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Wikipedia

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

January 21, 2023

This article is about the television series. For the 1992 film, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film). For other uses, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer (disambiguation).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although they are separate and otherwise unrelated productions.[12] Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner under his production tag Mutant Enemy Productions.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre
Created byJoss Whedon
Starring
Theme music composerNerf Herder
Composers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes144 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time42–51 minutes[11]
Production companies
Distributor20th Television
Release
Original network
Picture formatNTSC
16 mm (seasons 1–2)
35 mm (seasons 3–7)
Original releaseMarch 10, 1997 (1997-03-10) –
May 20, 2003 (2003-05-20)
Chronology
Preceded byBuffy the Vampire Slayer (1992 film)
Followed byBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (comic book)
RelatedAngel

The series premiered on March 10, 1997, on The WB and concluded on May 20, 2003, on UPN. The series narrative follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers, or the "Chosen Ones", are chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang" – a reference to the animated franchise Scooby-Doo that features a group of friends solving mysteries together.

The series received critical and popular acclaim and usually reached between four and six million viewers on original airings.[13][14] Although such ratings are lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox),[15] they were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network.[16] Despite the fact that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was almost entirely ignored by major award shows during its run, the series was nominated for the American Film Institute Award for Drama Series of the Year, Gellar was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her performance in the show and the series was nominated five times for Television Critics Association Awards, winning once in 2003 for the Television Critics Association Heritage Award.[17][18][19]

The success of Buffy has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including novels, comics and video games. The series has received attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series.[1][20] Buffy is considered to be part of a wave of television series from the late 1990s and early 2000s that feature strong female characters, alongside Xena: Warrior Princess, La Femme Nikita, Dark Angel, and Alias.[21] The series, as well as its spin-off series, Angel, and extensions thereof, have been collectively termed the "Buffyverse". A second spin-off of the series was being developed for television, with Monica Owusu-Breen as showrunner, before being shelved in 2022.[22][23]

Premise

Characters

Main articles: List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters and List of Buffyverse villains and supernatural beings

Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the "Slayer", one in a long line of young women chosen by fate to battle evil forces. This mystical calling grants her powers that dramatically increase physical strength, endurance, agility, accelerated healing, intuition, and a limited degree of precognition, usually in the form of prophetic dreams. She is known as a reluctant hero who wants to live a normal life. However, she learns to embrace her destiny as the vampire slayer.[24][25]

Buffy receives guidance from her Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Giles, rarely referred to by his first name (it is later revealed that in his rebellious younger days he went by "Ripper"), is a member of the Watchers' Council, whose job is to train and guide the Slayers. Giles researches the supernatural creatures that Buffy must face, offers insights into their origins and advice on how to defeat them, and helps her train to stay in fighting form.

Buffy is also helped by friends she meets at Sunnydale High: Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). Willow is originally a wallflower who excels at academics, providing a contrast to Buffy's outgoing personality and less-than-stellar educational record. They share the social isolation that comes with being different, and especially from being exceptional young women. As the series progresses, Willow becomes a more assertive character and a powerful witch, and reveals she is a lesbian. In contrast, Xander, with no supernatural abilities, provides comic relief and a grounded perspective. It is Xander who often provides the heart to the series. In season six, he becomes the hero and, in place of Buffy, he defeats the "Big Bad". Buffy and Willow are the only characters who appear in all 144 episodes; Xander is missing in only one.

The cast of characters grew over the course of the series. Buffy first arrives in Sunnydale with her mother, Joyce Summers (portrayed by Kristine Sutherland), who functions as an anchor of normality in the Summers' lives even after she learns of Buffy's role in the supernatural world ("Becoming, Part Two"). Buffy's younger sister Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg) is introduced in season five ("Buffy vs. Dracula"). A vampire tortured with a soul in return for horrific deeds committed in the past to many, including a young gypsy girl and her family, Angel (portrayed by David Boreanaz) is Buffy's love interest throughout the first three seasons. He leaves Buffy after realizing he will never be able to give her a normal life. He goes on to make amends for his sins and to search for redemption in his own spin-off television series, Angel. He makes several guest appearances in the remaining seasons, including the last episode.

At Sunnydale High, Buffy meets several other students besides Willow and Xander willing to join her fight for good, an informal group eventually tagged the "Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies". Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), the archetypal shallow cheerleader, reluctantly becomes involved. Daniel "Oz" Osbourne (Seth Green), a fellow student, rock guitarist and werewolf, joins the group through his relationship with Willow. Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte), Sunnydale's computer science teacher, joins the group after helping destroy a demon trapped in cyberspace during season 1. She later becomes Giles' love interest. Anya (Emma Caulfield), a former vengeance demon (Anyanka) who specialized in avenging scorned women, becomes Xander's lover after losing her powers and joins the group in season four.

In Buffy's senior year at high school, she meets Faith (Eliza Dushku), the other current Slayer, who was "called" forth when Slayer Kendra Young (Bianca Lawson) was killed by vampire Drusilla (Juliet Landau), in season two. Although Faith initially fights on the side of good with Buffy and the rest of the group, she comes to stand against them and sides with Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) after accidentally killing a human in season three. She reappears briefly in the fourth season, looking for vengeance, and moves to Angel where she voluntarily goes to jail for her murders. Faith reappears in season seven of Buffy, after having helped Angel and his crew, and fights alongside Buffy against the First Evil.

Buffy gathers other allies: Spike (James Marsters), a vampire, is an old companion of Angelus (Angel) and one of Buffy's major enemies in early seasons, although they later become allies and lovers. At the end of season six, Spike regains his soul. Spike is known for his Billy Idol-style peroxide blond hair and his black leather coat, stolen from a previous Slayer, Nikki Wood; her son, Robin Wood (D. B. Woodside), joins the group in the final season. Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) is a fellow member of Willow's Wicca group during season four, and their friendship eventually turns into a romantic relationship. Buffy becomes involved personally and professionally with Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), a military operative in "the Initiative", which hunts demons using science and technology. The final season sees geeky wannabe-villain Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) come to side with the Scoobies after initially being their captive/hostage; they regard him more as a nuisance than an ally.

Buffy featured dozens of recurring characters, both major and minor. For example, the "Big Bad" (villain) characters were featured for at least one season (for example, Glory is a character who appeared in 12 episodes, spanning much of season five). Similarly, characters who allied themselves to the group and characters who attended the same institutions were sometimes featured in multiple episodes.

Setting and filming locations

Main article: Sunnydale
 
Torrance High School was used for the fictional Sunnydale High School.

The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, whose suburban Sunnydale High School sits on top of a "Hellmouth", a gateway to demon realms. The Hellmouth, located beneath the school library, is a source of mystical energies as well as a nexus for a wide variety of evil creatures and supernatural phenomena. In addition to being an open-ended plot device, Joss Whedon has cited the Hellmouth and "high school as hell" as one of the primary metaphors in creating the series.[26]

Most of Buffy was shot on location in Los Angeles, California. The high school used in the first three seasons is actually Torrance High School, in Torrance, California, the same high school used for Beverly Hills, 90210.[27] The show was initially very dependent on location shooting, because the production budget allowed for few permanent sets to be built.[28] In Season One this was limited to the interior of Sunnydale High (the library, hallways, and classrooms), Buffy's bedroom, and the Master's underground lair. Starting in Season Two, more permanent sets were built, including the full interior of Buffy's house, Angel's mansion, and Giles's apartment, as well as extensions to the high school set (the addition of a dining hall and commons area).[28] A driveway area near the gated entrance to Fox Studios was transformed into a graveyard.[28] In Season Three the Sunnydale "Main Street" was constructed on the backlot, which would be a staple location for the rest of the series.[29] When the show transitioned to college in the fourth season, the hallway sets from Sunnydale High were remodeled to appear as the interior hallways of UC Sunnydale.[30]

Some of the exterior shots of the college Buffy attends, UC Sunnydale, were filmed at UCLA. Several episodes include shots from the Oviatt Library at CSUN.[31][32] The exterior of the mansion where Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla lived was Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House.[33]

Format

Buffy is told in a serialized format, with each episode involving a self-contained story while contributing to a larger storyline.[34] Each season's storyline is broken down into season-long narratives marked by the rise and defeat of a powerful antagonist, commonly referred to as the "Big Bad". While the show is mainly a drama with frequent comic relief, most episodes blend different genres, including horror, martial arts, romance, melodrama, farce, fantasy, supernatural, comedy, and even, in one episode, musical comedy.

The series' narrative revolves around Buffy and her friends, collectively dubbed the "Scooby Gang", who struggle to balance the fight against supernatural evils with their complicated social lives.[34] The show mixes complex, season-long storylines with a villain-of-the-week format; a typical episode contains one or more villains, or supernatural phenomena, that are thwarted or defeated by the end of the episode. Though elements and relationships are explored and ongoing subplots are included, the show focuses primarily on Buffy and her role as an archetypal heroine. Gellar described the show as "the ultimate metaphor: horrors of adolescence manifesting through these actual monsters. It's the hardest time of life."[35]

In the first few seasons, the most prominent monsters in the Buffy bestiary are vampires, which are based on traditional myths, lore, and literary conventions. As the series continues, Buffy and her companions fight an increasing variety of demons, as well as ghosts, werewolves, zombies, and unscrupulous humans. They frequently save the world from annihilation by a combination of physical combat, magic, and detective-style investigation, and are guided by an extensive collection of ancient and mystical reference books.

Storylines

Season one exemplifies the "high school is hell" concept. Buffy Summers has just moved to Sunnydale after burning down her old school's gym and hopes to escape her Slayer duties. Her plans are complicated by Rupert Giles, her new Watcher, who reminds her of the inescapable presence of evil. Sunnydale High is built atop a Hellmouth, a portal to demon dimensions that attracts supernatural phenomena to the area. A mysterious man, Angel, warns Buffy of upcoming danger. She eventually discovers that he is a vampire cursed with a soul, which prevents him from feeding off living humans. Buffy befriends two schoolmates, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, who help her fight evil throughout the series. Buffy, her Watcher and friends later start to collectively call themselves the “Scooby Gang”. Their first major threat is the Master, an ancient and especially threatening vampire, who was trapped in the hellmouth underground. When he escapes, Buffy defeats him and saves Sunnydale.

The emotional stakes are raised in season two. Vampire couple Spike and Drusilla come to town. A new slayer, Kendra, who was activated as a result of Buffy's brief death in season one, also arrives in Sunnydale. Popular schoolmate, Cordelia Chase, who resented Buffy and her friends, joins the Scooby Gang and becomes involved with Xander. Willow learns witchcraft and becomes involved with schoolmate Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, who is a werewolf. The romantic relationship between Buffy and the vampire Angel develops. But after they have sex, Angel experiences a moment of true happiness, breaking the gypsy curse that gave him his soul, thus reverting him to a sadistic, killer. The evil vampire, famously known as Angelus, joins the other vampires Spike and Drusilla, and he torments Buffy and her friends. He murders multiple innocents and Giles's new girlfriend Jenny Calendar, a gypsy who was sent to maintain Angel's curse. Kendra is murdered by Drusilla. To avert an apocalypse, Buffy is forced to banish Angel to a demon dimension just moments after Willow has restored his soul. The ordeal leaves Buffy emotionally shattered, and she leaves Sunnydale.

After attempting to start a new life in Los Angeles, Buffy returns to town in season three. Angel has mysteriously been released from the demon dimension but is close to insanity due to the torment he suffered there. He recovers, but he and Buffy realize that a relationship between them can never happen and Angel leaves Sunnydale at the end of the season. Giles is fired from the Watchers' Council because he has developed a "father's love" for Buffy and he is replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Towards the end of the season, Buffy announces that she will no longer be working for the Council. Early in the season, she meets Faith, the Slayer activated after Kendra's death. She also encounters the affable Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who secretly has plans to "ascend" (become a "pure" demon) on Sunnydale High's graduation day. Although Faith initially works well with Buffy, she becomes increasingly unstable after accidentally killing a human and forms a relationship with the paternal yet manipulative mayor. The rivalry between Buffy and Faith eventually lands Faith in a coma. At the end of the season, after the mayor becomes a huge snake-like demon, Buffy, Angel, the Scooby Gang and the entire graduating class destroy him by blowing up Sunnydale High. At the end of the season, Angel and Cordelia leave the series to star in the spin-off series, Angel.

Season four sees Buffy and Willow enroll at UC Sunnydale, while Xander joins the workforce and begins dating Anya, a former vengeance demon. Spike returns as a series regular and is abducted by the Initiative, a top-secret military installation based beneath the UC Sunnydale campus. They implant a microchip in his head that prevents from harming humans. Every time he tries to harm a human, he suffers excruciating pain. He begins to fight on the side of the Scooby Gang, purely for the joy of fighting, upon learning that he can still harm other demons. Oz leaves town after realizing that he is too dangerous as a werewolf, and Willow falls in love with Tara Maclay, another witch. Buffy begins dating Riley Finn, a graduate student and US Army Ranger seconded to The Initiative. Although appearing to be a well-meaning anti-demon operation, The Initiative's sinister plans are revealed when Adam, a monster secretly built from parts of humans, demons and machinery, escapes and begins to wreak havoc on the town. Adam is destroyed by a magical composite of Buffy and her three friends, and The Initiative is shut down.

During season five, a younger sister, Dawn, suddenly appears in Buffy's life; although she is new to the series, to the characters it is as if she has always been there. Buffy is confronted by Glory, an exiled Hell God who is searching for a "Key" that will allow her to return to her Hell dimension and in the process blur the lines between dimensions and unleash Hell on Earth. It is later discovered that the Key's protectors have used Buffy's blood to turn the Key into human form – Dawn – concurrently implanting everybody with lifelong memories of her. The Watchers' Council aids in Buffy's research on Glory, and she and Giles are both reinstated on their own terms. Riley leaves early in the season after realizing that Buffy does not love him and joins a military demon-hunting operation. Spike, still implanted with the Initiative chip, realizes he is in love with Buffy and increasingly helps the Scoobies in their fight. Buffy's mother Joyce dies of a brain aneurysm, while at the end of the season, Xander proposes to Anya. Glory finally discovers that Dawn is the key and kidnaps her, using Dawn's blood to open a portal to the Hell dimension. To save Dawn, Buffy sacrifices her own life by diving into the portal and thus closes it with her death.

At the beginning of season six, Buffy has been dead for 147 days, but Buffy's friends resurrect her through a powerful spell, believing they have rescued her from a Hell dimension. Buffy returns in a deep depression, explaining (several episodes later) that she had been in heaven and is devastated to be pulled back to earth. Giles returns to England because he has concluded that Buffy has become too reliant on him, while Buffy takes up a fast-food job to support herself and Dawn, and develops a secret, mutually abusive sexual relationship with Spike. Dawn suffers from kleptomania and feelings of alienation, Xander leaves Anya at the altar (after which she once again becomes a vengeance demon), and Willow becomes addicted to magic, causing Tara to temporarily leave her. They also begin to deal with the Trio, a group of nerds led by Warren Mears who use their proficiency in technology and magic to attempt to kill Buffy and take over Sunnydale. Warren is shown to be the only competent villain of the group and, after Buffy thwarts his plans multiple times, the Trio breaks apart. Warren becomes unhinged and attacks Buffy with a gun, accidentally killing Tara in the process. This causes Willow to descend into nihilistic darkness and unleash all of her dark magical powers, killing Warren and attempting to kill his friends. Giles returns to face her in battle and infuses her with light magic, tapping into her remaining humanity. This overwhelms Willow with guilt and pain, whereupon she attempts to destroy the world to end everyone's suffering, although it eventually allows Xander to reach through her pain and end her rampage. Late in the season, after losing control and trying to rape Buffy, Spike leaves Sunnydale and travels to see a demon and asks him to "return him to what he used to be" so that he can "give Buffy what she deserves". After Spike passes a series of brutal tests, the demon restores his soul.

During season seven, it is revealed that Buffy's second resurrection caused instability in the slayer line which also allowed the First Evil to begin tipping the balance between good and evil. It begins by hunting down and killing inactive Potential Slayers, and soon raises an army of ancient, powerful Turok-Han vampires. After the Watchers' Council is destroyed, a number of Potential Slayers (some brought by Giles) take refuge in Buffy's house. Faith returns to help fight the First Evil, and the new Sunnydale High School principal, Robin Wood, also joins the cause. The Turok-Han vampires and a sinister, misogynistic preacher known as Caleb begin causing havoc for the Scoobies. As the Hellmouth becomes more active, nearly all of Sunnydale's population – humans and demons alike – flee. In the series finale, Buffy kills Caleb, and Angel returns to Sunnydale with an amulet, which Buffy gives to Spike; the Scoobies then surround the Hellmouth, and the Potential Slayers descend into its cavern while Willow casts a spell that activates their Slayer powers. Anya dies in the fight, as do some of the new Slayers. Spike's amulet channels the power of the sun to destroy the Hellmouth and all the vampires within it, including himself. The collapse of the cavern creates a crater that swallows all of Sunnydale, while the survivors of the battle escape in a school bus. In the final scene, as the survivors survey the crater, Dawn asks, "What are we going to do now?" Buffy slowly begins to enigmatically smile as she contemplates the future ahead of her, ending the series on a hopeful note.

Production

Origins

 
Buffy creator Joss Whedon also served as executive producer, head writer, and director on the series.

Writer Joss Whedon says that "Rhonda the Immortal Waitress" was really the first incarnation of the Buffy concept, "the idea of some woman who seems to be completely insignificant who turns out to be extraordinary".[36] This early, unproduced idea evolved into Buffy, which Whedon developed to invert the Hollywood formula of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie".[37] Whedon wanted "to subvert that idea and create someone who was a hero".[37] He explained, "The very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it."[38]

The idea was first visited through Whedon's script for the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which featured Kristy Swanson in the title role. The director, Fran Rubel Kuzui, saw it as a "pop culture comedy about what people think about vampires".[39][40] Whedon disagreed: "I had written this scary film about an empowered woman, and they turned it into a broad comedy. It was crushing."[41] The script was praised within the industry,[42] but the movie was not.[43]

Several years later, Gail Berman (later a Fox executive, but at that time President and CEO of the production company Sandollar Television, who owned the TV rights to the movie) approached Whedon to develop his Buffy concept into a television series.[44] Whedon explained that "They said, 'Do you want to do a show?' And I thought, 'High school as a horror movie.' And so the metaphor became the central concept behind Buffy, and that's how I sold it."[45] The supernatural elements in the series stood as metaphors for personal anxieties associated with adolescence and young adulthood.[34] Early in its development, the series was going to be simply titled Slayer.[46] Whedon went on to write and partly fund a 25-minute non-broadcast pilot[47] that was shown to networks and eventually sold to the WB Network. The latter promoted the premiere with a series of History of the Slayer clips,[48] and the first episode aired on March 10, 1997. Whedon has declared in June 2003 that the non-broadcast pilot would not be included with DVDs of the series "while there is strength in these bones", stating that it "sucks on ass".[49]

Executive producers

Joss Whedon was credited as executive producer throughout the run of the series, and for the first five seasons (1997–2001) he was also the showrunner, supervising the writing and all aspects of production. Marti Noxon took on the role for seasons six and seven (2001–2003), but Whedon continued to be involved with writing and directing Buffy alongside projects such as Angel, Fray, and Firefly. Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, were credited as executive producers but were not involved in the show. Their credit, rights, and royalties over the franchise relate to their funding, producing, and directing of the original movie version of Buffy.[50]

Writing

Script-writing was done by Mutant Enemy, a production company created by Whedon in 1997. The writers with the most writing credits[51] are Joss Whedon, Steven S. DeKnight, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Drew Goddard, Drew Greenberg, David Greenwalt, Rebecca Rand Kirshner, Marti Noxon and Doug Petrie. Other authors with writing credits include Dean Batali, Carl Ellsworth, Tracey Forbes, Ashley Gable, Howard Gordon, Diego Gutierrez, Elin Hampton, Rob Des Hotel, Matt Kiene, Ty King, Thomas A. Swyden, Joe Reinkemeyer, Dana Reston and Dan Vebber.[52]

Jane Espenson has explained how scripts came together.[53] First, the writers talked about the emotional issues facing Buffy Summers and how she would confront them through her battle against evil supernatural forces. Then the episode's story was "broken" into acts and scenes. Act breaks were designed as key moments to intrigue viewers so that they would stay with the episode following the commercial break. The writers collectively filled in scenes surrounding these act breaks for a more fleshed-out story. A whiteboard marked their progress by mapping brief descriptions of each scene. Once "breaking" was done, the credited author wrote an outline for the episode, which was checked by Whedon or Noxon. The writer then wrote a full script, which went through a series of drafts, and finally a quick rewrite from the showrunner. The final article was used as the shooting script.


Music

Main article: Music in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Buffy features a mix of original, indie, rock, and pop music. The composers spent around seven days scoring between fourteen and thirty minutes of music for each episode.[54] Christophe Beck revealed that the Buffy composers used computers and synthesizers and were limited to recording one or two "real" samples. Despite this, their goal was to produce "dramatic" orchestration that would stand up to film scores.[54]

Alongside the score, most episodes featured indie rock music, usually at the characters' venue of choice, The Bronze. Buffy music supervisor John King explained that "we like to use unsigned bands" that "you would believe would play in this place".[54] For example, the fictional group Dingoes Ate My Baby were portrayed on screen by front group Four Star Mary.[55] Pop songs by famous artists were rarely featured prominently, but several episodes spotlighted the sounds of more famous artists such as Sarah McLachlan,[56][57] The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Blink-182,[58] Third Eye Blind,[59] Aimee Mann[60] (who also had a line of dialogue), The Dandy Warhols,[61] Cibo Matto,[62] Coldplay, Lisa Loeb, K's Choice, and Michelle Branch.[63] The popularity of music used in Buffy has led to the release of four soundtrack albums: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album,[64] Radio Sunnydale,[65] the "Once More, with Feeling" Soundtrack,[66][67][68] and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Score.

Episodes

Main article: List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
112March 10, 1997 (1997-03-10)June 2, 1997 (1997-06-02)The WB
222September 15, 1997 (1997-09-15)May 19, 1998 (1998-05-19)
322September 29, 1998 (1998-09-29)September 21, 1999 (1999-09-21)
422October 5, 1999 (1999-10-05)May 23, 2000 (2000-05-23)
522September 26, 2000 (2000-09-26)May 22, 2001 (2001-05-22)
622October 2, 2001 (2001-10-02)May 21, 2002 (2002-05-21)UPN
722September 24, 2002 (2002-09-24)May 20, 2003 (2003-05-20)

Inspirations and metaphors

During the first year of the series, Whedon described the show as "My So-Called Life with The X-Files".[69] My So-Called Life gave a sympathetic portrayal of teen anxieties; in contrast, The X-Files delivered a supernatural "monster of the week" story line. Alongside these series, Whedon has cited cult film Night of the Comet as a "big influence",[70] and credited the X-Men character Kitty Pryde as a significant influence on the character of Buffy.[71] The authors of the unofficial guidebook Dusted point out that the series was often a pastiche, borrowing elements from previous horror novels, movies, and short stories and from such common literary stock as folklore and mythology.[72] Nevitt and Smith describe Buffy's use of pastiche as "postmodern Gothic".[73] For example, the Adam character parallels the Frankenstein monster, the episode "Bad Eggs" parallels Invasion of the Body Snatchers, "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" parallels The Invisible Man, and so on.

Buffy episodes often include a deeper meaning or metaphor as well. Whedon explained, "We think very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we're writing it... it really is, apart from being a pop-culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode."[74] Academics Wilcox and Lavery provide examples of how a few episodes deal with real life issues turned into supernatural metaphors:

In the world of Buffy the problems that teenagers face become literal monsters. A mother can take over her daughter's life ("Witch"); a strict stepfather-to-be really is a heartless machine ("Ted"); a young lesbian fears that her nature is demonic ("Goodbye Iowa" and "Family"); a girl who has sex with even the nicest-seeming guy may discover that he afterward becomes a monster ("Innocence").[34]

The love affair between the vampire Angel and Buffy was fraught with metaphors. For example, their night of passion cost the vampire his soul. Sarah Michelle Gellar said: "That's the ultimate metaphor. You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you."[75]

Buffy struggles throughout the series with her calling as Slayer and the loss of freedom this entails, frequently sacrificing teenage experiences for her Slayer duties. Her difficulties and eventual empowering realizations are reflections of several dichotomies faced by modern women and echo feminist issues within society.[76]

In the episode "Becoming (Part 2)", when Joyce learns that Buffy is the Slayer, her reaction has strong echoes of a parent discovering her child is gay, including denial, suggesting that she tries "not being a Slayer", before ultimately kicking Buffy out of the house.[77]

Casting

In 1996, Katie Holmes and Selma Blair were in the running for the role of Buffy. Holmes was too young for the role. Actresses who originally auditioned for the role of Buffy and got other roles in the show include Julie Benz (Darla), Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison), Julia Lee (Chantarelle/Lily Houston), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) and Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall). Bianca Lawson, who played slayer Kendra Young in season 2 of the show, originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia before Carpenter was cast in the role.

The title role went to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who had appeared as Sydney Rutledge on Swans Crossing and Kendall Hart on All My Children. At age 18 in 1995, Gellar had already won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series.[78] In 1996, she originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia. After watching her audition, Whedon asked her to come back in and audition for the lead role of Buffy.[79]

The character of Angel was only supposed to appear briefly in the pilot episode.[80] Nathan Fillion was one of the actors who originally auditioned for the role back in early 1996 for the unaired pilot, which did not end up featuring Angel. When the pilot was due to be reshot in September 1996, scouting for Angel began again, and by chance a talent agent spotted David Boreanaz on the sidewalk walking his dog.[80] He immediately contacted casting director Marcia Shulman, saying that he had found Angel.[80] Fillion would later portray Caleb in the show's seventh and final season, and would also work with Whedon on several other occasions, including Firefly.

Anthony Stewart Head had already led a prolific acting and singing career,[81] but remained best known in the United States for a series of twelve coffee commercials with Sharon Maughan for Taster's Choice instant coffee.[82] He accepted the role of Rupert Giles.

Nicholas Brendon, unlike other Buffy regulars, had little acting experience, instead working various jobs—including production assistant, plumber's assistant, veterinary janitor, food delivery, script delivery, day care counselor, and waiter—before breaking into acting and overcoming his stutter.[83][84] He landed his Xander Harris role following only four days of auditioning.[85] Ryan Reynolds and Danny Strong also auditioned for the part. Strong later played the role of Jonathan Levinson, a recurring character for much of the series run.

Alyson Hannigan was the last of the original six to be cast. Following her role in My Stepmother Is an Alien,[86] she appeared in commercials and supporting roles on television shows throughout the early 1990s.[86] In 1996, the role of Willow Rosenberg was originally played by Riff Regan for the unaired Buffy pilot, but Hannigan auditioned when the role was being recast for the series proper. Hannigan described her approach to the character through Willow's reaction to a particular moment: Willow sadly tells Buffy that her Barbie doll was taken from her as a child. Buffy asks her if she ever got it back. Willow's line was to reply "most of it". Hannigan decided on an upbeat and happy delivery of the line "most of it", as opposed to a sad, depressed delivery. Hannigan figured Willow would be happy and proud that she got "most of it" back. That indicated how she was going to play the rest of the scene, and the role, for that matter, and defined the character.[87] Her approach subsequently got her the role.

Opening sequence

The Buffy opening sequence provides credits at the beginning of each episode, with the accompanying music performed by Californian rock band Nerf Herder. In the DVD commentary for the first Buffy episode, Whedon said his decision to go with Nerf Herder's theme was influenced by Hannigan, who had urged him to listen to the band's music.[88] Janet Halfyard, in her essay "Music, Gender, and Identity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel", describes the opening:

Firstly ... we have the sound of an organ, accompanied by a wolf’s howl, with a visual image of a flickering night sky overlaid with unintelligible archaic script: the associations with both the silent era and films such as Nosferatu and with the conventions of the Hammer House of Horror and horror in general are unmistakable.[89]

But the theme quickly changes: "It removes itself from the sphere of 1960s and 70s horror by replaying the same motif, the organ now supplanted by an aggressively strummed electric guitar, relocating itself in modern youth culture ..."[89] Halfyard describes sequences, in which the action and turbulence of adolescence are depicted, as the visual content of the opening credits, and which provide a postmodern twist on the horror genre.[89]

Broadcast history and syndication

Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired on March 10, 1997 (as a mid-season replacement for the series Savannah) on The WB, and played a key role in the growth of the Warner Bros. television network in its early years.[90][91] After five seasons, it transferred to UPN for its final two seasons. In 2001, the show went into syndication in the United States on local stations and on cable channel FX; the local airings ended in 2005, and the FX airings lasted until 2008 but returned to the network in 2013. Beginning in January 2010, it began to air in syndication in the United States on Logo.[92] Reruns also briefly aired on MTV. In March 2010, it began to air in Canada on MuchMusic and MuchMore.[93] On November 7, 2010, it began airing on Chiller with a 24-hour marathon; the series airs weekdays. Chiller also aired a 14-hour Thanksgiving Day marathon on November 25, 2010.[94] In 2011, it began airing on Oxygen and TeenNick. On June 22, 2015, it began airing on ABC Family.

While the seventh season was still being broadcast, Sarah Michelle Gellar told Entertainment Weekly she was not going to sign on for an eighth year; "When we started to have such a strong year this year, I thought: 'This is how I want to go out, on top, at our best.'"[95] Whedon and UPN gave some considerations to production of a spin-off series that would not require Gellar, including a rumored Faith series, but nothing came of those plans.[96] The Buffy canon continued outside the television medium in the Dark Horse Comics series, Buffy Season Eight. This was produced starting March 2007 by Whedon, who also wrote the first story arc, "The Long Way Home".[97]

In the United Kingdom, the entire series aired on Sky One and BBC Two. After protests from fans about early episodes being edited for their pre-watershed time-slot, from the second run (mid-second season onwards), the BBC gave the show two time slots: the early-evening slot (typically Thursday at 6:45 pm) for a family-friendly version with violence, objectionable language and other stronger material cut out, and a late-night uncut version (initially late-night Sundays, but for most of the run, late-night Fridays; exact times varied).[98] Sky1 aired the show typically at 8:00 pm on Thursdays. From the fourth season onwards, the BBC aired the show in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen format. Whedon later said that Buffy was never intended to be viewed this way.[99] Despite his claims, Syfy now airs repeat showings in the widescreen format.

