Episode Trivia
A meeting
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Buffy’s mother Joyce met Hank Summers in her freshman year of college, when Joyce didn’t have a date and Hank did. She told this story to Buffy in 1.12 Prophecy Girl.
Buffy: “No, I can’t go to the dance.”
Joyce: “Says who? Is it written somewhere? You should do what you want. Homecoming, my freshman year of college. I didn’t have a date so I got dressed up and I went anyway.”
Buffy: “Was it awful?”
Joyce: “It was awful. For about an hour.”
Buffy: “Then what happened?”
Joyce: “I met your father.”
Buffy: “He didn’t have a date either?”
Joyce: “He did. And that’s a much funnier story that you will not get to hear. Oh, but it was a beautiful night!”
Activation
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Buffy’s death in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, albeit very brief, was enough to activate another Slayer, Kendra. The two met in season two’s 2.09 What’s My Line? (Part One). Giles said in that episode that the event was unprecedented.
After season one
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Having filmed all twelve episodes of season one before any were transmitted, the Buffy cast and crew had no idea how popular the show would turn out to be, or if they would be called back to film more episodes. Anthony Stewart Head even returned to the UK to play magician Adam Klaus in the BBC series Jonathan Creek. Luckily, the producers released him so that he could continue to play Giles when the show was picked up again.
All dressed up
details | 6 comments | suggested by Jess
Buffy’s mother bought her daughter a long white dress for the dance in 1.12 Prophecy Girl (a sacrificial garment, if I ever saw one - what was Joyce thinking?!) Everyone comments on it. At the end of the episode, when the gang are walking away, Angel says “I like your…”, and Buffy quips back “yeah, yeah. It was a big hit with everyone.” This was added in post production and wasn’t in the script.
Angel’s cross
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
Angel gave Buffy a cross necklace when he first met her in 1.01 Welcome To The Hellmouth. She can be seen wearing the necklace in 1.02 The Harvest and 1.12 Prophecy Girl. The cross is later seen in 2.14 Innocence, hanging on Buffy’s nightstand. She holds the cross for a moment before breaking into tears over the loss of Angel.
Angel’s number
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Where does Giles get Angel’s phone number from in 1.12 Prophecy Girl?
Bitten
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Several main characters have been bitten by vampires and survived:
- Buffy in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, 3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two) and 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula
- Willow in 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day
- Cordelia in 3.07 Offspring
- Dawn in 7.01 Lessons
- Wesley in 4.01 Deep Down
- Andrew (by Spike) in 7.09 Never Leave Me
Bloodier
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Alyson Hannigan claimed that she filmed a much stronger version of the scene in 1.12 Prophecy Girl where Willow and Cordelia discovered the bodies the students:
“We did the tame version for America and…a bloodier version that we thought we could get away with in Europe. We poured blood everywhere…It’s probably non-existent now.”
Bossy Xander
details | 4 comments | suggested by Jess
When Xander and Buffy go to a bench to sit down in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, Xander says to a guy on the bench, “move”. It seems very unlike him to do this, and for Buffy not to react to his uncharacteristic bossiness. It’s also weird that the guy moves - isn’t Xander supposed to be some kind of unpopular geek?
Catch the bolt
details | 1 comment | suggested by HarFang
Catching crossbow bolts in flight seems to be a national sport in the Buffyverse:
- The Master catches one, shot by Buffy, in 1.12 Prophecy Girl
- Buffy catches one, sprung by a booby-trap and aimed at Cassie, in 7.04 Help
- Angel catches one, shot by Faith, in 1.18 Five By Five
Chaste and tasteful
details | 4 comments | suggested by Abby M.
The following is a stage direction for 1.12 Prophecy Girl, in the scene in which Xander saves Buffy:
“A small moment, then Xander leans over Buffy. Closing his fingers over her nose, he gives her mouth to mouth. Puts the heels of his hands to her chest (need I mention this will all be terribly chaste and tasteful?) and pumps the heart rhythmically.”
Cordy’s car
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
Before her father was arrested for tax evasion, Cordelia drove a red Chrysler Sebring convertible, and her license plate was “QUEENC”. Cordelia passed her driving test sometime between 1.03 The Witch (when we discovered she hadn’t yet passed her test) and 1.12 Prophecy Girl (when we saw her driving.)
