Summary

• Each season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has its best 60-second moment.
• Most of the show's best minute-long scenes per season occur during the finale and involve the show's big bads.
• One example is season 2's best minute, which occurs when Buffy uses a rocket launcher to blow the Judge into pieces, disproving his belief that no weapon can kill him. In another example, season 5's finale ends with Xander knocking Glory with a wrecking ball.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is teeming with memorable scenes, ranging from the sad and poignant to the exhilarating and hilarious, but each of its seven seasons has one particular 60-second moment that ranks as the best. Comprised of 144 episodes in total, the show continues to entertain legions of fans. The eponymous Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Rupert Giles, and company each brought something different to the series that has helped make it such a lasting favorite.

The most memorable moments in Buffy the Vampire Slayer include some fantastic 60-second sequences, which is part of why it's one of the best television shows of all time. While the sight of Joyce lying lifeless in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "The Body" episode was hugely impactful, and Buffy killing Angel in "Becoming (Part 2)" was shocking, these other exciting and rousing scenes are the most synonymous with the show and therefore considered the very best.

Season 1: Buffy Impales The Master On A Broken Table

Season 1, Episode 12: "Prophecy Girl"

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1, the big bad is one of the few villains who genuinely terrifies Buffy. The Master is an ancient and powerful vampire older than any other on record. He moved to Sunnydale in 1936 to open the Hellmouth, but his attempts resulted in him being imprisoned beneath the town by a mystical barrier. In 1996, with the help of his vampire acolytes, he rises again, intending to open the Hellmouth once more and rule the hellscape that he has created.

In the season 1 finale, "Prophecy Girl," Buffy faces the Master in a fight she's destined to die in — and that's what happens. The Master hypnotizes the slayer, drinks her blood, and then leaves her to drown in a shallow pool of water. However, Buffy's friends find her, and Xander resuscitates her. At that point, she faces the Master again, without fear, resulting in season 1's best minute. The Master attempts to hypnotize Buffy again, but she resists, grabs him by the neck, and launches him through a skylight. He falls onto a broken table, which functions as a stake, and he turns to dust like any other vampire.

Season 2: Buffy Kills The Judge With A Rocket Launcher

Season 2, Episode 14: "Innocence"

Many of the most exciting minute-long sequences in Buffy the Vampire Slayer involve the season's big bad. However, the most exciting 60 seconds in season 2 involves a mid-season villain who only appeared in two episodes. The Judge is an ancient and powerful demon with ambitions to wipe out humanity. Despite having been chopped into pieces centuries ago by an army, the Judge is still alive, so his body parts are spread around the world to prevent him from reforming.

Unfortunately, Spike and Drusilla assemble his parts and bring him back. The Judge insists that no weapon in existence can kill him permanently, but he bases that assumption on primitive weapons from centuries ago. Buffy knows this and has Xander and Willow steal a rocket launcher from a military base. The best 60 seconds of the season occur when the Judge arrives at a shopping mall and starts killing people. Buffy turns up, and he announces that no weapon can kill him. Buffy replies, "That was then, this is now," and pulls out the rocket launcher. The Judge asks what it does, and Buffy blows him into thousands of pieces.

Season 3: The Students Reveal They're Armed

Season 3, Episode 22: "Graduation (Part 2)"

The big bad of season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Richard Wilkins, the Mayor of Sunnydale. Despite his pleasant public persona, Wilkins is actually an evil sorcerer who has made several pacts with evil entities to become immortal. His ultimate goal is to become a pure demon, otherwise known in Buffyverse canon as an Old One. His plan comes to fruition in the season 3 finale, "Graduation Day (Part 2)," at Sunnydale High's graduation ceremony, where he is giving a speech.

During Wilkins's speech, his ascension to becoming an Old One begins. He becomes the embodiment of Olvikan, an ancient and giant demonic snake-like creature. At that point, it's revealed that Buffy has a plan and has recruited the school's students to help defeat the Mayor and his henchmen. They take off their graduation gowns to reveal weapons, starting a battle that lasts for a few minutes, the first of which is the season's most exciting, as Buffy's tactics unfold bit by bit.

