Amber Benson defended Whedon in 2007, saying he " is 100 percent behind the LGBT community.

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

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 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?

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

" 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.

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 ".

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.

Riley Finn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Whedon intended Riley to be the antithesis of Buffy's boyfriend of the past three seasons, Angel ( David Boreanaz ), who now headed his own spin-off show.

Kane says he played his audition for Riley " perhaps a little less than wholesome ", which he feels resulted in Joss Whedon later casting him as a darker character.

Initially, this was to be the episode where Riley and Buffy have sex, and Whedon took comfort in that plan because he knew people would not mind the silence, but ultimately he decided it was too early for the characters to sleep together, and he scrapped the idea.

When asked why they chose to have Riley leave Sunnydale, Joss Whedon says he tried to give Buffy a healthy relationship, but " people didn't want it.

According to Buffy creator Joss Whedon, the introduction of Dawn in Season Five was partly so protagonist Buffy Summers could experience a " really important, intense emotional relationship " with someone other than a boyfriend.

Whedon also felt that it was important that Angel do so wearing his vampire face as they planned to bring the re-ensouled Angel back later, and it would be " too disturbing " to the audience to accept Buffy ever kissing him again had the murder been committed while in his normal visage.

Whedon explains that the story behind the season / episode he wanted to get across to viewers was more important than the continuity.

Joss Whedon comments on this in his commentary for " Chosen "; " The thing that is sort of reviled for, making up stories, becomes the thing that he helps Xander with.

Joss Whedon characterizes the comic book Connor as " the closest thing to a superhero hell has ' because he has powers without any of the weaknesses of the vampire, and is well adjusted.

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

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.

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.

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

According to Whedon, Buffy " had been brewing in for many years " before finally appearing in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film played by Kristy Swanson.

Whedon believes parents label their children as " indigo " to provide an alternative explanation for their children's improper behavior stemming from ADD and ADHD.

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.

Animator Pete Docter, director John Lasseter, musician Randy Newman, producers Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, production designer Ralph Eggleston, and writers Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, and Joss Whedon all won awards for " Best Individual Achievement " in their respective fields for their work on the film.

It is unclear whether they resume their sexual intimacy during the third night ; creator Joss Whedon says on the DVD commentary for " Chosen " that he intentionally left it to the viewers to decide how they felt the relationship progressed, though Whedon had earlier stated on the commentary he personally felt having them resume a sexual relationship would send the wrong message.

In 2004, Joss Whedon set plans for a Spike movie.

In the Angel DVD commentary for " A Hole in the World ", Joss Whedon, the creator of Angel said, " Spike and Angel ... they were hanging out for years and years and years.

Whedon and Greenwalt prepared a six-minute promotional video pitch, often called the " Unaired Angel pilot " for the WB Network.

The writers with the most writing credits for the series include: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, Tim Minear, Jeffrey Bell, David Fury, Steven S. DeKnight, Mere Smith, and Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain.