Meet the Stars of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"Meet the Stars of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'" was published in 1998, when the show was about to start its "third sizzling season" on the WB as "the coolest kickin' hour of teen power on TV." Those sentiments along should be enough to warn you that this unauthorized biography by Jan Gabriel is aimed at the young fans the WB was trying to attract to its network with shows like "BtVS," "Dawson's Creek," "7th Heaven," "Felicity," "Charmed," and all those young-skewing situation comedies. Today, however, "BtVS" is the province of syndication and scholars who are writing about the show from the perspective of philosophy, spirituality, feminism, linguistics, and any other discipline in which its adult fans happen to have their advanced degrees. So there is something refreshing about this book about the young stars of the show aimed at the show's young fans (notice that Anthony Stewart Head as Giles does not get a chapter). Six of the thirteen chapters focus on the "Buffster" herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, starting with her early career in commercials, getting to her Emmy award winning role as Kendall Hart on "All My Children" in the third chapter, and being cast as Buffy in chapter four. The other two chapters look at what Gellar does away from the set, where she explores her "Passion for Fashion," and her initial movie career as a scream queen in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream 2." Getting their own chapters are Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, and Seth Green. These basically read like interviews, culled together from other publications such as "Seventeen" and "Entertainment Weekly," but clear aimed for young readers (you will be reading along and suddenly a "Huddle alert" is called, so you know to pay attention because what follows is something you can gossip about with your friends). Chapter 12, "Camp 'Buffy': A Day Behind the Scenes," groups together stories about the cast on the set (and proves the book is unauthorized by not referring to the show by the Joss Whedon approved shorthand "BtVS"). The final chapter is filled with "Quick Bites on the Slayer Team" so that you can learn SMG loves anything vanilla along with standard biographical information and a long list of favorites from actors to whether or not they believe in vampires for her and the rest of the cast (including Head). Gabriel tends to get a bit gushy at time throughout "Meet the Stars of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'" but she does provide a lot of information. I was thinking that this was going to be one of those quick and dirty little books that comes out to take advantage of the hot television series du jour, but there is a lot of information about the young cast members of "BtVS." Gabriel must have read everything that was available in magazines from "Rolling Stone" to "YM" to put together this book, and since the vast majority of these magazines is not on my reading list, there was enough "new" information in this 16

Although this book did not contain much information that I did not already know from reading countless other Buffy biographies, it is an awesome read for people who have not read other books. It contains pictures of their early days as actors (I especially liked a funny picture with Alyson Hannigan with brown, poofy hair). It really shows how the actors' characters and their looks have evolved through the years.

If you want to learn a lot about the stars of the show then read the book. It gives you heaps of info about them. It gives you their star signs, where they were born and heaps more. In other words, it's a really good book.

Meet the Stars of Buffy the Vampire is a must read! If you're mad about Buffy then here's the book for you. It gives you all the latest info on the Stars, and talks about exactly what you want to know! With 16 pages of color pics, and each chapter carefully written, you'll find out the truth behind each stars sucess.

This book has it all. From how Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) started out, all the way to Nicholas Brendon's (Xander) twin brother. A great book for anyone who wants to know more about the cast. In other words, a must read.