The iconic actor, who starred alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar<\/a> (Buffy), Alyson Hannigan (Willow), and Anthony Head (Giles) in the beloved fantasy series, exclusively spoke to RadioTimes.com<\/a> to celebrate the milestone \u2013 and answer some burning fan questions.<\/p>\n Submitted by Joel (@The_Talisman772<\/a>)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Marsters<\/strong>: \u201cThe one from Buffy that\u2019s my favourite is not the one I was in. It\u2019s The Body. That proved that the show, dramatically speaking, was strong enough that you didn\u2019t need vampires, you didn\u2019t need special effects, you didn\u2019t need magic, you didn\u2019t need any of that. It didn\u2019t need a soundtrack, you could just watch a young woman lose her mom. I just thought that was brilliant.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved Fool For Love. I got to do a lot of fights in that, I love doing stunts \u2013 I probably did too many of them because I have back problems now! But I got to fight Ming Qiu who played the Chinese Slayer in the Boxer Rebellion\u2026 she is probably the deadliest person I\u2019ve ever met in my life. She is not a large person, she\u2019s very diminutive, but she is largely regarded in Hollywood as, \u2018Don\u2019t mess with that woman.\u2019 She\u2019s nice but she\u2019s like a superhuman, frankly, and I got to do stunts with her so that\u2019s something I\u2019ll take to my grave.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then the musical, primarily because, as I said before, the theme of Buffy is \u2018Don\u2019t give up,\u2019 and the thing about the musical is we were all terrified. We were all sure the show was being flushed down the toilet, that we were jumping the shark, so to speak. No one was doing musicals at that time. Most of the cast had a really good point when they said they were hired to be a one-camera actor, a dramatic, comedic actor and did not get hired to do musical theatre. They\u2019re not singers, and now they\u2019re being asked to do something they\u2019re not good at in front of a wide audience. It\u2019s gonna ruin their career. That\u2019s a really good point actually! I think Sarah asked to juggle chainsaws rather than do the songs. She said, \u2018That would be safer for my career, to cut a hand off.\u2019 That\u2019s potentially true!<\/p>\n \u201cTony Head and I were comfortable singing. I was in a band and Tony was already doing his own albums, he\u2019d done really, really successful musical theatre in England\u2026 I just didn\u2019t think the songs were any good! I thought the songs were cheesy. I was wrong but I can forgive myself because Joss [Whedon] gave us a cassette of him singing the songs and Joss is not a great singer. He\u2019s a great writer but he\u2019s not amazing at singing. He can play the piano but he\u2019s not amazing at that. It just sounded cheesy, just some dude plunking out chords on the piano, singing the songs. Like, what is this? But we were all wrong.<\/p> \u201cThe reason it\u2019s my favourite episode \u2013 whereas there were a couple of weeks leading up to filming where we were all bitching and complaining and trying to get out of it and and there\u2019s no hope and all is lost \u2013 there was a point at which everyone stopped fighting it and even though we were sure we were about to go down in flames, we decided to go down swinging and we decided to try our best anyway. I was so proud of us. And we got to work. So I think that for one episode, we spoiled Hollywood actors actually lived up to the theme of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Submitted by AJ (@ZZBoomslang<\/a>)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Marsters:<\/strong> \u201cNo! And so I don\u2019t know. Oh man. That\u2019s a very specific question \u2013 there\u2019s a thing that happens when you ask actors about specific things that they may not readily remember, we can often seem like we don\u2019t care because we don\u2019t remember these things. The truth is that, when you\u2019re working 12, 15, 20 hours a day and you\u2019re sleeping for four hours a day for nine months at a time, you get tired on a level that your short term memory evaporates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went 20 hours quite often. Most shows just go 12. That\u2019s enough to burn you out but Buffy never went 12. 14 and 16 was the norm, 18 was quite often and 20 was not unheard of. We would play a game, we would be at lunch and we\u2019d say, \u2018Quick, what did we film this morning?\u2019 And there would be nothing. \u2018I don\u2019t remember that at all, I\u2019m just trying to get my lines down. Stop bothering me!\u2019 So there are some details that I don\u2019t recall.\u201d<\/p>\n RadioTimes.com:<\/strong> \u201cI can imagine it was a bit hard at times doing those hours.\u201d<\/p>\n Marsters<\/strong>: \u201cYeah, like every good mountain climb, it\u2019s a steep climb. You\u2019re sweating. You\u2019ve got to work at it. It\u2019s okay, it wasn\u2019t a bad thing, we weren\u2019t trying to get off the show! We were happy to be there. But it wasn\u2019t easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Submitted by Sarah (@spopcornchat<\/a>)<\/p>\n Marsters<\/strong>: \u201cThat\u2019s just not where I live. I did write what was going to be a TV movie. But it wasn\u2019t about the scooby gang, it was about Spike. The scooby gang weren\u2019t in it, actually. My question was, \u2018How do you do a redemption arc for Spike without retreading Angel?\u2019 Because they already did it. I remember asking a producer, \u2018What about a Spike TV show?\u2019 and they said, \u2018Wow, a vampire spin-off of Buffy, what would we call that? How about Angel?