FAQ for
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) More at IMDbPro »

A comprehensive list of sites, with contributions from: FromTheEdgeOfTheDee pGreenSea, Saifai, FrameJock & shay_562.

www.tvtome.com/BuffytheVampireSlayer/ (Episode Guide, goofs, best place after IMDb for cast listings)

http://vrya.net/bdb/search.php (The one and only genuinely comprehensive searchable dialogue database featuring information from both Angel and Buffy. You can search through by season, episode, character, and story arc. Also includes lists of nicknames for every character (both given and received).)

http://btvswritersguild.dymphna.net/index.shtml (The BtVS Writers' Guild is for the die-hard fans and writers out and fans who need resources. There's a page dedicated to each character that features a list of essays and full character profiles outlining each character.)

http://www.vampirology.bizhosting.com/ (The Institute of Vampirology features in-depth studies of the vampires from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.)

http://www.geocities.com/buffyology/ (Buffyology covers the more academic side of the series and the various studies out there covering all aspects of the series. Features many good links.)

http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/index.html (A unique database featuring a full body count for the episodes for all seven seasons.)

http://www.triviaguide.net/(Episode guides, chock-full of nummy trivia goodness)

www.buffyworld.com (Accurate transcripts of every episode)

www.buffyguide.com (Episode guides and database of BtVS links.)

www.atpobtvs.com/ (Philosophy and ethics)

http://www.angelicslayer.com/tbcs/main.html (Lots of cast pictures)

www.moviemistakes.com/tv2907 (The most comprehensive BtVS goofs listing on the net) www.angel-btvs.co.uk/btvs/musicguide.php (Music guide)

www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=12 (Snarky recaps of every episode. Plus another set of forums and another FAQ)

http://www.jetwolf.com/hof/hitlist/buffy/10.php (An excellent "Top 100 Moments" list, with 20 vidcaps available for downloading)

www.boilsandblindingtorment.com (Recaps, screencaps, bitching galore) www.sunnydale-slayers.com/ (Episode guide, reviews, quotes and the like) This one can't be directly linked to for some reason, but if if you go to

www.cise.ufl.edu and enter "Buffy", it brings the old Bronze Board right up.

http://buffycomics.hellmouthcentral.com/(Comic Book Guide to Buffy)

Most of the music featured in BtVS is available on this site:

http://www.buffygalaxy.com/audio.htm

Never. The show ended years ago. However, SEASON 8 has begun in comic book form. Episodes one through seven are already out. Best of all? It's being written by Joss Whedon and other alumni script writers. You can find more information on the series from Dark Horse Comics. - http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=14-798 - or skip to the bottom of this FAQ to find all the nitty gritty details. Mutant Enemy is also still producing films (most recently Serenity and the upcoming Goners) and television (Dollhouse).

There is no production on a spin-off. Joss has stated that he would like to create a direct to DVD movie with Spike and Illyira...confirmed by James Marsters. Joss Whedon has signed on to write 20-or-so issues of a BtVS comic for Dark Horse, set a year after "Chosen," in what will essentially be season 8.

Deader than a really dead thing, to the surprise of...well, absolutely no one. Joss himself has said this project is no more, so that's pretty much that.

Here. Be warned, it's fairly craptacular, but probably worth it for the simple fact that it shows you how bad BtVS could have been. It is also available to watch on You Tube.

If you already have a basic understanding of the show, you could probably pick it up at the beginning of any season and not be all that confused. If you've never seen any of the show before, and you haven't read much about it, just go ahead and buy season one. . .it's worth it.

Not a whole lot happens in Season 1 in relation to the entire series, but you would miss the introductions and some basic information about the characters and their relationships. In addition, you would also miss the Master, the series' first main villain. There are instances mentioning the Master, including flashbacks (in both this series and in Angel), in later seasons, including the first episode of season two.

Or you can just watch season 1 here on IMDB (only available in the US). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/episodes

The short answer is to simply start with Buffy and alternate back and forth episode by episode for the first three years that both series were on the air (although there are no actual crossovers between Buffy season six and Angel season three). Things don't get out of sync until Buffy season 7/Angel season 4.

Angel: Season 1 / Buffy Season 4

4.1 (Buffy) The Freshman: 5 October 1999..... 1.1 (Angel) City of...: 5 October 1999..... 4.2 (Buffy) Living Conditions: 12 October 1999....... 1.2 (Angel) Lonely Hearts: 12 October 1999.... 4.3 (Buffy) The Harsh Light of Day: 19 October 1999....... 1.3 (Angel) In The Dark: 19 October 1999....... 4.4 (Buffy) Fear, Itself: 26 October 1999....... 1.4 (Angel) I Fall to Pieces: 26 October 1999....... 4. 5 (Buffy) Beer Bad: 2 November 1999....... 1.5 (Angel) Rm w/a Vu: 2 November 1999....... 4.6 (Buffy) Wild at Heart: 9 November 1999....... 1.6 (Angel) Sense and Sensitivity: 9 November 1999....... 4.7 (Buffy) The Initiative: 16 November 1999....... 1.7 (Angel) The Bachelor Party: 16 November 1999....... 4.8 (Buffy) Pangs: 23 November 1999....... 1.8 (Angel) I Will Remember You: 23 November 1999....... 4.9 (Buffy) Something Blue: 30 November 1999....... 1.9 (Angel) Hero: 30 November 1999....... 4.10 (Buffy) Hush: 14 December 1999....... 1.10 (Angel) Parting Gifts: 14 December 1999....... 4.11 (Buffy) Doomed: 18 January 2000....... 1.11 (Angel) Somnambulist: 18 January 2000....... 4.12 (Buffy) A New Man 25 January 2000....... 1.12 (Angel) Expecting: 25 January 2000....... 4.13 (Buffy) The I in Team: 8 Febuary 2000....... 1.13 (Angel) She: 8 Febuary 2000....... 4.14 (Buffy) Goodbye Iowa: 15 Febuary 2000....... 1.14 (Angel) I've Got You Under My Skin: 15 Febuary 2000....... 4.15 (Buffy) This Years Girl: 22 Febuary 2000....... 1.15 (Angel) The Prodigal: 22 Febuary 2000....... 4.16 (Buffy) Who Are You?: 29 Febuary 2000....... 1.16 (Angel) The Ring: 29 Febuary 2000....... 4.17 (Buffy) Superstar: 4 April 2000....... 1.17 (Angel) Eternity: 4 April 2000....... 4.18 (Buffy) Where the Wild Things Are: 25 April 2000....... 1.18 (Angel) Five By Five: 25 April 2000....... 4.19 (Buffy) New Moon Rising: 2 May 2000....... 1.19 (Angel) Sanctuary: 2 May 2000....... 4.20 (Buffy) The Yoko Factor: 9 May 2000....... 1.20 (Angel) War Zone: 9 May 2000....... 4.21 (Buffy) Primeval: 16 May 2000....... 1.21 (Angel) Blind Date: 16 May 2000....... 4.22 (Buffy) Restless: 23 May 2000....... 1.22 (Angel) To Shanshu in L.A.: 23 May 2000.......



