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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
DVD cover of the second season
Format	comedy-drama / Fantasy
Run time	44 minutes
Creator(s)	Joss Whedon
Starring	Sarah Michelle Gellar Nicholas Brendon Alyson Hannigan and Anthony Stewart Head
Country	United States
Network	The WB (1997-2001), UPN (2001-2003)
Original run	March 10, 1997 – May 20, 2003
No. of episodes	144

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a U.S. television series loosely based on the original script for the 1992 movie of the same name. It was created by Joss Whedon, who also wrote the movie, and was produced by Mutant Enemy Productions. The show's title is often abbreviated simply to Buffy or BtVS.

The series follows the life and trials of Buffy Summers, a teenage girl chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons, and other supernatural foes, usually with the help of her Watcher and her loyal circle of misfit friends.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Broadcast history 3 Plot 3.1 Main characters 3.2 Foes and supernatural elements 3.3 Setting 3.4 Format and content 3.4.1 Continuity 3.5 Main villains (Big Bads) 3.5.1 Metaphorical nature and moral connotations 3.5.2 Influences 4 Legacy 4.1 Academic works 4.2 "Buffyverse" spinoffs 4.2.1 Novels 4.3 Parodies and references 4.4 Similar works 5 Series information 6 Region 1 DVD releases 6.1 Complete seasons 7 Characters 8 Other languages 9 See also 10 References 10.1 Articles 10.2 Books 10.2.1 Popular 10.2.2 Academic 10.2.3 Trivia 11 External links 11.1 Official websites 11.2 Unofficial websites 11.3 Fan sites

Origins

Writer Joss Whedon created the show as an intentional departure from the typical horror film formula, and also as a "replacement" (of sorts) for the 1992 film. Traditional horror films included countless scenes of young blonde girls either portrayed as hysterical victims or being rescued by handsome well-armed male heroes. By reversing the cliché of the helpless female victim, Buffy presented an alternative paradigm which has been embraced by popular culture as an emblem of female power - in Whedon's narrative, Buffy's male friend Xander is more likely to need rescuing, while Buffy is more than capable of looking after herself and those around her. However, her personal life is as painful and confusing as any teenage girl's. This combination of empowerment and empathy has earned Buffy a passionate following among fans.

In addition to its critical success and "cult" appeal, the show functions as a contemporary parable, using supernatural elements as metaphors for personal anxieties, particularly those associated with adolescence and young adulthood.

Broadcast history

Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired on March 10, 1997 on The WB network; after five seasons it transferred to the United Paramount Network (UPN) for its final two seasons. The last episode aired on May 20, 2003.

Buffy is credited (alongside the teen drama Dawson's Creek) with playing a key role in the success of the Warner Bros. television network in its early years.

Plot

Main characters

Buffy (portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is "The Slayer", one in a long line of (often short-lived) young girls chosen by fate to battle the forces of darkness. This calling also mystically endows her with dramatically increased physical strength, endurance, agility, intuition, accelerated healing, and a limited degree of clairvoyance, usually in the form of prophetic dreams. Buffy fights under the direction of her "Watcher", Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who begins the series as the high school's librarian.

She is also assisted by several friends, who later in the series are nicknamed the "Scooby Gang" because of their distant resemblance to the teens in the cartoon Scooby Doo and because they fight evil supernatural forces, although the badguys in Buffy don't tend to be a caretaker wearing a mask. Most prominent among these are awkward semi-geek Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) and shy computer-nerd Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan).

Other important members of the gang throughout the series include: seemingly vapid "alpha-girl" cheerleader Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter); the ensouled vampire and Buffy's first love Angel (David Boreanaz); the taciturn werewolf and guitar player Oz (Seth Green); eccentric ex-vengeance demon Anya Jenkins (Emma Caulfield); shy witch Tara Maclay (Amber Benson); reluctantly reformed vampire Spike (James Marsters); and Buffy's younger teenage sister, Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg), created by magical means in season five. Buffy also lives with her recently divorced mother Joyce.

The close interpersonal relationships between these characters are at least as important in the series as their ongoing battle against evil.

