- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080i/60
- Audio Codec: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Rating: Not Rated
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Discs: 2
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: January 4, 2011
- List Price: $34.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic on Blu-ray+DVD at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
I was a latecomer to the Buffyverse. I didn’t like the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie when I first saw it and I still don’t care for it much at all to this day. So, when they turned the film into a television series, I really paid it no mind. It perplexed me why anyone would want to watch a television series based on that cheesy, campy film. Fast-forward a few years and I caught an episode here and there of Buffy the television series sometime late in its fourth season realizing that this Buffy was an entirely new experience. I was instantly hooked and made my way through all the previous seasons in reruns until I was caught up. But, alas, there were only to be a few seasons left before the networks pulled the plug on creator Joss Whedon’s crowning achievement.
Whedon has a rabid fan base, but his batting average has been terrible when it comes to television series. Buffy’s spinoff Angel, which starred Bones’ David Boreanaz and was arguably the most successful of Whedon’s post-Buffy productions, only lasted five seasons. Firefly, Whedon’s sci-fi western, garnered much praise amongst fans and critics alike, but due to terrible handling from its network (FOX) the series never made it past season one, although it did manage to squeeze out a feature film, Serenity. His last effort, Dollhouse, starred Eliza Dushku, one of the Buffy alumni, but, alas, a good concept that never quite came to its fruition had Dollhouse going off the air after two rocky seasons.
Regardless of what came after, fans have always been faithful to Buffy the Vampire Slayer above all. Even I have always felt just a tinge of sadness every time I think back to the very last episodes of the series. Well, Whedon was not content to let the series end where it did, so with the aid of Dark Horse comics, a series of graphic novels were published which encompassed Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8. The Season 8 comics picked up the story of Buffy right from where the final season to air left off – with the battle to close the hell mouth and save the world coming to its climax and Buffy endowing thousands of young women around the world with the power of the slayer to help her in the battle against the ultimate evil. The entire “scooby gang” is back, from Willow and Xander to Giles and even Faith. This time out, they are facing a threat not from demons, but the US government who wants the slayer dead because they think she and her thousands of followers have become too powerful and must be stopped.
The Season 8 Motion Comic is just that, a motion-interpreted version of those Season 8 comics. It helps to continue and move the story of Buffy forward, taking the comics into a more tangible realm. Fans of the original series will instantly recognize the character’s idiosyncrasies and the comedic bent to Whedon’s dialogue, but the the absence of the original actors doing the voiceovers will be off-putting at first, especially when the character designs are made to look so much like the show’s original cast.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Buffy Season 8 Motion Comic’s 1080i/60 AVC/MPEG-4 is very watchable, with good color reproduction, fills free from noise and sharp line art, but there is a lot of color banding and some shimmering can definitely be seen around the edges of the animation on occasion.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound is good, with clean dialogue, smooth high frequencies, and a relatively engulfing mix that encapsulates listeners in a circle of atmospherics mixed with some discrete panning and slight front to back panning of sounds.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
There are a few fun supplements included in the Buffy Season 8 package. Long-time fans will probably get a kick out of the play-along pop-up trivia game and the inclusion of the, The Long Way Home, Part 1 comic book in the package, albeit in miniature form.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Under Buffy’s Spell (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 0:05.17) – Buffy at the 2010 International Comic-Con.
- Buffy Season 8 Motion Comic Test Pilot (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 0:05.34) – A roughly animated pilot for the motion comic.
- The Buffy Trivia Experience – Answer trivia questions that pop-up onscreen as you watch the motion comic. Complete all 19 issue and earn your total score to see if you’ve earned the ranking of Slayer. Higher level rankings earn a special bonus gift.
- Season 8 Comic Book Covers Gallery (1080p)
- Live Extras:
- Exclusive: Covering Jo Chen (1.78:1; 720p/24) – The Buffy Season 8 cover artist is briefly interviewed.
- DVD – Standard definition DVD
- DVD exclusive bonus: Tooncast Studio DVD-ROM allows you to create your own Buffy comic.
- The Long Way Home, Part 1 Comic Book.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic effectively increases the intensity of the Buffyverse, just as every successive season of the original live action television series did and it adds another interesting stop that fans should appreciate.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B003WJRW9I[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Motion Comic on Blu-ray+DVD at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
