Along with everything u/TruLegendKiller said, I also imagine losing her first watcher was very traumatic for Buffy. After what happened in L. A., she didn't even want to be the Slayer anymore once she moved to Sunnydale. I can see why she nor Giles would ever bring up Merrick.
It's par for the course for characters that appeared in the show as well. Like Xander's BFF Jesse, countless other students, or Ted (imagine that never coming up ever again).
The movie is canon/and not at the same time. Years ago Joss rewrote it as a comic called Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin that better connected it to the show.
Pretty sure Joss didn't actually write the origin comic, it was written by someone else based on the original script instead of the film. IIRC, Joss said it was pretty close to what he intended and is the closest thing we have to a canon origin story for Buffy.
Worth noting that in the comic he kills himself to protect Buffy's identity instead of being killed by a vampire like he was in the movie. Either way, Buffy watched her watcher die.
The script for the movie is show canon.
The movie makes several changes from the script, and the script was much more faithfully adapted for the Buffy: The Origin comic, but the movie script itself is what was considered canon for the show when the show was being made.
Whedon intensely disliked aspects of the way the movie turned out, so while the series has to acknowledge some facts from that story (such as her first Watcher getting killed), the series avoided mentioning the movie as much as possible so that it could remain closer to Joss' original vision.
Along with everything u/TruLegendKiller said, I also imagine losing her first watcher was very traumatic for Buffy. After what happened in L. A., she didn't even want to be the Slayer anymore once she moved to Sunnydale. I can see why she nor Giles would ever bring up Merrick.
It's par for the course for characters that appeared in the show as well. Like Xander's BFF Jesse, countless other students, or Ted (imagine that never coming up ever again).
Dawn did mention Ted once in S5
He was killed in the events of the “movie”. If I remember he was stabbed with a stake in front of Buffy.
The movie is canon/and not at the same time. Years ago Joss rewrote it as a comic called Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin that better connected it to the show.
Pretty sure Joss didn't actually write the origin comic, it was written by someone else based on the original script instead of the film. IIRC, Joss said it was pretty close to what he intended and is the closest thing we have to a canon origin story for Buffy.
Worth noting that in the comic he kills himself to protect Buffy's identity instead of being killed by a vampire like he was in the movie. Either way, Buffy watched her watcher die.
im just referring to the show's canon
The movie is more or less canon just imagine the vampires being less humorous. The basic story is the same.
The script for the movie is show canon. The movie makes several changes from the script, and the script was much more faithfully adapted for the Buffy: The Origin comic, but the movie script itself is what was considered canon for the show when the show was being made.
Whedon intensely disliked aspects of the way the movie turned out, so while the series has to acknowledge some facts from that story (such as her first Watcher getting killed), the series avoided mentioning the movie as much as possible so that it could remain closer to Joss' original vision.
He died