Coincidentally, Gellar later played one of the actual "Scooby Gang", Daphne Blake, in the movies Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Foes and supernatural elements

The most prominent monsters in the Buffy bestiary are vampires, who are presented in the show in a variety of ways, selectively following traditional myths, lore, and literary conventions. Buffy and her companions also fight a wide variety of demons, shape-shifters, ghosts, gods, zombies, witches, and each other. They are so frequently called upon to save the world from annihilation that they quickly find themselves, as the character Riley Finn puts it, "needing to know the plural of apocalypse". The mythology of the show is often inspired by traditional supernatural tales and other cultural, fictional, and religious sources. In its seven-year run, the series also developed an extensive contemporary mythology of its own. The supernatural elements of the show almost always have a clear metaphorical or symbolic aspect (see Metaphorical nature and moral connotations for more on this).

Buffy and her "scooby gang" battle demonic forces using a combination of physical combat, detective work, various forms of magic and sorcery, and the extensive research of ancient and mystical texts. Hand to hand combat is usually undertaken by Buffy, Angel and, later, Spike. Willow eventually becomes an adept witch, and Giles is relied upon for his extensive knowledge of demonology and supernatural lore. Xander, whose primary responsibility originally appears to be getting donuts for the gang, later developing into, as he put it, "the kind of guy you want to have around after a crazed robot attack", is an Everyman character who provides perspective and grounding for the others.

Setting

The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, whose suburban Sunnydale High School rests on the site of a "Hellmouth", a gateway between our world and the realm of demons. The Hellmouth serves as a nexus for a wide variety of evil creatures and supernatural phenomena, and lies directly beneath the school library (later, in a reconstructed school, beneath the Principal's office).

In addition to being an open-ended plot device, Joss Whedon has cited the Hellmouth as one of his primary metaphors in creating the series, suggesting that a large number of contemporary teenagers feel that their own high school is a sinister, threatening place.

The high school used in the first three seasons is actually Torrance High School, in Torrance, California. The school exterior is frequently used in other television shows and movies, most notably Beverly Hills 90210, Bring It On, and the spoof, Not Another Teen Movie.

In addition to the high school and its library, action frequently takes place in many of the town's cemeteries, local nightclub The Bronze, and Buffy and her mother's home, where many of the characters also live at various points in the series.

Format and content

The show is noteworthy in part for its blending of genres, including horror, martial arts, romance, melodrama, farce, and comic banter. Unlike the movie, which, for the most part, was poorly received (and practically disowned by its writer, Whedon), the TV series achieved great popular and critical success, appreciated equally by middle-aged TV critics and its primarily teen/twenty something audience. Fans of the show attribute its success to smartly written, continuity-aware scripts and its creator's vision. The show and characters inspire an unusually strong emotional connection with fans.

Buffy has also been noted for taking risks with both its format and content. The 1999 episode "Hush" included 26 minutes without any spoken dialog, and received an Emmy Award nomination for best teleplay. The 2001 episode "The Body", which revolved around the death of Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers, and which used no non-diegetic music, was included in over 100 major critics' Ten Best lists that year. The fall 2001 musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" also received many plaudits, but was accidentally left off the Emmy ballots. All three episodes are frequently cited as fan favorites.

Continuity

Whedon has stated that he is a fan of serialized fiction, and, to this end, each season, rather than being purely episodic, tends to follow a largely self-contained story arc, with its own unique villain. This "Big Bad" is often preceded by a "Little Bad", a minor villain introduced to throw viewers off-track. The series is also characterized by the close attention it pays to the continuity and consistency of its universe; references to events that occurred in earlier seasons occur both as major plot points and as throwaway jokes.

Main villains (Big Bads)

(The "Big Bads" are the main villian(s) in each season. Some seasons may have only one main villian, other seasons may have more than one)

• Season 1 - The Master
• Season 2 - Angelus, Spike, Drusilla
• Season 3 - The Mayor, Faith
• Season 4 - Adam, The Initiative
• Season 5 - Glory
• Season 6 - Dark Willow, The Trio (Warren Meers, Andrew Wells, and Jonathon Levinson)
• Season 7 - The First Evil, Caleb

Metaphorical nature and moral connotations

Many Buffy stories are thinly veiled metaphors for the anxieties and ordeals of adolescence or young adulthood. In "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" invisibility is used as a metaphor for being ignored. In "The Pack", Xander and other teens become possessed by hyenas, which allegorizes the pack mentality that often results from negative peer pressure. The tragic love affair between the vampire Angel and Buffy was fraught with metaphorical elements, the most noteworthy of which occurred when their first sexual consummation resulted in the vampire losing his soul and becoming a murderous villain. As Sarah Michelle Gellar puts it:

