Buffy Kicks!. Review on Buffy The Vampire Slayers

Buffy the Vampire Slayer started in 1997 and is about to begin its seventh season. Joss Whedon is a creative genius who executive produces the show. The opening theme music is very catchy and fast-paced, by Nerf Herder. This show would be classified into fantasy/adventure. The show revolves around young people in their early twenties, although the show is so well written and acted, it can most surely be watched and enjoyed by older age groups as well.

A brief plot description follows. A young teenage girl takes her birth to become the world’s vampire slayer for a generation. Buffy Anne Summers, played wonderfully by talented and pretty Sarah Michelle Gellar, begins the series as a high school sophomore. She has just transferred to her new school in Sunnydale, California. Buffy is what I’d call a reluctant slayer, in other words, she just doesn’t immediately go “wow, I’m a vampire slayer, cool, bring on the mayhem!” Ha ha. It is quite a shock and a revelation to this young woman that she has somehow been blessed/cursed to save the world from the ravages of hell. Oh, did I mention that Sunnydale sits on the Hellmouth? It’s home to many hellish creatures intent on wrecking havoc on planet earth.

Buffy is the star player, and in her orbit are other wonderfully talented actors including her “watcher”, Giles, who is also the school librarian. The watcher’s job is to train and take care of the slayer. Rupert Giles is played delightfully by Anthony Stewart Head. Buffy readily becomes best pals with witchy woman Willow Rosenberg. Willow starts off the series as your garden variety shy kid, wall flower type of girl. The popular beautiful girl in school, Cordelia used to make fun of the nerdy way Willow used to dress. Willow is played by American Pie’s Alyson Hannigan (“once, at band camp….”). Cordelia Chase is played by Charisma Carpenter. Cordelia reminds me somewhat of the comic book character Veronica, gorgeous yet stuck-up. Then there’s Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendan) , Willow’s boy crush since first grade or so. The gang becomes known as the Scooby Gang. Buffy’s handsome but at times dangerous boyfriend Angel/Angelus is played by David Boreanaz. As you may know if you’ve seen the spin-off to Buffy, Angel, the characters of Angel and Cordelia both moved to Los Angeles to save more poor souls down in Southern California. Angel was around to complete the super couple of Buffy and Angel from seasons one to three of the series. It’s not too common for a spin-off series to enjoy as much success as Angel has. It’s still going strong as well. Angle gave Buffy some of her happiest moments, as well as some of her worst heartaches. Angel and Buffy had a beautiful loving relationship that was destined to come to an end, because afterall, how could a vampire and a vampire slayer make a life for themselves together for long?

In Season 2, a couple of really wacky vamps named Spike (James Marsters) and Drucilla (Juliet Landau) came to Sunnydale to stir up lots of trouble. Seasons 1 and 2 are very strong, and they are full of excitement, adventure, as well as great humor. The witty dialogue is a big plus on this show. The character development is very strong as well, and just keeps deepening and growing with each passing year. Season 3 gave us another slayer named Faith (Eliza Dushku) , a beautiful brunette to compliment the blonde Buffy. Some of the shows are okay, but season 3 is one of my least favorite seasons. I could never really warm to the idea of another slayer, although the show does its best to explain her appearance.

In Season 4, a personal favorite of mine, Buffy and gang go to college at (where else?) UC Sunnydale. I like Season 4 because it puts Buffy back into a new environment in which she has to find her way around and find herself, similar to when she first appears in her new high school a few years earlier. Although it was very hard to see Buffy move on after Angel, it’s nice to see her get a new boyfriend at college, Riley Finn (Marc Blucas). Willow has a boyfriend now, Oz, a musician/werewolf (Seth Green) and has become more cool. She dresses more modern and has taken a much more serious interest in witchcraft of late.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is based on the 1992 movie of the same name starring Kristy Swanson as Buffy. It’s one of the rare cases when the TV series is actually much better than the movie. In the TV show, Buffy’s mother is played by actress Kristine Sutherland. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the show is that Buffy at times wants to be a normal young woman and pursue her dreams, as she must figure out ways to balance slaying the bad guys, taking care of her family, and maintaining her friendships. Buffy recently found out she had a younger sister, Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) , and she’s been trying to get closer to her. It’s a great show to follow for drama, comedy and excellent acting and dialogue that make the characters come alive. Give it a try and you may be surprised at how well you end up liking it.