BTVS

You have no idea how long I have waited for my encyclopedia knowledge of Buffy The Vampire Slayer to be of some use since my favourite childhood show got cancelled seven years ago... well I guess that would be seven years then!From when back in 1997 I watched episode 3 of the show (I was not going to end up watching the first two episodes until 99' when my parents bought be the VHS box set) I was in love with it.

The dialogue was so quick and punchy; the hero was a woman who although unapologetically feminine to the Nth degree also kicked ass and was in charge of her own life and decisions. I'll be honest though, my love for BTVS was centred around Joss Whedon's premise; that every teenager feels like it's the end of the world every week, but for Buffy it's true - it gave your average teenager a chance to pretend for an hour that their day to day lives were as significant as they felt they were, and not arguably mostly normal events compounded by hormones and parental discipline. I was totally enraptured by the show and watched all of the character's go through morality tales worthy of Aesop; soap stories putting the likes of EastEnders to shame; and all the while making my heavily religious grandmother concerned that I may be permanently damaged by all the "horrific violence" - which was the biggest plus of all.

I can quote entire episodes of Buffy; just give me the title of an episode and I can give you a synopsis; I know in complete detail the entire series and probably quite a bit of backstage information from additional reading and research when the show was on summer hiatus and I needed my fix!

My favourite monologue was from beloved Xander when he returned from his planned drive around America; planning to visit all 50 states - "did you tell him about Hawaii?" "well he just seemed so determined..." - He speaks the entire monologue at epic speed and all in one breath; and I can regurgitate it on demand...

X - "well basicly I got as far as Oxnard and the engine fell out of my car... and that was literally. So I ended up washing dishes at the Fabulous Ladies Nightclub for about a month and a half while I tried to pay for the repairs. No one spoke to me or even looked at me until one night one of the male strippers called in sick and no power on this earth will me tell you the rest of that story. So suffice to say I traded my car in for one that wasn't entirely made of rust, came trundling home to the arms of my loving parents where everything was exactly as it was except I sleep in the basement and I have to pay rent. How's college?"

B - "male strippers?"

X - "no power on this earth."

Although this doesn't even begin to do justice to my epic knowledge of Buffy; and does not address the spin-off which I am equally quite epically knowledgeable about... It is quite revealing enough of what I was doing in the late 90's/ early 00's when everyone else was out having a social life!