Episode Trivia
Alastair Duncan
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Alastair Duncan, who played Collins in 4.15 This Year’s Girl and 4.16 Who Are You? did voice overs for the video game Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy and played the theatre manager in The Three Stooges. He has also appeared in Maybe It’s Me, Charmed, Providence, Diagnosis Murder, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Babylon 5 and Highlander. He played Collins again in the Angel episode 1.19 Sanctuary.
Eliza Dushku
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Eliza Dushku played the vampire Slayer Faith. Eliza was born on December 30, 1980 in Boston. Her middle name is Patricia. She was raised in a staunch Mormon household, though is not particularly religious. She is half Albanian and half Danish and has 3 older brothers named Aaron, Ben, and Nate, who is also an actor. Her parents are both college professors. Eliza was legally emancipated from her parents during the filming of Buffy because of strict laws on the hours that a minor is allowed to work.
Eliza used to appear at the Watertown Children’s Theater in Massachussetts, as a sign-language interpreter for any hearing-impaired audience members.
Eliza was discovered aged ten at the end of a five-month search for the perfect girl to play the lead role of Alice opposite Juliette Lewis in the film That Night. Since then she has been in several films, and has worked with actors such as Robert DeNiro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Reiser, and Jim Belushi. Eliza played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter in True Lies. She appeared in Bring it On (with Clare Kramer, who played Glory), Wrong Turn, The Kiss, Soul Survivors, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and That 70’s Show. Eliza also starred in her own TV show Tru Calling.
Faith’s mind
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In the Buffy episode 4.16 Who Are You? Faith (in Buffy’s body) daydreams that she stabs Willow. A similar scene occurs in the Angel episode 1.19 Sanctuary. When Angel takes Faith back to his apartment she daydreams that she attacks Angel with a knife.
Fake movie credits
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In the episode 1.19 Sanctuary, Faith is flipping channels and we briefly see what look like movie credits:
Co Starring: TV Host - Lisa Lassek; [unreadable]’s Secretary - Josh Charson; Rick Mann[?] - Phillip Geoffrey Hough; Female Dancers - Mere Smith, Tamara Lewis, Golda Savage, Marilyn Adams, Elyse Smith, Elisabeth James, Jesse Stern
Crew: Unit Production Manager - Robert D. Nellans; First Assistant Director - Ian Woolf
The “Co-Stars” seem to be a collection of Angel and/or Buffy crew members, with the occasional random actor thrown in (unconnected to either series).
The crew listings are actual Angel credits, though Ian Woolf was First Assistant Director for the preceding episode, 1.18 Five By Five, rather than this one.
Heading to L.A.
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The Buffy episode 4.20 The Yoko Factor follows on from the Angel episode 1.19 Sanctuary, where Buffy turns up in L.A. to find Faith. She’s disgusted to find that Angel is helping her nemesis, despite what she did to Buffy. Angel and Buffy argue, and she leaves. He arrives in Sunnydale in 4.20 The Yoko Factor to apologise to Buffy. Xander calls Buffy “LA Woman”, referring to her visit to L.A.
Jeff Ricketts
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Jeff Ricketts played Weatherby in 4.15 This Year’s Girl and 4.16 Who Are You?. A regular member of the Buffyverse, he has appeared in Angel as Weatherby, and he also played the Spider Monster in Angel’s season four episode 4.20 Sacrifice. Jeff played Malcolm in Amber Benson’s movie Chance. He also appeared in a couple of episodes of Joss Whedon’s Firefly. He has also appeared in Holes and Clockstoppers.
Kevin Owers
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Kevin Owers, who played the Watcher’s Council’s Smith in Buffy and Angel, also appeared in Ballad of the Nightingale and Titanic. He has been in The West Wing.
Lost Weekend
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Buffy says to Giles in 2.08 The Dark Age:
“I care from you Lost Weekend-ing in your apartment!”
The Lost Weekend (1945) is a film about the effects of alcoholism on a man’s life. It was based on a novel of the same name by Charles R. Jackson. The movie won Academy Awards for best picture, best actor (Ray Milland), best director (Billy Wilder) and best screenplay (Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett).
