Stewart Jamieson talks to Buffy creator Joss Whedon about the growing pains of vampire slayers and his participation in the eagerly-awaited Buffy spin-off series, Angel.

"I hand things in late, I yell at everybody, I don't get enough sleep, I'm cranky as Hell and kind of smelly, quite frankly."

This is how Joss Whedon, Buffy's creator/writer/director and overall Svengali, explains his working methods, and, quite frankly, you're relieved that you're talking to him on the other end of a phone line rather than in person. Whedon's professional life has changed dramatically since the last time SFX talked to him. Then, in 1997, Buffy was still the new kid in town. It already looked like a cult hit. Which is great, but hardly the stuff that impresses the grey suits. Three years later and Buffy has quite literally graduated. With its fourth season just about to hit the airwaves in the States, the show vacates the security of high school and enrolls into college for the next step in its development. And now it's a lot more than just a cult hit, having grown in popularity to the point where it's garnered a spin-off series, Angel.

"It's going well, I think," Whedon humbly admits. He's wary at the moment, and taking a break from simultaneously overseeing both the first episode of the new relocated Buffy, and the pilot for Angel. "The fourth season of Buffy is falling into place and there is a lot of new stuff that's feeling really fresh."

The new location has obviously helped maintain his self-fuelled enthusiasm in this respect. The fourth season of Buffy still resides in the macabre town of Sunnydale, but instead of kicking ass in high school Buffy now has the opportunity to make her mark at university. So will the diversity of college reshape the premise and style that was nurtured so successfully by high school?

"It's very different and exactly the same," answers Whedon. "The environment may be very different, but the problems end up being the same. There's a bunch of new characters, but ultimately it is still our core group fighting demons."

With the independence of university comes the added responsibility of imposed maturity that could make the fourth season as important as the first series, reckons Whedon. "If everybody stops watching then my answer will change," he admits, "but I don't think it is going to be that difficult to continue the show's attraction. It inevitably hits a deeper level and we have a lot of stories we want to tell. College opens up a whole new wealth of problems to look at and our characters' relationships are always in flux. There is also the new-found freedom of being in college with new people and the new identities you take on in a slightly more grown-up world. But of course it's just as strange and hermetically sealed as high-school is. So I don't think we are in a danger of getting into a rut."

As for the effects of college on the new slaying residents of California University, don't expect Buffy and Willow to succumb to the typical stereotypes and personality makeovers that accompany traditional mainstream Americana.

"They are still the same people," reassures Whedon. "We haven't really changed the formula that much, but the diversity of college is something different to what they're used to. You'll see them going through changes, but ultimately we didn't want to come up with a whole new show because we like the present one."

Whedon also hopes the new location will add depth to some of the supporting characters. "You'll see Willow really blossoming," he enthuses. "Because she's finally in place where she can thrive, where knowledge is actually cool. You'll see Xander, who isn't going to college, feeling a little bit left behind and struggling with that. As for Buffy, she's getting over Angel and moving on and probably having a new beau at some point. She's past the very dark phase she had with Faith and although college is very difficult, strange and new there will be more opportunities to explore different sides of her character and have some fun as she grows."
And what of resident Brit Anthony Head? Will Rupert Giles be seen in the library halls of California University or will he exploit his new found freedom?

"He is not going to be working in the college library," reveals Whedon. "Giles is going to be a little more footloose and a man about town. We are working on the idea that when your kid goes to college all of a sudden you get to have a life again. So Buffy is going to have to deal with her father figure having his own social life which is just a little bit creepy."

So does that mean that Buffy will be left to fend for herself?

"She is going to be forced to be a little bit more independent than she was," answers Whedon. "Buffy can't go home all the time, and although Giles is still going to be in the mix he sometimes is going to have to force her to look after herself."

There are two notable absentees from Buffy's cast. Both Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Angel (David Boreanaz) have left the security of Buffy to star in Whedon's new show, Angel.

"I've directed the pilot and I'm overseeing the scripts and the editing, but I'm not on stage. It's being shot somewhere else so I'm not there for production as I am on Buffy. I have the same control; it's only a question if I have time to take it."

This might raise concern that Angel will develop away from the style and formula that has made Buffy such a success. Whedon, however, is quick to argue that this will not be the case.
"David Greenwalt who co-ran Buffy with me for the first three years is in charge of Angel," reveals Whedon. "The two of us are working together on every story. The story is the most important part; we are very much in charge of the scripts and we have a staff on Angel, including a bunch of good writers. We also have scripts for Angel by our Buffy writers because they're already in that groove."

The news that Angel would headline his own show could be viewed as a cheap marketing ploy to cash in on the success of Buffy. Yet, the reasons for Angel's transfer are rooted in its creator's vision to bring further life and scope to characters that needed to be explored.
"It was an idea I had couple of years ago," says Whedon. "I felt that there was something to say about the character of Angel. It began to form when I was thinking about this whole metaphor of alcoholism and redemption and realised that there was a whole grown-up world to explore with Angel. This alcoholic metaphor made me think it would be different to Buffy and attracted me to the concept. I also had to realise that David (Boreanaz), as an actor, could handle the range and that's when I decided that we could do Angel and make an original show."

