Buffy The Vampire Slayer

"Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 7 DVD Collection," (Fox Home Entertainment, $59.98 list price)

While many television series ("E.R.," "Frasier") overstay their welcome, "Buffyã creator Joss Whedon and series star Sarah Michelle Gellar had the good sense to call it quits while the show still was on top.

The WB (later UPN) series was proclaimed one of the 10 best shows on television by "Time," "USA Today" and "Entertainment Weekly" and ranked No. 3 in TV Guide’s list of the Top 25 cult TV shows of all time.

"Buffy" reached its peak in its third season with Buffy battling it out with her vampire-boyfriend Angel, but the series had plenty of steam left in its seventh and final season.

The antagonist, or "The Big Bad" in Buffy-speak, was The First Evil, an ancient, all-powerful entity bent on conquering the earth with an army of uber-vamps.

The show’s ongoing theme of female empowerment was well-stated in the series finale, "The Chosen." Buffy, backed by a battalion of female teens, makes the trek into the Hellmouth beneath Sunnydale High School to protect mankind. Not every series regular makes it to the end.

Fox Home Entertainment has released each season in handsome packages with plenty of extras and this 22-episode volume is no different.

Commentary tracks, DVD-ROM extras, a bloopers reel and behind-the-scenes featurettes are sprinkled throughout.

The show’s writers are the series unseen stars. They and Whedon provide some of the wittiest commentary tracks available on any DVD set on the market today.

As in past volumes, Gellar is nowhere to be seen in the bonus footage - not even in comical bloopers and out-takes.

A great deal of credit for "Buffy’s" success goes to Gellar and it is unfortunate that her absence mars and otherwise superb collection.