Buffy The Vampire Slayer

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Question: I recently watched the series for the first time on Hulu. (I'm located in the US if that makes any difference.) And I'm confused about something: the first three seasons are in 4:3 full-frame, before switching to 16:9 widescreen for the final four seasons. I know there is an infamous "HD remaster" that botched the series with bad cropped widescreen and poor color-correction work. But I've also heard the series was shown in widescreen in the UK for seasons 4-7. Is the version of seasons 4-7 on Hulu the HD remaster or the UK version?

TedStixon

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Question: Are the official canonical comic book sequels (Buffy season 8, 9, etc./Angel: After the Fall, etc.) available for purchase digitally anywhere? I checked Amazon and didn't see them. Unfortunately, the trade paperbacks and collections are prohibitively expensive, since some of them seem to be out-of-print.

TedStixon

Chosen answer: It is classic vampire mythology.

Twotall

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Question: Is it ever explained how vampires can have sex when it is stated pretty explicitly that they don't have blood flowing around their bodies? I mean, I've studied biology and I hear it's pretty important for guys.

Answer: It's also stated pretty explicitly that vampires are dead, yet they're walking and talking, controlled by a demon inside of them, which could also control their sexual parts.

Nick N.

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Question: I haven't seen the majority of all the BtVS episodes, so I could have missed something, but in the last episode Giles states that there are other Hellmouths' if that's true, and there is only one slayer (before Buffy had all the potentials powers unlocked) then are all the other people that live on them screwed? What keeps vampires from running rampant and killing everyone?

Azureth

Chosen answer: Several factors restrict the demons besides the Slayer. The Watchers' Council is obviously much larger than it would need to be to simply guide the Slayer; much of their energy is directed toward gathering information for their own use against the demons. They have elite teams (seen in season 3) for Special Forces-style offensives. There are also innumerable witches and warlocks around the world, some of whom fight for good (like Giles' coven from the end of season 6) and all of whom would be attracted to the energies of the Hellmouth. Some demons like Whistler (end of season 2) exist to balance the forces of darkness with the forces of good and would handle their share as well. The existence of The Initiative (season 4) shows that the world's powerful elite are aware of the demon world to some extent and take measures to address it. Lastly, there are always some civilians who take part in the battle because they become aware of the existence of demons, like Kain from "Phases", Gunn's gang from Angel, and Wood from season 7. Obviously, there's a whole lot more than just the Slayer defending the world, but no one else can really match her firepower.

Phoenix

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Question: Can someone please explain how exactly a Watcher knows who the chosen one is? In the season 2 episode "What's my line" Kendra explains that her parents gave her away to her watcher when she was young because they believed it would be best for her. How did they know about the slayer mythos and how did they know Kendra could be one? I always thought that when a new slayer is born it could be anyone; and that was no discernible factor in who would be the next one to become the slayer.

Azureth

Chosen answer: From what we see in the series, certain girls are identifiable as potential Slayers - Kendra clearly fell into this category. The identification method is presumably mystical in nature, but the Watchers' Council are pretty effective at that sort of thing, so they're quite good at tracking down the potentials ahead of time. Not perfect, though - it does appear that Buffy herself may have slipped through the net - certainly she had no inkling of what she was until she'd already taken on the role of Slayer. It is possible, however, that this was actually cultural - an American family would hardly be likely to turn over their daughter to some strange man for 'training', so the Watchers might have chosen to keep an eye on her covertly, whereas some other cultures (like Kendra's Jamaican parents) might be more willing to believe.

Tailkinker

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Question: Buffy supposedly killing Angel in Season 2, in the episode "Becoming part 2", when she impales him with a sword shortly after he gets his soul back. However, in BtVS you can only kill a vampire via wooden stakes, direct sunlight, holy water, and decapitation. Is this ever fully explained?

Answer: She's not "dusting" killing him. She's killing him in the sense that since it was his blood that opened Acathela's portal, it needs to be his blood that closes it, as well.

Cubs Fan

Answer: Amazon might have one. Https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_5/135-6046169-9238005?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=blink+182+poster&sprefix=blink%2Cgarden%2C157&crid=1WYLSSHH0NT7F.

