Angel Season Five DVD Review
Can you change an evil organization working within the belly of the beast or will you get digested in the process? A gang of supernatural fighters finds out in the fifth season of Angel, which was released last month on DVD. The vampire with a soul is handed over control to the LA branch of Wolfram and Hart, an evil multidimensional law firm that has been fighting him for four years. He and his team are determined to use this resource for good, but they are faced with obstacles that are far bigger than they expected. In addition to cleaning out the top evil in the clientele, they also must deal with the resurrection of Spike, Angel’s long time rival and another vampire with a soul.
Following the highly serialized nature of the fourth season, the fifth season took a more self contained approach to help appease critics of that season and to reel in new fans. Some of the new viewers tuned in for the addition of Spike, who was extremely popular on Angel’s big sister show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although some complained that Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia since the beginning of Buffy and had been a pivotal figure since the beginning of Angel, wouldn’t be a regular in this season, the addition of Spike and Harmony, the ditzy vampire from Sunnydale, makes up for Cordelia’s comic wit and often blunt opinions. While some of the self-contained episodes early on are uneven, there are some great episodes, like "Lineage" and "Destiny". Cordelia does return in "You’re Welcome", the show’s 100th episode. This usually dark show gets away with the hilarious "Smile Time", involving evil demons controlling a children’s show who turn Angel into a puppet. Two of the series best episodes, "A Hole in the World" and "Shells", make a profound statement about losing a loved one that is comparable to Buffy’s "The Body". The show comes to a satisfying conclusion with "Not Fade Away", which was my pick for the number one episode of 2004.
One of the biggest shocks of the season came not on the show, but behind the scenes, as WB executives decided to cancel the show. Fans were justified in their outrage, as no reason given made any sense and a few contradicted previous reasons, since Angel was still one of WB’s biggest hits and had gained viewers from the prior season. Considering the line up now, it’s unbelievable that The WB would part with talent like Joss Whedon and his crew, especially now with a resurgence in the popularity of scripted serialized TV. I would’ve loved to have seen a special extra on the sudden cancellation and those who tried to save the show.
Mutant Enemy, Joss’ production company, has indefinitely suspended TV operations and now all of his shows, Buffy, Firefly and Angel are available in their entireties on DVD. Until Serenity, the motion picture based on his short lived Firefly, comes out on DVD, which won’t be until at least a year from now, this will be the last Whedon related release for a long time. Will it be enough to tide us over? For content, it will, but not for extras.
The set could’ve benefited from putting all the extras on a bonus disc, but instead they scatter them throughout the set and nowhere on the package or booklet do they say where they can be found. Oddly, the fun featurette on "Smile Time" is on the first disc, whereas the episode doesn’t appear until the fourth. However, some of the extras are worth checking out, such as commentary by Joss Whedon on the season premiere and "A Hole in the World", the latter done with Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker. The other commentaries are worth listening to as well. Other extras are little more than thinly veiled advertisements for the first four seasons on DVD, which most fans likely have. Joss’ retrospective on "The Best of Angel" is far too short to do the show justice. Only an episode or two from each season is covered and season five isn’t covered at all. This should’ve been at least a half hour. I would’ve liked to see more of the 100th episode party. A tribute to Glenn Quinn, who played Doyle in the first season, would’ve fit with the retrospective mood of many of the extras.
When I played the episodes on my computer’s DVD player, the image was slightly softer than when I played it on my home player. Either way, the colors look great, which helps on sci-fi/fantasy shows like this one. It sounds great too. The fights, the supernatural languages and noises are crisp. Unfortunately there isn’t a "Play All" option, which would’ve been great on this set, especially towards the end as the story became more serialized. The disc packaging is like other seasons, six discs whose sides fold in on each other like a map, which can be frustrating if you want to play the first or last discs. It would be more practical to use small containers like on the Firefly or Family Guy sets.
