Buffy: Staking out the seventh season

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon,… Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Michelle Trachtenberg, James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head

Tuesday, 8 p.m.

UPN

It’s now been seven years since a lowly WB midseason replacement, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” first wiggled out of the casket of dime-a-dozen, low-grade sci-fi shows.

Since then, the show has busted through vampires, genres, stereotypes and even the jokes about its title to whittle a notch in TV Guide’s 50 greatest shows of all time. But how many new ideas can you think of after seven years? And after last year’s gloom-and-doom, can Buffy come back from the dead? Problem is, she’s already done that – twice.

There is hope that Buffy can return to its former greatness. Fans who caught last week’s season premiere have noticed that the glory days of Buffy are literally reappearing. Sunnydale High School is back, the comedy is back, and wow, The Master is back – sort of.

Series creator Joss Whedon, in interviews, has stated that the fun, along with some old faces, will return in this seventh year. Eliza Dushku is heavily rumored to reprise her role as Faith, and even The Master is supposed to stick around for a few more shows. Apparently the best way to reinvent the future is to steal from the past.

Another challenge Buffy will face is keeping the past together. Fans noticed as Anthony Stewart Head’s appearances as Giles dwindled last year because of Head’s desire to live with his family in England. This season’s solution involves filming some episodes on location in Britain as well as some heavy contract talks during the summer that promised to keep the Giles-isms flowing more freely. Head didn’t rejoin as regular, but he should be around for about 10 episodes.

The other question on everyone’s mind is how long the show can run. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s contract expires after this season, and obviously, UPN will try to keep her. But should Gellar jump to movies, the show is rumored to roll on with Michelle Trachtenberg – who plays Buffy’s younger sister Dawn – at the helm. Dawn was being trained for slaying in the premiere, but it might be a title role that she ends up with.

Last year or not, the seventh season show will still go out with a bang. Spike’s soul promise is to, yet again, reinvent his character, a character that was originally supposed to have been killed off years ago. The departure of Emma Caulfield at the year’s end means that Anya’s story will be wrapped up, and the musical episode, through flashbacks, is hinted to be revisited.

Willow’s on her way back to Sunnydale in tonight’s episode, and viewers should keep an eye out for Amber Benson, who will be back this year, but not as Tara. Someone, or some thing, will probably die this season, too. Every year, there’s always a death.

Here’s to hoping that this time, it won’t be the show.