This week, the Nicks tackle iconic 90s nerdy show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They'll talk about the emergence of genre television, what Buffy means as a Strong Female Characters & how the whole world now sounds like 90s teens!

Here are some of the sources we used for the episode:

[The Importance of Being the Zeppo: Xander, GenderIdentity and Hybridity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Mark Camron](http://www.whedonstudies.tv/uploads/2/6/2/8/26288593/camron.pdf)

[Buffy Summers: Third-Wave Feminist Icon](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/how-buffy-became-a-third-wave-feminist-icon/493154/)

[The Complex Feminist Legacy Of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’](https://decider.com/2017/03/09/the-complex-feminist-legacy-of-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/)

[How Buffy the Vampire Slayer transformed TV as we know it](https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/10/14857542/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-explained-tv-influence)

[10 Ways Buffy The Vampire Slayer Changed the World](https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/262778/10-ways-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-changed-the-world)

More information about Epic Film Guys' Livestream for the Cure can be found [here](https://fundraise.cancerresearch.org/fundraiser/1947095)!

Z's Beowulf blog can be found [here](https://bloggersbeowulf.com/)!

G's Bandcamp page is [here](https://fragileair.bandcamp.com/)!

### Fandom Facts

“The series narrative follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers or the 'Chosen Ones' are "called" (chosen by fate) to battle against vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches, and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang".”

–Wikipedia - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

* The Buffy subreddit has us covered this week for fan data; [in a survey conducted in 2017](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/7eipxc/rbuffy_2017_survey_results/) (you can also check out [one from 2013 to compare](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/1i9pwc/official_rbuffy_survey_results/)), here is some interesting tidbits:* Gender: _Unlike_ much reddit data we see, the results are pretty evenly split with about 51% female, 47% male, and 1% as non-binary, intersex, agender, or genderqueer.* Age: Most fans are 25-34 (i.e. grew up with the show; 44%) and there are more fans younger than 25 (36%) than there are over 34 (19%)* Least favourite season: #1 (38%)* Most favourite season: #5 (30%; Introduction of Buffy’s sister, Dawn)* Most folks [watched the show from the beginning](https://i.imgur.com/BJWKdiu.png).* If you look through the tag cloud of non-Whedon shows that people also like, [huge amount of diversity](https://i.imgur.com/gz7NSW1.png) (anything from Desperate Housewives to Evangelion, Band of Brothers to Critical Role)* Google trends data only goes back to 2004, which is not too long after the show ended in Spring 2003. [Interest in the show has gone downhill pretty linearly from 2004 to 2007, and much more slowly from then until now](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=Buffy%20the%20Vampire%20Slayer). Surprisingly, a lot of interest from Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia (in that order)... and then the United States.* It was one of the first shows on the WB network

### First Impressions

#### T:

I remember watching Buffy in late elementary school (middle school, if I had one). I think I followed the show pretty steadily until some point probably mid-way into high school when Bu