Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Seventh Season DVD: Review By jennifergregory

Buffy faces her strongest nemesis yet in a battle to save the world -- again.

The final 22 episodes of Buffy. Ever. It's sad, I know. The series had a long and wonderful run, but we all knew it had to end (some of you knew it as soon as it made the jump to UPN, but some of us are slow, so we didn't know until now).

I was a strong Buffy follower for the first four seasons when they aired on the WB, but after that, my interest waned, so I never got to see the final few seasons until I got the DVD's. Not really sure what to expect, I went into Season 7 with an open mind, reminding myself that I used to enjoy, no make that love, the show. What I found was a first-rate final season. It had the good ("Conversations with Dead People"), the bad ("Him"), and the ugly (any episode with Caleb).

The cast members were amazing as always, with each episode churning out a strong performance from everybody, including the introduction of a new character Sunnydale High School principal Robin Wood (played by D.B. Woodside) and the recurring character Andrew (played by Thomas Lenk) whose dry sarcasm made for many a laughs from me.

The seventh season chronicles the rise of The First, the source of all evil all across the globe, who is attempting to wipe out the Slayer line in order to tip the scales in the favor of evil. Buffy, Giles, and the others begin to bring potential slayers from all over the world to Sunnydale to protect them from The First. In my opinion, these girls do more complaining than training and only become useful in the finale.

Buffy also has to deal with the return of Spike, fresh with a soul and driven insane by ceaseless hauntings by The First. As if saving the world and the return of a psycho-ex isn't enough, mutiny begins to rear it's ugly head among the potential slayers. What's a Slayer to do?

Well, I'm not gonna tell you. You have to buy the DVD's to find that out.

A lot of familiar faces were brought back around for this season, including Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland), Drusilla (Juliet Landau), and Warren (Adam Busch). All of which were guises The First used to manipulate the main cast of the show. It seems the special effects team finally stopped sleeping on their keyboards because the special effects, especially in the finale, were phenomenally good.

For the final season, I thought there would be more special features than on the other seasons, however it seems to be generally the same amount of features. It's definitely not lacking in features, but more is always better, especially for the hardcore audience.

+ Commentary for "Lessons", "Selfless", "Conversations with Dead People", "The Killer in Me", "Lies my Parents Told Me", "Dirty Girls", and "Chosen"

+ Featurette: "Buffy: It's always been about the fans"

+ Featurette: "Season 7 overview"

+ Featurette: "Buffy, Full Circle"

+ Featurette: "Buffy 101: Studying the Slayer"

+ Outtakes Reel

+ Buffy Wraps (coverage of the wrap party)

+ Easter Egg: "The Gift" Montage

+ DVD Rom: Willow Demon Guide

Fox made a seamless transfer from TV to DVD on these discs. They're presented in standard format (1.33.1) with no graininess or dulling of the picture.

Presented in Dolby Digital Surround and coming from the speakers on my TV, it sounds great.

A perfect ending for the show's seven year run. Even if you were like me, and only a fan of the show for the first few seasons, this set is still worth getting.