When Faith is channel-surfing in Angel’s apartment in 1.19 Sanctuary, one of the films seen is The Lost Weekend.
Sarah’s Sanctuary
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Sarah Michelle Gellar was away shooting the Angel episode 1.19 Sanctuary during the filming of 4.18 Where The Wild Things Are which is why we see so little of her in that episode.
So long, Buffy
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1.19 Sanctuary was the last episode in which Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared in Angel. The character of Buffy appeared in the season five episode 5.20 The Girl In Question but it was just a blonde head we saw and it not Sarah.
At the end of the episode, Wesley asks Angel is he wants to go after Buffy after their argument and he says yes. This is what leads to Angel appearing in Sunnydale in the Buffy episode 4.20 The Yoko Factor.
Superman
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Comicbook hero Superman has been epitomised in many comics (by DC Comics), movies, TV shows (eg. Lois and Clarke, Smallville - in which James Marsters played Brainiac), cartoons (eg. The Adventures of Superman) and even a musical. He and the world he lives in have been referenced many times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel:
- 1.05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date: Buffy says, “even Clark Kent has a job”, alluding to Superman’s alter-ego.
- 2.05 Reptile Boy: Xander’s chances of ever belonging to a fraternity of rich and powerful men are rubbished by Cordy as likely only “in the Bizarro world.” The Bizarro world is a weird, back-to-front version of the real world in Superman.
- 2.11 Ted: Cordelia says of Buffy, “But she’s like this Superman.”
- 3.09 The Wish: Cordelia says to vamps Willow and Xander:
“No. No! No way! I wish us into Bizarro Land, and you guys are still together?! I cannot win!”
- 3.12 Helpless: Oz and Xander discuss which colour Kryptonite hurts Superman. Writer David Fury said in his DVD commentary for the episode that he wasn’t sure which Kryptonite was which so wrote this scene as such.
- 3.13 The Zeppo: there are a few references to Superman: Xander’s line, which he acknowledges as a “Jimmy Olsen joke”:
“But, gee, Mr White, if Clark and Lois get all the good stories I’ll never be a good reporter”
He also name-checks the Daily Planet’s editor Perry White, Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, and his colleague Lois Lane. Cordelia’s jibe “You must feel like Jimmy Olsen” is another reference to the Daily Planet’s youngest photographer.
- 4.11 Doomed: Forrest says to Riley,
“Granted they’re a little rarer than the one’s you grew up with on that little farm in Smallville.”
Smallville, Kansas, was the small town where Clark Kent (Superman) grew up.
- In 4.17 Superstar, Xander mentions Kryptonite again.
- 5.02 Real Me: Xander says, “She can turn this place into the fortress of solitude again”. Superman built the Fortress of Solitude in the North Pole as a place where he could relax and keep his souvenirs.
- 6.11 Gone: Andrew mentions Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor. Buffy also mentions Bizarro World again.
- 6.21 Two To Go: Andrew says:
“Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man Treasury edition”.
- 7.10 Bring On The Night: Andrew says, “An evil name should be something like Lex” He’s referring to Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor.
- 1.19 Sanctuary: While Faith flips through the channels, we briefly see a Superman cartoon.
- 1.21 Blind Date:
Wesley: “The human eye is only capable of registering a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. But if Brewer were somehow equipped to see outside that range…”
Cordelia: “She’d be Superman.” - 4.02 Ground State: Gwen says “what are you, Lex Luthor?” to Elliott when she finds out he’s double-crossed her.
- 5.10 Soul Purpose: Lindsay references Superman when he’s talking about Spike:
“I mean, he hasn’t sewn a big red S on his chest yet, but he’s getting there.”
- 5.12 You’re Welcome: Cordelia ends her seeming obsession with the Bizarro world when she says:
“What Bizarro-world did I wake up in?”
Taciturn man
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Angel and Oz are both referred to as ‘taciturn men’ in Buffy and Angel. Tactiturn means “1. inclined to silence; reserved in speech 2. dour, stern and silent in expression and manner” per the Random House College Dictionary.
In the Buffy episode 3.17 Enemies, Buffy is wondering how Angel felt about kissing Faith. Willow offers the following advice, referring to both Oz and Angel as taciturn men:
“Buffy, I, too, know the love of a taciturn man, and you have to look at their actions.”
