Angel - hunter of darkness

Television series
German title	Angel - hunter of darkness
Original title	fishing rod
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Year (s)	1999-2004
length	approx. 42 minutes
Episodes	110 in 5 seasons ( list )
genre	Drama , fantasy , horror
Theme music	Darling Violetta
idea	Joss Whedon , David Greenwalt
production	Gail Berman , Sandy Gallin , David Greenwalt
music	Robert J. Kral
First broadcast	October 5, 1999 (USA) on The WB
German-language first broadcast	January 3, 2001 on ProSieben
occupation

Angel - Hunter of Darkness (Original title: Angel ) is an offshoot of the popular American television series Buffy - The Vampire Slayer . After the end of the third season of Buffy , the inspired vampire Angel, who starred in the first three seasons of Buffy , got his own series. In the USA, Angel ran from October 5, 1999 to May 19, 2004 on The WB , ProSieben broadcast the series in Germany from January 2001.

In addition, it was continued after the 5th season as a comic under the name Angel After The Fall . In German, the comics appear under the title Angel After the Fall . It was conceived by Buffy inventors Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt .

Leading actor David Boreanaz hinted at a reunion of "Angel" in March 2019 on the US talk show "The Talk", which will take place in October 2019 for the 20th anniversary of the series. How exactly this will look is not yet known.

action

season 1

The series is set in Los Angeles , which is where Angel ended up after leaving Sunnydale. In the first episode he meets an old friend, Cordelia Chase, who is unsuccessfully chasing after her old dream of an acting career in LA. He is also helped by the half-demon Doyle, who through his visions Angels is in contact with the forces of eternity. Angel serves the powers that be to atone for the sins he committed without a soul. Before Doyle dies in the fight against a fascist group of demons who want to destroy everything non-demonic, his visions pass through a kiss on Cordelia. In the course of the first season, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Buffy's last guardian, another character from Sunnydale joins the two. With the detective agency Angel Investigations , this unequal trio takes on the darker side of Los Angeles, true to the motto of their business card: We help the helpless ("We help the helpless"). Often there is a fight with demons , their human helpers, especially the law firm Wolfram & Hart , allied with the devil , and other supernatural phenomena. At the end of the season, Angel learns of the Shanshu Prophecy , which says that a "vampire with a soul" will play a crucial role in the apocalypse, after which - according to Wesley's interpretation of the prophecy - he will become human again. As a result, Angel finally has a goal in mind that is worth fighting for.

season 2

At the end of the first season, Wolfram & Hart brings Darla back from the dead, the vampire who turned Angel into a vampire over 200 years ago. Upon her return, Darla is an ordinary person and is about to die, having had terminal syphilis at the time she was transformed . Wolfram & Hart "save" her, however, by having her turn into a vampire again by Drusilla. Angel, who is currently trying to convert Darla to "good", is shocked. He leaves his team to start a brutal campaign of revenge against the two vampires and the law firm, in the course of which he shows no consideration for human life and is on the verge of being pulled to the side of evil again. But although he sleeps with Darla, contrary to his experience in Buffy , he does not lose his soul (but only because he did not experience the moment of complete happiness he once experienced with Buffy, according to his own statement, with Darla), manages the turnaround and turns back to his team. Later that night, as we learn, her son Connor is conceived.

At the end of the season, Angel's team consists of Wesley and Cordelia, the good-natured demon Lorne and the street fighter Charles Gunn, who joined Angel's team after the death of his sister who had been transformed by vampires and whom he had to stake himself. Cordelia accidentally ends up in Pylea, a dimension that resembles medieval earth, but where humans are kept as slaves of the ruling demon race. Angel and his team go into this dimension and save Cordelia. Together with the escaped slave Fred, a missing student who was driven to the edge of madness in Pylea, they return to their own dimensions. However, the news of Buffy's death significantly diminishes her return fortune.

season 3

To Angel's great surprise, Darla reappears with him, heavily pregnant with the child he has conceived. Through the symbiosis with this she develops human feelings. After it is established that the child cannot be born in the normal way, she kills herself and gives birth to Angel's son. Shortly afterwards, he is kidnapped by Wesley, who learns of an old (but manipulated) prophecy according to which Angel will kill his son. However, Wesley cannot bring the boy to safety because he is seriously injured in a robbery and as a result loses the child to the vampire hunter Holtz. This is Angel's archenemy from ancient times: after Angelus wiped out his entire family, Holtz swore revenge on him centuries ago. Thanks to a pact with the demon Sahjhan, Holtz survived the long time as a statue and is now continuing his campaign of revenge against Angel. Sahjhan, in turn, was responsible for the manipulation of the prophecy, as he is known through a real prophecy that he will one day be killed by Angel's son Connor. Since Holtz has kidnapped Connor into a hell of a dimension, into which he cannot be followed and in revenge for the loss of his son, Angel tries to kill Wesley.

