Buffy the Vampire Slayer, WB/UPN (reruns on FX)
Caution: spoilers!
The Backstory (i.e., The Movie):
This series is based on an earlier movie by the same name. It is however important to remember that, as far as the series is concerned, the movie never happened. There are numerous differences between the movie and the series. For one thing, the Watcher (Merrick) was apparently reborn time and again throughout history, just like the Slayer. And he remembers each of his past lives, while the Slayer just has incomprehensible dreams about her past lives. (In the series, the Slayer does sometimes have prophetic dreams and stuff like that, but it's not a major part of the show.) In the series, there is a council of Watchers, headquartered in England. They're a rather rich and powerful group of stuffy British guys who are aware of much of the supernatural stuff going on in the world, particularly vampires, but they don't seem to do much of anything about it directly (at least, not that we ever see). Instead, the Council assigns one Watcher to train and guide the Slayer, and through him, the Slayer is to basically carry out the orders of the Council. (This is one thing that contrasts Buffy from most previous Slayers: she only does what the Council wants if she was going to do it anyway; otherwise, she generally ignores or outright defies them.) ...However, in the movie, there was no such group, just Merrick. Also, in the series, when a vampire is killed, it turns to dust, but this doesn't happen in the movie. Also, vampires can fly in the movie, but not the series. Also, in the movie the Slayer gets some sort of menstrual cramps to warn her whenever vampires are nearby. (I'm really glad to say this doesn't happen in the series.) In the movie, Buffy was a senior in high school. But in the first season of the series she starts out as... um, I dunno. She graduated at the end of season 3, so I guess she musta started as a sophomore. Anyway... In the movie, her parents are together but fairly self-involved and oblivious; in the series, her parents are divorced, and her mom clearly cares about her and takes an interest in her life (though it would be a couple seasons before she learned the truth about Buffy). Buffy did come from L.A., where she had been slaying vampires and trained by a Watcher. But the series pilot says she burnt down her high school gym, which explains her move to Sunnydale. But while the gym was, as I say, wrecked in the movie, it wasn't burnt down or destroyed. It should just need some major cleaning up and small repairs, replace a few windows and whatnot....
(See also Angel's backstory.)
The Show:
This is one of the best series ever; one of very few series in television history that I would say really starts out brilliant from the first, and maintains its excellence throughout the series (improved upon it, actually). The writing, the acting, the stories, everything is just great. It can be incredibly moving, emotional... but also hilarious beyond words. I think in a way the whole concept is nicely conveyed by the opening theme. It starts out with a very classic-sounding monster movie werewolfish howl, along with classic-looking monster movie visuals... but all that lasts maybe four seconds, before launching into some very cool, 90's rock theme music by Nerf Herder. Along, naturally, with scenes from the series; cool, ass-kicking, amusing, and cute visuals, all thrown together. This is what the series is. It is greatly influenced by the whole history of the genre, but it has a very modern and distinctive style all its own. The central concept, famously, is to turn on its head the traditional, cliched scene of a monster attacking a defenseless girl... by having the girl fight back and kick its ass. This in and of itself is a cool concept, and made for a reasonably entertaining movie. But the series... does so much more than that. Of course, we really get to know and care about the characters. We get not just a simple concept, endlessly repeated in new situations each week; but rather, truly imaginative and inspired stories from a seemingly endless well, which stand on their own as brilliant episodes, but also perfectly fit into and add to the continuing drama of these people's lives and the ever-evolving yet ever-consistent universe which is being built by those stories. And did I mention how funny it is? Oh, and, um... there are tons of skillfully employed pop culture references. You know I love a show that's good at using the pop culture references....
