Reacting to 'The Great Tragedy of the 'Buffy' HD Remaster' (my thoughts) 

Enjoyed your commentary. Thanks for helping bring visibility to the problem. Buffy deserves better. Cheers.

10000000/10 recommend the entire Passion of the Nerd channel, *especially* if/when you do your Buffy rewatch. He’s profound, analytical, and inspired. I’ve learned so much, and all the details he points out make the show that much more enjoyable and magical.

This is actually one of your best videos. You're the perfect person to comment on Ian's video about the remaster. I know the channel's had a drop-off in views lately, but your commentaries are some of the best because of your film knowledge. I'm watching your ATLA and Dollhouse reactions, and have actually just re-started my own watch of Breaking Bad (having never finished it) and am planning on watching The Last Of Us, so I'll check those out when I'm caught up. Keep going and you'll find your audience again! I'd definitely recommend joining in POTN's Buffy rewatches and fan discussions as well as watching more of his channel. His insights are some of the best in the Buffy community.

Imagine an alternate universe Elie who reacted to the entire series in this trainwreck format. So much of the insightful cinematography insights Elie made would be lost.

Thank you for sharing your reaction and own analysis here. I'm sure for new reactors it probably comes across as frustrating to be swamped by all these Buffy fans trying to slap their hands away from that awful HD version at the beginning. And you don't want a new reactor to watch this first to understand why because hello spoilers. But, it is always a nice thing to see someone who has finished the show watch this and completely understand why we are all so vehemently against that HD version.

I think the problem with a Buff remake is it would suffer from the same issue as Stranger Things and The 100 where character development means to characters disagree on where to go. One is right and the other is wrong. Cut to 40 minutes of action. The next episode the same thing happens. The writing for some of these smaller sci-fi shows seems like it's done by algorithms.

I agree with your take on the Buffy Reboot at the end of your video. I personally would rather have a spin-off of the show as opposed to starting over. The Buffy series finale left so much on the table to consider. “Slayers awakening everywhere” ~Willow. “A Hellmouth in Cleveland” ~ Giles. Etc. They could tell the story of other slayers. So many factors to lay focus on and continue the story with possible cameos from the original cast.

So interesting to see the comparisons. They've replaced it with the original version on Disney+/Hulu now. I imagine there were a LOT of complaints from users.

You could bring back the watchers council with Giles, Dawn and Andrew. Bring back watchers. But make them useful. Lol

39:46 If the did a sequel you couldn't have Spike and Angel, Since the actors aged and as Vampires they don't.

Aw, come on, we all know it's a Nikki Wood prequel we really need, not another modern teen drama.

Not sure if you take show recommendations, but since you loved Buffy so much- I would HIGHLY suggest looking into Veronica Mars, even if just for a personal watch

You're watching LOST?!?! Do reaction videos of it man! I love that show

I’m so happy to see your continued enthusiasm… especially since it’s been a over a month or so since you finished BTVS! One of us one of us

It looks like Disney+ has at least put the 4x3 ratio for seasons 1-3 and possibly done some work on the later seasons.

That’s me finished watching every one of ur buffy vids. Theyv been fantastic, thanks so much for loving buffy, the great insights n making me laugh. Hope to catch a live stream soon. Now, onto the angels! X

I really hope Buffy will get a proper remaster one day as Charmed did... One thing which isn't mentioned in the original video is that they didn't even bother to use official font but only fanmade version of it. If you watch SD opening credits the capital R is much nicer. The official font is called Herculanum.

Rewatch breaking bad n hopefully prison break

Please watch his video "My Top 10 Buffy or Angel Episodes (to pair with wine and a good cry)". Its os poetic and awesome and since you like this one, you will definitly love that episode.

