Sarah Michelle Gellar and the rest of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast rocked up in our lives back in 1997. The supernatural American TV show of vampires, monsters and demons ran for 7 seasons catapulting it to the cult classic status. Based on the original 1992 film, (that was also created by Joss Whedon) and starred the likes of Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland and Luke Perry.
The basic premise of the TV show revolved around a teenage high schooler named Buffy Summers who is “the chosen one” or simply, The Slayer who inherited the really easy job of having to continually save the world. AND finish her homework. AND make it to prom! The action packed TV show was set amongst the drama-filled town of Sunnydale that conveniently sat on top of the Hellmouth and was made up of a population of super attractive young folk!
Buffy was a clever hybrid of teenage angst, witty one liners, horror and a major TV series who had a strong female lead. Hoorah! The subjects tackled were not just a fantastical portrayal of good versus evil with a side of slapstick, copious attempts to save the world, hair flicks and shirtless buff vampires.
Ok… there was a fair bit of shirtless Spike!
Whedon made sure that Buffy connected with the audience on a universal level with its storylines covering death, mental health, sexuality, suicide, assault and various complex relationships. Like that one time Buffy had to kill her one true love Angel for the greater good. Christ on a bike!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer had the extraordinary power to pull you into a ridiculous goofy plot about beer swigging cavemen… and then BAM punch you square in the feels with a reality that you were just not prepared for. Ugh! Emotions… everywhere!
I. can’t. Even! RIP Mrs Summers.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first TV show that I became totally obsessed with. My friends and I would skip our lectures and binge VHS tape boxsets in my tiny university bedroom, while bitching about how irritating Buffy’s little sister Dawn was. (Like you’re not even real you mystical ball of energy created by monks!) I also bought a Buffy phone case cover for my Nokia 3310 and I’m not even sorry!
It may be 22 years later BUT my VHS tapes have simply been swapped out for DVDs and the desire for ‘shut up take my money’ type purchases like Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game. I still think that the characters and storylines from Buffy are still so relatable and important today. Here are 7 reasons why…
Strong Female Leads
This heading makes me eye-roll at the sheer fact that this still needs to be acknowledged when strong ladies should just be a given BUT alas, having a female kick ass and take names is still a novelty and still very much needed in TV and film today. In the 90s it was rare for a woman to take centre stage. Buffy was still your archetypal beautiful blonde leading lady, but she also could beat you in a thumb war/banish your ass back to hell!
Female characters in sci-fi superhero type narratives were usually the pretty sidekick or love interest for the main male lead to aim his penis at! The TV series successfully made a point of not just portraying a feisty vampire slayer, but also introducing us to other powerful females like Buffy’s best pal Willow who was a witch… who also technically tried to destroy the world that one time. Awkward!
Veiny Willow was so much fun. Said literally no one.
2. Scooby Gang Assemble!
There’s so much to say about these outfits!
For those amateurs amongst you, the main squad (Scoobies) that made up the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast were as follows:
Name: Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
Occupation: The Chosen One.
Strength: Slaying shit and generally saving the world. A lot.
Weakness: Her rousing yet annoying pep talks!
Name: Willow Rosenberg (Alison Hannigan)
Occupation: A lesbian witch (because heterosexuals witches are far less impressive!)
Strength: Being adorable and crazy Wicca powerful.
Weakness: Having no chill! Like catastrophising situations to the point of murder! Casual.
Name: Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendan)
Occupation: Funny average human dude who I think was a builder one time?!
Strength: Offering comic relief at really inappropriate times.
Weakness: Panicking and dumping Anya for no real reason except he was stupid. #punching!
Name: Rupert Giles (Anthony Head)
Occupation: Watcher and librarian
Strength: Knowing everything. Like seriously. Everyone would be screwed without his knowledge and many MANY books.
Weakness: His outfit choices.
Name: Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter)
Occupation: Being popular.
Strength: Being pretty.
Weakness: Trying to pull off a teenage character when she was clearly about 37 years old!
Name: Angel (David Boreanaz)
Occupation: Vampire with a soul.
Strength: Being brooding and devilishly good looking.
Weakness: His terrible Irish accent in his origin story!
Name: Spike (James Marsters)
Occupation: Hilarious ‘evil’ vampire who still lacked morals even when he got his soul back.
Strength: Not giving a crap!
Weakness: Buffy.
Name: Anya (Emma Caulfield)
Occupation: Vengeance demon and magic shop owner.
Strength: Honesty. To the point where she could make you cry with her cutting words AND also make you want to French kiss her at the same time. Just me?
Weakness: Bunnies. Of course.
Name: Oz (Seth Green)
Occupation: Werewolf who plays in a band.
Strength: Being cool and nonchalant. The guy who keeps his head in a situation… unless it’s a full moon.
Weakness: Willow… and silver bullets.
Name: Tara Maclay (Amber Benson)
Occupation: Lesbian witch number 2!
Strength: Being super nice.
Weakness: Being mortal!
NOOOOOOOO!!!
Name: Faith (Eliza Dushku)
Occupation: Other Vampire Slayer. (Awks for Buffy ‘the chosen one!’)
Strength: Being a ballsy rebel.
Weakness: Being a little too ballsy and killing people.
Name: Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg)
Occupation: Buffy’s annoying AF younger sister.
Strength: Occasionally helping Buffy save the world.
Weakness: But generally getting in the way, demanding attention and moaning. A lot.
3. Episodes Were Genuinely Scary
Buffy was able to balance adolescent drama and all the ridiculousness that goes with it, with actually scaring the hell out of the viewers. One of the most terrifying but equally amazing episodes was called Hush. The entire episode was in silence which makes everything that much more eerie. I mean, The Gentleman who were maniacally cutting out people’s hearts while they were still alive also didn’t help matters!
4. Episodes Were Genuinely Genius
Another Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode that is ranked as a favourite amongst fans is “Once More with Feeling”. The episode was written as a musical where all characters had to sing and dance their way through to the end, save the princess and essentially live ‘happily ever after.’ But alas, real life is not a fairy tale… so all the singing and dancing did was open up a giant can of “Sweet Jesus Mary and Joseph” worms!
5. Storylines Got Us Shook!
There’s nothing quite like watching a supernatural drama unfold before you in the comfort of your own home and then all of a sudden, you’re emotionally toppled from your smug throne of naivety! Joss Whedon was masterfully able to weave in brutally honest, human nature within the series that often left us all thinking… “well shit!” For example, the Buffy and Spike lustful forbidden love storyline was all fun and games until Spike suddenly from nowhere attempts to rape her. Or when sweet innocent Willow the witch who was usually scared of her own shadow, decides to skin alive the guy who killed her girlfriend.
Fairly certain you went a little bit too far Willow!
6. The Relationships
There was Buffy and Angel. Buffy and Riley. Buffy and Spike. Buffy and the token black guy school principal. And I also like to think that there was some sexual tension between Buffy and Faith (that definitely is not just wishful thinking on my part!)
Aaaaand KISS!
You also had Willow and Oz. Willow and Tara (RIP) and Willow and that other chick who wasn’t Tara so I don’t care! There was also Xander and Anya, but Xander ruined that and I still kinda blame him for Anya’s death. Her character deserved to go out better than that damn it!
The ever-revolving love interests, passionate affairs and even toxic relationships added to the spice of the storytelling and relatability of all the characters in Buffy. We were were allowed to see the flaws in the characters we loved and exclaim, “oooh you make shit decisions too!” We also found comfort in not being alone when we could see our favourite Scooby going through the same thing us. For example, I could identify with Xander’s ability to deflect with humour, Willow’s coming out story and even David Boreanaz’s awful attempt at an Irish accent! I can’t seem to let that go.
7. The Stories Are Still Relevant
Except for the dated but oh so nostalgic 90s fashion in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV show is even more on point now than it was before. I totally took for granted how important and necessary such strong characters are in stories especially on screen. Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn’t just a bubble gum adaptation of a 90s comedy horror movie. The writing surpassed the tired, predictable rhetoric of having a muscle-bound hero save the day. The character driven episodes told us more than anything that it takes a village to get shit done and there’s no such thing as a chosen one. We’re all special and important… even if we can’t effortless pull off a backflip, followed by the splits… in tight leather trousers… whilst executing a perfect witty retort at a demon! WE ARE ALL STILL VAMPIRE SLAYERS!