In Angel season one, 1.19 Sanctuary, Angel yells at Buffy for getting angry that he helped Faith. After she leaves, Angel says:
“For a taciturn, shadowy guy - I’ve got a big mouth.”
The X Files
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The X Files was an influential TV show (1993-2002) following two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who investigate the unexplained. It has been mentioned in the Buffyverse on several occasions:
- In 1.06 The Pack, Buffy accuses Giles of trying to “Scully” her (Scully was sceptical about Mulder’s supernatural beliefs).
- In 4.02 Living Conditions, Buffy says about Kathy, “You’re right. Ooh! She’s even affecting my work, now. She’s the Titanic. She’s a crawling black cancer… She’s… other really bad things.” The “crawling black cancer” line is likely a reference to The X-Files. In the show, it’s an alien liquid organism which looks like oil. When someone is first infected by the black substance, it crawls up the body like bugs under the skin.
- In 6.05 Life Serial, the trio of nerds test Buffy using different methods, one of which being a time loop. Warren mentions a similar plot in an X Files episode “where the bank kept exploding”. The episode was called ‘Monday’ and was during season six of the show.
- In 6.11 Gone, Buffy says, “Xander and Anya are working on it. Mulder-ing out what happened.”
- The events of the episode 6.16 Hell’s Bells are similar to The X Files episode ‘Synchrony’, in which an elderly man travels back in time to try and stop his younger self (and others) from committing an act which will affect his future self. Perhaps Stewart Burns got his inspiration for his revenge on Anya from that episode? In addition, the actor who played the elderly man in ‘Synchrony’ was Michael Fairman, who also played Adelai Niska in Joss Whedon’s show Firefly.
- In the Angel episode 3.02 That Vision Thing, writer Jeffery Bell included a reference to a creature he created for The X Files episode “Alpha” called a Wanshang Dhole. Wesley says, “I think we might be looking either at a Wan Shan Dhole or a Cantonese Fook-beast”.
- In 1.19 Sanctuary, the following conversation takes place:
Kendrick: “Come on Kate. Everyone knows you’ve gone all Scully. Anytime one of these weird cases crosses anyone’s desk, you’re always there. We used to be friends - what’s going on with you?”
Kate: “Scully’s the sceptic”.
Kendrick: “Huh?”
Kate: “Mulder’s the believer, Scully’s the sceptic.”
Kendrick scratches his head: “…Scully’s the chick, right?” - The X Files returned the favour in it’s season nine episode ‘Daemonicus’ by referencing Buffy with the following dialogue:
Scully: “For the past eight years I was part of a unit known as the X-Files. Some of you may have heard of it.”
Cadet: “Ever slay a vampire?”
Scully: “Sorry to disappoint you, but this is a course in forensic pathology. Hard science. An X-File is a case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Bureau, because such a case cannot be solved it may beg other explanations… a vampire, perhaps.” - Buffy was referenced in the video game The X Files: Resist or Serve in the following conversation between Mulder and Scully:
Dana Scully: “Just because these girls have a high school fascination with witchcraft it doesn’t mean they’re raising the dead”.
Fox Mulder: “Saw them do it on Buffy“.
Throwing Faith off a roof
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In 1.19 Sanctuary, Buffy and Faith flee to the roof trying to escape Collins, Weatherby and Smith. The following is from a discussion between the two Slayers:
Buffy: “You’re not gonna run, Faith.”
Faith: “What do you wanna do? You’re gonna throw me off the roof - again?”
Buffy: “Any reason why I shouldn’t?”
This is a reference to their fight in Graduation Day, Part One. However, Buffy did not throw Faith off of the roof. Faith jumped so that Buffy could not feed her to Angel.
Weatherby, Smith and Collins
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Weatherby, Smith and Collins were tough members of the Watcher’s Council who helped to abduct Faith (not knowing Buffy was occupying her body) in 4.16 Who Are You?. They intended to take the Slayer to England to be reprimanded, but she escaped using their van.
[Goof] Dartboard
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When Wesley is throwing darts in the bar in 1.19 Sanctuary, the dartboard is black and white, but when he goes to take the darts out of the board, the dartboard is coloured.