Buffy is sixteen years old and is the "chosen one" . She gets to kill vampires because it is her destiny to do so. She had a bad reputation at her old school in Los Angeles because she had burned the gym down. The principal at her new school at first rips up her records, and then tapes her records back together again. Buffy tries to explain that the gym at her old school had to be burned down because it was full of vampires! Buffy and her mom just want a fresh start in their new, suburban California home, where the good part of town is half a block away from the bad part of town. In her new high school, Buffy meets an eccentric librarian who knows that Buffy is the "chosen one". At first, the librarian scares her away by showing her a book about vampires, but then she returns to the library, knowing that the librarian can help her out with fighting off vampires and other supernatural things.

Sarah Michelle Gellar - Buffy Summers

Nicholas Brendon - Xander Harris

Alyson Hannigan - Willow Rosenberg

Charisma Carpenter - Cordelia Chase

Anthony Head - Rupert ‘Ripper’ Giles

David Boreanaz - Angel/Angelus

Seth Green - Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne

James Marsters - Spike/William ‘The Bloody’

Marc Blucas - Riley Finn

Emma Caulfield - Anya Jenkins/Anyanka

Michelle Trachtenberg - Dawn Summers

Amber Benson - Tara Maclay

Kristine Sutherland - Joyce Summers

Danny Strong - Jonathan Levinson

Thomas Lenk - Andrew Wells/Cyrus

Eliza Dushku - Faith

Armin Shimerman - Principal Snyder

Juliet Landau - Drusilla

Series star Sarah Michelle Gellar initially auditioned for the role of Cordelia Chase, and Charisma Carpenter, who plays Cordelia, auditioned for the role of Buffy.

Both James Marsters (Spike) and Nathan Fillion (Caleb) originally auditioned for the role of Angel when the show was first being cast in late 1996.

Julie Benz tried out for the part of Buffy and ended up in the part of Darla.

Elizabeth Anne Allen, who had a semi-recurring role as the witch Amy Madison, originally auditioned for the role of Buffy.

Other actresses considered for the lead role as Buffy also included Katie Holmes and Selma Blair.

Bianca Lawson, who played Kendra the Vampire Slayer in season 2, originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia.

The characters of Spike, Oz, Faith, Wesley and Drusilla were all supposed to be killed off, but have ended up living long past their initial storylines. Also, the characters of Jenny and Joyce were supposed to be killed off sooner than they were.

Danny Strong (Jonathan) originally auditioned for the role of Xander.

Joss Whedon is known to plan his season storylines years in advance. Clues to Dawn's arrival can be found as early as the third season, but she doesn't actually show up until the fifth.

The Gorches in "Bad Eggs" have the same first names, Lyle and Tector, as the Gorches from Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Giles refers to them slaughtering a Mexican village in 1886, similar to the event that ends the movie, but the movie is set in 1913.

In "Bargaining - Part 1", when Giles is at the airport ready to catch his plane for England, Tara gives him (as a goodbye gift) a little plastic finger monster which she puts on her finger and says "Grrr... argh". This is the same monster and sound that is made at the end of each episode, just prior to the credits, by the production company mascot "Mutant Enemy".

Seth Green played Oz, the werewolf boyfriend of Alyson Hannigan. He also played her boyfriend in My Stepmother Is an Alien.

Seth Green is the only cast member to have acted in both the TV series and the 1992 movie. (Green was cut from the feature film, but still appeared on the videotape box.)

In the musical episode "Once More with Feeling", Buffy comments, "So... Dawn's in trouble... must be Tuesday." This, of course, refers to the timeslot in which UPN broadcasts the show.

Buffy's birthday was celebrated in the episode first aired on or near 19 January each year. In the first-year episode "I Robot, You Jane," Malcolm brings up Buffy's school records on his computer. In the first view, we see that Buffy was born on 24 October 1980, and that she is a sophomore. The second time we see Buffy's records, her birthday is 6 May 1979, and she is a senior. (She is also shown with two different GPAs, one of them excellent.) Joss Whedon finally decreed Buffy's birthday to be 19 January 1981. 19 January 1997 was the day the show premiered.

Joss Whedon supplies the voice of the Mutant Enemy mascot which says "Grrr ... Arrgh" heard at the end of almost every episode.

Series Creator Joss Whedon has said that the idea for Buffy came from all the horror movies he had seen featuring a helpless young blonde who would almost always be the first to die. He felt she needed a better image.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan are the only cast members who have appeared in every episode of the series.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Alyson Hannigan (Willow), Anthony Head (Giles), and Kristine Sutherland (Joyce) are the only actors to have appeared in all seven seasons.

