Date: January 2000
Price: £2.75
Page Count: 52
Editor: Martin Eden
Stake Out
Editor Darryl has moved on and Martin takes her place. Due to the hiatus between seasons, news is scarce this month. But the main talking point here is the release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album.
Now this is no exaggeration. If you had the album, you either went straight for the Love Theme, ‘Close Your Eyes’ or you went straight for Four Star Mary‘s ‘Pain’. Hepburn‘s ‘I Quit’ and ‘Wild Horses’ by The Sundays were our personal favourites.
At a time when the only way to watch the series was on television or recording from the broadcast (the VHS tapes of Season 1 had only just started to trickle out), the Album’s release made you feel like you were in the Bronze bopping away – if you were of the right age, of course – no Band Candy allowed!
The Album sold extremely well and went Gold internationally. When asked about why it was so successful, Erika Amato, lead singer of featured band Velvet Chain said “I think the Buffy sound can be described as dark, almost melodic. I think all the bands they’ve used on the show share a certain dark quality combined with pop sensibility, whether it be a harder-edged sound like Nerf Herder or something odd and eclectic like Cibo Matto. The sound really compliments the writing tone, which combines a rather dark subject matter with humour.”
Other merchandise finally released this month were the first Wave of Buffy figures from Moore Action Collectibles, which UK fans had been eagerly awaiting. The Wave consisted of the Slayer, Buffy herself, Angel, Willow and the Master. This line would continue throughout the series’ television run, releasing dozens of figures and obscure variants, all ostensibly for the ‘adult collector’.
She’s Got Charisma by Mike Stokes
Conducted at some point during season two of Buffy‘s filming, Mike Stokes managed to catch a chat with Charisma Carpenter to talk all things Buffy, Malibu Shores, her favourite line of dialogue thus far, whether her boyfriend is jealous of Xander Harris and solves the mystery, if you’ve ever wondered, of just why Charisma is named after a… perfume?
How did your parents decide on the name Charisma?
They decided to curse me and give me a really hard time and make my life as miserable as possible. My name was undecided – for three days, I was nameless. They were bickering over it, and my grandma brought them this Avon perfume bottle called ‘Charisma’ and my mom thought the perfume was horrible, but she loved the name. Hence, my curse [laughs].
How much of Cordelia’s personality is in you?
I don’t know how much is in me, but I think there must be some dwelling in there for me to be able to perform it. I don’t know. I think I have a tendency to speak the truth. No matter how some people might prefer it to be sugarcoated, I do have a tendency to just blurt out and then go “Hmmm, should I have said that?” [laughs] I think that’s the only difference between us – in me there’s a conscience going “I’m sorry,” and Cordelia would be like “There ya have it. Deal with it.”
Would the two of you be friends in high school?
I think she’s becoming a little more complicated. The scary thing about Cordelia is that she’s like a Jekyll and Hyde; she can be really heroic and charming, and then she can be really nasty. I’m more compelled to be drawn in by that, so I probably would have been friends with her. Maybe I could have pointed those flaws out to her like, “Do you have to be such a **** all the time?” [laughs] I might have, I don’t know. Maybe I would have flung her around a little bit.
Are you glad that Cordelia’s attitude has mellowed out a bit?
We were actually just talking about that. I love it because she gets more screen time [laughs].
When did you start acting?
I moved here in ’92 – the day of the riots – and I began acting in ’93, and I actually got an agent a year after that, in ’94, so I’ve been acting for about three years now.
Describe the scene when you got the part on Buffy.
It’s a cute story. I was on Malibu Shores at the time. It was around five or six o’clock, it was raining and we were running late, so I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make the screen test. I ran over to wardrobe and borrowed a cute outfit, because I didn’t have time to go home, and I asked transportation the best route to Burbank, because traffic was going to be bad, and I was coming from really far away. I ended up taking a big fat unnecessary circle and wound up downtown sitting on pins and needles in traffic. Then I get this 9-1-1 page from my agent, so I pull over at a 7-Eleven and answer the page, and she’s like “They’re gonna leave – you have to get there.” I’m telling her that they better wait, because I just sat through an hour and half of the gnarliest traffic of my life. I said to order pizza or something, because they’re going to meet me tonight.
It turned out alright.
I went in, and they were all very excited and antsy to meet me. I read and they were laughing in all the right places, so I got the part. I was very happy.
What did Malibu Shores think when you left to audition for a different show?
I think they thought I was smart [laughs], because Malibu Shores was getting cancelled.
You already knew that?
No, my agent did, and I was very happy for that, but I almost didn’t audition for Buffy because my Malibu Shores character, Ashley, and Cordelia were too much alike. I was concerned about being typecast, and it was on the WB, which at the time, I wasn’t sure was a good thing. My former agent kept telling me all these negative things about it, almost talking me out of it. Then I got a call from her mentor telling me who all these people are. It was a completely different take on things. I just thank God I listened to her.
Do have a favourite line of Cordelia dialogue?
There’s one where Giles goes, “Do you have any tact?” because I said something really rude to Buffy when she was at the hospital [in Killed by Death]. And I said “Tact means just not saying true stuff,” or something like that. I thought that was really funny because she’s not going to sugarcoat it or be politically correct.
When you and Nicholas Brendon do have romantic scenes, how do you deal with the tension?
He’s a bigger nervous wreck than I am. That’s been my experience. But then, after a couple of takes, we relax. As the years go on it gets easier, but I don’t think you can ever be 100 percent comfortable kissing someone you’re not intimate with or that you don’t feel that way about. It is kinda awkward, but then you warm up to it.
Does your boyfriend ever get jealous of Xander?
No, no. Not yet. [laughs] I haven’t experienced that.
In real life, would you fall for a guy like Xander?
Probably. Nicky Brendon is very good looking, and he’s very witty and fun to be around. And he’s heroic.
He is heroic.
Every woman wants a hero.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! – Part 1
In the first part of a feature that would spread into the next issue, the editors of the Buffy Magazine pick the demons and vampires of Sunnydale that have terrified them since the series began.
There are five main parts to this opening piece. It briefly covers the Master, Luke, the Judge and Darla and follows them with brief interviews with Mark Metcalf, Brian Thompson and Julie Benz.
Mark Metcalf as the Master
My favourite piece to play was with Buffy in the second to the last scene of the first season where she finally comes down to where I am and I follow her and kill her. They told me when I got the part that the whole season was mapped out and in the last episode I would kill her. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s great, so the second season’s going to be called ‘Master: the Buffy Killer.’ So I did kill her, but then she came back.
Brian Thompson as The Judge / Luke
I was always referred to as the ‘Smurf’ demon. I remember long before I’d ever decided to become a professional actor, this guy at a party said to me once, ‘You’d be really good for science-fiction!’ Now, every time my agent calls and says ‘Hey Brian, they want to use you on Star Trek Deep Space Nine again’, I hear that guy.
Julie Benz as Darla
I went back to my dressing room and looked in the mirror and I smiled. I thought, ‘You know what? That’s scary.’
They also talk with Jeremy Ratchford, the surviving Gorch brother from Bad Eggs, as well as Geoff Meed, who played the false Anointed, Andrew Borba, in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.
Jeremy Ratchford as Lyle Gorch
I first went out for Spike, but they wanted more of a Sid Vicious kind of guy. I wish I would have known, because I can do any accent going. Then Marcia Shuman [former Buffy casting director] had me back a couple of weeks later as Lyle and we just had so much fun. I brought my own cowboy hat and just giddyap-ed all over! They really liked that. Every other word was ‘Giddyap’. ‘Giddyap, Buffy!’
Geoff Meed as Andrew Borba
I actually play wackos all the time. Playing the psycho is just second nature.
Comic
Reprinting Hey Good Lookin’ (Part 2) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10.
Poster
A publicity shot of Buffy and Angel from Season 2.
The Watcher's Guide 