Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on March 31, 2003, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
As the WB series Angel runs the course of its current, superior season, it’s interesting to look back at just how much ground the show was able to cover in its first round, coming to DVD from Fox Home Entertainment. Over the span of 22 episodes, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff managed to establish its own tone and milieu, introduce and dispatch one regular (Doyle) and then bring in two new recurring members (Wesley and Gunn), set up a compelling ongoing enemy (the Wolfram & Hart firm), add backstory about its protagonist and find interesting ways to integrate several Buffy characters. It may not be surprising that the latter appeared in a few of the best shows (“In the Dark,” with Spike as the villain, and “Five By Five”/”Sanctuary”, which explore many sides of Faith), but there were also standouts centering on this show’s own leads, such as “Hero” (in which Doyle makes the ultimate sacrifice) and “Eternity” (showcasing the reappearance of Angelus, prefiguring events in the current season).
Launching the show in the wake of Buffy’s success, creators Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt were allowed a level of financial backing and thus technical polish absent from Buffy’s first couple of seasons. On their commentary track for the pilot, the duo even note a spectacular, big-movie-level stunt they were allowed to include to start the series off with a bang. For the most part, the fullscreen transfers in Fox’s six-DVD box are worthy of feature product as well; the images are sharp and clean, and while the colors tend toward the muted in many interior scenes, they always appear accurate and stable. Artifacting/“smearing” and grain crop up at times, but not enough to be more than momentary distractions. The episodes are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, with an effective, well-balanced sound mix that contributes to the bigger-than-TV veneer.
Only two episodes are graced with commentaries in this collection, though they’re well worth a listen and easily the highlights among the set’s extras. Whedon and Greenwalt, while lacing their talk with self-deprecating humor, address both the show’s setting up/ongoing development and pilot specifics, noting how important it was to subvert—and make fun of—expectations attendant to the horror genre. Writer Jane Espenson narrates her “Rm w/a Vu” episode (in which Cordelia moves into her ghost-infested apartment), and while she shares a fair amount of info on this specific show, her best comments involve the series in general. She describes the differences between doing sitcoms (her previous experience) and a drama show with humorous beats, explores the different ways Angel and Buffy deal with their demonic characters and reveals that all the spells spoken by the characters are written in English by the scriptwriters, who leave it to the show’s staffers to get them translated into Latin or whatever language is necessary.
She also expresses regret over Doyle’s departure halfway through the first season, without explaining why he made such a sudden exit. Nowhere in the set, in fact, is this situation addressed, and the omission is compounded by the complete lack of acknowledgment (even in the cast bio) of Doyle actor Glenn Quinn’s own death last year. The rest of the extras, indeed, are pretty basic, including a “Season One” featurette that says little that isn’t covered in the Whedon/Greenwalt commentary (in fact, it says much less). Scripts are included for the “Five By Five” and “Sanctuary” episodes, revealing minor changes (an added gross-out gag here, a reordering of scenes there) the episodes underwent on the way to the tube. “Introducing Angel” and “I’m Cordelia” are primers on the characters that will seem pretty superfluous to anyone who’s been following the show for any length of time; somewhat more interesting is a featurette discussing “The Demons,” which also get their due in a photo gallery that throws in a handful of creature sketches for good measure.
