This animated series starts off with the "A Long Way Home" storyline and goes all the way to the end of "Time of Your Life." The beginning of this series takes place a year after the show's final episode, and in that time, the thousands of potential slayers that Buffy woke up in the last season of the show have caused a tip in the balance of power between the monster world and those fighting back. Buffy herself has become a legendary leader that the other slayers are rallying behind.
Unfortunately, the monsters of the world aren't the only ones not happy with the insurgence of female fighters. It seems a military operation is also tasked with keeping tabs on Buffy's forces. This becomes obvious when an old enemy of the group, Amy, shows up again and uses her magic to keep Buffy asleep and in a nightmare. Another old enemy appears when we see who Amy's new boyfriend is, and that person not only wants Buffy dead, but Willow as well.
There is also a four-part episode where Giles, pretty much the only Watcher left in the world, taps Faith and asks her to take down a slayer who has turned evil. Giles must train Faith to live and breath English aristocracy if she is going to infiltrate the noble-born slayer's birthday party and take her out before she goes after Buffy herself. Needless to say, Giles has his work cut out for him.
There are several one-off issues in this collection as well. In one, we follow a slayer posing as Buffy in the underworld to fight an underground movement, while another one has Willow and Buffy invited to visit a reader and in the processes, what few secrets exist between the two friends are laid bare ... including quite a few interesting fantasies. Buffy also finds herself in bed with a new lover late in this season. The interesting twist this time is it's one of her slayer-chicks.
In the four-part "Wolves at the Gate," Buffy and her squad are attacked by a group of vampires that seem to have abilities similar to another vampire they previously dealt with. That particular vamp being Dracula, of course, and Xander has to go to his old master and persuade him to help the slayers take out the new enemies.
In the disc's final story arc, "Time of Your Life," Buffy is sent into the future to help a slayer of that time. She is dismayed to learn that her army hasn't survive the two centuries that span the two times but she quickly adjusts and works on trying to figure out why she is there. Meanwhile, Willow, in the past, is doing everything she can to bring Buffy back.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight also comes with quite a few special features. "Under Buffy's Spell" is about the culture that has developed over the years and the fact that the comic series has brought those fans back out to the foreground again. It consists primarily of fan interviews at Comic-Con. There is also another version of the first episode/issue. This is tagged as the "test pilot" which, I assume, means it was what was shown in an attempt to pitch the motion comic. Another nice touch is an image gallery of the 19 comic covers, which oddly enough, of the few motion comics I've reviewed lately, this is the first one with such an obvious feature. Finally there is the "Trivia Experience" where the movie asks you Buffy-related questions throughout your viewing experience in order to gauge how big of a fan you really are.
If you aren't the comic book type, but you are a big Buffy fan, then this is your chance to see how the story continues. The fact that it's on Blu-ray means that all 19 episodes are on one disc and can be played back-to-back in a big Buffy marathon. This particular release also comes with a double-sided DVD. This is basically a must-buy for any fan of the Buffy-verse, even you already own the Season Eight comics and graphic novels. The only real complaint I have is that the voices aren't perfect. There are some characters, like Xander that seem dead on, but most of them just aren't quite right.
