Category Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Was the Buffy Movie Really That Bad?
The 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer gets a lot of grief, but is it deserved? I actually loved the movie when I saw it in the theater; so much so that I refused to watch the series for years out of some perverse sense of loyalty and deep-seated contrariness. No, they’d say, the show […]
I Watch the Unaired Buffy Pilot So You Don’t Have To
The opening is almost identical to the aired pilot we know and love: an establishing shot of the darkened school, and then a hand breaking through the glass. Darla, sporting terrible hair and a baggy floral dress, follows her juvenile delinquent date into the school’s auditorium. He’s more overtly a jackass in this iteration, opening […]
Buffy, Season One Overview
Season Recap: The show picks up where the movie left off, with teenage vampire slayer Buffy Summers relocating to Sunnydale. Under the guidance of her new Watcher, Rupert Giles, she thwarts an ancient vampire known as the Master as he attempts to open a portal to hell. Buffy also befriends misfits Willow and Xander, butts […]
Buffy S1E12: “Prophecy Girl”
Original Air Date: June 2, 1997 The Recap: The Master attempts to open the Hellmouth, and Buffy is the only one who can stop him. The Good: When Willow turns down Xander’s half-hearted invitation to the dance after Buffy turns him down, I was so proud of her. The massacre at the school is the […]
Buffy S1E11: “Out of Mind, Out of Sight”
Original Air Date: May 19, 1997 The Recap: When a girl becomes invisible, she wreaks her vengeance on the students who ignored her. The Good: Guest star Clea DuVall does good voiceover work as the invisible girl. The glimpse into Cordy’s hidden depths of character sets up her later development in the series and its […]
Buffy S1E10: “Nightmares”
Original Air Date: May 12, 1997 The Recap: A comatose boy traps the residents of Sunnydale in their worst nightmares. The Good: Though the show would do the same thing better in season four’s “Restless,” this is a solid, imaginative episode that allows us to get to know the main players a little better. Giles’s […]
Buffy S1E9: “Puppet Show”
Original Air Date: May 5, 1997 The Recap: A series of murders during the Sunnydale High talent show lead the Scooby Gang to a showdown with an organ-stealing demon and a dummy named Sid. The Good: I love this episode. It’s the funniest of the first season; between the talent show and the introduction of […]
Buffy S1E8: “I Robot, You Jane”
Original Air Date: April 28, 1997 The Recap: A demon who feeds on the love of enthralled humans gets lose in the internet. The Good: Nearly twenty years later, online dating hasn’t changed much. This episode marks the first appearance of sexy, sassy techno-pagan Jenny Calendar, and although the computer stuff is a bit dated, […]
Buffy S1E7: “Angel”
Original Air Date: April 14, 1997 The Recap: Buffy discovers that Angel is a vampire. Believing he attacked her mother, she sets out to kill him. The Good: Gellar and Boreanaz have great chemistry; she’s gone on record as being Team Angel, and unlike some other cradle-robbing creature-of-the-night boyfriends (*ahem* Edward), I actually buy them […]
Buffy S1E6: “The Pack”
Original Air Date: April 7, 1997 The Recap: When Xander and a gang of mean kids get possessed by hyena spirits, he unleashes his inner beast. Also, Principal Flutie gets eaten. The Good: Eoin Bailey makes his acting debut in this episode as Kyle, the lead mean kid. You might know him as Ben Foster […]
Nostalgia Vision 