Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy, cazavampiros in Spain and Buffy, the vampire hunter in Latin America) is an American television series created by Joss Whedon. It 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 the "Vampire Slayer," or simply "Slayers." In the story, Slayers are "called" (chosen by fate) to fight vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. As a young woman, Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to accept her fate. Like the previous Slayers, Buffy is assisted by a ranger, who guides her, teaches her, and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends known as the "Scooby Gang."

The series received the critical and popular acclaim that was often listed as one of the best television series of all time, typically reaching between four and six million original broadcast viewers. Although these audiences were more lower than the hit shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), were a hit for the relatively new and smaller The WB.

The success of the series has led to hundreds of related products, including novels, comics, and video games, and has received attention from fandom (including fan-made films), parodies, and academics., and has influenced the direction of other television series. The series, as well as its spin-off Angel, and its extensions, have been collectively referred to as the "Buffyverse". As of 2018, a reboot of the series is in development, with Monica Owusu-Breen serving as showrunner.

Plot

The first season exemplifies the concept that "high school is hell." Buffy Summers has just moved to Sunnydale after burning down her old school gym, and hopes to escape Slayer duties from her. Her plans are complicated by Rupert Giles, her new Watcher, who reminds her of the inescapable presence of evil. Sunnydale High is built on top of the Hellmouth, a portal to demonic dimensions that draws supernatural phenomena to the area. Buffy befriends two classmates, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, who help her fight evil throughout the series, but first they must stop The Master, an ancient and especially menacing vampire since he opened the door. Hellmouth and took over Sunnydale.

Emotional stakes are raised in the second season. Vampires Spike and Drusilla (weakened by a mob in Prague, implying, implicitly, their debilitating injury), come to town along with a new Slayer, Kendra Young, who was activated as a result of Buffy's brief death in the end of the first season. Xander gets involved with Cordelia, while Willow gets involved with witchcraft and Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, who is a werewolf. The romantic relationship between Buffy and Angel develops over the course of the season, but after they have sex, Angel's soul, given to him by a gypsy curse in the past, is lost, and he once again becomes into Angelus, a sadistic killer. Kendra is killed by a restored Drusilla. Angelus torments much of the gang for the remainder of the season, murdering several innocents and Giles' new girlfriend, Jenny Calendar, a gypsy who was sent to maintain Angel's curse. To prevent an apocalypse, Buffy is forced to banish Angelus to a demon dimension moments after Willow has restored her soul. The ordeal leaves Buffy emotionally shattered, and she leaves Sunnydale.

After trying to start a new life in Los Angeles, Buffy returns to the city in season three. Angel has been mysteriously released from the demon dimension, but is close to insane due to the torment he suffered there, and is nearly driven to suicide by the First Evil. He and Buffy realize that a relationship between them can never happen; he finally leaves Sunnydale at the end of the season. A new watcher named Wesley steps into Giles' shoes when the latter is fired from the Watchers' Council because he has developed "fatherly love" for Buffy; and towards the end of the season, Buffy announces that she will no longer work for the Council. Early in the season, she meets Faith, a new Slayer, activated after Kendra's death. She also meets the mild-mannered mayor Richard Wilkins, who secretly has plans to "climb up" (become a "pure" demon) on Sunnydale High graduation day. Although Faith initially works well with Buffy, she becomes increasingly unstable after accidentally killing a human and forms a relationship with the fatherly but manipulative mayor, eventually slipping into a coma after a fight with Buffy. At the end of the season, after the mayor turns into a large snake-like demon, Buffy and all of her graduating classmates destroy it by blowing up Sunnydale High.

Season four sees Buffy and Willow enroll in the University of California at Sunnydale, while Xander works as a construction worker and begins to have a relationship with Anya, a vengeful former demon. Spike returns and is kidnapped by The Initiative, a secret military facility located below the UC Sunnydale campus. They implant a microchip in his head that punishes him every time he tries to harm a human. He makes a truce with the gang and begins to fight alongside him, just for the joy of fighting, learning that he can still harm other demons. Oz leaves town after realizing he's too dangerous as a werewolf, and Willow falls in love with Tara Maclay, another witch. Buffy begins dating Riley Finn, a graduate student and member of The Initiative. Though it appears to be a well-intentioned anti-demon operation, the Initiative's sinister plans are revealed when Adam, a monster secretly constructed from human, demon, and machine parts, escapes and begins wreaking havoc on the city. Adam is destroyed by a magical compound from Buffy and her three friends of hers, and The Initiative shuts down.

