103 of 107 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Faith the Rogue Slayer & the Mayor's Ascension from Season 3, November 7, 2000
This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Slayer Chronicles [VHS] (VHS Tape)
For this collection of a half-dozen episodes from the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon has decided to focus on the story arc combining the Faith the Rogue Slayer and Mayor's Ascension plot lines. In providing six of last nine episodes from that year's Buffy, The Slayer Chronicles includes both of the episodes that the WB delayed airing after the tragedy at Columbine High School.
The first volume starts the with "Bad Girls," scripted by Douglas Petrie, in which the Mayor's minions are seeking an amulet of invincibility while Faith's attitude about slaying rubs off on Buffy. After a night of dancing together at the Bronze (an all-time Buffy highlight) the two Slayers are caught in a robbery and Faith stakes a mortal, Deputy Mayor Finch, thinking he was a vamp. The episode ends with a chilling scene in which Buffy confronts Faith for having killed a living being only to have the unrepentant Slayer declare, "I don't care." In "Consequences," written by the prolific Marti Noxon, the Mayor sends the police after the Slayer killed his assistant. Faith continues her blind run towards the edge, blaming Buffy for what happened, attacking Xander and eventually joining the Mayor. Whether you know the outcome of the tale or not, either way Eliza Dushku's portrait of Faith's descent into psychosis is gripping. Buffy and the Scooby Gang are just along for the ride at this point.
The second volume offers "Enemies," written by Douglas Petrie, in which the Mayor arranges to steal Angel's soul as a way of distracting Buffy. The plan appears to work, especially when Angelus takes a liking to Faith and the pair begins torturing a captured Buffy. "Earshot," by Jane Esperson, was the infamous episode that the WB decided not to air the day after the Columbine tragedy. The plot has to do with Buffy killing a demon and ending up with the power to read minds. Before all the voices start to drive her insane she hears someone planning to kill everybody at Sunnydale High. However, the reason the network was nervous about the episode, which Sarah Michelle Gellar picked as one of her favorites because of what it says about surviving the horrors of high school, was Xander's off handed comment about sometimes thinking about opening up on the school with a gun.
The two-part "Graduation Day" season conclusion written and directed by Josh Whedon provides the final volume in The Slayer Chronicles. Part 1 has Faith shooting Angel with a poisoned arrow. The only cure is the blood of a Slayer, which sends Buffy after Faith for a fatal duel to the death. Part 2 finds Buffy having to deal with the consequences of her battle with Faith and the Mayor's Ascension, when he will turn into a 60-foot demon serpent. Also on the agenda is graduating high school, if only Buffy, the Scooby Gang and the rest of their class can survive the ceremony. The final note of fun is that after the dust settles, Angel will be leaving Sunnydale for good. After ending the second season of Buffy with the two-parts of "Becoming," wherein the series reached its absolute height, it is still impressive to see what Whedon was able to come up with for season three. The idea of Faith as a Rogue Slayer was a good one all by itself, but putting it together with the Mayor's quest for eternal power was a masterstroke. We should stop being surprised by such things from Whedon, but we should not stop being appreciative of his efforts. The man does quality work. As always, you have to wish there was more commentary from Whedon on the story behind the episodes.
After the failure of the initial Buffy video tape set to provide the resolution to the Master storyline from the first season, it is certainly gratifying that Joss Whedon has provided complete story arcs with both last year's The Buffy & Angel Chronicles and The Slayer Chronicles. Still, it would have been nice if one of Marti Noxon's Vamp Willow Episodes, "The Wish" or "Doppelgangland," had been included. But even though "Earshot" is not important to the Faith/Mayor story arc, it deserves to be included because of its status as a footnote to what happened at Columbine. Perhaps Whedon could produce a series of video tapes each having a couple of episodes focusing on Willow, Xander, Giles, etc., just like the Buffy novelization books. Just an idea of something to tide us over until the rest of Buffy is released on DVD, Joss (hint, hint, hint).
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55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well, you have to take what you can get when you can get it., December 8, 2000
This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Slayer Chronicles [VHS] (VHS Tape)
It's unavoidable to learn something about Season 3 from reading any review, there are just some things that I can't help but give away when reviewing this item, so if you don't want to have anything given away, it's best to stop here.
Well, a mere 18 months after the rest of the world got the chance to buy the whole of the first half of Season 3 and 12 months after the entire 22 episodes of the season became available on video (but in a format that can't be played on regular players in the US), the US has been rewarded with a choice of 6 of these 22 episodes of which three in particular are standouts, namely Enemies, Earshot and Graduation Day Part 1. Unlike the rest of the world, US viewers don't have to sort through all 22 episodes of the season, they have 6 very good ones chosen for them here.