Dance With You
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Xander says to Buffy in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, “I want to dance with you”. His wish comes true when Buffy dances sexily with him in the very next episode - 2.01 When She Was Bad.
Dawn’s bedtime story
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The following scene showing Dawn telling the potential Slayers a story was deleted from 7.22 Chosen:
Dawn: “And the Master grabbed Buffy from behind and bit her. She tried to move, but he was too strong. He fed on her blood and tossed her in the water, cackling insanely as the bubbles rose around her and she slowly drowned to death.”
Vi: “Do you have any other stories?”
Dawn: “She gets up again. It’s very romantic. Guys, you gotta stop worrying. It’s Buffy. She always saves the day.”
She is referring to Buffy’s death at the hands of the Master in 1.12 Prophecy Girl.
Deathly white
details | 2 comments | suggested by Mel
Both times that Buffy has died, she was wearing white clothing.
In 1.12 Prophecy Girl she was wearing her white prom dress and in 5.22 The Gift she was wearing a white sweater and light coloured trousers.
Dreams can come true
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All of the visions in Buffy’s first prophetic dream in 1.01 Welcome To The Hellmouth are clips from later episodes from the first season. Most of the clips are from 1.01 Welcome To The Hellmouth and 1.12 Prophecy Girl.
First directions
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1.12 Prophecy Girl was the first episode to be directed by the show’s creator Joss Whedon.
Jonatha Brooke
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When Buffy looks at her photo album in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, we hear Jonatha Brooke’s “Inconsolable” from the album Plumb.
Joss Whedon’s favourite episodes
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon spoke to USA Today in May 2003 (after the final episode had aired) about his favourite Buffy episodes. They are as follows:
- 2.14 Innocence: “It’s a mission-statement show, and one of the ones where I first found out what we could do.”
- 6.07 Once More, With Feeling: “What am I going to say?”
- 4.10 Hush
- 5.16 The Body
- 3.16 Doppelgangland: “Because one Willow is certainly not enough.”
- 3.09 The Wish: “Very bleak, very fun. It went to a dark place, and that’s really exciting to me. That’s where I live.”
- 2.22 Becoming (Part Two): “Buffy loses everything. Also, it had a sword fight. I love sword fighting.”
- 4.22 Restless: “Most people sort of shake their heads at it. It was different, but not pointless.”
- 7.07 Conversations With Dead People: “I’m very fond of ‘Conversations with Dead People’. I just thought structurally and tonally it was very interesting and had a lot to say. And I got to write another song.”
- 1.12 Prophecy Girl: “Because that was my first time, besides telling directors what to do, that I actually got to direct. And it was the first time I got to kill Buffy, and the first season ender, and it was the first time I realized I could take everything we did in the season and tie it in a bow.”
Just say no
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In 1.07 Angel, Darla says:
“Come on, Angel. Just say yes.”
She’s paraphrasing the famous anti-drug message from the 1980s: “Just Say No”. It was first coined by Nancy Reagan, though British viewers may remember the kids from Grange Hill singing their version of the message.
In 1.12 Prophecy Girl, there is a ‘Just Say No’ poster behind Buffy when she talks to Xander after Buffy turned him down.
Kevin
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Kevin dated Cordelia in 1.12 Prophecy Girl but was killed by vampires in Sunnydale High school. His body was discovered by Cordelia and Willow.
Knocked out
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In 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula, Giles falls into Dracula’s basement, where he is surrounded by the sisters. After he falls he says, “Good show, Giles. At least you didn’t get knocked out for a change.” In 4.12 A New Man, Giles says he has a “tendency to get knocked on the head”. He’s not kidding. Giles has been knocked unconscious in the episodes:
- 1.03 The Witch (by vampires who want to raise the Master again)
- 1.05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date (by Andrew Borba in the crematorium)
- 1.12 Prophecy Girl (by Buffy, to stop him from trying to help her)
- 2.01 When She Was Bad (by the vampires attempting to raise the Master)
- 2.17 Passion (by Angelus, after Giles attacks him for killing Jenny)
- 2.21 Becoming (Part One) (by a group of vampires who take him to Angelus)
- 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts (shot with a tranquillizer gun)
- 3.05 Homecoming (by Lyle Gorch and Candy).
- 3.07 Revelations (by Gwendolyn Post, in his office)
- 3.11 Gingerbread (by the MOO mob as they come to take Buffy away. When Cordy wakes him up she says, “I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious… again. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, one of these times, you’re going to wake up in a coma.”)