During the fifth season, a younger sister, Dawn, suddenly appears in Buffy's life; although she is new to the series, to the characters she is as if she has always been there. Buffy confronts Glory, an exiled hellgoddess who is searching for a "Key" that will allow her to return to her hellish dimension and in the process blur the lines between the dimensions and unleash hell on Earth. It is later discovered that the Key's protectors turned him into a human form - Dawn - at the same time implanting everyone in her with memories of her. The Watchers Council assists in Buffy's investigation of Glory, and she and Giles are reinstated on their own terms. Riley leaves early in the season after realizing that Buffy doesn't love him and joins a military demon-hunting operation. Spike, still implanted with the Initiative chip, realizes that he is in love with Buffy and increasingly helps the gang in her fight. Buffy's mother Joyce dies of a brain aneurysm, while at the end of the season, Xander proposes to Anya. Glory eventually finds out that Dawn is the key and kidnaps her. To save Dawn, Buffy sacrifices her own life by plunging into the portal to the hellish dimension, thus closing it with her death.

At the start of season six, Buffy has been dead for 147 days, but Buffy's friends resurrect her through a powerful spell, believing they rescued her from a hellish dimension. Buffy returns in a deep depression, explaining (several episodes later) that she had been to Heaven and is devastated to be returned to Earth. Giles returns to England because he has come to the conclusion that Buffy has become too dependent on him, while Buffy takes a fast food job to support herself and Dawn, and develops a secret, mutually abusive relationship with Spike. Dawn suffers from kleptomania and feelings of being isolated and alone, Xander leaves Anya at the altar (after which she becomes a vengeful demon again), 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 mastery of technology and magic to try to kill Buffy and take over Sunnydale. Warren is shown to be the only competent villain of the group and, after Buffy thwarts her several times and the Trio split up, he 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 her friends. Giles returns to face her in battle and infuses her with light magic, drawing on her remaining humanity from her. This overwhelms Willow with guilt and pain, whereupon she attempts to destroy the world to end everyone's suffering, though she eventually allows Xander to reach her pain and end her rampage. At the end of the season, after losing control and attempting to rape Buffy, Spike leaves Sunnydale and travels to see a demon, asking it to "put it back to what it 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 an instability that is allowing First Evil to begin tipping the balance between good and evil. She begins by hunting and killing idle potential hunters, soon raising an army of ancient and 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 Sunnydale High School's new principal, Robin Wood, also joins the cause. The Turok-Han vampires and a sinister, misogynistic preacher known as Caleb begin to wreak havoc on the gang. As Hellmouth becomes more active, almost the entire population of Sunnydale - humans and demons - flee. In the series finale, Buffy kills Caleb, and Angel returns to Sunnydale with an amulet, which Buffy gives to Spike; the gang then surround the Hellmouth and the would-be slayers descend into her cavern, while Willow casts a spell that activates all the slayers' powers. Anya is killed in the fight, as are 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 explore the crater, Dawn asks, "What are we going to do now?" Buffy slowly begins to smile enigmatically as she contemplates the future that lies ahead of her, ending the series on a hopeful note.

Cast and characters

Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the "Huntress," one of a long line of young women chosen by fate to fight the forces of evil. This mystical call grants him powers that dramatically increase physical strength, stamina, agility, accelerated healing, intuition, and a limited degree of clairvoyance, usually in the form of prophetic dreams. She has returned from the dead twice and is known as a reluctant hero who wants to live a normal life. However, she learns to embrace her destiny as the vampire slayer.

Buffy receives guidance from her Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). rarely referred to by his first name (it is later revealed that in his wasted younger days he went by "Ripper"), he is a member of the Watcher's Council, whose job it is to train and guide the Slayers. Giles researches the supernatural creatures Buffy must face, offering insight into her origins and tips on how to defeat them, and helping her stay in fighting shape.

Buffy also gets help from friends she meets at Sunnydale High: Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). Willow is originally shy who excels in academia, 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 with being exceptional young women. As the series progresses, Willow becomes a more assertive character and a powerful witch, coming out as a lesbian. In contrast, Xander, without supernatural abilities but very athletic, provides comic relief and grounded perspective. It is Xander who often provides the heart of the series, and in season six, he becomes the hero instead of Buffy, who defeats the "Big Bad." Buffy and Willow are the only characters to appear in all 144 episodes; Xander is missing in just one.