Season 4: Uber-Buffy Defeats Adam

Season 4, Episode 21: "Primeval"

Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer introduced the secret United States government agency known as the Initiative. Their mission was to capture and research demons and other supernatural creatures for military purposes. They became the big bad of the season, as their methods and motives contrasted severely with those of Buffy and her allies. Their most potent weapon was Adam, a character created to be the perfect fighting machine made of parts of humans, demons, and technology.

Buffy's final fight with Adam in season 4, episode 21, "Primeval," saw her badly outmatched. Not only did his strength and durability dwarf hers, but he also revealed an integrated mini-gun. However, Buffy had a trick up her sleeve. A spell being carried out by Giles, Willow, and Xander combined the three of them with Buffy, producing an "Uber-Buffy" who emerged during the fight. A minute spell that started with Uber-Buffy blocking the bullets from Adam's mini-gun with a magic energy shield and ended with her ripping his power source out is undoubtedly season 4's best.

Season 5: Xander Hits Glory With A Wrecking Ball

Season 5, Episode 22: "The Gift"

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5, episode 12, "Checkpoint," the Earth-shattering revelation that Glory, the season's big bad, was a god, not a demon, shook Buffy and her allies to their cores. It prompted the Scoobies into action, looking for anything they could that might weaken or help to defeat her. Anya's suggestions of the Dagon Sphere, which repels and confuses Glory, and Olaf the Troll's godly hammer come in handy. Still, another more unlikely weapon produces an epic minute of the show.

In the season's final episode, "The Gift," Buffy and friends launch an assault on Glory's base, and a minute-long sequence ensues that's simply epic. Buffy and Glory fight on a tower, with Buffy using the aforementioned hammer to even the odds and even gain the upper hand. However, she ends up disarmed, and the pair fall to the floor, at which point Glory asks what Buffy will hit her with now. At that point, a wrecking ball, controlled by Xander, smashes through the wall and knocks Glory flying. Buffy follows it by replying to Glory's question with, "Whatever's handy."

Season 6: Giles Arrives To Test Willow

Season 6, Episode 21: "Two To Go"

Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has the most surprising big bad of the whole series. Buffy's friend, Willow Rosenberg, is introduced as a meek geek. As the show progresses, she develops into a powerful witch. Having already battled with magic addiction, the death of her girlfriend, Tara Maclay, sends her into a rage. Willow goes on a rampage, targeting Tara's killers, before threatening to end the world, becoming the unlikely big bad.

In season 6, episode 21, "Two to Go," Buffy and Willow fight in Sunnydale's magic shop, where Willow bests the slayer in an epic fight. A minute at the end of the episode depicts Willow's beating down of Buffy and her cockiness at how powerful she's become. She suggests there's nobody in the world with the power to stop her rampage just before a bolt of mystical energy smashes her to the ground. It's revealed to be Giles, absent for most of the season, returning with the power to subdue Willow. The minute ends with Giles challenging Willow's suggestion, saying, "I'd like to test that theory."

Season 7: The Potentials Become Slayers

Season 7, Episode 22: "Chosen"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7 reveals that the season's big bad, the First Evil, has an army of super vampires at its disposal. Buffy and her band of potential slayers are as good as resigned to defeat until Buffy comes up with a plan. In season 7, episode 22, "Chosen," Buffy has Willow, a hugely powerful witch, tap into the mystical slayer scythe to make all the potential slayers into fully-fledged slayers, eliminating the rule about there only being a single chosen one.

As they all stand at the Hellmouth's entrance looking terrified and eyeing up the vast army of ubervamps that stands beneath them, Willow's spell activates as Buffy's motivational speech plays over it. Buffy the Vampire Slayer's most rousing and goosebump-inducing 60-second sequence ever plays out, as powerful music plays over Buffy's inspiring words. Potentials worldwide, including Buffy's army, become slayers, turning the tables in the fight against the First Evil.