Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural horror drama television series created by Joss Whedon. The show's concept is based on the 1992 film written by Whedon, although they are separate and distinct productions. Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner of the series under his production company Mutant Enemy Productions. It aired on The WB from March 10, 1997, to May 22, 2001, and later on UPN from October 2, 2001, to May 20, 2003.
The series follows Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a succession of young women known as "Vampire Slayers". Slayers are chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but learns to embrace her destiny as the series progresses. Like previous Slayers, she is aided by a Watcher, part of the Watcher's Council based in England, who guides, teaches and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with loyal friends who sometimes refer to themselves as the "Scoobies". The show primarily takes place in the fictional setting of Sunnydale, a small Southern California city located on a "Hellmouth", a convergence point of mystical energies. Because of this, supernatural creatures and beings with magical powers, both good and evil, are drawn to Sunnydale or rise from below ground to menace the town and world.
The series received critical and popular acclaim, and is often listed among the greatest television series of all time. Original airings often reached four to six million viewers. Although lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox), these ratings were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network. Despite being mostly ignored in above-the-line categories by the Emmys, 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 in 2003 for the Television Critics Association Heritage Award.
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. Buffy was part of a wave of television series from the late 1990s and early 2000s that featured strong female characters, alongside Charmed, Xena: Warrior Princess, La Femme Nikita, Dark Angel, and Alias. The series, as well as its spin-off series, Angel, and extensions thereof, have been collectively termed the "Buffyverse".
Premise
Characters
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.
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 also receives help from the friends she meets at Sunnydale High School: 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 realizes she is a lesbian. In contrast, Xander, with no supernatural abilities, provides comic relief and a grounded perspective. Buffy and Willow are the only characters who appear in all 144 episodes, with Xander appearing in 143.
The cast of characters grew over the course of the series. Buffy first arrives in Sunnydale with her mother, Joyce Summers (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"). Angel (David Boreanaz), a vampire cursed with a soul, 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, and is present in Buffys final 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) is a former vengeance demon called Anyanka who specialized in avenging scorned women; after losing her powers she became Xander's lover, then joined the Scoobies in season four.
In Buffy's senior year at high school, she meets Faith (Eliza Dushku), another Slayer 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 later joins forces with Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) after accidentally killing a human. She reappears briefly in the fourth season, looking for vengeance, and moves to Angel where she voluntarily goes to jail for her crimes. 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 throughout the series: Spike (James Marsters), a vampire, is an old companion of Angelus (Angel) and one of Buffy's major enemies in early seasons, although he and Buffy 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. Nikki's 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 evolves into a romantic relationship. Anya, an ex-vengeance demon joins the group and becomes Xander's girlfriend. 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 seventh and final season sees geeky wannabe-villain Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) side with the Scoobies after initially being their captive/hostage; they regard him more as a nuisance than an ally.
Buffy featured dozens of major and minor recurring characters. 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
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. Joss Whedon cited the Hellmouth and "high school as hell" as one of the primary metaphors in creating the series.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."
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."Buffy the Vampire Slayer film locations ", Movie-locations.com The show was initially very dependent on location shooting, because the production budget allowed for few permanent sets to be built. In the first season 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 the second season, 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). A driveway area near the gated entrance to Fox Studios was transformed into a graveyard. In the third season the Sunnydale "Main Street" was constructed on the backlot, which would be a staple location for the rest of the series. 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.
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 California State University, Northridge.Various authors, "California State University, Northridge#Film and television shoots", "California State University, Northridge: Film & Television Shoots".CSUN Oviatt Library Website, " ", "Oviatt Library In The Media" The exterior of the Crawford Street mansion where Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla lived was Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House.
Format Buffy is told in a serialized format, mixing complex, season-long storylines with a villain-of-the-week conflict revolving around Buffy and her friends as they struggle to balance the fight against supernatural evils with their complicated social lives. 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." 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, in one episode, musical comedy.