With the Halloween season here and the actual holiday right around the corner, everyone is looking for something new to watch, aside from Hocus Pocus and the Halloweentown movies for the umpteenth time. Thanks to the wonders of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video, people can enjoy the amazing television show that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
What is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you ask? Only one of the best written genre-spanning, hair-raising, laughter-inducing, tear-jerking shows to ever grace television. It aired from 1997 to 2003, lasted for seven seasons, and even gained a spinoff (Angel, which is an amazing show in its own right). Now, I know what you're thinking: "What a stupid name for a television show. What is it even about?"
It's all about turning the helpless Final Girl trope of the horror genre on its head by giving the protagonist, Buffy Summers, supernatural powers to combat the forces of darkness. As the very cheesy first season opening voice-over says, "In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer." Although this super corny narration thankfully leaves after the second season, it does a good job in describing the character's predicament. Buffy is just a normal high school girl besides that, and struggles with the duty she must face. We get to see her struggle balancing her life and the life of the slayer throughout the series, and we follow her and her friends through high school, college, and beyond. It's rare for a series to continue on after its characters have left high school, and it makes their journey realistic, albeit through a supernatural horror lens.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is unique in its ability to cover multiple genres within its seven season run. There's some amazing laughs, genuinely scary moments, a lot of heart-wrenching scenes, and thought-provoking moments, sometimes all in the span of a single episode. It's also not afraid to kill off your favorite characters, and you may find yourself drowning in tears by the end of a season because of it.
The action in the series is also amazing for a television show of that time, and the stunt work is second to none. The effects after the first couple seasons are also really good, and you can tell the budget was put in good hands in regards to that.
The show also is rare in the risks it takes. There is an episode where over 75% of it has no dialogue, and it's one of the best episodes in the series. There's also one of the first instances of a musical episode later in the series before they became cliche and overdone. Additionally, there's an episode that I cannot fully go into due to major spoilers, but the emotional resonance felt, with multiple people dealing with the loss of a loved one, is simply one of the best pieces of fiction put to video. I still can't watch the aforementioned episode without getting choked up. It's just that powerful.
The series also has the privilege of featuring actors that would one day become well known. Seth Green, the creator of Robot Chicken, the voice of Chris in Family Guy, and the actor who portrayed Scott Evil in Austin Powers? He's in Buffy. Alyson Hannigan, who went on to play Lilly in How I Met Your Mother? She's one of the lead roles in this show. David Boreanaz, better known as Seeley Booth on Bones? You guessed it; he got his start on the show. The sheer amount of talent in the main and supporting cast makes even the corniest lines have dramatic weight. And the person who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Joss Whedon, the man who directed the Avengers movies, created Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, and the gone-too-soon show Firefly to name a few.
When the show ended, it remained so popular that it was actually continued in comic book form, having its eighth, ninth, and tenth "seasons" come to life within the panels of its own ongoing series. The series has a diehard fanbase that revels in discussing "shipping" certain characters, and the lifelong battle between "Bangel" and "Spuffy." Wondering what exactly I'm talking about? You'll have to watch to find out.
If you're looking for an amazing universe to get into with characters you become invested in, this is the show for you. It's the Halloween season, so why not branch out from your classics to try this out? Who knows? Maybe you'll find yourself looking for vampires to dust after you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
