Synopsis: The Complete First Season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer 3 Disc Set. 

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Scott Maravilla

The Complete First Season is a great introduction to the cult television series, and fine way for existing fans to be reintroduced to these unforgettable characters. Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) arrive in Sunnydale, California from Los Angeles after a divorce and Buffy's expulsion from her old high school for burning down the gymnasium. There were vampires in that gymnasium but the evidence burned in the fire. Hoping for a fresh start, Buffy discovers from her new Watcher, school librarian Rupert "Ripper" Giles (Anthony Stewart Head well known in England for a series of Tetley Tea commercials which ran from the late 1980s to the early 1990s), that Sunnydale is located on the Hellmouth, a gateway to hell which fans of Italian director Lucio Fulci will be familiar with. Thus, Sunnydale is Ground Zero for supernatural activities and vampires. 

In Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest, Buffy is introduced to Giles, loyal friends Willow Rosenberg (Alysson Hannigan of American Pie 1 & 2) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendan), and arch-rival snobby popular girl Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter now on the hit spin-off Angel). She must stop the Big Bad, the vampire known as the Master who is trapped underground until his powers are strong enough to walk the Earth again. As the season unfolds, Buffy must confront the Master in a final showdown in which Buffy's death is prophesized and a variety of monsters of the week. Memorable episodes include Teacher's Pet in which a female mantis preys on male virgins including Xander! This establishes on the ongoing joke that demons and monsters always fall for Xander. The episode Witch describes Buffy getting kicked off the cheerleading squad, thus condemning her to the fringes of Sunnydale High's social hierarchy. It also introduced reoccurring character witch Amy who later accidentally turns herself into a rat in season three. Angel (David Boreanaz also starring in the film Valentine) also makes his appearance early on in the season as an X-Filesesque Deep Throat tipping Buffy off on the local vampire activities. The Anointed One is also brought forth in this season in the form of a child destined to destroy the Slayer.

The strength of this season, and the show in general, is writer/creator Joss Whedon's ability to mix comedy with horror. Also, the decision to make Buffy and the Scoobies, as her friends are called, outcasts in Sunnydale's social climate thereby preventing the show from becoming a banal Beverly Hills 90210 with vampires. Actors Alysson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendan provide strong support to Sarah Michelle Gellar's extraordinary Slayer. The acting is superb with Brendan as the quick witted, sarcastic Xander and Hannigan as the shy computer genius, later Wiccan, Willow. Charisma Carpenter plays up the comic relief as the selfish and spoiled Codelia. A priceless moment is Cordy singing, very badly I might add, Whitney Houston's The Greatest Love of All for the school's talent show in the episode The Puppet Show.

A mid-season replacement on the WB network in 1998, season one contains only 12 episodes. All are available in this 3 disc box set. There are some commentaries in this set, but it is not as loaded with extras as the successive box sets. Still, this is more than worth the money. Even if you have never seen the show, you won't be disappointed in shelling out the bucks for the set. I give this box set a well deserved 9.

The First Season Episodes are:

1. Welcome to the Hellmouth
2. The Harvest
3. Witch
4. Teacher's Pet
5. Never Kill a Boy on the First Date
6. The Pack
7. Angel
8. I Robot…You Jane
9. The Puppet Show
10. Nightmares
11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight
12. Prophecy Girl