In this pack "Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Vampire Chronicles" are 6 of the episodes from Season 3 which in its entirety originally aired from September 29, 1998 to July 13, 1999 (except Earshot, which was deferred) and consisted of 22 episodes. However, in this pack these are selected episodes from numbers 14 to 22. For reference, the names of the episodes from this part of the season are as follows, the ones in this pack are in capital letters, while the others are not and are in brackets.
S3 ep 14 - BAD GIRLS/S3 ep 15 - CONSEQUENCES/(S3 ep 16 - Doppelgangland)/S3 ep 17 - ENEMIES/S3 ep 18 - EARSHOT/(S3 ep 19 - Choices)/(S3 ep 20 - The Prom)/S3 ep 21 - GRADUATION DAY PART 1/S3 ep 22 - GRADUATION DAY PART 2.
Bad Girls (Season 3 episode 14):
In the preceding episodes, you have to know that Faith (Eliza Dushku) is the new Slayer that replaced Kendra (Bianca Lawson) and has come to Sunnydale. You also need to know that the previously unseen Mayor of Sunnydale (who the mere mention of would terrify Principal Snyder) starts making an appearance in person (Harry Groener) and he's planning something big which is not good for our heroes. Over time, the different personalities of Faith and Buffy has become increasingly apparent by this point of the season. You need to know (but it quickly becomes obvious) that where Buffy is more reserved and cautious, Faith is much more extroverted and reckless. Faith finally talks Buffy into making some changes in her life to make it more exciting and it leads to a night of encounters that lurches from one disaster to the next with the inevitable tragedy at the end of it. Also heralds the arrival (after a false dawn or two) of a new watcher that makes Giles look like quite the party animal in comparison; the man we all loved to hate back then (but with good reason) - Wesley Wyndham-Price (Alexis Denisof - now a regular on the spin off "Angel" - and much more liked).
Consequences (Season 3 Episode 15):
This seems like an obvious title given what was written about the previous episode. A lot more downbeat in tone, the fallout of the previous episode is still raining from the skies; with Buffy being left holding the bag and looking like she's in a lot of trouble. The mayor plans to use this to his advantage and what results puts everyone in considerable danger in a showdown led by the Mayor's fixer Mr Trick (K. Todd Freeman).
Enemies (Season 3 Episode 17):
It is difficult to say much about this episode without giving crucial information away. Well, you need to know that in a crucial scene in the previous episode not included in this pack that Faith has now decided to switch sides and throw her lot in with the Mayor. He gives her the job of trying to bring Angel back across to the dark side in much the same way as he way taken there in Season 2 (episode 13 - Surprise). This is one of the best episodes of the season and after a particular event happens, you just wonder how the writers were going to get out of the corner they seemed to have written themselves into. Suffice to say that they manage brilliantly in a way that is not a cheat. Surprises abound in this one, with a particularly brilliant scene revealing one of them.
Earshot (Season 3 - Episode 18):
This episode takes a break from the main theme of the season, whatever the Mayor is planning and is a self-contained episode which ended up being more topical than it intended. After a fight with two demons in what has to be the most dangerous park in America, Buffy is accidentally contaminated with the blood of one of them. This unexpectedly gives her the power to read minds. This is a very funny episode where Buffy uses this power to her advantage in class, learns that Cordelia really is as superficial as she looks, Willow is even more neurotic as she looks and that being able to read Oz's mind makes him more cryptic and impenetrable, not less. As for Xander, well no surprises there - unfortunately for him as everyone has their suspicions confirmed.
Not surprisingly, there's a downside. The thoughts of many of her classmates are particularly grim (understandable in Sunnydale) and it culminates in the discovery that someone is planning a massacre at the school. Unfortunately, finding this out in the crowded school cafeteria means there's a number of suspects. It's a race against time on two fronts, to intercept the would be assassin and find a way to shut off Buffy's steadily growing mind-reading power as it threatens to drown her in noise she can't shut off and drive her insane as a result. There are numerous twists in this episode (especially the one where it finally becomes clear what's going on - a very funny scene) and it concludes with one of the funniest final scenes in an episode, ever, as past (albeit unintentional) misdemeanours from a previous episode come to light. Unfortunately, the episode in which said event occurred in not available (in the US), so if you haven't seen it, it may a) kill the joke and b) leave you scratching your head and asking yourself "when did THAT happen?". (Clue - it helps to have seen "Band Candy" (S3 ep6) if you have the means to do so).
Understandably, was pulled from screening because of the Columbine school shootings given the subject matter was just too close and was not actually shown in the US for the first time until September 21, 1999.
Graduation Day Parts 1 & 2 (Season 3, episode 21 and 22):
Well, everything comes to a head in these two episodes. The Mayor is holding all the cards and whatever he has planned is clearly going to collide with the Graduation of Sunnydale's class of 1999 - as he's the guest speaker. Part 1 is an excellent episode which culminates in Buffy settling scores with Faith in what is probably the best fight scene in the show to date. All credit must go to Jeff Pruitt (Stunt Co-ordinator), Sophia Crawford (Buffy stunt double), Karen Shepard (Faith stunt double) and the rest of the people involved in this extended fight sequence (I'm sorry I don't know all your names) which can take days to film and the stunt players can accumulate a lot of injuries in the process. The standard has always been high but they really outdo themselves here. Part 2 finally reveals exactly what the mayor was up to and things appropriately culminate in an appropriately big melee and an unmissable explosive climax.
