Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot

Known to fans as "the unaired Buffy pilot," this thirty-minute production by Joss Whedon was never intended to air. 20th Century Fox used it to sell the television show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to a network in 1996. The presentation is not even considered canon.

Synopsis
A tough, juvenile-delinquent-type guy breaks a window and sneaks into a high school at night, leading by the hand a timid, shy, pretty blonde girl (who would in the series come to be known to be Darla). He takes her to the darkened, secluded auditorium in Berryman High School (the original name for what was later called Sunnydale High). The girl seems nervous, with the guy reassuring her. They start to make out, until the girl becomes frightened and seeks aid from the guy, who assures her that they're alone. He approaches her, almost menacingly, but then she morphs into a vampire and bites his neck.

Then, it is a new school day and Buffy is being shown around her new school by Principal Flutie. As he does so, he calls her by different names, none of which are her own.

Buffy assures Flutie that there won't be any problems like at her old school and she is "Here to have fun. But I mean learning, fun with learning." Flutie tells Buffy not to worry, he thinks she will fit in just fine. Meanwhile, a gawky guy and an overweight girl (later to be known as Xander and Willow) talk, and he asks her to help him with his homework and Willow agrees after being promised the reward of a shiny nickel. A jock asks a fashionable, pretty but mean girl (later known as Cordelia Chase, and accompanied by two lackeys later known as Harmony and Cordette) out to the Bronze and she declines him. Her ditzy blonde companion, Harmony, confirms that they're still going. Cordelia asks who is playing that night and Harmony tells her it's Dingoes Ate My Baby. Cordelia surveys the group of her fellow students and mocks them one by one, until Xander interrupts. Cordelia ridicules him and leave, just as Buffy, looking through her bag and not paying attention to where she is going, bumps into Xander, causing her to drop her things. She gathers what she has dropped as Xander apologizes, and she asks him where the library is. He helps her out but when she leaves, he discovers she has forgotten the sharpened wooden stake she'd been carrying. The library is deserted and Buffy attempts to leave, but bumps into Giles. He recognizes her instantly. She starts to ask him for some school books she needs, but Giles cuts her short and says he has what's she is looking for, and places a large, ancient book in front of her entitled "Vampyr". Disturbed, Buffy tells Giles that's not whats she's looking for and hurries out, leaving a confused Giles behind.

Buffy goes to class, but instead of paying attention, seems troubled by what had happened in the Library. The bell rings and Willow introduces herself to Buffy, offering, by request of Mr. Barns, that she help Buffy get caught up. Willow is a bit unsure of herself when talking to Buffy but Buffy accepts her offer. While walking with Willow, Buffy asks about Giles. Willow tells her that he started a couple weeks ago, but before she can get too into detail about him, Cordelia, Harmony and Cordette appear before them. Cordelia introduces herself as the welcoming committee and maneuvers Buffy away from Willow to join Cordy and her friends. The scene then shifts to Aphrodesia and Aura talking about Buffy in the girls' locker room. As Aphrodesia rants on about how Buffy got kicked out of her old school due to some kind of delinquent behavior, the body of the boy Darla killed at the beginning falls out of her locker onto Aphrodesia, making her go into a screaming fit.

Meanwhile, Xander returns Buffy's stake and gives her a tour of the school and the cliques in it. Willow finds them and tells them about the dead boy, causing Buffy to run off and find Principal Flutie. The rattled principal apologies for such events on her first day of school and asks if there's anything he can do. Buffy asks to see the body and when she sees two holes in the neck, she heads for the library. Giles is not surprised by the news, but he is surprised that Buffy wants nothing to do with being a Slayer. She explains that being the Slayer is why she lost everything she valued. Xander overhears the conversation.

