Joss Whedon Movies

The stuck-up attitude of Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) comes back to hurt her in this important first-year episode. While campaigning to be crowned Sunnydale High's May Queen, Cordelia's date is clubbed to death by a possessed baseball bat. A friend of Cordelia's then falls down some stairs, leading Buffy to believe that an invisible assailant might be at work in Sunnydale. Soon enough, Buffy discovers evidence of a girl named Marcia Ross (Clea DuVall) living in the recesses of Sunnydale High. Among her belongings, she finds a yearbook signed by Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan), although no one seems to remember the girl. Treated as invisible for so long, Marcia has actually become invisible and is exacting revenge upon her classmates. Buffy finds a way of stopping her before she can kill Cordelia, creating some goodwill between the two. By the end, Marcia is taken away by federal agents to be rehabilitated at a school for other invisible students, foreshadowing other political entanglements Buffy will encounter in future seasons. Another point of interest in this episode is the first meeting between Angel (David Boreanaz) and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

Everyone returns from summer vacation with unresolved issues that they're just itching to uncover. Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) flirtatiously eat ice cream together, and after Xander licks ice cream off Willow's nose -- perhaps about to kiss her -- they are rudely interrupted by a vampire who wants something other than sweet treats. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who spent the summer with her father, saves them from the attack, the first such attempted biting since the Master's death. The trio's happy reunion is short-lived though, as Buffy is clearly distant, irritable, and wanting to get on with her Slayer training. She is overly mean to Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), blows off Angel (David Boreanaz), and seductively slow dances with Xander at The Bronze, making everybody uncomfortable. Her bad attitude is exacerbated after having a nightmare in which Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) attacks her while Willow and Xander idly watch. This all karmically leads up to the disappearance of the Master's bones. Giles researches a revivification rite, suspecting that someone might be trying to resurrect the Master. Giles accidentally mistranslates the text and he, Willow, Cordelia, and Jenny (Robia La Morte) are taken by the Anointed One (Andrew J. Ferchland) and his new minion Absalom (Brent Jennings) to complete the ceremony. Buffy comes to save them, and in doing so, cathartically takes a sledgehammer to the Master's bones. This episode is the first in which Angel was listed as an official cast member. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

A new love and an old friendship are tested in this soap-operatic second-season episode. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) spies Angel (David Boreanaz) speaking with a mysterious and alluring woman. Unaware that the woman is Drusilla (Juliet Landau) -- Buffy did not meet her in the earlier "School Hard" episode of the series -- Buffy becomes jealous and depressed. But when her old best friend and former crush Ford (Jason Behr) transfers to Sunnydale High, she immediately brightens up and begins hanging out with him, ignoring Angel. Ford soon reveals that he knows that Buffy is the Slayer. Angel, suspicious of Ford's intentions and equally jealous, teams up with Willow (Alyson Hannigan) to check him out. They discover that, instead of transferring schools, Ford is actually a member of a vampire-worshipping club. Ford plans to deliver Buffy to Spike (James Marsters) and become a vampire in return -- a preferred outcome to dying of his brain tumor. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

A wildly influential cult hit that escaped the shadow of an unsuccessful film incarnation, helped establish the teen-centric WB network, and spawned a long-running spin-off, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran for 144 episodes between March 1997 and May 2003. Approached by Fox television executives about the possibility of a series, Joss Whedon, screenwriter of the original 1992 film, saw the chance to revisit a concept he thought had been mishandled. Refashioning the jokey film back into a mixture of drama, comedy, romance, action, and horror, Whedon and his Mutant Enemy production company found a home for their show at the nascent WB. Originally airing Monday nights and then moving, with much fanfare, to Tuesdays during its second season, Buffy the Vampire Slayer quickly became a hit -- at least by the standards of its demographically targeted network. Ratings peaked in the second and third seasons, but Buffy maintained its status as critics' darling throughout its run. By the time the show moved to the UPN network for its final two seasons, it was selling like hotcakes on DVD and airing in syndicated two-hour blocks on the FX cable channel.

