(Updated 2003-08-08 with link to Joss Update.)
I have a confession to make. On February 21, 2003 on watched my first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (6x09). I’m not sure why I did, or why I chose then, or why I chose that episode, but I do know this: I was blown away. I spent all day thinking about it, unable to get it out of my mind, craving more. Since then, I have watched every aired episode of Buffy, spinoff Angel, and creator Joss Whedon’s other show, Firefly, from the beginning, in order. On May 20, 2003, three months later, the final episode of Buffy aired and my quest is done. Now, my story can be told…
Logistics
Seasons one, two, and three of Buffy are available on DVD in the US. (Season four will be out soon. Season one of Angel recently came out.) I rented seasons one and two of Buffy from my local video store and Netflix. We purchased season three to take with on our trip to Japan.
Seasons four, five, and six of Buffy and one, two, and three of Angel are available on DVD in the UK. We purchased season six of Buffy for the musical episode and its special features.
Season six of Buffy also aired on FX in the meantime, so we TiVoed and watched its episodes.
For Buffy seasons four, five, and the first half of seven, as well as Angel seasons one, two, three, and the first half of four, and all of Firefly, we used Kazaa. Kazaa is a general file-sharing program based on a supernode system of network organization. As far as I know, there is only a Windows client.
All the episodes were available, and using the right techniques and add on tools, low quality (~80MB) versions could be downloaded within an hour. Most of these files seemed to be pretty badly encoded and had to be played with the swiss army knife of video players, VLC. (Don’t get me wrong; VLC is awesome — it seems to support nearly every format! — it’s just that usability doesn’t seem to be a top priority for them.) Worse, they all seemed to tickle a wide selection of VLC bugs.
(I initially assumed this was because encoders simply did what Windows Media Player reported, not what the spec required, but even Windows Media Player couldn’t play some of these files right! I have no idea what the encoder authors were thinking.)
These files were quite a mix: some from the WB airing, some from Sky One or the BBC, some from the Netherlands with Dutch subtitles!
Often higher-quality versions (~500MB) were available and could be downloaded within a couple hours (the reason they don’t take a proportional amount of time is because more people with broadband have these). These versions were much nicer, and since they were taken from the “wild feeds” that were broadcast by satellite to the stations, they were often better than what you saw on TV (for one thing, the credits were kept intact). The only problem was some occasional dropped portions, probably due to the encoding machine being overloaded.
For the second half of this season, we used TVTorrents.com, an excellent site that catalogs TV episodes available via BitTorrent. This site nearly always had 500MB wildfeed versions, as opposed to the hodgepodge available from Kazaa. Even better, if you’re watching a show live, TVTorrents often has the show up over a day before it airs.
And, of course, we TiVoed the final episodes and watched some of them live.
One of the things I want to do is collect all the episodes and put them up on TVTorrent and Kazaa, as a way of giving back (and helping those of you who want to do the same thing I did).
In addition, after many episodes I read the episode guides available from BuffyGuide and TVTome (although TVTome is pretty careless with the spoilers), which I found helped my understanding of the show and pointed out clever details I had missed.
Legality
It’s arguable whether all this downloading is illegal, but it’s almost certainly moral. The shows air, for free, to a first run TV audience and are produced based on advertising revenue from that audience. Watching the episodes years after they aired doesn’t hurt that revenue.
But you’re lowering the value of syndication airings, which hurts the people running the show! This is probably true. If production companies are concerned about this, they should put the shows up online, either with commercials or for a small fee (a single viewer’s portion of the syndication cost has to be pretty small). I’m sure viewers would love to download high-quality uncut versions from a fast server, while at the same time helping fund more episodes!
But you’re hurting DVD and video sales! Ditto, very few shows make it to DVD. Anyway, I’m not hurting DVD sales any more than I am by renting the DVD from my video store — the studio doesn’t get any more money in either instance.
(Aside: Can’t you just imagine Hillary Rosen or Jack Valenti going after video stores and libraries with the same fervor as they go after “piracy”. I mean, here are organizations that buy one copy of something, share it with zillions of people, get those people to pay for using that copy and don’t give anything back to the artists! Atrocious!)