Cordelia has increasingly had severe headaches during and after her visions this season, which she can only combat with strong pain relievers. However, she hides this from the other members until one day after a vision she falls into a coma. She is faced with a difficult decision, in which she ultimately decides to be transformed into a half-demoness in order to be able to endure the visions painlessly and to be able to continue to help Angel with her powers.

At the end of the season, Holtz and Connor return from the hell dimension. As time passed faster for her, Holtz is now very old and Connor is a teenager who has acquired astonishing abilities and powers through (survival) training in the other dimension. Holtz lets himself be killed by his colleague Justine in such a way that it looks as if he was bitten by a vampire. Justine blames Connor Angel for the death of his foster father, which is why he tries to kill Angel, as planned by Holtz. But instead of killing him, Connor sets a trap for Angel and sinks him in a box in the sea, where the immortal vampire is said to remain trapped for all eternity. Cordelia, who is on her way to Angel to confess her love that has developed over the course of this season, is meanwhile being promoted to a higher dimension as she has developed increasingly unearthly powers through her transformation into a half-demon. Lorne leaves for Las Vegas , leaving only Fred and Gunn of the team that Wesley is no longer a member of after the kidnapping of Connor and the attempted murder by Angel.

Season 4

Angel is still trapped on the ocean floor. Wesley frees him by forcing Justine to help him. After separating from Angel's team, Wesley began an affair with Lilah, a lawyer with Wolfram & Hart. Together with Gunn and Fred, Angel frees Lorne from his captivity in Las Vegas. When they return from Vegas, they find memory loss Cordelia who, in confusion, turns to Connor.

The apocalypse is heralded this season in the form of the Beast, a giant horned demon that rains down fires and darkens the sun over Los Angeles, allowing the vampires to take over the city. While Angel is fighting the beast, Cordelia and Connor have sex and father a child. In addition, the representative of Wolfram & Hart falls victim to the Beast, whose only survivor is Lilah. Cordelia sees in a vision that Angelus, Angel's soulless self, knows something about the beast, while in her dimension all knowledge and memories of it have been obliterated. She therefore suggests removing Angel's soul as the only way of rescue from the beast. This is put into practice, whereupon Cordelia frees the caged Angelus, kills Lilah, and blames Angelus for it. In addition, Angelus makes allusions to Oedipus with regard to Connor's situation, since Cordelia played the role of his mother in his first months of life and Connor continues to try repeatedly to kill his father.

The weakened rest of the team is reinforced by the vampire hunter Faith , who is known from the sister series Buffy - The Vampire Slayer , who is brought out of prison where she is serving her murder sentence. She can't stop the beast, but with a trick - she injects herself a magical drug and then lets him bite her - incapacitates Angelus. This is brought back to his soul by the called to help witch Willow . Willow then leaves town with Faith in the direction of Sunnydale, where the two, as seen in the seventh season of Buffy, help prevent another apocalypse.

The team has now realized that Cordelia is possessed by evil and has commanded the Beast as its master, and Angel tries to kill her, also because according to a prophecy, the impending birth seems to mean the end of the world. Shortly before he can kill her, she gives birth, but instead of a child, the demon goddess Jasmine is “born”. It casts the whole world under its magical spell and is adored by all who see it, which spreads harmony and peace among people. However, it also "consumes" people in order to maintain strength. Thanks to Fred, the team (with the exception of Connor) can break the spell they had initially succumbed to. Connor, who was never under the spell, but really wanted to believe in something good, no longer knows what is good and bad, and kills the "daughter" he had previously adored.