"That's the ultimate metaphor. You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you."
— Bye-Bye Buffy on 2003-05-20 at CBS News

The show has also garnered criticism for this and other ostensibly "puritanical" subtexts. However, Whedon argues that rather than endorsing a particular moral stance, the show is much more concerned with consequences and the role they play in gratifying the audience's emotional investment in the story — though this gratification is seldom a simple matter of wish fulfilment:

[ I ] Don't give people what they want, [ I ] give them what they need.

He continues:

What they want is for Sam and Diane to get together. [...] Don't give it to them. Trust me. [...] No one's going to go see the story of Othello going to get a peaceful divorce. People want the tragedy. [...] Things have to go wrong, bad things have to happen.
—Interview for The Onion AV Club

While fans may joke about characters being punished for sex, Whedon has insisted that the show must "earn" its emotional moments, and that he and his writers are more concerned with exploring the consequences of actions than making broad moral statements. Buffy's resurrection in season six is not a simple plot device; it sends ripples through the last two seasons of the show. These include both supernatural repercussions (a killer demon follows her back from the afterlife) and emotional fallout (Buffy suffers from severe depression and isolation). The ongoing exploration of choices and consequences in life, depicted both literally and metaphorically, constitutes what Joss Whedon refers to as one of the show's many "mission statements".

Also, over the course of its seven seasons, Buffy has engaged with a number of social issues, most notably (and controversially) the question of sexuality, and has received a great deal of critical attention — from fans, critics and the academic community — for its treatment. See the main article on this topic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Social Issues for a full account.

Influences

Whedon has often noted the impact that comic books have had on his work. He is currently writing for the Astonishing X-Men series and has credited Kitty Pryde, who he is currently handling in that series, as a significant influence on the character of Buffy, as well as some of his other female characters. In addition, comics such as Superman and Spider-Man explore similar themes, particularly those relating to the tension between the duties of a superhero and the more mundane concerns of their "ordinary" alter ego.

Other influences include My So-Called Life, whose sympathetic portrayal of teen anxieties served as an acknowledged template for Buffy ("I'm basically trying to write My So-Called Life with vampires" [1]), and the "monster of the week" storylines of X-Files. Whedon has also cited cult film Night of the Comet as a "big influence" on Buffy. [2]

Legacy

Academic works

The show is notable for attracting the interest of scholars of popular culture. [3] It has inspired several academic books and essays, including Reading the Vampire Slayer, edited by Roz Kaveney, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy edited by James B. South. There is also an online refereed journal, Slayage, dedicated to critical studies of the show. An academic discipline known as Buffy Studies developed during the late 1990s which encouraged the development of scholarship and courses exploring Girl Power in popular culture. Fans of both Buffy and Angel often use the term "Buffyverse" to describe the detailed fictional universe the shows share.

"Buffyverse" spinoffs

Buffy's perpetually tragic, doomed love for the vampire-with-a-soul, Angel, played by David Boreanaz, was a recurrent theme in the first three seasons of the show. Angelus, as he was originally known, had his human soul restored by a gypsy curse, plaguing him with guilt over the one hundred and forty-five years of murder and mayhem he had inflicted on a slew of innocent victims. The Angel character was so popular that a series featuring him, Angel, was spun off from Buffy; there were occasional "crossovers" between the two shows and these continued into the final season of Angel even though Buffy was no longer on the air.

An animated series based on Buffy's first year in Sunnydale has been in development since 2001, and a four-minute pilot was completed in 2004. However, so far the series has not been picked up by a network, and in a late September interview with TV Guide in 2005, Whedon effectively announced that the animated series was dead. [4] A British miniseries based on the adventures of Rupert Giles (Ripper) has been talked about for years, but remains undeveloped.