Chosen answer: She did try to kill him several times after he first arrived in Sunnydale, and nearly succeeded, putting him into a wheelchair on one occasion when he attacked Angel. Later on, they make a deal to team up against the evil Angel, after that Spike leaves town. When he comes back, he has the chip in his head, which essentially makes him harmless to humans and so Buffy decides to spare him. As things progress, he starts to be a help, if still an annoying one, making killing him not an issue. He only gets the chip removed (at Buffy's order) after his soul has been restored and by then Buffy has decided, against Giles' advice, to let him live even so, as she feels he can redeem himself. Of course, she's also sleeping with him for most of the last 2 seasons, so there could be a reason there too.

roboc

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Question: Can the vampires in BtVS have their picture taken? I know in some other stories they can be. We know they don't show up in mirrors but I'm not sure if cameras were ever directly addressed.

crazymars2u

Chosen answer: It was addressed on Angel, and they can be photographed, just not well.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: The Buffy episode "Fool For Love", and the Angel episode "Darla".

Sierra1

Chosen answer: If all that was necessary was for a vampire to drink from a human, then every person the vampire fed from would rise as a vampire, resulting in colossal over-population. There has to be an exchange - the factors that make a vampire what they are have to pass into the newcomer - the only way to do this is through the blood.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: There is no way to be positive as Schumacher has never addressed this issue publicly. I can tell you that there are no common special effects make-up personnel between the two productions.

OneHappyHusky

Answer: They are not related so put this down to just coincidence. Although Kristine Sutherland (real name Kristine Young) had a cat named Donald, after Donald Sutherland, and chose the stage name Sutherland after her cat, so there's a tenuous connection.

Guy

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Question: One of the other questions about season seven mentions Sarah Michelle Gellar leaving the show, so they had to change the storyline and not look at Dawn's key-ness, or lack of. Was Sarah Michelle Gellar's leaving the reason they had to end it at season 7 or was there only 7 seasons planned? If it was ended prematurely, how many more seasons were they planning/hoping for?

Answer: Sarah leaving the show was one of many reasons it finished at the end of season seven, Joss did want to carry on with one of the other characters kind of like a spin off but he has as yet unable to get funding for it. Season 8 is going to be released but in comic book form, the title and date of release is not available yet but Joss is writing it.

Vianna7uk

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Question: Does anyone have any idea exactly how much in common the series is to the movie? As in what details changed, and do the events from the movie even transpire into the series?

Azureth

Chosen answer: The series followed on from the original script that Joss Whedon wrote, which was in turn radically different to the movie that was released - thus numerous references to Buffy burning down a building at her old school, which never happened in the movie. Basically, the only story that follows over is this: Buffy was a student at Hemory High, quite popular (she compares herself to Cordelia) until Merrick, her first Watcher, discovered her and told her her destiny. While fighting a group of vampires, Merrick ended up dead (according to Whedon, he was trapped by a group of them and was forced to kill himself to avoid being turned); Buffy later trapped the vampires in the school gym and burned it to the ground, resulting in her expulsion from Hemory and her move to Sunnydale.

Shay

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Question: I know that in "Fool For Love" Cecily is played by the same actress that plays Halfrek. So, when we see Hallie in "Older and Faraway" and she whispers "William," when she notices Spike, is this directly related to that? I know that names are often changed when becoming a Vengeance demon (example: Aud-Anya), so is Cecily the same character as Halfrek?

Answer: Yes. Rocha confirmed that her characters are the same in an interview.

Phoenix

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Question: What's the name of that website that i was on that had a list of every episode of buffy. I can't find it. Please help me.

Answer: There are several different websites. Tvtome.com is one that covers almost all television shows. Google will show many more results.

Phoenix

Answer: She wanted to devote more time to her movie career and her new husband Freddie Prinze Jr.

Maria Santos

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Question: Was the Angel spin-off created because it was time for the character to be written out of Buffy but Angel was too good a creation to ditch, or was the character written out because people thought a spin-off would be a better idea?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: Joss Whedon claims to have had the idea for a spin-off series while watching David Boreanaz's performance in the late second season episode "I Only Have Eyes For You" - he began to feel that Boreanaz would be capable of carrying his own series. From that point on, taking Angel off to his own show was on Joss's mind and many of the events of the third season were written with this intention.

Tailkinker

Goodbye Iowa - S4-E14

Continuity mistake: When Buffy is talking to Riley, she puts the scarf on her head, on his hand. He talks to her and says "Maybe I am the bad guy," and in the next frame her scarf is back on her head again, then off again in the next frame. (00:24:20)

More mistakes in Buffy The Vampire Slayer

School Hard - S2-E3

Vampire: And when I kill her, it will be the greatest event since the crucifixion. And I should know, I was there.
Spike: You were there?! If every vampire who said he was actually at the crucifixion really was there, it would've been like Woodstock!

More quotes from Buffy The Vampire Slayer
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