The cast of characters grew throughout the series. Buffy first arrives in Sunnydale with her mother, Joyce Summers (played by Kristine Sutherland), who functions as an anchor of normalcy 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 exchange for horrible deeds done to many in the past, including a young gypsy girl and her family, Angel (played by David Boreanaz) is Buffy's love interest for the first three seasons. He dumps Buffy because he thinks he's not good enough for her. He goes on to atone for her sins and seek redemption in her own spin-off, Angel. He makes several guest appearances in the remaining seasons, including the last episode.

At Sunnydale High, Buffy meets other students, in addition to Willow and Xander, willing to join her fight for good, an informal group eventually named the "Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies." Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), an archetypal, shallow cheerleader, reluctantly gets 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 to destroy a demon trapped in cyberspace during season 1. She later becomes Giles' love interest. Anya (Emma Caulfield), a vengeful ex-demon (Anyanka) who specialized in avenging jilted women, becomes Xander's lover after losing her powers and joins the group in season four.

In Buffy's senior year of high school, she meets Faith (Eliza Dushku), the other current Slayer, who was "summoned" when Slayer Kendra Young (Bianca Lawson) was killed by the vampire Drusilla (Juliet Landau), in the second season. Although Faith initially fights with Buffy and the rest of the group, she comes to confront them and allies with Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) after accidentally killing a human in season three. She briefly reappears in the fourth season, seeking revenge, and moves to Angel where she willingly goes to jail for her murders. Faith reappears in the seventh season of Buffy , after having helped Angel and his team, and fights alongside Buffy against The First Evil / El Primero.

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

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

Production

Origins

The creator of Buffy, Joss Whedon, also served as executive producer, director of photography and director of the series.

Screenwriter Joss Whedon says that "Rhonda the Immortal Waitress" was really the first incarnation of the Buffy concept, "the idea of a woman who appears to be utterly insignificant, but turns out to be extraordinary." This early, unproduced idea evolved into Buffy, which Whedon developed to invert the Hollywood formula of "the blonde girl who walks into a dark alley and is killed in every horror movie". Whedon wanted to "subvert that idea and create someone who was a hero." He explained, "The first mission statement of the series was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it."

The idea was first explored through Whedon's script for the 1992 film 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". Whedon disagreed: "I had written this scary movie about an empowered woman, and they made it in a comedy It was crushing." The script was praised within the industry, but the film was not.

Several years later, Gail Berman (later an executive at Fox, but at the time president and CEO of production company Sandollar Productions Television, which owns the television rights to the film) approached Whedon about developing his concept of Buffy into a television series. Whedon explained that "They said, 'Do you want to do a show?' And I thought, 'High school is a horror movie.' And so the metaphor became the central concept behind Buffy, and that's how I sold it." The supernatural elements of the series were retained as metaphors for the personal anxieties associated with adolescence and childhood. young adulthood. Early in its development, the series was to be simply titled Slayer. Whedon went on to write and partly finance an unaired 25-minute pilot that was shown to various networks and was eventually sold to The WB. The latter promoted the premiere with a series of clips from History of the Slayer, and the first episode aired on March 10, 1997. Whedon stated in June 2003 that the unaired pilot would not be released. it would be included in the "While There Is Strength In These Bones" DVD series.

Executive Producers

Joss Whedon was credited as executive producer for the entire series, and for the first five seasons (1997–2001) he was also showrunner, overseeing writing and all aspects of production. Marti Noxon took over the role for seasons six and seven (2001–2003), but Whedon continued to be involved in writing and directing Buffy alongside projects like Angel, Fray, and Firefly. Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, were credited as executive producers but did not participate in the series. His credit, rights, and franchise royalties relate to his financing, producing, and directing the original version of Buffy.

Writing

Screenwriting was done by Mutant Enemy Productions, a production company created by Whedon in 1997. Writers with the most writing credits 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.

Jane Espenson has explained how the scripts came together. First, the writers discussed the emotional issues facing Buffy Summers and how she would deal with them through her battle against malevolent supernatural forces. The story of the episode was then "broken down" into acts and scenes. The acting breaks were designed as key moments to intrigue viewers into sticking with the episode after the commercial break. The writers collectively filled in scenes surrounding these breaks for a more developed story. A white board marked their progress by mapping brief descriptions of each scene. Once it was "broken", the credited author wrote an outline for the episode, which was verified by either Whedon or Noxon. The writer then writes a full script, which goes through a series of drafts, and finally a quick rewrite by the series showrunner. The last article was used as a shooting script.

