User:Renophaston/Welcome to the Hellmouth

"Welcome to the Hellmouth," the first in a two-part series opener, is episode 1 of season 1 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy (series) episodes.

Summary
Buffy Summers, who has just moved to Sunnydale, hopes to forget she is a Slayer. However, during her first day at Sunnydale High she meets Mr. Giles, the school librarian and her new Watcher, who warns her that the school is built on a Hellmouth. That night, Buffy's new friends are abducted by vampires, and while rescuing them Buffy learns of a powerful vampire called The Master.

Expanded overview
The series premiere begins at Sunnydale High School, where a boy breaks into the school during the night with a seemingly reluctant girl, promising her mischief and therefore fun. Knowing the show is about vampires, the viewer assumes the reluctant girl will meet a gruesome and unfortunate fate. Nervous and on edge, the girl thinks she heard something and fears something is there. The boy calls out but gets no response, during which the girl's face morphs into that of a vampire, and bites the boy, revealing to the viewer that she was the only danger all along. The girl we will later find out is Darla.

Buffy has a nightmare the morning her first day of school. Her mother drives her to the school and encourages her to think positive. Inside the building, Principal Flutie tells her she will start with a clean slate. He reconsiders that after realizing that Buffy burned down her previous school's gym because "it was full of vampi—&hellip;asbestos."

Buffy exits the office and bumps into another student, spilling the contents of her handbag over the floor. Xander sees that and helps Buffy, introducing himself. She leaves without her stake, which Xander pockets because he called out to her, but she had already walked away. In history class, Buffy is helped by Cordelia, who afterwards tests her "coolness factor," skipping the written as Buffy had just moved to Sunnydale, California from Los Angeles. To Buffy's horror, Cordelia humiliates an awkward Willow at the water fountain. Inside the library, Mr. Giles places a book titled Vampyr in front of Buffy after realizing who she was. A stunned Buffy makes a hasty exit. Buffy, Willow, Jesse McNally and Xander meet during a break, and Xander returns the stake. Buffy claims it is standard self-defense in Los Angeles. Cordelia appears and tells Buffy that gym is cancelled "due to the extreme dead guy" in Aura's locker. Buffy asks whether there were marks on the body, freaking out Cordelia. Buffy forces her way into the locker room, examines the body, and finds the characteristic puncture wounds of a vampire on the neck.

Buffy returns to the library and confronts Giles, who informs her that he is her Watcher. Buffy refuses to accept her calling as a Slayer, since it had gotten her kicked out of her previous school and cost her social life. After they leave the library, Xander emerges from behind the shelves, having overheard the strange conversation.

That night, en route to her first visit to The Bronze, the cool hangout in Sunnydale, Buffy meets a mysterious, handsome stranger, who warns her that she is living on a Hellmouth that is about to open, and that "the Harvest" is coming. He also gives her a large silver cross. It isn't revealed until the next episode that the stranger's name is Angel.

In The Bronze, Buffy meets Willow and encourages her to seize the moment: "Because tomorrow you might be dead." She finds Giles and tells him about Angel. Giles tells her to learn to hone her skills to sense vampires anywhere. Buffy uses her fashion sense to pick out a vampire in the club and is alarmed to see Willow leave with him. She loses them and is surprised by Cordelia, nearly staking her. Cordelia immediately calls her friends to tell them about it. While Buffy looks for Willow, Jesse chats up Darla at The Bronze. Buffy is stopped by Xander, whom she convinces to help search for Willow.

Meanwhile, under the streets of Sunnydale, The Master is woken by lesser vampires from a long sleep to prepare for the Harvest. He sends Luke to fetch young blood.

Willow's new acquaintance takes her to a crypt in a cemetery, where they are joined by Darla and Jesse, whom she has bitten. Buffy and Xander arrive. Buffy kills Willow's vampire. Xander and Willow help Jesse, who has been weakened, flee. Luke takes Darla's place in the fight so she can help catch the kids. Luke throws Buffy in a stone coffin and is about to move in for the kill.

