Episode Trivia
Age of Angel
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
Angel revealed to Buffy that he was 241 years old in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. He also said this in 2.05 Reptile Boy. This means he would have been born in 1755 or 1756. In 2.06 Halloween, Willow states that Angel was eighteen in 1775. But in 2.21 Becoming (Part One) we see that he was made into a vampire in 1753, even though by previous reckonings he wouldn’t have been born yet. It’s all very confusing, but Joss Whedon has admitted that he’s terrible at maths, so I’ll leave it at that.
Amanda Wilmshurst
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Amanda played Sunnydale High’s head cheerleader, Joy, in 1.03 The Witch and 2.02 Some Assembly Required. Amanda appeared in American Pie 2 (with Alyson Hannigan), Never Been Kissed and Port Charles.
American Red Cross
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An American Red Cross poster can be seen in 2.02 Some Assembly Required, posted on a bulletin board in the high school library.
Angelo Spizzirri
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Angelo Spizzirri played Chris Epps in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. He has also been in Thanks to Gravity, Underclassman, Pretty Persuasion, Jesus, Mary and Joey, The Rookie, Groove and Rocket’s Red Glare.
Batman
details | 5 comments | suggested by Jess
The comic Batman, by DC Comics, is mentioned several times in Buffy.
- In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Buffy alludes to the ‘Bat-Signal’ in Gotham city which is used to alert Batman that he is needed when she says to Willow:
“Sorry to interrupt, Willow, but it’s the Bat-Signal.”
- In the Batman comics, Catwoman is a cat-burglar, and the alter ego of Selina Kyle. In 2.06 Halloween, Xander says to Cordelia:
“Catwoman, you’re with me.”
- The Batcave was Batman’s high-tech base and Alfred was his loyal butler. In 4.20 The Yoko Factor, Xander says:
“You and Willow go do the superpower thing, I’ll stay behind and putt around the Batcave with crusty old Alfred here.”
- The nerds’ freeze ray gun in 6.09 Smashed may have been inspired by Batman’s Mr Freeze, who used a similar device.
- In 7.02 Beneath You, Spike refers to the 1960s TV show Batman in which Batman and Robin would slide down poles to the Batcave when they were needed when he says:
“A little touchy-feely, and you’re off to the Batpoles?”
- In 7.10 Bring On The Night, Andrew mentions Batman’s foe The Riddler:
“You think I’m a super-villain like Dr. Doom or Apocalypse or The Riddler. But I admit I went over to the dark side but just to pick up a few things and now I’m back. I’ve learned. I’m good again.”
- Vincent Schiavelli, who played Jenny’s uncle in 2.13 Surprise and 2.14 Innocence played the Organ Grinder in the movie Batman Returns.
- In the Angel episode 1.02 Lonely Hearts, Doyle refers to the Bat-signal, saying:
“It’s not like you have a signal folks can shine in the sky whenever they need help, you know?”
- In 1.03 In The Dark, Spike says of Angel:
“Quickly to the Angelmobile, away.”
- In 1.05 Rm W/A Vu, Cordy says:
“They gave it to a blonde that showed up in a skintight leather cat suit. She is supposed to be a housewife. She looked ridiculous. She looked like cat-woman taking out the cat-trash.”
- In 1.12 Expecting, Cordelia smudges her lipstick across her face and says (referencing Batman’s nemesis):
“And now I look like the Joker.”
- In 3.21 Benediction, Lilah says of Connor (referring to the name often given to Batman’s sidekick, Robin):
“Who’s the boy wonder?”
- In 4.02 Ground State, when the gang are climbing the gates to get into the auction house, Gunn says:
“This is so much harder than it looks on Batman”.
- In 5.19 Time Bomb, Hamilton says:
“It’s a business, boys, not a Batcave.”
Cathy Ryan
details | 2 comments | suggested by emersoneells
Cathy Ryan was a member of the Fondren High Pep Squad with Meredith Todd and Jane Atkins. All three girls were killed in a car accident. Chris Epps and Eric dug up her body in order to create a girlfriend for Daryl Epps in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Cathy Ryan (same spelling) is also the name of a character in a series of novels by Tom Clancy. She is a doctor who is married to Jack Ryan who serves in the series at various times as CIA Director, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the United States.
