People really, really didn't want Buffy to die. Even on screen, the show's shift from one network to another involved a season finale where the eponymous heroine died, only for her friends to resurrect the Vampire Slayer when the next season began on a different channel. The show eventually ended with its seventh season, and went out with a bang, and a definitive climax. But since then there's been umpteen ways of trying to carry the story on, including a comic book series presented in the form of new seasons picking up where the TV show ended, with writers from the series contributing. Whedon and his cronies have long been been trying to continue Buffy in live action as well, beginning almost as soon as the show went off the air. One of the better-sounding of these concepts (unlike the aborted animated series, or the team show starring the "potential" slayers activated during the last season) was a spin-off movie for Spike. James Marster's sardonic, punk British vampire was a highlight of the show, and Whedon worked on a solo film for a while...but the actor now considers himself too old.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
