[Susan Foreman]

All you Buffy fans

Have you ever seen the original, unaired pilot episode?

It's fascinating

It was produced by 20th Century Fox in 1996 and used as a pitch to the television networks. The twenty-five-and-a-half-minute production was written and directed by Joss Whedon

When the series was picked up, some changes were made between the original pilot and the official first episode:

Joss Whedon financed the original pilot himself, formatting it as a half-hour episode. It is, for the most part, a shortened version of "Welcome to the Hellmouth," but with different casting. The role of the Sunnydale library was played by Torrance High School's library — a much larger and airier room than the cramped Hellmouth library we've come to know and love, with a handy second floor for showing off those Buffy backflips. Instead of Ken "Hyena Chow" Lerner as Principal Flutie, we get a much more straightlaced interpretation from Stephen Tobolowsky. But perhaps the biggest difference is in the role of Willow. Instead of Alyson Hannigan, the geeky witch was originally played by Riff Regan.

How might the series have been different? Flutie probably would have still ended up in the stomachs of his students, but the Scooby Gang might have never been the same. Regan's Willow was a sweet doormat, but she didn't have quite the neurotic, eager-to-please quality Hannigan brought to the role. She is also a bit plumper and not as good looking which suggests that to make it in Hollywood, you have to be pretty!

Anyway, here is the pilot episode