When did you become a fan?

[slayersarah]

i started watching it when it 1st came on b/c my mom watched it. but i was about 4 years old so i didn't really remember much except Spike having a chip in his head, Spike eventually getting 2gether with Buffy, and my friend hiding in the hallway b/c the Gentlemen scared her. lol. since my mom & i both 4got pretty much everything, she got me all of the seasons for my b-day last year b/c they were on sale at Best Buy. we started watching them again & fell back in love with the show. (i'm more obsessed than her, though.)

[Slayer489]

Two friends introduced me to it and we watched 'Hush', which was the first full episode I had watched. Then I got my first Buffy figure and season 5 part 1 on video in 2001 and I've been hooked since.

I watched Buffy seasons 6 and 7 religiously when they aired on Sky One. I didn't follow Angel on Sky One until Season 5. I watched 'Conviction' and a few here and there, but I missed a handful of episodes, although by the time 'Damage' aired, I watched it every week.

[Whedon Fan]

I always watched them with my dad. Although he didn't let me watch season 1 because I was to young, but he let me see season two onwards and have been a fan ever since. I saw Angel right from the very first episode. My mum never really like it but loved season 4 because of the whole Willow/Tara/Oz thing. My brother always shunned the shows but like Firefly and then a few weeks back I was watching Chosen and he thought it looked pretty good so I have started him on a marathon now and he's on season three. I have converted my friends into Browncoats for Firefly/Serenity but they still don't like Buffy/Angel.

[Greer]

I started watching Buffy when I was about 12 (I'm 21 now), and I caught the tail end of Becoming, during Angelus's "No weapons, no friends..." speech. I got caught up during the summer on all the old episodes and was a fan ever since. I was hooked and I collected everything that I possibly could involving Buffy and I really haven't changed much...I do miss the excitement that I had before every episode and buffy.com and its message board....but yea, I have wayyy too much buffy stuff now and I love it that way

[themaleslayer]

I became a fan when "Pangs" first aired -- I think it aired then, cause is was aired on a thanksgiving day. Not really sure. But yeah, around the 4th season.

[TC]

I used to watch the movie on HBO when I was a kid and I pretended to be Pike and stake vampires with a plastic alligator. (It was the only "stake" I had!) And then a few years later, (after HBO stopped airing the movie...damn them!) I was flipping through the TV guid and saw Buffy was on FX. Episode was "Out of Mind, Out of Sight." Obsessed ever since then.

[Tempest]

One of the first days of my freshman year of high school I was getting in my locker (placed next to a bunch of upperclassman...awkward) and this guy came up to me and told me I looked kind of like Sarah Michelle Gellar. I asked him who that was and he replied..."You know, Buffy...Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" From then on I started watching the show and completely fell in love with it. I started watching Angel once TBS picked it up for off-network syndication. My senior year of high school my physiology teacher came into class one day and said, "You know Steavie, I got up early today and was flipping through the channels and saw this show Buffy...you kind of look like that girl." This obviously was when FX picked up the show. Needless to say, a simple comment threw me into the Buffy Universe and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Best show ever!

[buffyfan21]

I was hooked pretty much from the beginning. I was 15 or 16 at the time and my best friend got me into it. From that point on a never looked back and things haven't been the same since. My best friend and I used to have Buffy marathons all the time. We would even talk on the phone to each other while the show was on and dish about what was going on. I am 25 now and Buffy is still something my best friend and I talk about and analyze. It is still to this day our favorite show. Through the years both of our lives have changed, but through it all Buffy has always been and continues to be something that we bond over. In fact, you might say that Buffy is what brought us together in the fist place, and we have been best friends for 10 years now. Ah, the power of the Buffyverse, bringing people together.

[Emmie]

Tempest you should post a pic in the "Official Slayalive Post-a-Pic Thread" I wanna see if you could be SMG's evil twin

Isn't it great how people can bond over the show? Some of my best friends are fans, a few purely by chance but two of my best friends from college are huge Buffy/Angel fans.

[nadir]

I'd heard about the show for ages. I knew it was about a girl. I knew the names Buffy, Giles, and Willow (though I don't know why), and I knew Angel was some vampire that was in love with Buffy.
I love vampires, but this all sounded really dumb. I think I even snatched a few glances (5 minutes here or there) on the WB, but nothing ever got my attention. Everyone just kinda "knew" that it was just some dumb WB show. And I'd only heard bad things about the movie.

