While we wait for the communal arse whoppin' ...

I stumbled over Buffy the Vampire Slayer one night on BBC2 thanks to an overactive remote and stack of GCSE coursework. Looked like Beverly Hills 90210 with fangs (later discovered it was filmed in the same school!) but I was hooked after five minutes thanks to great character writing, zany plot and some undead British geezer who looked like Sid Vicious with a peroxide fetish and century on the block. (Watch the show and discover his identity, now there's a teaser for ya!)

Episode was set on Hallowe'en (episode title, reasonably enough, "Hallowe'en" ) and the kids took on the characteristics of their Hallowe'en costumes. Great idea, and fun episode. Tuned in the next week out of curiosity, got an epp brimming with more angst than a Philip Larkin poem ("Lie To Me" ) and realised the series had a pretty unique combination that had me converted. That's Buffy for me: the only genuine comedy drama I've seen; when it was good it had you crying with laughter one second and horror the next.

Same goes for Angel, but with added evil lawyers (no *really* evil lawyers, these guys make John Milton look like Fletcher).

First three seasons are great, fourth and fifth have their problems, six and seven have their own circle of Hell. This DVD is a spoiler nightmare, but the epps are a great Buffy taster. Alternatively you can probably pick up the season one boxset for 15 quid if you look around a bit.

Byron really hit the nail on the head. I got into it towards the end of the first season since I have always liked anything to do with vampires, and I just got hooked. I really associated myself with characters such as Willow and Xander. I was much older than them but I knew what it was like to be surrounded by big personalities such as Buffy and slowly having to develop your own.

Joss Wheddon is a great writer and exec director and has been able to develop the characters throughout the 7 seasons. The story lines are grown up, funny, confusing and thought provoking (sometimes all in one episode!). David Bell from OFTED has even praised Buffy as a strong female character girls should look up too!

I wish I was you and could watch everything afresh and enjoy it like I did the first time round. Give it a try, you'll like it!

I remember when I first encountered Buffy...

It was in august of '97. I happened to come across it in the telly progs of the newspaper just a few minutes before it started.
I'd enjoyed the movie (I happened to enjoy mindless drivel on occasion), but had my doubts about the TV show as the previous TV spin offs that I'd seen were fairly crap, F/X and Clueless being the exceptions...
Still I decided to check it out - I still thought the title was one of the coolest ever
They showed Welcome To The Hellmouth one day and The Harvest the next.
Then nothing....for what seemed like forever.
They'd originally shown it in the early afternoon, so I figure they'd made a scheduling mistake not realising that there'd be violence and monsters in a series with the words Slayer and Vampire in it....
Then they finally showed the whole of S1 from about march onwards in '98 at midnight each night.

I'd absolutely HATED SMG in WTTH.
Mainly cos she looked nothing like Kristy Swanson.
That lasted until she started kicking ass in The Harvest.
I was pretty much hooked from that point...
I watched religiously until the end of S3 when they stopped showing it in Norway - they didn't start it again until the end of 2002, when they also started showing Angel.
Fortunately I moved to Ireland in 2001 and have been able to keep up with Buffy & co on Sky 1, BBC2 and TV3.
Once Angel ends I'm outta here, gone, vamoosed...

Anyway as you're not aquainted with the scoobies I suggest starting at the beginning with the S1 DVD boxset.
Unless of course you're like me and enjoy cheesy movies then go for the movie, but get the series too. Chalk to go with the cheese

Convince me to convince you

I got into it when I was around 11, it was my escape from my parent's divorce. I saw Buffy as a role model, she had been through divorce with her parents, she juggled her boyfriend, school work and outside life with being the Slayer, it gave me an incentive to think life wasn't so bad. The comedy is class, the acting is [mostly] brilliant, David is hot , the story lines make you cry and smile. The episodes to watch if you want a tear jerker are Becoming, The Gift and The Chosen. But you won't really appreciate The Chosen unless you know the storyline. I grew up with Buffy and at the risk of sounding cheesy, I grew up and Buffy stopped. For me, Buffy will always be my favourite, and she'll be my role model.

I discovered Buffy in the Summer of '99 whilst i was laid up with a bad back. I was lying on the sofa, feeling bored and sore and sorry for myself and channel hopping. Sky One were half way through "Surprise" so i thought i'd check it out to see what all the fuss was about. Saw David Boreanaz as Angel, and the rest as they say, is history. I followed the show religiously from then on in. Bought the first two seasons on video, season three on DVD. Once David left to star in his own series, i still watched Buffy but it didn't hold the same interest as before I was always going to watch Angel, and i have done. I have the first four seasons on DVD and am currently enjoying the fifth. But i'm not happy at all it ends after this series, it still has one more season left in it, and judging by the reactions from fans worldwide, i'm not the only one to think so.

The first three seasons of Buffy are the best to check out in my opinion,especially on back story for Angel. If you're a fan of the vamp with a soul, then start at the beginning with s1, you won't regret it

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by Keenangel
Once David left to star in his own series, i still watched Buffy but it didn't hold the same interest as before

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To hastily qualify my earlier comments, Mr Boreanaz's departure *isn't* the reason I think Buffy went downhill.

I watched Buffy from when it was first shown on Sky back in March of 1998. I'd seen an article about it in a TV guide and thought it looked worthy of giving a go. I had heard of the movie but had never seen it.

As soon as I saw the pilot I was hooked and my life did change after that because, without that show, I wouldn't have had the social life I have had in the last four years when I discovered BuffyUK in 2000. Made a lot of good friends through the show and met a lot of the cast of both Buffy and Angel. Put it this way, I, along with others, shed a tear or two when the final ep was shown at a Nosferatu night last Summer.

I agree that the first three seasons of Buffy were the best, especially 2 and 3. 'Passion' from S2 still remains my all time favourite episode. Seasons 4 to 7 aren't up to the same standard but each season has it's classics: 4 has 'Hush', 5 has 'The Body' and 'The Gift', 6 has 'Once More, With Feeling' and 7 has 'Chosen'. What isn't in dispute is that you will be taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions from laughter to sadness as you see these characters literally grow up through High School to college to become young adults.

With Angel, I love the show too although, again, I think the second season was the pinnacle with some truly great episodes and a powerful arc running through it.

As someone else has said, I envy you that you are in a position to watch the shows from the beginning. Just think, you have a combined 254 episodes and 12 seasons of Joss-verse to catch up on.

Enjoy.

(Edited by Whistler 10/03/2004 10:54)

I forgot to mention I watched the first 2 seasons of Angel but never liked it after then...

From the sounds of things I could be one of the only ones here (who've posted, that is) who actually watched Buffy from the start... (as in the 1st showing on BBC2) always the awkward git!

I watched it from the first showing on BBC 2 as well, Alan

I realised when i picked up the season that the only episode i ever missed and saw later out of the order was The Puppet Show. I was in a shared house at the time, but made temporary buffy fans of all of them, though i'm the only one who continued with the love.

Buffy was responsible for me finding my way onto the net, into the strange world of online fandom, and making lots of friends. Its a great TV show in itslef, but a lot more to me because of that.

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by Alan
From the sounds of things I could be one of the only ones here (who've posted, that is) who actually watched Buffy from the start... (as in the 1st showing on BBC2) always the awkward git!

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Ha snap so did I

was it shown on bbc2 and then sky or the other way around?
i watched it from its first showing on british tv (and on both channels i also ended up recording every single one) because *shamefully enough* i worshipped the film and thought they would ruin it with the series like so many have before but was instantly hooked i was stunned by the fight scenes loved the make up and adored the characters (especially Willow and xander) from there i bacame obsessed with collecting the comics too and then later came the figures and cards and much later the first con made itself widely known and i was a freak/geek/nerd to everyone else's standards (everyone else being anyone who had never watched the show). i made some great friends at my first con an event i never would've gone to if i hadnt loved the show as much as i do, there hasnt been an episode i've hated maybe thought it wasnt as good but never hated one not even when The Body was showed at Nos co-incided with my own mother's death that same day if i had never had Buffy and my friends at T21 i dont know how i would have coped.
i have to say Buffy and everyone that it's connected me too because of fandom has been a gift and something i will never forget.
i too, also, wish i could watch the whole thing all over again with a fresh curiosity and unknowing and be shocked, angry, crying and laughing at all the episodes all over again.

