Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Created by	Joss Whedon
Starring	Sarah Michelle Gellar Nicholas Brendon Alyson Hannigan Charisma Carpenter Anthony Stewart Head David Boreanaz Seth Green James Marsters Marc Blucas Emma Caulfield Michelle Trachtenberg Amber Benson
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	144
Production
Running time	42 minutes
Original release
Network	The WB (1997–2001) UPN (2001–2003)
Release	March 10, 1997 (1997-03-10) – May 20, 2003 (2003-05-20)
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series. It is about a girl who fought vampires and other monsters. It was written by Joss Whedon. He based it on the script that he wrote for a movie with the same title. The movie came out in 1992 and stars Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Donald Sutherland, and Paul Reubens. The television series has many fans. It was originally shown from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003.

The main idea of the series is the opposite of what is the normal Hollywood idea about horror. In traditional Hollywood horror stories, the young blonde girl is always the weakest character. She is always the one that needs to be saved. She is often the first one to die. In Buffy, Whedon changed that. He changed that girl into the person with all the power. He changed her into the hero. Many of the monsters and storylines on the series are symbols of real-life problems faced by teenagers. As Whedon has said, "Highschool is a horror movie."^[1]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was first shown on March 10, 1997 on the WB network. It was a very important part of the Warner Bros. television network in its early years.^[2] After five seasons, the series left the WB and went to the United Paramount Network (UPN) for its last two seasons. In the United Kingdom, the entire series was shown on Sky One and BBC2. The BBC showed the series at two different times. A family-friendly version with violence and bad language cut out was shown early in the evening and an unedited version was shown later at night.^[3] Sky One did something similar. It showed an edited version in the afternoon and the uncut version in prime time. From the fourth season onwards, the BBC showed the series in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen format, but Whedon said that Buffy was never supposed to be watched this way.^[4]

1. ↑ Interview with Joss Whedon Archived 2010-05-12 at the Wayback Machine by SF Said at Shebytches.com
2. ↑ See: Kaiser Family Foundation "Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8–18 Year Olds Archived 2012-08-04 at the Wayback Machine", Kff.org (March 9, 2005), Schneider, Michael & Adalian, Josef, "WB revisits glory days", Variety.com (June 30, 2006).
3. ↑ Burr, Vivien, "Buffy vs the BBC: Moral Questions and How to Avoid Them Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine" Slaye.tv (March 2003), p1.
4. ↑ "Angel Creator Joss Whedon Sees Evolution of TV Shows on DVD" Video Store Mag (August 28, 2003).