- 3.18 Earshot (he doesn’t get knocked out in this episode - but he does walk into a tree in a very amusing manner)
- 6.04 Flooded (by the Mfashnik demon as it breaks ino Buffy’s house. Giles later says, “Well, I know I’m back in America now. I’ve been knocked unconscious”).
Life saver
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Xander saved Buffy’s life by giving her CPR after she drowned in 1.12 Prophecy Girl. He helped to bring her back from the dead again in Bargaining, Part One. In season seven’s End of Days he tells Buffy that if she dies again he’ll bring her back. “It’s what I do”.
Mark Metcalf
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Mark Metcalf, who played the Master, was born in Findlay, Ohio, in 1946. He has had numerous roles in TV and film, most notably in National Lampoon’s Animal House as Niedermayer and as The Maestro in Seinfeld. Mark has also been in Teen Angel, Ally McBeal, Star Trek: Voyager, Melrose Place, Party of Five and Hill Street Blues. He played the father in Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” video.
Master
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
The Master was an ancient vampire, who celebrated the Old Ones, a race of demons who walked the earth before humanity. These Old Ones were under the Hellmouth and it was the Master’s wish to free them and let them roam the Earth again. The Master sired Darla in the Virginia colony in 1609 and she joined his Order of Aurelius before leaving with Angel. The Master tried to open the Hellmouth in 1937, but a huge earthquake rocked the area, trapping most of the town, and the Master himself. He tried to get free several times and it wasn’t until Giles found a prophecy saying that Buffy would face the Master and die that he managed to free himself. Buffy confronted the Master, who drank her blood and threw her in a pool of water, killing her. The power the Master got from Buffy’s blood freed him and some tentacled monsters, and he headed into fresh air to cause some trouble. Luckily Buffy was given CPR by Xander and she managed to kill the Master by throwing him on some broken wood, staking him.
Master’s skeleton
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
When the Master is killed in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, only his soft tissue is dusted: his skeleton stays intact. There is no explanation for this other than as a plot device for the season two premiere 2.01 When She Was Bad.
Monster from Hell
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
The budget for filming 1.12 Prophecy Girl didn’t allow for any major CGI, so the Hellmouth’s monster eventually became a massive tentacled thing, made by Special Effects studio Optic Nerve. Each of the tentacles had a person inside it, operating it.
Patsy Cline
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Xander listens to country music (”the music of pain”) in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, after Buffy turns him down. His chosen track is Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces”. A season one episode of Angel was entitled 1.04 I Fall To Pieces after this song.
Fred sings Patsy Cline’s song “Crazy” at Caritas in 3.03 That Old Gang Of Mine (Cordelia: “I swear to God, she picked out the song herself”).
Pergamum Codex
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Angel met Giles for the first time in 1.11 Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight (”A vampire in love with a Slayer. It’s rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way.”) and revealed to the Watcher that he could get copies of the Tiberius Manifesto and the Pergamum Codex, which are key accounts of Slayer lore. The books proved vital to Buffy in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, as Giles discovered in them the prophecy that the Slayer would face the Master and die. In the season four episode of Angel 4.15 Orpheus, Willow was asked by Fred about the Pergamum Codex because it had some interesting stuff in it.
Portents
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In 1.12 Prophecy Girl, Jenny revealed that she knew the end of the world was coming because of a series of weird portents: a cat gave birth to a litter of snakes, a boy was born with his eyes facing inward and blood poured from the sink in the girls’ bathroom at the school.
Punching Giles
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Buffy punches Giles twice in the series: In 1.12 Prophecy Girl, to stop him preventing her from facing the Master, and in 2.17 Passion, after he attacks Angelus.
Same set
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In 3.19 Choices, when Buffy, Angel and Willow are on the rooftop of city hall, it’s the same rooftop from the season one episode 1.12 Prophecy Girl, when Buffy faces the master on the rooftop of the school, above the library.
Scott Gurney
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Scott played Kevin in 1.12 Prophecy Girl. He played Nick in Baywatch and has been in Malibu Shores (with Charisma Carpenter), 7th Heaven and Beverly Hills, 90210.