Angel Season 2 / Buffy Season 5

5.1 (Buffy) Buffy vs. Dracula: 26 September 2000....... 2.1 (Angel) Judgment: 26 September 2000....... 5.2 (Buffy) Real Me: 3 October 2000....... 2.2 (Angel) Are You Now or Have You Ever Been: 3 October 2000....... 5.3 (Buffy) The Replacement: 10 October 2000....... 2.3 (Angel) First Impressions: 10 October 2000....... 5.4 (Buffy) Out of My Mind: 17 October 2000....... 2.4 (Angel) Untouched: 17 October 2000....... 5.5 (Buffy) No Place Like Home: 24 October 2000....... 2.5 (Angel) Dear Boy: 24 October 2000....... 5.6 (Buffy) Family: 7 November 2000....... 2.6 (Angel) Guise Will Be Guise: 7 November 2000....... 5.7 (Buffy) Fool for Love: 14 November 2000....... 2.7 (Angel) Darla: 14 November 2000....... 5.8 (Buffy) Shadow: 21 November 2000....... 2.8 (Angel) The Shroud of Rahmon: 21 November 2000....... 5.9 (Buffy) Listening to Fear: 28 November 2000....... 2.9 (Angel) The Trial: 28 November 2000....... 5.10 (Buffy) Into the Woods: 19 December 2000....... 2.10 (Angel) Reunion: 19 December 2000....... 5.11 (Buffy) Triangle: 9 January 20001....... 2.11 (Angel) Redefinition: 16 January 2001....... 5.12 (Buffy) Checkpoint: 23 January 2001....... 2.12 (Angel) Blood Money: 23 January 2001....... 5.13 (Buffy) Blood Ties: 6 February 2001....... 2.13 (Angel) Happy Anniversary: 6 February 2001....... 5.14 (Buffy) Crush: 13 February 2001....... 2.14 (Angel) The Thin Dead Line: 13 February 2001....... 5.15 (Buffy) I Was Made to Love You: 20 February 2001....... 2.15 (Angel) Reprise: 20 February 2001....... 5.16 (Buffy) The Body: 27 February 2001....... 2.16 (Angel) Epiphany: 27 February 2001....... 5.17 (Buffy) Forever: 17 April 2001....... 2.17 (Angel) Disharmony: 17 April 2001....... 5.18 (Buffy) Intervention: 24 April 2001....... 2.18 (Angel) Dead End: 24 April 2001....... 5.19 (Buffy) Tough Love: 1 May 2001....... 2.19 (Angel) Belonging: 1 May 2001....... 5.20 (Buffy) Spiral: 8 May 2001....... 2.20 (Angel) Over the Rainbow: 8 May 2001....... 5.21 (Buffy) The Weight of the World: 15 May 2001....... 2.21 (Angel) Through the Looking Glass: 15 May 2001....... 5.22 (Buffy) The Gift: 22 May 2001....... 2.22 (Angel) There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb: 22 May 2001.......



Angel Season 3 / Buffy Season 6

3.1 (Angel) Heartthrob: 24 September 2001....... 3.2 (Angel) That Vision Thing: 1 October 2001....... 6.1/2 (Buffy) Bargaining: 2 October 2001....... 3.3 (Angel) That Old Gang of Mine: 8 October 2001....... 6.3 (Buffy) After Life: 9 october 2001....... 3.4 (Angel) Carpe Noctem: 15 October 2001....... 6.4 (Buffy) Flooded: 16 October 2001....... 3.5 (Angel) Fredless: 22 October 2001....... 6.5 (Buffy) Life Serial: 23 October 2001....... 3.6 (Angel) Billy: 29 October 2001....... 6.6 (Buffy) All the Way: 30 October 2001....... 3.7 (Angel) Offspring: 5 November 2001....... 6.7 (Buffy) Once More, with Feeling: 6 November 2001....... 3.8 (Angel) Quickening: 12 November 2001....... 6.8 (Buffy) Tabula Rasa: 13 November 2001....... 3.9 (Angel) Lullaby: 19 November 2001....... 6.9 (Buffy) Smashed: 20 November 2001....... 6.10 (Buffy) Wrecked: 27 November 2001....... 3.10 (Angel) Dad: 10 December 2001....... 6.11 (Buffy) Gone: 8 January 2002....... 3.11 (Angel) Birthday: 14 January 2002....... 3.12 (Angel) Provider: 21 January 2002....... 6.12 (Buffy) Doublemeat Palace: 29 January 2002....... 3.13 (Angel) Waiting in the Wings: 4 February 2002....... 6.13 (Buffy) Dead Things: 5 February 2002....... 6.14 (Buffy) Older and Far Away: 12 February 2002....... 3.14 (Angel) Couplet: 18 February 2002....... 3.15 (Angel) Loyalty: 25 February 2002....... 6.15 (Buffy) As You Were: 26 February 2002....... 3.16 (Angel) Sleep Tight: 4 March 2002....... 6.16 (Buffy) Hell's Bells: 5 March 2002....... 6.17 (Buffy) Normal Again: 12 March 2002....... 3.17 (Angel) Forgiving: 15 April 2002....... 3.18 (Angel) Double or Nothing: 22 April 2002....... 3.19 (Angel) The Price: 29 April 2002....... 6.18 (Buffy) Entropy: 30 April 2002....... 3.20 (Angel) A New World: 6 May 2002....... 6.19 (Buffy) Seeing Red: 7 May 2002....... 3.21 (Angel) Benediction: 13 May 2002....... 6.20 (Buffy) Villains: 14 May 2002....... 3.22 (Angel) Tomorrow: 20 May 2002....... 6.21 (Buffy) Two to Go: 21 May 2002....... 6.22 (Buffy) Grave: 21 May 2002.......



Angel Season 4 / Buffy Season 7

7.1 (Buffy) Lessons: 24 September 2002....... 7.2 (Buffy) Beneath You: 1 October 2002....... 4.1 (Angel) Deep Down : 6 October 2002....... 7.3 (Buffy) Same Time, Same Place: 8 October 2002....... 4.2 (Angel) Ground State: 13 October 2002....... 7.4 (Buffy) Help: 15 October 2002....... 4.3 (Angel) The House Always Wins: 20 October 2002....... 7.5 (Buffy) Selfless: 22 October 2002....... 4.4 (Angel) Slouching Toward Bethlehem: 27 October 2002....... 4.5 (Angel) Supersymmetry: 3 November 2002....... 7.6 (Buffy) Him: 5 November 2002....... 4.6 (Angel) Spin the Bottle: 10 November 2002....... 7.7 (Buffy) Conversations with Dead People: 12 November 2002....... 4.7 (Angel) Apocalypse, Nowish: 17 November 2002....... 7.8 (Buffy) Sleeper: 19 November 2002....... 7.9 (Buffy) Never Leave Me: 26 November 2002....... 7.10 (Buffy) Bring on the Night: 17 December 2002....... 7.11 (Buffy) Showtime: 7 January 2003....... 4.8 (Angel) Habeas Corpses: 15 January 2002....... 7.12 (Buffy) Potential: 21 January 2003....... 4.9 (Angel) Long Day's Journey: 22 January 2003....... 4.10 (Angel) Awakening: 29 January 2003....... 7.13 (Buffy) The Killer in Me: 4 February 2003....... 4.11 (Angel) Soulless: 5 February 2003....... 7.14 (Buffy) First Date: 11 February 2003....... 4.12 (Angel) Calvary: 12 February 2003....... 7.15 (Buffy) Get It Done: 18 February 2003....... 7.16 (Buffy) Storyteller: 25 February 2003....... 4.13 (Angel) Salvage: 5 March 2003....... 4.14 (Angel) Release: 12 March 2003....... 7.17 (Buffy) Lies My Parents Told Me: 19 March 2003....... 4.15 (Angel) Orpheus: 25 March 2003....... 4.16 (Angel) Players: 26 March 2003....... 4.17 (Angel) Inside Out: 2 April 2003....... 4.18 (Angel) Shiny Happy People: 9 April 2003....... 7.18 (Buffy) Dirty Girls: 15 April 2003....... 4.19 (Angel) The Magic Bullet: 16 April 2003....... 4.20 (Angel) Sacrifice: 23 April 2003....... 7.19 (Buffy) Empty Places: 29 April 2003....... 4.21 (Angel) Peace Out: 30 April 2003....... 7.20 (Buffy) Touched: 6 May 2003....... 4.22 (Angel) Home: 7 May 2003....... 7.21 (Buffy) End of Days: 13 May 2003....... 7.22 (Buffy) Chosen: 20 May 2003.......

