“I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser brain” - Princess Leia

Exploring the Untold Stories of the Buffyverse
By Sabrina Boyer

Ever wondered what happened between seasons five and six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy was dead and Willow became all veiny and scary? So did Tabitha Smith and Kim Butler, creators of Buffy Between the Lines, an audio podcast by and for fans of the Buffyverse. A full on plethora of episodes, the podcast explores the untold stories of the characters between some of the most intense and highly charged seasons, beginning season one with the exploration of the goings on between seasons five and six, the summer sans Buffy. What did the Scoobies do without her? How did they decide to use the BuffyBot as a decoy? How did Spike get drafted into helping out? How did Willow get uber-megawitchy? These were the questions fans Smith and Butler wondered about, and so, the podcast was born.

Recently honored as Best Audio Drama in the Peer Podcast Awards, Buffy Between the Lines has been a saving grace for those who miss their favorite show, hearing the character’s voices, and connecting with them on a regular basis. Sure, the comic is canon, but I think we can all agree it’s not the same thing. “In Bargaining, there’s such a change in Willow between season five and six; how did Will become so powerful? That was just rich with stories,” says Tabitha Smith, creator and podcaster of Strangely Literal, Firefly Talk, Tales from the Verse, Let’s Talk Joss, and of course, BBtL. So how did we get graced with such a gift? Smith was listening to podcast Firefly Old Wounds, by Sonic Society, thought it would be cool to do a Buffy version, and posted a call for help on her LiveJournal which Kim Butler responded to. The rest, they say, is slayhistory. They began to get great feedback, sent out a call for audio actors, and began making the first episode in April 2007, with the first episode debut in October.

“We were blown away; fans tell us they’ll get confused about the Buffy canon because it’s so real. It seems that many fans want TV Buffy, not comic Buffy but we all agree that Joss is Boss,” says Smith. Co-producer and podcaster of Upside Down and Halfway to Happyland Kim Butler seems to agree. “I enjoy it, (season eight) but I have mixed feelings about it. It seems Joss didn’t go back and watch season seven before he wrote it. I really wish there was more information; to me it’s so mystifying that we don’t even have a clue that Buffy knows Spike’s alive; you would think that would be something she would at least have to deal with and that’s where fan fiction comes in, resolution.”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 2 Second (2004, DVD)

US $7.00 (9 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-07-2008 13:29:46 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

And that’s where Buffy Between the Lines picks up for us salivating for more Buffy canon besides the comic. Though the comic is canon, there’s no live movement. So wondering about the fruition of this award-winning podcast? Each episode takes about a month to put together, with actors and crew staked all across the world in Australia, Germany, Sweden, South America, U.S., Canada etc. Each actor (most not professionals, just hardcore fan geeks like myself) records their parts of the script. Once a script is to the actors, some sessions are done as a group over Skype; they record their own dialogue and it’s edited together. “The actors have been playing roles really really well but it does require a bit of direction,” says Smith.

“We gathered a team of writers, sat down and plotted, griped and talked about what we could do. We sat down with Emma who wrote the most of the season and we just said ok, what’s this character’s motivation? How can we get from here to there? There was a lot of background things we had to consider. Then, when I sat down to write episode one, where they bury Buffy, I thought, every fan has their own idea of relationships on the show and I wanted it to be poignant. I was very nervous about how do we get these people into your head? What would Giles say, what would Anya say? The first episode had to be awesome,” says Smith. And for those of you who are wondering, the first episode was. “As soon as the episode was up we got feedback instantly, we just knew we had hit gold. For season one, we wondered about where is Willow getting this pressure to not be Willow, to not be herself? Why is Spike sticking around? Who came up with idea to raise Buffy back from the dead? Where did they get this book and this urn? Why is Tara agreeing? Why is everyone agreeing? It’s been fun.”

Similarly, Kim Butler also was passionate about the project and the characters as well. “I was nervous about the writing at first; I told Tabitha ‘you handle the writing.’ We brainstormed about what characters we were going to need. I handled casting cause I had experience with casting and it started to explode. I don’t remember the numbers of people, but the first round of casting we had six hours of audio. We listened to them all, got suggestions, made spreadsheets galore, and established Google groups to try to make sure everybody’s informed. We keep our actors in the know. It’s just gone from there.”

Gone from there indeed. “We had way more auditions than we expected and we put things together; we knew how editing would work cause we had podcasting experience. We have a huge group of people and try to involve them in lots of ways. We definitely enjoy the atmosphere we’ve set up; it’s really a family feel. Some people have formed some amazing friendships. We’ve all established some really great bonds, developed great relationships with each other; Buffy Between the Lines people are positive and we try to be supportive rather than destructive of each other,” says Butler.

Both self-proclaimed sci-fi geeks, they each watch other sci-fi adventures like Star Trek, Farscape, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Supernatural, and in case you hadn’t guessed, all things Joss. “Joss summed it up beautifully as to what makes a poignant piece of art. He said, ‘emotional resonance and rocket launchers;’ emotional resonance is to make Buffy as miserable as possible. And I think fans are around this project so hard because Buffy has resonated for us,” Smith says, who also played Anya on the podcast and has written several episodes herself, along with Butler. Other writers include Emma Rawlin, fanfic celeb Beer_Good_Foamy, Beth Nelson, Sue, Ryan Bovay, Alyrenee Greeves, Rachel Ruzzo, Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard, and Paula.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 2 Second (2004, DVD)

US $7.00 (9 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-07-2008 13:29:46 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

So what’s been the response and what can we expect for the future? “We had prepped ourselves for fans to respond and pick out our mistakes; it’s a crazy environment though; personally, it’s the characters that are so intoxicating. The situations, even though they are unrealistic, the behaviors the characters display are so real, and it seems just like stuff you’ve gone through or your best friend’s gone through. It’s really relatable and has a lot of philosophical undertones, so much substance, so many things happening. Clearly we were so moved, we had to start telling these stories; I’m dying to tell the story between season seven and eight,” says Butler. And in the future, season two will focus on the interim between seasons two and three when Buffy is L.A. passing herself off as Anne, trying to escape from her memories of Angel and her life as the slayer. And after that? Wait for it. Don’t freak out (like I did). The dynamic duo plans on doing an Angel Between the Lines, a Firefly Between the Lines, and wait for it, there will be a musical Angel episode. Yep. That’s right. You read that correctly. A musical Angel episode.

Casting is closed now for the next season and characters such as Cordy, Alan, the mayor, both of Xander’s parents, Lila and Lindsey and Holland Manners, Amy Madison, Oz, Drusilla, Snyder, Harmony, Riley, and some original characters that will be unique and interesting have been casted. They’ve had over 108 auditions. “We’ve gotten really great actors that have come through for us; we don’t have small requests; it’s nice that people want to be a part of it,” says Butler. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of it? “This TV show has literally saved lives. I know of one person who was depressed and suicidal, decided to rent Buffy, started watching, and through this, she decided she needed help and dealt with her depression,” says Smith. We’ve all heard these stories before, and it’s important that we now, in my opinion, have new canon to add to the Buffyverse. And who better to create that canon than fans, if not Joss himself? I can’t think of any.

Have I peaked your Buffy appetite yet? Check out Buffy Between the Lines for free on iTunes, or check out their website at www.buffybetweenthelines.com. You can subscribe, and if you call yourself a self-respecting Buffy fan, than you should.

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About Sabrina Boyer: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.