In August 2014, Pivot announced that, for the first time, episodes of Buffy would be broadcast in high-definition and in a widescreen 16:9 format authorized by the studio, but not by any of the series' principals.[100] The transfer was poorly received by some fans, owing to a number of technical and format changes that were viewed as detrimental to the show's presentation; various scenes were heavily cropped to fit the 16:9 format, and shots were altered to have a brighter look, often with color levels altered. Other problems included missing filters, editing errors, and poorly re-rendered CGI.[101] Series creator Joss Whedon and other members of the original team also expressed their displeasure.[102]

As of 2022, the series is available on Comet's digital network.[103]

Spin-offs

Buffy has inspired a range of official works, including television shows, books, comics, games, and podcasts. This expansion of the series encouraged use of the term "Buffyverse" to describe the franchise and the fictional universe in which Buffy and related stories take place.[104][105]

The franchise has inspired Buffy action figures and merchandise such as official Buffy/Angel magazines and Buffy companion books. Eden Studios has published a Buffy role-playing game, while Score Entertainment has released a Buffy Collectible Card Game.

Continuations

The story line was continued in a series of comic books produced by Joss Whedon and published by Dark Horse Comics, which serve as a canonical continuation of the television series. The series began in 2007 with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight and was followed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine in 2011, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten in 2014, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eleven in 2016, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve in 2018.[106]

Joss Whedon was interested in a film continuation in 1998,[107] but such a film has yet to materialize.

Future series

In July 2018, 20th Century Fox Television reportedly began development on a television reboot of the series. Monica Owusu-Breen was to serve as showrunner and had been working on the script with Whedon, who was to be an executive producer.[108] News of Whedon's involvement was seen as reassuring by fans,[109] though the extent of his involvement was unclear; other executive producers reported to be involved included Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, and Kaz Kuzui, who were all credited as executive producers for the original series.[110][111] According to anonymous sources who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood, the producers wanted the new series to be "richly diverse ... [and] some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing society today"[108][110] – similar to the way Gellar described the original series as the "ultimate metaphor" for coping with adolescence.[35] The producers intended "for the new slayer to be African American", an example of the diversity they wish to portray.[110] The report from Deadline Hollywood cautioned that "the project is still in nascent stages with no script, and many details are still in flux".[110]

At the time of Buffy's 20th anniversary in 2017, Whedon expressed fear of reboots, commenting that when "something [is brought] back, and even if it's exactly as good as it was, the experience can't be. You've already experienced it, and part of what was great was going through it for the first time. You have to meet expectations and adjust it for the climate, which is not easily [done]."[112] Similar concerns were expressed about the decision to reboot the series, rather than to revive it or further expand the Buffyverse.[109][113] Reports that the black lead actress was to assume the iconic role of Buffy,[108][111] rather than having a new character or slayer created, have been met with questions and concerns.[109][113][114] Vox noted that "the original series already had multiple characters of color who could factor into an 'inclusive' reboot – including the black slayer Kendra and the 'First Slayer'" – leaving fans wondering "why a reboot has to racebend Buffy, when it could simply focus on a different character".[114] A Twitter message posted by Owusu-Breen on July 26, 2018 was interpreted by media outlets as indicating that the new series would not recast the role of Buffy and instead would focus on a new Slayer.[115] In August 2022, executive producer Gail Berman announced that the series was put "on pause" indefinitely.[23]

Angel

Main article: Angel (1999 TV series)

The spin-off Angel was introduced in October 1999, at the start of Buffy season four. The series was created by Buffy's creator Joss Whedon in collaboration with David Greenwalt. Like Buffy, it was produced by the production company Mutant Enemy. At times, it performed better in the Nielsen ratings than its parent series did.[14]

The series was given a darker tone, focusing on the ongoing trials of Angel in Los Angeles. His character is tormented by guilt following the return of his soul, punishment for more than a century of murder and torture. During the first four seasons of the show, he works as a private detective in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles, California, where he and his associates work to "help the helpless", to restore the faith and "save the souls" of those who have lost their way. Typically, this mission involves doing battle with demons or demonically allied humans (primarily the law firm Wolfram & Hart), while Angel must also contend with his own violent nature. In season five, the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart take a bold gamble in their campaign to corrupt Angel, giving him control of their Los Angeles office. Angel accepts the deal as an opportunity to fight evil from the inside.

In addition to Boreanaz, Angel inherited Buffy series cast regular Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase). When Glenn Quinn (Doyle) left the series during its first season, Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), who played a recurring character in the last nine episodes of season three of Buffy, took his place. Carpenter and Denisof were followed later by Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall) and James Marsters (Spike). Several actors and actresses who played Buffy characters made guest appearances on Angel, including Seth Green (Daniel "Oz" Osbourne), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Eliza Dushku (Faith), Tom Lenk (Andrew Wells), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Julie Benz (Darla), Mark Metcalf (The Master), Julia Lee (Anne Steele) and Juliet Landau (Drusilla). Angel also continued to appear occasionally on Buffy.

Other actors that appeared in both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series but as different characters include: Bob Fimiani as Mr. Ward, a head of the Department of Defense in Buffy and Glith-roo, a Codger Demon in Angel; Carlos Jacott as a demon named Ken in Buffy and a different demon named Richard Straley in Angel; Jonathan M. Woodward as a vampire and former classmate in Buffy named Holden Webster and Knox, a Wolfram and Hart scientist in Angel; and Andy Umberger who played a demon name D'Hoffryn in Buffy and predator named Ronald Meltzer in Angel.

The storyline has been continued in the comic book series Angel: After the Fall published by IDW Publishing and later Angel and Faith published by Dark Horse Comics.

Expanded universe

Main articles: Buffyverse canon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer video games, List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels, and List of Buffyverse comics

Outside of the TV series, the Buffyverse has been officially expanded and elaborated on by authors and artists in the so-called "Buffyverse Expanded Universe". The creators of these works may or may not keep to established continuity. Similarly, writers for the TV series were under no obligation to use information which had been established by the Expanded Universe, and sometimes contradicted such continuity.

Dark Horse has published the Buffy comics since 1998.[116] In 2003, Whedon wrote an eight-issue miniseries for Dark Horse Comics titled Fray, about a Slayer in the future. Following the publication of Tales of the Vampires in 2004, Dark Horse Comics halted publication on Buffyverse-related comics and graphic novels. The company produced Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight with forty issues from March 2007 to January 2011, picking up where the television show left off—taking the place of an eighth canonical season.[97] The first story arc is also written by Whedon and is called "The Long Way Home", which has been widely well-received, with circulation rivaling industry leaders DC and Marvel's top-selling titles.[117] After "The Long Way Home" came other story arcs like Faith's return in "No Future for You" and a Fray crossover in "Time of Your Life". Dark Horse later followed Season Eight with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine, starting in 2011, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten, which began in 2014. Dark Horse continued to publish Buffy comics continuing the story after the television show until September 2018, when it released the final issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve, which intended to bring closure to the series. Following the end of Dark Horse's Buffy series, Boom! Studios acquired the license to publish Buffy comics. Taking a different approach from Dark Horse, Boom! Studios decided to publish a new rebooted Buffy series in 2019 with many elements updated to be more contemporary. Boom! Studio's approach to rebooting Buffy has been stylistically compared to the Ultimate Marvel series by the creators.[118] Joss Whedon is not as involved in the rebooted Buffy comic as he was in Dark Horse's continuation, however he did take part in the initial development stages for the series and gave his blessing to the creators.[119]

Simon & Schuster holds the license to produce Buffy novels, of which they published more than sixty between 1998 and 2008, under their Pocket Books and Simon Pulse imprints. These sometimes flesh out background information on characters; for example, Go Ask Malice details the events that lead up to Faith arriving in Sunnydale. The most recent novels include Carnival of Souls, Blackout, Portal Through Time, Bad Bargain, The Deathless and One Thing or Your Mother. After a ten year hiatus, two additional novels were published in 2019 and 2020, following on from story threads in the comic book series.

Five official Buffy video games have been released on portable and home consoles.[120] Most notably, Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Xbox in 2002 and Chaos Bleeds for GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2003.[121]

Undeveloped spinoffs

Main article: Undeveloped Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoffs

The popularity of Buffy and Angel has led to attempts to develop more on-screen ventures in the fictional 'Buffyverse'. These projects remain undeveloped and may never be greenlit. In 2002, two potential spinoffs were in discussion: Buffy: The Animated Series and Ripper. Buffy: The Animated Series was a proposed animated TV show based on Buffy; Whedon and Jeph Loeb were to be executive producers for the show, and most of the cast from Buffy were to return to voice their characters. 20th Century Fox showed an interest in developing and selling the show to another network. A three-minute pilot was completed in 2004 but was never picked up. Whedon revealed to The Hollywood Reporter: "We just could not find a home for it. We had six or seven hilarious scripts from our own staff – and nobody wanted it."[122] Writer Jane Espenson has teasingly revealed small extracts from some of her scripts for the show.[123]

Ripper was originally a proposed television show based upon the character of Rupert Giles portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. More recent information has suggested that if Ripper were ever made, it would be a TV movie or a DVD movie.[124] There was little heard about the series until 2007 when Joss Whedon confirmed that talks were almost completed for a 90-minute Ripper special on the BBC[125] with both Head and the BBC completely on board.

In 2003, a year after the first public discussions on Buffy: The Animated Series and Ripper, Buffy was nearing its end. Espenson said during the time spin-offs were being discussed, "I think Marti talked with Joss about Slayer School and Tim Minear talked with him about Faith on a motorcycle. I assume there was some back-and-forth pitching."[126] Espenson has revealed that Slayer School might have used new slayers and potentially included Willow Rosenberg, but Whedon did not think that such a spinoff felt right.[127][128]

Dushku declined the pitch for a Buffyverse TV series based on Faith and instead agreed to a deal to produce Tru Calling. Dushku explained to IGN: "It would have been a really hard thing to do, and not that I would not have been up for a challenge, but with it coming on immediately following Buffy, I think that those would have been really big boots to fill."[129] Tim Minear explained some of the ideas behind the aborted series: "The show was basically going to be Faith meets Kung Fu. It would have been Faith, probably on a motorcycle, crossing the earth, trying to find her place in the world."[130]

Finally, during the summer of 2004 after the end of Angel, a movie about Spike was proposed.[131] The movie would have been directed by Tim Minear and starred Marsters and Amy Acker and featured Alyson Hannigan.[132] Outside the 2006 Saturn Awards, Whedon announced that he had pitched the concept to various bodies but had yet to receive any feedback.[133]

In September 2008, Sci-Fi Wire ran an interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar in which she said she would not rule out returning to her most iconic role: "Never say never", she said. "One of the reasons the original Buffy movie did not really work on the big screen–and people blamed Kristy, but that's not what it was–the story was better told over a long arc", Gellar said. "And I worry about Buffy as a 'beginning, middle and end' so quickly. ... You show me a script; you show me that it works, and you show me that [the] audience can accept that, [and] I'd probably be there. Those are what my hesitations are."[134]

Legacy and cultural impact

Academia

Main article: Buffy studies
 
Anthony Stewart Head and Nicholas Brendon at the Oakland Super SlayerCon fan convention

Buffy is notable for attracting the interest of scholars of popular culture, as a subset of popular culture studies, and some academic settings include the show as a topic of literary study and analysis.[135][136] National Public Radio describes Buffy as having a "special following among academics, some of whom have staked a claim in what they call 'Buffy Studies.'"[137] Though not widely recognized as a distinct discipline, the term "Buffy studies" is commonly used amongst the peer-reviewed academic Buffy-related writings.[138] The influence of Buffy on the depiction of vampires across popular culture has also been noted by anthropologists such as A. Asbjørn Jøn.[139][140] Popular media researcher Rob Cover argued that Buffy and Angel speak to contemporary attitudes to identity, inclusion, and diversity and that critiquing the characters' long-narrative stories lends insight into the complexity of identity in the current era and the landscape of social issues in which those identities are performed.[141][142]

Critics have emerged in response to the academic attention the series has received. For example, Jes Battis, who authored Blood Relations in Buffy and Angel, admits that study of the Buffyverse "invokes an uneasy combination of enthusiasm and ire" and meets "a certain amount of disdain from within the halls of the academy".[143] Nonetheless, Buffy eventually led to the publication of around twenty books and hundreds of articles examining the themes of the show from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, Speech Communication, psychology, philosophy, and women's studies.[144] In a 2012 study by Slate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was named the most studied pop culture work by academics, with more than 200 papers, essays, and books devoted to the series.[145]

The Whedon Studies Association produces the online academic journal Slayage and sponsors a biennial academic conference on the works of Whedon. The sixth "Biennial Slayage Conference", titled "Much Ado About Whedon", was held at California State University-Sacramento in late June 2014.[146]

Fandom and fan films

See also: Unofficial Buffy the Vampire Slayer productions

The popularity of Buffy has led to websites, online discussion forums, works of Buffy fan fiction and several unofficial fan-made productions.[147] Since the end of the series, Whedon has stated that his intention was to produce a "cult" television series and has acknowledged a "rabid, almost insane fan base" that the show has created.[146][105] In 2016, Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo began the Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast, recognized as one of the top podcasts in production by Time and Esquire magazines.[148][149] In 2017 the 20th anniversary of the show attracted even more writers to create their own adventures of the series' characters.[150]

Buffy in popular culture

Main article: Buffy the Vampire Slayer in popular culture

The series, which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics and television shows. The series has also been parodied and spoofed. Sarah Michelle Gellar has participated in several parody sketches, including a Saturday Night Live sketch in which the Slayer is relocated to the Seinfeld universe,[151] and adding her voice to an episode of Robot Chicken that parodied a would-be eighth season of Buffy.[152]

"Buffy" was the code-name used for an early HTC mobile phone which integrated the social networking website Facebook.[153]

In March 2017, in honor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 20th anniversary, Entertainment Weekly reunited Joss Whedon and the whole cast for their first joint interview and photo shoot in over a decade.[154]

U.S. television ratings

Viewership and ratings per season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season Timeslot (ET) Network Episodes First aired Last aired TV season Viewership
rank		 Avg. viewers
(millions)
Date Viewers
(millions) 		Date Viewers
(millions)
1 Monday 9:00 pm The WB 12 March 10, 1997 (1997-03-10) 4.8[155] June 2, 1997 (1997-06-02) 4.0[156] 1996–97 144 3.7[157]
2 Monday 9:00 pm (1–13)
Tuesday 8:00 pm (14–22)		 22 September 15, 1997 (1997-09-15) 4.4[158] May 19, 1998 (1998-05-19) 6.4[159] 1997–98 133 5.2[157]
3 Tuesday 8:00 pm 22 September 29, 1998 (1998-09-29) 7.1[160] September 21, 1999 (1999-09-21) N/A 1998–99 133 5.3[157]
4 22 October 5, 1999 (1999-10-05) N/A May 23, 2000 (2000-05-23) N/A 1999–2000 120 5.1[157]
5 22 September 26, 2000 (2000-09-26) 5.8[161] May 22, 2001 (2001-05-22) 5.2[162] 2000–01 120 4.6[163]
6 UPN 22 October 2, 2001 (2001-10-02) 7.7[164] May 21, 2002 (2002-05-21) 5.3[165] 2001–02 124 4.3[166]
7 22 September 24, 2002 (2002-09-24) 5.0[167] May 20, 2003 (2003-05-20) 4.9[168] 2002–03 140 3.9[169]

Buffy helped put The WB on the ratings map, but by the time the series landed on UPN in 2001, viewing figures had fallen. The series' high came during the third season, with 5.3 million viewers (including repeats). This was probably due to the fact that both Gellar and Hannigan had hit movies out during the season (Cruel Intentions and American Pie respectively). The series' low was in season one at 3.7 million. The show's series finale "Chosen" pulled in a season high of 4.9 million viewers on the UPN network.[170]

Buffy did not compete with shows on the main four networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox), but The WB was impressed with the young audience that the show was bringing in. Because of this, The WB ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the series' second season. Beginning with the episode "Innocence", which was watched by 8.2 million people, Buffy was moved from Monday at 9:00 pm to launch The WB's new night of programming on Tuesday. Due to its large success in that time slot, it remained on Tuesdays at 8:00 pm for the remainder of its original run. With its new timeslot on The WB, the show quickly climbed to the top of The WB ratings and became one of their highest-rated shows for the remainder of its time on the network. The show always placed in the top 3, usually only coming in behind 7th Heaven. Between seasons three and five, Buffy flip-flopped with Dawson's Creek and Charmed as the network's second highest-rated show.