The short answer is that Joss, warped as he is, always wanted to kill off a character on his or her first episode in the credits. As for why she wasn't in the credits before then, good question. Benson has said in interviews that she'd have taken a place in the credits if they wanted her, but they never asked. Speculation suggests that, since she was orginally due to die by mid-season 5, adding her in meant paying double what she was worth to Mutant Enemy, the production company. Still, it's all pure speculation.

It may also be worth noting that Amber Benson was not the first character to have a delayed listing in the opening credits. It is yet another quirk of Joss Whedon.

The reason being is that Sarah became a "big star" during Buffy with her many movies, and she likely did not have the time to dedicate to the DVD extras. This was also the reason why the show ended with the seventh season. The other reason is her agent. Most top notch agents do not want the big stars to be seen making mistakes. She was in the easter egg for the musical episode and there are some bloopers with her on YouTube. She also showed up for the reunion.

It's Torrance High School in California, where they have filmed:

Beverly Hills 90210/Buffy the Vampire Slayer /Skin /Bruce Almighty /The Hot Chick /Not Another Teen Movie /She's All That /Whatever It Takes /The Wild Life /Cursed

Note, these are region 1/USA. A few episodes (notably "Wild At Heart," missing from Region 2 discs) change between countries.

Season One: Welcome to the Hellmouth (Joss Whedon), The Harvest (Joss Whedon).

Season Two: Reptile Boy (David Greenwalt), What's My Line Pt. 1 (Marti Noxon), What's My Line Pt. 2 (Marti Noxon), Innocence (Joss Whedon).

Season Three: Helpless (David Fury), Bad Girls (Doug Petrie), Consequences (Michael Gershman), Earshot (Jane Espenson).

Season Four: Wild At Heart (Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon, Seth Green), Hush (Joss Whedon), The Initiative (Doug Petrie), This Year's Girl (Doug Petrie), Superstar (Jane Espenson), Restless (Joss Whedon).

Season Five: Real Me (David Fury and David Grossman), Fool For Love (Doug Petrie), I Was Made to Love You (Jane Espenson), The Body (Joss Whedon).

Season Six: Bargaining (Marti Noxon and David Fury), Once More with Feeling (Joss Whedon), Smashed (Drew Z. Greenberg), Hell's Bells (David Soloman and Rebecca Rand Kirshner), Normal Again (Rick Rosenthal and Diego Gutierrez), Grave (James Contner and David Fury).

Season Seven: Lessons (Joss Whedon and David Solomon), Selfless (David Solomon and Drew Goddard), Conversations with Dead People (Nick Marck, Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard, Danny Strong, and Tom Lenk), The Killer In Me (David Solomon and Drew Z. Greenberg), Lies My Parents Told Me (David Fury, Drew Goddard, James Marsters, and D.B. Woodside ), Dirty Girls (Drew Goddard and Nicholas Brendon), Chosen (Joss Whedon).

They filled in various bits of the Slayer mythology throughout the series; the basics are as follows: thousands of years ago, the Shadowmen used magic to fuse the essence of a demon into a young girl, to give her the strength to fight off the demons and vampires that were threatening humanity. When she died, her power was passed on to another girl and so on until we come to Buffy. Buffy died in "Prophecy Girl", but was brought back with CPR - despite this, her death was enough to activate a replacement (Kendra) who, in turn, died and activated Faith. The reason some girls have been trained for years before activation (as Kendra was) is that the Slayer isn't picked randomly, but is selected from a group of Potentials, thousands of girls around the world born with the power to one day be chosen. Even if there are dozens of girls trained to fight vampires, until the end of the first season there is still only one "Slayer." As for "one in very generation," it sounds better than "one for a couple of years, until she's horribly murdered."

Jamaica, apparently. And, believe it or not, we have it on good authority (well, Marti Noxon) that the accent is 100% correct and was verified by an accent specialist from Hollywood. So she's definitely not Irish, then.

Magic, literally. The Watcher's Council use a variety of spells (as seen in season 7) to track down Potentials, but they can't find every single one of them, so some (like Kendra) are trained from a young age while others (such as Buffy) are only located once they've been called (which presumably makes them much easier to find).

We don't really know. We can tell from "Fray" (a Joss Whedon comic set in the future) that the Slayer line will eventually drop back down to one - this would suggest that the only Slayer with the power to call a replacement is still Faith, so within a few decades all the new Slayers will have died and the line will be back to one Slayer, which is how it was meant to be.

In Season 8 (the Dark Horse comics, again written by Joss Whedon) we're told that the Council was reformed by the old Scooby gang. It's currently managed in a more military fashion, headed up by region heads (including Xander in Scotland and Andrew in Italy). As the series continues, more information will come out as to how they'll be managed and what will happen to them all.

Again, this one is from Joss: When Buffy died in season 1, her replacement was called (Kendra), so the Slayer line no longer moved through her. When Kendra died, Faith was called, and any future line would move through Faith. By the time Buffy died in season 5, whatever power activates new Slayers no longer recognized her. From that point, another Slayer would not have been called unless Faith died.

Multiple possibilities. One is that they were genuinely mistaken. Another is that they were lying to avoid having to confuse the Potentials with the whole "2nd Slayer" issue (or dishearten them by mentioning that Buffy had died twice). A third is that when Buffy was resurrected by magic, it meant she was back on the radar of whatever calls new Slayers, and so her death would call a new one. The fourth is that the writers *beeped* it up. Pick any one or combinations.

Slayers are not demons. After the episode "Get It Done," a lot of people got the false notion that Slayers are demonic based on the original source of their power (as given to the First Slayer). The source of the Slayer's power is the "heart of a demon," but a Slayer herself is still just a human girl given that power. The only one that can be described as "demonic" is Buffy herself: Spike could hurt her even with the chip functioning. This was because of her resurrection by Willow using Black Magic. Tara explained that Buffy's body came back slightly different on the molecular level due to the rapid healing; it's important to remember that Spike's chip was designed by the government, who at that time didn't recognise magic, and so it relies entirely on technology to do its demon sensing, which would include anything whose cells aren't structured like a standard human's.

