Buffy: The Watcher's Guide Volume Two (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series)

Having thoroughly dissected the characters, the book then goes behind the scenes with profiles of the actors, an in-depth look at the many aspects of production, listings of featured bands and songs and a brief section on merchandising. The main omission is any focus on monsters--for that, turn to the excellent Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Monster Book, which goes into encyclopaedic detail on all the monsters to have appeared on the show. This book is a more general companion, and performs its duties as well, and as sassily, as the Slayer herself. --Elizabeth Sourbut

Customer reviews:

The Official Companion to Seasons 3 & 4 of "Buffy", 2001-11-19
"The Watcher's Guide, Volume 2" is hard to rate because while it is superior to the vast majority of official (or unofficial) companion volumes to various hit television series, it does not seem to be as good as the first volume, which means it is still a great deal for fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." There are three major and two minor sections to this volume, with focuses on seasons three and four of Buffy. First there is the Buffyverse, which recaps what we need to know from the first two seasons of the series in terms of the whats and wheres, covers the main characters with choice quotes from each, and includes an interesting section on "The Pain" which explores the rich pathos of the series. Section two covers the episodes from seasons three and four by providing plot synopses, choice quotes, lines cut from the original teleplays, continuity concerns, pop-culture footnotes, and updates on "The Agony and the Ecstasy" dealing with the aforementioned pathos. The third section provides cast profiles, which are really a hit and miss compilation, with most of the regulars receiving brief treatment and then interviews of varying lengths and value with the rest, most of whom are guest stars. The use of interviews continues throughout the fourth section on the production side of Creating Buffy. The last two sections deal with "The Bands of Buffy" and "Merchandising."

The first volume of "The Watcher's Guide" offered 300 pages and while Volume 2 taps out closer to 500 you do not really get the feeling you are getting that much more in terms of quality. When I look over this volume now I think I know why: It is not because the original team of Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder split up for him to do "The Monster Book" and her to do "The Watcher's Guide, Volume 2." It is because the second half of the book consists of interview transcripts and I think this comes across as being sort of the easy way out. There is some good information and stories in most of the interviews, but sure, a few of them are not worth the effort. You cannot fault Holder and her new cohorts Jeff Mariotte and Maryelizabeth Hart for being comprehensive, but taking more than one pass at each of these people might have been helpful. The main thing is that Joss Whedon's people are out there putting extra effort into these companion volumes and you are not going to find something for another show as good as this volume, whatever its problems.

A great book, 2001-03-15
This book is a must for any true buffy fan. It has cast info, ep guides and more.