This makes me sick. I've immediately asked Netflix to give us the original version back. Fox's HD version is just a travesty of the show we love, it shouldn't be available anywhere until they make a brand new HD transfer.

Nico-Angel | August 04, 12:40 CET

The most egregious part might be that "Once More With Feeling" is cut down by 9 minutes in this brave new HD world. It's the syndication version.

I wrote in too! Curious to see if those of us that care about artistic intent are enough for Netflix to respond. I expect they'll fix OMWF's running time soon! But I doubt we can fight off the whole impossibly shoddy HD transfer.

Example of how regular, non -Whedonesque fans feel: My roommate has been watching BTVS, first run though, on Netflix for months. She's in early season 5. Today I walked in on her. She hadn't noticed AT ALL that Buffy was altered to HD or widescreen overnight. And she's definitely not bothered.

Most people will shrug or celebrate the HD/widescreen. The average viewer doesn't care much what good color correction and framing look like, at least not enough to complain.

EDIT: And to be fair, it's not as though every shot or season is equally awful. It's a range from "eh" to "blood and tears mixing in my eyeballs". And occasionally something is pretty and makes me yearn for a careful HD version.

[ edited by KaileeA42 on 2016-08-04 22:22 ]

KaileeA42 | August 04, 13:19 CET

>:(

Grack21 | August 04, 14:52 CET

I'm the last remaining person in the world who doesn't have Netflix. I love my DVD's.

AndrewCrossett | August 04, 17:52 CET

I would go back to my DVDs if my blu-ray player didn't make everyone look like skinnier stick figures than they are. Glad my son watched the whole series before Netflix switched it over.

Nebula1400 | August 04, 18:26 CET

It's not an HD remaster. They changed the shots. The framing is wrong, the lighting, the color. Some scenes in Season 1 look like day when its supposed to be night time. Buffy and Angel sleep during the day.

I wish Joss would do something about this.

Ricardo L. | August 05, 03:41 CET

I've seen Buffy in widescreen starting with season 4. Around here, the show was broadcasted this way. So, the widescreen thing would not be noticeable for me. All the other things are a shame of course. Especially in the earlier season with the lightning and zoomed in picture to get the ratio "right".

I didn't know that they cut some minutes in some cases.

A friend who only knew the HD version didn't like the originals, when he watched a video that compared both versions.

roadi | August 05, 04:12 CET

No Netflix in chez Stoney, just a constant BtVS/AtS DVD presence with whichever seasons I'm on. @AndrewCrossett, you are not alone. :D

I would LOVE a HD version of BtVS, but everything I have heard about what they have done with this really bugs me. As @Ricardo L says, they have messed it up in several ways. I heard talk of sound guys etc being in the wider shots as another example of how the framing is wrecked. So, no, not something I'm going to watch now or later, I'd rather stick with SD. It is a shame that Joss obviously can't stop it (I'm assuming of course that he would want to).

Stoney | August 05, 04:29 CET

I'm a dvd fan too, don't even have a blu-ray player.

Scraggles | August 05, 07:31 CET

So much for my lazy rewatch. Time to reconnect the DVD player.

ActualSize | August 05, 10:13 CET

Anyone know if the Hulu/Amazon prime versions got changed as well?

Grack21 | August 05, 10:54 CET

As far as the Fox suits are concerned, money was spent on the HDification of the show and that's the end of it for them. How do you convince them to go back to square one after they've already sold the new transfers to streaming services? If fan outcry and Joss Whedon himself can't convince them, what can?

[ edited by Barry Woodward on 2016-08-06 07:15 ]

Barry Woodward | August 05, 12:12 CET

Netflix Latin America just switched to the HD version as well :( Looks like it won't be long before the original and true version of the show disappears from the internet. Thank God for the dvds!

But this makes me so mad, now I won't be able to recommend people to try the show on Netflix, the remaster is so terrible it makes the show look like amateur work. How can Fox get away with this?? It's almost criminal.

Joss, I beg you, please, try something, Buffy needs you!

[ edited by Liam12 on 2016-08-06 01:49 ]

Liam12 | August 05, 16:27 CET

I'm actually liking it. It's been kinda hard to watch the last couple of years. I'm glad for the clearer picture even if the ratios are bad, would prefer an HD 4:3 version though

kantgitrite101 | August 05, 23:04 CET

Not having the extended version of Once More, with Feeling available for streaming is an atrocity.

Off to social media I go.

goodtime | August 05, 23:10 CET

No Netflix in chez Stoney, just a constant BtVS/AtS DVD presence with whichever seasons I'm on. @AndrewCrossett, you are not alone. :D

Same here.

Buffy season 1 is the darkest and murkiest. I adjusted the brightness, contrast and color temperature on my LCD/LED TV to bring out the best (IMO) of that season and found that everything else looks great that way, too.

Amrita | August 06, 09:52 CET

DVD for me as well.

Dana5140 | August 06, 11:02 CET

They cut down OMWF? You gotta be kidding me!! I just recently started looking at Buffy on netflix (1st and 2nd seasons) and I thought(this sure is odd, why are the characters pink looking) and now I know. UGH.

So between this and the DVDs previous fuck ups, there is no pure version of Buffy available anywhere is there?

The DVDs already fucked up by not using the anamorphic wide screen version of buffy. Not including the previously on's which really messes with the flow of the opening to The Gift, cuts out a entire scene from Angel 2x20, cuts off seconds from the beginning of Angel 4x08 and probably other episodes I can't remember. Wait yeah, cutting the previously on kills the joke at the beginning of the episode where Merle dies.

Maybe in 20 years some fan can get a high profile job in Fox and get a restoration project started to fix Buffy and Angel.

[ edited by eddy on 2016-08-07 18:14 ]

eddy | August 07, 09:05 CET

The fact that the remasters are 16:9 is problematic (although I think it could work if converted carefully, look at The Wire). But the worst part in this HD version is definitely the absence of color grading, it's awful, it's like you're watching dailies! The overused DNR is a big issue as well.

Nico-Angel | August 07, 11:50 CET

eh, there is no anamorphic wide screen version of buffy

Grack21 | August 07, 12:00 CET

Sorry grack21, Im on my phone and was typing fast. I meant no anamorphic wide screen version of OMWF.

eddy | August 07, 15:13 CET

I forgive you your trespass!

Grack21 | August 07, 15:48 CET

obligatory post to say that i would do unconscionable things if they earned me some properly done blu-ray sets for buffy and angel.

Trentaferd | August 07, 19:33 CET

There is a vengeance demon working at Fox who is determined to ruin every TV show Joss ever did, even if it has to be done retroactively.

It never stops astounding me that there are some people out there who think the *most important thing* about any TV show is that it fills the screen. Distorted picture, bad filters, crew and equipment visible... doesn't matter as long as those black bars aren't there at the sides. Incredible.

AndrewCrossett | August 08, 05:17 CET