Part 2 was postponed because of what happened in Columbine until July 13, 1999 in the US.
Well, in general it might seem strange that this pack starts at episode 14 but in this season, the Mayor's plans really only became apparent around this time, the preceding half of the season dealing more with Buffy's return to Sunnydale after the end of last season and rebuilding her life and relationships. Overall, most of the key events are covered in the main theme of this season, much in the same way that the main theme of season 2 did not become apparent until around the middle of the season as well. You get some very good episodes, all of which are very exciting and worth seeing. Admittedly, however there are going to be some moments which don't make sense as it requires information from previous episodes and in between that are not available at the moment. Also, unfortunately, as good as these episodes are and the obvious choices for release as they deal with the main theme of the Mayor, Season 3 is in the curious position of having most of its very best episodes having little or nothing to do with it but being effectively stand-alones ousted the main theme in their own right (namely numbers 1,8,9,12,13 and 16). If you want to find out the sum totality of all episodes for the show in all seasons and their order, there are a number of good websites with episode lists which any good search engine should find. The official site is a good place to start, look in "The Mortuary" where the old episode descriptions are "buried". Easy enough to find, simply in the world-wide web, the first name of the lead character, a dot and a com.
Just for reference, those episodes in Season 3 to watch out for should they be released in future are: Anne (S3 ep1), Lover's Walk (S3 ep8), The Wish (S3 ep9), Helpless (S3 ep12) The Zeppo (S3 ep13). Doppelgangland (S3 ep16) is my personal favourite of all seasons so far. If you're inte
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46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Buffy At Its Best, But Still Very Good!!, January 16, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Slayer Chronicles [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Well, after the spectacular season 2 it would be very difficult for this series to top itself. And it does not. But these six episodes from the latter part of season 3 are still very good and still very worthwhile to purchase and watch. Season 3 is a little darker, a little more mature(for lack of a better word) than the previous seasons. This season's set could be descibed as dealing with the aftermath of everything from the first two seasons(i.e. Faith being "called" after Kendra was killed, Angel & Buffy's difficult relationship, etc.) It differs in tone from the first two seasons, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
The first tape consists of "Bad Girls" and "Consequences". This is probably the weakest of the tapes in the set. Bad Girls shows the bonding between fellow slayers, Buffy and Faith and how different yet somehow similiar they really are. This episode is worth it for the scene in the club alone. Consequences deals with the aftermath of Faith's impulsive and deadly behavior in the previous episode. This is one of the more serious episodes with Buffy, Angel, and friends trying unsuccessfully to reach out to Faith and save her from descending deeper into the darkness.
The second tape consists of "Enemies" and "Earshot". In my opinion this is probably the best tape in the set. Enemies brings to light the fact that Faith has crossed over to the dark side. Faith's defection also brings about the reemergence of Angel's dark side(Angelus). This episode is pretty good with lots of revelations and emotion between all the main characters. The second ep Earshot is also amazing. While it is a stand alone episode(that is it does not propel the Faith/mayor story arc along) it is worthwhile for its terrific blend of humor, drama, supernatural, and the everyday pains of adolescence. Buffy's sudden ability to read people's thoughts goes from humorous to disturbing. It is also worthwhile for its social signifigance as it was pulled from its original airdate because of the Columbine tragedy. One final note on Earshot: while there are not many scenes between Buffy and Angel, the scenes that there are, are among the sweetest scenes ever between these two.
The final tape contains "Graduation Day Parts 1 & 2"(season 3 finale). These 2 episodes are a great way to end season 3. They contain everything: plenty of action, drama, and even some well placed humor. Grad day Part 1 contains a fabulously choreographed showdown between Faith and Buffy and a twist at the end. Grad Day part 2 contains what is probably the most intense moment in the series' history between Buffy and Angel. Buffy realizes the only way to save a dying Angel is her own slayer's blood and it never ceases to amaze me of the sacrifices these two will make for each other in the name of love. Kudos to Joss Whedon for creating such a great love story. Part 2 also has an explosive(literally) final battle between the Mayor and our team of superheroes. While this season finale does not top Becoming Pts 1 & 2 from season 2, it is certainly a more than adequate follow-up.
On the whole this box set is certainly worth buying. It features some great episodes from the major story arc of Season 3. It is a little disappointing that great eps like Amends, Lover's Walk, and Dopplegangland were not included in the set, but you take what you can get. A must have for any Buffy fan, old or new or anyone who just likes great storytelling.
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