Angel and Buffy have both inspired stories to be told in a variety of formats other than television. There are Buffyverse comics, Buffyverse novelizations, and even Buffy video games. Many of these works are set at particular times within the Buffyverse. For example, the Buffy comic, "Ring of Fire" written by Doug Petrie is specifically placed in the middle of Buffy's second season after Angel has reverted to Angelus but before his grand plans for apocalypse. Joss Whedon wrote an eight-issue miniseries for Dark Horse Comics called Fray, about a futuristic vampire slayer. Its final issue came out in August 2003. The way in which the hundreds of spinoffs fit around the Buffy and Angel episodes can be seen in a highly complex Buffyverse Chronology.

Fans can also read magazines, companion books, as well as countless websites, online discussion forums, and works of fan fiction. There have also been two soundtrack albums (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Radio Sunnydale - Music from the TV Series), as well as a CD (and, in Europe, DVD single) of the "Once More, with Feeling" musical episode.

Novels

After Buffy started to gain popularity in its second season, Pocket Books bought the rights to license novels based on the show. While these are not considered canon, they are usually approved by Whedon, and are heavily edited to conform to the known rules of Buffy's world. On occasion, the lore developed in the novels may conflict with that developed in the TV show. For instance, in Christopher Golden's novel Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row", which was written before the episode "Fool for Love" aired in the fifth season of the show, the second Slayer Spike kills is from Denmark, whereas in "Fool For Love" she (Nikki Wood) is American. Despite some deviations from what fans consider 'canon', the novels are usually written at a particular point within the Buffyverse Chronology. In some cases, the novels foreshadow events that take place later in the TV show. For instance, Immortal, by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder, anticipates Joyce Summers' illness and Buffy's helplessness in the face of that illness in season five. A cassette-only audiobook of Immortal, narrated by Charisma Carpenter, has also been released.

In addition to the novels revolving around Buffy, there have also been released several Buffy/Angel crossover stroies. Angel itself has a series of books. Also four volumes of short stories about past slayers entiltled “Tales of the Slayer” are available.

Parodies and references

There have also been a number of spoofs of the show, including a Hobbit themed rewriting of "Once More, with Feeling" entitled "Once More With Hobbits" and a Saturday Night Live sketch, which relocated the Slayer, played by guest host Sarah Michelle Gellar, to the Seinfeld universe. MadTV featured a sketch called "Buffy the Umpire Slayer" in which Buffy (played by series regular Nicole Sullivan) slew umpires in high school baseball games. The series, which employed pop-culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop-culture reference in other works. A Friends episode featured Ursula, Phoebe's twin sister, in a porn movie entitled Phoebe Buffay in: Buffay the Vampire Layer; and the Sluggy Freelance webcomic featured a storyline called "Muffin the Vampire Baker". There was also a passing reference to a play "Buffus: The Bacchae Slayer" on an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess (Buffy also referenced Xena in its second season episode "Halloween"), and at least three episodes of Will & Grace mention Buffy or star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

In 2001, the first Buffy fan-film appeared on the Internet: a "no-budget" 20-minute production entitled Fluffy the English Vampire Slayer, created by a group of amateur filmmakers in England. The story featured English vampire slayer Fluffy, her friends Alex and Ash, and American Watcher Farmer battling against Count Von Whedon, who uses the Ring of Gellar to become invincible.

In a fifth season episode of the WB television series, Smallville, vampires were created by a Kryptonite-mutated rabies virus. One such vampire was named Buffy Saunders, and, at the end of the episode, another character (played by Carrie Fisher) mentions "slaying Buffy the vampire", a clear reference to the show. Also, James Marsters had a guest-starring role in the episode in which he boldly proclaimed to Clark Kent that "there's no such thing as vampires", an ironic reference considering that he portrayed Spike, a vampire, in Buffy.

Recently, as of 2005, there was a Trans-Neptunian object 2004 XR₁₉₀ named unofficially for the main character of the series. The official name cannot be Buffy under current astronomical naming conventions if 2004 XR₁₉₀ is considered a plutino it must be named for a deity of creation. (See 2003 UB₃₁₃ (Xena))

Similar works

Buffy has exerted a marked influence on TV and film, with shows such as Smallville, Roswell, and Ghost Whisperer, as well as movies such as The Faculty and Bring It On owing something in their themes, devices, and verbal style to the show. The mythology of the series has also influenced other series, notably Cartoon Network's The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, and Sky's Hex.