Anyway... in season one, Buffy Summers (now played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who we quite like) had to move to Sunnydale with her mom (Joyce). She wanted to fit into her new school and have a normal life, put her Slaying behind her. She met a girl named Willow Rosenberg, who was a rather unpopular, shy, mousy brain (and btw, I don't know if there are words for how much we like Willow); and Willow's best friend Xander Harris, who was decidely not a brain, but likewise an unpopular outcast. But at least he's pretty funny and stuff. Anyway, Buffy became friends with the two of them. Then there was a popular cheerleader named Cordelia Chase (who we like), who didn't want to be involved with these people (she's alot like Buffy was before she learned she was the Slayer), but she eventually did get involved and was occasionally of some help. Um, but anyway... despite Buffy's efforts to escape her past, her destiny wasn't done with her, of course. The school librarian, Rupert Giles, turned out to be another Watcher. And Sunnydale is built over the Hellmouth (or a Hellmouth, whatever, I'm not sure). So there were lots of vampires and demons and all kinds of evil stuff going on. What else? Yes, we met Angel, a mysterious figure at first, but it wasn't too long before we found out that he's a vampire with a soul, who wants to attone for past sins. He eventually started dating Buffy. ...Now, at this point I want to introduce the phrase "big bad." I usually think of this as the major villain of any given season, but I think it can also refer to pretty much any evil thing, whatever. I'm not sure. But anyway, each season does have at least one major enemy for the good guys to fight. Now it is time to introduce our other phrase, "Scooby gang," or simply "Scoobies." This is what the good guys call themselves, alluding of course to the classic cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! So each season the Scoobies have a new big bad to fight. In the first season, the big bad was a vampire called the Master, who was trapped underneath Sunnydale, roundabout the Hellmouth itself. He commanded all the vampires in Sunnydale, and planned to eventually escape back into our dimension. And that's all I'm gonna say about season one.
In the second season, the big bads were Spike and Drusilla (we really like Dru). They're both pretty cool, and Dru is totally insane, as well as clairvoyant. For a time, Angelus was another big bad, himself. (If you haven't yet read Angel's backstory, do so now.) Other things worth noting about this season are the appearance of another Slayer named Kendra, as well as our meeting Oz, who will eventually start dating Willow. He's a werewolf. He's in a band. He's so cool! Doesn't talk alot, but he thinks alot. Really great guy, that Oz (actually Daniel Osbourne). At the end of the season a bunch of stuff happened that understandably got Buffy pretty upset. She got expelled, and her mom finally found out about Buffy being the Slayer and they had a big argument. But something much bigger than those things happened, and I don't want to spoil it by telling you what it was. But it made for one of the most dramatic, incredible, heartwrenching moments of the series. Anyway, she left Sunnydale and spent the summer anguishing over everything....
In the third season, the major enemy was Mayor Wilkins, who wanted to ascend... become a demon, a full-demon, not these half-breeds we generally see running around. It was quite a busy season. There was a new Slayer named Faith, who started out working with the Scoobies, but ended up working for the mayor. There was Wesley Wyndham-Price, a Watcher who was sent by the Council after the Council fired Giles. The Scoobies didn't pay much attention to Wesley most of the time, completely resented him. And he wasn't much good at fighting vampires or anything, really... yet. He'd improve, with experience. Um... there was a thousand-year-old vengeance demon named Anyanka, who grants wishes, mainly to women who have been scorned by men. Cordy didn't know what she was, and wished Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, and that created a whole dystopian alternate reality where the Master was still alive and in control, vampires were everywhere, especially at the Bronze (a nightclub at which, in the normal reality, the Scoobies and lots of regular people like to hang out). Angel was in a cage, Xander and Willow were vampires, Giles was leading a few good guys called Whitehats in a losing battle against evil, and Buffy was just wandering around the world fighting whatever pockets of vampires she came across. Meanwhile, Cordy was stuck in this new reality, the only one aside from Anyanka who knew it was wrong. She managed to talk a little bit with Giles, but didn't live too long. Anyanka, meanwhile, was quite pleased with the new reality, but Giles managed to change it by destroying her amulet, which gave her her power. So suddenly everything was normal, and Cordy was standing there wishing for things, completely oblivious to any changes that now had never taken place. Anyanka couldn't grant wishes because she was just human again. But later Anyanka, now calling herself just Anya, tried to get her amulet back by having Willow help her do a retrieval spell, under false pretenses. She wanted to snatch it out of the alternate reality before it was destroyed. But instead the evil Vampire Willow was brought into our reality. So she tried to make this reality more like the one she knew and loved, and Anya wanted to help. But they failed, and the Scoobies sent Vamp Willow back to her own reality. Anyway, Anya eventually started dating Xander and actually helping the Scoobies. Gosh, what else? The mayor had a bunch of vampires working for him, led by Mr. Trick. Angel broke up with Buffy, but stuck around to help against the mayor, who eventually Ascended. He turned into a giant snake demon at graduation (yes! the Scoobies graduated!) and stuff. Ate Principal Snyder, who was always a thorn in the side of the Scoobies, in his own little high-school-principalish way. Anyway, it was a truly great season, perhaps the best. Lots of interesting stuff happened. After the Ascension, Angel moved to L.A. and got his own series. On a related note, Cordy moved to L.A. to try to find work as an actress....
