History Trivia / BuffyTheVampireSlayer

** Few had as miserable a time working on ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'' as Creator/CharismaCarpenter. In 2021, she [[https://twitter.com/AllCharisma/status/1359537746843365381 went public]] with long-rumored allegations surrounding her time on ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'', which inspired the ''Variety'' article. She said that Whedon played favorites with actors on set and pit them against each other to win his approval, that she was overworked to the point where it caused her physical harm, and that she only stayed on [[MoneyDearBoy for the steady paycheck]], all while justifying his behavior in her mind because she didn't want to admit she was being harassed. The ''Variety'' article notes she was a network-mandated hire, which grated on Whedon, who wanted complete control and would be dismissive of her performance. Whedon in turn was frustrated by Carpenter's tardiness. She also suffered from anxiety which caused her to struggle with her lines and marks, which frustrated Whedon, who was obsessed with word-perfect dialogue. Long before this was revealed, it was known that her pregnancy in the fourth season of ''Angel'' caused a lot of friction between her and Whedon, but he seemed to take the reveal personally (suggesting she get an abortion), which ended with Cordelia being written out of the fifth season in a manner that left a lot of bad blood, not least because Carpenter only found out from the press. She was eventually brought back for the fifth-season episode [[Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome "You're Welcome"]], [[spoiler:only for Cordelia to be KilledOffForReal after Whedon [[LyingCreator promised her he wouldn't do so]]]]. By her account, Carpenter was in tears when she realized how she was being written out of the show. In 2022, she referred to him as her "former tyrannical, narcissitic boss". Gellar, Trachtenberg, Marsters, Creator/AmberBenson (who described the onset atmosphere as toxic), Creator/NicholasBrendon, Creator/AnthonyHead, Creator/DavidBoreanaz, Creator/ElizaDushku, Creator/EmmaCaulfield, Creator/JulieBenz, Creator/ClareKramer, Creator/AdamBusch, Creator/DannyStrong, Creator/TomLenk, Jonathan M. Woodward and James C. Leary either backed up her claims and/or lent their support.

** Few had as miserable a time working on ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'' as Creator/CharismaCarpenter. In 2021, she [[https://twitter.com/AllCharisma/status/1359537746843365381 went public]] with long-rumored allegations surrounding her time on ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'', which inspired the ''Variety'' article. She said that Whedon played favorites with actors on set and pit them against each other to win his approval, that she was overworked to the point where it caused her physical harm, and that she only stayed on [[MoneyDearBoy for the steady paycheck]], all while justifying his behavior in her mind because she didn't want to admit she was being harassed. The ''Variety'' article notes she was a network-mandated hire, which grated on Whedon, who wanted complete control and would be dismissive of her performance. Whedon in turn was frustrated by Carpenter's tardiness. She also suffered from anxiety which caused her to struggle with her lines and marks, which frustrated Whedon, who was obsessed with word-perfect dialogue. Long before this was revealed, it was known that her pregnancy in the fourth season of ''Angel'' caused a lot of friction between her and Whedon, but he seemed to take the reveal personally (suggesting she get an abortion), which ended with Cordelia being written out of the fifth season in a manner that left a lot of bad blood, not least because Carpenter only found out from the press. She was eventually brought back for the fifth-season episode [[Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome "You're Welcome"]], [[spoiler:only for Cordelia to be KilledOffForReal after Whedon [[LyingCreator promised her he wouldn't do so]]]]. By her account, Carpenter was in tears when she realized how she was being written out of the show. Gellar, Trachtenberg, Marsters, Creator/AmberBenson (who described the onset atmosphere as toxic), Creator/NicholasBrendon, Creator/AnthonyHead, Creator/DavidBoreanaz, Creator/ElizaDushku, Creator/EmmaCaulfield, Creator/JulieBenz, Creator/ClareKramer, Creator/AdamBusch, Creator/DannyStrong, Creator/TomLenk, Jonathan M. Woodward and James C. Leary either backed up her claims and/or lent their support.

** Few had as miserable a time working on ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'' as Creator/CharismaCarpenter. In 2021, she [[https://twitter.com/AllCharisma/status/1359537746843365381 went public]] with long-rumored allegations surrounding her time on ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'', which inspired the ''Variety'' article. She said that Whedon played favorites with actors on set and pit them against each other to win his approval, that she was overworked to the point where it caused her physical harm, and that she only stayed on [[MoneyDearBoy for the steady paycheck]], all while justifying his behavior in her mind because she didn't want to admit she was being harassed. The ''Variety'' article notes she was a network-mandated hire, which grated on Whedon, who wanted complete control and would be dismissive of her performance. Whedon in turn was frustrated by Carpenter's tardiness. Long before this was revealed, it was known that her pregnancy in the fourth season of ''Angel'' caused a lot of friction between her and Whedon, but he seemed to take the reveal personally (suggesting she get an abortion), which ended with Cordelia being written out of the fifth season in a manner that left a lot of bad blood, not least because Carpenter only found out from the press. She was eventually brought back for the fifth-season episode [[Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome "You're Welcome"]], [[spoiler:only for Cordelia to be KilledOffForReal after Whedon [[LyingCreator promised her he wouldn't do so]]]]. By her account, Carpenter was in tears when she realized how she was being written out of the show. Gellar, Trachtenberg, Marsters, Creator/AmberBenson (who described the onset atmosphere as toxic), Creator/NicholasBrendon, Creator/AnthonyHead, Creator/DavidBoreanaz, Creator/ElizaDushku, Creator/EmmaCaulfield, Creator/JulieBenz, Creator/ClareKramer, Creator/AdamBusch, Creator/DannyStrong, Creator/TomLenk, Jonathan M. Woodward and James C. Leary either backed up her claims and/or lent their support.

** Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg's mother was horrified by some of the raunchy jokes that were regularly thrown around backstage. Reportedly, this hit the teenage Trachtenberg herself, who later accused Whedon of inappropriate behavior; while she didn't go into detail, she claimed that [[FridgeHorror he wasn't allowed to be alone in a room]] with her after an exchange that several crew members believed crossed a line.

* FanNickname:
** Buffy the Vampire Banger - The eponymous character, after her relationship with FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Angel heated up. Made even more appropriate once she started boning Spike in season 6, [[HasAType her second]] FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire boyfriend.
** Pencil Boy - The First Evil. So nicknamed due to his intangibility making him useless for anything except monologuing and making scary faces. Or as one fan put it: "What's so scary about this guy? He couldn't even pick up a pencil if I dropped one on the floor."
** Spicule - The "[[BadassDecay defanged]]" Spike from later episodes. Another Website/TelevisionWithoutPity exclusive.
** "Captain Cardboard" - Riley, Buffy's Season 4 boyfriend. Also originally used in the script.
** "Smidge" - A mostly British nickname for Creator/SarahMichelleGellar, whose initials are SMG.
** "BAIT" - '''B'''ad '''A'''ctress '''I'''n '''T'''raining. Applied to the "potential Slayers" that showed up in Season 7, it apparently came from ''Buffy'' message boards (particularly ''The Bronze''). Possibly alluded to in an episode where Kennedy said that she'd "never been the bait before."
** "Fanged Four", "The Whirlwind", or "Scourge of Europe" - Darla, Angelus, Drusilla, and Spike during their TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether heyday. "Fanged Four" is not to be confused with "Fang Gang", above. "Scourge of Europe" was said on the show, but only applied to Angelus. "Whirlwind" comes from a line by Darla in her eponymous ''Angel'' episode.
** "Captain Peroxide" - Spike because of his platinum-blond hair.
** The Folk Man has become a popular name on Website/YouTube for Caleb.
** [[Music/SexPistols Sid and Nancy]] - Nickname for Creator/AmberBenson and Creator/AdamBusch. Better yet: [[Creator/WilliamSBurroughs Warren S Burroughs]].
** Noodles for the first Ubervamp who appeared, because he was ultimately so easy to kill.
** Craig Whedon, named after the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' character Craig who compulsively flips everybody off. If you're a fan of his shows, you know why.
** Buffy Cross and Stake and Angel's Soul Spoiler boards: Red board and Blue Board respectively, due to their text colors.
** Willow the Vampire Flayer. Why? Here's why.
-->"Bored now." [[FlayingAlive squiiiiiick]]
** The Endless Bummer: Season Six. You know why.
** Even though the show generally uses "Angelus" for Angel in the past and "Angel" for him in the present regardless of whether he has a soul, fans generally use "Angelus" as shorthand to refer to the soulless version of him and "Angel" for the ensouled version.
** The Annointed One has been dubbed The Annoying One by fans due to how lame and unthreatening he was.

** The Potentials in season seven are supposed to be teenagers, yet none of them look a day under twenty. Kennedy is said to be nineteen in the script, yet Iyari Limon was twenty-seven at the time.

** In 2015, when asked about the favorite character among his own, Whedon replied: “My answer would change daily. But, I kind of feel how can say Buffy? She is the distilled essence of everything I am… not. She’s the beating heart of everything I have done or will do.

** Creator/JamesMarsters was not very happy with Spike's treatment as a regular in season four because of being defanged by the military brain chip. He was actually excited when told that Spike would fall in love with Buffy, seeing that as a much more interesting take on why the character would stay around but was opposed to [[AllLoveIsUnrequitted Buffy returning that affection]]. He was so disturbed by Spike's AttemptedRape of Buffy in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]" that he had his contract updated so he would never film such scenes again.

** Creator/JamesMarsters was so disturbed by Spike's AttemptedRape of Buffy in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]" that he had his contract updated so he would never film such scenes again.

** Season six is arguably the show's most divisive season, but few people were and are as open and vocal about that as Buffy herself. Her grievances? Where to begin? For starters, she was VERY unhappy about the {{channel hop}} from the WB to the UPN, eliminating the chances for crossovers with ''Angel''. She was also quite upset about the decision to pair Buffy and Spike in a mutually destructive relationship (Gellar is an outspoken Buffy/Angel shipper, calling them "soul mates"), and the graphic sexual nature of the show and scenes made her very uncomfortable (she's reported to have said "If I wanted to do porn, I'd do porn!"), finding it disrespectful to her and her character. Finally, the she felt the dark and depressing nature of the season was out of tone with the show. With Whedon largely hands off this season, she had no-one to vent her complaints to. It reportedly got so bad she almost quit the series after the season, but ultimately stayed on for a final season, with a few conditions, among them Whedon returned as show runner and the tone lighten up significantly.

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E10Nightmares Nightmares]]", Buffy's personal nightmare is being buried alive by the Master. Creator/SarahMichelleGellar is terrified of graveyards for this same reason, which is [[NightmareFuel amusing]] seeing as her character was buried alive ''twice'' in the show ("[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E10Nightmares}} Nightmares]]" and "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E1BargainingPart1 Bargaining, Part 1]]"), and [[IronicFear spends most of her evenings in graveyards]].

** Marc Blucas, a gifted college player, had a couple of basketball scenes.

-->It wasn't who Buffy was, or why people loved her. You don’t want to see that dark heroine; you don't want to see her punishing herself. You want to see her killing vampires and making quips. It didn't feel like the character that I loved. Joss always explained that season as being about your 20s, where you’re not a kid anymore, but you don't know what you want to do [with your life]. He always said that I didn’t understand last year because I've always known what I wanted to do, and I didn’t have that confusion, [that] dark, depressive period. But I think the heart of the show lies in the humor of the drama. I felt like Buffy's spirit was missing last year.

-->I've always said that season 6 was not my favorite. I felt it betrayed who she was. Even just getting to talk to Joss and be able to get his opinion was not as easy when he’s not upstairs. He had three shows. He had ''Series/{{Angel}}'' and ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' so that was hard.

-->It's a shame to have all my work thrown in the garbage. I tried to give ''Buffy'' a texture that would turn a teeny bopper show into a serious dramatic presentation. Alas, once any piece of art leaves the artists hands, control is lost. Sorry everyone can't see the work in its original incarnation. Thanks for keeping me up on the look of the show.

** The tenth-graders (16-year-olds) were played by Creator/SarahMichelleGellar (19) as Buffy, Creator/NicholasBrendon (25) as Xander, Creator/Alyson Hannigan (22) as Willow, and Creator/CharismaCarpenter (26) as Cordelia. Possibly lampshaded when Wesley (Creator/AlexisDenisof, who is four years older than Carpenter) first meets Cordelia and mistakes her for a teacher. Particularly funny is that Robia [=LaMorte=], who played Jenny Calendar (a teacher), is less than three weeks older than Charisma Carpenter.
** Later additions to the cast included Creator/SethGreen (23) as Oz (18), Marc Blucas (27) as Riley (22), and Creator/AmberBenson (22) as Tara (19). As for immortal/unaging characters, we have Creator/JamesMarsters (35) as Spike (27-29) and Creator/EmmaCaulfield (25) as Anya (18-19), though it's mentioned in season 4 that Anya started aging again at some point.

** Spike was supposed to be killed off in his introductory season. Firstly when the organ falls on him in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E10WhatsMyLinePart2 What's My Line Part Two]]", secondly, Angelus was supposed to kill him in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E17Passion Passion]]" and make his move on Drusilla. The crew loved Creator/JamesMarsters so much that he was kept on.

** Spike was supposed to be killed off in his introductory season. Firstly when the organ falls on him in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E10WhatsMyLinePartII What's My Line Part Two]]", secondly, Angelus was supposed to kill him in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E17Passion Passion]]" and make his move on Drusilla. The crew loved Creator/JamesMarsters so much that he was kept on.

** In at least one draft of the script for the GrandFinale, Potential Slayer Amanda doesn't die. In the filmed episode, she falls to the ground in front of Buffy with an apparently fatal wound. Creator/JossWhedon supposedly made the change due to learning how popular her character was becoming and wanting to amp up the sense of loss in the final battle.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The early seasons don't so much ''scream'' "1990s" as they beat you with a sledgehammer labeled "1990s" and perhaps [[Machinima/RedVsBlue teamkill you with a tank]]. The effect gradually fades as the seasons progress, though. The same is also true of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', on an accelerated scale.
-->"If the apocalypse comes, beep me."

** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerBuffySummers Buffy Summers]]
** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerSpike Spike]]
** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerAngel Angel]]
** [[Characters/BuffyTheVampireSlayerFaithLehane Faith Lehane]]

* DigitalDestruction: The HD remaster of the show suffers from this big time as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb24kLd459Y this video]] points out, many who worked on the show including Whedon himself have panned the remaster saying that Buffy was never meant to be in widescreen. The fact that other WB shows like Charmed and Smallville got proper HD remasters makes this example even more galling.

** Whedon has confirmed that the "Buffy Working At A Fast Food Place" plotline would have been taken further in Season 6, if not for network worries that it would alienate advertisers.