Basically, Buffy's strength varies from week to week depending on how the writers want the plot to progress. Generally speaking, she became progressively stronger as the show advanced (in "The Harvest" she mentions that the door of the Bronze is too thick to break through, whereas in "Once More, with Feeling" she kicks it down without breaking her stride), probably culminating in season 5 (when she was utterly focused on her training and on the Slayer powers). Her death and resurrection literally sucked a lot of the life out of her, and in later seasons she didn't seem to be as strong as season 5. There's also the fact that Buffy (like all of us) has off days. A vampire catches her on one of those (as happened in season five's "Fool For Love") and she could easily have been killed. Additionally, in "Fool For Love" we see that her moods (such as her "death wish," as was the case in this episode) affect her performance in the field. And of course, Glory is a god, therefore more powerful than vampires or demons, so her ability to repeatedly best Buffy is explicable in context.

Straight from Joss himself: a "sire" can refer to any vampire in your lineage, not just the one that turned you (which basically fits with the dictionary definition of "sire," if you warp it for the vampire part). Some people see this as a continuity error (since Spike was meant to die before the end of season 2, they had to start planning ahead for him and changed their minds about his sire). Technically speaking, the one who sired him was Drusilla, but it appears Angelus was the head of his line and thus ruled and trained the family.

Probably - Drew Goddard said on the commentary for Selfless that they were the same person, which is why they switched that flashback to the Russian Revolution from the Renaissance. She greets Spike as "William" (the name Cecily knew him by) in "Older And Far Away," but in the Joss-scripted "Lessons" she refers to the Crimean War (between 1854-1856, at which time Cecily would have been about 5) so it's another one where you get to choose your own answer. Another possible (if unlikely) scenario is that Halfrek posed as Cecily to exact vengeance on someone, thus making it possible for her to know human William while still being around during the Crimean War. Kali Rocha (who plays the character(s)) personally believes that they're the same character, and that she was at the party on assignment. Not conclusive proof, but another point for those who think they're the same.

Spike during his earliest exploits was not known as Spike. Previously he was known as William the Bloody, which is how she might have known him.

It's a thought - Willow does state in many episodes that she is gay, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest she might have a bisexual side to her:

*She formed a strong heterosexual relationship with Oz and had a 12 year crush on Xander. *She reveals that she had a former crush on Giles. *She said Dracula was sexy.

Also, Vampire Willow from "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland" displays overt bisexuality and Angel himself reveals that a vampire's personality is a reflection of who that vampire was as a person. This can suggest that Willow is choosing women but is capable of loving men. If she was not with Tara when Oz came back into the picture, it is very likely she would get back together with him.

This evidence might just have been a character quirk; in some other shows, characters have been shown to have gay mannerisms (like Chandler in Friends and Elliott in Scrubs) so it could work both ways-that a gay character have straight mannerisms.

Yes, Faith has a last name now: Lehane. Long story short: Joss had to come up with a last name for her to put in an official RPG book, and chose to emphasize her Boston roots by giving her a Boston-Irish surname (it means "grey", apparently). You can take it or leave it as you choose for the moment, since the show isn't running any more, but since it's her 'official' last name now, it'll more than likely be the one used in any future books, comics or spin-offs. Kendra was also given a last name: Young, despite saying in the series that she doesn't have one.

Basically, Jesse was Xander and Willow's best friend forever and ever. Until he died, at which point Buffy replaced him in their lives and they never spoke of him again. The main reason they killed off Jesse so quickly was that Joss wanted to kill someone in the credits in the first episode - although he couldn't afford to get Eric Balfour into the credits, he stuck with the idea of killing someone close to the Scoobies right off. As for why he's never mentioned again, there's no real reason, but I guess the sad fact is that in terms of the show, he's a two-episode character that only got a few scenes and was killed off twice in that space of time. While he'd be important to Xander and Willow if they were real, I guess a throwaway character from a season 1 episode wasn't seen as being worthy of airtime later on in the run.

Jesse was supposed to make an appearance in the Season Seven episode "Conversations With Dead People," where he was meant to have scenes with Xander (Nicholas Brendon), but Eric Balfour was unavailable at the time. The writers/producers then decided to cut the whole bit, making "Conversations" the only episode of the entire series that Nicholas Brendon was not in.

The accepted version is that Angel will only experience "perfect happiness" with someone he truly loves; so as long as he doesn't love a girl, he can do what he wants (backed up by a Wesley quote on Angel stating that "perfect happiness is one in a million" or something like that). There's other theories about him being able to control it now that he knows about it (once he knows that he has to watch out for the perfect happiness, he can just not be happy during sex...or something like that), but that's pretty much a "choose your own explanation" area. Every time he had sex in Angel, he was under some sort of condition...either drugs, hate, or despair.

The short answer: We don't know. We see her dressed as a bunny, the most frightening thing she could think of. We see her express fear at the word "bunny," the sight of a stuffed bunny, and the sight of many live bunnies, so we write it off as a generic phobia. But then, to confuse things further, we see Anya lovin' on the bunnies in "Selfless." So what's the deal? One interpretation: just a funny character quirk. We're never given a clear explanation. It's been suggested that Anya's fear of bunnies comes from the fact that she associates the worst period of her life (Olaf cheating on her, and the presumably traumatic experience of becoming a demon) with the fact that she was giving bunnies away, thus explaining both her rabid capitalism and her phobia. How well this theory holds together psychologically is another matter. It's notable that the one thing Anya retains about herself in "Tabula Rasa" is her fear of bunnies, suggesting how deep-rooted this phobia is.

It's also possible that bunnies remind her not of the sadness, but of the happiness in her life-one of her happiest pastimes as a human seemed to be breeding bunnies. Once Olaf cheated on her and she became a Vengeance Demon, she developed a hatred of humanity and tried to distance herself from it. Because of this, she developed a strong hatred of bunnies. After 1000 years, it might have developed into an irrational fear out of complete forgetfulness of her humanity.

Further speculation suggests that it was a result of another dimension she visited, such as the ones like the "World Without Shrimp," that may have caused an irrational fear on her part due to her experiences.

Their sirings are all shown in flashbacks:

Angel was turned in 1753, Spike in 1880, Drusilla in 1860, and Darla in 1609.

Those dates seem to be from whence they count their ages (although, if you wanto to get really technical, Liam (Angel) was born in 1727). Angel also lost 100 years in a hell dimension, but never seems to count them when calculating his age. As to why their ages are sometimes fudged in the series, there are three possibilities. One is that Giles' books are wrong. Another is that, after a few centuries, you begin to forget your exact age. The third (and most likely) is that the writers forgot.

Q: How old is Buffy/What's her birthday?

A: She was born in 1981 (revealed on her tombstone in "The Gift". Yes, her date of birth was given differently on the computer screen in "I Robot, You Jane," but that was just Moloch screwing the system up. Or something. Her birthday is the 20th/21st of January (she mentions she's "Capricorn, on the cusp of Aquarius" in Doomed).

