Slayers & Vampires

The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy & Angel

By: Mark A. Altman, Edward Gross

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Julie McKay

Two decades after its groundbreaking debut, millions of fans worldwide remain enthralled with the incredible exploits of Joss Whedon's Buffy Summers, the slayer and feminist icon who saved the world...a lot; as well as Angel, the tortured vampire with a soul who fought against the apocalyptic forces of evil.

Now, go behind the scenes of these legendary series that ushered in the new Golden Age of Television, with the candid recollections of writers, creators, executives, programmers, critics, and cast members. Together they unveil the oftentimes shocking true story of how a failed motion picture became an acclaimed cult television series, how that show became a pawn between two networks, and the spin-off series that was as engaging as everything that came before.

This is the amazing true story of Buffy and the friends, vampires, slayers, and demons who changed television forever.

©2017 Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Too much Joss schmoozing, too little new info

About 50% of this book is people lauding the praises of the almighty Joss. Yes, we know -- he's a great writer, tho, turns out he's not such a great human, so that got old fast. The remainder had a lot of interviews or blurbs from people working on the shows, which was good, but not really a lot of info we haven't heard before. I guess having it all on one place maybe is the point of the book ... and to elevate Whedon to a saint or something.

So, meh, it was okay. Not worth another listen, though.

Fan of Buffy and Angel

Would you listen to Slayers & Vampires again? Why?

yes, because it's a "behind the scene document" told by the creators and actors of the both tv series and what went on during the creation of the shows.

What did you like best about this story?

The way it was told

Which character – as performed by Julie McKay and James Patrick Cronin – was your favorite?

James Patrick Cronin did an awesome job of narrating.

Any additional comments?

I loved it

Interesting, but feels incomplete now

Like Altman and Gross' other pop culture outings, this volume is incredibly detailed and interesting, but I did have a couple of minor issues.
While I get that Buffy is a Strong Female Character™️, and hyping that is all the vogue right now, where as it was less common back then, the carping on that one angle gets to be a bit much at times. Yes, we get it, "the patriarchy". As Xander said, "You don't have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike."

This segues well into my second complaint: the fact that, in retrospect - through absolutely no fault of the authors - this work feels incomplete, given the many accusations surrounding Joss Whedon. Whenever Whedon, or someone else, gushes about what a feminist advocate he is, it's downright cringeworthy. It makes the pontificating about feminist themes and "the patriarchy" all the more off-putting.

The performances were fine, though it got deeply tiresome every time they had to introduce "Sarah Lemelman, author, 'It's About Power: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and My Pretentiously Long Book Title".

Meh

The book promises to give you a complete, behind the scenes look of Buffy and Angel. And it does that. Kind of.

There is a lot of repetition -- due to the format of the book, which is on-the-record quotes from different people involved with the show. Get ready to listen to 11 slightly different quotes about how Buffy was really a big deal for giving teenage girls a positive role model.

I think this could have been a fantastic read if it was an authorized biography of the show, written by a singular author who really took the time to interview all these different people and piece together a coherent narrative.

Excellent

This is what a retrospective book should be. It’s full of interviews and deep dives into characters and information about the Whedonverse that even the most hard core fan may not remember/know! Fantastic book.