Angel the Series

Angel the Series is a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer about Buffy's vampire boyfriend, Angel, after his move from Sunnydale to Los Angeles. 
Because of the shared universe and some characters appearing on both shows, some fans treat the "Buffyverse" as a single fandom. 
The series ended after five seasons and was continued as a comic.
==Brief Canon==
The series started out with three main characters: Angel, Cordelia (from BtVS), and half-demon Doyle. Doyle died mid-season and was replaced by former Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (also from BtVS). 
The set up initially involved Angel Investigations, an agency set up to "help the helpless", fight demonic crime, and keep Cordy in sandals. Many early episodes followed the vision quest pattern, with Doyle and then Cordelia receiving a plot-driving vision from the PTB. A prophecy revealed that an ensouled vampire would eventually shanshu, or become, live life, and die as a human, replacing Buffy as Angel's motivation to fight the good fight.
In season 2, the team is joined by sidekick Charles Gunn and geek Fred Burkle, Angel goes "beige", and they all end up in not-so-wonderland. Seasons 3 & 4 moved away from the vision quest format to follow arcs involving Angel's sire Darla, their son Connor, and the vampire hunters Holtz and Justine.
The main antagonist in the early seasons was the law firm Wolfram & Hart; several of its lawyers gained a substantial fannish following, particularly Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan. 
Season 5 turned things upside down with the AI team heading up Wolfram & Hart. Spike & Harmony joined as majors from BtVS, recurring empathic demon Lorne also stepped up as a major, while Fred became a vessel for the blue Old One Illyria.
==Fandom==
===Pairings===
* Angel/Cordelia
* Angel/Darla
* Angel/Faith
* Angel/Nina
* Angel/Wes
* Buffy/Angel
* Buffy/Angel/Spike
* Dawn Summers/Ethan Rayne
* Doyle/Cordelia
* Faith/Spike
* Fred/Gunn
* Fred/Lilah
* Fred/Wesley
* Gunn/Lindsey
* Spike/Fred
* Spike/Wesley
* Wesley/Connor
* Wesley/Illyria
* Wesley/Lilah
* Willow/Faith
* Willow/Fred
===Characters===
See List of Angel the Series Characters.
===Fan Campaigns===
==== Ducks Babble Board ====
Ducks Babble Board
====SavingAngel====
In February 2004, it was announced that Angel was to be canceled after its fifth season. Immediately several fan campaigns began with the aim of getting the WB or another network to renew the series. 
The SavingAngel team organized originally on Ducks Babble Board with a significant number of Sparklies and members of other Buffyverse boards joining them there.SavingAngel Team Players archived link from 2004. 
A dedicated SavingAngel website was soon established. Many of these fans had previous experience taking out ads in publications, to highlight their support for these shows. For example, BAPS members involved in the SupportSpike campaign had taken out ads thanking the production for bringing back Spike.SupportSpike Campaign 4 archived link to Spike trade ads, 2003.
Aftr the SavingAngel campaign raised over $17,000 from fans worldwide, some funds were used to place ads in The Hollywood Reporter and the Daily Variety, that read, "Angel has been saving the world for years and now he needs your help." They also organized a mobile billboard campaign in LA, using the tagline "Saving Angel: We Will Follow Angel To Hell...Or Another Network".SavingAngel.org archived link to site, 2004.
====Save Angel====
The Save Angel campaign was unaffiliated with SavingAngel It was begun by a German fan, and started on a Yahoo group, before quickly creating a dedicated website.SaveAngel Campaign HQ at Tripod, 18 Feb 2004. 
The group organized letter writing campaigns, and chocolates, flowers and beanie babies were sent to actors and production staff. 
Save Angel campaign also sponsored rallies and other events, including a Blood Drive and Food Donation Drive.SaveAngel.org news, archived link from August 2004.
====Campaign Success and Failure====
At the 2004 Saturn Awards, Joss Whedon was presented with a cheque for $13,000 from the two most prominent Save Angel campaigns, to be presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross on behalf of Angel fans. The Save ANGEL the television series Petition received over 100,000 signatures by December 2004.he Save ANGEL the television series Petition to The WB Television Network had 102808 Total Signatures as of Dec 7 2004.
Following the failure of these campaigns, many fans turned their efforts to campaigning for standalone Angel movie, which was initially a possibility following the announcement by the WB, and for a new series Faith the Vampire Slayer.
===Fan Art===
===Fanfiction===
Tropes from early fanfiction for the series include Bring Back Doyle fix-it fic, alternate universes where Angel stays human in the popular episode "I Will Remember You" and is paired with Buffy, and stories about Angel's shanshu. 
Later writers often focused on the dysfunctional family of Angel, Cordy, & Connor, with the Angel/Cordelia pairing gaining ground over Buffy/Angel. 
In slash, the buddy pairing Wesley/Gunn was popular, as was Angel/Wesley. 
Season 5 led to the resurgence of an old BtVS pairing; Spangel. 
With Spike joining the Angel team in the final season, Spike/Angel became much more popular, but the pairings of Spike/Wesley and Spike/Fred also appeared. 
After the show ended, much fanfiction was set after the season five finale, "Not Fade Away", often featuring Spike/Illyria. Fans refer to this time period as Post-NFA. 
Common themes include fix-its for various character deaths, a return to the Hyperion Hotel and restarting Angel Investigations, and action against the remnants of Wolfram and Hart (or resistance against them if they are depicted as having won).
====Print Fanzines====
* A Drop of Blood
* Angel Plans
* Angel's Heart
* Angel of the Morning
* Body and Soul Angel/Wesley
* A Shark with Feet Buffy and Angel fic
* Close To Home... So Far Away Angel/Buffy crossover
* Epiphany
* Integrity - Meredith Martini
* Walking With Heroes - K. Ann
* fanzines with Buffy content 
====Sample Authors====
Many, though not all, Angel fanwriters also wrote for Buffy.
