With this theme begins every episode of my favourite series: Buffy-The Vampire Slayer.
It’s the story of a sixteen-year-old girl named Buffy (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar). She is chosen to hunt vampires and demons. It's very hard for Buffy to be the chosen one. She has to be a normal teenager in daylight and an unscrupulous killer at night. She wishes nothing more than to lead a normal life.
But although she is the only slayer of her generation, she has a lot of friends who help and support her as well as possible.
Mr. Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) is her watcher. He is the librarian at Buffy’s school. He is, like her, chosen and his ìjobî is to train her, to stand by her and to record her life for the following slayers. It is not always easy for him to be Buffy’s watcher. Often he has to bear her bad temper and remind her of her responsibilities and her obligations.
Buffy has found true friends in Xander, Willow and Cordelia. They stand by her in every situation, no matter how dangerous. Very often they risk their lives for her.
Xander (Nicholas Brandon) is the wag in the little group. Since the first moment he saw her, he has been heart and soul for Buffy. He is more interested in girls and sport than in school but because of his clumsy manner girls often ignore him.
Willow (Alyson Hannigan) is reputed to be boring and an eager beaver which isn't true at all, she is just very shy. Until the day she meets Oz she is in love with Xander who is not even aware of it. She is Buffy’s best friend and a great computer-crack.
Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) is very, very conceited. She came into the group more or less involuntarily and shows this in every situation. She belongs to the upper society at school and doesn’t like to be seen with Buffy and her friends but if they need help, they can always count on her.
Buffy’s greatest support is her boyfriend Angel (David Boreanaz). He seems to be a normal, handsome and friendly guy but in reality he is one of the cruellest vampires who have ever lived. Not so long ago his soul and his conscience were restored to him by a group of gypsies, so now he is friendly, peaceful and he rues his actions deeply. He helps Buffy, gives her information about vampires and warns her if the other vampires hatch plans to kill her. With him, Buffy feels safe and sheltered. But only up to the first half of the second season because then his soul is destroyed and he gets bad again...
But it seems as if he would get back his soul in the third season. (I’m not sure about that, I have read about it but I haven’t seen it yet.)
The main evil characters are Drusilla (Juliet Landau) and Spike (James Masters), a vampire couple that loves each other very much - until Angel gets bad. Then Drusilla leaves Spike and returns to Angel. She was made by him after he had killed her whole family and tortured her until she went mad. He killed her the night before she wanted to enter a convent. She travelled through Europe for a long time, killing everything that got in her way. Then she was nearly killed herself, but saved by Spike. From that moment onwards they have been together.
Now they are in Sunnydale, trying everythig to kill the Slayer.
Buffy is based on a film which, as opposed to the series, was not very successful. Both the film and the series were written by Joss Whedon. He wrote the script for the film and the series and directed some of the episodes.
Buffy has everything that a good series needs. It’s a love-, a horror-, and an adventure story with a lot of tension but it’s also a soap opera about a girl’s problems in her everyday life. Up to now there exist three seasons and one spin-off series, but I hope there will be more about Buffy and her friends in the future.
Lycée Classique Echternach, Luxembourg.
Teacher : Jos Bertemes : jos.bertemes@ci.educ.lu
