before it, season five takes Buffy in a new direction, with a new set of issues and characters. The first episode ends with the enigmatic introduction of Dawn, Buffy’s mysterious younger sister. The story centers around Glory, an immensely powerful Goddess bent on the destruction of Dawn, the opening of a portal to a hell dimension, and, in the process, the destruction of Earth as we know it. Season five is wonderfully done and raises a set of core issues, including friendship, grief, death, sisterhood and independence. It also shot down criticism that Joss was spread too thin to maintain Buffy’s quality.
The first episode, a funny and enthralling encounter between Buffy and Dracula, is on its surface a stand-alone episode. But Buffy vs. Dracula cleverly sets up the story arc for the season. This episode highlights the insecurities that ultimately lead to Riley’s departure. It also, in Xander’s determination to stop being “everybody’s butt-monkey,” showed us the motivation that would ultimately lead to Xander’s emergence from the basement and his engagement to Anya. And most importantly, the episode introduces Dawn, who would become a regular on the program.
Michelle Trachtenberg won the coveted role of Buffy’s younger sister. Trachtenberg knew she was joining a successful show and was already a big fan when she came on board. Like Gellar and Hannigan, the young Trachtenberg was already a Hollywood veteran, having begun acting at the age of four. She played Lily Montgomery on All My Children , was a series regular on The Adventures of Pete & Pete and made several guest appearances on Meego, Guys Like Us, Figure it Out, Dave’s World, Law & Order and Clarissa Explains it All . She’d starred in the feature films Harriet the Spy, Inspector Gadget, Can’t Be Heaven, The Cage and Melissa .
And she did all of this before turning 16.
Getting the role as Buffy’s little sister was one of the best moments of Trachtenberg’s career. “I was so happy, because I was such a big fan of the show already,” laughs the actress. “I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to get to hang out with these cool people and characters every day.”
Trachtenberg fit right in with the Buffy cast; it didn’t hurt that she already knew Gellar. “She had worked on All My Children and I knew her from there. She has become like a real sister to me, and in the beginning, she and everyone else was worried about how I was doing. Was I happy? Was everything going OK? They make you feel very loved and a part of the family,” says Trachtenberg.
When she joined the show the character Dawn was called the Key. In the beginning, Trachtenberg wasn’t clear on what that meant. She says Joss told her in an early meeting that Dawn was a regular teen who was a Key, and even he didn’t know how it was going to all work out.
“I’m not sure if he didn’t know, or if he really didn’t want to put too much on me at once, but it worked,” says the actress. “We’ve really developed—I almost feel like I’ve been a part of the show from the beginning because I’ve been watching it since its debut and I’m a little walking Buffy encyclopedia, rather scary but it’s fine.”
In the touching episode Family , which Whedon wrote and directed, Joss did for Tara what he did for Oz in Innocence —he made us love her. Some fans were having difficulty accepting Tara as part of the Scooby gang. In typical Joss fashion, he took this head on, painting Tara as even more of an outsider as the Scoobies struggle with what to give her for her birthday. But conflict with Tara’s family forces the Scoobies to choose sides. They ultimately choose Tara as their own and, more importantly, we desperately want them to make this choice.
I’m a little walking Buffy encyclopedia, rather scary but it’s fine.
—Michelle Trachtenberg
Even more important, in Family , Joss returned to one of Buffy’s “mission statements.” Your family can
The first episode, a funny and enthralling encounter between Buffy and Dracula, is on its surface a stand-alone episode. But Buffy vs. Dracula cleverly sets up the story arc for the season. This episode highlights the insecurities that ultimately lead to Riley’s departure. It also, in Xander’s determination to stop being “everybody’s butt-monkey,” showed us the motivation that would ultimately lead to Xander’s emergence from the basement and his engagement to Anya. And most importantly, the episode introduces Dawn, who would become a regular on the program.
Michelle Trachtenberg won the coveted role of Buffy’s younger sister. Trachtenberg knew she was joining a successful show and was already a big fan when she came on board. Like Gellar and Hannigan, the young Trachtenberg was already a Hollywood veteran, having begun acting at the age of four. She played Lily Montgomery on All My Children , was a series regular on The Adventures of Pete & Pete and made several guest appearances on Meego, Guys Like Us, Figure it Out, Dave’s World, Law & Order and Clarissa Explains it All . She’d starred in the feature films Harriet the Spy, Inspector Gadget, Can’t Be Heaven, The Cage and Melissa .
And she did all of this before turning 16.
Getting the role as Buffy’s little sister was one of the best moments of Trachtenberg’s career. “I was so happy, because I was such a big fan of the show already,” laughs the actress. “I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to get to hang out with these cool people and characters every day.”
Trachtenberg fit right in with the Buffy cast; it didn’t hurt that she already knew Gellar. “She had worked on All My Children and I knew her from there. She has become like a real sister to me, and in the beginning, she and everyone else was worried about how I was doing. Was I happy? Was everything going OK? They make you feel very loved and a part of the family,” says Trachtenberg.
When she joined the show the character Dawn was called the Key. In the beginning, Trachtenberg wasn’t clear on what that meant. She says Joss told her in an early meeting that Dawn was a regular teen who was a Key, and even he didn’t know how it was going to all work out.
“I’m not sure if he didn’t know, or if he really didn’t want to put too much on me at once, but it worked,” says the actress. “We’ve really developed—I almost feel like I’ve been a part of the show from the beginning because I’ve been watching it since its debut and I’m a little walking Buffy encyclopedia, rather scary but it’s fine.”
In the touching episode Family , which Whedon wrote and directed, Joss did for Tara what he did for Oz in Innocence —he made us love her. Some fans were having difficulty accepting Tara as part of the Scooby gang. In typical Joss fashion, he took this head on, painting Tara as even more of an outsider as the Scoobies struggle with what to give her for her birthday. But conflict with Tara’s family forces the Scoobies to choose sides. They ultimately choose Tara as their own and, more importantly, we desperately want them to make this choice.
I’m a little walking Buffy encyclopedia, rather scary but it’s fine.
—Michelle Trachtenberg
Even more important, in Family , Joss returned to one of Buffy’s “mission statements.” Your family can
Similar Books