As for Angel he's rocking this season! and i am very upset over its sudden demise it had at least one more season if not two.

It was shown first on Sky One in March 1998 (from when I watched it) and then shown on BBC 2 in December 1998 (around New Years Eve if I recall correctly)


(Edited by Whistler 10/03/2004 16:27)

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by Whistler
It was shown first on Sky One in March 1998 (from when I watched it) and then shown on BBC 2 in December 1998 (around New Years Eve if I recall correctly)

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i remember seeing it on sky first (because about a year later my mom got gotten it installed in my room to stop the raging arguements in our house) but once they saw how much i was into the show (and how i would make them pay for disturbing me ) she would "drag" my dad down the pub so i could watch it on the big telly in peace and quiet.


tags corrected

(Edited by Staff 11/03/2004 00:21)

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by Watcher girlBuffy was responsible for me finding my way onto the net, into the strange world of online fandom, and making lots of friends. Its a great TV show in itself, but a lot more to me because of that.

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Couldn't have put it better myself

Okay right. Buffy just rocks that is it. You HAVE to watch it, seriously it's the best show ever. Angel is great too. So here's my Buffy history...
Caught an episode (I think it was 'The Witch' of s1) of it while I was in Australia, which was like New Year 1997. Thought it was alright, but just another show. I was very sleepy at the time and so did not appreciate it fully (or even know what the name of it was).
Then in the xmas hols 98, I saw this ad for this new show on BBC2. I was AMAZED! It looked like everything I could ever want in a TV show right there. So I started watching it. And I've never looked back. That's 6 years of Buffy worshipping
So basically, Buffy and Angel are these amazing shows, that really do incorporate everything you could ever want from a show, happy bits, sad bits, funny bits, teen bits, romance, heartbreak, demons, scary bits, and more more more. They are both just too cool!
Like other people have said, start from the very beginning (a very good place to start) and just go through every ep of both. Btw, Buffy s4 matchs up with Angel s1, s5 with s2, s6 with s3 and s7 with s7, in terms of the time scale, and as some of the eps cross over, it might've got a bit confusing if ya didn't know that.
So yeah, watch it. Even if you don'y become a full fledged fan, I know lots of people that like Buffy, but don't love it, but just enjoy watching it every now and then. It's ace either way. Personally, I'm more of a fanatic, but rejection from normal circles can come from talking about Buffy too much, so be careful.
Hehe I remember, in year 8-9, we had to do a book review every couple of weeks and go up to the front and talk about it. Of course, mine was (almost) always a Buffy book, and as I began there would be a huge groan from the whole class A good thing was though, that people that didn't know me could use it as a conversation point. Like they'd come up to me and be like 'so, you like Buffy, huh?' yeaaaah.
Put simply; Buffy rocks!

Seems I ain't up there with your hard core Buffy, erm, devotees after all!

I've got the first four DVD boxsets, part two of the Watcher's Guide and as visitors to fanfic (plug, plug) will know, have a monster (sorry) Buffy story on the go (minus Buffy, who I've always found an irritating character: never trust anyone who shares a name with German inbreds!) but I've never gone to a convention, had the least bit of interest in meeting that cast, or generally thought about the series when not watching it or writing about it.

Yes, it's true, entire days go by without a Buffyverse thought passing my mind.

So obsession is not inevitable ... but can be fun.

I caught the end of an ep or 2 on BBC2 but didnt understand enough to get inot it.

then i saw a whole season 3 ep, the one with the blonde bloke wanting his bird back (cryptic enough to hide the identity of blonde bloke?) I forget it's name right now but I loved it.

SO... I bought season 1's box set. Loves that 2

Bought the whole of season 2, then 3, then i discovered 4 was staring on Sky!

Despite "weird" stuff being almost banned in my house i petitioned and won the right to watch. Which was also when Angel began it's season 1. Thankfully i didnt base everything on season 4 'cos it was mediocre (for Buffy, not compared to other shows).

I think it dealt with issues i had (or had had) but it was fun, quirky and cool at the same time. Like friends with sereious teen issues and vampires.

Try it. It isnt for everyone but just 1 ep got me hooked. And i dont spent £30 on box sets! B/A are the only ones i've ever bought, i still cant believe i did it on the strength on 1 ep tho