Inspirations and metaphors

During the series' first year, Whedon described the series as "My So-Called Life meets The X-Files". My So-Called Life gave a sympathetic depiction of adolescent anxieties, in contrast, The X-Files delivered a supernatural "monster of the week" story. Alongside these series, Whedon has cited the cult film Night of the Comet as a "big influence", and credited the X-Men character Kitty Pryde as a significant influence on the character of Buffy. The authors of the unofficial guide Dusted note that the series was often a pastiche, borrowing elements from earlier horror novels, films, and short stories, and from a literature as common as folklore and mythology. Nevitt and Smith describe Buffy's use of pastiche as "post-modern gothic". For example, the character of Adam parallels the monster from Frankenstein, the episode "Bad Eggs" parallels Invasion of the Body Snatchers, "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" parallels The Invisible Man, and so on. successively.

Episodes of Buffy often include a deeper meaning or metaphor as well. Whedon explained, "We thought very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, even philosophically as we wrote it...actually, aside from being a pop culture phenomenon, something that's deeply fragmented textually episode by episode." Scholars Wilcox and Lavery provide examples of how some episodes deal with real life issues turned into supernatural metaphors:

In the world of Buffy the problems facing teenagers become literal monsters. A mother can take care of her daughter's life (“Witch”); a strict stepfather is a heartless machine (“Ted”); a young lesbian fears that her nature is demonic (“Goodbye Iowa” and “Family”); a girl who has sex even with the most sympathetic type can discover that she later becomes a monster (“Innocence”).

The love story between the vampire Angel and Buffy was full of metaphors. For example, his 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 mean to you."

Buffy struggles throughout the series with her vocation as a Slayer and the loss of freedom that comes with it, often sacrificing the experiences of adolescence for her Slayer duties. Her difficulties and eventual empowering realizations for her are reflections of various dichotomies facing modern women and echo feminist issues within society.

In the episode "Becoming (Part 2)", when Joyce discovers that Buffy is a Slayer, her reaction has strong echoes of a father finding out that his son is gay, including denial, suggesting that she try "not to be a Slayer", and finally throwing Buffy out of the house.

Opening sequence

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

In the first place [...] we have the sound of an organ, accompanied by a wolf aullido, with a visual image of a flashing night sky covered with an unintelligible archaic script: the associations with the era of silent cinema and films as Nosferatu and the Hammer House of Horror conventions and horror in general are unmistakable.

But the theme changes quickly: "It withdraws from the sphere of '60s and '70s horror by playing the same motif, the organ now supplanted by an aggressively strummed electric guitar, repositioning itself in modern youth culture." Halfyard describes the sequences, depicting the action and turbulence of adolescence, as the visual content of the opening credits, and providing a postmodern twist on the horror genre.

Spinoffs

Buffy has inspired a variety of official and unofficial works, including television series, books, comics, games, and podcasts. This expansion of the series encouraged the use of the term "Buffyverse" to describe the fictional universe in which Buffy and related stories take place.

The franchise has inspired action figures and Buffy merchandise, such as official Buffy/Angel magazines.

Continuations

The storyline was continued in a comic book series produced by Joss Whedon and published by Dark Horse Comics, which serve as a canon continuation of the television series. The series, which began in 2007 with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, 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, which was the final season of the comic book series.

Joss Whedon was interested in a sequel to the film in 1998, but no such film has yet materialized.

Future Series

In July 2018, 20th Century Fox Television began development on a television reboot of the series. Monica Owusu-Breen will serve as showrunner and has been working on the script with Whedon, who will executive produce.News of Whedon's involvement is seen as reassuring for fans, though the extent of his involvement is unclear; several others from the original series are involved, including Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, and Kaz Kuzui. According to anonymous sources who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood, the producers want the new series to be "richly diverse... [and] some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing society today" – similar to how Gellar describes the original series as the "ultimate metaphor" for coping with adolescence. The producers' intent "is for the new slayer to be African-American", an example of the diversity they wish to portray. The Deadline Hollywood report warned that "the project is still in its early stages without a script, and many details are still in the works".