Yes, Spike dies. Yes, Spike is also on the Angel series the next year. It's the Buffyverse; people die and come back to life all the time. If you want to know all the specifics: Spike dies using a magic amulet to close the Hellmouth. Lindsay, a recurring Angel character, digs up the amulet and mails it to Angel; Spike's ghostly essence, trapped inside the necklace, is released as soon as Angel opens the envelope. As the season goes on Spike is eventually made corporeal again while Lindsay (who hoped the screw with the Shanshu Prophecy, another long-running Angel plot line, by introducing another ensouled vampire to the Wolfram & Hart apocalypse) is captured and eventually killed. As for the hows and whys of all this, nobody knows. They never actually explained how the amulet works, what Lindsay did to it, how Spike became a real boy again... just go with it. The amulet was supposedly meant for Angel. Spike became real again when he received a box from Lindsey giving back his body through a flash of light.

It has been speculated, however, that the amulet held his soul in transit, as it were, until such a time as the Wolfram and Hart senior partners could retrieve it for their personal use (which goes back to the fact that the amulet was meant for Angel, and not Spike).

She cheated on Spike and abandoned him in Brazil (mentioned during her visit to Spike in Sunnydale during "Crush"). She later appeared on Angel in season 2 and killed a bunch of people in L.A. She comes back to Sunnydale in the season 5 episode "Crush," trying and failing to win Spike back from Buffy. Once she leaves at the end of this episode, we never see her again - any later Drusilla appearances are flashbacks or The First. Presumably she's still off killing and rampaging and such.

Age takes different vampires in different ways. The Master seems to have gone ugly ("moved beyond the curse of human features") before he was three hundred, while Darla remained normal in her three hundred and eighty-eighth year. Kakistos, Russell Winters and the Master all looked animalistic in different ways - as did the Nosferatu-esque "Prince of Lies" that Angel staked on that submarine back in World War II ("Why We Fight," Angel season 5). So presumably the differences were more than just skin deep. It's also possible that Angel's "vampire form" as seen in Pylea (in season two of Angel) is what Angel will turn into after a certain age.

Spain, with his secretary, "living the cliche." In the early seasons he was a relatively involved dad - a little flaky, but still a part of Buffy's life. Following Dawn's appearance, he was magically transported out of the country and didn't ever see his daughters again (as far as we know), although he apparently called occasionally ("Bargaining, Part 1"). The reason for this is either 1) The monks wanted Buffy to be more protective of Dawn, which she would be if their dad had abandoned them, or 2) Joss' daddy issues needed more screen time.

She died. Sorry. Dawn shot her with a crossbow bolt sometime offscreen between mid season 5 and late season 7 - she reminds Xander of it in the episode "End of Days" -or, to be completely accurate, she says that she left the crossbow lying around - how exactly it went off and killed Miss Kitty isn't explained.

Because they're a gang of teenagers who fight monsters. The term was first used in "What's My Line?" in season 2, when Xander told Cordelia "You want to be a member of the Scooby Gang, you gotta be willing to be inconvenienced every now and then."

A wizard did it. Seriously, if you can go along with the concept of a demon inhabiting a human corpse, including walking and talking and suddenly having super kung-fu action powers, then just keep that disbelief suspended a little longer - they're mystical creatures, it's not like anyone has any clue how a vampire would actually work.

The reason that vamps can be photographed and videotaped can be explained in a simple line of dialogue that was cut from one of the episodes. In it, Buffy asks Angel the very same question [about cameras]. Angel responds, "It's not physics. It's metaphysics."

Vampires eat. They don't have to do it (although they do need to drink blood to survive - Spike in Buffy season 4 and Angel in Angel season 4 both demonstrate this), but tend to anyway. At best guess, this is some kind of leftover habit/psychological comfort, since it's implied on Angel that food either has no taste or very little taste for them (when Angel is briefly made human, he's delighted to discover how good ice-cream tastes). However, on Buffy, Spike seems to enjoy the food in the Bronze plenty. It's either bad mythology crossovers or just Spike being less picky. Your call. Again, a deleted line from Spike sums it up best: "Yeah, I eat. Not for nutritional value - mostly just to pass the time." It is also a way to pass as a human.

It would seem that vampires' supernatural healing abilities mean that they don't scar like humans do. As for Spike's scar, the most plausible theory is that the sword was blessed in some way to make it more powerful against vampires, and this allowed it to leave a permanent mark (We've seen both blessed swords and vampire-specific poisons on the show, so it makes sense) Another reason as to why Spike has a scar is because the scar is actually real - James Masters was mugged in NY. Todd McIntosh, the makeup artist for Buffy, liked the scar and definitely accentuated it for the role of Spike.

Because then there'd be no show. If you want an explanation within the show's universe, you could suggest that the magical implications of re-ensouling tens of thousands of vampires would be catastrophic, or that it's a cruel and unnecessary punishment that only affects the good half of the vampire, which wasn't responsible for their bad behavior. The amount of magic to needed pull off just one resouling is seen to be quite great, and likely not practical on a worldwide scale. It's also possible that the curse was written by the gypsies specifically for Angel, and couldn't be used to create a blanket effect. But of course, the real reason is that it would be destroying a core part of both this show and Angel. Also, being a vampire may seem like great fun, but living for eternity on pigs blood and never being able to experience true happiness? It would probably be kinder to dust them.

Nothing at all. Joss (who created him) has even gone on record stating that he means nothing - he's there to show that dreams always have something in them that makes no sense at all. So you can look for all the hidden meanings you want, but the official line is that he's meaningless.

However, it's worth mentioning that the cheese theme appears again in the Season 8 comics from Dark Horse. One can only assume (and hope) that the idea will be given further explanation.

Three possibilities. 1) The guy was in another dimension when the wishes were reversed, and so missed out on the magic. 2) Giles' book was wrong. 3) The writers screwed up. *Option 3) is the most likely, but if you want to try and keep things consistent within the show, either of the first two will work.

Another explanation could be that this wish was still in progress or was too recently completed, while the 1920s wish had long since been completed. Since a vengeance demon's powers were given to him/her by D'Hoffryn, he may have safegaurds in place to prevent every wish granted over thousands of years from suddenly unravelling, which could be catastrophic on several levels.

No. Think about it. Years can pass in hell, but back in Earth it'll only be a few hours, meaning time actually goes way slower in hell. Buffy and Lily only spend (from their point of view) a few hours there; in the normal world, they likely would've only been absent for a few seconds. The concept is similar to the notion of time dialation at the speed of light, wherein a traveler going near light speed would age slower relative to objects moving at slower speeds.

The basic answer is that we don't know. A number of entities have claimed or been given responsibility over the course of the two shows, and there's never been official confirmation. In "Amends" (Buffy season 3) the First Evil claims it brought Angel back from hell to make him into Angelus again and have him kill Buffy. At the start of Angel, Angel believes he was brought back from hell by the Powers That Be (see "I Will Remember You" etc.) to be a warrior for good and seek redemption, a belief enforced by the prophecy from "To Shanshu In L.A." which says that a vampire with a soul will play a vital role in the apocalypse (this was before Spike was made into Angel Redux, so he naturally assumed it was about him). In "Inside Out" (Angel season 4) Skip claims that Jasmine, a fallen Power, arranged for Angel to be released to bring about her birth (Angel being her grandfather). Basically, Whedon and Mutant Enemy are unlikely to reveal the answer (if there even is one) as long as there's still the potential to use it as a storyline in a spin-off/Angel movie, so until either of those is actually made, we're pretty clueless.

