The show was better than the movie, but I actually think Swanson was the better Buffy (politics aside).

Swanson was more believable re physical build yes (taller) She should have at least been cast as the mom in the series.

The show took some getting used to.

However since I had fantasized about it for years---I didn't protest too much. I had finally gotten my wish for a tv series answered at very long last.

I would have explained at least what happened with Pike, who she rides off with in the movie, and is not mentioned again ever. Somebody else named Ford--who is dying of terminal brain cancer comes over from Los Angeles. That was disappointing.

And it's hard to watch the episode now bc a long time childhood friend of mine had died after this first aired.

Unlike the movie, the TV show establishes early on that Buffy's work involves her seeing loved ones die---and making difficult ethical choices. The movie in contrast showed her becoming distant from her friends and a loner when she became a slayer. She has to (by default) make new friends.

Movie Buffy only (improbably) gets teary eyed when her first watcher whom she very briefly knew dies. She did not establish a 'real' relationship with him. They only have brief conversations about what he does and wanted to be if he weren't a watcher.

The Merrick in the tv series looks nothing like the movie---refined, groomed and probably could even have fooled the high school staff into just letting him take Buffy for training etc (rich public schools did not worry about school safety back then and were very lax re campus security lol). the movie Merrick is ragged and mistaken for a 'homeless'. He (presumably) has to sneak into the gym and then the locker room. I doubt he signed in since 1) he's not wearing a visitor badge 2) men are not given access to the girls locker room


Where they screwed up was the later seasons with giving everybody else 'powers' and introducing Dawn. It turned into superfriends.