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.

After much discussion, Whedon and the writers decided that Angel should not bite Jenny, but instead break her neck as a show of his contempt for her: " I'm not even going to feed " is the attitude Whedon wanted to communicate, as well as Angel's evident pleasure in the act.

Despite Fred's soul supposedly shattering in the process of Illyria taking over her body, Joss Whedon originally intended for either Fred and Illyria to be split in two had Angel gotten a sixth season, as revealed by Amy Acker in an interview: " As I ’ m playing this new character now, it was just some stuff that he was going to do with her and bringing Fred back and getting to work with both characters ", or for Illyria to take on more and more of Fred's memories.

Joss Whedon originally intended for Fred and Illyria to either be split in two had Angel gotten a sixth season, as revealed by Amy Acker in an interview: " As I ’ m playing this new character now, it was just some stuff that he was going to do with her and bringing Fred back and getting to work with both characters ", or for Illyria to take on more and more of Fred's memories.

Whedon notes that while he already has decided that Cordelia and Connor were going to have sex, the story had to be changed and move faster because Charisma Carpenter became pregnant.

In 2001, Whedon told an interviewer, " I knew I was going to kill Joyce, and I knew that what I wanted to capture — because I had lost my own mother — was that weird dumb grief and the various reactions that people have to death.

Also, at the time they were shooting this, Rebecca Gayheart was playing the role of Inara Serra, but Whedon knew that it was not going to work out and so shot scenes with her interacting with the crew in singles, so that the only part that would have to be reshot would be the shots of Inara.

" In the first versions of the script, the emotional focus remained on Rebecca for the entire episode, until creator Joss Whedon decided to add the element of Angel going bad.

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.

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

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

With Reeves ' input, Whedon changed Traven from being " a maverick hotshot " to " the polite guy trying not to get anybody killed ", and removed the character's glib dialogue and made him more earnest.

Joss Whedon posted a message on a popular fan site, The Bronze: Beta, in which he expressed his dismay and surprise, saying he was " heartbroken " and compared it to a " healthy guy falling dead from a heart attack.

In a 2011 interview, Whedon stated that his decision to kill off Giles could not be discussed in detail " because ripples from that event " will also be a large part of both Buffy Season Nine and Angel and Faith.

Xander appears from the premiere issue, " The Long Way Home " ( 2007 ) by Joss Whedon.

She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed by Amber Benson from the fourth to the sixth season until the character's death.

When she did, Hannigan found her on set and upon learning she was up for the role, told Whedon to hire Benson at the same moment Benson got the call from her agent that she had won the part.

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.

** Firefly media franchise, a science fiction franchise stemming from the TV program created by Joss Whedon

* Whedon considered killing off Doyle early on from the opening episodes, " That was always a plan, and clearly that character didn't mesh.

All After the Fall stories are written by Brian Lynch, who receives substantial input from creator Joss Whedon.

In 2005, he reprised his role as the playful, easy-going Hoban " Wash " Washburne in the film Serenity, derived from the cult television series Firefly by Joss Whedon.

Series creator Joss Whedon has placed " Doppelgangland " fifth in his list of favorite episodes from the show, stating " one Willow is certainly not enough.

Whedon fashioned The Gentlemen as something from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, intending them to be frightening to children — monsters who carve out people's hearts, smiling as they do so.

Robert Bianco from USA Today comments, "( i ) n a medium in which producers tend to grow bored with their own creations, either trashing them or taking them in increasingly bizarre directions, Whedon continues to find new ways to make his fabulously entertaining series richer and more compelling.

In the theater scene during Willow's dream, a Frazier lens was used to provide a large depth of field, allowing both the foreground and background to be in focus at the same time, while in Xander's dream, as he moves from room to room in Buffy's house to the university dorm rooms, Whedon used a 17 mm lens to give a sense of motion as the camera passes by walls.

Whedon cites The Limey as an inspiration for the unnaturally colored university sequence, and had the scene from Apocalypse Now playing on tape during filming to ensure as close a match as possible for that sequence.

A Slayer, in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel ( both created by Joss Whedon ), is a young female bestowed with mystical powers that originate from the essence of a pure-demon, which gives her superhuman senses, strength, agility, resilience and speed in the fight against forces of darkness.

Angel: After the Fall is the canonical continuation of the Angel story, written by Brian Lynch with executive oversight from Joss Whedon.

Generally, the Alliance is rather authoritarian, although Joss Whedon, the series ' creator, has said this is at least partly because the show is seen from the viewpoint of those hostile to the Alliance.

Whedon used another long tracking shot from Joyce's face in the morgue following the doctor down the hall to speak with Buffy and the Scoobies to cement the reality of their being so close in proximity, as opposed to cutting shots to give the possibility that it was part of another set located somewhere else.

Anya's blunt innocence was similar to a plot twist, as viewers did not expect the depth of sensitivity that she portrayed in her monologue, which Whedon considers " the heart of the experience " and critic Noel Murray reiterates as the " whole point of the episode in bolded, capital letters ".

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

" Whedon intended Willow to be realistically introverted, saying " I wanted Willow to have that kind of insanely colorful interior life that truly shy people have.

However, to resolve the relationship between Oz and Willow Whedon says, " we had to scramble.

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.

Whedon made a conscious effort to focus on Willow and Tara's relationship instead of either's identity as a lesbian or the coming out process.

Following protests angry about the death of Tara, Whedon and the writing team made a decision to keep Willow gay.

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.

Because the death came at the end of an episode where Willow and Tara were portrayed in bed between sexual encounters, critics accused Whedon of intoning that lesbian sex should be punishable by death.

Whedon asked Benson to appear as Tara to Willow in " Conversations with Dead People ", but Benson turned down the role, concerned what fans of the show would think about an evil Tara.

Writer Peg Aloi calls the backlash at Whedon " staggering ", and summarizes Tara's effect with Willow, stating that they were a single unit the moment they met: " Willow's need for approval and Tara's need for unconditional love allowed their supernova trajectory its singular, incendiary thrust toward its triumphant but tragic end ; like all witches who burn, martyred by flames, they move on to a place where their gods are the right ones.

* Willow Rosenberg, a character created by Joss Whedon for the television program, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Series creator Joss Whedon liked the character of " Vamp Willow ", who was first introduced in " The Wish ", so much that he wrote an episode specifically for her.

They were unaware at the time that the relationship between Willow and Tara would become romantic, but Benson's performance and demeanor " made up our minds for us ", according to Whedon.

Whedon finds ways to get around that, with several cast members — particularly Anthony Head as the scholarly Giles and Alyson Hannigan as nervous witch Willow — proving to be wonderfully expressive silent comedians.

The most difficult scene for Whedon to film was Willow panicking in her dormitory room.

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

When Willow and Tara first met in the fourth season, the writers did not intend the relationship to be romantic but the actors had such chemistry that, two episodes later, Whedon and the writing team took Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson aside to inform them where it would go.

Joss Whedon had originally envisioned the love triangle between Oz, Veruca, and Willow to continue for most of season four.