Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Welcome to the Hellmouth

"Into every generation a Slayer is born..."

- Giles

"Welcome to the Hellmouth" is the pilot episode of the WB Network television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode was directed by Charles Martin Smith and written by series creator Joss Whedon. It first aired on March 10th, 1997. The series is loosely based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature film released in 1992. Aside from the title character Buffy Summers, all other characters are unique to this series. In this episode, high school sophmore Buffy Summers moves to Sunnydale from her home town of Los Angeles, hoping to put her past troubles behind her. She finds that she is in for more than she bargained for when she meets Rupert Giles, a Watcher who is assigned to train Buffy as the Slayer. Buffy befriends fellow classmates Cordelia Chase, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg as well as a mysterious, unidentified "friend". What she experienced in the past is nothing compared to what she is in for now as she must now deal with a vampire Master who is seeking to escape imprisonment and bring about the "Harvest".

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode has been made available on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season DVD collections.


 * Part 1 of a 2 part episode.


 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired as a mid-season replacement series and as such, there are only twelve episodes for season one.


 * In the unaired pilot, the boy that is killed by Darla is identified as Chris Boal.


 * Actor Brian Thompson, who plays the role of Luke is no stranger to wearing vampire fangs. He once played a vampire thug named Eddie Fiori in the short-lived television series Kindred: The Embraced.

Quotes
"Willow, nice dress. Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears."

- Cordelia Chase

"You think its just a coincidence you being here? That boy was just the beginning."

- Rupert Giles

"I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire. It's not like I have all these fluffy bunny feelings for them, I'm just not gonna get way extracurricular with it."

- Buffy

"The sleeper will wake."

- Luke