In addition, many Buffy alumni have gone on to write for or create other shows, some of which bear a notable resemblance to the style and concepts of Buffy. Such Whedonesque endeavors include Tru Calling (Douglas Petrie), Wonderfalls (Tim Minear), Point Pleasant (Marti Noxon) and Jake 2.0 (David Greenwalt).

Moreover, Autumn 2003 saw a number of new shows going into production in the US that featured strong girls/young women forced to come to terms with some supernatural power or destiny while trying to maintain a normal life. These "post-Buffy" shows include the aforementioned Tru Calling and Wonderfalls, as well as Dead Like Me and Joan of Arcadia. In the words of Bryan Fuller, the creator of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls:

[Buffy] really turned a corner for series storytelling. It showed that young women could be in situations that were both fantastic and relatable, and instead of shunting women off to the side, it put them at the center.

In 2004, yet another series in this mold premiered: Veronica Mars, created by Rob Thomas. This series features the teenage daughter of a private investigator, who undertakes her own investigations in and around the high school she attends. The series has guest-starred Buffy alumnae Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter, and, in its 2005 second season, Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who has described the series as the "Best. Show. Ever." [5]

Series information

• Season 1 (1997)
• Season 2 (1997-1998)
• Season 3 (1998-1999)
• Season 4 (1999-2000)
• Season 5 (2000-2001)
• Season 6 (2001-2002)
• Season 7 (2002-2003)

Region 1 DVD releases

Complete seasons

DVD	Release Date
The Complete First Season	15 Jan 2002
The Complete Second Season	11 Jun 2002
The Complete Third Season	7 Jan 2003
The Complete Fourth Season	10 Jun 2003
The Complete Fifth Season	9 Dec 2003
The Complete Sixth Season	25 May 2004
The Complete Seventh Season	16 Nov 2004
The Chosen Collection (Seasons 1-7)	15 Nov 2005

Characters

See List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters.

Other languages

(See episode entries for details on translation)

• Croatian: Buffy, ubojica vampira ("Buffy, killer of vampires"); "Slayer" is ubojica vampira ("killer of vampires"), "Watcher" is Čuvar ("guardian, keeper").
• Estonian: Vampiiritapja Buffy (as "Vampirekiller Buffy").
• Finnish: Buffy, vampyyrintappaja ("Buffy, killer of vampires"); "Slayer" is Tappaja ("Killer"), and "Watcher" is Valvoja ("Watcher", "Overseer").
• French: Buffy Contre les Vampires ("Buffy versus the vampires"); "slayer" is la Tueuse ("the Killer"), and "Watcher" is l'Observateur ("the Watcher")
• Hebrew: באפי ציידת הערפדים ("Buffy the vampires hunter"); "Slayer" is קוטלת ("Slayer"), and "Watcher" is צופה ("Watcher").
• Hungarian: Buffy a vámpírok réme (Roughly, "Buffy: The bogey of the Vampires"); slayer is Vadász ("Hunter") and "Watcher" is Őrző (Keeper, Watcher)
• German: Buffy - Im Bann der Dämonen (Meaning somewhere between "Buffy - in the thrall of demons", and "Buffy - in the shadow of demons"); "Slayer" is translated as die Jägerin ("Huntress"), "Watcher" as der Wächter ("Watchman"/"Warden").
• Icelandic: Vampírubaninn Buffy (Roughly, "The Vampireslayer Buffy"); "Slayer" is translated as bani ("killer").
• Italian: Buffy l'ammazza vampiri ("Buffy The Vampires Killer"); "Slayer" is Cacciatrice ("huntress"), and "Watcher" is Osservatore ("Watchman").
• Japanese: バフィー～恋する十字架 (Bafii koi suru juujika: "Buffy the Loving Cross" or "The Cross that Loves"); バフィー (Bafii) is "Buffy", ～恋する (koi suru) is "to love", and 十字架 (juujika) is "the Cross".
• Norwegian: Buffy - Vampyrenes skrekk ("Buffy - Terror of the Vampires"), skrekk is "terror". Slayer is mainly translated to jeger ("hunter"), but sometimes, it's dreper ("killer") and slakter ("slaughterer"). "Watcher" is called vokter ("guardian", "watcher"). Eventually, the show was just called "Buffy".
• Polish: Buffy postrach wampirów
• Portuguese: in Brazil, Buffy, a Caça-Vampiros ("Buffy the Vampire-huntress"); "Slayer" is a Caçadora ("the Huntress"), and "Watcher" is o Vigia ("the Watchman"); in Portugal, Buffy, a Caçadora de Vampiros ("Buffy the Vampire Huntress)"; "Slayer" is a Caçadora ("the Huntress"), and "Wacther" is o Observador ("the Observer", "the Watcher").
• Spanish: Buffy, Cazavampiros ("Buffy, vampire hunter"); "Slayer" is Cazadora ("huntress"), and "Watcher" is Vigilante ("Watchman").
• Swedish: Buffy & vampyrerna ("Buffy & The Vampires"); "Slayer" is Dräpare ("Slayer"), and "Watcher" is Väktare ("Watchman").