The Master in the Wishverse was freed during the Harvest (with no one around to stop it), so Buffy's blood wasn't necessary. As for the Hellmouth thing, that's just a goof. But if you want an explanation, Anya can shape the universe she's creating with a temporal fold in just about any way she wants, so she opts to not have the world be sucked into oblivion. Pretty simple choice, really.

In communication (largely military related), one is first asked how they are coming through. The numbers represent signal strength and clarity on a scale to five. If you are reading 5 by 5, it's clear and strong. It's also another way of saying "squared away," or "ship shape." If one is asked if they are ready for inspection, they (hopefully) would say "squared away" or "5x5." This phrase is heard during the "drop ship" scene in Aliens, for example.

Nope. She has a very similar hairstyle to Eliza Dushku, but if you look closely, it's not her.

Well, you can presume that Xander was turned by Darla and Willow by that vampire in the "carbon-dated" outfit, but if you want to get technical and say that since Buffy wasn't there to tell Willow to "seize the day," she was turned the next night at the Bronze.

Another option is that the alternate reality didn't exist prior to the wish being granted, in which case they were never not vampires in that reality.

Well, multiple possibilities: the writers screwed up, Cordelia decided not to go out the night of the Harvest because Buffy wasn't there, Giles and the White Hats managed to save her or Anya merely transported Cordelia from the real world into the alternate one and moulded events to have her there. Cordelia appears to begin her stint in the alternate dimension with no knowledge of that world's prior events, so it would appear that Anya dropped her in at the same moment she left the 'real' world, without being subject to any events that would've naturally befallen her had she actually lived there her whole life.

Sandy? Yes. The Sandy Willow bites here is the same one who shows up in season 5 as Riley's vamp whore. As for how she got turned when Willow clearly doesn't turn her here, insert your own explanation (Willow came back and turned her later, she survived this attack and got vamped later, the saliva on her neck had the same effect etc.) as to how it could have happened. Tara? No. That's not Amber Benson, despite a vague resemblance.

The only strong one was from season 3's "Doppelgangland," when Willow encounters her bisexual vampire self and comments "I'm all skanky and evil... and I think I'm kinda gay." Buffy assures her that the vampire is nothing like the person it was (shushing Angel when he tries to correct her) and it's never mentioned again until Willow comes out (although it was referenced in the season 6 episode "Tabula Rasa," when Willow lost her memory and repeated the "I think I'm kinda gay" line).

Also, in Prophecy Girl, Xander says (about Willow) "but she doesn't want to date you, and if she does she's playing it really close to the vest." This isn't an out and out hint, but it's kind of suggestive.

The meta reason is that it would get boring. A more in-show reason is that the first time they used it, the Slayer power nearly killed them all in their dreams (Willow, Giles and Xander had been defeated - if Buffy hadn't overcome it just in time, they'd all have died), and pissing off a Primal power more than once? Not such a good plan.

Also, in the books written about slayers, it's stated that "She alone will stand against the darkness." Everyone uniting with Buffy, to create a super-slayer goes against the slayer law - hence the primal power being mightly pissed off. Another reason could be that the items needed for the spell are extremely rare.

It's really better if you watch the beginning of season 5, but in short form: Dawn is "The Key," a magical energy force that can be used to open a portal between worlds. Glory, a hellgod banished to this dimension, wants to use the Key to get home again. A group of monks who were hiding the Key sent it to Buffy in the form of a sister (rewriting history and everyone's memories using magic) so that she would protect it from Glory with her very life. After Glory was defeated and the portal was closed, Dawn simply became a normal human.

Season 3 (Graduation Day Part 2): Faith is in Buffy's dream and says "Little Miss Muffet counting down from seven-three-oh." There was a "Little Miss Muffet" theme with Dawn in "Real Me:" a crazy guy comes up to Dawn and says "I know you. Curds and whey. I know what you are. You.. Don't.. Belong.. Here!" And in "No Place Like Home," during Glory's insane ramblings she says "..someone's going to sit down on their tuffet and make this birthing stop!" The seven-three-zero represents the 2 years (730 days) that pass between Graduation Day and The Gift.

Season 4 (This Year's Girl): Again in a dream, Faith tells Buffy to get ready because "Little sis is coming." Season 4 (Restless): Tara tells Buffy in a dream to "be back before Dawn," and the time on the clock reads 7:30 (seven-three-oh..) Also, Buffy and Tara are looking at the bed Faith and Buffy made in "This Year's Girl."

It is also rumored that Michelle Trachtenberg was one of the kids in front of Xander's ice cream van in the same episode, but there's no definitive word on that.

Drusilla snaps the girl's neck before handing her over to Spike. He can feed off dead people without activating the chip.

Apparently, Joss had always planned to kill Buffy, and there are several hints throughout the show to back this up (the expiration date on the credit card in "Who Are You" being 05/01, for example). There's no denying that it worked as a good send-off for The WB, but even if the show hadn't moved networks, the plan was still to have Buffy die and come back to life.

It has also been suggested that the dream sequence with Faith and Buffy (seen in Graduation Day P2) is also hinting at Buffy's demise: "Miles to go...Little Miss muffet, counting from 7,3,0." This has been represented in two ways: 1) Little Miss Muffet is Dawn (Joss' hinting at Michelle's arrival) or 2) Little Miss Muffet is Buffy with only 730 days left of her life, which happens to be 2 years, which takes us to the end of season five, "The Gift." Therefore, it could be seen that the First Slayer is already attempting to guide Buffy, but appearing as Faith rather than herself (the first slayer doesn't make her first appearance until 'Restless'). The First Slayer is telling Buffy her purpose, even before Buffy realises it herself in "Intervention" - "Death is your gift."

Basically, he wanted to spend more time with his family in England, so he worked it out with the producers that he'd be given a smaller role in the show from that point on (not to mention shooting most of his early season 7 scenes in England).

Nope, just a random peroxided guy.

Sweet's final lines are "Say you're happy now - once more with feeling!" - he's cursing them to do one last song (and since Buffy and Spike don't finish the first one, they get to sing their own mini-song in the alley).

Also the last couple lines we hear the group sing from "Where Do We Go From Here?" are "the curtains close, on a kiss, God knows, we can tell the end is near." So it would appear that after Buffy and Spike kiss, the spell would be ended.

We don't know - they leave it deliberately vague, so you can choose your own ending. Of course, if you believe that it's all in Buffy's head, all of the Buffyverse is in her head as well, a la St. Elsewhere. Of course, in that scenario, the whole world of Angel would not exist, either.

The final scene in the episode seems to be saying, "Surprise; that was more than just an hallucination." This would either mean that the Glarghk Guhl Kashmas'nik created an alternate reality, complete with an alternate Buffy, and linked the two Buffys' minds together, or the alternate reality already existed. If that is the case, the alt Buffy was never a slayer, but had been having visions of the Slayer's life, which have driven her insane. Whichever is the case, it certainly is interesting to consider all the possibilities.

Yeah, that's an easy mistake to make, mostly since they made the dialogue suggest that and told James Marsters to play it that way. But Joss said in the post-season interviews that Spike wanted the soul all along. So this is yet another "choose your own adventure" area: If you believe that Joss saying it makes it canon, then Spike wanted a soul. If not, then it's entirely possible Spike was lying.