Chris Epps
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Chris Epps was a talented Sunnydale High School student who won the Science Fair every year. His brother Daryl was killed in a rock climbing incident and Chris brought him back from the dead. Chris and his friend Eric attempted to create a zombie girlfriend for Daryl out of dead girls’ body parts in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Cyrano de Bergerac
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In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Giles tries to think of a way to ask Jenny Calendar on a date. Overhearing him, Buffy suggests he say:
Buffy: “Hey, I got a thing, you maybe have a thing, maybe we could have a thing.”
Giles: “Oh, thank you, Cyrano.”
This is a reference to the character Cyrano de Bergerac in Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play. Cyrano was an eloquent poet and swordsman whose only flaw was his insecurity about his large nose. He helps his friend Christian woo the beautiful Roxanne by giving him the right words to say to Roxanne, even though Cyrano is in love with Roxanne himself.
Daddy
details | 12 comments | suggested by Jess
Jenny Calendar tells Giles “Call me Jenny, Miss Calendar is my father” in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. I originally put this in the goofs section but ‘The Demon Alfalfa’ pointed out to me that this ‘mistake’ was probably intended by the Buffy writers, as it could be a clever take on the old saying usually said by men. By having a woman use it with the feminine pronoun it becomes a quirky language joke. Also, as Ms. Calendar’s father was not named Calendar (he would have been Kalderash), it’s more likely to be a genuine play on words.
Daryl Epps
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Daryl Epps was Sunnydale High’s football star who once dated Cordelia. He died in a rock climbing accident, but his brother, Chris, brought him back from the dead. Daryl was so disfigured that he refused to go out. Chris and Eric attempted to make him a girlfriend from dead girls’ bodies, but Buffy stopped them in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. Daryl was killed again in a fire when he refused to leave his new (headless) girlfriend.
David Koneff
details | 1 comment | suggested by emersoneells
David Koneff was the set decorator for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has also been set decorator for Firefly, The Inside and CSI: Miami as well as several movies.
David’s name was immortalised in Buffy in the form of a tombstone in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. According to the stone, he was a Sunnydale resident who died in 1963. This can be seen when Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles are digging up graves checking for bodies.
Eric Gittleson
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Eric helped his friend Chris Epps to create a girlfriend for Chris’s zombie brother Daryl. When Chris tried to back out of the project, Eric decided to attempt it himself, before being stopped by Buffy in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Fondren High
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Fondren High (a rival school to Sunnydale High) was mentioned in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Footballers
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
Giles and Jenny continue their unconventional romance by going on a date to a school football game in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. How very romantic.
Frankenstein
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, was first published in 1818, but the story of Frankenstein’s monster has been retold numerous times.
- 2.02 Some Assembly Required: Daryl Epps is brought back to life by his brother, who then sets about making a ‘girlfriend’ for him using the body parts of various dead girls.
- The villain of season four, Adam, was clearly based on Frankenstein’s monster. Professor Walsh created him to be a super-monster, made of different demons and humans. Although Shelly never named Victor Frankenstein’s monster in the book, she did at times refer to him in talk as “Adam,” obviously referencing the story of Adam and Eve from The Bible. Buffy’s Adam definitely parallels Shelly’s Adam: Both monsters were built out of a pure want to do good and help people, but the monster turns and becomes a killing menace.
- 4.04 Fear, Itself: Giles says, “It’s alive!”, which is from the 1931 movie Frankenstein.
- 4.05 Beer Bad: Buffy’s “Fire bad” line comes from the 1931 movie. The monster in the movie (played by Boris Karloff) is chased by angry villagers with torches, when he shouts, “Fire Bad!”
- 4.14 Goodbye Iowa: the shot with Adam and the little boy is an homage to the 1931 movie Frankenstein. When Frankenstein’s monster escapes, he walks through a forest and comes upon a little girl, Maria, who is throwing flowers into a pond. The monster joins her in the activity but soon runs out of flowers. At a loss for something to throw into the water, he looks at Maria and moves toward her. In all American prints of the movie, the scene ends here. But as originally filmed, the action continues to show the monster grabbing Maria, hurling her into the lake, then departing in confusion when Maria fails to float as the flowers did. This bit was deleted because Karloff - objecting to the director’s interpretation of the scene - felt that the monster should have gently put Maria into the lake. This scene is restored in the video cassette reissue. Both monsters were created using body parts from other people/demons and both encountered a child and expressed curiosity, which ended in the child’s death.