Starring

 * Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
 * Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris
 * Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
 * Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
 * Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles

Guest starring

 * Mark Metcalf as The Master
 * Brian Thompson as Luke
 * David Boreanaz as Angel
 * Ken Lerner as Principal Flutie
 * Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers
 * Julie Benz as Darla
 * J. Patrick Lawlor as Thomas
 * Eric Balfour as Jesse McNally

Co-starring

 * Natalie Strauss as Teacher
 * Carmine D. Giovinazzo as Boy
 * Amy Chance as Aphrodesia
 * Tupelo Jereme as Girl #2
 * Persia White as Girl #3

Arc significance

 * Many "firsts" appear in this series premiere, which is also the true inception of the entire Buffyverse. This episode features first sets and make-up, first Buffy-speak, first mix of informed and uninformed parental caring.
 * Themes begun here include Buffy's wish to be a normal girl with a normal life (which her basic heroic nature makes such a struggle), the tension between the necessity of teamwork and the need for personal accountability, the intricacies inherent in the abdication or use of power.

Continuity

 * Buffy's nightmare shows glimpses from the 1992 film, as well as from other season one episodes. This is the first indication on the series that Buffy's dreams contain prophetic elements, since she sees (among other things) the Master, and the silver cross pendant she receives that very night.
 * Brian Thompson, who plays Luke, returns to the series in season two as a different character, the Judge, in "Surprise" and "Innocence".

Cultural references

 * Black Death: Buffy's favorite subject is not history, despite her teachers' attempts to make the subject matter engaging. Just before the bell rings, the teacher is saying, "...the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe, how? ...As an early form of germ warfare."
 * Sears: When Cordelia disses Willow's outfit, Buffy begins to suspect that this clique's not for her.
 * The British Museum: Being British gives Giles credentials, cachet, a certain standing in the academic world of Sunnydale High. It also makes him the target of many barbed remarks through the years.
 * Starbucks: Xander's comment about Sunnydale being a "one-Starbucks town" echoes Cordelia's directions to The Bronze, on the bad side of town, which is about half a block from the good side.
 * Neiman Marcus: Buffy shows her shallow roots by knowing Sunnydale is two hours away from the upscale department store.
 * Time/Life: Giles stocks his library any way he can.
 * The Watchtower: Buffy rejects one outfit from her closet as too conservative for a Thursday night out.
 * Turtle Wax: Buffy gives a little consolation prize riff to the mysterious stranger who shadows her to The Bronze.
 * Barbie: Willow and Xander go way back.
 * Epstein-Barr: Only Cordelia could consider some afflictions (hepatitis, chronic fatigue syndrome) cooler than others.
 * DeBarge: Buffy spots a trolling vamp by his "carbon-dated" duds.

Production details
Creator Joss Whedon stated on the DVD commentary that he had hoped to include actor Eric Balfour in the title credits to shock viewers when Jesse dies. Unfortunately, the show could not afford the extra set of title credits at the time. However, Whedon granted his own wish with Doyle in the spin-off series Angel, and Tara Maclay in season six's "Seeing Red."

Certain scenes, such as the argument between Giles and Buffy in the library, and Buffy's first meeting with Angel, were re-shot eight months after the first episode was recorded. Whedon says in the episode commentary that he decided to make Buffy less angry and more vulnerable.

Music
This episode features four songs from Sprung Monkey's 1996 album Swirl, three of which they perform on screen.


 * Sprung Monkey – "Saturated" (Buffy tries on clothes in her bedroom)
 * Sprung Monkey – "Believe" (music at The Bronze)
 * Sprung Monkey – "Swirl" (music at The Bronze)
 * Sprung Monkey – "Things Are Changing" (music at The Bronze)

Translations

 * German title: "Das Zentrum des Bösen" ("The Center of Evil")
 * French title: "Bienvenue à Sunnydale - 1ère partie" ("Welcome to Sunnydale - Part 1")
 * Turkish title: "Cehennem Agzi'na hos geldin" ("Welcome to the Hellmouth")
 * Dutch title: "Welkom op de Hellmouth" ("Welcome to the Hellmouth")
 * Italian title: "Benvenuti al college" ("Welcome to the college")
 * Japanese title: "ヘルマウスへようこそ" ("Herumausu e Yōkoso" - "Welcome to the Hellmouth")
 * Portuguese title: "Bem-vinda À Boca-do-inferno" ("Welcome to the Hellmouth)

Timing

 * Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse: