Episode Trivia
Alcohol
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Drinking alcohol in Buffy the Vampire Slayer has always been frowned upon, though the rules were relaxed slightly as the Scoobies got older. The general rule is: if you have a drink, something bad is going to happen to you. Here are some examples of this rule:
- In 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, Xander is the first of the Scoobies to drink alcohol. He has a sip of Martini given to him by Natalie French who is really a giant preying mantis in disguise. The drink has been drugged and he passes out. When Xander awakes he only narrowly escapes mating with and being killed by the mantis.
- In 2.05 Reptile Boy, Buffy and Cordelia go to a frat house party where they drink alcohol which has (again) been spiked. They pass out and awaken in a basement, ready to be sacrificed by Machida.
- In 2.08 The Dark Age, Giles gets busy with the whiskey and then his girlfriend gets possessed by Eyghon the Sleepwalker.
- In 3.08 Lover’s Walk, Spike returns to Sunnydale and gets extremely drunk, he awakes in the morning when sunlight touches his hand, which goes up in flames.
- In 4.09 Something Blue, Willow’s friends freak out a bit too much when they see she’s drinking - GASP! - low-alcohol beer. She’s reminded by Buffy that when she got drunk she turned into a cave woman (in 4.05 Beer Bad). Willow later does a spell which makes her will be done, causing havoc for her friends.
- 4.05 Beer Bad: the episode title says it all. Buffy drinks beer and literally turns into a Neanderthal.
- In 6.05 Life Serial, Buffy and Spike go drinking together and Buffy is really ill. She then tells Giles about how she’s messing up (though in fairness this started before she was drinking!)
- The Bronze serves alcohol but the rules are very strict about the age limit. Underage people have to wear a stamp on their hand so they won’t get served (Dawn in 5.06 Family) and when Anya tries to get a beer in 3.16 Doppelgangland, she’s asked for ID.
- The rules are later relaxed and finally, in 6.14 Older And Far Away, Buffy celebrates her 21st birthday, meaning she can now legally drink alcohol, though we saw her previously drinking beer in 6.13 Dead Things.
Angel’s jacket
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The first true hint of a chemistry between Buffy and Angel developed as he gave her his leather jacket in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet - much to Xander’s annoyance. Buffy wore the jacket in several subsequent episodes (such as 1.06 The Pack), even as late as the third season (3.04 Beauty And The Beasts).
Blayne Mall
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Blayne Mall was a vain student in Buffy’s Science class who boasted to his friends of his many (invented) conquests with women. A giant Preying Mantis posing as a teacher, Natalie French, realised he was a virgin, and abducted him to use him as a mating partner in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. He was saved by Buffy and never seen again.
Bright or dark?
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In 1.04 Teacher’s Pet there is a conversation between Buffy and Giles about the weather:
Giles (looking at the sky): “God, every day here is the same.”
Buffy: “Bright, sunny, beautiful. How can we escape this torment?”
In the original script there was an alternate line in case it was raining, foggy or dark:
Giles: “Reminds me of home.”
Buffy: “Dark, dank, dreary. You must be so happy.”
Bruce Seth Green
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Bruce Seth Green directed several episodes in Buffy’s seasons one and two. He also directed the Angel episodes 1.03 In The Dark, 1.15 The Prodigal and 2.09 The Trial. Bruce is not a relation to Seth Green, despite their very similar names. Bruce has worked on Airwolf, Knight Rider, MacGyver, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, American Gothic, Gilmore Girls and V.
Cordy’s diet
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Cordelia asserted in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet that she eats her own special lunch but in 2.19 I Only Have Eyes For You, she is seen eating spaghetti from the school cafeteria. Maybe finding the headless body of Dr. Gregory put her off her special food?
Demon magnet
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Xander’s relationship with the praying mantis in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet is joked about in several later episodes, such as 1.08 I Robot, You Jane, 2.04 Inca Mummy Girl, 3.01 Anne (in which Cordelia says of Xander, “He’s always been attracted to monsters” and later mentions Ampata from 2.04 Inca Mummy Girl, calling her “some hot little Inca mummy girl”), 2.10 What’s My Line? (Part Two) and 4.09 Something Blue, when Willow says,
“Let’s look at your bio: Insect Lady, Mummy Girl, Anya… you’re a demon magnet.”
In 7.14 First Date, Xander says, “Another demon woman was attracted to me” after his date Lyssa turned out to be evil.