- 5.16 Shells: Gunn says:
“Everything you know, or there won’t be enough of you left to stitch back together, Frankenstein.”
- 5.04 Hell Bound: Nina says to Angel:
So, what? You’re, like, a Frankenstein?
Gene and Roger
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In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Buffy says:
“Then if you wouldn’t mind a little Gene and Roger…”
She’s referring to Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times who are two famous film critics in America.
Ingo Neuhaus
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Ingo Neuhaus played Daryl Epps in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. Ingo played Rick in Weird Science and has also been in L.A. Confidential, The Rock and Monster Makers.
It’s a puzzle
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
The French title for the episode 2.02 Some Assembly Required is Le Puzzle.
Jane Atkins
details | 2 comments | suggested by emersoneells
Jane Atkins was one of the of three high school girls from Fondren High who died in a car accident. Chris and Eric dug up her body in order to create a girlfriend for Daryl Epps in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Joy
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Joy was the head cheerleader at Sunnydale High School, seen organising the try-outs in 1.03 The Witch. She also appeared in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Melanie MacQueen
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Melanie MacQueen played Chris and Daryl’s mother, Mrs. Epps, in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. She has also been in Mousehunt, The Tie That Binds, Doc Hollywood, Robotech (voice of Lisa Hayes) and Nightkill.
Meredith Todd
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Meredith was one of the of three high school girls from Fondren High who died in a car accident. Chris and Eric dug up her body in order to create a girlfriend for Daryl Epps in 2.02 Some Assembly Required.
Michael Bacall
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Michael played Eric in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. Michael has made numerous TV appearances, in shows such as NYPD Blue, Norm, Relativity, The Wonder Years, Mr. Belvedere and Bull (which starred Christopher Wiehl, who played Owen in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date). Michael also played Perry in Free Willy.
Mrs. Epps
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Mrs. Epps was the mother of Chris and Daryl Epps, seen in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. She was greatly affected by Daryl’s death and when Buffy visited her house, she found Mrs. Epps watching old tapes of Daryl’s sports achievements.
My Girl
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Eric sings “My Girl” in 2.02 Some Assembly Required, a song written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White in 1965. The Temptations did a famous Motown cover of the song.
Razorbacks roster
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A roster of the Sunnydale High School Razorbacks football team is shown in 2.02 Some Assembly Required:
15-Jack
17-Gold
32-Burke
33-Unknown
37-Lewis
38-Roll
47-Unknown
54-Kueshick
54-Maverick
58-Unknown
61-Kauten
66-Unknown
67-Curtis
70-Nelson
71-Trueba
80-Courtney
81-Unknown
82-Russell
87-Unknown
92-Delautour
98-Cox
Scooby Cordy
details | add a comment | suggested by Jess
The first seeds are sown for Cordelia’s future relationship with Xander when he saves her from the burning science lab in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. She thanks him but he’s too busy asking Willow why he can’t get a date to listen to her. Cordy is almost part of the gang at that point - they even invite her to dig up bodies with them.
Stephan Korchak
details | add a comment | suggested by emersoneells
Stephan Korchak was a Sunnydale resident who was killed and then sired by a vampire. At the beginning of 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Buffy is waiting at his grave in a Sunnydale cemetery for him to rise. He subsequently rises as a vampire and Buffy makes short work of him staking him with a shovel handle.
Ty King
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Ty wrote the episodes 2.02 Some Assembly Required and Passion. His full name is David Tyron King. Ty has also written for Family Ties, Newhart and Heart’s Afire.
Unappreciative Xander
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In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Xander states, “People don’t fall in love with what’s right in front on them. They want the dream. The more unattainable, the more attractive.” In 2.15 Phases, Willow says a similar thing, ironically about Xander: “He’s so busy looking around at everything he doesn’t have, he doesn’t even realize what he does have.”
Zombie influences
details | 6 comments | suggested by Fustar
In its portrayal of zombies Buffy the Vampire Slayer draws on a wealth of (predominantly) cinematic material. Essentially, the cinematic zombie falls into three categories: the Haitian zombie, Frankenstein’s monster zombie and the Romero zombie.
