tvthatdoesntsuck

TV Guide lists it as the 42nd best television show of all time, ranking it alongside of classics such as All in the Family as well as blockbusters like Lost.  E! gives it even more credit, putting it in it’s Top Five TV Shows of All Time.  Of course, E! is in the right.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer single handedly inverted the “helpless blonde” stereotype that plagued horror for so many years, starting as a feminist statement and expanding into a exploration of adolescent–and later adult–pain and most interesting (from a writer’s perspective) an exercise in character development.  So here we start, and the humble–and yeah, campy–beginnings of the series that would grow to becoming my favorite, and arguably the best, television show of all time.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - SEASON ONE

“Though it might not have the intensity of Season Two & Three, or the great character moments of Seasons Five & Six, the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a great collection of episodes that hint at the perfection to come.

Joss Whedon, writer/creator/director/etc., is skilled at subtly. The subtle looks characters share, the subtle dialogue–as well as the not-so-subtle–that reveals the heart of the characters and the show. And that’s what Season One establishes; the heart. The relationships between Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles are at the forefront in these twelve episodes. Though the best episodes can be found in later seasons, these twelve classic episodes build the backbone that the Buffyverse would grow from.

The vampire episodes (Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest, Never Kill A Boy on the First Date, Angel, Prophecy Girl) are the most solid in this season, but the other, more daring episodes had merit as well. Because that’s what they were. The ideas in this season were nothing if not daring; what other show had entire episodes devoted to hyena possession (not as silly as is sounds; hyena possession and worship is more rooted in actual occult than one would thing), monsters operating conglomerations through the Internet, and giant she-mantis beasts looking to impregnate the heads of virgin males? While certainly not all of these episodes worked, they were saved by the witty dialouge and the acting. Sarah Michelle Gellar is at her best here. And that’s not only her best acting I’m talking about, I mean her best looking. Unlike her America’s Next Top Model bone-thin look of Seasons Four through Seven, the lead actress is a beautiful, healthy young woman in this season. It made her look a lot more real to me, and I missed that in the later seasons.

And Willow. She’s also at her best here. While Xander was either hilarious or depressed, Willow was nothing but Willow. No one else could pull off the lines that she had, and she did them in a way that can only be described as Willowy. Her character was one of the best things of Season One, and I’ll stick by that. The rest of the cast was great as well; Anthony Stewart Head was always perfect as Giles, and Mark Metcalf as the Master made a superb Big Bad for the season.

Though not perfect, this season is great entertainment, and promises of greatness to come. I have to add this though; for the skeptical viewer, start with a different season. Perhaps begin with “What’s My Line” from Season Two, and later on go back to Season One. The cheesiness of episodes like “Teacher’s Pet” and “The Puppet Show” may turn off the casual viewer.  And missing this show is simply something you should NOT do.

8/10 “

VERDICT: Buy it.  But watch a later season first.

NEXT TIME: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Two.”

*static*

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