Review of Angel: The Vampire Anthology - Wesley

Introduction

Vampires were pretty stale by the eighties and early nineties, consigned to the Hammer movies of the seventies with stereotypical Transylvanian accents pronouncing, `I vant to drink your blood`. But where television and film seemed to be descending into parody, the vampire myth in literature was flourishing as never before. As was inevitable, Vampires were re-invented and re-conceptualised for the cinema, and the early nineties onwards saw films like Bram Stoker`s Dracula, Interview With A Vampire and Blade make the bloodsuckers cool again. It was one rather less successful movie that led to the genre`s success on the small screen as never before. Joss Whedon`s Buffy The Vampire Slayer never really scored as a box office draw, but its spin-off television series of the same name made a star of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and was one of the biggest genre hits of the nineties, running for seven years as the residents of Sunnydale California fell victim to vampires, werewolves and countless end-of-the-world scenarios.

Buffy`s sidekick in slaying was a reformed vampire, Angel. As Angelus this particular vampire was the worst bloodsucker of them all, but he fed upon the wrong gypsy girl, and her family cursed him with the restoration of his soul, and to suffer all the pain he had caused, all the guilt he deserved for eternity. The curse would be broken when he had a moment of perfect happiness, his soul removed and Angelus returned to wreak havoc on the world again. Fighting evil to atone for his crimes didn`t provide that much happiness for Angel, but getting close to Buffy did, letting Angelus back into the world. When his soul was eventually restored, he realised that he couldn`t stay near Buffy anymore, so he went to Los Angeles to clean that town up instead. Which was the perfect excuse for a spin-off series. Angel lasted five seasons before being cancelled, and gave the vampire seeking redemption a more mature spin than Buffy had. With Fox re-releasing a whole slew of cult television later this year including Angel, now would be the ideal time for a little customer awareness, which has led to the release of the Vampire Anthology discs. Taking the four supporting characters from the show, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Fred, each of these discs gathers four episodes that highlights a character and adds a brief featurette too.

Wesley Wyndham Pryce was first introduced on Buffy as a member of the Watchers` Council. He was initially assigned to oversee the training of Faith as a slayer, but when she turned to evil, he began watching over Buffy instead. This didn`t last long either when Buffy decided to leave the auspices of the Watchers` Council and slay vampires on her own time. Stereotypically British, complete with stiff upper lip and characteristic reserve, Wesley is afflicted with an unfortunate degree of clumsiness, especially when he enters Angel`s world halfway through the first season, after having been fired by the Watchers` Council. The four episodes on this disc are detailed below.

Parting Gifts (4:3 regular)
Doyle has died, and as gift to Cordelia has given her his links to the Powers That Be, as Cordelia finds out when a splitting migraine complete with accompanying vision hits in the middle of an audition. Meanwhile, a harried and fearful demon comes to Angel for help. Barney claims that he is being pursued by a fearsome and relentless foe, a being that will stop at nothing to see him dead. At the same moment, there enters a new player in the game, a rogue demon hunter by the name of Wesley Wyndham Pryce. While Cordelia tries to figure out what a rogue demon is, Barney is scared out of his wits. But Wesley is actually pursuing the demon that is after Barney, a Kungai demon that evidently is stealing the abilities of other demons.

Guise Will Be Guise (4:3 regular)
Darla has been resurrected to turn Angel from the path of righteousness. The vampire with a soul is brooding even more if anything. Cordelia and Wesley are just in time to stop him storming Wolfram and Hart in a blind rage. It`s time to take drastic measures, and Angel goes on a spiritual retreat to find his centre again. Which is when someone walks into the office and demands to see Angel, threatening Cordelia at gunpoint. Wesley has to take masquerade as Angel to satisfy a rich client. He has bodyguard duty protecting the client`s daughter, and has to keep up the pretence, getting in deeper and deeper.

