a genius from Joss Whedon.)
5: Season 7
6: Season 1

You're in the minority with that opinion. I have about 70 TV Box sets and that's probably the best non finale TV episode I've ever seen (it's definitely high on the list). My best friend thought so too. Also a non musical fan.

BTW, for the thread creator. You should note that most absolutely LOVE the musical episode by Joss Whedon, even those of us who thought it wasn't possible (raises hand). Also, note that Nick Martin is a pretty much a non Buffy fan who watched every episode apparently. He happened to stumble upon Angel first, therefor he is bitter that Buffy gets more recognition (ie Angel lives in Buffy's shadow since it's a spinoff), so uses every chance he can to bash the show, sometimes subtly, sometimes not. If I were you I'd disregard any opinion of his when it comes to Buffy. He's very biased towards Angel. Hell, I love Angel too. It's just hair below Buffy as far as I'm concerned. One more season though and I believe it may have passed Buffy, so I'm definitely not biased towards either.

Again, avoid paying attention to comments like this, because there will be those who say the same thing about season 7, but not season 6. Some people think they speak for everyone when telling people which seasons to avoid (these people can barely be called "fans" IMO and they do not give good adivce. They only give advice based on what they like or dislike and obviously cannot see from a different perspective). If you tell someone to avoid a season for all you know they might miss out on what would be THEIR favorite season. If you hold a poll most will rank season 7 below season 6. Infact, on DVDTalk's favorite season poll season 6 recieved 9 votes. Season 7 recieved 1 vote. BTW, anyone who dislikes Once More With Feeling should have their opinion taken with a grain of salt, IMO. They might just be a No offense.

Everything is subjective. You have on person saying watch all but season 7 and another saying all buy season 6. It's ridiculous. Bad advice. Watch them all unless you usually skip entire chapters of a great novel. I look at the series as a whole like I do with Angel. There is no skipping any part of the journey.

one word of advice - be sure to delete this thread once it reaches a couple thousand posts and everyone loves it. ;)

I also like the "singing" episode, Once More With Feeling.
I love the look on the faces of the Scooby Gang when Buffy reveals where she was.

I just started watching S7 this weekend. I had tried to catch it on FX reruns, but only got about 5-10 episodes into the season before I had to abort as my dvr was full and I couldn't keep up. I've had the S7 box set for a while know, but I just never had time to go through it.

Def. not my favorite, but is was entertaining. Liked it the 2nd time I watched it better.

The xander/anya was my fav.

"His penis got diseases
From a chumash tribe" lol

So now you resort to personal attacks.

She has a interesting take on the show. While I didn't care for season 4 , season 2 and 3 is some of the best to ever grace my TV.

OMWF is one of my fav episodes from the entire series...which still surprises me because I typically hate musical episodes of any show.