Of course, Spike never explicitly told the demon that he wanted the chip out as opposed to having a soul; the demon simply offered to make him "the way [he] was." So he could have been screwed over at the last second because of something getting lost in translation.

Halfrek's undoing her wish was simply lifting the curse and letting them out of the house - it didn't change reality. Anya could have gotten rid of the spider demon with a wave of her hand, but the 12 frat guys would still have been dead - getting their lives back required a sacrifice. As for her pendant, that seems to simply have been forgotten about by the writers, so you can insert your own explanation as for why it's not present in this episode. Alternatively, it could simply be that Anya did not wish to undo the wish as Halfrek did. Each demon in D'Hoffryn's service doesn't necessarily work the same way. Examples for each so far include the pendant only being needed for reality altering wishes (and not for simple transformations) or D'Hoffryn not trusting her with one again. It could also have been a one-time condition, i.e. D'Hoffryn wishing to punish Anya for what he considered a betrayal of his trust, having already once taken her back under his wing after having previously deciding to leave her as a human (following the events in "The Wish").

Another explanation could be that new, or in this case recently reinstated vengeance demons, didn't get a necklace. It may have only been needed for more complicated wishes, like creating the alternate reality in "The Wish." This would make sense, considering that Halfrek does have a necklace, and that Anya even tries to get it from her while she is passed out in "Older And Far Away."

Kennedy states in "Showtime" that she's probably too old to be called as a Slayer, so this has led to a rough estimate of her age at about 18 19, which is at or over the age of consent in California.

If you want an "in-show" explanation, I guess it's possible that Angel is so crazy at this point he actually thinks Jenny is touching him. The reality is that the writers messed it up, and hoped no one would remember as far back as "Amends."

There's the usual fan explanations - the first one was some kind of Uber-Champion, mass production has weakened them, the Scythe mixed with confidence makes the Slayers-in-training super-strong, the First did the same thing it does with Caleb (where they merge and Caleb gets all strong and black-eyed) to the first one...the truth is, as Joss has acknowledged in interviews, that he ignored the earlier story arc to make the final fight better. Whether or not you think it worked is a personal thing.

Yes. Yes it would. Especially since she was quite close to being able to make a sun spell in season 5, had grown exponentially in power since then, and was channeling serious magic anyway for a far less certain spell that would probably have serious world-changing ramifications. However, while it may have made sense, it would be less interesting dramatically.

The basic answer is that Joss wrote it to be deliberately vague (he freely admits that he didn't want to come down on the side of Buffy/Angel or Buffy/Spike supporters, which is why he left that ambiguous "Did they sleep together again?" scene in, too), so looking for an answer here is pointless. That said, there are numerous "in-show" theories:

1) Spike meant it - he knew she didn't love him the way he wanted her to, and said as much just two years earlier ("I know you'll never love me,"-"The Gift"). She may have felt affection, even a "mutual trust" kind of love, but as he said to Riley, Spike wasn't the long-term guy and he knew it. She was saying it to comfort him as he died, and while he appreciated it, he's not the type to tolerate deception. Of course, Spike (while usually insightful about everyone else) has tended to display a shocking lack of self-awareness when it comes to himself and his own relationships (witness his delusional "She loves me" rants about Drusilla), but one can write it off to "pre-death clarity."

2) Spike was letting Buffy off the hook - he knew she'd stay and die with him if he asked her to, but he wanted her to live and be free, so he gently and selflessly turned her down. One might object, saying that Buffy would want to live for Dawn if it was at all possible, and wouldn't throw her life away meaninglessly (unlike "The Gift," where there was an actual point to it), and Spike is rarely selfless, even when it comes to Buffy. That said, the truly die-hard Buffy/Spike supporters tend to enjoy this one, so if it floats your boat, have fun.

3) Joss Whedon's take on things from the commentary: "Spike is the person in her life right now...What I basically told [James and Sarah] was, 'Play the romance, be proud of him, love him when you say you love him, love her when you say she doesn't love you. Forget about the crumbling world; for that period of time, it doesn't exist.'"

The reason the First appears as so few former characters was mainly due to poor planning and scheduling by Mutant Enemy - various actors were unavailable for timing reasons, conflicting projects and the like - but some had more specific reasons for not wanting/being able to come back to the show:

Robia LaMorte (Jenny): Has very strong Christian beliefs. Signed on to play the First in season 3 without fully realising that she'd be playing the Buffyverse version of Satan, and as such was unwilling to come back.

Amber Benson (Tara): Didn't want to have the fans' last vision of Tara be as an evil creature telling Willow to kill herself, as she thought it would be disrespectful to them and to the character.

David Boreanaz (Angel): Was the lead actor in a WB show - they were reluctant to let him cross over to a show that they lost to another network. It reportedly took a hell of a lot of work from Joss to secure even the few scenes they got.

A more "in show" explanation could arguably be as follows: Willow, being so powerful by the time that she was visited by The First, and also having loved Tara so much, may have easily sensed that it was not the real Tara, thus ruining The First's plan to get her to commit suicide. Angel's appearance likely wouldn't have had much affect on anyone but Buffy, and as we saw in End of Days, it wouldn't take long before she tried to kiss him and realize he was non-corporeal. It could be argued that appearing as Jenny wouldn't have served The First's purposes much, as Giles was likely well over her death by that time. As far as Joyce goes, it was never fully explained whether or not Dawn's vision of her mother was or was not The First (although in the commentary for the episode "Conversations with Dead People," Jane Espenson mentions a deleted exchange between Dawn and Joyce, which went: (Dawn) "They told me I couldn't bring anyone back [from the dead]. (Joyce) "Maybe I'm the first," implying a double meaning to the line which would've become apparent later. Espenson went on in the commentary to confirm that when she was writing the scene, Joyce was The First).

The series was released in the US on March 14th, 2007, and the following day in the UK.

I can only say I know for sure in the US you can buy it at any comic book store; if they don't have it in stock most places allow you to order it and they will call you when it gets in. Most likely they will have it. You can also buy it online; the sites where you can do so are listed below. The alternative is to search the comics out at Dark Horse and use their retailer locator. There are also several UK web based comic stores which can deliver to your home.

In Melbourne, Australia, Minotaur has them (www.minotaur.com.au).

In U.S.A. Portland Oregon, Things From Another World has three locations in the portland metro area. www.tfaw.com

It was originally planned to be between 20-30 issues. One source has said 26 exactly, but it's not verified. However, Joss has since stated that it might be "well over 30," with exact numbers unknown. Here's what season 8 Looks like so far: Issue #1: "The Long Way Home, Part 1" by Joss Whedon Issue #2: "The Long Way Home, Part 2" by Joss Whedon Issue #3: "The Long Way Home, Part 3" by Joss Whedon Issue #4: "The Long Way Home, Part 4" by Joss Whedon Issue #5: (standalone issue) by Joss Whedon Issue #6: (first issue of an untitled Faith arc) by Brian K. Vaughan Issue #7: (second issue of an untitled Faith arc) by Brian K. Vaughan Issue #8: (third issue of an untitled Faith arc) by Brian K. Vaughan Issue #9: (fourth issue of an untitled Faith arc) by Brian K. Vaughan Issue #10: (standalone issue) by Joss Whedon Issue #11: (first issue of an untitled Tokyo arc) by Drew Goddard Issue #12: (second issue of an untitled Tokyo arc) by Drew Goddard Issue #13: (third issue of an untitled Tokyo arc) by Drew Goddard Issue #14: (fourth issue of an untitled Tokyo arc) by Drew Goddard.