At the time of the 20th anniversary of Buffy' in 2017, Whedon expressed his fear of reboots, commenting that when "something [is] brought back, and even if it's exactly as good as it was, the experience cannot 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 weather, which is not easy [to do]". Similar concerns have been raised about the decision to reboot the series, rather than revive it or further expand the Buffyverse. They report that the black lead actress should take on the iconic role of Buffy, instead of having a new character or Slayer already created, questions and concerns have been encountered. Vox noted that "the original series already had multiple characters of color which could include an 'inclusive' – including the black huntress, Kendra, and the 'First Huntress'" – leaving fans wondering "why does Buffy have to change her race, when she could just focus on a different character". A Twitter message posted by Owusu-Breen on July 26, 2018 was interpreted by the media as an indication that the new series would not recast the role of Buffy and would instead focus on a new slayer.

Angel

The spin-off Angel was introduced in October 1999, at the beginning of the fourth season of Buffy. The series was also created by Joss Whedon in collaboration with David Greenwalt. Like Buffy, it was produced by production company Mutant Enemy. At times, it performed better in the Nielsen ratings than Buffy.

The series was given a darker tone, focusing on Angel's ongoing tryouts in Los Angeles. His character is racked with guilt after the return of his soul, punishment for more than a century of murder and torture. For the first four seasons of the series, he works as a private detective in a fictional version of Los Angeles, California, where he and his companions work to "help the homeless," restore faith, and "save the souls" of those who they have lost their way. Typically, this mission involves fighting demons or human demon allies (mostly the law firm Wolfram & Hart), while Angel must also deal with his own violent nature. In the fifth season, the senior partners of Wolfram & Hart takes a chance on his campaign to corrupt Angel, giving him control of his Los Angeles office. Ángel accepts the deal as an opportunity to fight evil from within.

In addition to Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) was also part of Buffy. When Glenn Quinn (Doyle) left the series during its first season, Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), who played a recurring character in the final nine episodes of the third season of Buffy , took over. place of him Carpenter and Denisof were later followed by Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall) and James Marsters (Spike). Several actors and actresses who starred on Buffy 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 from time to time on Buffy.

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

Expanded Universe

Outside of the TV series, the Buffyverse has been officially expanded and elaborated by authors and artists into the so-called "Buffyverse Expanded Universe." The creators of these works may or may not maintain an established continuity. Similarly, the writers of the television series were under no obligation to use information established by the Expanded Universe, and at times contradicted that continuity.

Dark Horse has published Buffy comics since 1998. 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 stopped publishing Buffyverse-related comics and graphic novels. The company produced 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 a canonical eighth season. The first story arc is also written by Whedon, and is called "The Long Way Home" which has been met with great acclaim, with circulation rivaling industry-leading best-selling DC and Marvel titles. after "The Long Way Home" other story arcs emerged such as the return of Faith in "No Future for You" and a Fray crossover in "Time of Your Life". Dark Horse then followed Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine, beginning in 2011, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten, beginning in 2014.

Pocket Books is licensed to produce Buffy novels, of which they have published over sixty since 1998. These sometimes fill in background information on the characters; for example, Go Ask Malice details the events leading up to Faith's arrival in Sunnydale. More recent novels include Carnival of Souls, Blackout, Portal Through Time, Bad Bargain, and The Deathless.

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

Undeveloped spin-offs

The popularity of Buffy and Angel has led to attempts to develop more screen projects in the fictional 'Buffyverse'. These projects remain undeveloped and may never receive the green light. In 2002, two possible spin-offs were discussed: Buffy: The Animated Series and Ripper. Buffy: The Animated Series was a proposed animated television series based on Buffy; Whedon and Jeph Loeb were to be executive producers, and most of the Buffy actors were to return to voice their characters. 20th Century Fox expressed interest in developing and selling the series to another network. A three-minute pilot was completed in 2004, but was never picked up. Whedon revealed to The Hollywood Reporter: “We just couldn't find a home for it. We had six or seven hilarious scripts from our own staff – and nobody wanted it." Neither the pilot nor the scripts have been seen outside of the entertainment industry, although screenwriter Jane Espenson has revealed sneak peeks at some of her scripts for the series. series.

Ripper was originally a television series based on the character of Rupert Giles played by Anthony Stewart Head. More recent information has suggested that if Ripper were ever made, it would either be a TV movie or a DVD movie. Little was known of the series until 2007, when Joss Whedon confirmed that talks had almost stopped. completed for a 90 minute special of Ripper on BBC with Head and BBC fully on board.