It is a shame to see the show go so soon, especially since the show gained a momentum that could’ve carried it through at least one more season with the introduction of Illyria, the aftermath of the series finale and the unfulfilled reunion between Spike, Angel and Buffy. But while it is still a sore subject and they didn’t have a choice, they left while people still loved the show. It’s sad to see a show that is great for so many years fall apart and drag on for even one season too many. That’s not the case for this heroic bloodsucker. Angel went out fresh, with style and fighting, which is how it was supposed to be.
Following the highly serialized nature of the fourth season, the fifth season took a more self contained approach to help appease critics of that season and to reel in new fans. Some of the new viewers tuned in for the addition of Spike, who was extremely popular on Angel’s big sister show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although some complained that Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia since the beginning of Buffy and had been a pivotal figure since the beginning of Angel, wouldn’t be a regular in this season, the addition of Spike and Harmony, the ditzy vampire from Sunnydale, makes up for Cordelia’s comic wit and often blunt opinions. While some of the self-contained episodes early on are uneven, there are some great episodes, like "Lineage" and "Destiny". Cordelia does return in "You’re Welcome", the show’s 100th episode. This usually dark show gets away with the hilarious "Smile Time", involving evil demons controlling a children’s show who turn Angel into a puppet. Two of the series best episodes, "A Hole in the World" and "Shells", make a profound statement about losing a loved one that is comparable to Buffy’s "The Body". The show comes to a satisfying conclusion with "Not Fade Away", which was my pick for the number one episode of 2004.
One of the biggest shocks of the season came not on the show, but behind the scenes, as WB executives decided to cancel the show. Fans were justified in their outrage, as no reason given made any sense and a few contradicted previous reasons, since Angel was still one of WB’s biggest hits and had gained viewers from the prior season. Considering the line up now, it’s unbelievable that The WB would part with talent like Joss Whedon and his crew, especially now with a resurgence in the popularity of scripted serialized TV. I would’ve loved to have seen a special extra on the sudden cancellation and those who tried to save the show.
Mutant Enemy, Joss’ production company, has indefinitely suspended TV operations and now all of his shows, Buffy, Firefly and Angel are available in their entireties on DVD. Until Serenity, the motion picture based on his short lived Firefly, comes out on DVD, which won’t be until at least a year from now, this will be the last Whedon related release for a long time. Will it be enough to tide us over? For content, it will, but not for extras.
The set could’ve benefited from putting all the extras on a bonus disc, but instead they scatter them throughout the set and nowhere on the package or booklet do they say where they can be found. Oddly, the fun featurette on "Smile Time" is on the first disc, whereas the episode doesn’t appear until the fourth. However, some of the extras are worth checking out, such as commentary by Joss Whedon on the season premiere and "A Hole in the World", the latter done with Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker. The other commentaries are worth listening to as well. Other extras are little more than thinly veiled advertisements for the first four seasons on DVD, which most fans likely have. Joss’ retrospective on "The Best of Angel" is far too short to do the show justice. Only an episode or two from each season is covered and season five isn’t covered at all. This should’ve been at least a half hour. I would’ve liked to see more of the 100th episode party. A tribute to Glenn Quinn, who played Doyle in the first season, would’ve fit with the retrospective mood of many of the extras.
When I played the episodes on my computer’s DVD player, the image was slightly softer than when I played it on my home player. Either way, the colors look great, which helps on sci-fi/fantasy shows like this one. It sounds great too. The fights, the supernatural languages and noises are crisp. Unfortunately there isn’t a "Play All" option, which would’ve been great on this set, especially towards the end as the story became more serialized. The disc packaging is like other seasons, six discs whose sides fold in on each other like a map, which can be frustrating if you want to play the first or last discs. It would be more practical to use small containers like on the Firefly or Family Guy sets.
It is a shame to see the show go so soon, especially since the show gained a momentum that could’ve carried it through at least one more season with the introduction of Illyria, the aftermath of the series finale and the unfulfilled reunion between Spike, Angel and Buffy. But while it is still a sore subject and they didn’t have a choice, they left while people still loved the show. It’s sad to see a show that is great for so many years fall apart and drag on for even one season too many. That’s not the case for this heroic bloodsucker. Angel went out fresh, with style and fighting, which is how it was supposed to be.
posted by Matt @ 3:14 AM
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