Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek: The Original Series have at least one major thing in common, according to actor James Marsters.
Marsters, who portrayed vampire Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, discussed the Buffy/Star Trek overlap during a panel at Emerald City Comic-Con 2023. “I was a Star Trek fan. I’ve been coming to conventions since I was 13 dressed as Spock,” he said. “I saw those episodes 50 times each. I knew all the dialogue. I knew what was going to happen, and I still wanted to go back into that world because the world in the OG Star Trek was selling hope. We don’t have to destroy ourselves. We might survive ourselves and come into a better future. And so, I wanted to go back into that world.”
“It struck me while we were filming that Buffy might be the same way,” Marsters continued. “We might be creating a world that was fun enough to go into, that people would want to come back to even when they knew what was going to be said. I remember coming to the cast, it was like 2 o’clock in the morning and I said, ‘Hey guys we might be talking about this scene for the rest of our lives. Anybody want coffee?'” Marsters isn’t the only one drawing connections between Star Trek and Buffy, either. Fans of both franchises were quick to highlight the overlap between Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ recent musical episode, “Subspace Rhapsody,” and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s own all-singing outing, Season 6’s “Once More, with Feeling.”
Buffy Star Criticizes Spike’s Inconsistent Character Arc
Marsters’ apparent eagerness to elevate Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the same pop culture echelon as Star Trek shouldn’t be taken as a sign the star thinks Buffy is a perfect TV show, though. On the contrary, Marsters previously expressed dissatisfaction with aspects of the production, including the way that Spike’s character arc was handled. According to Marsters, Buffy‘s writers’ room “never really knew what to do with Spike,” which resulted in the fan-favorite character’s journey spinning off in increasingly contradictory directions.
Marsters’ misgivings over Spike’s inconsistent characterization echo sentiments recently shared by Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s lead actor, Sarah Michelle Gellar, about Buffy’s depiction in Season 6. Gellar objected to several plot and character beats in the show’s sixth season (including a scene in which Spike attempts to rape Buffy) and admitted she “didn’t enjoy” filming this stretch of the supernatural drama’s run.
All seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are currently streaming on Hulu.
Source: ECCC, via Popverse