Review: 2008 Buffy cast Reunion DVD

This review is for an exclusive bonus disc available at Best Buy that contains the entire 90 minute Buffy 2008 cast reunion panel which took place at the Paley Festival earlier this year. I was able to go into my local Best Buy and walk out with it for free. It's supposed to be free with any Buffy purchase, but since I have them all already, they told me I could take it.

What a fantastic little gem this is. It consists of Matt Roush, from TV Guide, talking briefly about the impact of Buffy as a show on our culture, and then they show the audience Once More With Feeling. When the panel begins, it consists of:

Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendan, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, Marti Noxon, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green, Amber Benson, and David Greenwalt.


Now, what's notable to me is that this is the first time I've ever seen Sarah Michelle Gellar participate in anything like this. She's never been on any of the extras for the DVDs, she's not on any of the panels that I've seen, and I've never even heard her talk about the show to fans before. The only time I ever saw her do any promotion for Buffy was on a documentary that aired on cable that was included on the season 6 DVD set, and even then, it was very limited interaction. So to have her here, talking about the role that she made famous, is really a blessing.

This is the most fun I've ever had with Buffy outside of an episode. Everyone is loose, everyone seems comfortable, and everyone is funny. Seth Green, in particular, is absolutely hilarious. He had me laughing non stop with his one liners and his revelations about David Boreanez proudly pooping in Seth's trailer in the morning. "Left something for you, Seth!"

It's good to hear the rest of the cast being praised outside of Whedon too. Clearly this show is Whedon's baby, but just as much praise is given to Amber Benson, Emma Caulfield, and James Marsters as is given to Gellar and Whedon. Matt Roush was a great moderator, and I think it was clear that what made Buffy a hit show was not just Joss, but the tremendous efforts of everyone.

More revelations came out during this as well. This took place 5 years after the wrap of the series, so even more secrets are coming out. When questioned about season 6 and it's darkness, Sarah says that it got so bad that she actually went to Marti Noxon and told her that she didn't even know the voice of Buffy anymore. She couldn't find the hero in the pain because of all the darkness. Joss said that on the same day Sarah told Marti this, he went to Marti and told her the same thing. They'd taken the show to such a dark place that there was nowhere else to go, and they'd lost the hero.

I also learned that after season 5, Joss left the show in the hands of Marti. His involvement was seriously cut back, and while I found out that he'd taken a break on the Chosen Collection bonus disc, here they talk about how Marti was running the show now. Joss had punched up all the scripts before this, but he was not doing that anymore. He had left. He came back every now and then, and he was still involved with the writers, but he was not there in the capacity that he had been. I knew it!

This is just a remarkable little DVD that I think you guys definitely need to get ahold of. There are transcripts on the internet of what was said, but it's nothing like seeing these guys 5 years later, talking about things that are current. I know it's not an episode, but I gotta rate this thing anyway. It's a 10/10, and I imagine I'm going to spend a lot of time re-watching this in the future.