fter spending three months in a Tibetan monastery mourning the death of the Slayer, Angel returns to Los Angeles. He's quickly drawn back into the day-to-day routine at Angel Investigations, whose newest member, Fred, is getting used to life back in the real world. But the reality of that world is tested when Darla shows up inexplicably pregnant with Angel's baby. While Angel promises to help Darla with the birth of their baby, Wesley, Fred and Gunn are more concerned with discovering exactly what kind of baby Darla is having. But as Angel makes preparations for his child, a man from Angel's past, Holtz, returns to hunt him down. And after realizing Angel is about to become a father, Holtz begins his own preparations to ensure Angel suffers the same torment he suffered after Angel killed his wife and young daughter back in 1764. ~ Fox Home Entertainment Entering into the third installment of the Angel DVD series from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, the Season 3 Collection offers all 22-episodes on 6-discs of one of the most exciting Season's of Angel, created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Highlight episodes from this season include: Birthday, Waiting in the Wings, Sleep Tight, and The Price. Discs 1, 2, and 5 solely offer episodes, with commentary on Billy by producers/writers Tim Minear and Jeff Bell. Disc 3 (in addition to episodes) provides Bonus Features, with commentary on Lullaby by Tim Minear and writer Mere Smith, who also provide commentary on the deleted scenes from Birthday, Other Bonus Features on Disc 3 include a featurette on Julie Benz's character, "Darla: Deliver Us From Evil"; along with outtakes and bloopers from various episodes. Disc 4, (in addition to episodes) rewards fans with the deleted fantasy ballet scene between Fred and Wesley, which includes commentary by Whedon. While Amy Acker inspired Joss to create a ballet episode in the first place, it was also a chance to see Alexis Denisof do high farce. "Heartbreakingly lovely," Joss states of Amy's dancing while, "Alexis, did he go for it? Let me put it this way - in the first take he actually came out with a red G-string over his tights. This man knows no fear." Joss also provides the commentary for the entire episode of, Waiting in the Wings. Finally, Disc 6 (in addition to episodes) contains two featurettes: "Season 3 Overview" and "From Page to Screen"; two screen tests of Acker (Fred) and Vincent Kartheiser (Connor); and a Still Gallery of candid and promotional cast photos. DARLA: DELIVER US FROM EVIL Julie Benz talks about her love of Darla Darla is the one character most seeped in mythology, next to Angel of course, who has graced the Whedon-verse since the very first day of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when she appeared as 'vampire girl' in Welcome to the Hellmouth. Spotlighted in interviews with writers: Mere Smith, Tim Minear; fellow actors: J. August Richards, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter; and producers: David Greenwalt, Skip Schoolnik, and Jeff Bell, we take an in depth look at the lives and unlives of Darla with a guided tour by Julie Benz herself. "The camera rolls and they say action and magic happens," says Julie as she recaps why she loves to play Darla, explore her origins, and delve further into the relationship with her soul mate in Angel. Greenwalt talks about her pregnancy, "And Darla pregnant is just too beautiful," he adds when she discovers what has happened to her, "She's wicked pissed." Schoolnik talks about her heroic death scene as Charisma admits, "It was a tremendous thing to so story wise. She's been with us since the pilot of Buffy. To kill off a character like that was groundbreaking." Julie reflects, "It was such a beautiful scrip because it was really a beautiful end to an amazing character to finally redeem herself in the last 20-minutes." From the emotional outpouring of the actress to the creativity of the writers, no character has touched or experienced more than Darla. View a Video Clip of Julie Benz Windows Media Player - Hi speed Windows Media Player - Lo speed ANGEL SERIES OUTTAKES No television series is without its outtakes and bloopers, and Angel is no exception. Fans get an inside look at all the blunders which occur when you're filming a 14-hour day, including Alexis Denisof (Wesley) not being able to maintain a straight face during his lines, Julie Benz (Darla) taking the advantage of an adlib while having contractions, and Stephanie Romanov (Lilah) tied up in tongue twisters. And, oh-the-profanity, sometimes what you don't hear is funnier than the actual flub. BITHDAY DELETED SCENES Treated with commentary by Tim Minear and Mere Smith, who wrote this episode, we get to see the full extent of the fantasy television show of Cordelia's alternate life: "The Cordy Show", had she not chosen to fight the good fight along side Angel. Due to its length much of "The Cordy Show" footage had to be cut from the final episode. They make note that they wanted a true sitcom feel so the Dharma & Greg set was redressed for the shoot, although it, "Wasn't quite as funny as we wanted it to be," admitted Mere. "When you look at Charisma Carpenter, she does bare a resemblance to Mary Tyler Moore and she's so funny," Tim stated, "and we all sort of had this fetish fantasy of seeing her on a brightly lit sitcom stage with people laughing at her jokes." LULLABY This episode was written and directed by Tim Minear who is joined in the commentary by Mere Smith, but get two writers in a room with a perverse sense of humor, a vampire, and an episode with religious overtones and you know you're in for an entertaining evening. The best thing about their banter, besides feeling like you're watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000, is that Tim and Mere really break down each scene in terms of acting, directing, lighting, location, and writing. For example, in the beginning of the episode when Angel is held captive my Holtz, you get a full sense of how a scene is constructed such as the hand grenade scene where Angel kicks it up into his mouth. Tim describes every shot: Insert second unit crew later (close up of grenade in hand on floor) Stolen clip, not David's POV (point of view) of the elevator door Insert (close up again) "When the thing comes up to David's mouth it was on a wire, going backwards," explains Tim. Close shot of it in his teeth, it's not David but his stand-in Elevator shot is actually from the roof of the apartment next door (after the explosion) "I think all this stuff just played great," Tim admits. "Directing, by the way, so much more fun than writing." WAITING IN THE WINGS "Once the outline is approved you start writing and that's when you enter the hell space. And you live there." ~ Writer, Mere Smith On this outstanding episode of the third season, Joss Whedon takes control of the commentary and offers fans a view into his cranium thinkage that only he can decipher. Written and directed by Joss, this episode was a magical experience not only for himself, but for the actors as well. It offered a reason to get dressed up, and it showed in their performance, and the pleasure of filming days and getting to go home at night to have dinner with their families. It's all about family as Joss got to give props to his own brother's band, Mahta Hari, which Gunn mentions at the start of the episode. "It's the best time I ever had in my life, shooting this episode, literally. And it's all Amy Acker's fault," states Joss. The episode was shot in the beautiful Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, which is not so beautiful. But even the master of his own universe can get wrapped up in the moment as Joss explains something that happened during the dressing room scene with Cordy and Angel: "This again I did, as much as possible, as a 1'er (one continuous shot of the camera) to get the space, to keep the camera moving, to get the magical feel for the whole thing. At one point when she went to the mirror, David - when we were rehearsing - was standing right behind her perfectly reflected in the mirror and I said, 'That's great, and then we'll go to David's reflections and then we'll go to her here,' and then everybody got very quiet and I believe it was Ross Berryman the DP (director of photography) who said, 'You do remember that he's a vampire, yes?'" FROM PAGE TO SCREEN One of the best 'behind the scenes' look at a production from the first thought to the final cut, this featurette allows fans to see the complete process that occurs to bring an episode of Angel to life. Narrations and mini-interviews, incorporated with plenty of behind the scenes footage, cover every gamut of the production process. Tim and Jeff begin as we start with the infamous: White Board breakdown of Acts and Scenes Episode outline Mere offers her insight from a writers point of view, "Once the outline is approved you start writing and that's when you enter the hell space. And you live there." David Greenwalt talks over to cover: Turning in the first draft of the script Making revisions to the script Start shooting "The story is what matters, the story is everything," states Mere. Kelly Manners, whose job it is to get the show produced and get it on the air explains the next phase of: Mini-meetings with all the separate department heads. On the set of A New World as the stedicam follows David Boreanaz Directors David Grossman and Marita Grabiak take over and discuss the next major development of meetings: Tech scouting of locations Casting with Amy Britt Robert Hall of special makeup effects Loni Peristere for visual computer effects Skip Schoolnik explains a complete breakdown of the scenes where Connor jumps on the top of a moving bus in A New World as we see the CGI (computer generated) effect and the final version as seen in the series. Next, David Boreanaz and Alexis discuss where they finally come into play: Shooting draft arrives to the cast But we have a humorous response of comments that followed by Charisma, Amy, Julie, Vincent, and Mark Lutz all joking about the fact of getting the scripts 1-day before shooting begins. Next: Blocking - in-depth look at Connor's arrival from Quor'toth Director takes over Postproduction Editing Musical composition with Rob Kral Sound effects and dubbing "We spend a lot of time in the editing room. A lot of magic - you can do a lot in the editing room to help things and also to see your own mistakes," says Greenwalt. "And you never quite know what a thing means until you see it put together." Alexis professes, "There's just a lot of elements in this show which need to all seem organic and seamless between one another so you feel that you're living through the real world of Angel. I'm really proud of the work that everybody does." But when it all comes down to it Jeff Bell states the one thing that makes Angel stand out from all other television series, "The great thing about a show like this is you can feel like a filmmaker and not just a writer." SEASON 3 OVERVIEW Each episode overview offers mini-interviews with the producers, directors, writers and the featured actors. We open with thoughts on the season beginning with David Greenwalt and Tim as he confesses, "It began with a lot of promise with all the characters and then we just stepped on everybody's hearts and broke them." David begins with Angel getting over the death of Buffy, and Charisma Carpenter reflects on Cordelia's visions from the Powers That Be, "It ripens her a bit, it brings her down into reality and humbles her in a sense that life has purpose and meaning and what is her part and what is the meaning in her life." J. August Richards, Amy, and Alexis join in on the episode That Vision Thing along with Director Bill Norton and Jeff Bell. Offering the core to what drives Angel is Marita Grabiak who comments on Fredless, and Billy, "There are consequences to every action," says Marita. David Grossman explains what some of these consequences are, "It took our characters, especially Wesley and Gunn, to a darker side that you wouldn't expect them to go to just because, at their heart, they're pretty gentle souls." View a Video Clip of the Season 3 Overview Windows Media Player - Hi speed Windows Media Player - Lo speed Producer Kelly A. Manners joins Mere introducing Lullaby and Birthday, where one specific scene got fans a bit bitey. "A lot of people were like, 'How comes Angel went crazy with the visions?' and I has to tell them it's not because he had the visions, it's because he didn't have Cordelia. She's the thing that brings him closer to human," explains Mere. The Groosalugg himself, Mark Lutz, adds his contributions when Groo returns to Angel in Waiting in the Wings, and Couplet. Alexis Denisof's character Wesley has quite a ride in Loyalty, and Sleep Tight. "He plays a vital role in the baby being lost to another dimension and that's where, to all intensive purposes, to everyone else it looks like a betrayal," explains Alexis, "So we see the season out, as far as Wesley is concerned, as an isolated, disenchanted, angry, dark character." Marita returns to inform viewers of the location for scenes in The Price which were shot at the Ambassador Hotel where Robert Kennedy was killed: the kitchen scenes were just feet away from where that historical event took place. Vincent Kartheiser gets to show off his Angel knowledge during the recap of A New World, Benediction, and Tomorrow on Connor's return as a, 'Pissed off teenager'. To close out the overview, highlights are drawn upon as the season ends and our characters are seemingly spread to the winds as Cordy ascends and Angel slips into his watery grave. All the characters are scattered to their own directions leaving only Gunn and Fred left at the Hyperion hotel to wonder what to do next as Lorne heads off to Vegas, Groo ventures out to explore L.A. and Wesley trysts up with Lilah, and perhaps Wolfram & Hart as he is isolated from the rest of his former friends. The overview is outstanding and you get a true sense of where each character travels during the course of the season and are left with nothing but questions, good questions, for the next season! Check out all the Winners from the Angel S3 DVD Contest and more details of the collection: S3 DVD Winners . Written by CoA Writer, Kristy Bratton If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this Happenings feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com