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.

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.

Only for real fans of Buffy and Angel

I started watching both these shows in syndication and was surprised at how entertaining they were. I was taking a long road trip and thought this would make the trip less boring.

If you are a big fan of the Buffyverse (as they call it) you will enjoy this. Personally, I found the female narrator very sing-song and it was really annoying. Also, way too much minutiae. This book could have had a couple of hours edited out of it without doing any harm. However, if you are really into all things Buffy and Angel, this book is for you.

a little repetitive.

My only real complaint about this book is that the same quotes are used multiple times throughout. Instead of finding a new quote from a different person to exemplify the point being made, they go back to a quote that they've already used.. It makes the book seem inadequately researched and gets boring when hearing the same quote for the 3rd or 4th time.