Buffyverse rare promos

Buffy and Angel promos were used by the WB Network and later by UPN to promote episodes of Buffy & Angel. Most often promos include narration and clips from episodes being promoted. However occasionally more original and notable promos were used, and it is only these rarer promos that are discussed here. They may hold interest for fans of these television series.

History of the Slayer

History of the Slayer was a promotional clip shown on WB Network in 1997 to promote the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Before the first airing of Welcome to the Hellmouth, the WB Television Network showed a short promo. It lasted two minutes, fifteen seconds. Whilst the clip has no official known name, some of the few fans aware of the promo, refer to it unofficially as the "History of the Slayer". The clip aired at least three times, once before the premiere, once for a "special weekend presentation", and once for the final night of broadcasting on the WB network.

One of the Slayers which the clip introduced, Lucy Hanover was later used by Buffyverse authors Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder for a number of Buffy novels and Buffy comics. After the promotion, the Hanover character made appearances in
The Gatekeeper, Child of the Hunt, Immortal, Blood of Carthage, The Book of Fours, The Lost Slayer and finally after the completion of the Buffy TV series, Hanover appeared in Queen of the Slayers.

Content

::One of the promos can be downloaded below

A series of promos were shown, and each included different previous slayers. The information was later put on the official Buffy web site before that site was closed down.

1625: Plymouth Colony, early 1625. Mysterious deaths were attributed to some unknown animals. These deaths stopped shortly after a strange visitor, Abigail Cole, joined the community.

1845: The Slayer halted grisly murders at Boston shipyards.

1866: Local Civil War widows stopped disappearing in Virginia when Lucy Hanover showed up.

1888: Dodge City, Kansas. During the Summer of 1888, 40 deaths under suspicious circumstances. The deaths ceased when Belle Malone rode into town.

1893: Oklahoma Territory, the savage attacks which claimed 17 lives ended when a young woman blacksmith passed through.

1897: Bizarre murders at Virginia City, WY were stamped out when 20 year old Florence Gilbert arrived in town

1912: 23 killings at Brooklyn Boarding House. Student nurse Arabella Gish prevented further violence by lodging in room 6.

1927: May: Forty-one bodies were found at Union Station. Deaths stopped thanks to this woman.

1996: 1996: A small campus in southern California. It's starting all over again...

1997: Sunnydale, once again a string of murders is taking place, and the Master has plans for the town and the world.

1-800-Collect

::Can be viewed/downloaded below.

Immediately following the first airing of "Lovers Walk", was the first airing of an advert which featured Gellar and Boreanaz as their characters, Buffy and Angel. Despite being uncanonical, if it were forced into Buffyverse continuity it would fit after "Amends":

Commercial synopsis

In an earlier sweepstakes to win a chance to get staked on an episode of Buffy, Buffy is standing in a graveyard circa Season 2 with several clips from Season 1. Her lines are: "Sometimes 1-800-Collect can be a life-saver.", "You could be one lucky stiff." and "So, how do you like your stake." The commercial tag-line is "Let them eat stake."

Buffy is standing outside at a phone booth. Strangely it appears to be snowing in Sunnydale. Buffy says, "This season with 1-800-Collect, you don't have to be alone for the holidays." She then begins dialing the phone. Buffy hears footsteps behind her. She turns grabs a stake-shaped icicle, and makes a staking motion before Angel grabs her hand. Angel says, "Sorry I'm late." Buffy replies, "You should have called." The two smile, look into the snowing sky, then walk off together.

In an alternate, Angel says, "That's not mistletoe." The commercial ends with Buffy saying, "Your Christmas wish just may come true."

Promo offer

The promo was offering fans the chance to enter a sweepstake every time they made a call using the 1-800-COLLECT service. The prize was a walk-on part on Buffy. Jessica Johnson of Maryland won a three-day trip for two to participate in the episode The Prom.

Promo continuity

The advert would have to take place shortly after Amends, since snow in Sunnydale is highly unusual. The advert is clearly not part of Buffyverse canon since both the narrator and Buffy actively break the Fourth wall.

Barq's

::Can be viewed/downloaded below.

Nicholas Brendon plays Xander Harris in at least two promos for Barq's. :

:XANDER: (sitting in a cemetery) "Who wants to go to a raging party anyway. I'll just sit here alone, awaiting certain death. At least I have you (looks at bottle of Barqs, drinks then throws a stake into a vampire who is instantly dusted), "Woahh! Barqs does have bite."

, he says:

:"I'm sure you're all dying to know the winning name of the Barq's Buffy Halloween Bash, and I'm dying to get out of this graveyard. So, ohh, oops. Hey, it's 'Riley Finn'. Who knew? See you at the party. Hey, where are you going? Did I mention that Barq's has bite?"

WB Image Campaigns

::Can be viewed/downloaded below.

Buffy and Angel also featured each year within the broader promo campaign of the WB networks. These campaigns featured not only Buffyverse actors but the casts from the other shows on the network such as Dawson's Creek, Charmed, Smallville and so on:

*Backlot breaks (1998–1999 season)

This campaign was made up of small clips featuring actors out of character on set revealing a few behind-the-scenes details, including Buffy stars.

* (1999–2000 season)

For the 1999–2000 season, The WB crafted a more elaborate promotional three-minute sequence around the song "Crawl" by Thisway. The band slightly rewrote the lyrics to the song to better suit its marketing efforts.

The song was used again when in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?vFxN3AJNdymU&NR1 WB's final promo], after which the network shut down.

Buffy and Angel actors involved in the promo: Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green, Nicholas Brendon, and Alyson Hannigan.

* (2000–2001 season)

This promo used a remix of "" (originally performed by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) by the band Vitamin C. The lyrics were slightly rewritten e.g. changing of the date to the more recent 1993. This promo had a fast-paced feel, and showed the network's young actors and actresses in a fun, party atmosphere.

Buffy and Angel actors involved in the promo: Gellar, Boreanaz, Brendon, and Emma Caulfield.

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?vyRfRd_Yk3dw&moderelated&search= My Generation] (2001–2002 season)

Eden's Crush, the girls group formed as part of The WB's , joined rapper Hesher to remix a version of "My Generation" originally performed by The Who. Hesher and members of Eden's Crush appeared in the promotional spot alongside the network's stars, which included Angel actors: Boreanaz, Carpenter, and Julie Benz. This season Buffy moved to UPN, so was not part of the promotion.

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?vUwCqo_ygbcY&NR1 Who Do You Love] (2002–2003 season)

Another all-girl pop group, this one hailing from Canada, remixed "Who Do You Love" for The WB's 2002–2003 image campaign. The song was originally released by the Romantics in the 1970s. Angel actors involved in the promo were Boreanaz, Carpenter, and J. August Richards.

Buffy Season 6 UPN promos

A series of Buffy Season 6 UPN promos were aired by UPN to promote Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2001. These clips hold interest for fans because, unlike other promos, these featured the actors playing in character. Thus the promos make up part of the fictional universe known as the Buffyverse.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired for Seasons 1-5 on the WB network. After five seasons WB opted not to continue airing the show. The final episode of Season 5, The Gift featured Buffy Summers dying. However the show was transferring to the United Paramount Network (UPN) for its final two seasons. UPN produced promotional clips of individual members of the Scooby Gang commenting on recent fictional events in character. The promotional clips aired until the airing of the sixth season opener on October 2, 2001.

Continuity: These all take place shortly before the episode Bargaining I.

Content

::Can be viewed/downloaded below.

The promos consist of individual members of the Scooby Gang, briefly talking about life without Buffy. Anya, Dawn, Spike, and Xander have two promos each, whilst Willow has one.

*Anya (1) - "If she was here right now, I know she'd tell us how proud she is of us. She'd say 'Yay, You guys. Fighting evil without me' That's what she'd say. You know... if her vocal cords aren't all decomposed and stuff."

*Anya (2) - "Death is stupid. You plummet off a tower, and that's it. It's shocking and I don't like it."

:Anya had already recently experienced death in "The Body" where for the first time, she emotionally came to an understanding of what mortality meant. Here Anya has moved on from grief.

*Dawn (1) - "My sister died saving the world... saving me. Who's gonna save us now?"

:Dawn is referencing events that happened in "The Gift", Buffy jumped from the pillar to save Dawn.

*Dawn (2) - "All my life, one person has kept me safe in Sunnydale. But she's gone. Now it's up to me to stay alive".

:In "The Gift", Dawn's life was saved at the cost of Buffy's life.

*Spike (1) - "Knew this girl once, not like me at all. They say the good die young, they weren't lying. "

*Spike (2) - "It hurts when I think about her, but soon I'm not going to be the only one, 'cause without her, all hell is going to break loose."

*Willow - "Even in high school she warned me, she told me she'd die young. I never believed her, until now."

*Xander (1) - "The Slayer is dead. Everybody else... We're next."

:Xander looks into the future for the Scoobies. He later tells Dawn in "Potential", that because he has no powers of his own, he is the one that "sees everything". Ironically Caleb took an eye from him in "Dirty Girls".

*Xander (2) - "We live on a Hellmouth and we're down one slayer. If my calculations are correct, we're in big-ass trouble."

Notes and references

*Buffy the Vampire Slayer magazine #7 (UK, April 2000). Mini-feature on Barq's promotion.

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See Also

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