But this logic is too complex for Jack Valenti, who I’m beginning to suspect is some sort of pull-string doll. In a Guardian article he’s quoted as saying “There is no business model on this Earth that can compete with free.” Um, hello? Did you ever notice that these shows are available for free already, Mr. Valenti? “For the survival of the industry, the piracy does have to stop.” What planet is this guy on?
(He continues, of course, with his standard “It frightens me that there is a generation growing up, thinking that because it’s there free, they can take it. You wouldn’t see these kids go into a rental shop and put a DVD in their pocket without paying for it, but that’s what they are doing online, they are putting the show in their virtual pocket.” which of course makes no sense at all. If you take a DVD from a rental shop, they can no longer rent it. If you download a copy off the Internet, they can still air it in syndication and sell DVDs.)
Online episodes can’t hurt the studios, but as my experience has shown, they sure can help it. Because of one episode I downloaded online, they’ve now sold me $150 of DVDs and have three more television viewers. Not like they’re hurting for cash, though, because they’re making zillions by auctioning off random props from the show. (I wonder how many more seasons of the canceled Firefly they could fund with that…)
Layout (some minor spoilers)
I can vaguely remember when Buffy the Vampire Slayer sounded goofy to me, like the dreadful movie it originally was. But now it only sounds intelligent and ground-breaking. The show portrays how life actually feels, through the use of supernatural occurances. (No one talks to you because you’re actually invisible. The principal is mean to you because he’s evil. The other kids are mean to you because they’re posessed.)
However, the fundamental strength of the show (and its spinoff Angel, which doesn’t have as strong a mission) is the story. Like one of those neverending hankerchief chains magicians always seem to have, the show encourages to keep pulling, to find out what happens next. Sure, it’s made up of individual episodes (handkerchiefs) tied together, and occasionally one or two are incredibly beautiful, but it’s the larger story that makes the show so strong.
In season one (being a midseason replacement, it only had 12 episodes) the show found its footing and lay down a strong framework for the next six years. Season two really hit it off, with an excellent series of monster-of-the-week-style stories, but with strong character arcs and subplots behind them, culminating in a heart-renching season finale. Season three continued the trend toward stronger arcs, with an exploration of power and its abuse.
Then the show takes a turn. It leaves high school for college. Joss helps start the Angel spinoff. And the show begins a sort of downward descent. It has its high points (Hush, a mostly silent episode and Restless, an all-dream episode — both written and directed by Joss). Season five continues the downward trend but has an excellent villain and the best thing I’ve ever seen on television (5x16, also a “double Joss”).
At season six the show hits bottom. It moves to UPN. Joss works on a third show, Firefly and leaves things to Marti Noxon. Giles isn’t in many of the episodes. It begins exploring depression and the confusion of adulthood. The season is pretty dreadful, redeemed only by the double Joss musical episode (which might even be a triple Joss, all the songs having been written by him) which is lots of fun, and has great music.
At season seven it climbs upwards a little more, thanks mostly due to new writer Drew Goddard and a renewed focus when they realize it’s their last season. The first half wasn’t that much better, but the season finale got pretty good towards the end.
Meanwhile, over on Angel things are looking up. Season one starts out with the usual monster-of-the-week thing but as Buffy falls it picks up. Season two has some stronger arcs (just like Buffy season two) but keeps the same basic format. At season three things really get going just as Buffy plunges, with a strong suporting cast and an impressive story which doesn’t finish playing out until season four’s second-to-last episode. (The last episode is effectively a pilot for the next season, which looks to be a very different show.)
Finally, on Firefly we have something altogether different: a fascinating sci-fi concept which is put together with usual Joss quality. The beginnings of some character arcs are layed down but tragically, the show is completely screwed up by network Fox and canceled after only six episodes. It has some high points (1x11, Objects in Space — a double Joss, is excellent) and I can only imagine what it would be like were it to keep going.
Lastly
Buffy touched me in a way I won’t soon forget. Angel showed me that television shows need not suck. Firefly taught me the power of imagination. Now Buffy is over, Angel is totally changing, and Firefly is canceled. Whatever Joss does, I will almost certainly continue to watch it, but I don’t think anything can compare to my quest, when I experienced nearly eleven years of TV in three months. I want to do it all again.
Believe me I don’t want to go. And it’ll grieve me ’cause I love you so. But we both know…
Update: Check out my Joss Update with some more thoughts and tips for those going on a similar quest.