Episode Trivia
Abbott & Costello, Yankees, A Team
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
Xander says in 2.20 Go Fish:
“Swim team. Hardly what I call a team. The Yankees, Abbott and Costello. The A. Those were teams.”
He’s referring to the comedy pairing of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, the baseball team The Yankees and 80’s action TV series The A Team.
Asthmatic Jonathan
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In the episode 6.21 Two To Go, Xander, Dawn, Jonathan, and Andrew are running from the Magic Box, when Jonathan stops and says:
“I just need to breathe.”
This could be a reference to 2.20 Go Fish, during which Jonathan states that he is asthmatic.
Beach
details | 2 comments | suggested by Jess
We discovered in 2.20 Go Fish that Sunnydale has a beach. That episode and the season five opener 5.01 Buffy Vs Dracula are the only episodes where the Scoobies were seen on the beach.
Buffy’s grey outfit
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The grey trousers and black top which Buffy wears in 2.20 Go Fish are seen again in 2.22 Becoming (Part Two).
Cameron Walker
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Cameron was a member of the school swim team. He had a date with Buffy, tried to grope her and ended up with a sprained wrist and bloody nose. He was the second member of the team to turn into a sea beast in 2.20 Go Fish.
Charles Cyphers
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Charles played the swim team coach in 2.20 Go Fish. Charles has been in loads of cult movies and TV shows. He’s appeared in many John Carpenter films such as Escape from New York, Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog. On TV he’s been in shows including The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels, The Dukes of Hazzard, Airwolf, and The New Adventures of Superman.
Chicken Little
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In 5.17 Underneath, Lorne says to Eve:
“Oh, calm down, chicken little. Nobody can lay a finger on you without Angel’s permission.”
Chicken Little (also known as The Sky Is Falling, Chicken Licken, or Henny Penny) is an old fable about a chicken who believes the sky is falling. The fable was animated by Disney in 1943 and 2005.
In 2.20 Go Fish, Cordelia says:
“Zippo. We couldn’t find any sea demon that matched the description that Xander gave us. Not that Chicken Little’s much of a witness, but…”
Coach Carl Marin
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Coach of Sunnydale High’s swim team who adapted Soviet research to dose his swim team with fish DNA, which eventually turned the boys into sea beasts. When the school nurse tried to stop him, the coach fed her to the sea beasts. He attempted to give Buffy to the beasts to satisfy their “other needs” but he ended up being attacked by the monsters himself (2.20 Go Fish).
Conchata Ferrell
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Conchata Ferrell, who played Nurse Greenleigh in 2.20 Go Fish, played Susan Bloom in LA Law, and was in True Romance, Erin Brockovich, Network and Edward Scissorhands. She plays Berta in Two and a Half Men.
Creature from the Black Lagoon
details | 1 comment | suggested by Jess
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a B-movie directed in 1954 by Jack Arnold. It’s is about a group on expedition to the Amazon who are menaced by a half-man, half-fish creature. In 2.20 Go Fish, Cordelia called the swim team monsters the “creature from the Blue Lagoon”, Xander corrected her saying it should be the “Black Lagoon”. The monsters that the swim team turned into in 2.20 Go Fish look as if their design was influenced by the movie.
Anya also referenced the movie The Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3.16 Doppelgangland:
“If she’s a vampire then I’m the Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
Dodd McAlvey
details | 5 comments | suggested by Jess
Dodd was the student who bullied Jonathan at a party (he dunked the nerd’s head in a bucket of water) at the beach and was stopped by Buffy. He was the best swimmer on the swim team, and the first to turn into a sea beast, after the Coach gave the team special steroids. Dodd’s ‘body’ was identified by the distinctive tattoo on the arm of the skin left behind when the monster erupted from him in 2.20 Go Fish.
Elin Hampton
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Elin Hampton co-wrote the episode 2.20 Go Fish with her husband David Fury. She also made a brief cameo in the Fury-directed episode 6.11 Gone, as a co-worker of Dorie at the Social Services office. Elin has also worked on Life’s Work, House of Buggin, The Jackie Thomas Show, Mad About You and Dream On.
Gage Petronzi
details | 3 comments | suggested by Jess
Gage Petronzi was a member of the school swim team, who Buffy tried to protect as she thought he may turn into a sea monster. Attacked by Angelus but the vampire let him go because he didn’t like the taste of the steroids in Gage’s blood. Gage was the third swimmer to turn into a sea beast in 2.20 Go Fish.
Jaws
details | 5 comments | suggested by Jess
Steven Spielberg’s 1975 shark movie Jaws is alluded to a few times in Buffy.
In 2.20 Go Fish, Xander says, “This was no boating accident” - which is a line from the first Jaws movie.
In 3.21 Graduation Day (Part One), Xander and Giles open a page of a book to see a giant monster they may have to face. Xander says:
“We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
This was the phrase used by Brody (Roy Scheider) in the movie when he first sees the size of the great white shark he’s hunting.
In the episode 3.01 Anne, Oz suggests that Willow uses the phrase “This time it’s personal” as it’s a “classic”. He’s quoting from the fourth Jaws movie.
Anya makes an explicit reference to the movie in 7.21 End Of Days when she suggests killing demons with gas cylinders:
“They’d only be useful if something big was attacking, and then we could shove one down their throat and blow ‘em up like Roy Scheider did with that shark in Jaws.”
In 7.19 Empty Places, Xander mentions the abysmal third movie in the Jaws series, made in 1983. After he loses his eye, Xander says:
“Oh, you know what the best part is? No one will ever make me watch Jaws 3-D again.”
In 5.10 Soul Purpose, whilst dissecting Angel in his dream, Fred holds up a Mexican license plate saying:
“Hmm. Came up the gulf stream, huh?”
This is a reference to the first Jaws movie, in which Hooper opens the dead shark and says, “Ah. Just like I thought. He came up with the Gulf Stream - from southern waters” before holding up a licence plate from Louisiana.
Jeremy Garrett
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Jeremy Garrett, who played the sleazy Cameron in 2.20 Go Fish, played Todd Wilkins in the TV version of Sweet Valley High. The part was previously played by Ryan Bittle who played Mitch in Out of Mind, Out of Sight.
Kept slaves
details | 2 comments | suggested by Mel
When Willow corrects Xander in 2.20 Go Fish, saying that it was Jefferson who wrote that all men are created equal, Cordelia says:
“Kept slaves, remember?”
However, her lips clearly say something else: “Kept slaves. Got any more?”, according to the script book. Cordelia’s line was dubbed in post-production.
Naked
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We hear Naked’s “Drift Away” playing in the background when Cordelia breaks up with Xander in 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered. In 2.20 Go Fish, we hear Naked’s song “Manns Chinese” being played at the beach party.
Nero’s Rome
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The song ‘Got the Love’ by Nero’s Rome plays as Xander walks through the school halls in 2.16 Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered. In 2.20 Go Fish, we hear their song ‘If You’d Listen’ as Buffy watches Gage at The Bronze. Both songs are from the album The Average White Band.
Nurse Ruth Greenleigh
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Nurse Ruth Greenleigh was the school nurse who helped the swim team coach to experiment on members of the swim team. She tried to stop him when she realized that the drugs were turning the boys into sea beasts but Coach Marin fed her alive to the creatures in 2.20 Go Fish.
Oreo cookies
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In 2.20 Go Fish, Willow says Oreo cookies have “chocolately-goodness”. This may be an in-joke as Alyson Hannigan once did a commercial for Oreo.
Shane West
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Shane West, who played Sean in 2.20 Go Fish, has also appeared in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, A Walk to Remember, and Dracula 2000. He plays Dr. Ray Barnett in ER.
Shaun
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Shaun was the last of the swim team members to become a sea beast, due to the Coach giving them steroids in 2.20 Go Fish.
Something to fall back on
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Willow taught Jenny’s computer science after she died in 2.17 Passion and continued to do so in 2.19 I Only Have Eyes For You, 2.20 Go Fish and 2.21 Becoming (Part One).
Tainted blood
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There’s some discussion in 2.20 Go Fish that Angel can’t drink the blood of the swim team as it’s contaminated. This is first shown in 2.03 School Hard when Spike talks about being at Woodstock and drinking from a drugged hippy there.
Three Times A Lady
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In the episode 2.20 Go Fish, when the gang realise that the coach uses steam to improve the swimmers’ skills, the following dialogue takes place:
Buffy: “I mean, it’s not like you were exposed more than once. Twice?”
Xander: “Three times a fish guy.”
This is a reference to Lionel Richie’s song Three Times A Lady, which has the choruse lyrics “You’re once, twice, three times a lady.”
Twisted Sister
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The band Twisted Sister is mentioned in 2.20 Go Fish (Gage calls Buffy a “Twisted Sister”). Mark Metcalf, who played the Master, played the father in Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” video.
Wentworth Miller
details | 2 comments | suggested by AnyaRocks
Wentworth Miller played Gage Petronzi in 2.20 Go Fish. He has also been in the vampire film, Underworld and can be seen as Mariah Carey’s love interest in her music video’s It’s Like That and We Belong Together. He plays the lead character in US TV show Prison Break.
Willow the bad cop
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In 2.20 Go Fish, Willow questioned Jonathan about the Swim Team and he admitted to peeing in the school swimming pool. In 3.18 Earshot, Willow interrogated Jonathan again, whilst questioning him about the threat on the school.
[Goof] Disappearing sign
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When the board at the Bronze is first seen in 2.20 Go Fish, it is blank, but when Buffy rushes out to find Angel, it reads ‘DJ 2NITE-NO COVER’.
[Goof] Magazine
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While Buffy is ’stalking’ Gage in 2.20 Go Fish, she is reading a magazine. At first the back of the magazine is white, in the next shot it’s black. It appears she had it upside down and flipped it between shots.
[Goof] Moving hands
details | add a comment | suggested by Mel
In 2.20 Go Fish, when Buffy is in the library telling the gang about what happened with Cameron, her hands change position depending on the camera shot. When we see the back view, Buffy’s hands are by her side and when we see the front view, her hands are on her hips.
[Goof] Red cup
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When Buffy is at the Bronze in 2.20 Go Fish we see her drinking from a red cup. We then see a shot of her and the red cup is on the table. In the next few shots the cup has disappeared.