Product: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Witch - Never Kill A Boy On The First Date [VHS] (1997)
Rating: 3.0
Sets the direction for the show
These are two season 1 episodes which early on sets out the intention of the show's creator, Joss Whedon. Even though the most common adversary faced is vampires and each series has an overall theme that is developed during the series in various episodes and a supervillain to be defeated by the end; he also wanted episodes that could stand alone and be a totally self contained story.Witch (Season 1 episode 3): Those who have seen the feature film would remember Buffy was a cheerleader. In this episode, she decides to give it another go and try out for the team in her new school. However, it becomes very quickly apparent that someone has it in for those trying out as they start to be struck blind, dumb and spontaneously combust. It's a very exciting episode and with a very good twist just everyone thinks they've worked it all out and quite an action packed finale in a race against the clock. This is a hallmark of the show, many episodes have surprises that come completely out of nowhere. Also, as part of the episode, the recurring characters are further developed with Xander in love with the oblivious Buffy, Willow in love with the oblivious Xander and Cordelia being set up as someone the group is going to continually cross swords with. These situations all come to a head in later episodes in season one and later seasons but this is the near the beginning of the various character's relationships. This is another attraction of the show, which progressively develops the characters over the course of several series even in a self contained episode like this one. Over time, all the characters have progressively changed and are quite different in ways but this is what they were like in the beginning.Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (Season 1 episode 5): This is an episode which ties into the overall theme of the series, that of Buffy's battle with The Master. However, it can be watched as a self-contained episode in its own right, not too much information is required. It also highlights another theme of the show, that of Buffy having to deal with the supernatural on the one hand and growing up, school and dating on the other and the difficulty of trying to keep the two separate.In this episode, Giles has a warning that a vampire warrior who can help The Master defeat Buffy and they have to try and stop him. Unfortunately the day in question co-incides with a date with the boy of the title, Owen, who has attracted her attention. At first there seems to be no problem with the aforementioned vampire being a no-show but then after thinking it is reasonable to go on a date as nothing is happening, well something happens which ends up with everyone at the Sunnydale Morgue (a place that sees a lot of business), Owen included and fighting for their lives. Then there's the added complication of not letting Owen finding out what's going on at the same time. Not surprisingly, there's a twist in it all.A good episode, only let down by the poor ending, where after the traumatic events inflicted on a key character in the episode; they come to a conclusion about their experience that is very, very unlikely under the circumstances and in fact you'd think the experience would have lead that character to come to exactly the opposite conclusion. In my opinion, the ending didn't work.Overall, two good episodes but there is actually an episode in between these two that was televised called"Teacher's Pet". You can find out the order of episodes in each season by going to the official site and checking the "Mortuary" (where the past episode details are 'buried') section to see where in the scheme of things the episodes on video you are buying fit. It's very easy to find, simply the first name of the lead character of the show, a dot and then com. The fact there is an episode between these when buying the tapes is something you should be aware of.All twelve episodes of Season 1 are slated for release on DVD in 2001 in at least Zones 1,2 and 4 and now is as good a time as any to invest in a DVD player as Season 1 was one of the best (if not the best) seasons and the opportunity to get the whole series complete and with the quality DVD has to offer is quite appealing. Of course, there's future seasons of this show, the spin-off Angel, not to mention lots of other movies and TV shows that make a DVD player a good investment.However, two good episodes. Along with "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest" (Season 1 episodes 1&2), that tape and this tape are a good introduction to the show