I'm a self-confessed Buffy fan, and I loved the show so much that I bought all seven boxsets, which I have enjoyed countless times. I'd never really given the spin-off series "Angel" much thought, however, until Buffy had finished and my favourite character, Spike, moved over to Angel, and then I started watching it (from Season 5, the final season). Although I enjoyed this, there were some plot lines that I didn't particularly understand so when Sky started showing it from season one I decided to start watching it, only to find that due to the rating, they actually didn't show the whole series so I decided to buy the boxsets and now I'm going to share my opinion on Angel Season One boxset with you, starting with….

---The Storyline---

After leaving Sunnydale, Angel has taken up a lonely life of helping the helpless humans, while keeping himself apart from them. Into this scenario comes Doyle, a stranger with visions of those that need Angel's help and now it's time for Angel to start interacting with the world around him once more…..

OK, so this is quite a simplified version of how the season starts, but to write any more would mean I would give away what happens in the first episode, and what I enjoyed so much was actually watching the story develop. So let's put it this way, each episode basically follows the following scenario : There's a vision of a big bad, vampire with soul goes after big bad, big bad dies. Doesn't particularly sound exciting does it, but under this simple plot there are characters and relationships that are developed , along with plenty of action, violence and humour.

Although, it's not essential to have watched Buffy before watching this, there were not only a few references, but also some character and storyline cross-overs, although I'm sure this wouldn't completely ruin enjoyment, I would imagine that it might leave the occasional viewer wondering "who on earth is that?".

Unlike Buffy and later seasons, there is no real story arc in this season, instead it was almost as if the writers were trying to introduce us to Angel's new world. But what I really liked about the this season was how it really gave us insight into Angel's past, particularly in Prodigal, this really did help me to empathise with the character and his motivation. The final episode was interesting, and unlike Buffy (again), instead of completing the story arc, left us with a cliff-hanger, just to encourage us to watch the next season.

---The Characters---

In this, the first season there are only four main characters, although of course there are others that are introduced near the end, that will become important in later seasons, as well as a few "cross-overs" from Buffy. But I'm only going to tell you what I think about the main four, who are :

--Angel - played by David Boreanaz--

Once the most vicious evil vampire who delighted in torturing his victims before lunching on them, Angel has been cursed with a soul after snacking on the wrong girl. Condemned to spend the rest of eternity actually caring about what he did, Angel became a rather sad pathetic character, feeding off rats in the sewers and dark alleys. Or so it seemed until he met Buffy, who was not only the vampire slayer but also the love of his life, and he found himself purpose in helping keep the apocalypse at bay. If only life was so simple in the Buffyverse that would have been the end of the story, but there was a catch to the curse, and should Angel ever experience even one moment of perfect happiness he would once more lose his soul and go on the rampage. Of course, when he finally got jiggy with Buffy this is exactly what happened, and although he eventually got it back, he decided that being close to Buffy and never "doing it" was just too much to bear, so he left Sunnydale for the glamour of Los Angeles (appropriate don't you think) to start a life away from temptation.

I must admit I was curious to find out how David would develop Angel from the rather annoying , tortured character he had become into someone that I could actually care about. And I must admit I was pleasantly surprised, although he started as that same somewhat whingey character, as the series progressed I began to feel that he's lightened up a bit, and in fact he produced some really amusing moments. (Angel dancing is something that has to be seen to be believed).

--Doyle - played by Glenn Quinn--

Half demon Doyle was sent from the Powers That Be, to aide Angel in his battles to help the helpless. Blessed (or is that cursed) with visions of victims, he provides Angel with the information he needs to get to the victim in the nick of time. Doyle only found out he was half-demon when he was 21, and to say he isn't particularly happy with this fact would be an understatement. Seeing himself as simply a lowly messenger could he have hidden depths (other than the green spikes)?

As the first character that the majority of viewers had never met before, Glenn had a relatively short time-frame to develop Doyle's character, but he was soon someone I could identify with, the little guy with a big purpose in life, full of the flaws that make us all human (or demon it seems).

--Cordelia Chase - played by Charisma Carpenter--

In a classic case of riches to rags, Cordelia (Cordy) was the super rich, ever popular high school b*tch . You know the type of girl who can destroy your life with one word. Shallow, vain, only interested in helping herself, she can't possibly have changed can she? Well actually, yes, with Mummy and Daddy in prison for tax evasion, it's a much humbler Cordy that we meet as she tries to make her mark in the big bad world. Now an aspiring actress, she is still blunt , a little snobby and apt to speak before thinking, but I really do think we see her softer side.

As far as I'm concerned Charisma is Cordelia, she's developed the character and made it her own from the very first episode of Buffy and as the season progresses I felt she really helped Cordy grow up and find her place in the world, while retaining that underlying b*tchiness.

--Wesley Wyndham-Price - played by Alexis Denisof--

As a watcher Wesley was an out and out failure, of the two slayers under his wing one turned bad and the other refused to do as she was told. Best described , perhaps, as a blustering fool who means well, Wes has taken up the profession of Rogue Demon Hunter, the question is, is he any better at this than he was as a watcher?

I love the spirit that Alexis puts into this character, he really does make Wes seem the ever bumbling fool, and I guess that's what I like about this character, that he tries too hard.

---The Soundtrack---

The majority of the soundtrack is as it should be in a program such as this, appropriate and yet unmemorable. There is however one exception, and that is the opening track, which I personally find very haunting, with the slow violin solo, which develops into a fast paced action sound, it really does work perfectly with the opening credit sequence.

