Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight Motion Comics – Blu-Ray/DVD : Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Dark Horse Comics
Review by JAM
On shelves as of January 4, 2011 is finally the imaginings from the mind of Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon that continue the journey for everyone’s favorite cheerleader/demon fighter/world saver/vampire slayer Buffy. Imagine the fact that seven television seasons came for this world after a campy movie release prior starring the always amazing Kristy Swanson, an intriguing Paul Ruebens (Pee Wee Herman following his meltdown time), and heart throb of the time Luke Perry. I will admit that I enjoyed the movie, but the campy style is not for everyone. So imagine the surprise when a relatively unknown Sarah Michelle Gellar (I knew her from All My Children… don’t ask me why) took the title role as Buffy and made it her own alongside a Scooby gang of sidekicks who were all able to have their own moments to shine throughout the series. From the dark corruption of Alison Hannigan’s Willow, to the unrequited pinings of Nicholas Brendon’s Xander, the surprise entry of a supernatural sister Dawn (played by Michelle Trachtenberg), the intellectual renderings of Anthony Head’s Giles the Watcher, and so on… Heck even the villains/foils were often enjoyable enough to be features further. Look at the change in Charisma Carpenter’s Cordelia Chase, especially thorough her years with the brooding Angel (as played by David Boreanez) and the intriguing aspect of a dark slayer in Eliza Dushku’s Faith.
Yet even with the seven seasons that gave us such a plethora of moments that my introduction has already taken forever, people wanted more. Now the reality about television shows is that they get more expensive over time, actors get bored with the same role, and writers find issues with determining new storylines. Whatever the reason, Buffy the Vampire Slayer found its end following the conclusion of its seventh season until now. Produced by creator Joss Whedon (with his writing often involved) Buffy returns in an eighth season previously only released in comic/trade paperback form but now out on your electronic shelves in the guise of a motion comic.
JAMS Ink on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comics
This one can be a little hard to review objectively. I mean, I am an unabashed comic book geek and a longtime fan of the Buffy television series. In fact, I do believe that I own every Buffy comic that Dark Horse has produced other than a few one shots or small stories from anthology issues. Jo Chen covers, pencils mostly by Georges Jeanty, and Joss’s vision made Season Eight a great read and a fun return to the way of the Slayer. This DVD/Blu-ray covers basically the first half of the Season Eight up to book number 19 and is a fun look at the continuing mythos of the Buffy Summers world.
Just hearing the theme music start up on the first episode put me in the mood for some slaying, and the disc does not disappoint. Of course, I have all the individual episodes so I knew the storyline would not be disappointing. It was hard at first to watch the motion set-up compared to the clean animation we have these days, but it grew on me. At first my biggest problem was messing with the beautiful Georges Jeanty artwork, but with a little work I enjoyed it for what it was.
The other minor issue I had was the fact that we had seven seasons to learn the voices of the characters and it is hard to overcome. About the only thing that let me overcome it was the fact that we did have an eighth season before now. And that is not to disparage the vocal talent that works on this as they are good in their own rights. I hope that further Buffy comics get a motion release as well starring the vocal talents utilized for this first set. The main vocal talents of our favorite characters are below.
Buffy – Kelly Albanese
Dawn – Julie O’Conner
Xander – Daniel Taylor
Giles – J. Anthony McCarthy
Willow – Natalia Lander
Faith – Whitney Thompson
Twilight – Zach Hanks
And if the comics were not enough, the extras included are awesome as well including Under Buffy’s Spell, the Buffy Trivia Experience which I know some people will be attacking as quick as they can, a gallery of the season 8 covers (1-19), and a rough pilot for the motion comic experience.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight Motion Comics from Twentieth Century Fox and Dark Horse Comics explodes onto shelves on DVD and Blu-Ray on January 4, 2011. Stake your copy today!
Remember check out this review and more from JAM at www.hollywoodteenzine.com for teens and tweens, and at www.jammoviereviews.blogspot.com for movies of all genres and ages.
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