“In every generation there is a chosen one, she alone will stand against the vampire’s, the demon’s and the force’s of darkness, she is the slayer!”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been off our TV screens for 15 years. 15 years since we last visited Sunnydale and joined the Scooby gang on one of their mishap escapades. Joss Whedon’s creation lasted 7 seasons and 2 American networks, The WB and UPN. With the wittiest and sarcastic of the shows writers (including Whedon and Steven S. DeKnight), the series soon became a cult classic and a massive following began.
Each week fans from across the globe tuned in to watch Buffy Summers, the chosen one, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar fight off evil of all forms with her trusted watcher and mentor Rupert Giles played by Anthony Stewart Head (he’s the famous coffee bloke for Nescafe, trust me your mum knows him). Accompanied by a brilliant supporting cast featuring Allison Hannigan as Willow, Nicholas Brendan as Xander and David Boreanaz as Angel.
During the seasons, cast members left or were killed off, on screen and new characters were brought in. One character in particular who was introduced in season 2, has to this day a huge fan Base and following, his name, Spike. Played by James Marsters, Spike was a mix of Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious and even though Spike was a villain he brought a touch of added humour to the show. His popularity got so much that his character turned into an Anti-hero in the 3 seasons leading up to the shows finale.
BTVS had such a vast fan base, not just because it kept you entertained but it touched on a lot of taboo things at the time of airing. One such episode was titled “The Body” where Buffy comes home to find her mother Joyce, dead on the couch due to a brain aneurysm. The other thing that got some people’s knickers in a bunch was the discovery of a main character’s gay relationship. Willow and Tara’s – played by Amber Benson – relationship caused a lot of waves but it also received overwhelming support from the fans, which proved to the network (the WB at the time) that the fans had well and truly spoken.
We even had our very own High School Musical Episode titled “Once More With Feeling!”, by far my favourite of all the series. It was all singing all dancing and extremely fun to watch. unfortunately all good things must come to an end, as did Buffy the Vampire Slayer with its 7th and final season. During that time we’ve had many conventions, lots of meet and greets, including the party/convention dedicated to Buffy for the fans by the Fans, The BTVS Posting Board Party. Held every year in L.A where cast and crew and fans from all over the world would come, mingle, share stories and buy memorabilia that was auctioned off for the BTVS chosen charity “Make a wish foundation”, but alas there hasn’t been a con dedicated to Buffy in some time………until now!
Thanks to the people at Rogue Events, next year, fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s spin off, Angel, will get the chance to relive good ‘ol times in Sunnydale. Rogue Events is holding this Convention named “Prophecy” at the NEC Hilton Birmingham on the 17th of June till the 19th 2016. More information can be found on their website which I will link at the bottom.
I hope to see you all there but until then, keep the stakes sharp and your holy water holy.
All seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are now showing on Netflix.
https://rogueevent.co.uk/wordpress/prophecy/