Star Trek
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There are many cast/crew links between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the long-running cult sci-fi show Star Trek. Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder) played Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for seven years. Dominic Keating, who played Blair in the episode 3.12 Helpless, later went on to star in Star Trek: Enterprise as Lt. Reed. Jennifer Hetrick, who played the teacher Ms. Moran in 3.05 Homecoming (whom Buffy asked for a reference) played the girlfriend of Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Buffy writer Jane Espenson wrote an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called ‘Accession’. Star Trek has also been referenced numerous times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- In 1.12 Prophecy Girl, upset by Giles’ reserve, Xander says:
“Calm may work for Locutus of Borg here, but I’m freaked and I intend to stay that way.”
He is referencing Star Trek’s emotionless cyborgs from the episode ‘The Best of Both Worlds’. Locutus was the name given to Captain Pickard (Patrick Stewart) when he was captured, and ‘assimilated’, by the Borg.
- In 3.05 Homecoming, Cordelia woos the nerds at Sunnydale High by saying:
“Are you kidding? I’ve been doing the Vulcan death grip since I was 4.”
In 3.15 Consequences, Cordy calls Wesley, “Giles the next generation” in a reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- In 5.04 Out Of My Mind, Buffy says:
“You’re like my fairy godmother and Santa Claus and Q all wrapped up into one… Q from Bond not Star Trek“.
- In 5.03 The Replacement, the two Xanders say, “Kill us both Spock” - a reference to a Star Trek episode where Kirk is split two - one being good and one bad.
- In 6.04 Flooded, the nerds vote with the Star Trek Vulcan salute, which is the same salute that Cordelia used to impress the ‘geeks’ in Homecoming.
- In 6.09 Smashed, Spike tells the nerds, “You can play holodeck another time” - he means the virtual reality technology used in Star Trek.
- The nerds compare Buffy’s time loop in 6.05 Life Serial with an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called ‘Cause and Effect’:
Andrew: “I just hope she solves it faster than Data did on the ep of TNG where the Enterprise kept blowing up.”
- In 6.15 As You Were, Buffy says. “they’re like really mean Tribbles”, referring to the popular, but quick breeding, pets on board the Starship Enterprise.
- After her visit to the nerds’ ‘lair’ in 6.12 Doublemeat Palace, Willow says that they had numerous pictures of the “Vulcan women from Enterprise“. She’s referring to Jolene Blaylock, who played T’pol in UPN’s Star Trek show.
- The episode 6.17 Normal Again is similar to the season five episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called ‘Far Beyond the Stars’. In that episode, Captain Benjamin Sisko imagines that he is a science fiction writer living on 1950s Earth and writing about a station full of aliens called Deep Space Nine. He hallucinates that the people he knows in the 1950s are futuristic aliens and is thrown into an asylum.
- In 6.19 Seeing Red, Andrew references Star Trek: The Next Generation when he discusses who’s boss of the nerds:
“Warren’s the boss. He’s Picard, you’re Deanna Troi. Get used to the feeling, Betazoid.”
Also in that episode, Xander realises that the nerds had love poems in their lair written in Klingon.
- In 7.07 Conversations With Dead People, we learn that Andrew learned Klingon (a language in Star Trek) from a dictionary in two and a half weeks.
- In 7.18 Dirty Girls, Andrew hilariously confuses Faith’s murder of a volcanologist with a Vulcan:
Andrew: “Nobody was immune to her trail of destruction. Not friends, not family, not even the most pacifist and logical of races…”
Amanda: “What the hell are you talking about? I thought Faith killed a volcanologist.”
Andrew: “Silly, silly Amanda. Why would Faith kill a person who studies Vulcans?” - From Sense and Sensitivity:
Cordy: “Mr. and Mrs. Spock need to mind meld now.”
Stoned
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
In a scene scripted for 1.12 Prophecy Girl but never filmed, it rains stones on Sunnydale High School after Buffy rejects Xander when he first asks her out:
Xander bails, wandering off under the archway.
Buffy sits by herself on the bench, bummed. Which is when the hail of pebbles starts.
The first few get Buffy’s attention, tiny hard pellets hitting the ground around her. She stands as more start coming down.
People - including Buffy - all run for cover as the real shower starts. Buffy stands under the archway, watching the hail come down.
Angle: Xander
Walking away, not near Buffy. He hears:
Student: “Check it out! It?s raining stones!”
Xander looks back over his shoulder.
Xander: “Figures.”