Plot-wise, Buffy centered on the exploits of its titular vampire slayer, a mystical "Chosen One" who found herself living in Sunnydale, CA, an idyllic small town situated atop the mouth to hell. Plucked from a vapid life of cheerleading and parties and forced by her mystic destiny to slay vampires and vanquish demons, Buffy initially viewed her superpowers as an imposition. By the end of the series, however, she had embraced her role as steely general in a never-ending war against the forces of darkness. Joined by an ever-changing array of allies known collectively as the "Scooby gang," she spent three years learning that high school is literally hell before navigating college and grown-up responsibilities in the later seasons. As the show's tangled mythology grew, Buffy's friends began to acquire magical abilities of their own -- all the better to fight each season's "Big Bad" villain. Science fiction and horror fans loved the show for its tight continuity and sustained world-building. As numerous fans and critics have pointed out, however, the supernatural trappings functioned on a deeper, metaphorical level: they mirrored the complexities of growing up, going out into the world, and accepting one's destiny.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, a former All My Children star with a daytime Emmy to her name, became a postfeminist icon on the basis of her work as Buffy Summers and her appearances in such teen horror flicks as Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was Gellar's decision not to renew her contract after the seventh season that proved to be the stake in the show's heart. Thanks to Buffy and the American Pie films, co-star Alyson Hannigan, too, became a breakout star. Both actresses remained with the series for its entire run, unlike Seth Green, who served less than three seasons before movie stardom -- most notably the Austin Powers franchise -- lured him away. As for the rest of the large and ever-changing cast, few became household names despite their wealth of TV, film, and stage experience. But David Boreanaz, who portrayed Buffy's vampiric love interest in the first three seasons, soon found himself helming the spin-off Angel with co-star Charisma Carpenter along for the ride. Angel never captured the zeitgeist in the same way that its parent show had, but it did maintain a devoted cult following through five seasons on the WB before facing cancellation a year after Buffy ended. Before the final episode of Angel even aired, rumors circulated on the Internet about future spin-offs, TV movies, and the possible launch of an animated Buffy series. Only time will tell whether the "Buffyverse" achieves the same longevity as, say, Star Trek, but the ongoing wealth of spin-off novels, comic books, and other merchandise make it seem like a pretty good bet. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Widely considered to be an expensive failure, Waterworld was an epic vehicle for Kevin Costner, who starred in and co-produced the film, with his friend Kevin Reynolds as director. It was based on a 1986 screenplay by Peter Rader and cost an estimated $235 million, more than any film in history up to that time. Costner eventually fired Reynolds and directed the last few scenes himself. The story was filmed in Hawaii, using several artificial islands, and is set in an apocalyptic future, after global warming has melted the polar ice caps and flooded civilization. The Mariner (Costner) is one of the human beings who has adapted by growing gills. The survivalist lives on a boat on which he is growing a precious tomato plant. He tries to sell the plant and its dirt to the residents of an artificial island built of industrial waste. They imprison him when they discover that he's a mutant with gills. But the island is attacked by the Smokers, a group of oil-guzzling raiders on jet skis headed by the Deacon (Dennis Hopper). The Mariner escapes with Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her daughter Enola (Tina Majorino). Back at sea, the Smokers repeatedly attack, using planes and boats, until they kidnap Enola. Enola's back is tattooed with a map showing how to get to Dryland, the last unflooded area on Earth. But Deacon, who needs to get to Dryland to replenish the Smokers' oil supply, can't immediately decipher it. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

The idea of fusing teen sex-comedy and horror genres into a boffo box-office bonanza seems like classic braindead Hollywood-think... but somehow, beyond all reason, the makers of this film manage to pull it off. Much of the credit goes to director Fran Rubel Kuzui (Tokyo Pop) who chooses wisely to let the jokes and action rip by so quickly that viewers won't have time to realize there's practically nothing going on. Also excellent is Kristy Swanson as the bubble-headed cheerleader who learns from a Van Helsing-ish stranger (Donald Sutherland) that she's, like, the reincarnation of this pure female warrior and stuff, destined to rid the world -- or at least the Valley -- of vampires. No sooner is the Buffster being schooled in the ways of vampire butt-kicking (much to the consternation of meek pretty-boy beau Luke Perry) than the lead vampire (Rutger Hauer) and his leering cronies show up -- and leading up the pack is none other than Pee-Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens. Fans of this film's popular TV offspring will appreciate the fang-sharp humor but may be surprised to find little evidence of the spooky atmosphere that permeates the series -- though there are some inspired moments, particularly the ridiculous death-by-ruler scene. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Jackie decides to enroll in police academy, which sets up even more possibilities for Roseanne to make fun of her. Meanwhile, Becky gets embarrassed again, this time when Darlene tells on her for looking at Dan's nudie magazines. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi