Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 5)
Encyclopedia
Crew
Series creator Joss WhedonJoss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
served as executive producer and showrunner, and wrote and directed three episodes including the season finale. Marti Noxon
Marti Noxon
Martha Mills "Marti" Noxon is an American television and film writer first known for writing and producing Buffy the Vampire Slayer.- Production :...
was promoted to co-executive producer and wrote three episodes, including directing two of them. Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
was promoted to producer and wrote or co-wrote five episodes. David Fury
David Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
was promoted to supervising producer and wrote three episodes. Douglas Petrie
Doug Petrie
Doug Petrie is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Best known as a writer, director, and co-executive producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Fantastic Four film and Harriet the Spy. He has also written for the television shows Angel, The 4400 and Tru...
was promoted to co-producer and wrote or co-wrote four episodes. New additions in the fifth season included Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Rebecca Sinclair is a writer and producer for American television. Currently, she is the showrunner for the television series 90210. She served as co-executive producer on the CW series Gilmore Girls and as a writer on Freaks and Geeks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Las Vegas. She lives in Los...
, who wrote three episodes and Steven S. DeKnight
Steven S. DeKnight
Steven S. DeKnight is an American television screenwriter, producer, and director. He is best known for working on Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. He has also written "Swell", a story in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season eight comic series, and served as a consulting producer...
, who wrote two episodes.
David Solomon directed the highest amount of episodes in the fifth season, directing four episodes and was promoted to producer. Joss Whedon, James A. Contner
James A. Contner
James Atwater Contner is an American television and film director and cinematographer. His work includes episodes of such television series as Miami Vice, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Star Trek: Enterprise...
(also co-producer), and David Grossman
David Grossman (director)
David Grossman is an American film and television director known most notably for his work on the ABC series, Desperate Housewives which he also serves as co-executive producer, his first series as a producer....
each directed three.
Episodes
|-
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| №
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| #
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| Title
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| Directed by
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| Written by
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| Original air date
! style="background: #990000; color: #ffffff;"| Production
code
|-
|}
Crossovers with Angel
The fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired along with the second seasonAngel (season 2)
The second season of the television series Angel, the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, premiered on September 26, 2000 on The WB Television Network and concluded its 22-episode season on May 22, 2001...
of Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. Both shows retained their timeslots on The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, airing on Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET and 9:00 PM ET respectively.
The Buffy episode "Fool for Love" is a companion to the Angel episode "Darla
Darla (Angel episode)
"Darla" is episode 7 of season 2 in the television show Angel. Written and directed by Tim Minear, it was originally broadcast on November 14, 2000 on the WB television network. In this episode, Angel tries to rescue Darla from the clutches of Wolfram & Hart and Lindsey's affections, as she...
". Both episodes feature multiple flashbacks to the history of Spike (James Marsters
James Marsters
James Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...
) and Darla (Julie Benz
Julie Benz
Julie M. Benz is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television...
), shown from their respective viewpoints. Angel (David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau
Juliet Landau
Juliet Rose Landau is an American actress best known for her role as Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff show Angel, the latter appearance earning her a Saturn Award nomination. She is also known for co-starring as Loretta King Hadler in Tim Burton's Ed Wood.She has appeared in a...
) also appear in both episodes. Both episodes feature a same scene – one from the point of view of Spike and the other from Angel, Darla, and Drusilla.
Buffy recurring character Drusilla makes her first present-tense appearance on Angel in the episode "The Trial". She returns to Sunnydale in her final present-tense appearance in the episode "Crush".
Angel visits Buffy in the episode "Forever" to comfort her after he learns her mother
Joyce Summers
Joyce Summers is a fictional character in the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Played by Kristine Sutherland, Joyce is the mother of the main character, Buffy Summers . Joyce appears regularly from the first episode until the character's death in the fifth season episode "The...
died.
Buffy recurring character Harmony Kendall
Harmony Kendall
Harmony Kendall is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. The character is portrayed by Mercedes McNab...
(Mercedes McNab
Mercedes McNab
Mercedes Alicia McNab is a Canadian-born actress perhaps best known for playing Harmony Kendall on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel...
) visits L.A. in the Angel episode "Disharmony". Harmony would later appear in the fifth season of Angel and become a main character. Willow
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
(Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...
) also appears in the episode in a conversation with Cordelia
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
(Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Lee Carpenter is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. In her most recent film she starred opposite Sylvester Stallone and Jason...
) over the phone.
Willow comes to L.A. in the Angel season two finale, "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb" to deliver the news to Angel that Buffy had died.
Reception
The series was included in the American Film InstituteAmerican Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's list for the best drama series of the year. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
was nominated for a Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for Best Script
Nebula Award for Best Script
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Script. The stated year is that of release; awards are given in the following year. Winning titles are listed first, with other nominees listed below. In 1974, 1975, and 1977 the award was for "Best Dramatic Presentation"...
for "The Body". The series was nominated for three Television Critics Association Awards
Television Critics Association
The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming...
, for Individual Achievement in Drama (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Outstanding Achievement in Drama, and Program of the Year.
The episode "The Body" has been highly acclaimed and is considered to be one of the finest episodes of television ever broadcast. David Bianculli in the New York Daily News commends the acting abilities of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Alyson Hannigan, and Amber Benson. "The Body", according to Bianculli is "Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-worthy ... It also will haunt you—but not in the normal way associated with this still-evolving, still-achieving series." Television critic Alesia Redding and editor Joe Vince of the South Bend Tribune
South Bend Tribune
The South Bend Tribune is a newspaper distributed in the Michiana region. There are five editions for distribution in southwestern lower Michigan, Mishawaka , Marshall County, and the South Bend Metro area. The South Bend Tribune has a daily circulation of 70,703 and Sunday circulation of...
write, "I was riveted by this show ... This isn't just one of the best Buffy episodes of all time. It's one of the best episodes of TV of all time." Redding adds, "If you watch this incredible episode and don't recognize it as great TV, you're hopeless ... A 'fantasy' show delivers the most stark and realistic take on death I've ever seen, deftly depicting how a loved one who dies suddenly becomes 'the body'."
Gareth McLean in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
rejects the notion that Buffy is similar to other "schmaltzy American teen show(s)" like Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
: "This episode was a brave, honest and wrenching portrayal of death and loss. The way this was handled by Joss Whedon ... was ingenious. Time slowed down and the feeling of numbness was palpable as Buffy and her gang tried to come to terms with Joyce's death." McLean especially appreciated the small details of Buffy protecting Joyce's dignity and the confusion shown by the characters. He concludes, "Joyce may be dead but long live Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
At Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, Joyce Millman writes, "there hasn't been a finer hour of drama on TV this year than ... 'The Body' ... You have to hand it to the writers; Joyce's demise came as a complete surprise. In that instant, Buffy's childhood officially ends. Even if Buffy gets stiffed in every other Emmy category this year, 'The Body' should convince the nominating committee that Gellar is for real ... I can't remember the last time I saw a more wrenching portrayal of the shock of loss." Andrew Gilstrap at PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
declares it "possibly the finest hour of television I've seen, bar none ... It is an incredibly moving episode, one that finally admits that you don't walk away from death unscathed. It also shows that, for all the group's slaying experience, they really weren't prepared for death when it stole a loved one." The Futon Critic named "The Body" the best episode of 2001.
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
named "The Gift" one of TV's best season finales ever.
The fifth season averaged 4.4 million viewers, slightly higher than the second season of Angel.
DVD release
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fifth Season was released on DVD in region 1 on December 9, 2003 and in region 2 on October 28, 2002. The DVD includes all 22 episodes on 6 discs presented in full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio (region 1) and in anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio (region 2 and 4). Special features on the DVD include four commentary tracks—"Real Me" by writer David FuryDavid Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
and director David Grossman
David Grossman (director)
David Grossman is an American film and television director known most notably for his work on the ABC series, Desperate Housewives which he also serves as co-executive producer, his first series as a producer....
; "Fool for Love" by writer Doug Petrie
Doug Petrie
Doug Petrie is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Best known as a writer, director, and co-executive producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He co-wrote the screenplays for the Fantastic Four film and Harriet the Spy. He has also written for the television shows Angel, The 4400 and Tru...
; "I Was Made to Love You" by writer Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
; and "The Body" by writer and director Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
. Scripts for "The Replacement", "Fool for Love", "Into the Woods", and "Checkpoint" are included. Featurettes include, "Buffy Abroad", which details the international popularity of the show; "Demonology: A Slayer's Guide", a featurette presented by Danny Strong
Danny Strong
Daniel W. Strong is an American actor and writer in film and television.-Early life:Strong was born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California. where he would rent videos from Video Archives, becoming friends with Quentin Tarantino who was then a clerk there...
showcasing the various demons on the show; "Casting Buffy", which details the casting process of all the main actors; "Action Heroes!: The Stunts of Buffy" details the stunts and features behind-the-scenes footage with the stunt actors; "Natural Causes", a featurette on the episode "The Body"; "Spotlight on Dawn" details the introduction of the character and interview with actress Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl...
; and "The Story of Season 5", a 30-minute featurette where cast and crew members discuss the season. Also included are series outtakes, Buffy video game trailer, photo galleries, and DVD-ROM content.