Last summer (wow, I guess it's almost been a year), I was reading on IGN. They had a list of the top TV shows that came from movies. M*A*S*H was number 2. I was stunned. I said to myself, "what could they have POSSIBLY listed higher? These guys are serious critics... this better be good." And it was Buffy.
My jaw dropped.
I read the line, "Since Buffy is one of the greatest television shows ever, how can it NOT be the best to ever come from a movie?"

So, in all my skepticism, I said, "OK, internet. Prove me wrong." So, almost as a dare to myself, I went out and bought the first season. Was nice and cheap (only like $15), and nice and short. I figured, this will tell me all I need to know.

I came into it with an open mind. Thought it was a cool premise. Loved the style, the writing, the music. I was... intrigued. Not sold, but intrigued. Then I got to the episode where Xander gets possessed by the hyena (The Pack, I think?). I donno. There was... there was this genuine humanity to it all. Seeing Willow crying, "what if it's me? What if there's something wrong with me." I was shocked, because TV had never really moved me that way before (I watch 24, so sure, there have been plenty of gripping moments/deaths, etc. But this was different). It was just so honest and real.
That was the turning point. I officially liked the show. By Nightmares, I remember very vividly being angry that I "had" to go buy the next season now. lol. I think that first season took me 3 or 4 days. And I was trying VERY hard to stretch it out. But I just kept watching. I devoured them all, and finished Season 7 in February.

I remember my roommates would give me crap about watching it (they had the same conception of it that I had). And eventually, one of them would come into the room to make fun of me as I was watching. I remember this very distinctly lol. He came in on... Pangs. The Thanksgiving one in S4. And he said, "Move over so I can make fun of you. And also so I can hate this show... even though I secretly love it." (He'd been half-watching since The Wish, I think. Something like that).

Was hilarious.
I am currently working on getting other friends to watch it. I already have one friend who's up to season 5 with his whole family.

[Kara]

The first time I had ever seen Buffy was when I was in 5th grade (2003) I went to my friends house and she was like do you wanna watch Buffy and I was like what's that and she did the whole Omg you haven't heard of buffy? and she explained how good it was . So we watched an episode of it I think it was like the episode Wrecked that we watched. I was kinda young so I thought it was good but I never watched it again. Then like 2 years ago I was browsing through t.v. channels and I came upon F/X and it had a buffy episode so I watched it and being older I loved it . Sadly untill like a month ago I hadn't seen the first 3 seasons of buffy so I rented the full series of buffy and recently became a mega fan so yeah that's how it happened.

[jason321]

I became a fan around when Buffy S7 was airing. My sister used to obsess over it and always tried to get me to watch but I was always like "how could a show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" possibly be worth my time? I mean, what the hell kind of name is Buffy anyway?" She finally got me to watch a couple of episodes from Season 2, and before I knew it, I was hooked.

I had a similiar experience with Angel. A friend said I should watch it if I loved Buffy, and I was like "How could a show starring Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley possibly be worth my time? Those characters suck." Then I watched it, and not only did I end up loving the show more than BtVS, but I ended up loving those 3 characters more than any of the core scoobies. Funny how things turn out.

[twilightbass]

I found out I was a fan when Buffy and Angel were re-aired last year on a local cable channel. Then I made some research and read about S8, and from that moment I got obsessed, every time I read a new issue, everybody has to listen to me talking about it for weeks, and the rest of the month I just talk about what will happen on the next one.

[BenTaylor3907]

I saw bits and pieces of Buffy when I was younger. I remember when I was 8 years old (1998) and I just got done watching (Interview with a Vampire) and I saw "The Harvest". I was hooked instantly. The only problem was... I didn't know when it aired or what channel it came on. So I didn't get to see every episode when they originally aired. And when my parents saw me watching it they cried and called me a satanist. WTF?

[dane5by5]

I started watching Buffy in 2000/2001. I watched season five, six and seven when it originally aired. I watched the rest, in the order of season one, three, four, two on cable.

I watched season four and five of Angel on original airings. Then the rest on dvd.