- The Haitian Zombie: The classic depiction. The Haitian Zombie is an individual who has either been brought back from the dead or revived from a drug-induced death-like trance by a Voodoo priest. The revived individual lacks free-will and is used by the priest as a slave. This traditional type was pretty much the standard in early cinematic depictions of zombification, and was (perhaps) best used in Val Lewton / Jacques Tourneur’s excellent I Walked with a Zombie (1943). Though the zombies of 3.13 The Zeppo (and Buffy herself) may initially seem to fit the bill (they were all revived by occult means) they are quite distinct, as they obviously have free will, a sense of self and do not have a ‘Master’. The (never seen) ‘Zombie Joyce’ from 5.17 Forever may be closer to the mark, as it was suggested that she would be a mindless shell. I guess the lumbering, subservient zombies of 3.02 Dead Man’s Party are the closest we get to Haitian lore in Buffy. They respond to their master and are clearly little more then slaves. Having said that, they owe much (at least visually) to the ‘Romero Zombie’ (see below).
- The ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ Zombie: Obviously this type of zombie share’s little with its Haitian variant as it is a product of science/medicine and not magic. In addition, since it is a composite (made up of parts from different individuals, beings etc), its identity is necessarily a bit muddled. Depictions of such creatures therefore tend to focus on its quest for a sense of self. Adam is an obvious enough Buffyverse example, and (as is common for such creatures) was concerned with understanding himself and the world around him. The ‘bride’ that was being built for Daryl in 2.02 Some Assembly Required, is typically ‘Frankensteinian’ and is a clear nod to James Whale’s seminal Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
- The ‘Romero Zombie’: While it may be a simplification to credit George Romero with the (sole) creation of the stereotypical modern cinematic zombie, using his name is a handy way of explaining the type, and Night of the Living Dead (1968) may be the first depiction of the kind . This type gets reanimated through a variety of (often ludicrous) means and is the one we are probably most familiar as we’ve seen it everywhere from Dawn of the Dead (1978) to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. They lumber about, they wear the torn outfits they were buried in, they are often badly decomposed, they travel in packs, they eat human flesh or brains, they seem to have only rudimentary cognitive skills etc. I think the wanting Braaaaaaaiiiinnnnsss thing originated with Dan O’Bannon’s hilarious 1985 effort Return of the Living Dead, but it’s become an accepted zombie characteristic by now. In terms of the overall aesthetic of the zombies, nearly all of the Buffy examples owe a debt to this type (Forrest and Walsh, the 3.02 Dead Man’s Party gang, Jack O’Toole’s buddies etc). None wanted brains though, how disappointing.
[Goof] Extra extra
details | add a comment | suggested by Mullsen
In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, near the beginning of the episode, you can see a girl in a red top and short skirt as she walks behind Willow (when she’s writing down her science project). A few seconds later we see Eric walk down the stairs, towards Willow, and the same girl is walking down the stairs next to him. Then he takes Willow’s picture and the girl is suddenly behind her, walking out the door. When Buffy shows up the girl is walking up the stairs, but we never saw her come in again.
[Goof] Greenbacks
details | 1 comment | suggested by Magic Malcolm
The Sunnydale High football team are called the Razorbacks. Principal Flutie states this in 1.06 The Pack, and the little flags that Giles carries in 2.02 Some Assembly Required even say ‘Razorbacks’ on them. Why, then, are Cordelia and the other Sunnydale High cheerleaders cheering for the ‘Greenbacks’? The name can even be seen in the subtitles for the scene.
[Goof] Photo montage
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
None of the prints of Cordelia or Buffy in Eric’s montage in 2.02 Some Assembly Required correspond with the poses the girls made when Eric took the photos.
[Goof] The empty grave
details | 5 comments | suggested by Jess
There are a few errors when Buffy falls into the open grave in 2.02 Some Assembly Required. Firstly, the walls of the grave seem to be too neat to have been dug with shovels. Secondly, why did Chris and Eric leave the grave uncovered and the coffin open? It would be too easy to find out there had been grave-robbing going on. Lastly, there is no earth next to the grave - did Chris and Eric take it with them?