Monday 16 August 2010

"I'm over the whole 'Buffy gets one perfect high school moment' thing"


''She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer...."
 That's right, I've been re-watching Buffy Season 1-7 and I have to say it still stands up today with all the new vampy dramas out there, dare I say it, HBO's True Blood and The Twilight Saga franchise, but I discuss that later on.

Quick rundown on the Buffyverse, After burning down the school gymnasium at Hemery High in an epic vamp fight, Buffy Summers (The awesome Sarah Michelle Gellar) relocates to Sunnydale, California and wound up at Sunnydale High,which conveniently is where the Hellmouth is a gateway to hell itself.
 
No matter how hard she tried to be just a "normal girl", she cannot escape from her destiny,
From the age of 15, Buffy was chosen to hunt Vampires, Demons, and the forces of darkness.

Thankfully she is not alone in her quest to save the world, Joined by Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Alexander "Xander" Harris (Nicholas Brandon), and her watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head),  Together they slay the demonic inhabitants of Sunnydale, survive one apocalypse after another and find time to attend high school and even college. She comes to understand that growing up can truly be hell for a teenage girl in this world, especially when her true love Angel (David Boreanaz), is a hundred year old vampire with a soul.

Interesting tidbits

  • Joss Whedon chose the name Buffy because, "It was the name that I could think of that I took the least seriously. There is no way you could hear the name Buffy and think, "This is an important person." To juxtapose that with Vampire Slayer, just felt like that kind of thing – a B movie. But a B movie that had something more going on. That was my dream." Whendon went on to say that, "The network begged me to change the title. I was like, "You don't understand. It has to be this. This is what it is." To this day, everyone says, "Oh, the title kept it from being taken seriously." I'm like, "Well, f*** them. It's a B movie, and if you don't love B movies, then I won't let you play in my clubhouse."
  • Buffy, as a character, is based off of two members of the X-Men. Her last name is taken from Cyclops, and her personality is largely based on Kitty Pryde.
  • Others who auditioned for Buffy and got other roles include Julie Benz (Darla), Elizabeth Anne AllenJulia Lee (Anne) and Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall). (Amy Madison), and Katie Holmes and Selma Blair were originally in the running for the role of Buffy back in 1996. 

Stay tuned for my top ten favourite Buffy episodes!


2 comments:

  1. I love Buffy, it was simply one of the greatest piece of television ever, great character development, strong story archs and quirky comedy.

    Loves it x

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  2. Currently re-(re-re-)watching Season 4, and it definitely holds up. Great characters, great writing, and the cast is perfect. (Slightly OT: I was thrilled to see Jane Espenson, who wrote most of my favorite BTVS eps, is going to do some writing on Game of Thrones.)

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