Buffy The Vampire Slayer

SEVEN years ago few could have imagined Britain’s The Independent newspaper would label a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer "the most original, witty and provocative television show of the past two decades".

An even bigger stumbling block than the show’s facetious title was Buffy’s box-office history.

The tale of a vampire-slaying vixen was first conceived for a 1992 feature film with Kristy Swanson in the title role and Donald Sutherland playing her watcher. It bombed at the box office, earning a mere $24.5 million .

This result left Buffy creator Joss Whedon disheartened, and not just because of the film’s economic failure. His vision of a super-strong feminist icon destined to save the world while trying to survive high school had been altered during the film’s making.

Determined to fully realise his vision, Whedon created a television series around his tarnished heroine. Some laughed at the scriptwriter’s doggedness, but that laughter has since died.

Seven years after Whedon sold the series to a youth-focused US TV network, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has developed a loyal international following, is a regular focus of academic study, has made its previously unknown cast members famous and has redeemed Whedon’s reputation in Hollywood.

Despite its achievements, this ground-breaking television series will come to a close in Australia next Monday, in a final episode that sees Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang fight the First Evil and attempt to save the world . . . again.

But just as Whedon initially struggled to get Buffy the Vampire Slayer made, in Australia it faced its own hurdles.

The show premiered in the summer of 1997 on Channel 7. Buffy was given every chance to succeed, earning the prestigious 7.30pm timeslot, even though it meant the advertisement for the first show had to be censored to remove all references to vampires. The things they love about Buffy Cast and creator reflect on the end:

EMMA CAULFIELD

I think that Joss created a character that felt very unique in Buffy, in that she was both powerful and feminine, and weak. I mean, before Buffy, you had superhero women like Wonder Woman who was flying around in an invisible plane, and that wasn’t super-relatable. And the thing about Buffy is she’s still a girl, with a lot of weaknesses and emotions.

JOSS WHEDON

If the show’s about anything it’s about growing up - which is not a process that ends until you die - and on our show, even after. So, I knew the key moment that I wanted to bring to this episode, this last episode, and when you see it, you’ll know it. And you’ll go, ’Oh, that’s what they’ve been headed towards all this time.’ It makes sense.

ALYSON HANNIGAN

I couldn’t have asked for a better arc or growth. I’ve been able to do everything and that’s the gift about this show is that it’s not just sort of one generic, like, we are only doing one thing here. You never know what to expect. It’s amazing.

MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG

Buffy’s certainly presented many challenges to myself, that’s why I’ve been happy to be around as long as I have been. Everyone’s (asking) ’It’s the last show, were you upset?’ No, I’m not, I think it’s healthy. I’m so happy that Buffy will be able to go out with a bang.

"It did rate well," Seven Brisbane’s program director David Franken says. "It did very well in the under-25s and then it overlapped into (the ratings) period and did well in under-40s, but it was still running a poor second in its timeslot."

Buffy was immediately replaced in the schedule, leaving its fledgling fans waiting until the next non-ratings period to resume their viewership.

It returned in the summer of 1998, but it had become clear that Buffy would not survive in a primetime slot in ratings period.

Franken, a staunch, stake-carrying fan of the show, says playing 10 episodes of Buffy each year would not be fair to viewers. As such, he hatched a plan to save the show.

"I reminded the programmers of the tremendous success we’d had with the 10.30pm programs of the science-fiction, adventure genre which we’d been exploring for five years with classic Star Trek episodes and a show called Time Trax about time travel," Franken says.

"These shows had dominated their timeslots so I said, ’Either we play 10 episodes a year or we take Buffy to the 10.30pm timeslot where, while it’s going to lose some children and teens, it’s likely to explode in terms of 16 to 39-year-olds’."

The result "re-wrote primetime", Franken says. Buffy regularly attracted 600,000 viewers, despite its late timeslot. About the same number videotaped the show.

Ratings aside, cast members Danny Strong and Thomas Lenk, who played the show’s sometimes-evil nerds Jonathan and Andrew, attribute Buffy’s creative success worldwide to Whedon’s vision and the show’s writing.

Strong joined the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its infancy. He unsuccessfully auditioned for the lead role of Xander, but was recalled, and appeared in many episodes of Buffy, from its unaired pilot to its final season.

"Joss created this alternative universe about problems in our own lives by blending fantasy and reality and walking the line between comedy and drama. It really was an incredible feat as well as being just good fiction," he says.

The story arcs, which were often mapped out seasons before they were realised, also were a factor in Buffy’s success, Strong says.

But even though Whedon had a plan, Strong says the actors were often kept in the dark.

"We’d get hints of what was going to happen but I don’t think the writers even knew the full story," he says. "If something had become obvious and mooted by the fans, Joss would take it and flip it around."

Strong’s character Jonathan had several memorable moments on the show, from being saved from shooting himself in the controversial episode Earshot to becoming a superhero (Superstar) and joining with fellow geeks Warren and Andrew in the show’s sixth season to form the villainous Nerd Troika.

His long run came to an end when Andrew stabbed him. Like most deaths on the show, it was kept secret, even from Strong.

"I was in a cab in London and Tom and Adam (Busch, who played nerd leader Warren) and I were reading the scripts together," Strong says. "I skipped over that part when I was reading and I got to the end and said ’this is open-ended, we get to come back’ and Tom just looked at me and said ’it didn’t go so well for you’. I read it back over and took the news very professionally."

Lenk adds in a style reminiscent of his character: "If by professionally you mean beating your fists and yelling to the heavens ’why, oh why!’ "

Lenk’s character Andrew, the newcomer of the two, survived past the murder of his friend and, though Lenk says Andrew is "evil layered with good, layered with awkwardness" and not at all worthy of it, he survives until the final episode.

Lenk predicts fans of the show may be divided about Buffy’s end.

"I think a lot of them will be satisfied with it but only after being pissed off for a week," he says.

Though the show’s finale is nigh, many still seem to need Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

University of South Australia communications lecturer Geraldine Bloustien recently held a one-day academic symposium on the series. More than 200 attended, coming from interstate and overseas.

She says the show’s production values, rich text, pop-culture references and use of metaphors will interest scholars for years.

"In spite of it being about vampires and monsters, it’s actually recognised immediately that these are metaphors for other issues that are very real," she says. "It’s much more about how to get on in life, how to cope with high school, university, jobs, relationships."

Some episodes are used for training, she says, such as one in which Buffy’s mother dies being used to teach social workers about bereavement.

The final episode may screen, but the show seems destined to live on.

The things they love about Buffy Cast and creator reflect on the end:

EMMA CAULFIELD

I think that Joss created a character that felt very unique in Buffy, in that she was both powerful and feminine, and weak. I mean, before Buffy, you had superhero women like Wonder Woman who was flying around in an invisible plane, and that wasn’t super-relatable. And the thing about Buffy is she’s still a girl, with a lot of weaknesses and emotions.

JOSS WHEDON

If the show’s about anything it’s about growing up - which is not a process that ends until you die - and on our show, even after. So, I knew the key moment that I wanted to bring to this episode, this last episode, and when you see it, you’ll know it. And you’ll go, ’Oh, that’s what they’ve been headed towards all this time.’ It makes sense.

ALYSON HANNIGAN

I couldn’t have asked for a better arc or growth. I’ve been able to do everything and that’s the gift about this show is that it’s not just sort of one generic, like, we are only doing one thing here. You never know what to expect. It’s amazing.

MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG

Buffy’s certainly presented many challenges to myself, that’s why I’ve been happy to be around as long as I have been. Everyone’s (asking) ’It’s the last show, were you upset?’ No, I’m not, I think it’s healthy. I’m so happy that Buffy will be able to go out with a bang.