The Buffy Chronicles: The Unofficial Companion to Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This has to be my favorite informative Buffy book. It tells about the director, make up artists, and everything you ever wanted to know. It even has a quiz section to test you Buff knowledge.

I bought the Buffy Chronicles with high expectations, and they were met! I loved the pics and I loved the background info more! And who can resist learning what bloopers they made? For example: In the first season finale, Angel said he could not revive Buffy because he had no breath. So what was Spike doing in a later episode smoking? And Angelus had no problem sucking his victim's neck hard enough to get a drag of his/her cigartte. This book was totally worth the money!

This book at first seems like one big episode guide but it is way more than that. Although it covers only the first and a half seasons of the series (its been around awhile longer than most other buffy books) it's still a joy to read because it manages to go deeper than just examining the episodes. What makes this book unique, is that you can tell the author really does her homework researching not only the show's engaging characters but the myths and legends upon which all Buffy/Whedon mythology are based on. Each episode is broken down into a short synopsis, which is basically a summary of the plot, just slightly longer than the blur you would find on your tv guide, and the long version which breaks down the episode with interesting facts. For example, the episode "I Robot, You Jane" has a detailed, insightful discussion of modern day pagans who find themselves comfortable with technology and internet chat rooms, in much the same way as the late Jenny Calendar did. There are also pictures, cast and guest star information, music from the show, bloopers, quotes and philosophies, and 150 fun trivia questions. You can imaging how informative the chapter based on the episode "Halloween" is. As a bonus, the book also boasts of some cool suggestions for what to do about those nagging re-runs and how to play the unofficial Buffy drinking game. It's a good buy.

This book is pretty good if you are looking for insight in the actual show such as what happend in this episode but if you're looking for hardcore info on buffy it's not here.I suggest to look at the Scene book on sarah to get more info on the actor.

If you've ever read a book and immediately given it away, then you know what this book _isn't_. It's not a lot of fluff, so, if that's what you're looking for, go elsewhere. It's not aimed at the lowest common denominator, the crowd satisfied with "Miss Gellar has a dog!" or "Everyone on the show is really cool!" or whatever. It's obviously designed to be read _alongside_ the program itself and it doesn't waste a lot of ink on things that fans already know, like what actually happened in an episode. (Personally, if I see one more episode guide masquerading as a _book_, I'll scream!) Where this book shines is in answering the questions a thinking viewer has left _after_ the show ends on Tuesday night. What makes "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" different is that it _is_ more than a hack-and-slash vampire show. What makes this book different is that it acknowledges how much more there is to this program than forty-seven minutes of bouncing teen bodies and big teeth. It's not for everyone, but, for those who want to explore how Whedon's work fits in with the subculture, what separates BtVS from what came before, how brilliantly the show _does_ use an existing format to put across a much larger message, then this book is one you'll want to curl up with again and again.