Chances were already slim back when Joss was a golden boy. This is, sadly, “just” a TV series. For whatever reason, even under the best of circumstances, studios treat TV series as nostalgic time capsules for limited sets of fans, never like the “timeless classics for generations” treatment that full-length films get. And Buffy isn’t in the best of circumstances. Fox, and now Disney, was rarely one to give any TV series the full “Freaks and Geeks” treatment in the first place. They have a huge TV catalog, and the very limited amount of HD restorations prove the rule (X-Files, Simpsons, can you even name a third?). It was honestly never in the cards. Fox deciding to cheap out with a fully automated scan (the only way to explain their seemingly random cropping decisions IMO) is probably the MOST effort they were willing to put into it, not the least amount. Yes, I’m talking about the widely-panned and objectively crap HD remaster.

Because I’m such a fan, I can always talk myself into scenarios: So many talented people were involved in Buffy, they’re not all untouchable, right? And even then, they still release Roman Polanski films, right? And HD releases of TV series do seem to be entirely random, so Buffy could just luck out, right? Or Shout Factory or some third party could swoop in and save Buffy, right? With so many possibilities, it seems like it really could happen, right?

But… hold onto your DVDs. For the long haul.