Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Buffy Summers in the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Buffy Summers in the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Our weekly series looking at the good, the bad and the obscure of on-demand viewing. Each week, we'll choose a series from various New Zealand streaming sites and determine whether it's worth watching.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Lightbox)
Sometimes you feel like you've reached the end of the internet when it comes to streaming shows. Or other times you feel completely overwhelmed for choice and not really sure what to go for.
In those moments it's always nice to backtrack to an old favourite, one that will keep you warm as the weather gets colder.
One TV series that is still great to binge on is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, it is slightly dated in terms of fashion sense, amazingly bad 90s graphics and frequent use of phones with cords, but the quirky humour, action and drama still have staying power.
For those who weren't around between 1997 and 2003, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the TV spin-off of the 1992 movie of the same name. It follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), a high school student who finds out that she is the Slayer, the one girl in the world who is destined to keep the world safe by taking down vampires, demons, and other evil forces.
Along with her quick wit, Buffy has the power of super strength that allows her to stake vampires and turn them to dust. She also has the help of her "Scooby gang", her friends, Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and her Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Giles poses as a librarian at Buffy's high school and looks out for the teen by training her and sharing knowledge on how to bring down the supernatural bad guys.
The cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Actor David Boreanaz (Bones) plays the part of Buffy's love interest, Angel, a vampire with a soul. But this isn't any Twilight-style romance - things get complicated fast after Buffy discovers Angel is the one creature she is supposed to destroy. Angel got his own spin-off TV show, Angel, that lasted five seasons. It featured some great crossover episodes with the original Buffy show.
As the seasons progresses the cast of Buffy grows, introducing a lot of great, colourful characters with engrossing storylines including, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Oz (Seth Green), Anya (Emma Caulfield) and the notorious vampire Spike (James Marsters).
The show delves into some pretty dark dramatic places at times, but also has a lighter side with it's perfectly timed comedic lines. Buffy keeps things fresh throughout the seasons, even mixing it up with special episodes including a silent episode, Hush, in season four and a musical episode Once More, with Feeling in season six.
Buffy's writer and creator Joss Whedon's crowning jewel (sorry Firefly fans). Teenage Sarah Michelle Gellar + vampires that actually look like vampires + more fast-paced wit than one can handle = a great TV series to get stuck into. And its seven seasons will easily keep you occupied for a while.
For fans of:Supernatural, True Blood, Veronica Mars Better than:The Vampire Diaries Not as good as: Are you kidding? It's the best!
