Angel the Series

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Fandom
Name: Angel
Abbreviation(s): AtS (Angel the Series)
Creator: Joss Whedon
Date(s): 1999-2004
Medium: television series
Country of Origin: US
External Links: IMDB
EpGuides
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Angel the Series is a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer about Buffy's vampire boyfriend, Angel, after his move from Sunnydale to Los Angeles. Because of the shared universe and some characters appearing on both shows, some fans treat the "Buffyverse" as a single fandom. The series ended after five seasons and was continued as a comic.

Canon

The series started out with three main characters: Angel, Cordelia (from BtVS), and half-demon Doyle. Doyle died mid-season and was replaced by former Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (also from BtVS). The set up initially involved Angel Investigations, an agency set up to "help the helpless", fight demonic crime, and keep Cordy in sandals. Many early episodes followed the vision quest pattern, with Doyle and then Cordelia receiving a plot-driving vision from the PTB. A prophecy revealed that an ensouled vampire would eventually shanshu, or become, live life, and die as a human, replacing Buffy as Angel's motivation to fight the good fight.

In season 2, the team is joined by sidekick Charles Gunn and geek Fred Burkle, Angel goes "beige", and they all end up in not-so-wonderland. Seasons 3 & 4 moved away from the vision quest format to follow arcs involving Angel's sire Darla, their son Connor, and the vampire hunters Holtz and Justine.

The main antagonist in the early seasons was the law firm Wolfram & Hart; several of its lawyers gained a substantial fannish following, particularly Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan. Season 5 turned things upside down with the AI team heading up Wolfram & Hart. Spike & Harmony joined as majors from BtVS, recurring empathic demon Lorne also stepped up as a major, while Fred became a vessel for the blue Old One Illyria.

Saving Angel

Angel Billboard truck displaying text, Looking for a few (million) good viewers? We'll follow Angel to hell... or another network
The Angel billboard truck was part of the campaingn to renew the series

In February 2004, it was announced that Angel was to be canceled after its fifth season. Immediately several fan campaigns began with the aim of getting the WB or another network to renew the series.

The SavingAngel team organized originally on Ducks Babble Board with a significant number of Sparklies and members of other Buffyverse boards joining them there.[1] A dedicated SavingAngel website was soon established. Many of these fans had previous experience taking out ads in publications, to highlight their support for these shows. For example, BAPS members involved in the SupportSpike campaign had taken out ads thanking the production for bringing back Spike.[2] So when the SavingAngel campaign raised over $17,000 from fans worldwide, some funds were used to place ads in The Hollywood Reporter and the Daily Variety, that read, "Angel has been saving the world for years and now he needs your help." They also organized a mobile billboard campaign in LA, using the tagline Saving Angel: We Will Follow Angel To Hell...Or Another Network.[3]

The unaffiliated Save Angel campaign was begun by a German fan, and started on a Yahoo group, before quickly creating a dedicated website.[4] The group organized letter writing campaigns, and chocolates, flowers and beanie babies were sent to actors and production staff. Save Angel campaign also sponsored rallies and other events, including a Blood Drive and Food Donation Drive.[5]

At the 2004 Saturn Awards, Joss Whedon was presented with a cheque for $13,000 from the two most prominent Save Angel campaigns, to be presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross on behalf of Angel fans. The Save ANGEL the television series Petition received over 100,000 signatures by December 2004.[6]

Following the failure of these campaigns, many fans turned their efforts to campaigning for standalone Angel movie, which was initially a possibility following the announcement by the WB, and for a new series Faith the Vampire Slayer.

Pairings

Fanfiction

Tropes from early fanfiction for the series include Bring Back Doyle fix-it fic, alternate universes where Angel stays human in the popular episode "I Will Remember You" and is paired with Buffy, and stories about Angel's shanshu. Later writers often focused on the dysfunctional family of Angel, Cordy, & Connor, with the Angel/Cordelia pairing gaining ground over Buffy/Angel. In slash, the buddy pairing Wesley/Gunn was popular, as was Angel/Wesley. Season 5 led to the resurgence of an old BtVS pairing; Spangel. With Spike joining the Angel team in the final season, Spike/Angel became much more popular, but the pairings of Spike/Wesley and Spike/Fred also appeared. After the show ended, much fanfiction was set after the season five finale, "Not Fade Away", often featuring Spike/Illyria. Common themes include fix-its for various character deaths, a return to the Hyperion Hotel and restarting Angel Investigations, and action against the remnants of Wolfram and Hart (or resistance against them if they are depicted as having won).

Notable Authors

Many though not all Angel fanwriters also wrote for Buffy. A few prominent Buffyverse authors particularly associated with Angel include:

Archives

AtS only

Buffyverse

A few Buffyverse archives with Angel content that were still online as of 2012 include:

Fanzines

For fanzines with Buffy content, go here.

Vids

Angel has an active vidding community whose infrastructure includes:

For examples of vids, see the Angel vids category.

Mailing Lists

Fansites

Meta

Resources

References

  1. ^ SavingAngel Team Players archived link from 2004.
  2. ^ SupportSpike Campaign 4 archived link to Spike trade ads, 2003.
  3. ^ SavingAngel.org archived link to site, 2004.
  4. ^ SaveAngel Campaign HQ at Tripod, 18 Feb 2004.
  5. ^ SaveAngel.org news, archived link from August 2004.
  6. ^ he Save ANGEL the television series Petition to The WB Television Network had 102808 Total Signatures as of Dec 7 2004.
  7. ^ "The Gunnwesley Archives". 2008-07-23. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21.
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