 Rupert Giles became Buffy’s Watcher when she moved to Sunnydale (Welcome to the Hellmouth). This was a career he was told he was destined to have when he was ten so he rebelled as much as he could when he was in college. At Oxford, Giles (known then as ‘Ripper’) teamed up with Ethan Rayne and they worshipped demons together. Eventually, Giles saw the error of his ways and steadied down, started wearing tweed, and became a Watcher and librarian. He and Buffy were very different when they first met and he didn’t understand her, feeling that she wasn’t concentrating enough on being a Slayer. Gradually, the two found mutual respect and he became a father figure to Buffy, to the extent of helping her look after Dawn and aiding her financially after her mother died. He briefly owned a Magic Box when his library was destroyed. Once Buffy was a fully-fledged Slayer, Giles felt in the way and he moved to England. He was eventually forced to move back to Sunnydale to help Buffy save the potential Slayers against the First and it’s Bringers, who wanted to destroy the Slayer line. Played by: Anthony Stewart HeadAppeared in: Every episode until season six, then Bargaining (Part 1), Flooded, Life Serial, All the Way, Once More, With Feeling, Tabula Rasa, Two To Go, Grave, Lessons, Beneath You, Sleeper, Bring on the Night, Showtime, The Killer in Me, First Date, Lies My Parents Told Me, Dirty Girls, Empty Places, Touched, End of Days, Chosen |
| Related Trivia: | |
| Suggested by: | › Jess |
| Added: | › 7th September 2004 |
| Updated: | › 27th March, 2006 |
| Hits: | › 2653 |
August 8th, 2005 at 6:34 am
he is so cool it made me cry when he left all those times
August 21st, 2005 at 10:10 pm
Just one of the many reasons I din’t like season 6: Giles was barely there.
November 21st, 2005 at 9:52 pm
Yeah but wasn’t it just so cool when he came back right at the end of the 6th Season?
November 21st, 2005 at 9:56 pm
Wasn’t there supposed to be a Giles show? Joss mentioned it in an interview but I haven’t heard any more about it. Does anyone know anything about this?
November 22nd, 2005 at 4:13 am
I remember watching Two to Go and seeing Giles there…I was floored! He just stands there in the trench coat after Willow says she is going to kill Buffy and he just says, “I’d like to test that theory.” I was so happy, it was awesome!
Joss and ASH have talked about doing a show or most likely a TV movie that gives us a deeper look into Giles past as Ripper, but no word on when/if it is going to happen.
November 22nd, 2005 at 4:43 am
Giles is cool, I suppose, but it rankles me the way he always treats Spike like crap. He failed to see what Buffy saw in Season Seven, and, unfortunately, there is only the briefest of moments after Giles discovers that it was Spike who saved the world, that we, the viewers, never get to see his reaction to it. I would have liked to see him eat some crow and admit that he misjudged Spike, and that Giles, in fact, is deeply endebted to him.
(Abby: I can’t see how they could do much with Giles as Ripper, particularly if ASH were to portray Giles as a university student. Perhaps, ASH would act as a sort of narrator, and they would cast some one in his late teens/early twenties in the role of “Ripper”.)
November 22nd, 2005 at 4:45 am
Oh yeah…Jess, you continue to amaze and delight with your revamp of the site. It looks better each time I log on. Thanks much for your continued hard work and creative genius.
November 22nd, 2005 at 9:51 am
Thanks, I love this new look and was never happy with the last one. I’ll try and keep this for a while! I often change the look of the site because I look at it so much and get sick of it after a while. Still have a few things to sort out - episode pages, the sidebar on the right - oh and I forgot to draw in the Slayer’s axe in the top graphic! Duh.
Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything.
November 24th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
Right - I’ve fixed up most of the new look now. I’m adding nicer photos and quotes for the episode pages - season 1 is complete if you want to take a look. I really like it.
I’m also slowly going through your suggestions and adding them to the site - this can be a fairly slow process as I watch every goof to make sure it’s correct.
November 27th, 2005 at 12:00 am
slightlyembarrased - At TV Tome, it says the show Ripper would be about Giles in England after Buffy’s 7th season trying to rebuild the watcher’s council, but you would see a lot more of Giles’ darkside - hence the name. At this point though, if they did do any spin off centering around the character of Giles, it would probably end up being a TV movie or something.
November 27th, 2005 at 12:49 am
Thanks for the info, Abby. That makes a lot more sense than my take on it…I mean, ASH is a handsome man, by any measure, but even he would be hard-pressed to play “Giles Goes to University”….
November 27th, 2005 at 4:29 pm
True, true!
December 30th, 2005 at 5:39 pm
Lol, I agree, I don’t think even ASH could look quite young enough for that!
I do love Giles, he is such a caring, sensible guy and his sense of humour cracks me up. I loved it when he’s singing in the Espresso Pump, and the scoobies are really shocked to see how cool he actually is. He’s also great in Band Candy - him and Joyce get up to some wicked mischief!
I love seeing ASH in other more recent shows too - especially in Little Britain which is one of my favourite shows after BTVS. I would love to see a Ripper or Giles movie, that’d be fab. Although I think like a lot of other fans I’m just desperate for the Buffyverse not to end!!
December 30th, 2005 at 6:52 pm
no i have to agree, buffyverse must live on!!! no matter what from it takes on i think most fans would apreciate anything joss or anyone else would care to throw at us!!
December 30th, 2005 at 7:02 pm
Hannah, you’re spot on there. I’m glad I’m not the only one who just can’t get enough of it!!
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:27 am
How come poor Giles is the only one of the main characters (apart from Dawn of course) who doesn’t even get a cuddle in ‘Touched’? I felt quite bad for him.
Also… I’m dying to see a ‘reunion’ between Giles and Spike, they were so funny together, and Giles *really* needs to acknowledge he was wrong about Spike and apologise! Let’s hope the Spike movie finally comes off, and Giles is in it!
April 22nd, 2006 at 8:00 am
The Giles character made the entire series possible, even though (or perhaps especially because) his dialogue was primarily unimaginative exposition. Without the elder mentor, there would be no verisimiltude to the other characters.
So,was ‘Ripper’ ever made? I would absolutely cling to a series centering on Giles. I’ve heard the rumors for years, but I’ve never seen any show materialize.
April 22nd, 2006 at 8:31 am
I read that Joss abandoned it in favour of Firefly. So that worked out nicely…
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:30 pm
This would have been icky, considering that it would have been only those teen girls that he would have been choosing from.