That night, Buffy meets Xander outside the Bronze and he tells her that Willow isn't there because she's at school with a new boyfriend. Buffy is suspicious and asks a lot of questions about this new boyfriend's appearance and when Xander mentions that he has a long-out-of-style 'Lionel Richie' look, she runs off and Xander follows. Meanwhile, Willow is shyly hanging out with a blond guy. She tells him that she is still a little troubled about the dead guy, but he says that he got what he deserved for being alone in a secluded place with someone he barely knew. Willow is disturbed as that is the exact situation she is in, and she turns to see that the blond guy has transformed himself and is actually a vampire. He grabs her and bites her neck. Meanwhile, Buffy and Xander have arrived at the school and they follow Willow's screams. Buffy gives Xander her purse, saying he might need it, and then she charges in and tells the blond vampire biting Willow to get away from her. Buffy looks untroubled by the prospect of defeating the vampire, but then a bunch of other vampires appear, and Buffy gets nervous. She begins her attack, telling Xander and Willow to escape. Instead, Xander throws Buffy a broom that she can use as a wooden stake, and then he rushes to help Willow. He is grabbed by the blonde woman vampire from the first scene, and she starts biting him. Willow opens Buffy's purse and finds a large cross, which she uses to burn the vampire, seemingly killing her (offscreen). Buffy dispatches the vampires, but when she announces she is the Slayer, one vampire runs away, though Buffy does kill the blond vampire who had attacked Willow.

The next morning, Giles is unimpressed by Buffy's fighting and that she allowed others to find out her secret identity, but Xander and Willow defend her and Buffy is rather unperturbed. "Don't sweat it. The world's in beauty hands. Trust me," she says and she throws a stake into the heart of a Nosferatu poster nearby.

Production

 * Whedon was asked by IGN Film Force in June 2003 about the unaired presentation:
 * IGNFF: Is the presentation ever going to make it to DVD?
 * WHEDON: Not while there is strength in these bones.
 * IGNFF: Well, I mean, it's one of the most heavily bootlegged things on the Internet.
 * WHEDON: Yeah. It sucks on ass.
 * IGNFF: Yeah, it does, but it's sort of that archival, historical perspective...
 * WHEDON: Yeah, I've got your historical perspective
 * IGNFF: It would take it off the bootleg market...
 * WHEDON: Ah, I don't - what are you going to do?
 * IGNFF: Put it on the DVD.
 * WHEDON: Not me.

Other

 * The pilot is without an opening theme and simply renders the title in a different font.


 * The first scene is almost unchanged in the first episode of the series ("Welcome to the Hellmouth"), and it is a parody of common high school scenes in which it is a cute blonde girl who is threatened by a hulking guy jock.


 * The school is called Berryman High School. In the series, it was renamed Sunnydale High. The school's team is the Bulls, not the Razorbacks like in the series.


 * A scene where a strange man (Angel) gives Buffy a silver cross was the only deleted scene in the pilot.


 * Harmony mentions that Dingoes Ate My Baby are playing. The band (including guitarist Oz) would not make an appearance until the second season ("Inca Mummy Girl").


 * This marks the first appearance of Harmony Kendall. She appeared in both this unaired pilot and the series finale of Angel. This means she is the longest appearing character in the Buffyverse, introduced prior to Angel, and continuing to appear on screen after Buffy Summers.


 * Darla, as played by Julie Benz, also makes her first appearance here, in the opening sequence that almost exactly mirrors the opening of "Welcome to the Hellmouth." (The character is unnamed in this pilot, though, and appears to be killed later in the Pilot.) Darla would appear as late as the episode "The Girl in Question," the third-to-last episode of Angel, making her another one of the Buffyverse's longest running characters.


 * A boy in line at the Bronze asks Buffy, "Are you the new girl?" He is played by Danny Strong, who appeared in many episodes as Jonathan Levinson.


 * Buffy is brunette (which is Sarah Michelle Gellar's natural color) in the pilot, but she is blonde in the series.


 * The Library demonstrates the largest alteration in scenery between the unaired pilot and the show.


 * The background music used when Buffy is shown the Vampyr book for the first time by Giles is never used again in the series but was used in the season premier of the fourth season of Charmed in 2001 as well as several episodes of its fifth season.