Wolfram & Hart then offered Angel the Los Angeles office as a thank you for preventing world peace that Jasmine's rule would have brought about. Angel accepts after some hesitation, but in return he has the memory of the suicidal Connor erased and gives him an alternative reality in which he can lead an ordinary, happy life. The memory of the rest of the people is manipulated in such a way that Angel is the only one who knows Connor's story. That way, Angel can make peace with Wesley.

Season 5

Angel and his team are taking over Wolfram & Hart's LA office, with Angel serving as CEO and Wesley, Fred, Lorne and Gunn each running departments. Cordelia has been in a coma since Jasmin was born. With the vampire Harmony , who was employed by Wolfram & Hart as a secretary, and Spike , who has been freed from an amulet and now also animated , two other characters from Buffy - The Vampire Slayer join the team. The competition between Spike and Angel flares up again and again, especially with regard to the Shanshu prophecy , according to which a “vampire with a soul” will play a decisive role in the apocalypse .

Cordelia wakes up from her coma and supports the team in a case in which the lawyer Lindsey returns as an adversary. It turns out, however, that she actually never woke up, but died in a coma. Fred becomes infected with a virus through an ancient sarcophagus that slowly makes her die. As you will learn later, the sarcophagus is that of Illyria, a demon god who belonged to the rulers of the world ancient times (the "Old Ones" mentioned in the first Buffy episode) who were defeated and in these very same Sarcophagi were banned. After Fred's death her body is occupied by Illyria ( occupation ).

As the season progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Angel is about to lose his inner struggle, as his position corrupts him morally, and he may be on the wrong side in the upcoming final battle between good and evil. The hope for this development was also the reason why the firm's senior partners had handed over the company to him. In the end, however, his good side wins the upper hand again and he carries out a plan in which the rulers of the underworld of Los Angeles, who have organized themselves in the circle of the black thorn , are to be destroyed. This endeavor is successful with the help of Wesley, Gunn, Spike and Illyria; and Lindsey, too, dies as Wolfram & Hart's last lawyer because Lorne shoots him twice in the chest. But the death of the evil representatives in LA calls Hell itself on the scene, which sends an army of demons, dragons and other creatures to kill Angel and his helpers. In the final shot, Angel and his living friends (Wesley died performing Angel's plan) get ready for the final fight. Gunn is already seriously injured at this point.

Episode list

→ Main article : Angel / Episode list

comics

Since the fifth season was the last, contrary to the original plan, the last episode ended with a cliffhanger .

Joss Whedon, like the comics for the eighth season Buffy the Vampire Slayer , brought Angel back to life in a sixth season in order to bring the loose threads to an end. The first issue to "After the Fall" (English. After the Fall ) was in the US by the publisher on 21 November 2007 IDW Publishing released. In Germany, the booklets are combined in collections. Panini Comics has been selling these since February 18, 2009.

occupation

David Boreanaz played Angel

The first two seasons were synchronized with the Cinephon , the remaining three with the Johannisthal Synchron . Martina Marx wrote the dialogue books for the first three seasons, her successors were Klaus Bickert and Änne Troester. Thomas Wolff directed the dialogue.

Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia Chase

Many of the actors played the same characters in the sister series Buffy - The Vampire Slayer .

main actor

role	actor	Voice actor	Leading role season	Guest role season
Angel / Angelus / The Angel Match / The Scourge of Europe / Liam of Galway	David Boreanaz	Boris Tessmann	1-5
Cordelia Chase	Charisma Carpenter	Schaukje Könning	1-4	5
Allen Francis Doyle	Glenn Quinn	Florian Halm	1
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce	Alexis Denisof	Oliver Field	1-5
Charles Gunn	J. August Richards	Christian Rudolf	2-5	1
Winifred "Fred" Burkle / Illyria	Amy Acker	Cathlen Gawlich	3-5	2
Connor	Vincent Kartheiser	Florian Knorn	4th	3, 5
Lorne / Krevlorneswath from the Deathwok Clan / The Host	Andy Hallett	Gerald Schaale	4-5	2-3
Spike / William the Bloody	James Marsters	David Nathan	5	1-2
Harmony Kendall	Mercedes McNab	Gundi Eberhard	5	2