See also

• Slayer - the Slayer mythos
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer season-by-season plot summary
• List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes
• Angel (TV series)
• Buffyverse Chronology
• Cliff Richards, comic book artist
• Girl Heroes
• Minor characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• List of monsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• 2004 XR190, a Trans-Neptunian object temporarily named Buffy after the lead character.

References

Articles

• The season to talk to dead people

Books

Popular

• The Quotable Slayer, Steven Brezenoff and Micol Ostow (compilers) (ISBN 0743410173)
• Slayer Slang: A Buffy The Vampire Slayer Lexicon, Michael Adams (ISBN 0195160339)
• What Would Buffy Do: The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide, Jana Riess (ISBN 0787969222)
• Why Buffy Matters, Rhonda Wilcox (ISBN 1845110293)
• Spark and Burn, Diana G. Gallagher (ISBN 141690056x)
• Pretty Maids All in a Row, Christopher Golden (ISBN 0743418921)
• Immortal, Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder (ISBN 0671041754)
• Chosen, (season seven novelization) Nancy Holder (ISBN 0689866259)
• Queen of the Slayers, Nancy Holder (ISBN 1416902414)
• The Book of Fours, Nancy Holder (ISBN 0743412400)
• Seven Crows, John Vornholt (ISBN 0689860145)
• Cursed, Mel Odom (ISBN 068986437x)
• Heat, Nancy Holder (ISBN 068986017x)
• Monster Island, Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski (ISBN 0689856652)

Academic

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, James B. South (ed), Open Court Publishing 2003 (ISBN 0812695313) (philosophy)
• Sex And The Slayer: A Gender Studies Primer For The Buffy Fan, Lorna Jowett, Wesleyan University Press 2005 (ISBN 0819567582) (Gender Studies)
• Fighting The Forces: What's At Stake In Buffy The Vampire Slayer?, Rhonda V. Wilcox and David Lavery (eds), Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2002 (ISBN 0742516814) (Cultural studies)
• Reading the Vampire Slayer : The Unofficial Critical Companion to Buffy and Angel, Roz Kaveney (ed), Tauris Parke Paperbacks 2002 (ISBN 1860647626) (Cultural studies)
• Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Discuss Their Favorite Television Show, Glenn Yeffeth (ed), Benbella Books 2003 (ISBN 1932100083) (Cultural studies)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Anne Billson, University of California Press 2005 (ISBN 1844570894) (Cultural Studies)

Trivia

• Joss Whedon said that when he came up with the idea of Buffy, he had been watching a horror movie where the helpless blonde girl was the first to die. He wanted to change this sterotype, and make it funny. Hence the name 'Buffy' for the main character.
• All the seasons except for season 6 have a very definite ending. The reason this season different is because Whedon was promised a 2 year contract instead of a 1 year contract at the end of season 5.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar was actually consoled by friends when she revealed she was starring in the "Buffy" pilot.

External links

Official websites

• WB Network Buffy Section
• BBC Channel Buffy Section

Unofficial websites

• Buffyguide.com - Episode Guide
• Buffyworld.com - Episode Guide
• Whedon.info - Buffy News
• TV.com Buffy Section
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the TV IV Wiki
• Slayage.tv - Buffy Academic Essays
• Slayage.com - Buffy News
• Buffy.nu - Buffy News
• Buffyverse Dialogue Database
• Radiobuffy.com - Buffy Radio

Fan sites

• Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies
• Whedonesque: Joss Whedon weblog
• WhedonWiki: the Joss Whedon Wiki
• Buffy-Boards: Buffy and Angel Discussion Forum

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