Customer Reviews

Bite Me!: The Chosen Edition The Unofficial Guide to Buffy The Vampire Slayer ( Seven Seasons One Book)

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nikki Stafford, author of companion guides for five television programs from the ECW Press, has just released a revised version of her classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer guide to coincide with the show's 10th anniversary. Bite Me!: The 10th Buffyversary Guide to the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is now available in The Chosen Edition: Seven Seasons, One Book. Stafford examines each of the show's eleven main characters and provides episode guides, charting the development of the Buffy mythology across all seven seasons, as well as in the Dark Horse season eight comic books. Her episode guides contain trivia, fan gripes, nitpicks, references to bands and music, and "did you notice?" moments. She has also written a 6-page ultimate Buffy trivia quiz.

In this updated 2007 version, Stafford is able to chronicle the legacy of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which lives on in fanhood well beyond the 2003 end of the television series. Updates on the careers of the show's stars are included. The author also addresses the show's move from the WB to UPN network, the short-lived follow-on show "Angel," and the unaired pilot episode.

Stafford has also written ECW Press guides to Xena, Angel, Alias, and Lost.

I found this book to be biased and at times, incredibly inaccurate. Depending on the author's preference for the episode, you will get a longer and more detailed explanation with facts and commentary woven in. Same goes for the characters. We get it, you love Willow and think Alyson Hannigan was the real star of the show. The "Nitpick" portions of this book are what really bother me because it would appear this person has not actually WATCHED the episode in quite some time in order to make such incorrect summaries of what's going on. Examples include: "The Prom" nitpick: "At the beginning of the episode, Buffy walks into Angel's house and throws the curtains wide open, almost incinerating him. Doesn't she know better by now?" when in fact, they wake up together after a post-slayage nap and she is unaware that it is morning and this entire incident was accidental. Or "Life Serial" in which the comment is, "How did Buffy get into the demon bar with a bottle of alcohol? The bartender never would have allowed it, especially considering she's only 20" when in fact Spike orders drinks from the bartender and Buffy snags the bottle out of his hand, removing the stopper and chugging it. For someone who includes pages and pages of triva questions, they really don't seem to have their facts straight.

A very complete guide, pretty interesting. Main problem is that I noticed some of her "Nitpicks" sections were incorrect. On the episode "The Replacement," she complained that Xander picked up the phone when he had barely moved in, that the phone shouldn't have already been hooked up. But when he first looks at the house, the woman says that the phone is already hooked up. And other stuff like that.

I bought this hoping for a remider of a series that I really liked. Instead I got episode summaries that were one or two sentences long. Overall it seemed that the writer really loved Willow but didn't care much for Buffy. Some facts and descriptions are incorrect. Certainly wouldn't recomend this book to anyone who wasn't already obsessed with Buffy.

I am re-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and this book has been a great companion to the series. I have both the physical book and the Kindle edition. I'd recommend getting the physical book if your choosing between the two -- it's easier to use as a reference.

Large comprehensive not very filled with any information that a fan would not know. Often tries to connect plotlines that are not really connectable. When reading it you find yourself thinking it's a compilation of magazine articles read and personal notes from studying the show. Not a lot of new information.

This book is okay, the commentary is nice as well, but it really does not have anything in it the average Buffy fan does not already know. Most die hard fans like me are looking for things we can go back and watch that we probably missed...as well as really good trivia. For the true Buffy fan, those of us who have seen every episode at least 50 times or more, I strongly recommend The Big Book Of Buffy Bites 2008. This book is up to date (2008), and contains everything you could possibly want to know about Buffy the Vampire Slayer...and more. One feature I have not seen in any other book, is a detailed time line of all the slayers...from the First Slayer...all the way to Buffy. This was a pleasant surprise.

I like that all seven seasons are in one book, and how the author includes her "nitpicks", how it relates to the "Restless" episode, but there is a lot of the same information in this book as there is in the Watcher's Guides. I didn't learn a whole lot of new information. But it's a good format, and has good information.

If you want to read about the bios of your favorite Buffy stars, this is a very thorough write-up. makes for great reading for the non-B.V.S. fan, too.