Dr. Gregory
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Dr. Gregory was a grey-haired Science teacher at Sunnydale High School. He was the first teacher to show confidence in Buffy (and not think she’s a felon). He was killed by Natalie French, the giant preying mantis in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, and his headless corpse was discovered by Cordelia in the school’s canteen. Dr. Gregory also appeared in the episode 1.03 The Witch.
First UK publicity
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer got it’s first UK publicity article for 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. The Radio Times’ satellite section described Buffy as “a sort of Beverley Hills 90210 meets The X-Files…”
Godzilla
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Godzilla is a massive, nearly invincible dinosaur/lizard-like creature with incredible strength and destructive fire. Godzilla has starred in 22 movies produced from 1954 to the present. Godzilla has been referenced in Buffy a few times. In 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, Xander says:
“We’re on Monster Island”
He’s referring to the island where Godzilla lives. Xander says in 2.05 Reptile Boy:
“Godzilla’s attacking downtown Tokyo! Aargh, Aargh!”
In 5.14 Crush, Harmony calls Drusilla “Droodzilla”, which is probably a reference to Godzilla.
In 7.18 Dirty Girls, Amanda says,
“Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla. How tough is he?”
This is a reference to the 1997 movie Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick which disappointed many fans (like Xander and Andrew).
In 2.11 Redefinition, Merl says:
“I heard about your girls - Godzilla, Darcilla, whatever”.
Jack Knight
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Jack Knight, who played the homeless guy in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, has also been in If, Catch Me If You Can, L.A. Confidential, Baby Face Nelson, Law and Order, Dead Man on the Run, The Long Goodbye, Street Time, NYPD Blue, JAG, Cheers, Diff’rent Strokes, CHiPs and Charlie’s Angels
Jean Speegle Howard
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Jean Speegle Howard played the ‘real’ Natalie French in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. She was the mother of freckly Hollywood director Ron ‘Happy Days’ Howard and had a small part (as Jim Lovell’s confused mother) in Howard’s 1995 space movie Apollo 13. Her husband, Rance Howard, played Marcus Roscoe in the Angel episode 3.04 Carpe Noctem.
Jean was in other shows such as Norm, Two of a Kind, Two Guys and a Girl (which also starred Nathan Fillion, who played Caleb in season seven), Unhappily Ever After, Ellen, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Married…with Children, Roseanne and Moonlighting. Jean died in September, 2000 from a heart and respiratory illness.
Lavelle
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Xander revealed to Natalie French in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet that his middle name is Lavelle.
Mantis Babies
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At the end of the episode 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, we see that there are insect eggs (presumably praying mantises like Miss French) in the store cupboard. They must have a long gestation period because, as far as we know, they never hatched.
Michael Ross Verona
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Michael Ross Verona played a teacher in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. He has also been in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Moving Violation and Candy Stripe Nurses.
Musetta Vander
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Musetta Vander played Natalie French in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. Raised in Durban, South Africa. Musetta started doing ballet when she was 4 and later qualified as a ballet teacher, like her mother. Musetta then got a BA in Communications and Psychology, and landed a job as anchor host for an MTV-type show in South Africa. Her future husband, Jeff Celentano, saw her on television, and after their wedding took her to Hollywood, where he lived. Musetta appeared in more than twenty music videos for artists including Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Elton John and Chris Isaak. Musetta later played a Siren in the Coen Brothers movie O, Brother Where Art Thou? She played Munita in Will Smith’s Wild, Wild West and a character called ‘Shan’auc’ in Stargate SG-1. Musetta also appeared in the opening credits of a season four Babylon 5 episode as ‘Felicia’, a Mars resistance fighter.
Natalie French/She-Mantis
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Natalie French was the name assumed by a giant Preying Mantis (a ‘She-Mantis’) in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. It took the form of a beautiful woman and mated with young virgin humans in order to hatch it’s eggs. The She-Mantis tried to mate with Xander and Blayne Mall but was killed by Buffy who distracted it with bat sonar then hacked it to pieces (1.04 Teacher’s Pet).
Price Jackson
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Price played Blayne Mall in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, one of the students seduced by the She-Mantis. Price played Morgan in Baywatch Nights and was Tom in Too Much Sex.
Razorbacks
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Sunnydale High’s sports teams were called the Razorbacks (first seen in 1.03 The Witch). They got a short lived piglet mascot called Herbert in 1.06 The Pack, but he was eaten by the hyena-people, including Xander.
In 7.09 Never Leave Me, you can see that Dawn has a Sunnydale Razorbacks flag on her wall. The team are seen again in the episode 7.06 Him.
Really bad person
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From the original script of 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, these lines was cut for length:
Buffy: “Dr. Gregory didn’t chew me out or anything. He was really cool. But Flutie showed him my permanent record. Apparently, I fall somewhere between Charles Manson and a really bad person.”
Willow: “And you can’t tell Dr. Gregory what really happened at you old school?”
Buffy: “I was fighting vampires? I’m thinking he might not believe me.”
Willow: “Yeah, he probably gets that excuse all the time.”
Cordelia (just arriving): “Here lies a problem. What used to be my table occupied by pitiful losers. Of course, we’ll have to burn it.”
Buffy: “Sad, you have so many memories here. You and Lawrence, you and Mark, you and John. You spent the better part of your ‘J’ through ‘M’ here.”
Rosenberg
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Willow’s surname is Rosenberg, discovered in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet.
Shot again
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If you look closely at the shot from outside the school early on in the episode (and use your zoom button on your DVD player!) you can see that the shot was actually taken from 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. Willow can be seen sitting on a bench wearing a red t. shirt and checked trousers, the same clothes she wore in the scene when the gang first see Natalie French in that episode. The same shot can also be seen in 1.10 Nightmares.
Superfine
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The band Superfine sang in the Bronze in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. The singer, Rob Grad, wasn’t very impressed with Xander when he approaches the stage. The band performed “Already Met You” (which appears on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack) and “Stoner Love” from their album Stoner Love.
The Exorcist
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The 1973 movie The Exorcist starred Linda Blair as a child named Regan who becomes possessed by a demon. The film was adapted from the horror novel by William Peter Blatty, and banned in the UK for more than fifteen years. It is referenced a few times in Buffy and Angel:
- In 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, Buffy says that Miss French’s head did a “full-on Exorcist twist”, referring to a famous scene in the movie.
- In 2.19 I Only Have Eyes For You, When Willow suggests an exorcism, Cordelia replies “Are you crazy? I saw that movie: even the priests died!”
- In 3.08 Lover’s Walk, Buffy says of her mother, “her head spun round and exploded” (to which Giles replies, “I’ve been on the Hellmouth too long. That was metaphorical, yes?”).
- In 4.02 Living Conditions, Xander says, “Are you saying that Buffy’s been doing a Linda Blair on us because Kathy’s been sucking her soul?” At the beginning of her possession in The Exorcist, Regan showed dramatic changes in her behaviour, just as Buffy did in 4.02 Living Conditions.
- Buffy name-checks The Excorcist in 7.10 Bring On The Night.
- In the Angel episode 1.14 I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Cordelia says, “I’m wondering if I should put plastic down. Angel, are you expecting any big vomiting here? Because I saw the movie.” Large parts of this episode are a nod to The Exorcist - in the book and movie, a Catholic priest dies in much the same way as Angel’s Father Fredricks.
The real Natalie French
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Natalie French was the name used by the She-Mantis in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. The real Natalie French was actually an elderly lady (born in 1907) who was a teacher, but retired in 1972. She lived at 837 Wheatherley Drive in Sunnydale.
Weatherley Drive
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The ‘real’ Natalie French in the episode 1.04 Teacher’s Pet lived at the address was 837 Weatherley Drive.
William Monaghan
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William played Buffy’s Science teacher Dr. Gregory in 1.03 The Witch and in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. He has also been in Felicity, Party of Five, The Practice, Starforce and Clinic E.
[Goof] Ant or beetle?
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Dr Gregory lectures to the class about ants in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. The slide on the screen as he’s teaching is of a tiger beetle.
[Goof] Machete Girl
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Buffy chops the giant preying Mantis to pieces with a machete in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. She then wipes the blade clean of insect goo on her trousers. We later see that her trousers are clean.
[Goof] Moving glasses
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In 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, Buffy puts Dr. Gregory’s glasses on the table but they keep moving. In the long shots, the glasses are open and near the plastic box but in the close-up shot, they are closed and in front of a book on the right side of the table. In the final shot, they’re back in their original position.
[Goof] Sleeves
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Ms. French’s sleeves move up and down her arms while she is making her insect sandwich in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet. They are rolled down when she makes the sandwich and are then up when she eats it.
[Goof] Willow’s hair
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When Miss French first comes to the school in 1.04 Teacher’s Pet, Buffy and Willow are sitting on the wall talking to Xander. The parting in Willow’s hair is on one side, then when she and Buffy walk into the classroom in a continuation of the same scene, her parting has jumped over to the other side of her head.