I'm in the dark as to why they seem to have to space the seasons so far apart for DVD release...my wife and I think that they should release Seasons 5-7 in mid-to-late November, in time for Christmas, as a 3-season set...I'd buy several, to be sure...we have tapes of those seasons, but they are not of great quality.

Anybody know why it takes ages to get these things out?

Chris in Virginia | August 29, 17:05 CET

The age-old answer in brief: it's syndication rights, as far as I know. FX pays a certain sum of money to air their episodes, and immediate DVD releases would cut down on the value of their investment. The UK gets them earlier because Buffy doesn't have a like syndication arrangement across the sea.

friarfunk | August 29, 19:29 CET

I suspect it would also be more difficult to get publicity for the DVD releases if they happened one right after another.

unreality | August 29, 19:42 CET

I would rather wait and get a fully loaded disk set. What's great about a well paced release schedule is that the creative people can build on the previous sets technology advances with each release. The leap from BtVS Season 1 to Season 2 was tremendous and Season 4's commentaries probably wouldn't have been as good if the set had been released 2 years ago. After season 7 gets released next fall I can't wait to see what they do with the fully loaded Season 1 set they will inevitably put out.
I'm salivating over Joss' teaser about deleted scenes being put on the season 3 Angel set. If Joss is reading this could we please get a Hilarious Bloopers & Outtakes extra too?

vpecoraro | August 29, 19:54 CET

There's also the reality that when too much of anything from one production house gets sent out, it ends up competing with itself, because the fan base of that particular franchise (Star Wars to Teletubbies whatever) has a finite disposable income to devote. So if they send out two or three DVD sets at the same time, it lessens the impact financially on their bottom line. Whereas if Season one comes out first and then six months to a year later they do season two, it insures a larger chance that the majority of the fan base will be there opening day for both release dates, so they can say they sold a bajillion and made all these samoleons.

It's also why it's rare to see two movies hit the screens simultaneously with the same talent. Or why a band doesn't release two albums within a couple months of each other. No need to compete with oneself in the marketplace.

ZachsMind | August 29, 20:26 CET

vpecoraro, apart from the Oz-featurette and the Joss/Marti/Seth-commentary, everything was there in the region 2 box which IIRC was released a year and a half ago. And the r2 of Angel S3 has outtakes, so it should be there for the American release as well.

Nicklas | August 30, 00:09 CET

One thing that's interesting is how different Fox's strategies are for "Buffy" vs. the recent "Star Trek" DVDs or "The X-Files". The latter generally cost about twice as much (roundabouts 100 bucks, I think) and are released twice as quickly or more. I wonder if that has something to do with accommodating the budgets of "Buffy"'s by-and-large younger audience? I know that as a starving college student, I can't afford to snatch up the DVDs that much faster than the rate at which they're already being released.

[ edited by bobothebrave on 2003-08-30 01:08 ]

bobothebrave | August 30, 01:07 CET

Nicklas, I just checked the BBC web site that gives the details of the Angel season 3 box set and it sounds like you're right and all the work has already been done on it. Joss has spun his interview to make it sound like a crew of technicians is working feverishly to create a state of the art box for us. I've always assumed that since we're Americans we get the best of everything and other nations must feast on our crumbs. Now I feel like Fox is screwing us by not giving us the best first like we deserve. I haven't been this upset since finding out that all of Europe and Asia can buy Twin Peaks season two and we can't!

vpecoraro | August 30, 02:21 CET

"I've always assumed that since we're Americans we get the best of everything and other nations must feast on our crumbs.."

Woah.

Y'know it's that kinda attitude that makes the rest of the world wanna kill us American ethnocentric greedy spoiled types. *smirk*

ZachsMind | August 30, 03:44 CET

Zachsmind, Glad you got my joke. Thanks

vpecoraro | August 30, 04:48 CET

For less than a hundred dollars, one can buy a region-free, NTSC/PAL DVD player off the Internet. Mine works very well. I have BTVS through Season 6 and ATS through Season 3. I understand why they do it, but I still have no patience for Fox's United States DVD release schedule.

LB | August 30, 07:32 CET

Okay, I'm confused. Joss is quoted as saying that the Angel S2 DVDs are in WS b/c that's the way it was filmed starting with season 2. Doesn't he mean S3?

Invisible Green | September 01, 04:38 CET