supporting cast

role	actor	Voice actor	number	information
Lilah Morgan	Stephanie Romanov	Viola Sauer	37	Lilah is a partner in the law firm "Wolfram & Hart". After Holland Manners death, Lindsey is supposed to take over his position as chief manager for “special projects”, but resigns the job to Lilah and leaves Los Angeles. She then takes over responsibility for this area. But she gets competition from Gavin Park. In season 4, she is killed by Cordelia, but later emerges as a ghost from Hell (her contract with Wolfram and Hart extends beyond her death) to offer Angel Wolfram and Hart's Los Angeles office.
Lindsey McDonald	Christian Kane	Viktor Neumann	21st	Lindsey is a successful lawyer at Wolfram & Hart. After Holland Manners' death, he is to be his successor as head of the "Special Projects" department, but Lindsey resigns the job to Lilah and leaves Los Angeles. He appears again in season 5, but is killed by Lorne at the end of season 5.
Darla	Julie Benz	Uschi Hugo	21st	Darla is a well-known vampire from the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was killed by Angel in Buffy episode 1x07, but was brought back as a human by Wolfram & Hart in Angel episode 1x22. In between, she appears in some of Angel's flashbacks. Her human existence continues where it left off in the 17th century: She suffers from syphilis, which she caught as a whore. Angel seeks a solution, but the illness is overdue for 400 years and a month. Lindsey McDonald brings Drusilla to LA so that she can turn Darla into a vampire. She kills herself in season 3 so that Connor can be born.
Kate Lockley	Elisabeth Röhm	Judith Brandt	15th	Kate is Angel's liaison with the police. However, when her father is killed by vampires, Kate blames Angel for it and even wants him to be locked up in the East Prison out of anger that Angel protects Faith. In season 2 she loses her job as a police officer and the like. a. for Angel and multiple misconduct and disregard of the regulations.
Gavin Park	Daniel Dae Kim	Frank Schaff	12	Gavin is a lawyer with Wolfram & Hart replacing the missing Lindsay McDonald. His actions are mainly shaped by his competition with Lilah Morgan. He is finally killed in the fourth season by the beast and transformed into a zombie. After he is killed as the undead by Gunn, he no longer appears in the series.
Daniel Holtz	Keith Szarabajka	Christian Rode	11	Holtz chased Angel and Darla halfway around the world in the 18th century. After Angel and Darla kill his family, a time-traveling demon brings him into the presence of the series in season 3 to give him revenge. Demons are his helpers, but he poisons them and replaces them with Justine. He kidnaps Connor to get revenge on Angel and flees with him into a hell dimension. Later, Justine kills him at his request after he escaped from the hell dimension with Connor.
Eve	Sarah Thompson	Ulrike Stürzbecher	10	In the fifth season, Eve mediates between Angel and the senior partners. At the same time she has a relationship with Lindsey McDonald. Spike and Gunn don't trust her.
Groosalugg	Mark Lutz	Norman Matt	9	The Groosalugg is a mighty warrior from the dimension Pylea. Priests have requested that he mate with Cordelia after she was crowned princess. But nothing comes of it and the priests are defeated. But in the end Cordelia and Groosalugg fall in love. That's why it hurts them to say goodbye when Cordelia travels back to her dimension with her friends. Six months later, Groosalugg surprisingly turns up in LA, just at the moment when Angel Cordelia wants to confess his feelings. But he leaves Angel and his team at the end of season 3 because he knows that he has no chance with Cordelia and he wants to see her happy.
Holland Manners	Sam Anderson	Lutz Riedel	8th	As a department head at Wolfram & Hart, Holland Manners is one of the main opponents of Angels in the first few seasons. He dies when Angel locks him and his colleagues in with the vampires Darla and Drusilla, making Angel directly guilty of human death for the first time in the series. Since Manner's contract with the senior partners is also valid after death, he shows up again later, as an elevator attendant to hell.
Justine Cooper	Laurel Holloman	Sandra Schwittau	8th	Justine is Daniel Holtz's assistant. Her twin sister Julia was murdered. Justine has been hunting vampires ever since. She later kills Holtz. Then she is kidnapped by Wesley to help save Angel from the ocean floor.
The Beast	Vladimir Kulich	Thomas Wolff	8th	The beast is a being with horns and a skin made of rock that was sent to earth from a hell dimension by Jasmine to prepare the world for its arrival. His acts include the temporary destruction of the Wolfram & Hart office in LA, as well as the murder of Ra-Tet , which causes the sunlight to disappear from the earth. The beast is finally killed by Angelus with a dagger made from the beast's bones (which Angelus suspects is the only weapon with which one can injure the being).
