into the new thing

Staking their claims

This article appeared in the Sky Digital Subscribers magazine for January 2001, to mark the launch of the fifth season of Buffy and second season of Angel

The stars of hit shows Buffy and Angel are branching out as Ann-Marie Mauger discovers

Life is good for Sarah Michelle Gellar right now. Not only does her hit show, Buffy The vampire Slayer, enter its fifth series this month on Sky One, with plenty of new adventures for the butt kicking blonde bombshell, but she’s also starring in two new films (The It Girl and Harvard Man, both due out later this year).
Fans will be excited to learn the new series promises lots more karate-kicking, vampire-vanquishing adventures. Having survived her first year at college without succumbing to either vampires or bad grades, the sophomore Buffster faces up, once again, to the evil onslaught that erupts from the Hellmouth. There’s also an unexpected addition to the gang with the appearance of Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg, who’s starred in Inspector Gadget), who is believed to be Buffy’s younger sister, and Buffy can look forward to an encounter with the most notorious vampire of all- Count Dracula.
The ongoing popularity of Buffy doesn’t surprise Gellar. ‘Female fans enjoy the show because they can relate to Buffy - she’s OK with who she is," says the 23-year-old star. "That’s the most important lesson we need to learn in our formative years - that it’s OK to be you. Guys see her as a take-charge, kick-ass girl who has never lost her femininity. The ones who are threatened by that don’t watch the show.

Buffy’s boy

‘And to top it all, her love life is bIooming, too - she’s been seeing fellow actor Freddie Prinze Jr since last March (they met on the set of teen slasher flick I Know What You Did Last Summer). First spotted in a clinch in a Malibu restaurant, they went ‘public’ when they were seen at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards together, and soon after Freddie confirmed that they were an item in an interview on MTV.
Sarah prefers to keep a low profile, however. It’s a lot of work to keep a relationship private, and unfortunately it puts a strain on them, but that’s the way I choose to do it. The last thing that I want to do is read about it, or have other people making judgements." Sarah and Prinze Jr will star as junior detectives Daphne and Fred in a remake of the much-loved Seventies cartoon show Scooby Doo next month. And Gellar’s skills in hunting down ghouls and vampires may well come in useful. As for her hit show, it’s been reported that Sarah may hang up her garlic in the nottoo-distant-future. "I love my job but I only have a year to go with Butfy. It’s time to move onto more adult stuff."
But what of Buffy’s true love - Angel? David Boreanaz is also back with a second series of Angel. the spin-off from Buffy, with co-star Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) to help him in his fight against inner and outer demons.
AngeI was always intended to be darker than Buffy, but David’s 240-year-old vampire already has his fair share of fans. ‘I get letters inviting me to vampire dinners in Transylvania’ he says. And despite their onscreen romance, rumours about off-set dalliances between Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar are dismissed out-of-hand by the actress, who brands the allegations s ‘complete fallacy. In fact, everyone on the Buffy set was laughing about the idea of David and me as a couple.
David is also set to star in his first major film, which is due out in the States on 14 February. In Valentine, Boreanaz plays a college nerd who sets out, 10 years on, to wreak revenge on four boys who tormented him with practical jokes at college.

Angelic upstarts

In the second series of Angel, he has just as much evil-induced mayhem to contend with as Buffy. Watch out for the dirty dealing law firm Wolfram and Hart - the Underworld’s own attorneys - who raise the dead Darla (the vampire who sired Angel) to inflict fresh torment on him.
As for any continuing signs of romance between him and Buffy, "I don’t think you’ve heard the last of that, but right now they need their space," he says.

ARE YOU A SLAYER?
Fighting against the forces of darkness and evll (namely Vammpires and the Iike), the hugely popular Buffy The Vampire Slayer and equally thrilling Angel _ return to our screens this month. But how much do you really know about them?
1. ls Doyle a demon on his mother or father’s side?
2. What was Angel’s name before his transformation?
3. Who did Faith swap bodies with before running to Los Angeles?
4.What is Angel’s mother’s name?
5.Who are the Moo?
6. What is the name of Doyle’s ex-wife?
7. How did Doyle pass his’gift’ to Cordelia?
8. Who makes Cordelia pregnant?
9. Who does Angel think invented cellphones?
10. What is the name of the lawyer who loses his arm?
11. Who is the rogue demon hunter?
12. Which popular TV advert did Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles) star in?
13. What high school did Buffy attend before Sunnydale?
14. Why is William the Bloody called Spike?
15. What is the Name of the teacher who is really a giant preying mantis?
16. What was the on-line alias of Willow’s boyfriend?
17. What was the name of Angel’s sire?
18. What was Anya’s name when she was a demon?
19. What is Xander Harrls’ basement address?
20. Which club did Xander work at in the summer after Graduation?
21. How many churches are there in Sunnydale?
22. What was to be Buffy and Spike’s wedding song?
23. Which star od Roswell played Buffy’s former boyfriend?
24. Who founded the MOO?

1: Father, 2: Liam, 3: Buffy Summers, 4: Maude, 5: The mothers opposed to the occult, 6: Harriet (Harry) 7:A kiss, 8: Wilson Christopher, 9: A bored warlock 10: Lidsey McDonald 11:Wesley, 12: The Gold Blend coffee adverts, 13: Hemery High School in Los Angeles, 14: He tortured his victims with spikes underneath their nails, 15: Natalie French, 16: Malcolm, 17: Kathy, 18: Anyanka, 19:17619 Whiteoak Drive, 20:The fabulous ladies night club in Oxnard, 21: 12, 22:’The wind beneath my wigs’ 23: Jason Behr, 24: Joyce Summers
sky customer magazine January 2001