MUSIC:

Dionne Farris - I Know Rancid - Salvation

Missing the music played at the end unedited version, sung by a singer during the scene where Buffy attends school, before he had met Willow.

Missing the music that touches the player, on the patio, near the stairs when Xander talks to Buffy about gangs and tribes of the school.

Missing the credits of instrumental themes in background

APPEARANCES:

Aphrodesia (1st Appearence) Aura (1st Appearence) Chris Boal (1st Appearence) Cordelia Chase (1st Appearence) Darla (1st Appearence) Robert Flutie (1st Appearence) Rupert Giles (1st Appearence) Xander Harris (1st Appearence) Willow Rosenberg (1st Appearence) Buffy Summers Thomas (1st Appearence) Unidentified Japanese Cordette (1st Appearence) Harmony Kendal (1st Appearence) Johnatan Levingson (1st Appearence) A guy talk with Cordelia in garden on school Vampire 1 Vampire 2 Mr. Barnes (only commented) Mr. Worth (only commented) A girl into the locker Tribes: Durtygirls, Cineclub, Scenic Group, The Housers, The Wannabes, The Panga Inbreeds)

LOCATIONS:

The Bronze Sunnydale High Sunnydale High School library Sunnydale High School Lockers Sunnydale High School Theatre

CREATURES:

Humans Vampires Werewolves (only commented) Zombies (only commented) Ghouls (only commented) Incubi (only commented) Succubi (only commented)

WEAPONS AND OBJECTS:

Cross Stake Vampyr book squeegee floor Drum Sounds

DELETED SCENE:

David Boreanaz was appear in the Pilot, but the scene was deleted and your name don't show in credits. The scene is similar the edited from "Welcome To The Hellmouth" episode:

Angel: Ah, heh. Is there a problem, ma'am?

Buffy: Yeah, there's a problem. Why are you following me?

Angel: I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I don't bite.

She backs off and lets him get up, but keeps her fighting stance.

Angel: Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, or bigger muscles and all that. You're pretty spry, though. (massages his neck)

Buffy: What do you want?

Angel: The same thing you do.

Buffy: (lets down her guard) Okay. What do I want?

Angel: (steps toward her) To kill them. To kill them all.

Buffy: Sorry, that's incorrect. But you do get this lovely watch and a year's supply of Turtle Wax. What I *want* is to be left alone!

She starts a determined walk away.

Angel: Do you really think that's an option anymore? You're standing at the Mouth of Hell. And it's about to open.

She stops, turns to him and looks at him with a wide-eyed gaze. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small box.

Angel: Don't turn your back on this. (tosses her the box) You've gotta be ready.

Buffy: What for?

Angel: For the Harvest.

Buffy: Who are you?

Angel: Let's just say... I'm a friend. (starts to leave)

Buffy: Yeah, well, maybe I don't want a friend.

Angel: (turns back) I didn't say I was yours.

POP CULTURE REFERENCES:

When the Principal Flutie confude named Buffy several times he makes several references to the external rabbit Bugs Bunny, the Barbie doll, the deer Bambi and The Flintstones (Betty and Wilma).

Cordelia makes a comment about the Sears store and the fashion of flannel cloth.

Harmony and Cordette talk about fictional rock band "The Dingoes Ate The Baby" which will appear in future episodes frequently, especially when Oz is identified as guitarman group.

Buffy and Willow commented on the TV celebrities such as Laura Ashley, Home Depot and Martha Stewart Guy.

When they speak of gangs and tribes, Buffy and Xander comment about the movie "The Muppets Take Manhattan."

In a comment, Xander talk the name singer Lionel Ritchie.

Buffy and Giles talk about a promotion from Time-Life series.

Cordelia refers to shoes fashion in Los Angeles, when presented to Buffy, though she did not directly cite the name of LA.

In the final scene, the staff of Cineclub is exposing a poster of the film Nosferatu, a classic by Bella Lugosi. The last take shows Buffy reaching the poster with a stake.


 * Clips from the pilot were included in History of the Slayer.