http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainme ... 202001.htm
After WB finale, `Buffy' gets ready to slay 'em at UPN
by Mark A. Perigard
Sunday, May 20, 2001
As legions of loyal ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' fans know, creator and head scribe Joss Whedon sure can throw a funeral.
Earlier this season he killed off Buffy's sweet mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), in an agonizing episode that captured the first few hours of grieving more grippingly than any mainstream drama.
To celebrate ``Buffy's''' season finale, airing Tuesday at 8 p.m. on WLVI-TV (Ch. 56), the show's 100th episode and its last on the WB network, he is killing off another series regular.
``Someone is going to be leaving us,'' Whedon confirmed. Beyond that, ``I'm not telling you one (expletive) thing,'' he said amiably.
The finale resolves the season-long storyline pitting Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) against a hellgod (Claire Kramer) for the life of Buffy's sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), actually a mystical key to otherworldly dimensions turned into human flesh.
So who bites it? Dawn? Or is it ex-demon Anya (Emma Caulfield), who seems to be standing in the way of half a falling building, judging from last week's preview? Or someone else?
Whedon promises an hour of spectacle and emotional punch. ``It's not small. The battle is pretty much out of control and the stakes are higher.''
Despite Internet rumors, fan favorites Faith (Boston native Eliza Dushku), Oz (Seth Green) and Riley (Marc Blucas) are not returning for the finale. ``We're doing way too much to bring back old characters. It's not old home week,'' he said. Oz and Riley may never reappear in the ``Buffyverse,'' given the respective actors' film careers, he said.
Next season, ``Buffy'' will be leaping to UPN. After renewal negotiations broke down with the WB, UPN agreed to pay about $2.3 million an episode for two seasons of the slayer. Given that UPN's signature series seems to be ``WWF Smackdown,'' the decidedly girl-friendly ``Buffy'' seems a strange fit. But Whedon is pumped for the move.
``UPN says it wants to change its image, that it wants to sit at the grownup table,'' he said. ``They believe in what it brings.''
Of course, life would have been much easier if WB had axed ``Buffy'' spinoff ``Angel.'' UPN was ready to snatch that series up as well.
``It would be simpler if they were a block,'' Whedon acknowledged, ``but I still want to work with the people at the WB and I want to prove `Angel' is its own show and not just `Buffy's' weak sister.''
He's got his work cut out for him. In what has to be the unlikeliest of pairings, ``Angel'' will follow the saccharine WB family drama ``Seventh Heaven'' on Monday nights in the fall.
There may be no more crossovers between the series, but Whedon promises the continuity will remain constant. ``If Cordelia kicked it, I would want people in the Buffy universe to know about it. By the way, Cordelia is not kicking it,'' he said, then added with a laugh, ``She's becoming a man.''
``Buffy'' year six is completely mapped out, Whedon said. ``Every year has a mandate, and next year's is, `Oh, grow up.' '' The Scooby gang finally realizes they have adult responsibilities and ``they suck at it more than the grownups do.''
Whedon happily debunked another Internet rumor by stating that Buffy's mom is now and forever dead. The actress, however, is a favorite among Whedon and company. Sutherland appeared last week in a flashback sequence and will probably pop up again. ``People work often when they're dead,'' he said.
Whedon is also developing an animated ``Buffy'' that will appear perhaps as early as spring 2002 on Fox. It will focus on Buffy's first year of high school and all the familiar characters - Angel, Cordelia, Xander and Willow - will be there. The emphasis will be on ``Simpsons''-esque humor along with the horror, and Whedon is hoping all the original actors sign on to supply the voices.
He is also turning his attention to comic books, writing an eight-issue mini-series called ``Fray,'' about a vampire slayer in the far future, and co-writing the ``Angel'' series, both for Dark Horse Comics.
``So long as I get to tell my stories, I'm happy,'' he said.
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I just think I'd feel a little better if [i:b16321904f]Wanda[/i:b16321904f] wasn't the most reliabile source of information we had saying Willow and Tara would still be together next year.