In 2003, a year after the first public discussions about Buffy: The Animated Series and Ripper, Buffy was drawing to a close.. Espenson said that during this time the side effects were discussed, “I think Marti talked to Joss about Slayer School and Tim Minear talked to him about Faith on a motorcycle. I guess there were some ideas back and forth". Espenson has revealed that Slayer School could have used new Slayers and potentially included Willow Rosenberg, but Whedon didn't think such a spinoff felt right.

Reception

Cultural Impact

Anthony Stewart Head and Nicholas Brendon at the Oakland Super SlayerCon fan convention.

Academics

Buffy is notable for attracting the interest of scholars of popular culture, and some academic settings include the series as a subject of study and literary analysis. National Public Radio describes that Buffy has a "particular following among academics, some of whom have made a claim in what they call 'Buffy Studies'". Although not widely recognized as a distinct discipline, the The term "Buffy Studies" is commonly used among peer-reviewed Buffy-related academic writings. The influence of Buffy on the portrayal of vampires through popular culture it has also been noted by anthropologists such as A. Asbjørn Jøn. Popular media researcher Rob Cover argued that Buffy and Angel speak to contemporary attitudes towards identity, inclusion, and diversity, and that criticizing the characters' narrative histories allows us to understand the complexity of the idea identity in the current era and the panorama of social problems in which those identities are realized.

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 the Buffyverse study "invokes an uncomfortable combination of excitement and anger" and is faced with "a certain amount of scorn from the halls of academia." Nonetheless, Buffy eventually led to the publication of some twenty books and hundreds of articles examining the themes of the series from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, speech communication, psychology, philosophy, and women's studies. In a 2012 study by Slate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer it was named the most studied work of pop culture by academics, with more than 200 articles, essays, and books devoted to the series.

The Whedon Studies Association produces the online scholarly journal Slayage and sponsors a biennial scholarly conference on Whedon's work. The sixth "Biennial Slayage Conference", titled "Much Ado About Whedon", was held at California State University-Sacramento in late June 2014.

Fandom and fan films

The popularity of Buffy has led to websites, online discussion forums, works of fan fiction, and various unofficial fan-made productions. Since the end of the series, Whedon has stated that his intent was to produce a "cult" television series and has acknowledged a "rabid, almost insane fanbase" the series has created. In 2017, the series' 20th anniversary drew more writers to create their own adventures of the characters of the series.

Buffy in popular culture

Employing pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, the series has become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics, and television shows, and has been frequently parodied and mocked. Sarah Michelle Gellar has been in several parody skits, including a skit on Saturday Night Live in which the Huntress relocates to the Seinfeld universe, adding her voice to an episode of Robot Chicken that parodied a possible eighth season of Buffy.

"Buffy" was the code name used for an HTC cell phone that integrated with Facebook.

In March 2017, in honor of the 20th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Entertainment Weekly brought together Joss Whedon and the entire cast for their first joint interview and session. photography in more than a decade.

US TV audience

Impact on television

Entertainment industry commentators including The Village Voice, PopMatters, Allmovie, The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post have cited Buffy as "influential". Some cite it as the rise of television in the golden age. Stephanie Zacharek of Village Voice, wrote "If we really are in a golden age of television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a harbinger". Robert Moore of Popmatters also voiced these sentiments writing "Television was not art before Buffy, but it was after", suggesting that it was responsible for re-popularizing long story arcs on primetime television.

Their effect on programming was quickly apparent. In 2003, several new series went into production in the United States featuring strong women who are forced to accept supernatural power or fate while trying to maintain a normal life. These post-Buffy series 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 proved that young women could be in fantastic and relatable situations, and instead of leading the way women to the side, that puts them in the center". present), and executive producer Russell T Davies has said:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer He showed everyone, already a growing industry, that writing monsters and demons and the end of the world is not a hack job, can challenge the best. Joss Whedon raised the obstacle for all screenwriters—not just gender screenwriter/good position, but each and every one of us.

In addition to influencing Doctor Who, Buffy influenced its spin-off series Torchwood.

Several Buffy writers have written or created for other series. Such efforts include Tru Calling (Douglas Petrie, Jane Espenson and 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), and Lost (Drew Goddard and David Fury).

Meanwhile, the Parents Television Council complained about efforts to "inundate its young viewers with adult themes". The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, rejected the Council's indecent complaint about the violent sex scene between Buffy and Spike in "Smashed". The BBC, however, chose to censor some of the more controversial sexual content when it was shown in the 6:45 p.m. m. before content not suitable for all audiences.