Nicholas Brendon at the Sacramento Sci-fi/Horror Convention

Nicholas Brendon rolled into Sacramento during the Sacramento Sci-Fi/Horror show, and did a little panel where he fielded fan questions. Here are some of the highlights:

He kicked off the panel with “I’m Nicholas Brendon, and you’re not.”

His favorite episodes include “The Zeppo” (Xander did a lot of growing) and “The Pack” (which was the first episode where he had a bigger part.) He also loved the episode “Buffy Vs. Dracula” where Xander was changed into Renfield. He said that really all the episodes were good, except “Beer Bad,” pretty much everything that Joss Whedon touched was good. He brought up how scary  the Gentlemen were from “Hush,” which were the only monster he thought were scary even though he had seen the whole make-up process, especially when they were up and floating, and I have to wholeheartedly agree.

Nicky kept a few souvenirs from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He joked  Alyson Hannigan was still locked up in his bathroom, that the one on How I Met Your Mother  is an android. But in all seriously he took his eye patch, which he had signed by the cast and gave to his assistant to be auctioned off for charity. He took the Barney’s leather coat from the episode “The Wish” where he was a vampire, but later lost it and was really sad by it, until he remembered that his stunt double also had one, which is now the one he still has. And he also has his slipper from ”Once More With Feeling” because they were so comfortable.

And about those comics? Nicky said that he has no input, but he seemed a little surprised to hear that in season eight, not only where there 40 issues, but that Xander and Dracula had a sort of friendship and that he’d spent some time with the vampire. And about Xander and Dawn being together… He still sees her as the teen girl she was the first day on set, though he’s recently seen some pictures of Michelle Trachtenberg that are “very grown up.”

He touched on the popularity of Buffy, saying that it wasn’t understood at the time. Fox was offered it originally, and they didn’t want it, and gave it to the WB. Not even the actors knew what it would turn into, they “were all really, really happy to be there.” At the time the actors were all new, Joss was Hollywood’s script doctor, so they all went through a lot of growing pains. In fact, he says during filming he never really had a lot of fan interaction, that now that the show is over more fans approach him.

Nicky revealed a few tidbits. Xander was almost killed off in the final episode, until Marti Noxon talked Joss out of it. Alyson Hannigan wasn’t the first choice for Willow. Melanie Lynskey was Joss’s choice, but the studio wanted Alyson, and Joss later admitted that the studio was right.

The panel was completely about Buffy. Nicky will be back on Criminal Minds, he was suppose to be in the premiere, but plans changed. And really, since Buffy fans tune in hoping to see him, “they’re getting the benefits of me being on the show without having to pay me to be on the show.” But he will be back. He also gets recognition for the role of rapist Kevin from Private Practice. He said the key to playing Kevin was smirking, and looking people too intently in the eyes, which is exactly Julia Roberts method of acting, which kind of freaked him out when he realized that, that and her big feet. He prefers playing the friend/nerdy guy rather than the cool guy.

His favorite person to act with was James Marsters, saying that they had an odd couple chemistry, that they could have a spin off of Spike and Xander, which would have been a half hour comedy. He was a lot of fun, even though the two had very different acting methods. Nicky still sees many of the other Buffy alum, mostly because of conventions, including James Marsters, Mercedes McNabb, Claire Kramer, Julie Benz, Charisma Carpenter and Anthony Stewart Head. Tony, in fact lives about a block from Nicky, though he sees little of him.

One fan asked why Xander didn’t marry Anna in “Hell’s Bells.” Nicky said that Joss wanted to keep the Core Three (Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles didn’t count) from happiness. “The Zeppo” was the episode in which Xander really grew up, in fact Nicky cried when he read that episode’s script. And losing his eye change a lot of things too, “like his depth perception.” And, he and Sarah Michelle at one point were pushing for Xander and Buffy to end up together, but Joss wouldn’t hear it, said that it wouldn’t be true to the spirit of the show. Joss wasn’t doing a soap opera, that he gave the coupling a lot of thought, but it went in the direction it needed to, and was very poetic.

Of course the Buffy the Vampire Slayer remake was brought up. Nicky said he’d be willing to don Xander’s clothes again, but any Buffy movie wihtout Joss on board was a bad idea. Buffy is Joss's baby. He did the movie, and wasn't happy with it because the actors changed the dialogue, and it didn't work for him, so he did the TV show. He said that you can't have the Buffy brand, and not have Joss. There is a certain expectation that the name Buffy invokes and the remake won't have that. You can have a vampire slayer movie about a girl named Muffy, or anything else and that would be fine. But Buffy is and always will be Joss.

Other points of interests touched on: The Ringer and twins. Nicky hasn’t seen it, and he’s not an expert on twins, even if he is one. Psycho Beach Party. He had nothing but great things to say about Charles Busch, who wrote the film, but he wouldn’t want to do another one. Childhood: he wasn’t a Star Wars fan, he did like Three’s Company and ChiPs. In his spare time he surfs, writes (working on a zombie musical), and spends time with his German Shepherd Steve.

He doesn’t watch and hasn’t seen True Blood, said that he didn’t like the concept, in fact kind of shunned all vampire related things after the show because he was so protective of his vampires. Thinks that Twilight is a joke, he saw the first one. Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, all of that stuff should be thankful to Joss Whedon because he opened up the genre.

And the whole Xander audition... Nicky almost didn’t get it, in fact, though at the time he didn’t know it, he was the second choice. During auditions, he went in and chatted with everyone, but when he read the scene as he was told to, it lack “Xanderness,” so he was told to come back in and read it again as the guy he was when he first walked in, and he knocked it out of the park. He did so well that he then became first choice, but they gave the original first a chance to try again. That actor ended up with the lead in Children of the Corn III (Daniel Cerney), and Nicky took home Xander and a small role in the Corn movie.

And Nicky closed the panel with his Snoopy dance.