And I used to wonder why can't they just open up the frame on the sides? What's the big deal? Ha! I had no idea they were cropping off the top and bottom to make Buffy widescreen, but only some of the time and the EU version did it better. WTF, man! And the post production adjustments made for lighting, coloring and special FX is just another big mess. As far as I can tell, the Angel series at least can be seen in widescreen without any frame cropping, but you can see a few things that are supposed to be out of the shot in seasons 1 and 2. But there is no HD remaster other than season 5, I think. It's all fuzzy old SD widescreen. There is a fan-made AI HD "remastered" version available, which is better than nothing.

Lol literally have all the original VHS and DVD Buffy. Though I am in the UK so I do remember all of the seasons from 4 onwards were in widescreen. I didn't even realise they weren't for the US. Though I promise it wasn't the remastered version and was still excellent.

Agree, a reboot is unnecessary when the original series is still relevant today. I'd much rather have a show about a historical slayer from another part of the world, or a show about slayers throughout the centuries.

12:21 I think the word you're looking for is "chin," you don't see any chin

I own the dvds which is the best way to watch it as of now. If a decent bluray set comes out I will buy it for sure. Buffy deserves better

if it's really so bad anybody can do an ai upscaler

You really have to watch all of Passion of the Nerd's videos. He gives such an AMAZING deep look into Buffy, Angel and Firefly. His videos come out kind of slowly, but that's because he takes so much time to get his thoughts through correctly.

Your enthusiasm is always infectious, hope it takes you far! Another great Buffy vid, looking forward to the re watch!

Let me put it this way; if they ever decided to crtl+alt+del Buffy then as a fan, I'd trust you to work on it.

Late to the party but fantastic reaction, you've become my favourite reactor coz like Ian you have that film knowledge that really supplements your thoughts and it's a treat to watch

8:53 all of these you should react to, Already doing/did Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse. But you should do Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Some actors from other Joss shows are in them.

It's painfully bright and bad isn't it it hurts my soul. I actually had to replace an episode of Buffy from season seven the invisible girl was not invisible. Madame Tussauds is the wax museum

Yeah, there’s a lot of colouring grading and texturing in Xena that’s intended for the purpose of the narrative. And I would be so angry if they did a HD remaster as awful as Buffy’s for Xena. I’d throw hands.

8:31 Regarding the rewatch, I think you probably can watch some episodes together. Obviously, there are some that warrant their own episodes (s4e22 is super foreshadow heavy) but there are some that you probably could pair up, especially some of the less stellar one-off episodes.

By complete chance talking to a RU-vidr I was directed here. Cheers!

Great review Elie! I've seen some Passion of the Nerd videos, and his content is great. I've never watched, or care to watch, the remaster so I haven't experienced this evil version of Buffy. I'm pretty sure the AI HD upscale release I have is about the best you can do since it's from the original US DVD release and was made by a very experienced encoder. As for a re-watch, I would finish Breaking Bad first, then take a look at doing a Buffy re-watch. Oh, and take a look at the DVD extras I sent you for some more Buffy content you can review. Thanks!

The other thing is this is representative of an entire era of television, if you can make the best of the best look bad, what will that make people think? Color grading also makes the difference between a home video and actual storytelling.

That first minute on this video. Come on. How many takes it take you to dialogue it right.

So glad for us to get to talk Buffy again! I'm excited to do a rewatch! As someone else said, I definitely recommend Passion of the Nerd's episode by episode videos.

Thank you for looking into Passion of the nerds videos!

Rewatch after those lol

So glad you reacted to this!! Great stuff

5:14 You were looking for an example of using color grading to convey information about the setting visually... On a review of a video about a Joss Whedon show... Having recently completed watching Firefly... Was "Out of Gas" so forgettable? 😜

Perfect video for you - great reaction

This was a really insightful video. Elie, when r u gonna post ur next Breaking Bad reaction?

I'm totally in the minority here. I prefer the HD widescreen remasters compared to the originals but that might be because I've seen each episode countless times. I wouldn't recommend it for a first time view.

I want Buffy 4K, it's easy to do it if it's not rushed. 1080p is easier, I love the Perfect quality, But it was Rushed through a software