by Tara DiLullo Bennett

Last week in Hollywood, a little bit of television history was made at the 25th Annual Paley Television Festival. Almost five years after the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, creator Joss Whedon, executive producers David Greenwalt, Marti Noxon and almost all of the show?s cast reunited on the stage of the historic ArcLight Cinerama Dome to reminisce about the series that still enjoys one of the most rabidly dedicated fanbases of any TV show to this day. FEARnet was lucky enough to witness the event firsthand, and captured exclusive video interviews with the Buffy cast. Here we share the cast?s comments from the event?s Q&A?

?Once More with Feeling"

Moderator Matt Roush from TV Guide opened up the evening by asking about the musical and the panel?s thoughts about the instant classic episode. Whedon said it was ?fun and wasn?t the hardest, or harder than ?Hush.? Plus, everyday there was music.? James Marsters (Spike) immediately piped in that ?you all are remembering this differently. This was total terror from the cast! You were a fanatic, man. You would not let anyone off the hook, and none of us signed up to be singers in front of millions of people. Tony Head (Rupert Giles) and I were already recording so we were kind of comfortable with it, but like a lot of the actors, we weren?t professional singers. The thing I really loved about it was how everyone screwed their courage to the sticking place, and did it and came through for you because we knew we had a great script. We ended up flying with it and having a great time. What was so impressive to me was the courage of the cast to do something that they weren?t experts at, especially Sarah.? Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers) laughed, ?I kept begging for Buffy: The Rap!?

Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers) shared that, ?I gave myself psychosomatic tonsillitis when I heard I had to sing. I was so petrified. But somehow, with lots of tea and lemon, I was able. And I think I am the only one not on the DVD of the [musical], because my face was so puffy from crying.?

A fan online asked if Joss would ever take the musical to Broadway, and Whedon said, ?I would love to take Buffy to Broadway but it would not be this; this is an episode of television and you would have to start from scratch. But I have spent some time daydreaming about it, because I?m me.?

?The Body?

?The Body? was another seminal episode from the series which occurred in the fifth season. It signified the first normal death of a main character on the show with the passing of Buffy?s mom Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), from a brain aneurism. The episode featured a minimal use of music, and was sound-designed to amplify the everyday noises of life, which helped audiences focus in on the raw shock of the death and the process of grieving almost like they were party to the tragedy. Trachtenberg said, ?I was honored to be part of such an amazing episode?When I read the episode, it was like I was losing a part of myself, to be honest. Joss has an amazing way of really making you feel everything, from the stage directions; you know exactly where you are in the moment. The interesting thing is that we shot dialogue for when Sarah comes to tell me that our mom has passed away. It was a whole back-and-forth conversation of the breakdown, but, obviously, you all know that in the end result there was no sound. I thought it was one of the most brilliant ideas he ever had, because it allows everyone to attach their own emotional plug to whatever might have happened in your lives. It allowed audiences to really connect with Dawn for the first time.?

Gellar continued, ?I had a little more knowledge than Michelle about what was coming, and in your head it helps you prepare to say goodbye to Kristine. But you have to understand that both Michelle and I come from families of single, strong mothers and our mothers are everything. You try to separate as best as you can, but it adds that extra layer, particularly for me. Joss came to me early on about an idea he had for the first act. He was going to play it in four acts, all in real time and he said, ?For your act, how about in the act where you find your mother, it?s just one shot?? I said, ?You mean, like no re-takes?? He said, ?Yeah, what if we go through with a handheld situation and we just find her?? I think we had a half day to prepare for it and it was like a three-minute Steadicam shot. Everybody had to come together from Kristine laying still to the soundman?it felt like a live stage play. I think the thing for me was that it was so amazing to be apart of something that was constantly breaking the rules and challenging both our audience and ourselves.?

Actress Emma Caulfield also got to shine in the episode with her emotionally raw speech about Anya?s confusion about the concept of death. Asked about her scene, Caulfield said, ?I?m frequently asked about my favorite episode and the obvious answer is the musical?but ?The Body? really resonates with me, and I know it resonates for a lot of people. I had a real Anya moment, and I?m not proud of it, but a fan came up to me and said how much she loved ?The Body?. She wanted to know what I was thinking for that monologue and I said, ?To be honest, I really had to go to the bathroom. I was really hungry and I had to go to the bathroom and Joss was like Napoleon with the tears. It was going down one eye, but he wanted it down the other, and we were hungry and I had to pee [mock sobs]. ?Why?????? The audience laughed and then Caulfield said the fan looked horrified and said ?Oh, that?s nice. Okay. Well, thank you.? I immediately thought ?Dammit!? I was Anya and I spoke without thinking! But I was very lucky to have that monologue and be apart of the show.?

Buffy Season 8 Comic Series

With the mythology of the show still moving forward in the comic series, Roush asked if Joss were to come back to a live-action Buffy project, would that tie into what he is writing now. Whedon answered, ?Hypothetically, if you could make then align that would be fun. I wrote the comic Fray, which took place 200 years in the future, thinking ?There is no way this can ever affect the show, so it will be safe,? and then we ended up using a little bit of that mythology of the Scythe, that was from the comic book originally. It would be lovely to make it all tie in, but if I had to shoot down everything I?m doing on the comics because were doing a project with [the cast], I wouldn?t lose a lot of sleep.?

And as for Buffy?s recent tryst in issue 12 with fellow ?Slayerette? Satsu, Whedon explained with a laugh, ?It?s not meant to be a giant life change; it?s not Willow. It?s someone that is young with somebody they like a lot with a lot of time on their hands. Didn?t anyone go to college??

"Where Do We Go From Here?"

Asked what projects they are all doing now, every member offered their latest pursuits, starting with Whedon. ?I literally drove here from wrapping the shooting of an independent short called 'Dr. Horrible?s Sing-A-Long Blog',? he explained to huge applause. ?It?s my next musical starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. It?s going to come out somewhere, possibly the computer. It?s awesome.?

Sarah Michelle Gellar said, ?I just got back from Africa working for the charity CARE. I?m also getting ready to start the adaptation of Veronika Decides to Die.? The boisterous Nicholas Brendon was subdued when answering, ?I am writing and acting and finding peace,? but specifically he?s got a recurring character on Criminal Minds and the horror film, Blood on the Highway.

Fan favorite James Marsters said, ?I just got off of shooting Dragonball, and I?m playing Piccolo and getting my ass kicked. I also did Torchwood and Smallville. And I also just released an album.? Emma Caulfield shared that ?I recently got back from Africa too, and plan on going back next year for a different organization. I also have two movies coming out this year. And I?m married.? Her films are TiMER and Why Am I Doing This?

A fixture in film since Buffy ended, Michelle Trachtenberg said, ?I just wrapped 17 Again with Zac Ephron and Matthew Perry. I also have Kids in America where I play a crazy Goth chick. I also am about to start an arc on Gossip Girl.?

Former showrunner Marti Noxon said,?I have what I like to call a key role in 'Dr. Horrible', and I?m working on Private Practice and getting ready to direct a movie!? Seth Green, still busy with his show Robot Chicken, joked that he and Charisma Carpenter have a joint exercise video coming out. They don?t, but Charisma recently appeared on the shows Big Shots and Back to You. Amber Benson shared that ?I just sold a series of chick-lit fantasy novels to Penguin so I am writing books.? And David Greenwalt admitted that, after he left Moonlight, he also retired from the business and is only waiting for a call from Joss. Perhaps for Whedon's new series Dollhouse? We can only hope!