I have been meaning to sit down and do this review for over a week, now. However, I have had a touch of writer's block and the auto-play function on Netflix is truly evil. Like with my other DVD reviews, I am not going to go through the content of the season or pick out any particular episodes I like, as I would rather save my thoughts for another day. I will, however, go through the packaging design, its durability, features, and cost. Without further ado, I am going to tell you all about a stunning collector's edition DVD I recently acquired.
To my non-British readers, it is most likely obvious that the DVD is a UK edition due to the age certificate stamp. I have done a little investigating into the Region 1 collector's DVDs, and they do, in fact vary quite significantly to the Region 2 ones that I am familiar with. In the photo above, the DVD is in its slip-case. The slip-case also contains a separate episode guide and mine also came with a flyer promoting "Roswell" and "Firefly" (not that I needed any prompting to watch the latter!), the other side of the flyer has a season six BTVS promotional image saying "THE END" which I found to be rather odd. However, promotional flyers are not guaranteed in every set that has been distributed.
Once the slip-case is removed, the set looks exactly the same as the slip-case, there is just no embossed writing, DVD stamp or age certificate stamp. Although this set is still considered to be a "Bible" edition, it has a completely different design to the other six seasons that follow it. The others all have a different design once the slip-case is removed (you can see an example in my other DVD review) and once you open the set up, all of the discs are housed in a book design and the episode guide is glued in at the front. Due to season one being a much shorter season and it, therefore only having three discs, the packaging designers had to be a little more creative, resulting in this:
Once the slip-case is removed, the set looks exactly the same as the slip-case, there is just no embossed writing, DVD stamp or age certificate stamp. Although this set is still considered to be a "Bible" edition, it has a completely different design to the other six seasons that follow it. The others all have a different design once the slip-case is removed (you can see an example in my other DVD review) and once you open the set up, all of the discs are housed in a book design and the episode guide is glued in at the front. Due to season one being a much shorter season and it, therefore only having three discs, the packaging designers had to be a little more creative, resulting in this:
As you can see from the photo I provided, the set cleverly folds out into a cross shape. The middle panel includes a guide to the chapters of the episodes on the first disc, and the bottom has a beautiful season two promotional image. Some fans would perhaps complain about a season two image being used instead of a season one image, but I think that the image fits into the overall blueish theme of the set. It is also probably worth mentioning that I wasn't as scared opening this set as I was with my season seven book set, turning the pages in the book sets feels somewhat frightening, as those sets are extremely fragile.
I had previously spoken about how the episode guide was included separately in the slip case for this edition. It has the same design as the rest of the set and it is a thick, high-quality glossy book.
I had previously spoken about how the episode guide was included separately in the slip case for this edition. It has the same design as the rest of the set and it is a thick, high-quality glossy book.
Fans who have read "The Watcher's Guide" will notice that the episode guide is exactly the same, just printed on glossed paper. Each episode includes little tidbits of information, including things like: "Quote of the Week", "Love, Slayer Style", "Pop Culture IQ", "Buffy's Bag Of Tricks" and "Continuity", just to name some. There are also black and white photos of episode stills included. As I have previously read "The Watcher's Guide", and I therefore already knew the information included, it didn't particularly interest me. I do think that it was a cute inclusion, though. I am also pleased that they opted to keep the guide separate for the season one release.
If you are a collector or you do not yet own any of the individual DVDs, I would highly recommend seeking out this collector's edition season one UK release. As with all "Bible"/book editions, I would strongly suggest for you to always confer with sellers before purchasing as people are often dishonest about the condition of the sets, and their fragility makes them susceptible to damage that can be detrimental to the discs.
Do you own any of the UK collector's DVDs? Or do you own Region 1 releases? Let me know! I would love to hear your thoughts on the various releases.
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If you are a collector or you do not yet own any of the individual DVDs, I would highly recommend seeking out this collector's edition season one UK release. As with all "Bible"/book editions, I would strongly suggest for you to always confer with sellers before purchasing as people are often dishonest about the condition of the sets, and their fragility makes them susceptible to damage that can be detrimental to the discs.
Do you own any of the UK collector's DVDs? Or do you own Region 1 releases? Let me know! I would love to hear your thoughts on the various releases.
X