BY: DAVIDA LARSON

Guilds, studios, DVD residuals, and a long-brewing strike - how all of the above staked mega-popular theater showings of "Once More, With Feeling" for the foreseeable future. What are the chances Buffy can rise from the dead - again?

Fox studios drained the blood from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” sing-a-longs in October when it slapped a cease-and-desist order on theatrical screenings of the show’s Emmy-nominated musical episode.

“I'd hate to think that it's out and out greed - but I'm probably being optimistic there,” said Heather Cordova, who has worked with the Arizona Browncoats, an organization for fans of the TV show “Firefly” and its spin-off movie “Serenity,” another franchise created by Joss Whedon of Buffy fame.

“If that's the case, it's another example of a loyal fan base being screwed for the sake of lining some bigwig's pockets,” she said.

The Loft Cinema, a non-profit theater located at 3233 E. Speedway Blvd., held frequent showings of the episode, titled “Once More, With Feeling.” According to Jeff Yanc, program director at the Loft, 300-500 Buffy fans regularly filled up the big-screen theater, singing along with every note.

A representative for Criterion Pictures, the company that licensed Buffy episodes from 20th Century Fox, called the Loft to pull the plug, Yanc said. The Screen Actors Guild reportedly sent Fox a huge bill for unpaid residuals, causing Rupert Murdoch and company to slay all sing-a-long events, as well as any other presentations of Fox TV shows.

Yanc said Fox didn’t realize how popular the sing-a-longs were.

“They weren’t ready for labor union issues and legal complications,” said Yanc. “But 20th Century Fox also owns the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, so they know how the cult phenomenon works.”

The Loft paid royalties to Criterion in the amount of $200 in advance for each screening and 35% of the box office from that night, said Yanc.

A Fox spokesperson said Criterion was only granted the right to license “Once More, With Feeling” in theaters where admission was not charged, according to an article by MTV.com.

“My guess is that once this writer’s strike is resolved they will be more than happy to license the show again,” said Matthew Hewitt, 30, organizer of the Tucson Buffy shadow cast (in which live actors perform along with the characters underneath the screen - a longstanding tradition of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”). “The theatrical presentation of television shows was probably never covered in their contract for residuals.”

The shadow cast was just getting organized when Fox called off the sing-a-longs.

“There was some crying involved,” said Yanc. “People were interested in doing the shadow cast. It’s too bad for the community of Buffy fans.”

In the episode, the diabolical demon Sweet, played by three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle, casts a spell on Sunnydale. He forces the town’s inhabitants, including Buffy and her “Scooby” gang, to uncontrollably break out into song and dance, even while dusting vampires or discovering a parking ticket.

Presentations of the Buffy musical, also called “Buffyokes,” rose in popularity across the country last year. A national touring shadow cast, the “Big Screen Buffy Musical,” traveled around the U.S. hosting sing-a-longs to sold-out crowds.

A petition to reinstate the sing-a-longs is available to sign at their Web site.

“I’m disappointed, but yet in some way not surprised,” said Amanda Richards, 30, who sang along with Buffy and her friends three times at the Loft.  “It seems that Joss Whedon and his fans can't seem to cut a break. The sing-a-longs were a great way for fans to get together, and it's sad now that it's gone.”

“I think the greatest joy in the sing-a-longs is just being around so many other fans of Joss's greatness,” said Hewitt. “I enjoy the singing, even though I can't carry a tune in a bucket. At the sing-a-long the idea is to have fun, not to care about making it perfect.”

Yanc thinks Buffy will resurrect herself on the big screen.

“Buffy herself has already died twice,” he said. “I think it’s plausible that she’ll come back to life again.”

DAVIDA LARSON originally hails from the tiny town of Valdez, Alaska, but she's lived in the desert since she was 12. A Journalism Senior at the University of Arizona, she plans to graduate in August of 2008. Larson has written for her elementary school paper, her high school paper, the Sierra Vista Herald, the Aztec Press, and the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Her interests include kitties, classic movies, fashion, thesauruses, all TV shows by Joss Whedon, and good coffee.