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so I thought if Angel is a mythic character, kind of like Superman, he\u2019s always in a mansion in front of a big roaring fire, sipping port wine, thinking about his soul. Well, what if Spike gets a soul? This will be just right after Buffy. And what if now, he can\u2019t kill people for lunch, he can\u2019t steal stuff to to get a new pair of shoes, maybe he\u2019s starving to death. And he\u2019s homeless because he can\u2019t figure out how to survive in the world with a conscience. And so I tried to just go opposite of Angel, and so I wrote a story where he tries to be a hero. There\u2019s a monster, it looks like an old woman but then when he attacks it unfurls into a 30 foot monster and just kicks his ass.<\/p>\n \u201cHe tries to be a lover, he falls in love. But he doesn\u2019t have the courage to tell her that he\u2019s a vampire. So when the fight happens with the monster, she\u2019s there, and he vamps out and she sees what he really is and just dumps him flat. But he does figure out a way, he figures out a way to get a new pair of shoes without hurting anybody, without stealing them. And that\u2019s one small step toward figuring out how to exist in the world with a conscience. And I thought that would be fun, and it turned into a comic book because it didn\u2019t get made into a TV show.\u201d<\/p>\n Submitted by Holly (@HolzC<\/a>).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Marsters<\/strong>: \u201cWell, I was a little egotistical after season 2. It had really gone well and we didn\u2019t have as much interaction with fans, the internet was not as interactive and we weren\u2019t as plugged in with the fanbase, but we knew enough to know that Spike was very popular.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter season 2, I kind of went, \u2018Try to do the show without me, baby.\u2019 And then I\u2019m waiting for the phone and it doesn\u2019t ring all summer long \u2013 nothing, nothing, nothing. And I watched season 3 and I meet Faith (Eliza Dushku) and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh no! They don\u2019t need Spike at all! They can create interesting, complicated, darker characters spinning out their fingertips. They\u2019re just really good writers, they\u2019re never gonna call me.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they didn\u2019t, and then they had me in one episode, kind of like, \u2018He was a popular character in the past so we\u2019ll give him one episode just to get the fans off our backs!\u2019 I had that one episode and then that was it, there were no more plans for the character but then Angel spun off into its own TV show and took with it Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Cordelia was the character in Buffy to say, \u2018Buffy you\u2019re stupid, we\u2019re all gonna die.\u2019 And they needed a character to do that and they thought maybe Spike would work.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the reason I became a regular cast member. It wasn\u2019t wholly that the fans demanded it. Buffy, one of the reasons it\u2019s a good show, is it doesn\u2019t give the fans what they want, it gives the fans what the writers think they need, which sometimes is painful experiences. And I think that\u2019s why it\u2019s such a good rollercoaster ride.\u201d<\/p>\n All seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are available to stream now on\u00a0Disney Plus<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0Sign up to Disney Plus for \u00a37.99 a month or \u00a379.90 for a year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Fantasy<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n Join us on Thursday, 25th May for\u00a0Radio Times Talks \u2013 Marvel vs. DC: who\u2019s the king of superhero cinema?<\/a>, an epic evening of fan debate featuring a panel of exciting guest speakers \u2013\u00a0get your free ticket now<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n The Spike actor breaks down his favourite episodes as he celebrates 20 years since the finale with RadioTimes.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":33022,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes.jpg",1008,672,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes.jpg",800,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes.jpg",1008,672,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/05\/buffy-star-james-marsters-answers-fan-questions-reveals-favourite-episodes.jpg",1008,672,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Spike actor breaks down his favourite episodes as he celebrates 20 years since the finale with RadioTimes.com.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/33021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Out of all the Buffy\/Angel episodes you were in, do you have a favourite?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""James\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/05\/Spike-3-b96e8a3.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"James\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What did Buffy\u2019s letter to Spike say in Touched? Was there anything written on that piece of paper?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""Sarah\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/05\/GettyImages-1457875624-c37a231.jpg?quality=90&resize=604%2C413"\" "\\"\"Sarah\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>If you could write an episode of Buffy, what would you have the scooby gang do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/05\/BVSS1Gallery22-35e233b.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"BVS_S1_Gallery22\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Did you ever imagine the character arc Spike would go through from your first episode on Buffy to your finale one?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\""James\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/05\/Screenshot-2023-05-18-at-16.29.58-Cropped-9a9343e.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"James\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"