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:: RAISING THE STAKES ::

At a recent UPN press party for the Buffy cast and crew, Executive Producer Marti Noxon took time out to talk exclusively to Buffy Magazine about recent dramatic changes on the show and what the future holds for the Scoobies...

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BUFFY MAGAZINE: HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE OF THE FEW WOMEN EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS IN TV DRAMA?

MARTI NOXON: Somebody recently asked me, 'Are you considered a show-runner now?' I think when you have the executive producer title, you're considered a show-runner. She asked me how many other women there are in the business doing that, and I know with one-hour, not very many. I don't know if that's because it's traditionally been kind of a more male-dominated field. I think there are some biases against women, and they're so ingrained that I think people aren't really aware that they have them, but, and I've said this before, there is no glass ceiling working for Joss Whedon, because he really believes in strong women.

It's not an act. It's not just for his characters. He's never, ever given me the feeling that there was anything I shouldn't or couldn't do on the show including directing. It was like, 'I know you can do this.' I was never a tech geek - I was always more of a drama person, and so I was afraid that, technically, I wouldn't have the ability. But he just wouldn't hear of it, and he was absolutely right to make me walk through that fear. So in the Mutant Enemy world, a woman can do anything a boy can do.

PRIOR TO BUFFY SEASON SIX AIRING ON UPN, DID YOU HAVE ANY DISCUSSIONS WITH THE NETWORK ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU WERE LOOKING TO INCREASE THE SEXUAL CONTENT OF THE SHOW?

It was never something that was discussed. It's not like we said, 'This year, it's going to be an all-dirty Buffy' But we did say, 'This year, Buffy's going to be involved in a relationship where sex is the common ground.' I do think Buffy and Spike have feelings for each other, but I think they're trying to hide from all that. Given that sex is the place where they connect, it just had to be a lot more edgy.

A lot of it is about the wrongness of it. 'What would these two people with this kind of connection be doing?' And the more we explored it, the dirtier everything got. In the past seasons, we've had some pretty sexy sex scenes. I think sex is more palatable when it's couched in romanticism, and we're not really doing that this year. So I think that draws out this feeling that it's a lot rawer and more shocking.

THE SHOW'S ALSO INCLUDED A LOT MORE VIOLENCE OF LATE. IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WAS PLANNED?

The connection between violence and sex is pretty powerful in Buffy and Spike's relationship. If Buffy wasn't a superhero, a woman who could really fight back and hold her own, it would be exploitive.

There are a lot of instances in which I would find this kind of relationship very objectionable if it involved other characters. But there's something violent and dark in Buffy's nature, and we've always played with that. And we all know there's something violent and dark in Spike's nature.

Spike keeps saying, 'We're alike,' and that's a little bit of wishful thinking on his part. But I do think that he's keyed into something true, which is that they're both larger than life and they're both super-powerful. If it were Willow, it would freak me out.

James [Marsters] is a really good guy and he's handling things really well. The interest in him has skyrocketed in the last year. It's been amazing to watch. He was always popular, but ever since the romantic stuff started happening with Buffy, it's increased twenty-fold.

IF SEASON FIVE HAD BEEN THE LAST SEASON OF THE SHOW. DO YOU THINK IT WOULD STILL HAVE ENDED WITH BUFFY'S DEATH?

Probably. Although, at one point, Joss' grand masterplan at the end of Season Five was that Sunnydale was going to get sucked into the earth completely and there was just going to be a big hole in the ground. I don't know if Buffy was going to ride it down into the Hellmouth, but it was a very definitive, 'That's it. There's no more. Stop watching.' And when he realized the show was going to continue, he was like, 'Marti, I guess I can't do that to you. You'd have no standing sets you'd have nothing!' So he was very kind - he let the town stay!

So Joss backed off that idea for a number of reasons. But I think if Season Five had been the last- and at one point, during negotiations, when everything was looking pretty hairy, we were like, 'Maybe that is the end,' it would've been pretty cool. Buffy being dead was a beautiful sacrifice, and it's definitely complete. But obviously we were very glad it didn't turn out that it was the end!

SO DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA YET HOW THE SERIES WILL EVENTUALLY END?

We don't know yet if Season Seven will be the end. There's lots of talk, but the truth is, I think if Sarah wanted to continue and UPN wanted to continue, the show would continue, because they're going to find someone who will want to run it. If it's not Joss or me, it will be someone else. We've talked a lot about the direction for next season, but after Season Five, which we thought would be the final season, we were like, "Never make assumptionsons." So we'll see.

Part of the dynamic of this season has been that Buffy hasn't taken the nerds all that seriously. Their plans have been of a fairly comic-booky nature. But that's part of the stuff that's gonna change. I think Joss' plan with Buffy's adversaries this season being human was to bring in a different flavour and not go to quite such an apocalyptic pitch, to try to keep it a little more personal and a little more relatable.

But, you know, Season Seven is probably going to have to be the world turned inside out, dogs and cats living together, crazy stuff...

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