---The Special Effects---

In keeping with Buffy tradition, the special effects are jaw-dropingly good. The "dustings" have the level of detail that I'm used to with you being able to see the "layers" of the vampire disintegrating. The vampire faces did seem a little too bumpy in the first couple of episodes, but things did improve later in the season, and the transitions were excellent throughout. The demons looked impressive, and in some cases very scary, if not always strictly realistic. All in all I can say that I found the special effects were as exceptional as I anticipated they would be.

---The Boxset---

The six DVDs in this set are presented in a hardback book format, where each DVD has it's own "page" complete with protective sleeve. This book then slips into a sturdy cardboard sleeve, which is somewhat larger than a standard DVD case. This format is followed through Season 2-6 of Buffy as well as the remaining seasons of Angel. Each of the boxsets have a different colour theme, and this one is blue with a picture of Angel on the front with silver lettering. All in all it's very well presented, and looks very good displayed alongside my Buffy sets.

---The Discs---

The six discs are very nicely printed with characters (both good and evil) from the season, and I really must say the printing is better than anything I could have produced myself (I tried when I was attempting to record the season off of Sky and my DVDs don't look nearly as good).

---The Menus---

The DVDs feature really fancy motion menus, which although they're nice to look at for the first few times, do become really annoying after a while. I'd much prefer, simple stationary menus so that I can get straight to the action.

---The Extras---

There are a reasonable number of extras (some better than others), but perhaps not as many as I'm used to from watching the Buffy boxsets. However we do have :

--Commentaries--

There are a total of two commentaries, one for the very first episode and another for Room with a View. I only actually only listened to about half of the first one, and it bored me silly. Somehow it was very disjointed with lots of "Ums" and "Ers", and I really couldn't be bothered with even attempting to listen to the second one.

--Scripts--

There are text versions of the original scripts for "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary", I quite enjoyed reading through these, and it was fun to pretend to be Faith as I read her parts out. It also showed just how much effort the actors put into changing what is essentially a bit of writing into a multi-dimensional program.

--Season One Featurette--

An interesting look at the season through the eyes of the cast and writers. I enjoyed watching this, but made the mistake of viewing it before I'd finished watching the complete season, and there are few spoilers, so leave it until after the final episode.

--Angel Season One Video Trailer--

I can't really see the point of them putting this on here, after all to watch it I had to own the DVD version, so do they think I would really be persuaded to go for the inferior format. However, it was a well produced trailer, if that's any consolation.

--Art Gallery--

The art gallery was in two sections, blueprints and still gallery. I personally couldn't really see the point of the blueprints section, it really didn't interest me. But the still gallery was exceptional, with a series of pictures from the season that were not only of excellent quality, but actually seemed to be designed to be used as desktop wallpaper. I was so impressed that I used one as my desktop, and it's very, very good quality.

*I've added one of the pictures so you can see just what good quality they are

--Biographies--

Um, not sure why they bothered adding this bit in. After all it's just a series of text based life stories of the main cast members, creator and producer. I must admit I had a quick read, but will probably never bother with this section again.

--Introducing Angel--

This was an unusually presented featurette, where "Angel" is telling his story, interspersed with comments from the writer's, directors and stars. This was just so interesting to watch, short but definitely sweet.

--I'm Cordelia--

This is a brilliant look at Cordy's character and how it developed from the b*tch we loved to hate in Buffy to the almost heroine she becomes. Although this was pretty short, it was very interesting and definitely worth watching.

--The Demons--

A rather longer featurette, with some insight into the various demons and "baddies" that we meet through the season. There are a few quite revealing snippets that you'll either be amazed at or (if you're like me) find quite funny.

---The Picture/Audio Quality---

The picture quality was brilliant throughout all of the main episodes, and for the majority of the extras. Being in full-screen format, I could view it on my 4:3 20" LCD TV without any black lines, which I prefer, and I must say that there was no pixalation, or graininess at all.

Although the sound quality was acceptable, I did find it was a tad on the quiet side, and the lack of 5.1 sound was a little disappointing, I really do think that the atmosphere would have benefited from the upgraded surround sound.

---Technical Bits---

Rating : 18
Feature Running Time : 917 minutes
Region : 2 (PAL)
Picture : 4:3
Sound : Dolby Digital 2.0 (stereo)
Languages : English/French
Subtitles : English for the hearing impaired/French/Dutch

Price : £34.99 from mvc.co.uk (+£1 delivery) or £37.99 from Play

---My overall opinion---

Although I actually didn't enjoy this season as much as I had Buffy, once I had watched the first episode I found I was hooked. There was a much more adult theme (as was suggested by the rating), and it seemed to be aimed at those who had watched Buffy and were ready to move onto something much more "grown-up". I had never actually been able to watch the whole season on TV and had felt a little lost watching the later seasons, but this would have actually been the better place to start as it spends a lot of time setting the characters up and goes into far more depth of Angel's background, than Buffy had previously.

As with Buffy previously, there is a great mix of drama, action, horror, romance and comedy which means it never gets too dark or too slushy, which meant that it is suitable for viewers with a wide range of tastes. My action junkie husband was actually willing to sit and watch this with me, whereas he always moaned that Buffy was too "fluffy". I would say though that this season is not really suitable for children, there are some very dark scenes, although later seasons do seem to get a little lighter.

I think I would have been happy to have paid the £34.99, just to be able to watch the complete season in it's uncut glory (including the episodes that Sky wouldn't show) and in the same format as my Buffy DVDs, but I actually enjoyed many of the special features which meant that it was even better value. I'm therefore recommending this particular set to those that have watched and enjoyed the program on TV and want to see the episodes that Sky won't air, and already own the Buffy sets in the same format. There is another format coming out, where the discs come in standard cases, but that really doesn't look as stylish, so get these while you can.