* Cas - backstories about Angel's history, e.g. Poppies are the Colour of Blood
* Dana Woods - various slash rare pairs, but she's perhaps best known for her Wesley vignette, The Periodic Table of the Wesley
* Doyle - varied, e.g. See How They Run makes sense of Lindsey's arc in S5
* FayJay - ingenious crossovers, character pieces, e.g. the Wesley-centric Shaken, Not Stirred
* Glossolalia - varied, e.g. These Reasonable Taboos, an influential early study of Connor; Dear to Us, a S5 take on Angel/Buffy
* HonorH - varied, e.g. Dreamwalk, Cordelia & Angel quest
* James Walkswithwind - Wesley, Wes/Gunn, e.g. Days of Darkness, Streets Like Wine
* Jane St Clair - various slash pairings, e.g. Mockingbird, Cordelia/Faith
* Jennifer Oksana - varied, but particularly known for her femslash, e.g. The Blue Dahlia, Cordy-centric adventure
* Julie Fortune - best known for darkfic series, Slightly Darker Than Black
* Karabair - light gen and het stories, e.g. Rumble, Young Man, Wes and Gunn friendship
* Kita - darkfic, e.g. Second Hand, Spike-centric post-NFA; Komodo, Angel/Lindsey
* Lar - varied, e.g. Alignment, Faith/Wesley
* Mad Poetess - varied, unusual, e.g. Skelping, Doyle as a ghost
* Minim Calibre - Wesley-centric, mainly het, e.g. Anchored, Wesley/Buffy
* Mosca - inventive premises, e.g. The Girl in the High Castle, Fred-centric AU; Standard Perpetuity, Wesley/Lilah
* Roseveare - plotty gen; particularly known for her Doyle and Kate Lockley, e.g. The Understudy, casefic with Doyle & Cordy
* Rheanna - plotty gen focusing on Angel, e.g. Vivere, a dark take on shanshu, and (as Inamorata) Angel/Cordelia e.g. Another Life
* Selena - gen, often focusing on Darla and/or Connor e.g. The Haunting, Hunted Kind
* Sheila - Wes/Gunn, e.g. Call It Aftermath
* Shrift - various slash pairings, particularly Wes/Gunn, e.g. Latency
* Starlet2367 - Cordelia-centric gen, Angel/Cordelia, e.g. Queen of the Night
* Te - dark erotica in various pairings, slash and het, e.g. Line, Angel/Cordelia
* Tesla - varied mainly gen and het, e.g. Roommates
* The Brat Queen - long Angel/Wesley, e.g. Epiphany series
* Viola - gen and het, best known for Amour, Justine/Holtz
* Wesley's Girl - various slash and het pairings, e.g. Unwanted Gifts, Angel/Wesley
* Yahtzee - long plotty het & slash, e.g. As Time Goes By, Angel/Cordelia in Casablanca; Termination, Angelus/Lindsey
===Archives===
====Angel Only====
* Angel Fan Fiction (archive and resources)
* Angel Fan Fiction
* Cordy Slash (Cordelia Chase slash fanfiction)
* Dangerous Habits—Wesley/Angel
* Fanged Four (Darla, Angel, Drusilla and Spike)
* Go Team C/A (Cordelia/Angel fic)
* The Gunn/Wesley Fanfiction Archive—Wesley/Gunn
* Legalease (The Lindsey McDonald Zone)
* Old Fashioned Fourplay (Darla, Angelus, William, and Drusilla)
* Walk a Thorny Path (Lindsey McDonald fic)
* Seductress (Darla slash)
* WesleyFanFiction.Net—Wesley
* MZP Angel Virtual Continuation
====Buffyverse====
A few Buffyverse archives with Angel content that were still online as of 2012 include:
* All About Spike
* Angel's Secrets' Creative Works (AtS with some BtVS)
* AngelSlash Archive—slash for Angel character
* Better Buffy Fiction Archive
* Buffy Fiction Archive—large automated archive
* Crypt of Fic (BtVS & AtS stories)
* The Darker Side of Sunnydale—darkfic
* The Mystic Muse (BtVS and AtS fiction)
* Scribes of Angels (fic about Angel)
* Slashing the Angel—Angel, mainly slash
* The Sunnydale Slut (All forms of Angel shipping)
* Twisting the Hellmouth -- crossovers
* Unsung Heroines (Anya, Cordelia, Dawn, Faith, Fred and/or Tara)
* Shadows & Dust
===Vids===
Angel has an active vidding community whose infrastructure includes:
* Buffyverse Music Video Database - database of vid links
For examples of vids, see the Angel vids category.
===Mailing Lists===
* Gunnwesley -- Gunn/Wesley slash fanfiction., a relationship mailing list dedicated to Charles Gunn & Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (September 2002 to September 2006)
* Nummy Treat - prominent mailing list which ran the Nummy Treat Awards
* (founded April 2002)
* (founded November 2001)
* Role Slash Game; Love In Hidden Places archive link (founded April 2002)
* (founded April 2002)
* (founded December 2002) 
* (founded May 2001)
* Gwen Raiden (mailing list) (founded October 2002)
* LindseyFic (founded December 2000)
===Fansites===
* Flights of Angel
* Angel Guide at the Screening Room (defunct)
* Angel's Secrets
===Meta===
* Blurred Vision: Common OOC's - AtS (2001?)
==Resources==
* Fandom primer on crack_van, by thefakeheadline
* Fandom primer on newbieguide, by sweptawaybayou
==References==
*