The fictional universe established by television series ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

'' and ''

Angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

'' and the film ''

'' has been

parodied A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also b ...

or paid tribute to by a number of unofficial productions, most notably

fan film A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. It is a form of fan fiction. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been ...

s and adult films.

Fan films

Several notable fan films have been inspired by the

Buffyverse The ''Buffyverse'' or ''Slayerverse'' is a Multimedia franchise, media franchise centered on the supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel (1999 TV series), Angel'', created by Joss Whed ...

. Although

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

and its

licensees A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the licensee to en ...

are the only organizations legally allowed to create any commercial products with the name and trademark ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'', related fan films have become more common, as computer and digital technology has advanced, to allow films to be produced for less money. Furthermore, the growth of the internet has allowed such films a way be distributed amongst a potentially wide audience. This has led to several productions which have received hundreds of thousands of downloads, an entry on Internet Movie Database, and at least some attention from external media. In 2006, the periodical technology magazine, ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' featured a two-page article about several of these films. These films include ''Cherub'', an internet series that parodies ''Angel''; a

machinima Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...

series produced by Foiled Productions; ''Fluffy the English Vampire Slayer'', a short film described as "one of the first widely watched Whedonverse fan films"; and ''Forgotten Memories'', an Australian production, written by Emma Paige Langley and directed by indie actor and director Darren K Hawkins. Buffy – The alliance, a French fan film by Lmpp Production was planned for shooting in May 2010.

Erotic parodies

The huge success of the ''Buffy'' franchise led to a number of erotic parodies in comic and film formats. None of these stories were licensed by 20th Century Fox as official ''Buffy'' merchandise, and none would be considered

Buffyverse canon The ''Buffyverse'' canon consists of materials that are thought to be genuine (or "official") and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe established by the televisio ...

. These parodies have included: *1993 - ''Muffy the Vampire Layer'', a pornographic movie spoof of the ''Buffy'' film. *1997 - ''Buffy the Vampire Layer'', a soft

pornographic Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

movie also spoofing the ''Buffy'' film. *2000-2001 - ''Boffy the Vampire Layer'', a trade paperback from

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

, collecting sexually explicit comic stories satirising ''Buffy''. *2004 - ''The Erotic Adventures of Buffy and Evil Vampire Willow'', an explicit parody web comic focused on the escapades of Buffy and the vampire version of

Willow Rosenberg Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan. Willow plays an integra ...

. *2012 - ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer XXX: A Parody'', a hardcore pornographic parody directed by

Lee Roy Myers Lee Roy Myers (born in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian pornographic film director, producer, screenwriter, and one of the creators of WoodRocket.com. He started his career with New Sensations (studio), New Sensations in 2009 and developed their '' ...

, written by "Josh Wheldon" and starring Lexi Belle as Buffy. Other characters from the television series include

Xander Harris Alexander Lavelle Harris is a fictional character created for the action-horror/fantasy television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). He was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the television series by Nicholas Brend ...

Rupert Giles Rupert Giles () is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure. The cha ...

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

Harmony Kendall Harmony Kendall is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and its spin-off ''Angel''. The character is portrayed by Mercedes McNab. Originally cast as a minor character, McNab's credit ...

, and

Jenny Calendar Jenny Calendar is a fictional character in the fantasy television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). Played by Robia LaMorte, Jenny is the computer teacher at Sunnydale High School. Unbeknownst to Buffy or anyone else, Jenny has b ...

. The 2000 ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' episode '' The One Where Chandler Can't Cry'' shows a brief scene from the fictional ''Buffay the Vampire Layer''.

Books

In 2007, French author

Chloé Delaume Chloé Delaume (; born Nathalie Dalain in 1973) is a French writer. She is also an editor and, more occasionally, a performer, musician, and singer. Her literary work, largely autobiographical, focuses on the practice of experimental literatur ...

wrote the

gamebook A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...

'' La nuit je suis Buffy Summers'' (published by Éditions è®e), which is only loosely associated to the

, and stems from the alternate reality shown in the episode "

Normal Again "Normal Again" is the 17th episode of season 6 of the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The episode aired on March 12, 2002, on UPN. The Futon Critic named it the 35th best episode of 2002. The Trio summon a demon whose hallucin ...

". The reader/player takes on the role of an unnamed amnesiac psychiatric hospital patient, who escapes from her cell, is confronted with supernatural surroundings, and is involved in a plot to raise the ghost of

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...

Zarathustra Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. Variously descr ...

in order to enslave humanity. The characters encountered during the adventure are

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

s of the ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' television series characters. The author has claimed this is a work of

fanfiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...

. The themes explored are those of the relative nature of reality, psychosis, and the morbid fascination for power of the French literary establishment.

Podcasts

There are a number of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' fan podcasts that discuss and analyze the show, including: ''

Buffering the Vampire Slayer ''Buffering the Vampire Slayer'' is a podcast about the TV series, ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer.'' Hosted by fans Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo. Each podcast episode analyzes one episode of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'' and concludes with an ...

'' (recognized as one of the top podcasts in production by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' and ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' magazines), ''Still Pretty', Dusted', The Art of Slaying', Unspoiled!'', ''Buffy Between the Lines', Potential Cast', The Buffy Rewatch','' ''The Rewatcher'', and ''Get Slayed''.

Plays

The

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

Buffy Revamped is a parody of the television series.

Canonical and legal issues

Director

Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( ; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ...

has implied that materials associated with him are considered "official" and "

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

". 20th Century Fox also grants licenses for companies to produce official ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'' merchandise, these include books, comics, novels, toys and so on. Buffyverse fan films such as these are not licensed by Fox, and they are not closely associated with any of the crew from ''Buffy/Angel''.