Buffy the Vampire Slayer (franchise)

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an American television series which ran from 1997 to 2003, and was created by Joss Whedon. It followed the adventures of Buffy Summers, chosen by mystical forces to be the Slayer, and who fought vampires and other demons with her friends. The television series also had a spin-off, Angel. The fictional universe in which both series, as well as their various tie-in media, inhabit is known as the "Buffyverse".

Often credited as changing the landscape of television in terms of blurring the lines between drama and comedy, and episodic vs serialised storytelling, Buffy was a big influence on the revived series of Doctor Who, as well as Torchwood.

Connections with the Doctor Who Universe

Buffyverse references

Elements of the Doctor Who universe have been specifically mentioned in the Buffyverse, most notably in the season 6 episode of Buffy, "Smashed", when Andrew mentions that he has seen "every episode of Doctor Who."

There have also been several references to the show in the comics which continue the narrative of the series. David Tennant appeared as himself in the comic In Perfect Harmony, along with a joke about the TARDIS, and a miniature figure of a Dalek is in Xander Harris' room in Welcome to the Team, Part One and I Wish, Part Two.

Crossovers

The Doctor and Rose — or at least lookalikes — appear in No Future For You.

Each of the two fictional universes also contain at least one reference to an in-universe element of the other. In the Buffyverise, this occurs when the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler made a cameo appearance in the comic No Future for You.

The first such reference to appear in the Doctor who universe was the appearance of "William the Bloody Awful Poet", the former human self of the vampire Spike, in PROSE: Camera Obscura.

Possum Kingdom also mentions Sunnydale as a city where Yesterways LTD wanted to take the visitors of the V is for Vampire Tour. Sunnydale is the main setting of the Buffy Television series. The city is again mentioned when the Eighth Doctor told Anji Kapoor that any real vampires would shun cities like Sunnydale and New Orleans, although she did not believe that Sunnydale was real. (PROSE: The City of the Dead)

Similarities

• Perhaps the biggest similarity is that vampires appear in several Doctor Who stories, such as State of Decay and Vampire Science. There are also others that include vampire-like aliens, most notably The Vampires of Venice which specifically refers to "vampires", but which are later revealed to be Saturnyns.
• Other similar villains and characters include fish-like creatures that resemble the Silurians in the Buffy episode "Go Fish", and living ventriloquist dolls also feature in both The Talons of Weng-Chiang, and The Puppet Show.
• The recurring villain in the first season of Buffy, an ancient vampire, also shares the same name as the Doctor's friend/nemesis the Master.
• Both Doctor Who and Buffy also have a spin-off, darker in tone, in which an immortal protagonist moves to a city and protects the public from things they often cannot comprehend, Torchwood and Angel respectively.
• The Cardiff rift was a plot generator for series 1 and 2 of Torchwood, in the same way that the Hellmouth is in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both series also have episodes entitled 'End of Days'.
• In the Buffy episode "As You Were", Spike uses the alias "The Doctor" when breeding and planning to sell a species of dangerous demons.
• The audio drama Minuet in Hell also has several similarities. It features an organisation that is dedicated to dealing with supernatural beings, fronted by a young girl, in a similar way to the Watchers Council and the Slayer. In addition, the use of the phrase "Bored now" before attacking someone is also seen in the 'Buffy' episodes "The Wish", "Doppelgängland", and "Villains". It also thematically similar to Whedon's later series, Dollhouse.
• In Assimilation², Rory Williams uses his knowledge as a Roman Centurion to bluff two guards into allowing him to pass, a tactic also used by Xander Harris in the episode Innocence. Like Rory, Xander also received his knowledge after an alternate 'existence' as a soldier.
• The Silence reminded some critics of the Gentlemen, the villains in Hush.
• Lungbarrow author Marc Platt compared K9's way of speaking the unspeakable, unconstrained by the human vices of politeness and consideration to Anya Jenkins' similar way of speaking.

Connections with Doctor Who

Buffy Summers dressed as Jenny in Twilight, Part One.

• Series regular Anthony Stewart Head, who plays Rupert Giles, has many connections to Doctor Who. He guest starred in School Reunion and The Infinite Quest, as well as various Big Finish Productions audio dramas. He also narrated Doctor Who Confidential and Project Who, and has often been reported as a potential candidate for the role of the Doctor.
• Recurring star of the series Juliet Landau, who plays the vampire Drusilla, has also portrayed an incarnation of companion Romana in several audio adventures.
• Although the project has since been abandoned, Doctor Who producer Julie Gardner met with Whedon to discuss Ripper, a potential BBC co-production spin-off of Buffy set in Britain with Giles as the central character.
• The character Fillion, who appears in the comic Space Squid, is named after, and features a likeness to, actor Nathan Fillion, who appeared in Buffy and other Whedon productions.
• The comic artist Georges Jeanty once said that he was 99% sure the character of Jenny was a homage of Russel T Davies to Buffy. He returned the favour by dressing Buffy like Jenny in the comic Twilight, Part One.
• The Doctor Who Magazine entitled their 280th issue with the question: "What do Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have to offer the discerning Doctor Who fan?" In the magazine the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes Becoming, Part One and Becoming, Part Two were compared with the Doctor Who episode The Curse of Fenric.

The Doctor Who × Buffy the Vampire Slayer artwork.

• The 2022 Buffy calendar accidentally used fanart, depicting the Eleventh Doctor and a Dæmon among the recognisable Buffyverse characters.

Connections with Torchwood

• James Marsters, who played the vampire Spike in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel, played Captain John Hart in Series 2 of Torchwood. The two characters also had similar personalities as well.
• As Miracle Day was an American co-production, the two shows also share a number of cast and crew, including recurring guest star Robin Sachs who played Ethan Rayne, writer/producer Jane Espenson, and costume designer Shawna Trpcic. Eliza Dushku, who played Faith Lehane in Buffy and Angel also provided her voice for Web of Lies.
• On the Torchwood website, one of the creatures described by Owen Harper as being in stasis in the Torchwood morgue is the "Invincible Vampire", which reconstitutes itself after it is "dusted". "Dusted" is terminology from Buffy for the slaying of a vampire, referring to the fact their bodies would turn to dust once killed.
• The Angel episode A Hole in the World features a pit that extends all the way through the Earth, between England and New Zealand. Miracle Day has a similar feature called the Blessing, which extends between Shanghai and Buenos Aires.
• The Series 2 of Torchwood episode, Adam is very similar to the Buffy episode Superstar in which 'new' characters appear in the episode as established parts of the team. The trick with putting clips of this new character into the intro is used here with Adam Smith appearing in the same way as the character of Jonathan Levinson did in the episode. Both are also villains; however, Jonathan becomes a villain later in Buffy.

Connections with Class

• In For Tonight We Might Die, April MacLean compares the tear in space-time which had appeared within Coal Hill Academy to a Hellmouth.

Behind the scenes

• Azal the Dæmon and the Eleventh Doctor were mistakenly included on the 2022 calendar for the franchise, which was a fan art piece originally created by Andy Lambert.

External links

• The Buffyverse wiki, focusing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its spin-offs, and expanded media.