Starting in the US this September the hour-long pilot for Angel is an eager event for Buffy consumers who seem to have an unquenchable appetite for all things demonic. The new show hopes to continue the success as it follows the same formula as its parent show without falling into the depths of repackaging a familiar brand.

"Basically Angel is similar to Buffy in that it deals with monsters that are metaphors for life," reckons Whedon. "Yet, it's a different kind of life, a life in the grown-up world of LA. The show is much more about Angel getting into the lives of other people who are struggling to make their way in the big city. It will be a little more anthropological and at the same time be a reflection of our own experience, but not the experience of school. More of an experience of becoming a grown up. People in their 20s and 30s who are defining themselves. It's a little more adult and darker than Buffy, but it's not one of those relentlessly blue serial killer shows.
"We'll certainly get to see different shades of Angel. In Buffy all he did was brood and he'll definitely get to be a little more varied in this show. Angel also has its own look and style. It's a little more darker and edgy, but both shows are by me so it is not going to be that different."
Disciples of Buffy need not feel threatened that their show will lose out as Whedon concentrates on his new baby. He still knows where his loyalties lie.

"Angel is a different animal," endorses Whedon. "It's definitely exciting to make something new and to be exploring this different dynamic, but at the end of the day Buffy is my first love."
But who will be replacing the ship-jumpers? Similar characters? "You can't find another Angel," says Whedon. "You can't find another Charisma. It would be a terrible mistake to try and copy what we've done. What you need to find is a completely new idea that has some of the same elements. If we find a romantic lead we would want him to be someone completely unlike David Boreanaz. David and Charisma are hard acts to follow; you never want to follow a banjo act with a banjo act and anyway, you want something new in Buffy's life."

So is that the end of Buffy ever encountering her first love again? Whedon has some reassuring news. "We're planning a few crossover episodes, but it is tricky production-wise because both shows are being made simultaneously. However, every now and then we hope to pepper each show with members from the others' cast."

With the first four scripts in place Whedon is currently wrapping production on the second episode of Buffy. Not that he's revealing much about what's in them. "Some of them I really can't tell you about because they're secret. But we definitely answer the question of why would somebody build a university on the Hellmouth. It's one thing to have a little town, but why the hell would there be a bustling university on it? Oh yeah, and one of things that Buffy will be facing is Spike, who comes back with a vengeance."

And will Spike find the benefits of college being a life-changing experience?

"Spike will never be a good boy. He doesn't have it in him."

Despite the current vogue for I Know What You Screamed At Last Summer-type movies - and the similarity between Whedon and Scream guru Kevin Williamson's horror-with-wit styles, Whedon wants to steer away from serial killers. "We are always going to be heavily fantasy-based. And if we do an episode that isn't, we'll make a point of it. We have no serial killer plans and I'm tired of serial killers. I'm tired of our culture generating them as gods. Although Hannibal Lecter is incredibly cool, he's one of the most destructive things I've seen in fiction in the last ten years. He's glamorised serial killers which I think is fucking lame."
Towards the end of last season Buffy did become the victim of a new adversary - political correctness. Two episodes originally scheduled to air in May - including the end-of-season finale - were postponed after the Columbine School massacre. Whedon's own views on the subject are understandably mixed.

"I understood why the network wantedto postpone the episodes," sympathises Whedon. "One of them they definitely had to postpone. Although I didn't agree with the other decision, I understood it. Ultimately, it wasn't my decision to make. It was a little irksome, but at the end of the day it was a largely moral issue for the network, while for me it was a question of scheduling. It aired a little later and I'm not going to turn the world upside down because of that."

In high school Whedon wasa kid whose interests were unfashionable comic books and movies, and the isolation of Buffy in the first three series often reflected his own experiences. With season four set in college will Whedon's university years provide similar source material?

"My college years were exactly as painful," admits Whedon. "But quite a bit more fun. Put it this way. I have an incredibly deep well to draw from for college stories."
With shows like The X-Files and Babylon 5 using star name writers like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, has Whedon ever been tempted to, say, sign up Kevin Williamson to write an episode of Buffy?

"Nope. Ultimately Buffy is a hard show to write. It has its own kind of voice and celebrity writers are like a celebrity cameo that doesn't belong. I think it would be very difficult to find a celebrity writer who had the right sensibility. Sure it would be cool, but at the same time I see those episodes by celebrity writers and think, ÔOoohh, celebrity writer' and stop thinking about the show. So I'm a little wary of it."

Is there any chance of the production taking a short vacation to our shores, like Friends?
"I had a big dream of going to Britain," teases Whedon, "and doing a couple of episodes there. But then someone explained what a budget was and I had to give up that dream."

Another dream of Whedon's is to take Buffy back to the big-screen. "A Buffy movie is a little fantasy thing for me," admits Whedon. "Yet, there is no chance of making it right now because the show is going on, but I still think it would be cool."

Well, what about after season five? After all, isn't that when Whedon plans to finish Buffy?
"That was the hope," jokes Whedon. "Only because it was so tiring. But clearly that is not the case and Buffy is going to go on for some time. It's not really my decision, the show doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the studio who makes it. Even if I decided that we have done everything we can, if the ratings are still good they won't be taking it off the air. So it's up to us to make sure it doesn't get into that rut and right now I'm trying to build a staff to keep it going."
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