SEASON 6 DVD EXTRAS

Note that extras tied to specific episodes are reviewed with those episodes.

Disc 3

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Panel Discussion is a discussion with Joss Whedon, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, James Marsters, Michelle Trachtenberg, Raymond Stella, Carey Meyer, and Marti Noxon. There was a light tone with Joss Whedon and Nicholas Brendon dominating most of the discussion. There are major spoilers throughout the sixth season and minor spoilers for the seventh season, although it might be more accurate to say that an inside joke or two from the third episode of the seventh season refers back to this panel discussion. Insights include.

• "Fool for Love" led James Marsters to observe that the different Spikes in that episode were like being in a repertory company, which led to Shakespeare readings at Joss Whedon's house, which led to some drinking, which led to some singing, which led Whedon to realize that his cast could sing. This was the roundabout way that "Once More, with Feeling" was born.
• Joss Whedon considered Emma Caulfield the biggest surprise in the musical.
• Alyson Hannigan claimed that she found out how dark Willow would become from her boyfriend (now husband Alexis Denisof).
• Nicholas Brendon planned to tell Yassir Arafat about yellow crayons.
• A bit more seriously, Brendon loved the yellow crayon speech.
• The audience was supposed to think that Spike was trying to get the chip out of his head when he really wanted his soul back.
• James Marsters noted that in many scenes, he was wearing a sock while Sarah Michelle Gellar was fully dressed.
• Most of the Trio's conversations came from the writers' conversations.
• Michelle Trachtenberg has witnesses to a promise that Dawn will be able to wear black and high heels. She really wanted this.
• Nicholas Brendon admitted that he cried when he watched Tara die in "Seeing Red."
• However, many of them, particularly Michelle Trachtenberg, talked more about missing Amber Benson.
• It took many takes to properly splatter blood on Willow in "Seeing Red."
• Among the crew, the show is called "Buffy the Weekend Killer."
• The only thing that they did that really upset advertisers was satirizing the fast food industry in "Doublemeat Palace."

Disc 6

Life Is the Big Bad - Season 6 Overview focused on character arcs rather than on key episodes like most of the season overviews do. There are interviews with Joss Whedon, David Fury, Jane Espenson, Douglas Petrie, David Solomon, Steven S. DeKnight, Michelle Trachtenberg, Drew Z. Greenberg, Rebecca, Rand Kirshner, Alyson Hannigan, and Adam Busch. There are spoilers through the end of the season.

• Buffy focused on her difficulties in coming back from heaven. This led to questioning and doubts until the end of the season when she finally found out why she came back.
• Dawn focused on how people treated her like a child despite being nearly the same age as the other characters at the beginning of the show. She also dealt with feeling abandoned during the season. Michelle Trachtenberg claimed that she was perfectly comfortable in the kissing scene in "All the Way."
• Spike focused on his relationship with Buffy.
• Xander & Anya focused on how Sunnydale has the power to wreak even strong relationships.
• The Nerds focused on how they were very different from the typical Big Bad on the show. In a season focusing on the difficulty of growing up, they represented people who refused to do so.
• Willow & Tara focused on Willow's magic addiction, its consequences, and how the breakup of the relationship allowed the writers to explore Tara's character apart from Willow. This segment mentioned Tara's death but completely ignored the controversy surrounding it.

DVD-ROM Buffy Demon Guide, when I finally managed to convince my computer to run it, was little more than a brief summary of various villains who appeared on the show. There was a mild spoiler for the seventh season slipped in.

Outtakes is a short collection of flubbed lines and goofing off on the set. It focused on Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield, but it also had a little from Alyson Hannigan, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Anthony Stewart Head. Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Marters, Amber Benson, Adam Busch, Danny Strong, and Tom Lenk apparently are perfect on the set.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Television with a Bite covers Joss Whedon and the history of his concept. It starts by discussing the original film, pitching the show to various networks, and casting the show. It continues by summarizing the first six seasons. There are interviews with Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Marsters, Joss Whedon, Gail Berman, Anthony Stewart Head, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, Marti Noxon, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Emma Caulfield. It is of interest for being just about the only DVD extra to include interviews with Sarah Michelle Gellar and for summarizing various insights that one could get from various other extras. It includes scenes from the first episode of the seventh season.

This page was last modified on January 3, 2013