IDW Publishing started putting out original shooting scripts of Angel shortly after the series was canceled. Apparently they didn't sell well, because they only did a few, then compiled the existing one-shots into a TPB edition. The second volume consisted of the last few one-shots plus an additional episode that hadn't been published in one-shot form. I don't think they have any plans to publish any more paperback compilations, but I suppose that could change if Angel: After the Fall does well enough.
Volume One consists of the series premiere, "City Of...," by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt, "A Hole in the World," "Waiting in the Wings," and "Spin the Bottle," all by Joss, and "Five by Five," by Jim Kouf. And they're in that order, too. Seasons 1, 5, 3, 4 and 1. That's really my only complaint about this series. The chosen scripts seem a bit scattershot and aren't in order. Of course I wouldn't have been totally happy with anything but all 100+ shooting scripts printed and bound and all in order, because I'm a little weird that way.
Going on to Volume Two, we have "In the Dark," by Douglas Petrie, "I Will Remember You," by David Greenwalt and Jeannine Renshaw, "Convinction," by that Whedon guy, "You're Welcome," by David Fury, "Smile Time," by Ben Edlund (oddly much less funny in script form than the final product was), and the series finale *sniff*, "Not Fade Away," by Whedon and Jeffrey Bell.
I always enjoy reading original shooting scripts as a rule, because it's fun and I learn things about writing scripts. Having them packaged in a nice paperback so I don't have to print them out or read them off the computer is a plus, too. The way these books are packaged, though, is more reader-friendly than script-studying friendly, since unlike the Buffy scriptbooks they don't follow the exact page breaks and page formatting of the original scripts. Still a minor quibble, though, and I'm just glad they're available. IDW? We can has more, please?