Loyalty (1.78:1 anamorphic)
Angel`s a father (don`t ask), and Wesley is searching for the meaning of this miracle in ancient prophecies, especially the one that foretells that the father will kill the son. Unable to confide in his friends, Wesley has no other alternative than to turn to Holtz, a man dedicated to destroying Angel. Then the portents in the prophecies begin to occur.

Sleep Tight (1.78:1 anamorphic)
Following on directly from Loyalty, the signs continue to point to the realisation of prophecy, and powers behind the scenes continue to move events in dire directions. Angel is oddly chipper as he sips on his latest batch of blood, but Wesley takes matters into his own hands as he takes Connor away from his father and leaves the rest of Angel Investigations open to attack. It`s proven to be a disastrous decision when Angel`s ancient nemesis Holtz gets his hands on the baby.

Video

The first two seasons of Angel were filmed in 4:3 and the remainder in 1.78:1 anamorphic. That is reflected in the variety of screen ratios for the episodes on this disc. It`s all US broadcast quality stuff, with just a hint of grain evident. The image is clear and sharp enough, and as dark and moody as the show is, all the detail and shade is recreated well in the image.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 2.0 Surround English or French with optional English, French or Dutch subtitles. Once again it`s all broadcast quality, and the dialogue is clear throughout. The surrounds are called into use in conveying the action, but it`s nothing spectacular.

Features

Plenty of non-skippable copyright warnings, and since there is no Play All option; you`ll have to sit through them for every episode on this disc.

There is a trailer for the Buffy and Angel season boxsets, but the meat of the extra features is represented in a 14-minute Wesley featurette. This has interviews with Alexis Denisof among others, and describes the growth of the character season by season with plenty of clips from the shows. There`s no mention of Season 5 though. I did get the feeling that the featurette was edited together from other featurettes, although since I haven`t seen the Season boxsets, I have no way of knowing for certain.

Conclusion

It`s time to don your long coats and walk moodily down a dark alley. It`s always a joy to watch Angel; it like its forebear Buffy is a genre show that combines entertainment, witty writing, action and great characters to excellent effect. As I write, Season 5 is yet to make its way onto terrestrial television, and a small part of me was hoping that some Season 5 episodes would sneak their way onto the anthology discs. It wasn`t to be, although it`s nice to see the episodes uncut for once. Angel`s simple tale of good versus evil is an instant draw, and the sharp dialogue is one of the show`s strong points. It easily makes up for some of the more bizarre story arcs that cropped up in later seasons.

This disc really is a tale of two Wesleys. The first two episodes show the clumsy amusing persona familiar from Buffy, a character that is pretty much comic relief. His entrance into LA in Parting Gifts is a brilliant play on Terminator, and his attempt to impersonate Angel hilarious. Later on in the series though, as the character became more and more integral to the show, the writers took care to add dimension and darkness to him. This was a gradual and natural process that worked well in the series, and is completely missed out on this disc. We go from the slapstick antics of Guise Will Be Guise to the emotionally bereft and tortured Wesley of Season 3. It doesn`t help that Loyalty and Sleep Tight build on a whole series of story arcs begun at the end of Season 1, but is it really a good idea to create a disc around a name character, and leave that character bleeding to death at the end of that disc, with no resolution? Of course it`s a good idea if you want the viewer to rush out and buy the relevant season boxset, but it feels just a tad too cynical to me.

The biggest problem is that Angel is an arc driven show. Every episode does begin with a recap of all that has come before, but watching the episodes on their own and out of sequence is hardly as satisfying. For someone coming new to the show, it would be better to start from the beginning and work their way forward in sequence. Showing a Season 3 episode with Angel comforting a baby, then the next year arguing with a recalcitrant teenage son needs a little explaining if you have never seen the show. Committed fans of the show would no doubt spring for the season boxsets, and casual fans may be happy with the broadcasts. I`m not quite sure who the target audience for these discs are. If they are essentially adverts for the season boxsets, then they are expensive indeed, considering that you can get the whole season for around three times the price of this one disc. However, if you are in the mood for a random episode of Angel taken out of context, this disc should be right up your alley.