Official word from Darkhorse is yes, after all is said and done and the season is completed, it will be released as a GN. However, there is also talk of arcs as graphic novels, so after the first five Joss Whedon installments of the arc there may or may not be a GN with those five issues. We shall have to wait and see.

This is how it's looking so far: There are going to be several 4 issue arcs and a few standalone issues, as well.

First Arc- The Long Way Home, written by Joss. Issue One: feature Buffy, Dawn and Xander. Giles and Andrew appear as minor characters. The Slayer organisation is a big'un, and the military fear it, and send a Sunnydale survivor, the now slightly crazy Amy Madison to kill Buffy. Willow comes to the rescue from Amy at the end of the second issue. Willow vs Amy, skinless Warren captures Willow, Buffy and new Slayer Satsu rescue Willow, Ethan Rayne is killed military general Voll. Also, Dawn's a giant.

Issue Five: Standalone issue, "The Chain", about a Buffy decoy who gives her life to stop a demon uprising.

Second Arc, "No Future for You" by Brian K Vaugan is about Faith and Giles in England on a mission to assassinate a rogue Slayer called Lady Genevieve "Gigi" Savidge. Buffy appears briefly, falls out with Giles. Giles and Faith tour the world trying to find and rehabilitate rogue Slayers.

Two one shots: "Anywhere but Here" and "A Beautiful Sunset". In the first, Buffy and Willow see prophesies and visions of the past; Buffy robs banks, Willow naked, intimate with a snake-creature, and Buffy will face an unexpected betrayal (Willow promises it won't be her). In the second, Buffy confronts Satsu about Satsu's crush on Buffy, before they are attacked by Twilight (the Big Bad, who Amy, Warren, Voll and Gigi all work for). Buffy later relates to Xander about her feelings of disconnection.

Third Arc, "Wolves at the Gate" by Drew Goddard. Shocker: Buffy winds up in bed with Satsu, but explains it will go no further. Hilariously ever member of the cast (including Renee, Xander's love interest, and Andrew) walks in. Japanese goth vampires steal the scythe. Because they have Dracula's powers, Xander seeks Dracula's help, and they chase the vampires to Tokyo where they plan.to de-power all the Slayers. Giant Dawn fights her robot counterpart, egged on by Andrew. Renee is killed. The vampires are de-powered and slain. Buffy sleeps with Satsu again, after appointing her head of the Tokyo squad. Willow communes with snaky goddess Saga Vasuki.

Fourth Arc, "Time of Your Life" by Joss is a crossover with the comic book series "Fray" which Joss set in the future of the Buffyverse. Buffy and Willow head to New York where they meet Vi and Kennedy, and Buffy has a secret rendezvous with Riley. Buffy is then sucked into the future where she meets Melaka Fray, the only Slayer in the 23rd century. Dark Willow of the future is working with Melaka's brother Harth, but her plans don't make sense to anyone. Perhaps as she wanted, Buffy is forced to kill Dark Willow. Present-day Willow is instructed by Saga Vasuki on how to rescue Buffy, but does so blindfoldedly as requested so as not to see her future self. Lasting questions: What was Dark Willow attempting? will Kennedy find out about Willow's seemingly sexual relationship with Saga Vasuki? is Wllow on a dark path? Riley is revealed as an agent of Twilight.

One shot; "Time of Your Life" by Jeff Loeb. Buffy awakens in her season one body, with complications. Revisits the setting and style of Buffy the Animated Series, which never made it to screens.

Five interconnected one-shots about vampires going public. "Harmonic Divergence" (Jane Espenson) about Harmony (and Clem?) becoming reality TV stars, then "Swell" about Slayers Satsu and Kennedy (romance? affair?), then "Predators and Prey" where Buffy and Andrew track down a rogue Slayer from previous issues called Simone, and then two more concerning Faith and Giles, and Xander and Dawn, respectively.

Then, Jane Espenson's 5-issue "Oz" arc.

NYT-best-selling author Brad Meltzer's penultimate 5-issue arc.

Joss's final arc, 5-issues.

*Anya will be appearing, but will not be resurrected.

*Angel and Spike will appear, but sparingly. Contrary to what is often said, Joss is legally allowed to use them as much as he wants, but he's decided not to so as to not affect what the company that owns Angel and Spike can do with them.

*At least two new slayers, named Leah and Roweena. will be featured characters.

*Xander, Willow, Dawn, Giles, Buffy obviously.

*Faith is going to have her own arc.

*Amy is back as a baddie... there is talk of a possibility of her being the "big bad," but that is just speculation at this point.

*Word is Ethan Rayne will be making a "cameo."

*Andrew will be involved.

Joss- will also concluding the season as well as overseeing the entire project.

Jane Espenson-said she hopes to do some comedic standalones but will do whatever Joss asks of her.

Drew Goddard, Drew Greenberg, and Steven DeKnight.

There are also comic world writers lined up, including Brain Vaughn.

www.wikipedia.com

www.whedon.info.com

www.whedonverse.com

www.tfaw.com

www.abstractsprocket.co.uk

www.forbiddenplanet.com/store/Home.htm

www.darkhorse.com

http://buffycomics.hellmouthcentral.com/

www.forbidden planet.com

www.abstract sprocket.com

http://www.ebay.com

Scripts can be found at Twiz Tv http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/buffy/

Look no further; there are plenty of other BtVS boards on the net that are far better moderated to avoid trolls, although the infighting and profanity things are more arbitrary. Here are a few to be getting on with:

http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showforum=599. Television Without Pity. Highly moderated, but the best place for real discussion of BtVS related issues.

http://thenancytribe.proboards75.com/

http://www.blahness.org/efn/index.php

http://flylikeangels.proboards104.com/index.cgi?

http://z6.invisionfree.com/slayerxxsensation/index.php?

http://www.spawnofsobek.proboards105.com/index.cgi

http://laura.jc-hosting.co.uk/XMB-1.9.6-rc2/Files/index.php

From Buffy's point of view, twice: once in "Prophecy Girl" and once in "The Gift." From our point of view, at least three times, and perhaps up to six. In "The Wish," we see alternate reality Buffy get killed by The Master just before Giles ends the wish by smashing Anya's necklace. In "Normal Again," we possibly see an alternate reality Buffy die. However, this death is arguable, since it is never clearly stated whether this is a hallucination, as the other characters believe, or an alternate reality, as might be inferred from the final scene in the episode (although it should be noted that Buffy had not yet taken the antidote at that point). It also never said that Buffy is dead in the final scene, merely that "we've lost her" and that she is non-reactive, which could also indicate a comatose state. There was also a moment in season one "Nightmares" where she was arguably dead because she'd become a vampire. In season six, Buffy's heart monitor flat-lined because of the bullet for a moment right before Willow revived her with magic.