And we move on to season 4, in which most of the Scoobies went off to college. And Xander got a job. Several, I think. And there was a secret government group called the Initiative which fought vampires and demons and whatnot. Captured them, did experiments, and stuff. They captured Spike and put a chip in his head that wouldn't let him hurt humans. One guy in the Initiative was Riley, who eventually started dating Buffy. Also this season Oz left, to try and figure some things out about himself. Meanwhile, Willow was really getting into Wicca stuff. She also met another Wiccan named Tara (who we kinda like I guess), who she'd eventually start dating. Um... not sure what else to say. One of the scientists at the Initiative had built a sort of Frankenstein's monster named Adam, made up of various demon parts and some technology and stuff. I suppose you could call him the season's big bad, but there was other stuff like trying to deal with college and the Initiative, who were ostensibly good guys, but not really trustworthy- and they certainly didn't trust Buffy and her friends. Which made the whole relationship with Riley pretty weird and strained. The season also included one of the series' truly brilliant episodes, "Hush," in which everyone in Sunnydale lost their voices, so there wasn't much of any dialogue in the episode....
Season 5 started with Buffy vs. Dracula. That was cool. But it was only one episode. Then, Buffy got a little sister named Dawn (who we think is pretty darn cute). Everyone remembered Dawn always having been there, including Dawn herself. She actually used to be a little ball of light called the Key, who some monks had been protecting from this evil god named Glory. Glory (the major enemy of the season) wanted the Key to unleash some unspeakable evil, open the borders between this dimension and her own, from which she'd been exiled... and in the process pretty much merge all dimensions, which would be quite devastating. She didn't know what became of the Key. The monks had turned it into a human (Dawn), and given her as well as everyone else memories of her always having been there. I said that, though. Um, anyway, it took awhile before everyone figured out the truth. Ultimately, Buffy had to sacrifice her own life to save Dawn.
Move to season 6, as well as to UPN, and Willow used a spell to bring Buffy back to life. This was the darkest season of the series, a benchmark of darkness against which all dark and depressing things in the world should be judged from now on. It was very hard to watch, very painful, but still quite brilliant, and it still had plenty of humor. Now, Buffy had been in a sort of Heaven dimension, and was very happy there, and was not at all happy to be back in the world. But she didn't want her friends to know this. She did however confide in Spike, who had been helping the Scoobies for some time, because there wasn't much else for him to do. He liked to fight, and now because of the chip he was only able to fight demons and vamps and such. So, he was sort of a good guy, but he didn't much like them and they didn't much like him. Anyway, she confided in him. What else? He had fallen in love with her in season 5, I guess, but of course she could never love him. She was disgusted by the idea. But now she was just so miserable and everything in life felt wrong. And it turned out Spike could fight her, for some reason. And they ended up sleeping together, in secret, but she was disgusted with herself for it and didn't want anyone to know. And he was just being used. And um... there were three geeks on the show who this season banded together and called themselves the Trio. The leader was Warren, who in season 5 had created a robot girlfriend who ran amuck, and later Spike hired him to create a robot Buffy, who the Scoobies eventually found out about and deactivated. But they used the robot this season while Buffy was dead, and for a little while afterward. Anyway... Warren teamed up with Andrew (the brother of this guy named Tucker who, in a third season episode, had summoned some Hell hounds to attack students at the prom.) So I guess Andrew could do some demon-summoning, himself. Also there was Jonathan, who had been in any number of episodes throughout the series, but wasn't really evil. He was just basically looking for some way of fitting in with anyone. The Trio were more or less comic relief, kind of bumbling, not really what you'd call a serious threat. They were just normal people, after all. But they managed to cause some trouble. And in the end, Warren caused alot of trouble. Earlier in the season, Willow was becoming addicted to magic, and Tara left her. Willow dealt with the problem and finally got over it, but then just when she and Tara got back together, Warren made some real trouble that caused Willow to lose control and was taken over by dark magicks and became really powerful and hellbent on vengeance and destruction and stuff. Anyway... everyone this