Buffy Timeline: Season 1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Timeline
The dates listed below are more or less the dates of the events in Sunnydale, NOT in what most of us think of as “the real world.”
Color key Audience first sees a character, Buffy (et al.) first meet a character, Character death, Character leaves show, Romance, Breakup, ! = important event
Season 1
Episode 1 (1st and 2ndin the series)
Welcome to the Hellmouth / The Harvest
(We find out all about Slayers & vampires & well, start the show.)
(Buffy and co. stop a vampire feeding frenzy at the Bronze)
January 1997
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Buffy has her first prophetic dream.
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We are introduced to Buffy¹s mom, Joyce Summers
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Buffy Summers enrolls in Sunnydale High School
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Buffy meets Principal Bob Flutie
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Buffy meets Xander Harris
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Buffy meets Cordelia Chase
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Buffy meets Willow Rosenberg
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Buffy meets Jesse
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Buffy meets Rupert Giles, Librarian/Watcher
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Giles confronts Buffy about taking up her destiny as the Slayer.
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Xander discovers that Buffy is the Slayer (eavesdropping in the library) - !
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Buffy meets a very cryptic man (Angel) who warns her about “The Harvest”
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We are introduced to Darla
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We are introduced to Luke
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We are introduced to The Master
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Willow discovers that Buffy is the Slayer (attacked by vamps, saved by Buffy) - !
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Angel introduces himself to Buffy
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We meet Cordelia¹s friend Harmony Kendall
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Jesse is turned into a vampire and dies (staked by Xander)
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Buffy and Co. stop “The Harvest” by killing the vessel Luke (staked by Buffy) - !
Episode 3 (3rd in the series)
(Cheerleading tryouts and fallout)
January 1997 (about a week after “The Harvest”)
- Cheerleading tryouts - Buffy makes alternate
- Buffy meets Amy Madison
- Giles (supposedly) casts his first spell
- Willow first uses the term “Slayerettes”
- Buffy meets Amy’s mother Catherine Madison
- Catherine is imprisoned in a cheerleading trophy
Episode 4 (4th in the series)
(The homicidal insect substitute teacher)
Mid-February, 1997
- We meet substitute science teacher Natalie French (imposter) - a male-virgin devouring praying mantis
- We discover that Xander is still a virgin
- Buffy kills praying mantis lady
Episode 5 (5th in the series)
Never Kill a Boy on the First Date
(Buffy tries to date and ends up in the morgue)
Late February, 1997
- Order of Aurelius explained by Giles
- Prophecy is revealed about the rising of the Anointed One
- Buffy tries to date (and then dumps) Owen Thurman
- Buffy kills a vampire who she believes is The Anointed One (she’s wrong)
- We are introduced to The Anointed One (a little boy)
Episode 6 (6th in the series)
(Xander and the hyena spirit)
March 1997
- Xander is temporarily possessed by a hyena spirit
- Principal Flutie dies (eaten by the pack)
Episode 7 (7th in the series)
(We find out the truth about Angel)
Late March / Early April 1997
- Buffy and Angel share their first kiss
- Buffy discovers that Angel is a vampire cursed with a soul - !
- Giles digs up Angel’s (Angelus) history
- Joyce is bitten by Darla (she fell on a BBQ fork)
- Angel kills Darla
Episode 8 (8th in the series)
(Willow dates a demon via the internet)
April 1997
- We are introduced to Moloch, the Corruptor an ancient demon trapped in a book (until it is scanned into a computer system)
- Willow briefly cyber-dates a guy named Malcolm (who is really Moloch)
- We are introduced to Jenny Calendar, computer science teacher/techno-pagan
- Moloch/Malcolm trapped in robot and killed by Buffy
Episode 9 (9th in the series)
(Talent Show at Sunnydale High School)
April 1997
- Buffy meets Principal Snyder
- Buffy meets Sid a demon hunter trapped in a ventriloquist dummy
- Buffy realizes that fellow student Marc is actually a demon
- Sid kills Marc
- Sid dies (killing Marc breaks his curse)
Episode 10 (10th in the series)
(A boy in a coma makes everyone’s nightmares reality)
April 1997
- Buffy encounters The Master in her nightmares
Episode 11 (11th in the series)
(The invisible girl episode)
Early May 1997
- Cordelia is dating Mitch
- We are introduced to Marcie Ross, an invisible student
- Cordelia begs for Buffy’s help.
- Angel brings Giles “The Pergamum Codex” book that contains prophecies regarding the Slayer
- The FBI takes Marcie away for “rehabilitation” (assassin training)
Episode 12 (12th in the series)
(Buffy defeats The Master on Prom night)
May 1997
- Giles translates the prophecy that says “The Master shall rise and the Slayer shall die” pointing to Buffy’s death
- Xander asks Buffy to the Prom she turns him down.
- Giles tells Jenny Calendar that Buffy is the vampire slayer
- Buffy dies (drowned by The Master) - !
- The Master is set free. (catalyst drinking Buffy’s blood) - !
- Xander revives Buffy using CPR - !
- The Hellmouth (which is directly under the library) starts to open - !
- Buffy kills The Master (impaled on a beam of wood in the library)
- The Hellmouth closes; everyone parties. - !
I¹ve left out characters that made minor, one time only appearances. If you think I¹ve missed something that is important to the canon of the show, drop me a line and let me know.
- fiatlux