Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4713 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-03-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 999 minutes

Synopsis
The macabre adventures of Buffy and her Sunnydale comrades continue. The fourth season features budding romance between Xander and the ex-demon Anya as well as Willow and the new witch on the block, Tara. Also Oz departs, Buffy falls for military guy Riley and sometimes-villain Spike begins to aid the gang. Contains every episode from season three including 'The Freshman', 'Living Conditions', 'The Harsh Light Of Day', 'Fear Itself', 'Beer Bad', 'Wild At Heart', 'The Initiative', 'Pangs', 'Something Blue', 'Hush', 'Doomed', 'A New Man', 'The I In Team', 'The Years Girl', 'Who Are You', 'Superstar', 'Where The Wild Things Are', 'The New Moon Rising', 'The Yoko Factor', 'Primeval' and 'Restless'.

Customer Reviews

Excellent season...
I was late getting into the whole Buffy phenomena and this was the first season I watched on TV, and I became totally hooked.
As I discovered from watching the other seasons, this Season 4 was full of the same intrigue, surprise, butt-kicking action and the wonderful humour from all the characters, that is present from every episode.

Some people have questioned the lameness of the "big bad" being Adam, but it still grips the viewer and it's as much of interest with how the characters are growing and reacting to each other as it is how they kill the baddie.

This Season set has a few good extras. Several episode commentaries which are always welcome, scripts to look at(nice feature), and some good featurettes on the making of a couple of episodes and a season overview. Excellent season in an excellent package.

Not as good as it used to be
In the fourth season, the transition from high school to college was obviously going to be a hard one. But that isn't what augments the show's quality. It's the Initiative sub-plot/Adam that brings it down. The Initiative was interesting at the beginning but towards the end of the season it just rocked the show's boat so to speak. Adam on the other hand wasn't interesting. there was nothing intriguing about him. Although the final fight in Primeval is spectacular, he just did nothing for me. Definitely the worst Big Bad in the history of the show. Also, Angel and cordy are gone but that's made up by the inclusion of Spike and Anya (both completely different by the way to Angel and Cordy). Anya shows promise here but is at her hilarious best in the next season. Sharp Scooby banter are a great balance in contrast to the Initiative/Adam storyline and plus there's some fantastic episodes in the form of Superstar, Yoko factor, primeval and my all time favourite buffy episode: Restless. Hush is also great but I feel it's a tad overrated among Buffy fans. But it does contain the worst ever episode of Buffy (Beer Bad) but it's still worth the watch.

better than most people give it credit for
Although this season is often criticised by fans as being the weakest of the Buffy run, I personally think it is one of the strongest with some of the best episodes. Whereas other seasons (esp. 1-3) were very much focused on the big showdown in the finale, season 4 is more character based with Joss and co creating a great story arc to leave hints for up and coming storylines and characters.
Character wise, this season sees more of a focus on the individuals rather than the group. Buffy comes to terms with being a college student, away from home and learns more about the darker side of slaying. Willow embraces her craft and becomes a more powerful part of the group. Oz discovers more about his inner werewolf and makes a life-changing decision. Giles is now no longer official watcher or librarian so we begin to see more of Giles the man, instead of the uptight librarian of previous seasons. Xander, who is not in college, has to cope with the changing dynamics of the group and find his place in the world, through a number of jobs. There are new additions to the cast with Spike making a return, Anya becoming more central and learning to adapt to being a fully fledged human and Tara.
The writers make many hints to future storylines including the introduction of Dawn in series 5 and the seemingly riddle-filled final episode makes sense when you watch season 5. Outstanding episodes such as The Hush, This Year's Girl and Who Are You? make this season worthwhile buying(although watch out for a goof in This Year's Girl-when Buffy and Faith are fighting in the Summers' house and they fall down the stairs, you can see a camera being held on the left hand side, following the shot!). The season is different as it is not as action-based but that should by no means put people off buying it as it is probably the most well-written series that Joss and the team produced.