season was dealing with their own problems. We had Buffy back from the dead and not digging the being alive. Dawn felt totally ignored and unappreciated and became a klepto. Xander and Anya were supposed to get married, but Xander left her at the altar. He was still in love with her, he just didn't feel ready for marriage. But he hated himself for this. Anya did, too, and went out and became a vengeance demon again. Giles moved back to England (he was supposed to have had a spin-off series called Ripper on the BBC, but so far that hasn't happened). Oh yes, at one point Buffy thought she was in an asylum and the past six years or so had all been a fantasy. The Trio were not the real big bad of the season; the real big bad was everyone's psychological and emotional stuff going on. Dark, dark, dark, disturbing and horribly painful season, but the season was as brilliant as any of the series. It included the brilliant musical episode, "Once More, With Feeling," which in a way I think of as a sort of counterpoint to the fourth season episode "Hush." (I recommend you pick up the cast album of the musical sometime, which also has some music from a few other episodes, including "Hush.") Also, the series finale made up for all the pain of the season by being utterly brilliant, a grand climax, and the entire season's build-up to the finale was absolutely essential and perfect. I won't say too much about it, but one thing that happened was that Spike went to find some kind of like African demon shaman or something, I dunno... to get the chip out of his head. Instead the guy ends up giving him a soul... (Though in season 7 Spike would claim he'd gone to the guy specifically to get his soul back, so I'm not sure what to believe about that.)
Season 7 was the final season. Sunnydale High has finally been rebuilt and reopened, after having been destroyed at the end of season 3. And Dawn's going there now. And Spike's back, acting very weird and stuff. And Willow has spent the summer in England with Giles and a coven, learning to control her powers, though she's still feeling very nervous about them and very guilty about all she did last season. But at least the show is back to being a bit lighter again, most of the time. Also, one episode had Anya singing a song set during "Once More, With Feeling," in a flashback. Oh yes, and she became human again. Anyway, this season the Scoobies have to deal with the biggest of all possible big bads, the First Evil. Apparently it was seen before in an earlier season, but I don't really remember it, I'm afraid. But this season it's out to bring on the biggest apocalypse ever. It's doing all kinds of stuff, I can't even tell you what all. And it's got a Turok-Han (ancient, savage, uber-vampire) working for it. And the Watchers Council in England was blown up. The Scoobies started gathering all the potential Slayers from around the world, to train them to help fight the First. Andrew, one of last season's bad guys, became a sort of ally of the good guys, but he was mostly there as comic relief. Buffy eventually killed the first Turok-Han, but the good guys would face many more, in the final battle. Meanwhile, the First had plenty of other servants. There were these blind, robed guys called Bringers who killed people and made trouble, but seemed fairly ineffectual against the main good guys. And the First was controlling Spike's mind for awhile. And then there was this guy Caleb who dressed like a preacher, but merged with the First, giving him great strength. He proved more formidable than a Turok-Han, at least until Buffy acquired an ancient and powerful weapon, which would also come in quite handy in the final battle against the army of Turok-Han. Of course, Faith showed up to help, too, and the Scoobies voted her in as leader for awhile, and Buffy out. That didn't go well or last long. Also, Willow cast a spell that would make all potential Slayers, actual Slayers, at the same time. Oh, and Principal Wood, of the new high school, turned out to be the son of a Slayer that Spike had killed in the 70s, so there was some conflict between the two of them, but he also became an ally against the First. Anyway, in the end, the good guys won, but Sunnydale was destroyed in the process (luckily, everyone not directly involved in the battle had already evacuated). Some good guys died, Xander lost an eye but gained a cool eye patch. All in all, a happy ending, but not without terrible losses and regrets, and unanswered questions about the future. I must say, it's about the best imaginable end to one of the greatest television series of all times....
I should also mention that there have been several comic books based on Buffy, Angel, and Spike, but I haven't read many of them at present, and anyway there's only one series I'd consider canonical. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is pretty much an official continuation of the series after the final televised season, and it is very cool....