Sahjhan	Jack Conley	Joachim Siebenschuh	8th	In the 18th century, the demon Sahjhan Holtz proposed to get his revenge on Angel 200 years later for the death of his family, because at that time he would not have made it and would only have died as an old man. Sahjhan brings Holtz, who was trapped in a stone in the meantime, back as a person. In the 5th season he is killed by Connor. Thus the prophecy of his death comes true, which he wanted to prevent with Holtz - who had kidnapped Connor into a hell dimension.
Drusilla	Juliet Landau	Victoria Storm	7th	Drusilla is the vampire known from Buffy who, before she was transformed in the 19th century, was driven insane by Angel who tortured her family to death. Lindsey McDonald brings Drusilla to LA in season two so that she can turn Darla, who would otherwise die, into a vampire.
Knox	Jonathan Woodward		7th	Knox is a scientist who researches at Wolfram & Hart. At the beginning of the fifth season the viewer gets a positive impression of him, until it turns out that he worships and frees the demon Illyria 'and is thus responsible for the death of Winifred Burkle. Eventually he is shot by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who has lost his partner as a result.
Faith Lehane	Eliza Dushku	Carola Ewert (Season 1–2) Anna Carlsson (Season 4)	6th	Faith is another well-known character from Buffy , the Slayer appointed after Kendra's death. She is wanted by the police for murder. She is supposed to kill Angel for Wolfram & Hart, but Faith can't and even begs Angel to kill her. After all, she goes to jail voluntarily. In season 4, she is taken out of prison by Wesley to help fight Angelus and the Beast .
Marcus Hamilton	Adam Baldwin	Walter Alich	5	At the end of the fifth season, Marcus Hamilton replaces Eve as a mediator with the senior partners. In contrast to the inscrutable Eve, Marcus Hamilton leaves no doubt that he is one of the bad guys.
Skip	David Denman	Marco Kroeger	4th	Skip is a demon who works for the forces of eternity. He first appears when Angel tries to free Billy. Skip is later killed by Wesley.
Willow Danielle Rosenberg	Alyson Hannigan	Marie Bierstedt	3	Since Willow, as known from Buffy , is one of the most powerful witches, Angel or team members ask her for help several times if this is necessary in the field of magic. She made an important appearance in season 4 when Angel lost his soul and she had to restore it. The first time Willow shows up around the middle of the second season, at the end of the same she brings the news of Buffy's death to Angel.
Anne Steele	Julia Lee	Ulrike Stürzbecher (Season 2) Maria Koschny (Season 5)	3	Anne appears for the first time as Chantarelle in Sunnydale, where she wants to be turned into a vampire. However, this is prevented. Later she runs a homeless shelter for young people. There she receives help against attacking police officers.
Buffy Anne Summers	Sarah Michelle Gellar	Nana Spier	2	Buffy is the main character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She is Angel's former girlfriend. After their split, Angel moved to Los Angeles.
Andrew Wells	Tom Lenk	Sebastian Schulz	2	Andrew was one of Buffy's main antagonists in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer . After he stood at her side in the battle against the First Evil in the final season, he takes over a function in the newly established Council of Guardians and helps in the final Angel relay team Angel and Spike, as this in Rome chasing after a demon head and Buffy.
Daniel "Oz" Osbourne	Seth Green	Santiago Ziesmer	1	Oz is the werewolf known from the first Buffy seasons and friend of Willow. He was seen in episode 1x03, on the one hand because of a gig in LA and on the other hand to bring Angel from Buffy the ring from Amara . He was followed by Spike.

Awards

Angel received a total of six Saturn Awards , including 2004 for best series on a network. The series was nominated for this category in the remaining years.

Web links

Commons : Angel (TV series)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Angel - Hunters of darkness in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Angel: After the Fall. IDW Publishing, archived from the original on November 4, 2008 ; accessed on August 10, 2012 . 
2. ↑ TEXT-BAUER: David Boreanaz holds out the prospect of Angel reunion. Accessed March 20, 2019 (German). 
3. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Series | Angel - hunter of darkness. Retrieved May 7, 2018 .