Tanja,
Los Angeles, and taking a serious trip to the dark side now. But yes,
great as
the other characters are, they wouldn't work as leader-figures. We saw the Scooby Gang sans Buffy once, in "Anne", and it worked as comic relief, but honestly, the scenes with Buffy in Los Angeles taking a trip to hell, first figuratively, then literally, were much more compelling.
The obvious reason why the other characters in 'Buffy' and 'Angel' can't take over as leader-figures is because, first, they don't have the physical powers that Buffy and Angel have. Buffy is the Slayer, the Chosen One, the recipient of great powers to enable her to fight the forces of evil; Angel is a good vampire, with all the powers such a creature has. Blake, of course, has no such physical powers.
Second, Buffy and Angel are important prophetic figures in that they are referred to in prophecies, particularly Buffy. There are no such things in B7 as prophecies referring to Blake, because the universe does not admit the existence of divine beings like The Powers that Be in the Buffyverse. If such beings exist, they are explained away (like the Thaarn) as the impact of sophisticated aliens on primitive societies. This does not exclude, as we saw in 'Deliverance', a B7 character being taken for the saviour that carries out a prophecy; but this is not an admission that real prophecies actually exist, in that they tell what will happen and cannot be got around.
You've captured the essence of the show beautifully. BTW, I could count both Willow and Cordelia as examples for this. Both, as introduced, are
well-known
clichés from every high school movie - the shy nerd who is a Cinderella
destined
to blossom, the cheerleader bitch - but quickly moved beyond that stage.
Of course, Buffy was herself the cheerleader bitch before she became the Slayer, as we saw at the end of season 2. Indeed, she admitted to Angel that she was _worse_ than Cordelia at the time. I was amused by this, as it meant that becoming the Slayer made her a better person (leaving aside all the violence and heartbreak), forcing her to use her brain.
Murray