Whedon informed them that the kiss between Willow and Tara was " not negotiable ".

According to Whedon, the conversation about the kiss was approached by the network executives, who were concerned with the number of gay relationships on the network.

A third core X-Men title was also introduced called Astonishing X-Men, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, following Morrison's departure.

She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( often simplified as Buffy ) was originally conceived by Joss Whedon for a 1992 feature film.

However, in its development Whedon felt it lost some of the quirkiness he considered was the heart of the project, and it was not received as well as he liked.

Joss Whedon found that Hannigan was especially gifted reacting with fear ( calling her the " king of pain ") and viewers responded strongly when she was placed in danger, needing to be rescued by Buffy.

Whedon admitted he was upset by Green's announcement and that if he had wanted to continue, Oz would have been a part of the story.

Whedon and the writing staff had been considering developing a story arc in which a character explores his or her sexuality as the Scoobies left high school, but no particular effort was made to assign this arc to Willow.

The scene was, upon completion, noticeably sensual to Whedon, the producers, and network executives, who encouraged Whedon to develop a romantic storyline between Willow and Tara, but at the same time placed barriers on how far it could go and what could be shown.

When viewers realized that Willow was falling in love with Tara, Whedon remembered that some threatened to boycott the show, complaining " You made Willow a fag ", to which he responded, " Bye.

Although the show's writers and producers received a minimal negative reaction from Willow choosing Tara over Oz, the response from viewers and critics alike was overwhelming towards Whedon for killing Tara, accusing him of homophobia.

The character of Buffy was created to subvert the stereotypical female horror film victim ; Whedon wanted to create a strong female cultural icon.

Between 2001 and 2004, Joss Whedon and Jeph Loeb developed a 4-minute pilot episode for Buffy the Animated Series, which was set during the show's first season.

In 2007, Buffy's story was continued when Joss Whedon resurrected Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a comic book.

The character of Buffy was conceived by Joss Whedon as a way of subverting the cliché of " the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror film ".

Whedon stated " Rhonda the Immortal Waitress " was the first incarnation of Buffy in his head, " the idea of a seemingly insignificant female who in fact turns out to be extraordinary.

" When asked how he came up with the name of " Buffy ," Whedon states " It was the name that I could think of that I could take the least seriously.

" Whedon claims the title was criticized for being too silly, and the television network begged him to change it.

" In developing Buffy, Whedon was greatly inspired by Kitty Pryde, a character from the pages of the superhero comic X-Men.

It was also nominated for Best Writing — Screenplay Written for the Screen for the work by Joel Cohen, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, and Joss Whedon making Toy Story the first animated film to be nominated for a writing award.

The character had intended to be a brief villain, with Whedon originally adamant to not have another major " romantic vampire " character like Angel-Marsters says " Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead "-but the character ended up staying for the second season, and then returning in the fourth to replace Cordelia as " the character who told Buffy she was stupid and about to die ".

Spike was initially conceived as a disposable villain to be killed off, but proved so popular with fans that Joss Whedon decided to merely injure him instead, in the episode " What's My Line, Part Two ", in which Spike is crushed by a collapsing pipe organ and left paralyzed.

After a change in scriptwriters from Levinson ( August 1941 to December 1942 ) to the team of Whedon and Moore in January 1943, the confrontations slowly subside and a true friendship slowly blossoms.

Whedon wanted to give the audience time to " breathe " before being hit with commercials, but a true black would automatically cue the ads.

Series creator Joss Whedon stated on the Season 6 DVD that the true Big Bad was life itself, and how as time goes on, it becomes more and more people's worst enemy.

Whedon created a group of friends for the main character, including Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris.

Whedon divulged that recovering her magical abilities will become Willow's " personal obsession " in a miniseries where she will be the central character.

Whedon always intended for the character to become an icon, claiming " I wanted her to be a hero that existed in people's minds the way Wonder Woman or Spider-Man does, you know?

" Whedon openly wonders why his identification figure is a woman, but describes it as " a real autobiographical kind of therapy for me " to be writing a strong female character like Buffy.

Adapting the concept of the movie into a television series, Whedon decided to reinvent the character of Buffy slightly.

Spike, played by James Marsters, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Whedon believed that " Angel was the one character who was bigger than life in the same way that Buffy was, a kind of superhero.

Jane Espenson has explained how scripts came together for Mutant Enemy Productions series Buffy, Angel and Firefly: a meeting was held and an idea was floated ( generally by Whedon ) and the writers brainstormed to develop the central theme of the episode and the character development.

Rupert Edmund Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The character proved popular with fans, and since 2003, Joss Whedon has attempted to continue Giles ' story through a spin-off, Ripper ; as of 2009, Whedon has submitted a 90-minute script to the BBC, but rights issues have so far prevented the series moving into development.

Originally, Giles was to appear in " A Hole in the World " as the one whom Angel and Spike approached in an attempt to save Fred, because Whedon needed a character who would be instantly believed ( by the characters and by the audience ) when he said there was no way to save Fred.

Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Dawn Summers is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Marti Noxon and David Fury on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg.

Whedon introduced Dawn to the series because he wanted to introduce a character with whom Buffy could have an intensely emotional non-romantic relationship.

Joss Whedon stated that Dawn was originally going to be a younger character, which the writing reflecting this, but after Sarah Michelle Gellar suggested Trachtenberg for the role they raised her age.

Whedon has expressed regret over not being able to go further with Dawn's character in season seven, but, as he says, " You get into a situation that you do like to stand alone ' Dawn Goes on a Date ' is not something that people would really sit for.