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, itโs 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 (โIn the Dark,โ with Spike as the villain, and โFive By Fiveโ/โSanctuaryโ, which explore many sides of Faith), but there were also standouts centering on this showโs own leads, such as โHeroโ (in which Doyle makes the ultimate sacrifice) and โEternityโ (showcasing the reappearance of Angelus, prefiguring events in the current season).
Launching the show in the wake of Buffyโs success, creators Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt were allowed a level of financial backing and thus technical polish absent from Buffyโs 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 Foxโs 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/โsmearingโ 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 theyโre well worth a listen and easily the highlights among the setโs extras. Whedon and Greenwalt, while lacing their talk with self-deprecating humor, address both the showโs setting up/ongoing development and pilot specifics, noting how important it was to subvertโand make fun ofโexpectations attendant to the horror genre. Writer Jane Espenson narrates her โRm w/a Vuโ 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 showโs staffers to get them translated into Latin or whatever language is necessary.
She also expresses regret over Doyleโs 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 Quinnโs own death last year. The rest of the extras, indeed, are pretty basic, including a โSeason Oneโ featurette that says little that isnโt covered in the Whedon/Greenwalt commentary (in fact, it says much less). Scripts are included for the โFive By Fiveโ and โSanctuaryโ episodes, revealing minor changes (an added gross-out gag here, a reordering of scenes there) the episodes underwent on the way to the tube. โIntroducing Angelโ and โIโm Cordeliaโ are primers on the characters that will seem pretty superfluous to anyone whoโs been following the show for any length of time; somewhat more interesting is a featurette discussing โThe Demons,โ which also get their due in a photo gallery that throws in a handful of creature sketches for good measure.