Three Little Pigs
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The cartoon playing in the school common room in 1.12 Prophecy Girl is Disney’s Three Little Pigs.
The song (unheard) the pigs are dancing to is “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf”.
TV-14
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2.08 The Dark Age was the first episode since 1.12 Prophecy Girl to be rated TV-14.
Vampire breath
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In 1.11 Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight, Angel saves Giles, Xander and Willow by turning off a leaky gas valve. He tells them:
“It’s not like I need the oxygen.”
This ties in with 1.12 Prophecy Girl, where Xander saves Buffy’s life using CPR as Angel is unable to because he can’t breathe. There have been numerous goofs where vampire have been seen panting when they shouldn’t be able to.
Weeds
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The pilot of the comedy Weeds, entitled ‘You Can’t Miss the Bear’, makes two possible Buffy references.
The first occurs in an exchange at a youth soccer game between teammates Deven and Shane after the latter drinks fruit punch, staining his lips red.
Deven: “Don’t even talk to me, weirdo.”
Shane: “Why? I was just trying to help.”
Deven: “I don’t need your help, lipstick.”
Shane: “Lipstick?”
Deven: “Your fruit punch lipstick. Fruit punch! It’s perfect. Fruit for the fruit. Or are you just pretending it’s blood? Because we all know how much you love the taste of blood. Is that it? Vampire!”
Shane: “Ok, I’m confused. Am I weirdo, lipstick, fruit punch, or vampire? You really need to pick an insulting nickname and stick to it.”
This may be a reference to 1.12 Prophecy Girl, in which Buffy informs the Master that he has “fruit punch mouth.”
The second reference occurs later in the episode after Shane and his older brother Silas discuss a television show called Bear Hunt with Silas‘ girlfriend Quinn.
Silas: “Think of the time this would save us on foreplay. You just whisper “shoot me in the optimum kill zone” and I’d be good to go.”
Quinn: “I could whisper linoleum and you’d be good to go.”
This may reference 2.14 Innocence, when Xander says to Cordelia:
“I’m seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.”
Wrong guy
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In 1.12 Prophecy Girl, Giles finally realises that the vampire Buffy killed in 1.05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date wasn’t the Anointed One. Oops.
[Goof] Angel breath
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
You can clearly hear Angel breathing heavily when he runs over to Buffy in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, but he then says he can’t resuscitate her as he has no breath. He also mentioned this in the previous episode 1.11 Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight, when he saved the Scoobies from the gassed boiler room.
[Goof] Buffy’s album
details | add a comment | suggested by Beckyxx
When Buffy is sitting on her bed looking through her photo album in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, it is clearly visible when she turns the page that the exact same pictures are used on both pages they have just been moved into different places.
[Goof] Buffy’s boots
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
When Buffy has her big fight with the Master on the roof in 1.12 Prophecy Girl you can see her white shoes. But later when she kicks him you see that she has on brown boots. When did she change?
[Goof] Buffy’s drowning
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
When Buffy drowns in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, she falls into the pool with her hair tied in a ponytail and her arms under her. When she is discovered by Angel and Xander, her arms are by her sides and her hair is loose.
[Goof] Cordy’s mouth
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
When Willow and Jenny get into Cordy’s car in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, Cordelia’s mouth doesn’t move when she’s talking, when we see her in the shot from behind.
[Goof] Giles’s calendar
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
The calendar in Giles’ office in 1.12 Prophecy Girl reads June, but everyone is getting ready for the May Spring Fling dance.
[Goof] Those things
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
Cordelia bites a vampire in 1.12 Prophecy Girl and says, “See how you like it.” In contradiction to that, Cordy just moments later, asks Willow and Jenny what “those things are”.
[Goof] Unknown shadow
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
When Buffy walks through the sewers in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, you can see the shadow of what seems to be a production member on the wall.
[Goof] Wrong dance
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
Willow, Giles and Jenny are talking about where the Hellmouth will open in 1.12 Prophecy Girl. They figure the Bronze and Willow says, “3.20 The Prom!”, the only problem, the dance was the Spring Fling.
[Goof] Xander’s bag
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
When Buffy and Xander sit down on the bench in 1.12 Prophecy Girl, the strap of Xander’s shoulder bag keeps moving in every shot. Sometimes it’s under his collar, sometimes it’s over the collar and in some shots the strap is not there at all.