Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the film, was not what creator Joss Whedon had in mind. It was too campy. And it had Luke Perry. Whedon spent the next few years going from network to network to try to get them to pick up his idea for a television show of the same name. What he envisioned was not so much a sequel or continuation, but a re-creation from the ground up. And they all passed on it, until finally the fledgling WB network, gave it shot. And though not initially a huge success, the show began to build steam. In the spring of 2001, Buffy had just finished its fifth season, and was one of the highest regarded shows on television, Emmys be damned. And Whedon's vision had been vindicated. But after five years, and a lot of dusted vampires later, a change of channels came to pass.
For the show's sixth season, Buffy moved from the WB to UPN, and fans were anxious to know what, if any, changes this might bring. Buffy had died a hero's death at the end of the previous year. But much to everyone's surprise, the big news was an announcement that the new season would feature a full-blown musical episode. Had the success of two popular shows (Buffy and its spin-off, Angel) gone to Whedon's head? Was this just a ratings grab, and didn't anyone remember the fiasco that was Cop Rock? It was also announced the episode would run 10 minutes long, and would only be shown in this full-length, uncut version once. What was going on here? When the episode aired Tuesday, 6 November 2001, it turned out to be yet another vindication of Whedon's vision. And it produced one of the finest moments of television in years.
The premise: a summoned demon named Sweet is causing the good folks of Sunnydale to sing out loud what they feel, "But what they'll find / Ain't what they have in mind / It's what they have inside" ("Walk Through the Fire"). Each character reveals to one or more of the others all the anxiety, love, and pain they are keeping hidden. Which brings us to an obvious piece of marketing synergy, the companion soundtrack album. Almost a year after the show aired, the "Original Cast Album!" (as the cover screams) is here. Having written the songs specifically for the episode, with an outline of the entire season in mind, Whedon used the music to propel the story line much further ahead than any regular episode could. In keeping with the tone of the series, the show had all the elements its fans had come to expect -- fantasy, horror and humour, but tempered with some of the most heart-wrenching moments the show had produced to date.
By this point in the season tension was running high, with Buffy back from the dead and trying to find her place again. Buffy's mentor, Giles, the closest thing anyone on the show has to a father, divulges his need to stand aside. "I wish I could lay your arms down / And let you rest at last / Wish I could slay your demons / But now that time has passed" he sings to her (unheard) in "Standing", knowing she has to fight her own battles, both internal and external. Her struggles had already been documented in the opening song, "Going Through the Motions", and when Buffy sings "Crawl out of your grave / You find this fight just / Doesn't mean a thing" during a scuffle with some vampires, she isn't just singing about the vamps. Whedon's lyrics throughout the album often carry these dual meanings. But even during her lamentations, her foes chime in with a verse of their own, lightening up the mood. The material is rich with insider jokes (Anya's bunnies, for instance), though there is really nothing the uninitiated would need to know beyond the scant outline Whedon includes in his introduction, which is funny, self-promoting and self-effacing, all at the same time. Much of the soundtrack is just plain fun.
The most inspired track has to be the Busby Berkeley-inspired "I'll Never Tell", a big band duet between the newly engaged couple Xander and Anya. While it begins as a happy, sappy ode to their love, once the tempo picks up, the revelations of pre-marital anxiety fly. First the quirks: "He snores / She wheezes / Say "housework" and he freezes / She eats these skeezy cheeses / That I can't describe". Then, the fear, from Anya: "I've read this tale / There's wedding then betrayal / I know that come the day I'll / Want to run and hide" (which was a little ironic foreshadowing, as it was Xander who stood her up on their wedding day). Each actor's songs were written specifically for the character's persona, whether it's the hard rock of the rebel vampire Spike's "Rest In Peace" or Anya's interrupting the other character's lines ("This is my verse, hello" retorts Xander in his Xander way in "I'll Never Tell"). Whedon's cast moves deftly between musical genres, playing to their strengths.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, has always made great use of music, from the eerie score to the indie bands that play the Bronze, the local hangout. One of those bands, Splendid, made two appearances early in the series and had a track on the first BTVS soundtrack. Splendid member Jesse Tobias, along with Buffy scorer Christophe Beck helped Whedon shape his songs into the showstoppers they are. Though it was a one off thing, the songs deserve to be preserved on a soundtrack. The album is a testimony to not only the talent of Whedon and his cast, but also how to do something right. In the same television season, the hokey NBC show Scrubs did an even hokier, awful musical of their own. While Whedon was obviously deeply influenced by the greats of the genre, the other could do no more than crudely mimic them. Joss Whedon's homage to both "classic" musicals as well as rock operas is inspired and operatic, and proves his vision is still not to be underestimated.
— 12 February 2003