Season seven's "Conversations With Dead People" is the only episode of the entire series in which Nicholas Brendon doesn't appear.

While speaking at the Wizard World Chicago Convention in August, 2004, Joss Whedon revealed that he had planned to bring the character of Tara back from the dead at the end of Season 7. The episode would have centered around Buffy being granted one "life-altering" wish. Buffy would have struggled the whole episode trying to decide what she wanted to do with the wish (including, possibly, restoring Angel's humanity). The episode would have ended with Buffy telling Willow that she'd just gotten a great new pair of shoes, and when Willow asked her if she used up her wish on new shoes, Buffy would have said, "No, silly!" and stepped aside to reveal Tara. This plan was abandoned when Amber Benson, who played Tara, was unavailable for filming.

In "The Dark Age," there is a photo of a young Rupert Giles holding a bass guitar. The production crew faked the photo by superimposing his head onto a photo of Sid Vicious.

The character Jenny Calendar was originally to have been called Nicki. This was changed to Jenny to avoid confusion on the set, Nicholas Brendon being generally called Nicky by his co-stars. (However, in season 7, the character Nikki Wood was added and appears in several episodes.)

In the episode "Once More With Feeling", Two of the show's writers, David Fury and Marti Noxon, have small singing parts. David Fury can be seen singing "They Got the Mustard Out" outside the magic shop when Buffy checks to see if other people are singing. Marti Noxon sings about a parking ticket ("I think that hydrant wasn't there") while Giles, Xander, and Anya are walking on the street after Xander and Anya's duet.

"Mutant Enemy", Joss Whedon's production company, was the name he gave to his first typewriter when he was 15. The logo was created in 20 minutes when he was told he had to have one.

The episode "Earshot" in season 3 was about a student planning to kill himself on the school campus. It was scheduled to air a week after the Columbine shooting and was delayed until the next season. Due to the weapon he would have used, an assault rifle, and being in a clock tower, many people are under the misimpression that he was planning mass murder. This was also contributed to by the fact that Buffy WAS telepathically hearing thoughts of somebody planning to kill all the students, but it wasn't Jonathon.

Many of Andrew Wells's (Thomas Lenk) lines include references to the online fan community (the male slayer discussion, his inability to understand Dawn and Buffy's link).

The season three finale (Graduation Day Part II) was delayed for three months after a rash of school violence. The episode (which included a scene in which the graduating class defended themselves with medieval weapons) was pulled reportedly because producers feared that if an incident occurred during a graduation ceremony, a clip would run in "violence in media" clips. The death of recurring character Larry in this episode, hotly denied by fans, was not confirmed until season six.

The Summers' Sunnydale address is 1630 Revello Drive.

"Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest," ends with Buffy, Willow, and Xander planning a trip to the mall and Giles sighing, "The Earth is doomed." The last episode, "The Chosen," contains a scene near the end where the three kids plan a trip to the mall and Giles sighs, "The Earth is definitely doomed."

The names of buildings and places at fictional U.C. Sunnydale are actual locations and buildings at real-life U.C. Santa Cruz.

In the series finale, Giles says that there is a Hellmouth "in Cleveland". This is a reference to another throwaway line, in the/spot Season 3 episode "The Wish": in an alternate reality where Buffy never came to Sunnydale, Giles phones her watcher, and then says, "Yes, I know there is a lot of demonic activity in Cleveland.... There happens to be a Hellmouth in Sunnydale...."

The entire first season was filmed before the first episode went to air, giving them the opportunity to go back and re-shoot various scenes. The scene in the library where Buffy states "it's my first day..." was actually filmed on the last day of shooting after they decided her original performance was too forceful and aggressive. Another scene added to the pilot (to fill in time as it was shorter than expected) was the infamous "you have something in your eye" scene where The Master blinds a vampire who had failed him.

When we fleetingly see the pages of books, magazines or newspapers on screen, the actual text is often deliberate gibberish. In "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" (episode 1.11), the final scene is of Marcy reading a textbook chapter titled "Assassination and Infiltration" with a subtitle referring to targeting the leader of a cult as an example. However, the actual text begins with the date August 2, 19XX and this is followed by the lyrics of the Beatles song, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" only they are written as prose.

The prologue ("In every generation there is a chosen one....") is not used consistently. Two of the first twelve episodes don't use it. During the second season, use of the prologue becomes even more spotty. Anthony Head intones it only during the second season.

There was a pilot directed by Joss Whedon and financed out of his own pocket to sell the show to the networks. The plot is fairly similar to "Welcome to the Hellmouth", though Angel, Jesse and the Master don't appear. Also, it's only half an hour long. The main differences from the show as aired are the sets and casting. While most of the principals are in place, Riff Regan plays Willow and Stephen Tobolowsky plays Principal Flutie. They were replaced by Alyson Hannigan and Ken Lerner, respectively in the actual show. The library that appears is not the set from the show, rather it is the actual library from Torrance High School where much of the Sunnydale High material was filmed.

In "Conversations With Dead People", Amber Benson was supposed to return as The First Evil impersonating Tara, but she didn't want to come back just as a villain, so Cassie Newton from a recent episode was put in her place.

Joss Whedon gave the character Riley the last name "Finn" after hearing executive producer Marti Noxon talking about taking her dog, Finn, to the vet.

Originally, Joss Whedon didn't want either of Buffy's parents to appear as characters on the show. Accepting that that could get complicated, he settled on just having her mother, Joyce, appear. Joyce ended up staying on the show for five seasons.

Originally, the third member of the sixth season's nerdly Trio was to be Tucker, who appeared in the third season as a student who wanted to kill everyone at the prom. Plans fell through with that, so the writers replaced him with Andrew, Tucker's younger brother.

Britney Spears was originally supposed to play April the Robot in the fifth season episode, "I Was Made to Love You", but scheduling conflicts caused her to back out. Rumors of Spears' return to the show ran rampant for the rest of the series' run.

Amber Benson was added to the opening credits of the show for one episode, "Seeing Red," in which she was killed and never seen again. Series creator Joss Whedon has said that he's always wanted to do this, and was planning on doing it in the series premiere with the character Jesse, to show that the show was full of surprises, but at the time he didn't have the money to make another set of credits.

The seventh season episode, "Storyteller", which focused on the character Andrew, was an experiment to see how the audience would respond to a show centered around Andrew, since the series was ending and they were trying to find a character upon whom they could build another spin-off show.

The series finale had two different major-character death scenes written, one in which Anya was killed, and the other in which Andrew was.

Kali Rocha, who showed up in the sixth season as vengeance demon Hallie, first appeared in a flashback episode in the fifth season as Cecily, the woman who spurned William, causing him to become the vampire known as Spike. Having already cast Rocha as Hallie, the writers knew the loyal fans would immediately recognize her, so as an inside joke between them, when Hallie first saw Spike, she said, "William?"

In the third season finale, Faith appears to Buffy in a dream, and tells her she's "counting down from 7-3-0". Joss Whedon planted that as a clue as to what would happen two years later in the fifth season finale, in which Buffy was killed. 730 days equals two years.

In "The Body" in the scene where Xander (Nicholas Brendon) punched his hand through the wall, only a shot of Willow's left eye is shown. This is because actress Alyson Hannigan had experienced an allergic reaction to the dust from the plaster on the wall - a reaction that resulted in her right eye swelling badly. Because of this, she had to go to the hospital the next day to get her eye treated.

Spike, who was introduced in "School Hard" (episode #2.03), was originally intended to last for a few episodes into the Second Season. However, his character was immediately embraced and loved by Buffy fans, which resulted in Joss Whedon's decision to keep him in the series.

When the writers first came up with the character of Robin Wood, they weren't definite on whether it would be a man or a woman, so they picked a name that could apply to either gender.

The character of Dawn was originally intended to have the power to speak to the dead. She was also supposed to be able to move objects with her mind. These powers were later dropped.

In "Lies My Parents Told Me" Spike makes mention of his mother's personal physician - a Dr. Gull. This is Dr. William Gull, Physician-in-extraordinary to the royal family, and who some believe was Jack The Ripper.

The series is based not on the feature film Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), but Joss Whedon's original screenplay, which had been heavily rewritten to be more comedic. The Buffy comic book series adapted the screenplay, bringing the events of the movie in line with the TV show's continuity.

In the 2-hour premier of Season 6, "Bargaining" Parts 1 and 2, we see Willow wearing a shirt with a number on it. We then see Xander come in wearing what looks like a football jersey with a number on it. Later when they gang is saying goodbye to Giles, Dawn is wearing a shirt with 07 on it. The crew got many letters asking what the numbers were supposed to mean, but there was no connection. Executive Producer Marti Noxon said that this was completely unintentional and was just a wardrobe coincidence.