In the 2001–2002 season, the show had moved to UPN after a negotiation dispute with The WB. While it was still one of the highest rated shows on their network, The WB felt that the show had already peaked and was not worth giving a salary increase to the cast and crew. UPN on the other hand had strong faith in the series and picked it up for a two-season renewal.[171] UPN dedicated a two-hour premiere to the series to help re-launch it. The relaunching had an effect, as the season premiere attracted the second highest rating of the series, with 7.7 million viewers.[172]

Impact on television

Commentators of the entertainment industry including The Village Voice, PopMatters, AllMovie, The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post have cited Buffy as "influential",[105] some citing it as the ascent of television into its golden age.[1][20][173] Stephanie Zacharek, in the Village Voice, wrote "If we really are in a golden age of television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a harbinger."[174] Robert Moore of Popmatters also expressed these sentiments, writing "TV was not art before Buffy, but it was afterwards", suggesting that it was responsible for re-popularizing long story arcs on primetime television.[175][176]

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world, and an entire sprawling industry, that writing monsters and demons and end-of-the world is not hack-work, it can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer—not just genre/niche writers, but every single one of us."

–Russell T Davies[177]

Its effect on programming was quickly evident. Autumn 2003 saw several new shows going into production in the U.S. that featured strong females who are forced to come to terms with supernatural power or destiny while trying to maintain a normal life.[178] These post-Buffy shows include Dead Like Me, Joan of Arcadia, Tru Calling, Veronica Mars and Teen Wolf. Bryan Fuller, the creator of Dead Like Me, said that "Buffy showed that young women could be in situations that were both fantastic and relatable, and instead of shunting women off to the side, it puts them at the center."[178] In the United Kingdom, the lessons learned from the impact of Buffy influenced the revived Doctor Who series (2005–present),[179] as well as its spinoff series Torchwood.[180]

Several Buffy alumni have gone on to write for or create other shows. Such endeavors include Tru Calling (Douglas Petrie, Jane Espenson and lead actress Eliza Dushku), Wonderfalls (Tim Minear), Point Pleasant (Marti Noxon), Jake 2.0 (David Greenwalt), The Inside (Tim Minear), Smallville (Steven S. DeKnight), Once Upon a Time (Jane Espenson), Lost (Drew Goddard and David Fury), and Daredevil (Goddard, DeKnight, and Petrie).

Meanwhile, the Parents Television Council complained of efforts to "deluge their young viewing audiences with adult themes".[181] The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, rejected the Council's indecency complaint concerning the violent sex scene between Buffy and Spike in "Smashed".[182] The BBC, however, chose to censor some of the more controversial sexual content when it was shown on the pre-watershed 6:45 pm slot.[183] In 2003, the show showed girlfriends Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay in bed together, which though not a sex scene was considered the first scene of its kind for a broadcast network series.[184] Later that year, the show featured the first lesbian sex scene in broadcast TV history.[185]

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Buffy has gathered a number of awards and nominations which include an Emmy Award nomination for the 1999 episode "Hush," which featured an extended sequence with no character dialogue.[186][176] The 2001 episode "The Body" was filmed with no musical score, only diegetic music; it was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2002.[186][25] The 2001 musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" received plaudits, but was omitted from Emmy nomination ballots by "accident".[187] It since was featured on Channel 4's "100 Greatest Musicals".[188] In 2001, Sarah Michelle Gellar received a Golden Globe-nomination for Best Actress in a TV Series-Drama for her role in the show, as well nominations for the Teen Choice Awards and the Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress. The series won the Drama Category for Television's Most Memorable Moment at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards for "The Gift" beating The X-Files, Grey's Anatomy, Brian's Song and Dallas, although the sequence for this award was not aired.

It was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards, winning a total of three Emmys. However, snubs in lead Emmy categories resulted in outrage among TV critics and the decision by the academy to hold a tribute event in honor of the series after it had gone off the air in 2003.[189]

"Best of" lists

Home media

By 2004, before the release of the final season, the series earned $123.3 million in sales.[201]

Main article: List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer home video releases
DVD Release date
United States/Canada[202] United Kingdom Australia
The Complete First Season January 15, 2002 November 27, 2000 November 20, 2000
The Complete Second Season June 11, 2002 May 21, 2001 June 15, 2001
The Complete Third Season January 7, 2003 October 29, 2001 November 22, 2001
The Complete Fourth Season June 10, 2003 May 13, 2002 May 20, 2002
The Complete Fifth Season December 9, 2003 October 28, 2002 November 29, 2002
The Complete Sixth Season May 25, 2004 May 12, 2003[203] April 20, 2003
The Complete Seventh Season November 16, 2004 April 5, 2004[204] May 15, 2004
The Chosen Collection (Seasons 1–7) November 15, 2005[205] – –
The Complete DVD Collection (Seasons 1–7) – October 30, 2005 November 23, 2005

See also

References

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Further reading

  • Michael Adams: Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-19-516033-9
  • Lorna Jowett: Sex and the Slayer. A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown 2005, ISBN 0-8195-6758-2
  • Andrew Milner: "Postmodern Gothic: Buffy, The X-Files and the Clinton Presidency", Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2005, pp. 103–116
  • James B. South and William Irwin: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Open Court Books, Chicago 2003, ISBN 0-8126-9531-3
  • Gregory Stevenson: Televised Morality. The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hamilton Books, Dallas 2003, ISBN 0-7618-2833-8
  • Rhonda Wilcox and David Lavery (ed.): Fighting the Forces. What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Rowman and Littlefield Publ., Lanham 2002, ISBN 0-7425-1681-4
  • Valentina Signorelli. "L'Essere-per-la-Morte in Buffy The Vampire Slayer - analisi ontologico-esistenziale dell'universo audiovisivo creato da Joss Whedon". Roma, Universitalia Editore, 2012, ISBN 978-88-6507-309-4

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series).
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer at AllMovie
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer at IMDb  
  • Buffyverse Wiki - an external wiki at Fandom.com