[Mathieu]

Back in 1998 I was 12 and my cousins were totally hooked with the show, when we were together they would keep talking about a girl named Buffy who had to kill the vampire she was in love with at the end of some kind of weird show. They were totally obsessed with it and I was like "ok they're geeks". And it's a girly thing. Or it must be dumb, because of all the vampires you know. I don't remember exactly.

One day I came across it on TV, I was only 12 and my mom didn't want me to watch this kind of stuff on TV (she would say it was too scary for my age) so I would sneak back in the living room at night to watch it. It was like a forbidden thing. Then I would call my cousins to talk about the episodes I watched. Nice way to bond with them even more (not that it was necessary, we were as close as friends). Back then I was watching reruns of Season 2 and I had missed Season 1. I liked the show. I liked the stories and the atmosphere. I liked the characters, especially Cordelia. I was shocked when Angel killed Jenny.

Then they went on with Season 3 and I was like OH MY GOD when they brought back Angel. I started to become addicted. It was just too good a show to be true. Then Buffy tried to kill Faith at the end of the season. And I learned all their lines by heart. I became obsessed with the show. I wouldn't miss a single episode. I would have killed someone in the room if I had to. Everybody just had to shup ut. Period.

Then I watched Season 4. Not my favorite season but as a fan I still loved it. Again I learned by heart all the lines of Buffy and Faith in This Year's Girl. I was also psyched about Hush and Restless.

In the meantime I got a chance to watch the reruns of Season 1.

Then came Season 5 and they brought up Dawn out of nowhere. I thought it was cheeky of the writers and simply sheer genius. I started to worship Joss Whedon. I would rewatch again and again all of Buffy's big fights, especially those with Glory, one of my favorite villains. I just recorded on tape all the episodes so that I could rewatch.

Then came Season 6. Not excited about the new plots until Willow went down her dark path. I absolutely loved the final arc with Dark Willow and I thought to myself, this show is beyond good, it's beyond everything. It cannot even be described with words. Not even mentioning OMWF (can't be described, remember?).

Then i watched Season 7 and I was just sad the show was coming to and end. There are a few things I was disappointed with in the last season but I absolutely loved Andrew, I was cracked up every time he had a line. I realized how sarcastic and funny the show can be. I liked the fact it sometimes didn't take itself seriously.

Then I bought all the DVDs.

I am an authentic Buffy fan. Now I read the comics.

[erminton]

I had heard about BTVS before, but I think I became interested in it when FX was airing repeats early in the morning and I watched them eating breakfast and getting ready for school. I think the first episodes I started watching was Season 4.

And the rest is history.

[oncemore]

i watched the first airing on the BBC when i was about 7-years-old (I seem to remember Dawn french narrating the advert? anyone remember? my memory could have completely invented that recollection..) but i wasn't gripped by the episode- I was probably too young- and i didn't watch it until a few years later when i saw a re-run of "Witch" on Sky and was completely addicted from that instance. My friend had the first season or so on VHS Box sets and i used to go to hers and watch them all day long until i got my own.. needless to say I've updated my collection to DVD now.
I didn't get into Angel until quite recently, say the last 18 months for some reason

[Skytteflickan88]

I was about 10-ish when a our channel 4 started sending season 1. I read vampires and thought; cool. I missed the first episodes, but was still drawn in. By then I appreciated the violence and wasn't that much into the plot, but by season 2(not sure when I saw that, channel 4 didn't pick it up immidiatly) I was hooked. But it took years between season 3 and season 4 in Sweden, so I had to but the DVDs. After a few years, and whining at my parents, I had watched all seven season and started to buy the Angel seasons, because they only showed the first season.

I didn't become a true Buffy-fan until after season 4, but then I wanted it all. The forums, the fanfiction(my first fanfiction was a Willow/Angelus one and it scared the hell out of me and made me horny as hell), the merchandise, the actors, i wanted it all. So much that I read the summaries to season 5, 6, 7 and all the Angel ones before I owned them, just so i could read the fanfics. Not so fun when I new what was going to happen once i watched the episodes.

[buffike]

I remember watching the Buffy movie in the theater(I love any/all vampire movies). I thought some of it was interesting and some was pretty bad. I remember hearing about them making it into a tv series. When it came out it was So much better than the movie. All the characters reminded me of my friends, great action, vampires, and romance(buffy&angel). I was instantly a big fan.