Before someone else marks this review down for not mentioning extras, please read through to where I say that I've seen it in two versions: (1) recorded from the TV, and (2) as part of a box set of the entire series which, in my last but one paragraph, I suggest might be better.
The version I have has far more extras than the one in this review which has: Angel Season 1 Overview Featurette, Buffy Featurette, Buffy Inside The Music, Dark Angel Interview with Jessica Alba, and trailers.
To get the context of the story through the events leading up to the musical there is the box set. It costs more but you get more.
So there are far more special features here if that's of particular interest to you.
° Commentary For Bargaining By Marti Noxon And David Fury ° Commentary For Once More With Feeling By Joss Whedon ° 3 Karaoke Singalongs ° Behind The Scenes Featurette ° Easter Egg ° Commentary For Smashed By Drew Z Greenberg ° Academy Of TV Arts And Sciences Panel Discussion ° Trailers ° Commentary For Hells Bells By David Solomon And Rebecca Rand Kirshner ° Commentary
For Normal Again By Rick Rosenthal And Diego Gutierrez ° Commentary For Grave By James Contner And David Fury ° Outtakes Reel
The following is what I originally wrote about the actual movie and its place in the work of Joss Whedon:
***
This is probably Joss Whedon's finest moment of inspiration. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a cult classic but this is something just that bit extra special.
In this one-off musical packed into a single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon gave us the funniest, cleverest show ever produced. It was packed with song and dance - a complete shocker in a series that had neither - and yet it followed the plot on from previous episodes without missing a beat. Willow has cast a spell on her girlfriend, Buffy is miffed about being brought back to life, Spike fancies her but argues with her, Giles is still giving hints about leaving the series, Xander and his demon lover, Anya, are filled with doubts about getting married, Dawn is continuing to be a troubled teenager.
It could be just another great episode in a kind of vampire soap opera, retaining so effortlessly the story's sense of history and developing its issues forward.
But this isn't just a soap opera or teen series. We're talking about Joss Whedon here. The episode 'Once more with Feeling' is a musical. It starts off with cheesy old 'I love Lucy' type titles with smiling cast members, goes through a mime of them getting up and starting their day, but then cuts to Buffy in a graveyard at night, laying low the vamps, but singing a catchy pop tune about it too! The choreography and the action is flawless and hillariously funny with Buffy's sincere long note as she stares into the camera seen through the mist of a vampire exploding into dust.
Checking through a door to see if anyone else in the world has started singing, crowds of people outside a laundrette are doing a huge dance routine with tumultuous orchestration to the delighted lyric, 'They got the mustard, out!'
Spike (Billy Idol look-alike vampire) has been resisting the spell but it gets him finally and he goes into a rocker of a number, jumping onto a coffin at a funeral, telling Buffy to stay away.
Giles, Buffy's mentor, hurls knives at her in a martial arts slo-mo dance, and she kicks them away as he sings of how she isn't ready for the world outside. If you don't know the series, he's the Prime Minister in 'Little Britain.'
Dance after dance, scenes filled with witty and brilliant songs flow and leap into other surprising scenes, making up a complete musical episode that will hold the discerning viewer spellbound.
There will be those for whom all of this will mean nothing and I accept that these matters are largely subjective. People like different things. However, if you did like Buffy as a series and missed this episode, you missed a cracker. It's the standout, landmark, wildcard must-have. If you can find the box set version, you'd have the context and whole storyline in your hand too and that, obviously, would be better still.
My personal favourite moments include a split second in a dance routine where Tara, under the spell of lesbian girlfriend Willow, sings a song and does a dance in a park. She crosses a bridge and makes a single gesture, lifting her head just slightly, with one hand over her head at an angle, and the effect never goes away. I could watch it a hundred times and I still get goosebumps.
The Devil doing the song and dance spell gives a performance filled with bright colour, charismatic charm and panache. His victims who fall dead in flames might not agree with me, of course.
Willow has a line that tickled me. She frowns and sings, 'I think this line's mostly filler...'
The musical arrangements are second to none with lovely harmonies and songs that merge one with another brilliantly. There's nothing of the karaoke machine to this. It isn't Pop Idol.
All the dances are professionally choreographed with surprising performances from everyone in the cast. The lyrics are masterful and filled with comedy enhanced by bumps, grinds, and flingings that fit in just so.
I've seen this episode many times in two versions. One came as part of a box set of all the episodes in a series, and the other was recorded off TV. There were cuts made in the DVD version the most inexplicable of which was a perfectly good dance routine involving Dawn and a bunch of wooden-headed puppet monsters. I'm not sure how this version deals with these cuts. My preference would be to put them back.
Joss Whedon has since followed up his ill-fated but also brilliant sci-fi series, 'Firefly,' with a feature film, 'Serenity,' based on the name of the spaceship in both. His departure from the world of vampires has been fascinating and full of the brilliance of Buffy and Angel, but of that earlier work, this episode is clearly unique, and well worth owning.
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Production Year: 2005 - Horror - Director: Eli Roth - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Shane Daly, Lenka Vlasakova, Eythor Gudjonsson, Jan Vlasak
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![Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, With Feeling (2001) [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78523954.jpg "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, With Feeling (2001) [DVD]")
Jan 19th, 2006
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