SANITY FAIR | POWER GIRL | BUFFY MAGAZINE |

So you wanna be the Slayer? Well, okay... but you need these abilities.
Superhero physical powers allow the Slayer to fight vampires and demons on equal terms. We're so used to seeing Buffy throw large monsters overhead, catch arrows in mid-air and leap tall buildings ( or at least tall monsters ), that we forget how remarkable these powers are, until she goes against real world human warriors. When she joins the commandos of the Initiative in a combat drill, she cleans them up in less than a minute.

The Slayer can thank her supernatural healing abilities for letting her take many blows before she shows so much as a bruise - and a good thing, too: how would Buffy explain a never-ending succession of black eyes and fat lips? Wounds that would cripple or kill an ordinary human will only slow her down a bit. A stake-wound in the belly just needs a little combat first aide. A bullet to the chest is more serious, but even without Willow's healing spell, it probably would have only kept her in the hospital for awhile.

The blood of a Slayer has special powers, both magical and medical. The Master needs a drink of Buffy's blood to release him into the world; and when Faith poisons Angel in "Graduation Day", only the blood of a Slayer can save his life. Spike claims that the blood of a Slayer is a potent vampire aphrodisiac, but since any sort of violence seems to be a vampire aphrodisiac, especially to Spike, we can't take this claim as fact.

There are many great episodes seen on Buffy; the silent horror Hush, the extravagant musical Once more with feeling and the heartbreaking 2 part Surprise and Innocence, just to name a few...Whats your favourite??

So, you think you know all there is to know about Buffy, do you?

01. Despite the cast and crew's dedication to perfection, the 144 episodes of Buffy have plenty of goofs - lapses in visual continuity, contradictions with earlier mythology and more. The first recorded 'goof' occurs in the opening scene of "Welcome to the Hellmouth". The top button of Darla's blouse is initially undone, but when she puts on her game face, it's magically done up. The last goof appears at the end of "Chosen". When Sunnydale collapses into the crater, there's no sign of the sea, despite it being firmly established as a coastal town. However, it is possible that the Scoobies escaped inland, and the ocean side of town just isn't visible.

02. Alyson Hannigan is allergic to plaster dust, which caused problems during the filming of "The Body". When Xander punches his hand through the wall after Joyce's death, Alyson's right eye and face swelled up and she had to be taken to hospital! The crew still had to complete the scene before Aly left the set, and if you look carefully, only one side of her face is in shot throughout the scene,

03. Tara gives Giles a little rubber monster as a leaving present in "Bargaining" and says "Grr, argh" - clearly a reference to the monster in the Mutant Enemy logo. The Mutant Enemy monster was drawn by Joss, who also supplied its voice. The logo has been altered specifically for various episodes: In "Amends", the monster wears a Father Christmas hat; in "Becoming, Part Two" the monster says, "I need a hug"; In "Graduation Day, Part Two", he wears a graduation day cap; In "Once More, With Feeling", he sings the "Grr...Argh"; and in "Storyteller" he says, "We are Gods". The name Mutant Enemy is a lyric from the song 'And You and I', by prog rock legends Yes. It's on their album, Close to the Edge.

04. The most popular first-run episode of Buffy on American TV was "Innocence", which receieved a Nielson rating of 5.2 or 5,096,000 American households. Least popular was "Puppet Show", with a Nielson rating of 1.9 or 1,843,000 households. Buffy's highest chart position on American TV was 62nd place out of all Prime Time shows, for Season Five's "Real Me".

05. Joss Whedon's original plan for bringing the character of Tara back involved Buffy being given the chance to play a mystical 'get out of jail free' card - "One completely reality - altering thing that she could have - she could bring Angel back to her, she could do anything she wanted," noted Joss at a recent convention appearance. "At the end of the episode she basically comes to Willow and says 'Look at these shoes I got!' and Willow's like, 'What?' 'I got these really awesome shoes. I wanted them, and now I have them!' and Willow's like, 'You... used... the wish... for shoes?' and Buffy says 'Of course not, you idiot,' and walks out of the room and Willow turns around and Tara's standing behind her."

06. Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy) celebrated her 19th birthday in style. It was on the set of the Season Three episode "Gingerbread", whilst filming the scene where her character was being burned on a pyre. "When they lit me up they yelled 'Fire in the hole,' and everybody started to sing 'Happy Birthday'". Despite Amy turning into TV's most famous rodent since Roland Rat shortly after this, the actress is allergic to one of their favourite foods - cheese!

07. Of all the guest musicians to have played The Bronze, only one was ever given any dialogue, Aimee Mann gets the immortal line: "Man, I hate playing vampire towns" and she exits the stage in the episode "Sleeper".

08. In "The Dark Age", Xander discovers a picture of a youthful Giles with leather jacket and bass guitar. Sadly, Anthony Head's own photo album didn't contain anything available, so the Buffy production crew faked the photo by superimposing his head onto the body of Sex Pistol's bassist, Sid Vicious. Vicious has been cited by many as the primary influence on