4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish

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Episode Trivia

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Apocalypse Now

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Apocalypse Now is a Vietnam war movie made in 1979, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on Conrad’s book The Heart of Darkness.
In 4.22 Restless, Xander brings a video of Apocalypse Now for the Scoobies to watch. Later, Xander dreams of the scene in the movie of the encounter between Lieutenant Willard (Martin Sheen) and Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in which Principal Snyder plays the role of the Colonel.
In 3.11 Gingerbread, Snyder says:

“I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning”

This is an adaptation of the famous line from the movie, when Lieutenant Colonel says, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning”.
A third Snyder-related reference to Apocalypse Now is in 1.09 The Puppet Show. At the end of the episode, we get to see the dramatic scene that Buffy, Willow and Xander perform. One of Xander’s lines is:

“Darkness! And horror of darkness.”

At that moment, the camera cuts to Snyder sitting in the audience. The most memorable line of Conrad’s book belongs to Kurtz (the character that Snyder spoofed in 4.22 Restless), who says, “The horror. The horror!”
The Angel episode title Apocalypse Nowish is a clear reference to the book and film.

Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston

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The following is from 4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish:

Lorne: “Hey, uh, call me kooky-pants, but maybe we could save the three rounds until after the Chuck Heston Plague-A-Thon cools off.”

This is a reference to Charlton Heston and his role as Moses in The Ten Commandments. The film touches of four of the Plagues of Egypt: Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn.
Charlton Heston is also mentioned in 3.04 Carpe Noctem. Angel and Fred go on a “date” to a double-feature of his movies.

Angel: “Am I the only one who read this?”
Wes: “Read what?”
Angel: “Charlton Heston. Double feature! At the Nu-art. Soylent Green and The Omega Man.”
Gunn: “Wow.”
Angel: “It’s two for one. Did I mention, Charlton Heston? Who’s in?”
Fred: “That sounds great!”

Then, later:

Fred: “And he opened every door for me and he paid for the tickets. And even bought a giant popcorn. And every few minutes he’d go like this. Because he wanted me to know it was okay for me to have some. And he’s so lonely because he’s the last man on earth.”
Wes: “Angel?”
Fred: “No! Charlton Heston. The Omega Man? Omega being the last letter of the Greek alphabet so it’s a metaphor. And he walks on the street side and not the building side. It’s old-fashioned, but kind of chivalrous, you know?”
Wes: “We’re back to talking about Angel.”
Fred: “Right.

Connor and Cordy

Connor and Cordy

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Vincent Kartheiser (Connor) spoke to the BBC about working with a pregnant Charisma Carpenter:

“Whenever you have some outside source affecting someone on the set, it’s going to have some sort of outcome that’s going to be different, but she was a great sport and would suck up the pain even though you could see that she was in it. She didn’t like really wearing her shoes to set, which I understand because I have sisters and [pregnant women’s] feet get so swollen.

I guess the only technical thing that came up was during our love scene. I was terrified because they were like, “Well you’re going to be on top,” and I was like, “Oh my God, she’s four months pregnant and I’m laying on top of this woman.” So I was hovering about two and a half feet over Charisma throughout the sex scene, just to make double sure that I wouldn’t harm her or her child.”

Connor’s age

Connor’s age

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There is an inconsistency when it comes to Connor’s age. From the third season’s finale, Tomorrow:

Cordelia: “I’m not telling your sixteen year old boy that.”

In 4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish:

Cordelia: “It’s called being 18. If you make it past 21, things get a lot better.”

This stems from the gang not knowing how long Connor was in the hell dimension.

L.A.

L.A.

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Executive producer David Greenwalt wrote the song, entitled ‘L.A.’, that Christian Kane (Lindsay) sings in the episode 2.18 Dead End. Here are the lyrics:

Pretty girl on every corner
Sunshine turns the sky to gold
Warm, warm, it’s always warm here
I can’t take the cold

Streets littered with diamond
Everyone is glistening
This whole world shines so brightly
I can’t see a thing

She is pretty as a picture
She is like a golden ring
Circles me with love and laughter
I can’t feel a thing

Sky’s gonna open
People gonna pray and crawl
Gonna rain down fire
Gonna burn us all

Sky’s gonna open
People gonna pray and sing
I can’t feel a thing

In 5.15 A Hole In The World, Lorne, Spike and Angel go to Lindsey’s apartment and find Eve there. Lorne tells Eve to sing for him and she sings a line from Lindsay’s song: “Pretty as a picture. She is like a golden ring”.

The lyric “Gonna rain down fire, gonna burn us all” could be a foreshadowing to 4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish, in which there is a literal rain of fire.

Lorne’s foody nicknames

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Lorne is fond of giving people nicknames. Many of these nicknames have been of the edible variety. He has called Angel:

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The Beast

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The Beast was a huge demon who was constructed entirely from rock. It had two distinct curved horns and bright yellow eyes. Cordelia began to see visions of The Beast, who eventually clawed it’s way up through the Earth, emerging at the very spot where Connor was born. The Beast was brought to Earth from a Hell dimension where it was previously banished in order to pave the way for Jasmine’s entrance to the Earth. A killing machine, The Beast easily beat Angel, Gunn and Lorne and massacred many residents of L.A. - including most of Wolfram & Hart. The Beast conjured a rain of fire over Los Angeles, during which Cordelia and Connor made love - resulting in Jasmine’s conception.
By order of it’s master - who was secretly Cordelia - The Beast killed the Mesekthet, a member of an order of mystical beings known as the Ra-Tet, who was disguised as a little girl at W&H. It then hunted down and killed other members of the Ra-Tet - Ma’at, Ashet and Semkhet. The final Ra-Tet, Manjet, was killed by a possessed Cordelia in secret. The Beast pieced together the remains of the Ra-Tet - the metal wings from Ashet and Semkhet, the heart of Ma’at, the orb from Manjet’s head and the dark energy of Mesekthet in order to block out the sun.
Believing that their only hope was in Angel’s evil alter ego Angelus, who had known The Beast in the past, Angel Investigations had a shaman remove Angel’s soul and turn him into his true vampire form. Angelus stabbed The Beast with a knife made from its own bones, as the only thing that could kill the Beast was the Beast itself. The death of the Beast undid the spell to eclipse the sun.

Vern Gillum

Vern Gillum

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Vern Gillum directed the Angel episodes 5.19 Time Bomb, 5.09 Harm’s Way, 4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish and 1.04 I Fall To Pieces.

He has also directed other TV shows including Firefly, The Big Easy, The Untouchables, Miami Vice, Profiler, Law & Order, Pros and Cons, ER, Prison Break, Walker, Texas Ranger, The Commish, Prey, Haunted, The Twilight Zone, JAG, Nash Bridges, Gabriel’s Fire, Baywatch and Under Suspicion.

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Vladimir Kulich

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Vladimir Kulich played The Beast during season four of Angel. Born in Prague, he began his acting career at the State Theatre of Czechoslovakia. Kulich speaks several languages fluently. He moved to to Canada and then the US, where he was cast in guest-starring television and feature roles. His most notable performance to date is as Buliwyf in The 13th Warrior.

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