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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a television series spun off from the movie of the same name, following the adventures of a valley girl chosen by fate to fight supernatural evils with the help of her friends. It first aired in March 1997.

The show's creator, Joss Whedon, stated that his aim was to depart from the usual horror film formula. In your typical horror flick a small blonde girl would take a short cut through the graveyard and meet an unpleasant end if not rescued by a handsome well-armed male hero - in Joss Whedon's world it's Buffy's male companion Xander who is most likely to need rescuing. Buffy, with her superhuman strength, agility and extensive knowledge of martial arts, is more than capable of looking after herself.

The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, which happens to be the site of a "Hellmouth", a gateway between our universe and others dominated by all manner of evil creatures. One of the more prominent examples of evil creatures are vampires, who in the show's mythology are a human body possessed by a demon.

Buffy (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the "Slayer", who, under the direction of her "Watcher" Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), must destroy demons threatening humans. She is also assisted by her close friends, nicknamed the "Scooby Gang" because of their resemblance to the characters of the cartoon Scooby Doo. Within this framework the show has managed to pack in martial arts action, horror, comedy, and extensive character drama with friendships, family, and romantic relationships of all types.

A long-running aspect of the first three seasons was Buffy's disastrous, doomed love for Angel. Angel (or Angelus) is a vampire who had his soul restored to him by a curse, and he is plagued by guilt for his 200 years of killing. He was sufficiently popular that a series featuring him was spun off from the Buffy series; there are occasional crossovers between the two series. As of January 2002, there is some discussion that Buffy's Watcher, Giles, may get his own series set in England; an animated Buffy is also proposed.

Unlike the moderately successful movie, the TV series has been a massive popular and critical success, appreciated just as much by middle-aged TV critics as by its primarily teenage and twentysomething audience. While the attractive, charismatic cast has undoubtedly helped greatly, most believe the real reasons for the show's success are the beautifully written scripts and inspired direction of Whedon. He carefully creates convincing, three-dimensional characters, placing them in a bizarre but internally consistent alternate world that rings far truer than the shallow caricatures of many programs set in the more mundane worlds of law offices and police stations. The series is also notable for its ability to deal with the maturation of its characters and themes, and to use its fantastical elements as metaphors for more earthly concerns.

As an example of Joss Whedon's unique approach to writing, there are not a lot of dramas where you could suddenly rewrite the back-story, introducing a new 'younger sister' Dawn Summers for the heroine in the first episode of a new season. Fans were concerned that this was the 'beginning of the end' for the program, but it turned out to be the start of something big and very successful, as Whedon led the audience to wonder just what was going on, but at the same time making it believable and logically feasible, and pivotal to the entire season of episodes.

Characters

Occasional appearances:

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