The sequence with the Mutant Enemy mascot, the little monster that goes "Grr Argh" at the end of all episodes, was changed for a total of six episodes:

in Becoming Part Two (2x22) it said, 'Oh, I need a hug."

in Amends (3x10) it wore a Santa hat and bells were jingling

in Graduation Day Part Two (3x22) it wore a graduation cap

in Once More With Feeling (6x07) it sang its "Grr Argh"

in Storyteller (7x16) it sang, "We are as gods"

in Chosen (7x22) it looked out at the viewers instead of looking straight-forward

Ranked #3 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!" (30 May 2004 issue).

In "Grave", there is a hardcover copy of a William Shatner novel in the pile of books on the floor of the Magic Box after Giles shoots Willow through the wall (DVD, chapter 7, 12:49).

In the episode "Hell's Bells" in Season 6 there is a scene where Buffy is playing Charades with the crowd at Xander and Anya's wedding. She puts her fingers up to her head like horns and you can hear someone in the background guess "Deathwok Clan!". This is a reference to Lorne from "Angel" (1999/I), who is a demon with horns and a member of the Dethwok clan.

In April 2002, TV Guide named Buffy, the Vampire Slayer as one of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time".

In the episode Superstar Brad Kane provided the singing voice for Jonathon (played by Danny Strong). Kane had earlier appeared in the episode The Prom as Tucker (the guy who trains the demons to attack the students at the prom) whose brother Andrew went on to become one of the Trio with Jonathon.

At the end of "Lessons", the First appears to Spike in reverse order of the Big Bads from each season. Warren (Season 6), Glory (Season 5), Adam (Season 4), Mayor Wilkins (Season 3), Drusilla (Season 2), The Master (Season 1) and finally Buffy.

The episode "Once More, With Feeling" was voted #1 on TV Guide's viewer's poll for the 50 Top Musical Moments on Television from 1990-2002 in 2002.

Alyson Hannigan hated her singing voice and asked not to have a song, or any major singing lines of her own in the musical episode (Once More, With Feeling). In "Nightmares", we see that Willow herself is terrified of singing in public.

Joss Whedon says in his season six commentary that the two vampires, the demon, the street cleaners and Sweet's henchmen are all played by the same people.

In "Once More With Feeling," Willow sings "some kid is dreaming and we're all stuck inside his wacky Broadway nightmare." This is a reference to a Season One episode, "Nightmares", in which Sunnydale residents started to live their nightmares in the real world because a kid in a coma dreamed they did.

The guys who are sweeping streets and dancing are doing a similar dance to the chimney sweeps' dance in Mary Poppins.

Xander and Anya fall down on the sofa laughing at the end of their song. This is an homage to the song "Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain where Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor do the same thing.

During the dream sequence at the beginning of season one, episode four entitled, "Teachers Pet", we see Xander playing a guitar, the significance being that this happens to be a "Warlock" model guitar made by B.C. Rich guitars.

In the seventh season, the song that "The First" uses to trigger Spike to become evil again is well known to millions of Canadians - it was used as the theme song of the long running children's TV show, "The Friendly Giant".

In a number of scenes involving the club The Bronze, copies of books from The Destroyer series by Murphy, Warren and Sapir, Richard can be seen on book racks in the background.

Factual error: Many of the ranks and titles used in the US Military organization "The Initiative" are incorrect. In addition, Initiative members often wear completely inappropriate uniforms - Class B Marine Dress uniforms in combat situations, for example.

Factual error: The mistakes with weaponry are far too extensive to list.

Revealing mistake: In "Bad Girls" the stunt double's face is seen close up during a fight scene between Buffy and some vampires.

Continuity error: In "Inca Mummy Girl (2.4)", the mummified corpse in the chest seemingly turns itself around.

Continuity error: In "Anne", Buffy runs through "Hell" being chased by demons. She starts out wearing running shoes. They change to canvas sneakers and back to running shoes again during the chase. As she climbs the top of the ladder they are different shoes altogether.

Revealing mistake: In "Innocence", the judge bursts into flame before the missile actually strikes him.

Continuity error: In "The Witch", Cordelia gets out of the Driver's Ed car and shuts the door. In the next scene, the door is open, and when the truck hits it, it slams the door shut, although the door was, as far as we have seen, already shut.

Boom mike visible: Boom and operator visible standing in the wood in "This Year's Girl" when Buffy, Xander and Willow find a demon that Adam's dissected.

Revealing mistake: During "Villains", when Willow is walking through the forest tracking Warren, ropes can be seen pulling the trees back as she walks by.

Revealing mistake: In "The Dark Age", Ethan uses Sulfuric Acid to burn a tattoo off of his arm. The steam comes off of his arm before any liquid leaves the bottle, though.

Continuity error: In "Bargaining (1)", Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara change their relative positions between shots when they're performing the spell at Buffy's grave.

Continuity error: In the episode "Earshot", Buffy looks up at the clock tower and it says the time is 12:40. She then runs a few metres and looks up again. The time is now 12:10.

Continuity error: In "Teachers Pet" Season One, Buffy finds the science teachers glasses on the floor, and she puts them on the table. In one shot she places them with the legs folded out, and then in the close-up, the legs are folded in.

Continuity error: In "Phases" (Season Two), Giles is in the library, and his glasses repeatedly disappear and reappear between shots .

Continuity error: In "Phases" (Season Two), Willow is running away from Oz (as the werewolf) through the woods. She falls over and her dungarees get muddy. In the ensuing shots, the mud on her trousers repeatedly appears and disappears.

Continuity error: In season 1's "Prophecy Girl" when Buffy goes down to stop the Master, he kills her and throws her into some water. She lands with her arms underneath her and her hair tied in a ponytail. When Angel and Xander find her, her hair is loose and she has her arms out to her sides.

Continuity error: In the series finale "Chosen", Buffy's footwear changes from shoes to boots when she jumps off the bus onto the road.

Continuity error: In the series finale "Chosen", Buffy hops off the roof of the bus with the axe in her hand, but in the next shot, when Dawn hugs her, it's gone, and the axe never re appears in the rest of the show.

Continuity error: In "Normal Again" (Season 6), Buffy ties up Dawn in the basement and gags her with a piece of tape. When Tara unties Dawn later in the episode, Dawn's gag has disappeared.

Continuity error: In the episode "What's My Line, Part I", one of the assassins of the Order of Taraka is shown getting off a bus. In a wide shot, the steps are one color with signs reading "Watch your step". In the close up, the steps change color and the signs are missing.

Continuity error: During "The Witch," while Buffy, Willow and Xander are in the lab making the witch revealing potion, Willow pours the finalized mixture into a test tube and fills the tube to the top. When Buffy takes the tube, it is barely a 1/4 full.

Continuity error: In the episode "I Robot, You Jane," we see Buffy's school records. Her birthdate changes from October 24th 1980 to May 6th, 1979 between shots. According to the rest of the series, she was born in January of 1981. Her GPA and classification also change from shot to shot.

Continuity error: In "Once More, With Feeling", the demons that Buffy kills in the Bronze disappear and reappear, and change positions, between shots as she dances.

Continuity error: In "Once More With Feeling", during "I'll Never Tell" the chairs change position randomly during the dance sequence in Anya and Xander's apartment.

Revealing mistake: In the Season Three episode, "Beauty and the Beasts", Willow, Xander, and Cordelia go the the morgue to examine a corpse. While they're examining, you can see the corpse breathing.

Continuity error: In the series finale "Chosen" as Buffy is fleeing through the halls of the high school, her axe/scythe changes orientation between shots.

Error: In "Intervention", Spike is standing in front of glory with his hands tied behind his back when glory hits him his arms fly out to the sides but when he hits the wall his hands are tied behind his back again.

Continuity error: In "What's My Line pt 2", Buffy is seen using a "steel" to sharpen her knife, while talking to Kendra. During the scene, Buffy puts the knife down and uses the steel to whittle her stake but after a quick cutaway, the knife is back in her hand in the next shot.

Continuity error: In "This Year's Girl" when Faith is walking down the street, you see the same couple (one is wearing a blue coat) walk behind her across the street, in the same direction, three times.

Continuity error: In "Harsh Light Of Day" the necklace that spike takes off reappears and disappears between shots.

Continuity error: In "Conversations With Dead People" when The First (Cassie) is in the library she pulls out a book a little bit and also holds onto the table but The First is unable to touch anything.

Crew or equipment visible: In two to go when willow is destroying the jail cell wall, a person can be seen briefly pulling away one of the bigger sections of the wall.

Continuity error: In several episodes, it's made evident that Sunnydale is by the ocean, but in the series finale, we see that there is nothing but desert around the hole that the town sunk has into.

Revealing mistake: In "Anne", when Buffy is knocking demon guards off a platform, you can see that they are landing on safety mats.

Continuity error: In "Doomed", the corpse that Willow is lying next to alternates between its eyes being open and shut.

The credits for “The Puppet Show" shows the scoobies doing their talent show theatrical scene during the closing credits.