Sunnydale
In 1999, the research center of 'the Initiative' is located underground, beneath the University of California campus in Sunnydale. It is commanded by Maggie Walsh, also a psychology professor at the school. Under her direction, military commandos captured vampires, demons and other supernatural creatures to be studied by scientists for the covert U.S. government operation. The Initiative experiments on the creatures, a primary goal of this being to negate the threat that "hostile sub-terrestrials", demonic entities, pose to human beings. However, a more sinister and ultra-classified goal is to hybridize demons and humans to create super-soldiers. The Initiative's captives have (at various points) included the werewolf Oz and the vampire Spike, the latter of whom was implanted with a chip that caused him to experience extreme pain whenever he attacked (or intended to attack) a human being.
Buffy's boyfriend Riley Finn is initially a member of the Initiative, as are other soldiers posing as UC Sunnydale students, including Forrest and Graham. Riley is unaware that Professor Walsh has also been experimenting on him and the other soldiers, enhancing their performance through methods that threaten their lives. In "New Moon Rising", Riley discovered the extent of the Initiative's corruption and chose to leave it.
Professor Walsh's secret project eventually results in the creation of Adam, a humanoid creature consisting of machinery, human and demon parts. The project goes horribly awry when Adam kills members of the Initiative (who are later re-animated as zombies) and escapes. Adam possesses a strong capacity for strategy, as well as physical strength that is far superior to Buffy's, and only through a spell cast by Willow, Xander and Giles was she able to defeat him. His plan was to create a master race of demon/human hybrids.
After Adam, his zombified Initiative members and plans for an army of cyber-demonoids are destroyed, the Initiative's operations are deemed a failure by a panel of government overseers and are officially closed down.
Other appearances by the US government
In Buffy, the Government first appears in the season one episode Out of Mind, Out of Sight , where FBI agents arrive and capture the mystically invisible Marcie Ross while Buffy is fighting her. Marcie and other invisible people are then trained to be assassins and spies. The Government's modus operandi here is the same here as it was in the Initiative: seeking to control and exploit supernatural beings, rather than eliminate or rehabilitate them.
Following the Initiative's closure, the Army maintains operations in hunting demons, incorporating many of the trained Initiative soldiers, including Riley Finn. They hunt down demon nests in the United States, as well as foreign countries. The goals of the Army now align closely with those of the Slayer: protecting people from demons and preventing demon threats from spreading. The Government is not seen to engage in any future Initiative-like attempts to control or exploit demons.
The "Twilight Group" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is often compared to the Initiative by the Scooby Gang.
The Scooby Gang, or the "Scoobies", are a group of characters in the cult television series and comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer who battle the supernatural forces of evil. The team consists of Buffy Summers and her friends and colleagues who assist her in her duties as the Slayer. First forming in the Season One episode "The Harvest" to prevent The Master from opening a portal to hell, the line-up of the group varied from year to year, but the core that remained intact throughout the series' run was Buffy herself and her best friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, as well as her Watcher, Rupert Giles. This group was also called the "slayerettes".
Buffy Anne Summers is the title character of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name. The character has also appeared in the spin-off series Angel, as well as numerous non-canon expanded universe material, such as novels, comics, and video games. Buffy was portrayed by Kristy Swanson in the film, and later by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the television series. Giselle Loren has lent her voice to the character in both the Buffy video games and an unproduced animated series, while Kelly Albanese lent her voice to the character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comics.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series based on the 1992 film of the same name. It was created by Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions, with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David Greenwalt, Doug Petrie, Marti Noxon, and David Solomon.
Spike, played by James Marsters, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Spike is a vampire and played various roles on the shows, including villain, anti-hero, trickster and romantic interest. For Marsters, the role as Spike began a career in science fiction television, becoming "the obvious go-to guy for US cult [television]." For creator Whedon, Spike is the "most fully developed" of his characters. The character was intended to be a brief villain, with Whedon originally adamant to not have another major "romantic vampire" character like Angel. Marsters says "Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead." However, the character ended up staying for the second season, and then returning in the fourth to replace Cordelia as "the character who told Buffy she was stupid and about to die."
Sunnydale is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror films.
Riley Finn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Portrayed by Marc Blucas, Riley was introduced in the 1999 season four premiere episode, "The Freshman", and Blucas was part of the series credited cast for the second part of season four and the first part of season five. Most notably, Riley is one of three long-term romantic interests for series' heroine Buffy Summers.
Professor Maggie Walsh is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Lindsay Crouse.
The Buffyverse or Slayerverse is a media franchise created by Joss Whedon. The term also refers to the shared fictional universe in which the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are set. This term, originally coined by fans of the TV series, has since been used in the titles of published works, and adopted by Joss Whedon, the creator of the fictional universe. The Buffyverse is a place in which supernatural phenomena exist, and supernatural evil can be challenged by people willing to fight against such forces. Plenty of the licensed Buffyverse merchandise and media, while being official, isn't considered to be canon within the universe.
Adam is a fictional character in the fourth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Portrayed by George Hertzberg, he is a monster created from a man and the collected parts of demons, vampires, and technology: the product of a perverse experiment carried out by military scientists. The series' main character, Buffy Summers, encounters and ultimately defeats him in the fourth season. Adam is the creation of Dr. Maggie Walsh, the head of a military-like organization called The Initiative that studies how to alter the harmful behavior inherent to demons. Adam and the Initiative are the fourth season's primary antagonists, or Big Bad.
"The Initiative" is the seventh episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Written by Doug Petrie and directed by James A. Contner, it originally aired on November 16, 1999 on the WB network. In "The Initiative", Spike is imprisoned in an underground demon-research facility, and Riley realizes he has a crush on Buffy.
"The Killer in Me" is the 13th episode of the seventh and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"The I in Team" is the 13th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Goodbye Iowa" is the 14th episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Into the Woods" is the tenth episode of season 5 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike leads Buffy to see that Riley goes to a vampiric brothel, where humans pay vampires to suck their blood. When she confronts Riley about it, he decides to take the military up on an offer to join a demon-hunting unit, and leaves Buffy and Sunnydale.
"Primeval" is the 21st episode of season 4 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Why We Fight" is episode 13 of season 5 in the television show Angel. Sam Lawson, a mysterious man from Angel's past, arrives at Wolfram & Hart and takes Wesley, Fred and Gunn hostage. In a flashback to 1943, it is revealed that Angel was forcibly recruited by the Demon Research Initiative to recover a captured German U-boat with American sailors on board. The ship also has a secret cargo of three vampires: Spike, the Prince of Lies, and Nostroyev, who were kidnapped by a Nazi team. The submarine is damaged, and Lawson, the only surviving engineer, is mortally wounded. In order to save the rest of the crew, Angel makes Lawson a vampire and forces both Lawson and Spike out of the submarine to swim to shore. Sixty years later, Lawson seeks out Angel for revenge.
In the fictional universe established by the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, the Buffyverse, a Hellmouth is an area fraught with massive supernatural activity.
The fourth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on October 5, 1999, on The WB and concluded its 22-episode season on May 23, 2000. It maintained its previous timeslot, airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET. Beginning with this season, the character of Angel was given his own series, which aired on The WB following Buffy. Various Buffy characters made appearances in Angel, including Buffy herself; Cordelia Chase, formerly a regular in Buffy, and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who appeared in Buffy season three.
