Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Season 5

Season Five of the supernatural action/comedy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired on the WB Network from September 26th, 2000 to May 22nd, 2001, spanning a total of twenty-two episodes. It was the final season of the show to air on the WB before budget cuts forced the production crew to ship the program to the United Paramount Network for its final two seasons. The main cast line-up for this season began with Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Emma Caulfield as Anya Jenkins, Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, James Marsters as Spike, and Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Emma Caulfield was a supporting character in season four, who was now inserted into the main cast line-up. Beginning with the second episode of the season, Michelle Trachtenberg was added to the main cast as Dawn Summers, making her the first new character to be added to the main cast line-up, who had not already made previous appearances on the series. Marc Blucas departed from the show following episode 5x10, "Into the Woods".

The presence of Dawn Summers represents a great mystery to the series, as she is literally a new being, created from the essence of Buffy Summers and serves as "The Key" to a dimensional gateway. Everyone's memories are altered so that it appears as if Dawn had been a part of their lives forever.

The "Big Bad" of season five arrives in the form of Glorificus - an ancient powerful deity from a Hell dimension who had been banished to the Earthly plane, and forced to assume a humanoid form. In order to return to her home dimension however, Glorificus (or "Glory") has to retain the power of the Key.

Oh yeah... and Buffy fights Dracula.

Production

 * Joss Whedon - Creator; Executive producer
 * Gail Berman - Executive producer
 * Sandy Gallin - Executive producer
 * Fran Rubel Kuzui - Executive producer
 * Kaz Kuzui - Executive producer
 * Marti Noxon - Co-executive producer
 * David Solomon - Producer


 * Gareth Davies - Producer
 * Jane Espenson - Producer
 * John F. Perry - Co-producer
 * Douglas Petrie - Co-producer
 * Marc David Alpert - Co-producer
 * David Fury - Supervising producer
 * David Greenwalt - Consulting producer

Directors

 * Christopher Hibler
 * Dan Attias
 * David Grossman
 * David Solomon
 * James A. Contner


 * Joss Whedon
 * Marti Noxon
 * Michael Gershman
 * Nick Marck

Writers

 * David Fury
 * Douglas Petrie
 * Jane Espenson
 * Joss Whedon


 * Marti Noxon
 * Rebecca Rand Kirshner
 * Steven S. DeKnight

Home video

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Series (DVD)
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection (DVD)
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fifth Season (DVD)