Scooby Gang (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Scooby Gang
First appearance The Harvest (assembled)
Created by Joss Whedon
Statistics
Name Scooby Gang
Purpose Apocalypse-averting and demon-hunting
Membership Buffy Summers
Xander Harris
Willow Rosenberg
Rupert Giles
Angel
Daniel "Oz" Osborne
Cordelia Chase
Anya Jenkins
Tara Maclay
Riley Finn
Dawn Summers
Spike
Jenny Calendar
Faith Lehane
Andrew Wells
Robin Wood
Kennedy

The Scooby Gang, or "Scoobies", are a group of characters in the cult television series and comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer who battle the supernatural forces of evil. The team consists of Buffy Summers and her friends and colleagues who assist her in her duties as the Slayer. First forming in the Season One episode "The Harvest" to prevent The Master from opening a portal to hell, the line-up of the group varied from year to year, but the core that remained intact throughout the series' run was Buffy herself and her best friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, as well as her Watcher, Rupert Giles.

The group was first referred to as the Scooby Gang by Xander in the Season Two episode "What's My Line, Part One" as a reference to the group of ghost-hunting teenagers from the cartoon Scooby-Doo. Sarah Michelle Gellar, the actress who plays Buffy on the show, would later also appear as Daphne Blake in the films Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

The Scooby Gang usually take an unimpressed, flippant attitude towards extraordinary events and supernatural occurrences. Originally a group of teenage friends attending Sunnydale High in a town built on top of a Hellmouth, the group gradually expanded, eventually merging with the Watchers' Council to become a global organization dealing with demonic threats worldwide and training thousands of Slayers. In the beginning, Buffy often had to protect her friends from monsters, but over the course of the series most of them gained superpowers and fighting skills of their own, with Xander the only notable member with no mystical abilities or connection to the supernatural, though he does acquire extensive military knowledge thanks to a spell. Due to the show's strong themes of female empowerment, the most powerful members of the team are often female (Buffy and Willow), while the men play passive roles such as that of father-figure (Giles) and supportive best friend (Xander). Also, in keeping with the show's themes of redemption and moral ambiguity, Willow, Angel, Spike, Faith, Giles, Anya, and Andrew have at some point in their lives descended into darkness. Each of these characters has murdered at least one person during their life, although for most it was substantially more.

At least initially, in Season Eight (a canonical continuation of the series in comic book format), the Scoobies are scattered across the world. In addition to the primary gang, there are short of 2000 Slayers, many of whom work with the expanded organization in addition to witches, psychics and other staff. The core Scoobies now each act as important figures in the new Watcher's Council and maintain a role of leadership and authority amongst the Slayers they employ. With the group scattered, communication is maintained primarily through phone calls, and the group leaders (in particular the core three) now assume more superheroic positions and parallels than in previous seasons. Former allies in Season 7 such as Andrew and Rona now lead squads of their own.

Contents

Alternative names

The group is also sometimes referred to as the "Slayerettes," mostly in early episodes or later in the scene descriptions to refer to the Potentials, but mostly it didn't catch on with fans. Both Willow (in the season one episode "Witch") and Spike (in the season four episodes "The I in Team" and "The Yoko Factor") have used the term in the show on different occasions.

Scooby Gang members

(In chronological order)

Team variations

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Season 8

Season 9

Headquarters

Along with variations in the team roster, the place which serves as a sort of "headquarters" for the Scooby Gang has also changed a few times over the series. The most notable of these headquarters, before its explosion in the Season Three finale, is the Sunnydale High School library. However, after the events of the series finale, the Scoobies have, as stated above, been spread across the world, with Buffy and Xander maintaining a "command center" in Scotland.

To the crew of Buffy, the headquarters was the set where the most exposition writing of the show took place, and thus was the most used and most hated of the Buffy sets.[1]

Seasons 1–3

Seasons 4-5

Seasons 5–6

Season 7

Season 8

Affiliated Organizations

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Lessons" DVD Commentary - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Seven Box Set, disc one