January 21, 2023
buffy, vampire, slayer, this, article, about, television, series, 1992, film, film, other, uses, disambiguation, american, supernatural, drama, television, series, created, writer, director, joss, whedon, based, 1992, film, same, name, also, written, whedon, a. This article is about the television series For the 1992 film see Buffy the Vampire Slayer film For other uses see Buffy the Vampire Slayer disambiguation Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon It is based on the 1992 film of the same name also written by Whedon although they are separate and otherwise unrelated productions 12 Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner under his production tag Mutant Enemy Productions Buffy the Vampire SlayerGenreSupernatural 1 2 3 4 Horror 1 5 Coming of age 1 Teen drama Comedy drama Action 1 Philosophical 6 7 8 9 10 Created byJoss WhedonStarringSarah Michelle Gellar Nicholas Brendon Alyson Hannigan Charisma Carpenter Anthony Stewart Head David Boreanaz Seth Green James Marsters Marc Blucas Emma Caulfield Michelle Trachtenberg Amber BensonTheme music composerNerf HerderComposersWalter Murphy Christophe Beck Shawn Clement Sean Murray Thomas Wander Robert DuncanCountry of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishNo of seasons7No of episodes144 list of episodes ProductionExecutive producersJoss Whedon David Greenwalt Marti Noxon Fran Rubel Kuzui Kaz KuzuiCamera setupSingle cameraRunning time42 51 minutes 11 Production companiesMutant Enemy Productions Sandollar Television Kuzui Enterprises 20th Century Fox TelevisionDistributor20th TelevisionReleaseOriginal networkThe WB seasons 1 5 UPN seasons 6 7 Picture formatNTSC16 mm seasons 1 2 35 mm seasons 3 7 Original releaseMarch 10 1997 1997 03 10 May 20 2003 2003 05 20 ChronologyPreceded byBuffy the Vampire Slayer 1992 film Followed byBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic book RelatedAngelThe series premiered on March 10 1997 on The WB and concluded on May 20 2003 on UPN The series narrative follows Buffy Summers played by Sarah Michelle Gellar the latest in a line of young women known as Vampire Slayers or simply Slayers In the story Slayers or the Chosen Ones are chosen by fate to battle against vampires demons and other forces of darkness Buffy wants to live a normal life but as the series progresses she learns to embrace her destiny Like previous Slayers Buffy is aided by a Watcher who guides teaches and trains her Unlike her predecessors Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the Scooby Gang a reference to the animated franchise Scooby Doo that features a group of friends solving mysteries together The series received critical and popular acclaim and usually reached between four and six million viewers on original airings 13 14 Although such ratings are lower than successful shows on the big four networks ABC CBS NBC and Fox 15 they were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network 16 Despite the fact that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was almost entirely ignored by major award shows during its run the series was nominated for the American Film Institute Award for Drama Series of the Year Gellar was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Television Series Drama for her performance in the show and the series was nominated five times for Television Critics Association Awards winning once in 2003 for the Television Critics Association Heritage Award 17 18 19 The success of Buffy has led to hundreds of tie in products including novels comics and video games The series has received attention in fandom including fan films parody and academia and has influenced the direction of other television series 1 20 Buffy is considered to be part of a wave of television series from the late 1990s and early 2000s that feature strong female characters alongside Xena Warrior Princess La Femme Nikita Dark Angel and Alias 21 The series as well as its spin off series Angel and extensions thereof have been collectively termed the Buffyverse A second spin off of the series was being developed for television with Monica Owusu Breen as showrunner before being shelved in 2022 22 23 Contents 1 Premise 1 1 Characters 1 2 Setting and filming locations 1 3 Format 1 4 Storylines 2 Production 2 1 Origins 2 2 Executive producers 2 3 Writing 2 4 Music 2 5 Episodes 2 6 Inspirations and metaphors 2 7 Casting 2 8 Opening sequence 3 Broadcast history and syndication 4 Spin offs 4 1 Continuations 4 1 1 Future series 4 2 Angel 4 3 Expanded universe 4 4 Undeveloped spinoffs 5 Legacy and cultural impact 5 1 Academia 5 2 Fandom and fan films 5 3 Buffy in popular culture 5 4 U S television ratings 5 5 Impact on television 5 6 Awards and nominations 5 7 Best of lists 6 Home media 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksPremise EditCharacters Edit Main articles List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters and List of Buffyverse villains and supernatural beings Buffy Summers played by Sarah Michelle Gellar is the Slayer one in a long line of young women chosen by fate to battle evil forces This mystical calling grants her powers that dramatically increase physical strength endurance agility accelerated healing intuition and a limited degree of precognition usually in the form of prophetic dreams She is known as a reluctant hero who wants to live a normal life However she learns to embrace her destiny as the vampire slayer 24 25 Buffy receives guidance from her Watcher Rupert Giles Anthony Stewart Head Giles rarely referred to by his first name it is later revealed that in his rebellious younger days he went by Ripper is a member of the Watchers Council whose job is to train and guide the Slayers Giles researches the supernatural creatures that Buffy must face offers insights into their origins and advice on how to defeat them and helps her train to stay in fighting form Buffy is also helped by friends she meets at Sunnydale High Willow Rosenberg Alyson Hannigan and Xander Harris Nicholas Brendon Willow is originally a wallflower who excels at academics providing a contrast to Buffy s outgoing personality and less than stellar educational record They share the social isolation that comes with being different and especially from being exceptional young women As the series progresses Willow becomes a more assertive character and a powerful witch and reveals she is a lesbian In contrast Xander with no supernatural abilities provides comic relief and a grounded perspective It is Xander who often provides the heart to the series In season six he becomes the hero and in place of Buffy he defeats the Big Bad Buffy and Willow are the only characters who appear in all 144 episodes Xander is missing in only one The cast of characters grew over the course of the series Buffy first arrives in Sunnydale with her mother Joyce Summers portrayed by Kristine Sutherland who functions as an anchor of normality in the Summers lives even after she learns of Buffy s role in the supernatural world Becoming Part Two Buffy s younger sister Dawn Summers Michelle Trachtenberg is introduced in season five Buffy vs Dracula A vampire tortured with a soul in return for horrific deeds committed in the past to many including a young gypsy girl and her family Angel portrayed by David Boreanaz is Buffy s love interest throughout the first three seasons He leaves Buffy after realizing he will never be able to give her a normal life He goes on to make amends for his sins and to search for redemption in his own spin off television series Angel He makes several guest appearances in the remaining seasons including the last episode At Sunnydale High Buffy meets several other students besides Willow and Xander willing to join her fight for good an informal group eventually tagged the Scooby Gang or Scoobies Cordelia Chase Charisma Carpenter the archetypal shallow cheerleader reluctantly becomes involved Daniel Oz Osbourne Seth Green a fellow student rock guitarist and werewolf joins the group through his relationship with Willow Jenny Calendar Robia LaMorte Sunnydale s computer science teacher joins the group after helping destroy a demon trapped in cyberspace during season 1 She later becomes Giles love interest Anya Emma Caulfield a former vengeance demon Anyanka who specialized in avenging scorned women becomes Xander s lover after losing her powers and joins the group in season four In Buffy s senior year at high school she meets Faith Eliza Dushku the other current Slayer who was called forth when Slayer Kendra Young Bianca Lawson was killed by vampire Drusilla Juliet Landau in season two Although Faith initially fights on the side of good with Buffy and the rest of the group she comes to stand against them and sides with Mayor Richard Wilkins Harry Groener after accidentally killing a human in season three She reappears briefly in the fourth season looking for vengeance and moves to Angel where she voluntarily goes to jail for her murders Faith reappears in season seven of Buffy after having helped Angel and his crew and fights alongside Buffy against the First Evil Buffy gathers other allies Spike James Marsters a vampire is an old companion of Angelus Angel and one of Buffy s major enemies in early seasons although they later become allies and lovers At the end of season six Spike regains his soul Spike is known for his Billy Idol style peroxide blond hair and his black leather coat stolen from a previous Slayer Nikki Wood her son Robin Wood D B Woodside joins the group in the final season Tara Maclay Amber Benson is a fellow member of Willow s Wicca group during season four and their friendship eventually turns into a romantic relationship Buffy becomes involved personally and professionally with Riley Finn Marc Blucas a military operative in the Initiative which hunts demons using science and technology The final season sees geeky wannabe villain Andrew Wells Tom Lenk come to side with the Scoobies after initially being their captive hostage they regard him more as a nuisance than an ally Buffy featured dozens of recurring characters both major and minor For example the Big Bad villain characters were featured for at least one season for example Glory is a character who appeared in 12 episodes spanning much of season five Similarly characters who allied themselves to the group and characters who attended the same institutions were sometimes featured in multiple episodes Setting and filming locations Edit Main article Sunnydale Torrance High School was used for the fictional Sunnydale High School The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale whose suburban Sunnydale High School sits on top of a Hellmouth a gateway to demon realms The Hellmouth located beneath the school library is a source of mystical energies as well as a nexus for a wide variety of evil creatures and supernatural phenomena In addition to being an open ended plot device Joss Whedon has cited the Hellmouth and high school as hell as one of the primary metaphors in creating the series 26 Most of Buffy was shot on location in Los Angeles California The high school used in the first three seasons is actually Torrance High School in Torrance California the same high school used for Beverly Hills 90210 27 The show was initially very dependent on location shooting because the production budget allowed for few permanent sets to be built 28 In Season One this was limited to the interior of Sunnydale High the library hallways and classrooms Buffy s bedroom and the Master s underground lair Starting in Season Two more permanent sets were built including the full interior of Buffy s house Angel s mansion and Giles s apartment as well as extensions to the high school set the addition of a dining hall and commons area 28 A driveway area near the gated entrance to Fox Studios was transformed into a graveyard 28 In Season Three the Sunnydale Main Street was constructed on the backlot which would be a staple location for the rest of the series 29 When the show transitioned to college in the fourth season the hallway sets from Sunnydale High were remodeled to appear as the interior hallways of UC Sunnydale 30 Some of the exterior shots of the college Buffy attends UC Sunnydale were filmed at UCLA Several episodes include shots from the Oviatt Library at CSUN 31 32 The exterior of the mansion where Angelus Spike and Drusilla lived was Frank Lloyd Wright s Ennis House 33 Format Edit Buffy is told in a serialized format with each episode involving a self contained story while contributing to a larger storyline 34 Each season s storyline is broken down into season long narratives marked by the rise and defeat of a powerful antagonist commonly referred to as the Big Bad While the show is mainly a drama with frequent comic relief most episodes blend different genres including horror martial arts romance melodrama farce fantasy supernatural comedy and even in one episode musical comedy The series narrative revolves around Buffy and her friends collectively dubbed the Scooby Gang who struggle to balance the fight against supernatural evils with their complicated social lives 34 The show mixes complex season long storylines with a villain of the week format a typical episode contains one or more villains or supernatural phenomena that are thwarted or defeated by the end of the episode Though elements and relationships are explored and ongoing subplots are included the show focuses primarily on Buffy and her role as an archetypal heroine Gellar described the show as the ultimate metaphor horrors of adolescence manifesting through these actual monsters It s the hardest time of life 35 In the first few seasons the most prominent monsters in the Buffy bestiary are vampires which are based on traditional myths lore and literary conventions As the series continues Buffy and her companions fight an increasing variety of demons as well as ghosts werewolves zombies and unscrupulous humans They frequently save the world from annihilation by a combination of physical combat magic and detective style investigation and are guided by an extensive collection of ancient and mystical reference books Storylines Edit Season one exemplifies the high school is hell concept Buffy Summers has just moved to Sunnydale after burning down her old school s gym and hopes to escape her Slayer duties Her plans are complicated by Rupert Giles her new Watcher who reminds her of the inescapable presence of evil Sunnydale High is built atop a Hellmouth a portal to demon dimensions that attracts supernatural phenomena to the area A mysterious man Angel warns Buffy of upcoming danger She eventually discovers that he is a vampire cursed with a soul which prevents him from feeding off living humans Buffy befriends two schoolmates Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg who help her fight evil throughout the series Buffy her Watcher and friends later start to collectively call themselves the Scooby Gang Their first major threat is the Master an ancient and especially threatening vampire who was trapped in the hellmouth underground When he escapes Buffy defeats him and saves Sunnydale The emotional stakes are raised in season two Vampire couple Spike and Drusilla come to town A new slayer Kendra who was activated as a result of Buffy s brief death in season one also arrives in Sunnydale Popular schoolmate Cordelia Chase who resented Buffy and her friends joins the Scooby Gang and becomes involved with Xander Willow learns witchcraft and becomes involved with schoolmate Daniel Oz Osbourne who is a werewolf The romantic relationship between Buffy and the vampire Angel develops But after they have sex Angel experiences a moment of true happiness breaking the gypsy curse that gave him his soul thus reverting him to a sadistic killer The evil vampire famously known as Angelus joins the other vampires Spike and Drusilla and he torments Buffy and her friends He murders multiple innocents and Giles s new girlfriend Jenny Calendar a gypsy who was sent to maintain Angel s curse Kendra is murdered by Drusilla To avert an apocalypse Buffy is forced to banish Angel to a demon dimension just moments after Willow has restored his soul The ordeal leaves Buffy emotionally shattered and she leaves Sunnydale After attempting to start a new life in Los Angeles Buffy returns to town in season three Angel has mysteriously been released from the demon dimension but is close to insanity due to the torment he suffered there He recovers but he and Buffy realize that a relationship between them can never happen and Angel leaves Sunnydale at the end of the season Giles is fired from the Watchers Council because he has developed a father s love for Buffy and he is replaced by Wesley Wyndam Pryce Towards the end of the season Buffy announces that she will no longer be working for the Council Early in the season she meets Faith the Slayer activated after Kendra s death She also encounters the affable Mayor Richard Wilkins III who secretly has plans to ascend become a pure demon on Sunnydale High s graduation day Although Faith initially works well with Buffy she becomes increasingly unstable after accidentally killing a human and forms a relationship with the paternal yet manipulative mayor The rivalry between Buffy and Faith eventually lands Faith in a coma At the end of the season after the mayor becomes a huge snake like demon Buffy Angel the Scooby Gang and the entire graduating class destroy him by blowing up Sunnydale High At the end of the season Angel and Cordelia leave the series to star in the spin off series Angel Season four sees Buffy and Willow enroll at UC Sunnydale while Xander joins the workforce and begins dating Anya a former vengeance demon Spike returns as a series regular and is abducted by the Initiative a top secret military installation based beneath the UC Sunnydale campus They implant a microchip in his head that prevents from harming humans Every time he tries to harm a human he suffers excruciating pain He begins to fight on the side of the Scooby Gang purely for the joy of fighting upon learning that he can still harm other demons Oz leaves town after realizing that he is too dangerous as a werewolf and Willow falls in love with Tara Maclay another witch Buffy begins dating Riley Finn a graduate student and US Army Ranger seconded to The Initiative Although appearing to be a well meaning anti demon operation The Initiative s sinister plans are revealed when Adam a monster secretly built from parts of humans demons and machinery escapes and begins to wreak havoc on the town Adam is destroyed by a magical composite of Buffy and her three friends and The Initiative is shut down During season five a younger sister Dawn suddenly appears in Buffy s life although she is new to the series to the characters it is as if she has always been there Buffy is confronted by Glory an exiled Hell God who is searching for a Key that will allow her to return to her Hell dimension and in the process blur the lines between dimensions and unleash Hell on Earth It is later discovered that the Key s protectors have used Buffy s blood to turn the Key into human form Dawn concurrently implanting everybody with lifelong memories of her The Watchers Council aids in Buffy s research on Glory and she and Giles are both reinstated on their own terms Riley leaves early in the season after realizing that Buffy does not love him and joins a military demon hunting operation Spike still implanted with the Initiative chip realizes he is in love with Buffy and increasingly helps the Scoobies in their fight Buffy s mother Joyce dies of a brain aneurysm while at the end of the season Xander proposes to Anya Glory finally discovers that Dawn is the key and kidnaps her using Dawn s blood to open a portal to the Hell dimension To save Dawn Buffy sacrifices her own life by diving into the portal and thus closes it with her death At the beginning of season six Buffy has been dead for 147 days but Buffy s friends resurrect her through a powerful spell believing they have rescued her from a Hell dimension Buffy returns in a deep depression explaining several episodes later that she had been in heaven and is devastated to be pulled back to earth Giles returns to England because he has concluded that Buffy has become too reliant on him while Buffy takes up a fast food job to support herself and Dawn and develops a secret mutually abusive sexual relationship with Spike Dawn suffers from kleptomania and feelings of alienation Xander leaves Anya at the altar after which she once again becomes a vengeance demon and Willow becomes addicted to magic causing Tara to temporarily leave her They also begin to deal with the Trio a group of nerds led by Warren Mears who use their proficiency in technology and magic to attempt to kill Buffy and take over Sunnydale Warren is shown to be the only competent villain of the group and after Buffy thwarts his plans multiple times the Trio breaks apart Warren becomes unhinged and attacks Buffy with a gun accidentally killing Tara in the process This causes Willow to descend into nihilistic darkness and unleash all of her dark magical powers killing Warren and attempting to kill his friends Giles returns to face her in battle and infuses her with light magic tapping into her remaining humanity This overwhelms Willow with guilt and pain whereupon she attempts to destroy the world to end everyone s suffering although it eventually allows Xander to reach through her pain and end her rampage Late in the season after losing control and trying to rape Buffy Spike leaves Sunnydale and travels to see a demon and asks him to return him to what he used to be so that he can give Buffy what she deserves After Spike passes a series of brutal tests the demon restores his soul During season seven it is revealed that Buffy s second resurrection caused instability in the slayer line which also allowed the First Evil to begin tipping the balance between good and evil It begins by hunting down and killing inactive Potential Slayers and soon raises an army of ancient powerful Turok Han vampires After the Watchers Council is destroyed a number of Potential Slayers some brought by Giles take refuge in Buffy s house Faith returns to help fight the First Evil and the new Sunnydale High School principal Robin Wood also joins the cause The Turok Han vampires and a sinister misogynistic preacher known as Caleb begin causing havoc for the Scoobies As the Hellmouth becomes more active nearly all of Sunnydale s population humans and demons alike flee In the series finale Buffy kills Caleb and Angel returns to Sunnydale with an amulet which Buffy gives to Spike the Scoobies then surround the Hellmouth and the Potential Slayers descend into its cavern while Willow casts a spell that activates their Slayer powers Anya dies in the fight as do some of the new Slayers Spike s amulet channels the power of the sun to destroy the Hellmouth and all the vampires within it including himself The collapse of the cavern creates a crater that swallows all of Sunnydale while the survivors of the battle escape in a school bus In the final scene as the survivors survey the crater Dawn asks What are we going to do now Buffy slowly begins to enigmatically smile as she contemplates the future ahead of her ending the series on a hopeful note Production EditOrigins Edit Buffy creator Joss Whedon also served as executive producer head writer and director on the series Writer Joss Whedon says that Rhonda the Immortal Waitress was really the first incarnation of the Buffy concept the idea of some woman who seems to be completely insignificant who turns out to be extraordinary 36 This early unproduced idea evolved into Buffy which Whedon developed to invert the Hollywood formula of the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie 37 Whedon wanted to subvert that idea and create someone who was a hero 37 He explained The very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power having it using it sharing it 38 The idea was first visited through Whedon s script for the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer which featured Kristy Swanson in the title role The director Fran Rubel Kuzui saw it as a pop culture comedy about what people think about vampires 39 40 Whedon disagreed I had written this scary film about an empowered woman and they turned it into a broad comedy It was crushing 41 The script was praised within the industry 42 but the movie was not 43 Several years later Gail Berman later a Fox executive but at that time President and CEO of the production company Sandollar Television who owned the TV rights to the movie approached Whedon to develop his Buffy concept into a television series 44 Whedon explained that They said Do you want to do a show And I thought High school as a horror movie And so the metaphor became the central concept behind Buffy and that s how I sold it 45 The supernatural elements in the series stood as metaphors for personal anxieties associated with adolescence and young adulthood 34 Early in its development the series was going to be simply titled Slayer 46 Whedon went on to write and partly fund a 25 minute non broadcast pilot 47 that was shown to networks and eventually sold to the WB Network The latter promoted the premiere with a series of History of the Slayer clips 48 and the first episode aired on March 10 1997 Whedon has declared in June 2003 that the non broadcast pilot would not be included with DVDs of the series while there is strength in these bones stating that it sucks on ass 49 Executive producers Edit Joss Whedon was credited as executive producer throughout the run of the series and for the first five seasons 1997 2001 he was also the showrunner supervising the writing and all aspects of production Marti Noxon took on the role for seasons six and seven 2001 2003 but Whedon continued to be involved with writing and directing Buffy alongside projects such as Angel Fray and Firefly Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband Kaz Kuzui were credited as executive producers but were not involved in the show Their credit rights and royalties over the franchise relate to their funding producing and directing of the original movie version of Buffy 50 Writing Edit Script writing was done by Mutant Enemy a production company created by Whedon in 1997 The writers with the most writing credits 51 are Joss Whedon Steven S DeKnight Jane Espenson David Fury Drew Goddard Drew Greenberg David Greenwalt Rebecca Rand Kirshner Marti Noxon and Doug Petrie Other authors with writing credits include Dean Batali Carl Ellsworth Tracey Forbes Ashley Gable Howard Gordon Diego Gutierrez Elin Hampton Rob Des Hotel Matt Kiene Ty King Thomas A Swyden Joe Reinkemeyer Dana Reston and Dan Vebber 52 Jane Espenson has explained how scripts came together 53 First the writers talked about the emotional issues facing Buffy Summers and how she would confront them through her battle against evil supernatural forces Then the episode s story was broken into acts and scenes Act breaks were designed as key moments to intrigue viewers so that they would stay with the episode following the commercial break The writers collectively filled in scenes surrounding these act breaks for a more fleshed out story A whiteboard marked their progress by mapping brief descriptions of each scene Once breaking was done the credited author wrote an outline for the episode which was checked by Whedon or Noxon The writer then wrote a full script which went through a series of drafts and finally a quick rewrite from the showrunner The final article was used as the shooting script Music Edit Main article Music in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel Buffy features a mix of original indie rock and pop music The composers spent around seven days scoring between fourteen and thirty minutes of music for each episode 54 Christophe Beck revealed that the Buffy composers used computers and synthesizers and were limited to recording one or two real samples Despite this their goal was to produce dramatic orchestration that would stand up to film scores 54 Alongside the score most episodes featured indie rock music usually at the characters venue of choice The Bronze Buffy music supervisor John King explained that we like to use unsigned bands that you would believe would play in this place 54 For example the fictional group Dingoes Ate My Baby were portrayed on screen by front group Four Star Mary 55 Pop songs by famous artists were rarely featured prominently but several episodes spotlighted the sounds of more famous artists such as Sarah McLachlan 56 57 The Brian Jonestown Massacre Blink 182 58 Third Eye Blind 59 Aimee Mann 60 who also had a line of dialogue The Dandy Warhols 61 Cibo Matto 62 Coldplay Lisa Loeb K s Choice and Michelle Branch 63 The popularity of music used in Buffy has led to the release of four soundtrack albums Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Album 64 Radio Sunnydale 65 the Once More with Feeling Soundtrack 66 67 68 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Score Episodes Edit Main article List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedFirst airedLast airedNetwork112March 10 1997 1997 03 10 June 2 1997 1997 06 02 The WB222September 15 1997 1997 09 15 May 19 1998 1998 05 19 322September 29 1998 1998 09 29 September 21 1999 1999 09 21 422October 5 1999 1999 10 05 May 23 2000 2000 05 23 522September 26 2000 2000 09 26 May 22 2001 2001 05 22 622October 2 2001 2001 10 02 May 21 2002 2002 05 21 UPN722September 24 2002 2002 09 24 May 20 2003 2003 05 20 Inspirations and metaphors Edit During the first year of the series Whedon described the show as My So Called Life with The X Files 69 My So Called Life gave a sympathetic portrayal of teen anxieties in contrast The X Files delivered a supernatural monster of the week story line Alongside these series Whedon has cited cult film Night of the Comet as a big influence 70 and credited the X Men character Kitty Pryde as a significant influence on the character of Buffy 71 The authors of the unofficial guidebook Dusted point out that the series was often a pastiche borrowing elements from previous horror novels movies and short stories and from such common literary stock as folklore and mythology 72 Nevitt and Smith describe Buffy s use of pastiche as postmodern Gothic 73 For example the Adam character parallels the Frankenstein monster the episode Bad Eggs parallels Invasion of the Body Snatchers Out of Mind Out of Sight parallels The Invisible Man and so on Buffy episodes often include a deeper meaning or metaphor as well Whedon explained We think very carefully about what we re trying to say emotionally politically and even philosophically while we re writing it it really is apart from being a pop culture phenomenon something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode 74 Academics Wilcox and Lavery provide examples of how a few episodes deal with real life issues turned into supernatural metaphors In the world of Buffy the problems that teenagers face become literal monsters A mother can take over her daughter s life Witch a strict stepfather to be really is a heartless machine Ted a young lesbian fears that her nature is demonic Goodbye Iowa and Family a girl who has sex with even the nicest seeming guy may discover that he afterward becomes a monster Innocence 34 The love affair between the vampire Angel and Buffy was fraught with metaphors For example their night of passion cost the vampire his soul Sarah Michelle Gellar said That s the ultimate metaphor You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you 75 Buffy struggles throughout the series with her calling as Slayer and the loss of freedom this entails frequently sacrificing teenage experiences for her Slayer duties Her difficulties and eventual empowering realizations are reflections of several dichotomies faced by modern women and echo feminist issues within society 76 In the episode Becoming Part 2 when Joyce learns that Buffy is the Slayer her reaction has strong echoes of a parent discovering her child is gay including denial suggesting that she tries not being a Slayer before ultimately kicking Buffy out of the house 77 Casting Edit In 1996 Katie Holmes and Selma Blair were in the running for the role of Buffy Holmes was too young for the role Actresses who originally auditioned for the role of Buffy and got other roles in the show include Julie Benz Darla Elizabeth Anne Allen Amy Madison Julia Lee Chantarelle Lily Houston Charisma Carpenter Cordelia Chase and Mercedes McNab Harmony Kendall Bianca Lawson who played slayer Kendra Young in season 2 of the show originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia before Carpenter was cast in the role The title role went to Sarah Michelle Gellar who had appeared as Sydney Rutledge on Swans Crossing and Kendall Hart on All My Children At age 18 in 1995 Gellar had already won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series 78 In 1996 she originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia After watching her audition Whedon asked her to come back in and audition for the lead role of Buffy 79 The character of Angel was only supposed to appear briefly in the pilot episode 80 Nathan Fillion was one of the actors who originally auditioned for the role back in early 1996 for the unaired pilot which did not end up featuring Angel When the pilot was due to be reshot in September 1996 scouting for Angel began again and by chance a talent agent spotted David Boreanaz on the sidewalk walking his dog 80 He immediately contacted casting director Marcia Shulman saying that he had found Angel 80 Fillion would later portray Caleb in the show s seventh and final season and would also work with Whedon on several other occasions including Firefly Anthony Stewart Head had already led a prolific acting and singing career 81 but remained best known in the United States for a series of twelve coffee commercials with Sharon Maughan for Taster s Choice instant coffee 82 He accepted the role of Rupert Giles Nicholas Brendon unlike other Buffy regulars had little acting experience instead working various jobs including production assistant plumber s assistant veterinary janitor food delivery script delivery day care counselor and waiter before breaking into acting and overcoming his stutter 83 84 He landed his Xander Harris role following only four days of auditioning 85 Ryan Reynolds and Danny Strong also auditioned for the part Strong later played the role of Jonathan Levinson a recurring character for much of the series run Alyson Hannigan was the last of the original six to be cast Following her role in My Stepmother Is an Alien 86 she appeared in commercials and supporting roles on television shows throughout the early 1990s 86 In 1996 the role of Willow Rosenberg was originally played by Riff Regan for the unaired Buffy pilot but Hannigan auditioned when the role was being recast for the series proper Hannigan described her approach to the character through Willow s reaction to a particular moment Willow sadly tells Buffy that her Barbie doll was taken from her as a child Buffy asks her if she ever got it back Willow s line was to reply most of it Hannigan decided on an upbeat and happy delivery of the line most of it as opposed to a sad depressed delivery Hannigan figured Willow would be happy and proud that she got most of it back That indicated how she was going to play the rest of the scene and the role for that matter and defined the character 87 Her approach subsequently got her the role Opening sequence Edit The Buffy opening sequence provides credits at the beginning of each episode with the accompanying music performed by Californian rock band Nerf Herder In the DVD commentary for the first Buffy episode Whedon said his decision to go with Nerf Herder s theme was influenced by Hannigan who had urged him to listen to the band s music 88 Janet Halfyard in her essay Music Gender and Identity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel describes the opening Firstly we have the sound of an organ accompanied by a wolf s howl with a visual image of a flickering night sky overlaid with unintelligible archaic script the associations with both the silent era and films such as Nosferatu and with the conventions of the Hammer House of Horror and horror in general are unmistakable 89 But the theme quickly changes It removes itself from the sphere of 1960s and 70s horror by replaying the same motif the organ now supplanted by an aggressively strummed electric guitar relocating itself in modern youth culture 89 Halfyard describes sequences in which the action and turbulence of adolescence are depicted as the visual content of the opening credits and which provide a postmodern twist on the horror genre 89 Broadcast history and syndication EditBuffy the Vampire Slayer first aired on March 10 1997 as a mid season replacement for the series Savannah on The WB and played a key role in the growth of the Warner Bros television network in its early years 90 91 After five seasons it transferred to UPN for its final two seasons In 2001 the show went into syndication in the United States on local stations and on cable channel FX the local airings ended in 2005 and the FX airings lasted until 2008 but returned to the network in 2013 Beginning in January 2010 it began to air in syndication in the United States on Logo 92 Reruns also briefly aired on MTV In March 2010 it began to air in Canada on MuchMusic and MuchMore 93 On November 7 2010 it began airing on Chiller with a 24 hour marathon the series airs weekdays Chiller also aired a 14 hour Thanksgiving Day marathon on November 25 2010 94 In 2011 it began airing on Oxygen and TeenNick On June 22 2015 it began airing on ABC Family While the seventh season was still being broadcast Sarah Michelle Gellar told Entertainment Weekly she was not going to sign on for an eighth year When we started to have such a strong year this year I thought This is how I want to go out on top at our best 95 Whedon and UPN gave some considerations to production of a spin off series that would not require Gellar including a rumored Faith series but nothing came of those plans 96 The Buffy canon continued outside the television medium in the Dark Horse Comics series Buffy Season Eight This was produced starting March 2007 by Whedon who also wrote the first story arc The Long Way Home 97 In the United Kingdom the entire series aired on Sky One and BBC Two After protests from fans about early episodes being edited for their pre watershed time slot from the second run mid second season onwards the BBC gave the show two time slots the early evening slot typically Thursday at 6 45 pm for a family friendly version with violence objectionable language and other stronger material cut out and a late night uncut version initially late night Sundays but for most of the run late night Fridays exact times varied 98 Sky1 aired the show typically at 8 00 pm on Thursdays From the fourth season onwards the BBC aired the show in anamorphic 16 9 widescreen format Whedon later said that Buffy was never intended to be viewed this way 99 Despite his claims Syfy now airs repeat showings in the widescreen format In August 2014 Pivot announced that for the first time episodes of Buffy would be broadcast in high definition and in a widescreen 16 9 format authorized by the studio but not by any of the series principals 100 The transfer was poorly received by some fans owing to a number of technical and format changes that were viewed as detrimental to the show s presentation various scenes were heavily cropped to fit the 16 9 format and shots were altered to have a brighter look often with color levels altered Other problems included missing filters editing errors and poorly re rendered CGI 101 Series creator Joss Whedon and other members of the original team also expressed their displeasure 102 As of 2022 the series is available on Comet s digital network 103 Spin offs EditBuffy has inspired a range of official works including television shows books comics games and podcasts This expansion of the series encouraged use of the term Buffyverse to describe the franchise and the fictional universe in which Buffy and related stories take place 104 105 The franchise has inspired Buffy action figures and merchandise such as official Buffy Angel magazines and Buffy companion books Eden Studios has published a Buffy role playing game while Score Entertainment has released a Buffy Collectible Card Game Continuations Edit The story line was continued in a series of comic books produced by Joss Whedon and published by Dark Horse Comics which serve as a canonical continuation of the television series The series began in 2007 with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight and was followed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine in 2011 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten in 2014 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eleven in 2016 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve in 2018 106 Joss Whedon was interested in a film continuation in 1998 107 but such a film has yet to materialize Future series Edit In July 2018 20th Century Fox Television reportedly began development on a television reboot of the series Monica Owusu Breen was to serve as showrunner and had been working on the script with Whedon who was to be an executive producer 108 News of Whedon s involvement was seen as reassuring by fans 109 though the extent of his involvement was unclear other executive producers reported to be involved included Gail Berman Fran Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui who were all credited as executive producers for the original series 110 111 According to anonymous sources who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood the producers wanted the new series to be richly diverse and some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing society today 108 110 similar to the way Gellar described the original series as the ultimate metaphor for coping with adolescence 35 The producers intended for the new slayer to be African American an example of the diversity they wish to portray 110 The report from Deadline Hollywood cautioned that the project is still in nascent stages with no script and many details are still in flux 110 At the time of Buffy s 20th anniversary in 2017 Whedon expressed fear of reboots commenting that when something is brought back and even if it s exactly as good as it was the experience can t be You ve already experienced it and part of what was great was going through it for the first time You have to meet expectations and adjust it for the climate which is not easily done 112 Similar concerns were expressed about the decision to reboot the series rather than to revive it or further expand the Buffyverse 109 113 Reports that the black lead actress was to assume the iconic role of Buffy 108 111 rather than having a new character or slayer created have been met with questions and concerns 109 113 114 Vox noted that the original series already had multiple characters of color who could factor into an inclusive reboot including the black slayer Kendra and the First Slayer leaving fans wondering why a reboot has to racebend Buffy when it could simply focus on a different character 114 A Twitter message posted by Owusu Breen on July 26 2018 was interpreted by media outlets as indicating that the new series would not recast the role of Buffy and instead would focus on a new Slayer 115 In August 2022 executive producer Gail Berman announced that the series was put on pause indefinitely 23 Angel Edit Main article Angel 1999 TV series The spin off Angel was introduced in October 1999 at the start of Buffy season four The series was created by Buffy s creator Joss Whedon in collaboration with David Greenwalt Like Buffy it was produced by the production company Mutant Enemy At times it performed better in the Nielsen ratings than its parent series did 14 The series was given a darker tone focusing on the ongoing trials of Angel in Los Angeles His character is tormented by guilt following the return of his soul punishment for more than a century of murder and torture During the first four seasons of the show he works as a private detective in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles California where he and his associates work to help the helpless to restore the faith and save the souls of those who have lost their way Typically this mission involves doing battle with demons or demonically allied humans primarily the law firm Wolfram amp Hart while Angel must also contend with his own violent nature In season five the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart take a bold gamble in their campaign to corrupt Angel giving him control of their Los Angeles office Angel accepts the deal as an opportunity to fight evil from the inside In addition to Boreanaz Angel inherited Buffy series cast regular Charisma Carpenter Cordelia Chase When Glenn Quinn Doyle left the series during its first season Alexis Denisof Wesley Wyndam Pryce who played a recurring character in the last nine episodes of season three of Buffy took his place Carpenter and Denisof were followed later by Mercedes McNab Harmony Kendall and James Marsters Spike Several actors and actresses who played Buffy characters made guest appearances on Angel including Seth Green Daniel Oz Osbourne Sarah Michelle Gellar Buffy Summers Eliza Dushku Faith Tom Lenk Andrew Wells Alyson Hannigan Willow Rosenberg Julie Benz Darla Mark Metcalf The Master Julia Lee Anne Steele and Juliet Landau Drusilla Angel also continued to appear occasionally on Buffy Other actors that appeared in both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series but as different characters include Bob Fimiani as Mr Ward a head of the Department of Defense in Buffy and Glith roo a Codger Demon in Angel Carlos Jacott as a demon named Ken in Buffy and a different demon named Richard Straley in Angel Jonathan M Woodward as a vampire and former classmate in Buffy named Holden Webster and Knox a Wolfram and Hart scientist in Angel and Andy Umberger who played a demon name D Hoffryn in Buffy and predator named Ronald Meltzer in Angel The storyline has been continued in the comic book series Angel After the Fall published by IDW Publishing and later Angel and Faith published by Dark Horse Comics Expanded universe Edit Main articles Buffyverse canon Buffy the Vampire Slayer video games List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels and List of Buffyverse comics Outside of the TV series the Buffyverse has been officially expanded and elaborated on by authors and artists in the so called Buffyverse Expanded Universe The creators of these works may or may not keep to established continuity Similarly writers for the TV series were under no obligation to use information which had been established by the Expanded Universe and sometimes contradicted such continuity Dark Horse has published the Buffy comics since 1998 116 In 2003 Whedon wrote an eight issue miniseries for Dark Horse Comics titled Fray about a Slayer in the future Following the publication of Tales of the Vampires in 2004 Dark Horse Comics halted publication on Buffyverse related comics and graphic novels The company produced Whedon s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight with forty issues from March 2007 to January 2011 picking up where the television show left off taking the place of an eighth canonical season 97 The first story arc is also written by Whedon and is called The Long Way Home which has been widely well received with circulation rivaling industry leaders DC and Marvel s top selling titles 117 After The Long Way Home came other story arcs like Faith s return in No Future for You and a Fray crossover in Time of Your Life Dark Horse later followed Season Eight with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine starting in 2011 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten which began in 2014 Dark Horse continued to publish Buffy comics continuing the story after the television show until September 2018 when it released the final issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve which intended to bring closure to the series Following the end of Dark Horse s Buffy series Boom Studios acquired the license to publish Buffy comics Taking a different approach from Dark Horse Boom Studios decided to publish a new rebooted Buffy series in 2019 with many elements updated to be more contemporary Boom Studio s approach to rebooting Buffy has been stylistically compared to the Ultimate Marvel series by the creators 118 Joss Whedon is not as involved in the rebooted Buffy comic as he was in Dark Horse s continuation however he did take part in the initial development stages for the series and gave his blessing to the creators 119 Simon amp Schuster holds the license to produce Buffy novels of which they published more than sixty between 1998 and 2008 under their Pocket Books and Simon Pulse imprints These sometimes flesh out background information on characters for example Go Ask Malice details the events that lead up to Faith arriving in Sunnydale The most recent novels include Carnival of Souls Blackout Portal Through Time Bad Bargain The Deathless and One Thing or Your Mother After a ten year hiatus two additional novels were published in 2019 and 2020 following on from story threads in the comic book series Five official Buffy video games have been released on portable and home consoles 120 Most notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Xbox in 2002 and Chaos Bleeds for GameCube Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2003 121 Undeveloped spinoffs Edit Main article Undeveloped Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoffs The popularity of Buffy and Angel has led to attempts to develop more on screen ventures in the fictional Buffyverse These projects remain undeveloped and may never be greenlit In 2002 two potential spinoffs were in discussion Buffy The Animated Series and Ripper Buffy The Animated Series was a proposed animated TV show based on Buffy Whedon and Jeph Loeb were to be executive producers for the show and most of the cast from Buffy were to return to voice their characters 20th Century Fox showed an interest in developing and selling the show to another network A three minute pilot was completed in 2004 but was never picked up Whedon revealed to The Hollywood Reporter We just could not find a home for it We had six or seven hilarious scripts from our own staff and nobody wanted it 122 Writer Jane Espenson has teasingly revealed small extracts from some of her scripts for the show 123 Ripper was originally a proposed television show based upon the character of Rupert Giles portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head More recent information has suggested that if Ripper were ever made it would be a TV movie or a DVD movie 124 There was little heard about the series until 2007 when Joss Whedon confirmed that talks were almost completed for a 90 minute Ripper special on the BBC 125 with both Head and the BBC completely on board In 2003 a year after the first public discussions on Buffy The Animated Series and Ripper Buffy was nearing its end Espenson said during the time spin offs were being discussed I think Marti talked with Joss about Slayer School and Tim Minear talked with him about Faith on a motorcycle I assume there was some back and forth pitching 126 Espenson has revealed that Slayer School might have used new slayers and potentially included Willow Rosenberg but Whedon did not think that such a spinoff felt right 127 128 Dushku declined the pitch for a Buffyverse TV series based on Faith and instead agreed to a deal to produce Tru Calling Dushku explained to IGN It would have been a really hard thing to do and not that I would not have been up for a challenge but with it coming on immediately following Buffy I think that those would have been really big boots to fill 129 Tim Minear explained some of the ideas behind the aborted series The show was basically going to be Faith meets Kung Fu It would have been Faith probably on a motorcycle crossing the earth trying to find her place in the world 130 Finally during the summer of 2004 after the end of Angel a movie about Spike was proposed 131 The movie would have been directed by Tim Minear and starred Marsters and Amy Acker and featured Alyson Hannigan 132 Outside the 2006 Saturn Awards Whedon announced that he had pitched the concept to various bodies but had yet to receive any feedback 133 In September 2008 Sci Fi Wire ran an interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar in which she said she would not rule out returning to her most iconic role Never say never she said One of the reasons the original Buffy movie did not really work on the big screen and people blamed Kristy but that s not what it was the story was better told over a long arc Gellar said And I worry about Buffy as a beginning middle and end so quickly You show me a script you show me that it works and you show me that the audience can accept that and I d probably be there Those are what my hesitations are 134 Legacy and cultural impact EditAcademia Edit Main article Buffy studies Anthony Stewart Head and Nicholas Brendon at the Oakland Super SlayerCon fan convention Buffy is notable for attracting the interest of scholars of popular culture as a subset of popular culture studies and some academic settings include the show as a topic of literary study and analysis 135 136 National Public Radio describes Buffy as having a special following among academics some of whom have staked a claim in what they call Buffy Studies 137 Though not widely recognized as a distinct discipline the term Buffy studies is commonly used amongst the peer reviewed academic Buffy related writings 138 The influence of Buffy on the depiction of vampires across popular culture has also been noted by anthropologists such as A Asbjorn Jon 139 140 Popular media researcher Rob Cover argued that Buffy and Angel speak to contemporary attitudes to identity inclusion and diversity and that critiquing the characters long narrative stories lends insight into the complexity of identity in the current era and the landscape of social issues in which those identities are performed 141 142 Critics have emerged in response to the academic attention the series has received For example Jes Battis who authored Blood Relations in Buffy and Angel admits that study of the Buffyverse invokes an uneasy combination of enthusiasm and ire and meets a certain amount of disdain from within the halls of the academy 143 Nonetheless Buffy eventually led to the publication of around twenty books and hundreds of articles examining the themes of the show from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives including sociology Speech Communication psychology philosophy and women s studies 144 In a 2012 study by Slate Buffy the Vampire Slayer was named the most studied pop culture work by academics with more than 200 papers essays and books devoted to the series 145 The Whedon Studies Association produces the online academic journal Slayage and sponsors a biennial academic conference on the works of Whedon The sixth Biennial Slayage Conference titled Much Ado About Whedon was held at California State University Sacramento in late June 2014 146 Fandom and fan films Edit See also Unofficial Buffy the Vampire Slayer productions The popularity of Buffy has led to websites online discussion forums works of Buffy fan fiction and several unofficial fan made productions 147 Since the end of the series Whedon has stated that his intention was to produce a cult television series and has acknowledged a rabid almost insane fan base that the show has created 146 105 In 2016 Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo began the Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast recognized as one of the top podcasts in production by Time and Esquire magazines 148 149 In 2017 the 20th anniversary of the show attracted even more writers to create their own adventures of the series characters 150 Buffy in popular culture Edit Main article Buffy the Vampire Slayer in popular culture The series which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games comics and television shows The series has also been parodied and spoofed Sarah Michelle Gellar has participated in several parody sketches including a Saturday Night Live sketch in which the Slayer is relocated to the Seinfeld universe 151 and adding her voice to an episode of Robot Chicken that parodied a would be eighth season of Buffy 152 Buffy was the code name used for an early HTC mobile phone which integrated the social networking website Facebook 153 In March 2017 in honor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer s 20th anniversary Entertainment Weekly reunited Joss Whedon and the whole cast for their first joint interview and photo shoot in over a decade 154 U S television ratings Edit Viewership and ratings per season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Timeslot ET Network Episodes First aired Last aired TV season Viewershiprank Avg viewers millions Date Viewers millions Date Viewers millions 1 Monday 9 00 pm The WB 12 March 10 1997 1997 03 10 4 8 155 June 2 1997 1997 06 02 4 0 156 1996 97 144 3 7 157 2 Monday 9 00 pm 1 13 Tuesday 8 00 pm 14 22 22 September 15 1997 1997 09 15 4 4 158 May 19 1998 1998 05 19 6 4 159 1997 98 133 5 2 157 3 Tuesday 8 00 pm 22 September 29 1998 1998 09 29 7 1 160 September 21 1999 1999 09 21 N A 1998 99 133 5 3 157 4 22 October 5 1999 1999 10 05 N A May 23 2000 2000 05 23 N A 1999 2000 120 5 1 157 5 22 September 26 2000 2000 09 26 5 8 161 May 22 2001 2001 05 22 5 2 162 2000 01 120 4 6 163 6 UPN 22 October 2 2001 2001 10 02 7 7 164 May 21 2002 2002 05 21 5 3 165 2001 02 124 4 3 166 7 22 September 24 2002 2002 09 24 5 0 167 May 20 2003 2003 05 20 4 9 168 2002 03 140 3 9 169 Buffy helped put The WB on the ratings map but by the time the series landed on UPN in 2001 viewing figures had fallen The series high came during the third season with 5 3 million viewers including repeats This was probably due to the fact that both Gellar and Hannigan had hit movies out during the season Cruel Intentions and American Pie respectively The series low was in season one at 3 7 million The show s series finale Chosen pulled in a season high of 4 9 million viewers on the UPN network 170 Buffy did not compete with shows on the main four networks CBS ABC NBC and Fox but The WB was impressed with the young audience that the show was bringing in Because of this The WB ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the series second season Beginning with the episode Innocence which was watched by 8 2 million people Buffy was moved from Monday at 9 00 pm to launch The WB s new night of programming on Tuesday Due to its large success in that time slot it remained on Tuesdays at 8 00 pm for the remainder of its original run With its new timeslot on The WB the show quickly climbed to the top of The WB ratings and became one of their highest rated shows for the remainder of its time on the network The show always placed in the top 3 usually only coming in behind 7th Heaven Between seasons three and five Buffy flip flopped with Dawson s Creek and Charmed as the network s second highest rated show In the 2001 2002 season the show had moved to UPN after a negotiation dispute with The WB While it was still one of the highest rated shows on their network The WB felt that the show had already peaked and was not worth giving a salary increase to the cast and crew UPN on the other hand had strong faith in the series and picked it up for a two season renewal 171 UPN dedicated a two hour premiere to the series to help re launch it The relaunching had an effect as the season premiere attracted the second highest rating of the series with 7 7 million viewers 172 Impact on television Edit Commentators of the entertainment industry including The Village Voice PopMatters AllMovie The Hollywood Reporter The Washington Post have cited Buffy as influential 105 some citing it as the ascent of television into its golden age 1 20 173 Stephanie Zacharek in the Village Voice wrote If we really are in a golden age of television Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a harbinger 174 Robert Moore of Popmatters also expressed these sentiments writing TV was not art before Buffy but it was afterwards suggesting that it was responsible for re popularizing long story arcs on primetime television 175 176 Buffy the Vampire Slayer showed the whole world and an entire sprawling industry that writing monsters and demons and end of the world is not hack work it can challenge the best Joss Whedon raised the bar for every writer not just genre niche writers but every single one of us Russell T Davies 177 Its effect on programming was quickly evident Autumn 2003 saw several new shows going into production in the U S that featured strong females who are forced to come to terms with supernatural power or destiny while trying to maintain a normal life 178 These post Buffy shows include Dead Like Me Joan of Arcadia Tru Calling Veronica Mars and Teen Wolf Bryan Fuller the creator of Dead Like Me said that Buffy showed that young women could be in situations that were both fantastic and relatable and instead of shunting women off to the side it puts them at the center 178 In the United Kingdom the lessons learned from the impact of Buffy influenced the revived Doctor Who series 2005 present 179 as well as its spinoff series Torchwood 180 Several Buffy alumni have gone on to write for or create other shows Such endeavors include Tru Calling Douglas Petrie Jane Espenson and lead actress Eliza Dushku Wonderfalls Tim Minear Point Pleasant Marti Noxon Jake 2 0 David Greenwalt The Inside Tim Minear Smallville Steven S DeKnight Once Upon a Time Jane Espenson Lost Drew Goddard and David Fury and Daredevil Goddard DeKnight and Petrie Meanwhile the Parents Television Council complained of efforts to deluge their young viewing audiences with adult themes 181 The U S Federal Communications Commission FCC however rejected the Council s indecency complaint concerning the violent sex scene between Buffy and Spike in Smashed 182 The BBC however chose to censor some of the more controversial sexual content when it was shown on the pre watershed 6 45 pm slot 183 In 2003 the show showed girlfriends Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay in bed together which though not a sex scene was considered the first scene of its kind for a broadcast network series 184 Later that year the show featured the first lesbian sex scene in broadcast TV history 185 Awards and nominations Edit Main article List of awards and nominations received by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel Buffy has gathered a number of awards and nominations which include an Emmy Award nomination for the 1999 episode Hush which featured an extended sequence with no character dialogue 186 176 The 2001 episode The Body was filmed with no musical score only diegetic music it was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2002 186 25 The 2001 musical episode Once More with Feeling received plaudits but was omitted from Emmy nomination ballots by accident 187 It since was featured on Channel 4 s 100 Greatest Musicals 188 In 2001 Sarah Michelle Gellar received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a TV Series Drama for her role in the show as well nominations for the Teen Choice Awards and the Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress The series won the Drama Category for Television s Most Memorable Moment at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards for The Gift beating The X Files Grey s Anatomy Brian s Song and Dallas although the sequence for this award was not aired It was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards winning a total of three Emmys However snubs in lead Emmy categories resulted in outrage among TV critics and the decision by the academy to hold a tribute event in honor of the series after it had gone off the air in 2003 189 Best of lists Edit 41st on TV Guide s list of 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Second on Empire s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time 27th on The Hollywood Reporter s Hollywood s 100 Favorite TV Shows 190 Voted third in 2004 and 2007 on TV Guide s Top Cult Shows Ever 191 Listed in Time magazine s 100 Best TV Shows of All Time 192 Included in TV Guide s 2013 list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time 193 Ranked 7 on TV Guide s list of The 60 Greatest Sci Fi Shows of All Time 194 Ranked 38 on TV Guide s list of the 60 Best Series of All Time 195 Named the third Best School Show of All Time by AOL TV 196 Ranked 38 in 2016 on Rolling Stone s list of 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time 197 Included on Syfy s list of The 25 best fantasy series of the past 25 years 198 Ranked 49 by Writers Guild of America on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series Of All Time 199 Ranked 2 on Entertainment Weekly s 50 Best Teen Shows of All Time 200 Home media EditBy 2004 before the release of the final season the series earned 123 3 million in sales 201 Main article List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer home video releases DVD Release dateUnited States Canada 202 United Kingdom AustraliaThe Complete First Season January 15 2002 November 27 2000 November 20 2000The Complete Second Season June 11 2002 May 21 2001 June 15 2001The Complete Third Season January 7 2003 October 29 2001 November 22 2001The Complete Fourth Season June 10 2003 May 13 2002 May 20 2002The Complete Fifth Season December 9 2003 October 28 2002 November 29 2002The Complete Sixth Season May 25 2004 May 12 2003 203 April 20 2003The Complete Seventh Season November 16 2004 April 5 2004 204 May 15 2004The Chosen Collection Seasons 1 7 November 15 2005 205 The Complete DVD Collection Seasons 1 7 October 30 2005 November 23 2005See also EditVampire film List of vampire television seriesReferences Edit a b c d e f Dillard Brian J Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1997 AllMovie Retrieved June 6 2022 Then Now The Cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fox News February 18 2010 Retrieved March 22 2014 Dibdin Emma May 1 2013 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Greatest Episodes Friday Fiver Digital Spy Retrieved January 18 2022 Boon Rachael January 21 2014 Marc Blucas on living with Buffy fame The Straits Times Archived from the original on March 22 2014 Retrieved March 22 2014 Buffy the Vampire Slayer IGN Retrieved April 28 2014 Haines Stacie August 2013 The Sense and Sensibility of The 19th Century Fantastic PhD dissertation Kent State University p 189 Retrieved October 27 2022 James South William Irwin March 2003 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale Open Court ISBN 9780812697476 Dean Kowalski November 29 2017 Joss Whedon as Philosopher Lexington Books ISBN 9780739196663 Sally Emmons Featherston Jim Ford January 10 2014 The Truth of Buffy Essays on Fiction Illuminating Reality McFarland ISBN 9780786451678 Adam Charles Burnetts John February 22 2011 The Concept of Sentimentality in Critical Approaches to Film and its Cultural Antecedents PDF PhD thesis University of London p 348 Archived PDF from the original on November 2 2018 Retrieved May 29 2020 Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer Online Hulu Retrieved February 3 2016 Joss Whedon 101 Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Movie PopMatters March 3 2011 Retrieved June 16 2022 Shamsian Jacob March 8 2018 50 TV shows everyone should watch in their lifetime INSIDER Retrieved January 18 2022 a b Wahoske Matthew J Nielsen Ratings For Buffy The Vampire Slayer Angel And Firefly Insightbb com Archived from the original on February 16 2008 The Dual Network Rule Federal Communications Commission May 15 2001 T he four major broadcast networks are unique among the media in their ability to reach a wide audience Generation M Media in the Lives of 8 18 Year Olds PDF Kaiser Family Foundation March 9 2005 Archived from the original PDF on August 4 2012 Mr Levin was a key player in establishing The WB s distinct brand and youth appeal through programming such as Dawson s Creek Buffy the Vampire Slayer 7th Heaven Charmed Felicity Smallville Gilmore Girls Everwood and One Tree Hill Galvan Ralph March 10 2017 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20 years later it still remains Emmy s biggest snub Gold Derby Retrieved March 3 2020 Tucker Ken September 10 2002 Five reasons Buffy gets snubbed by the Emmys Entertainment Weekly Retrieved March 3 2020 Thomas Kaitlin September 18 2016 14 Jaw Dropping Emmys Snubs We re Still Not Over TV Guide Retrieved March 3 2020 a b Harrington Richard September 30 2005 Joss Whedon s New Frontier The Washington Post Retrieved January 18 2022 One of the best most influential genre defining television series in decades Zemler Emily March 21 2018 20 Strong Women Who Kick Ass On TV Elle Retrieved March 17 2021 Robinson Tasha July 26 2018 Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot showrunner clarifies it s not a reboot The Verge Retrieved May 24 2019 a b Leston Ryan August 19 2022 The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reboot Indefinitely Paused IGN Retrieved August 23 2022 Buffy Summers Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1997 2003 Sexiest Female Superheroes and Supervillains Tribute ca Retrieved June 12 2017 a b Barlow Eve March 11 2017 Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a Role Model for the Resistance L A Weekly Retrieved January 18 2022 Yovanovich Linda Young Blood Smgfan com originally from OnSat July 14 1997 Whedon said High school as hell was always the basis of the show When they said Do you want to turn it into a show The character was not enough alone to sustain it But you know when I thought of the idea of the horror movies as a metaphor for high school I said okay this is something that will work week to week Buffy the Vampire Slayer film locations Archived March 3 2016 at the Wayback Machine Movie locations com a b c Designing Buffy Featurette dvd 20th Century Fox Home Video 1998 Nancy Holder 2000 The Watcher s Guide Vol 2 Interview with Production Designer Casey Meyers pp 355 56 Designing Buffy Season 4 Featurette dvd 20th Century Fox Home Video 2000 Various authors California State University Northridge Film and television shoots California State University Northridge Film amp Television Shoots CSUN Oviatt Library Website 1 Oviatt Library In The Media Kimball Trevor August 23 2007 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel s House Has Been Saved TV Series Finale Retrieved January 16 2017 a b c d Wilcox Rhonda V Lavery David April 2002 Introduction Fighting the Forces What s at Stake inBuffy the Vampire Slayer Rowman amp Littlefield xix ISBN 978 0 7425 1681 6 a b Thorpe Vanessa July 21 2018 Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be remade 21 years after first episode The Guardian Retrieved July 22 2018 Jack Walworth Director Bill Mumy Narrator May 14 2003 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Television with a Bite Biography A amp E Network 2 15 minutes in via Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 DVD set disc 6 region 1 release May 25 2004 a b Billson Anne December 5 2005 Buffy the Vampire Slayer British Film Institute pp 24 25 Gottlieb Allie September 26 2002 Buffy s Angels Metroactive com Archived from the original on October 1 2002 Retrieved January 18 2022 Havens Candace May 1 2003 Joss Whedon The Genius Behind Buffy Benbella Books p 51 Fran Kuzui also discussed Buffy in Golden Christopher Holder Nancy October 1 1998 Watcher s Guide Vol 1 Simon amp Schuster pp 247 248 Havens p 23 Brundage James 1999 Buffy the Vampire Slayer film review Filmcritic com Archived from the original on June 29 2011 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Rottentomatoes com Golden amp and Holder pp 249 250 Said SF 2005 Interview with Joss Whedon by SF Said Shebytches com Archived from the original on May 12 2010 Rose Lacey Guthrie Marisa March 9 2012 The Art of Picking TV Titles 9 Do s and Don ts The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved March 9 2012 Topping Keith December 1 2004 Slayer Virgin Publishing p 7 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Forgotten Premiere Trailer TV Obscurities June 28 2008 Ken P June 23 2003 An Interview with Joss Whedon IGN Archived from the original on July 27 2006 Retrieved March 6 2006 IGNFF Is the presentation ever going to make it to DVD WHEDON Not while there is strength in these bones IGNFF Well I mean it s one of the most heavily bootlegged things on the Internet WHEDON Yeah It sucks on ass IGNFF Yeah it does but it s sort of that archival historical perspective WHEDON Yeah I ve got your historical perspective IGNFF It would take it off the bootleg market WHEDON Ah I don t what are you going to do IGNFF Put it on the DVD WHEDON Not me Golden and Holder p 241 Gail Berman and Fran Kuzui came to Whedon to ask if he wanted to do the TV series See also pp 246 249 Buffy Episode Guide BBC List of Buffy Writers TV com Archived from the original on June 4 2011 Espenson Jane 2003 The Writing Process JaneEspenson com Retrieved March 9 2013 a b c Buffy Inside the Music from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Complete Fourth Season DVD set 20th Century Fox May 13 2002 disc three Four Star Mary Bios Four Star Mary Archived from the original on October 17 2006 Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Becoming Part Two BBC Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Grave BBC Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Something Blue BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Retrieved July 22 2008 Faith Hope and Trick at BuffyGuide BuffyGuide Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Sleeper BBC Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Triangle BBC Retrieved July 22 2008 Cibo Matto Press Release Cibo Matto Official Website Archived from the original on May 8 2008 Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Cult Buffy Trivia Tabula Rasa BBC Retrieved July 22 2008 Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Album at Amazon Amazon Retrieved July 22 2008 Radio Sunnydale Album at Amazon Amazon 1997 Retrieved July 22 2008 Once More With Feeling Album at Amazon Amazon Retrieved July 22 2008 List of Buffy Albums at Buffy World BuffyWorld Retrieved July 22 2008 Buffy Albums List at BuffyGuide BuffyGuide Retrieved July 22 2008 Joss Whedon Executive Producer of Angel Archived May 27 2006 at the Wayback Machine Cityofangel com 2006 Also see Flowers vris Sixth season was last great one for Buffy Dvd Review Tvshows nu June 16 2004 Executive Producer Marti Noxon stated I m basically trying to write My So Called Life with vampires P Ken June 23 2003 An Interview with Joss Whedon IGN Retrieved March 9 2013 Whedon Joss Kitty Pryde influenced Buffy Archived April 15 2016 at the Wayback Machine Whedonesque com February 27 2004 Miles Lawrence Dusted Mad Norwegian Press November 2003 Nevitt Lucy amp Smith Andy William Family Blood is always the Sweetest The Gothic Transgressions of Angel Angelusby Archived March 1 2011 at the Wayback Machine Refractory a Journal of Entertainment Media Vol II March 2003 Nevitt and Smith bring attention to Buffy s use of pastiche Multiple pastiche without enabling commentary is doubtless self canceling yet at the same time each element of pastiche calls into temporary being what and why it imitates Shuttleworth Ian Bite me professor Archived from the original on February 2 2004 Retrieved February 2 2004 Financial Times citing interview from The New York Times September 11 2003 Bye Bye Buffy CBS News May 20 2003 Retrieved January 18 2022 Archived Kaveny C November 7 2003 What Women Want Buffy the Pope and the New Feminists Commonweal 18 24 Stafford Nikki December 1 2007 Bite Me The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Chosen Edition ECW Press p 182 ISBN 978 1 55022 807 6 Awards for Sarah Michelle Gellar Internet Movie Database Retrieved July 28 2012 Havens pp 35 36 a b c Christopher Golden amp Nancy Holder 1998 Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Watcher s Guide Vol 1 p 272 Anthony Head Internet Movie Database Retrieved July 28 2012 Golden amp Holder p 210 His long lasting fame as the romantic and intriguing coffee guy is gradually being replaced by his new image as librarian in Buffy Biography NickBrendon com Archived from the original on May 30 2012 Kappes Serena May 2001 Xander Slays His Demon Nickbrendon com originally from People com 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Be Far Behind Nerdist Archived from the original on August 25 2014 Retrieved January 18 2022 Duhaime Ross Arielle December 15 2014 Fox s sad attempt at revamping Buffy is ruining the slayer The Verge Retrieved February 21 2015 O Neal Sean December 15 2014 Fox is making Buffy widescreen and Joss Whedon isn t happy The A V Club Archived from the original on February 21 2015 Retrieved January 18 2022 Comet CHARGE and TBD Emerge as the Fastest Growing Digital Broadcast Television Networks Press release Business Wire October 31 2022 Retrieved November 18 2022 Walton Andy Slang age in the Buffyverse CNN February 18 2004 a b c How Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed TV The Hamilton Spectator March 13 2017 Retrieved June 12 2017 Baker Whitelaw Gavia February 22 2018 Joss Whedon is returning to Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Daily Dot Retrieved November 27 2018 Hontz Jenny Petrikin Chris June 5 1998 Whedon Fox vamping Variety Archived from the original on November 7 2012 Retrieved November 25 2008 a 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2018 Robinson Tasha July 26 2018 Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot showrunner clarifies it s not a reboot The Verge Retrieved November 22 2018 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1 Dark Horse Comics Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1 released September 23 1998 DC Comics Month to month Sales April 2007 The Beat June 5 2007 Retrieved June 4 2007 Lovett Jamie January 23 2019 interview with Jordie Bellaire and Jeanie Schaefer ComicBook com Retrieved April 21 2019 Schedeen Jesse January 23 2019 Why Boom Studios Decided to Reboot Buffy the Vampire Slayer IGN Retrieved April 21 2019 Buffy the Vampire Slayer GameSpot Retrieved July 22 2008 BBC Buffy Chaos Bleeds BBC Retrieved July 22 2008 Hockensmith Steve May 16 2003 Dialogue with Buffy creator Joss Whedon The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on September 30 2007 Retrieved May 23 2010 Espenson Jane Reading what s been written to sound written as it s spoken Janeespenson com May 9 2006 amp Sorry JVC but it s simply true Janeespenson com May 11 2006 UK 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Towards a Strategy for Identity Analysis in Contemporary Television Narrative Archived November 26 2016 at the Wayback Machine Reconstruction Studies in Contemporary Culture 4 2 Retrieved November 22 2016 Cover Rob 2005 Not To Be Toyed With Drugs Addiction Bullying and Self Empowerment in Buffy The Vampire Slayer Continuum Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 19 1 85 101 Battis Jes Blood Relations McFarland amp Company June 2005 page 9 See Hornick Alysa Whedonology an Academic Buffy Studies and Whedonesque Bibliography Archived September 29 2010 at the Wayback Machine Alysa316 com updated 2006 See Buffy studies published books Lametti Daniel Harris Aisha Geiling Natasha Matthews Ramo Natalie June 11 2012 Which Pop Culture Property Do Academics Study the Most Slate Retrieved January 19 2022 a b Pender Patricia June 19 2014 Vampires beware Buffy is the unslayable pop culture text The Conversation Retrieved June 21 2014 Newitz Annalee June 8 2006 Fan Films Reclaim the Whedonverse Wired 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Frost Karen August 19 2017 The Long Road to Lesbian Sex amp Sensuality on Network TV AfterEllen Retrieved June 3 2019 a b Various authors Awards for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Internet Movie Database updated 2005 Hiatt Brian June 27 2002 Emmys leave Buffy off the ballot Entertainment Weekly Retrieved February 21 2015 Buffy and other Favourite Musicals London Evening Standard March 9 2013 O Neil Tom July 9 2010 True Blood breaks the Emmy vampire curse Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on January 5 2012 Retrieved July 8 2010 Hollywood s 100 Favorite TV Shows The Hollywood Reporter September 16 2015 Retrieved March 5 2016 TV Guide Names the Top Cult Shows Ever TV Guide June 29 2007 Retrieved July 11 2011 Poniewozik James September 6 2007 The 100 Best TV Shows of All Time Time Time com Archived from the original on October 22 2011 Roush Matt February 25 2013 Showstoppers The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time TV Guide pp 16 17 TV Guide Magazine s 60 Best Series of All Time TV Guide Magazine December 23 2013 Retrieved February 24 2021 Fretts Bruce Roush Matt December 23 2013 TV Guide Magazine s 60 Best Series of All Time TV Guide Retrieved October 19 2015 Best School Shows of All Time AOL TV August 26 2008 Archived from the original on July 27 2020 Retrieved September 14 2012 Sheffield Rob September 21 2016 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Rolling Stone Retrieved January 19 2022 Silliman Brian September 27 2017 The 25 best fantasy series of the past 25 years Syfy Retrieved May 24 2018 Silliman Brian September 27 2017 101 Best Written TV Series Of All Time Deadline Retrieved May 24 2018 The 50 best teen shows of all time Entertainment Weekly May 10 2021 Retrieved May 14 2021 Amanda D Lotz The Television Will Be Revolutionized Second Edition NYU Press 2014 pp 141 North American Buffy DVD Release Dates TVShowsOnDVD Archived from the original on July 19 2008 Retrieved July 22 2008 Buffy Season 6 details The Digital Fix March 15 2003 Archived from the original on March 6 2016 Retrieved July 22 2008 Buffy Season 7 in April The Digital Fix March 9 2004 Archived from the original on April 2 2012 Retrieved July 22 2008 Double Dip Digest Buffy IGN December 1 2005 Retrieved July 22 2008 Further reading EditMichael Adams Slayer Slang A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0 19 516033 9 Lorna Jowett Sex and the Slayer A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan Wesleyan University Press Middletown 2005 ISBN 0 8195 6758 2 Andrew Milner Postmodern Gothic Buffy The X Files and the Clinton Presidency Continuum Journal of Media and Cultural Studies Vol 19 No 1 2005 pp 103 116 James B South and William Irwin Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale Open Court Books Chicago 2003 ISBN 0 8126 9531 3 Gregory Stevenson Televised Morality The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Hamilton Books Dallas 2003 ISBN 0 7618 2833 8 Rhonda Wilcox and David Lavery ed Fighting the Forces What s at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Rowman and Littlefield Publ Lanham 2002 ISBN 0 7425 1681 4 Valentina Signorelli L Essere per la Morte in Buffy The Vampire Slayer analisi ontologico esistenziale dell universo audiovisivo creato da Joss Whedon Roma Universitalia Editore 2012 ISBN 978 88 6507 309 4External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer at AllMovie Buffy the Vampire Slayer at IMDb Buffyverse Wiki an external wiki at Fandom com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Buffy the Vampire Slayer amp oldid 1134803912, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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