Episode Trivia
8 Buffys
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A total of eight actresses have played the role of Buffy Summers in Joss Whedon-related projects:
- Kristy Swanson played Buffy in the original 1992 movie
- Sarah Michelle Gellar took on the role for 7 seasons of the TV show.
- Eliza Dushku portrayed Buffy in 4.16 Who Are You?
Three child actresses played young Buffys:
- Mimi Paley in 2.18 Killed By Death
- Alexandra Lee in 5.21 The Weight Of The World
- Candice Nicole in 5.13 Blood Ties (when Dawn remembers Buffy pushing her on a swing).
Finally, two unnamed actresses played Buffy in Angel episodes when Gellar was unavailable for the roles:
There have also been several other actresses playing the role, including Giselle Loren, who voiced Buffy in the official video game, and numerous stunt women.
Adam’s war
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This speech of Adam’s was deleted from 4.16 Who Are You?:
“You are here to be my first. To let them know I�m coming. I am the end of all life, of all magic. I’m the war between man and demon, the war that no one can win. You’re a part of that now. You have to show me you’re ready.”
Alastair Duncan
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Alastair Duncan, who played Collins in 4.15 This Year’s Girl and 4.16 Who Are You? did voice overs for the video game Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy and played the theatre manager in The Three Stooges. He has also appeared in Maybe It’s Me, Charmed, Providence, Diagnosis Murder, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Babylon 5 and Highlander. He played Collins again in the Angel episode 1.19 Sanctuary.
Amy Powell
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Amy Powell, who played the newsreader in 3.15 Consequences, played the same role in 4.14 Goodbye Iowa and 4.16 Who Are You? Amy also played a reporter in The Bird Cage and 7.11 Showtime.
Busy little beaver
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The Angel episode 1.18 Five By Five followed the Buffy episode 4.16 Who Are You?. In 1.18 Five By Five, Lee Mercer calls Faith a, “busy little beaver”. In 4.16 Who Are You?, Faith in Buffy’s body called herself a “busy little beaver”.
Bye Bye Love
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The 1995 movie Bye Bye Love starred Buffy actors Eliza Dushku and Amber Benson as best friends. It also featured Lindsay Crouse (Professor Walsh), Donald Bishop (the Butcher in 7.09 Never Leave Me) and Caroline Lagerfelt (who played Spike’s mother in 7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me).
Canned
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When Buffy drives out of the Council’s warehouse in 4.16 Who Are You? you can see cans of film in the corner. The scene was obviously filmed in a studio building.
Channel 14 News
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The Channel 14 News is seen in a few episodes: 3.15 Consequences (Joyce and Buffy watch the news about Alan Finch’s murder), 4.14 Goodbye Iowa (when Adam kills a boy), 4.03 The Harsh Light Of Day (when a road caves in due to Spike’s tunnelling) and 4.16 Who Are You? (when hostages are held in a church by vampires).
Down memory lane
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In 4.16 Who Are You? Buffy in Faith’s body tries to convince Giles who she really is by mentioning his being a demon (4.12 A New Man), his girlfriend Olivia (4.01 The Freshman and 4.10 Hush), blowing up the High School (3.22 Graduation Day (Part Two)) and his having sex with Joyce (3.06 Band Candy).
Draconian Katra spell
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The Draconian Katra spell enables two people to switch bodies a-la-Freaky-Friday. Faith and Buffy’s bodies were swapped in the two parter 4.15 This Year’s Girl and 4.16 Who Are You?. Tara and Willow were able to conjure a similar spell to put the girls back in their rightful bodies. Tara said of the spell:
“I think there’s a way we can… the passage to the Nether Realm. There’s a ritual. If you can find Buffy there, you should be able to see… Well, the Nether Realm exists beyond the physical world. Accessing it is… it’s kind of like astral projection. It’s very intense. I’d have to be your anchor, keep you on this plane.”
The spell involved the incantation, “Sightless sea. Ayala flows through the river in me. The inward eye, the sightless sea”, plus lots of carpet-stroking in a highly sexually-charged atmosphere. Ooo err.
Face/Off
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The episode 4.16 Who Are You? was clearly influenced by the body-swap movie Face/Off, starring Nic Cage and John Travolta. Producer David Fury wanted to call the two-parter ‘Faith/Off’.
Faith and Riley
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Faith was supposed to tell Riley about the whole Buffy/Angel relationship in 4.16 Who Are You? but it was edited out of the final script because rumours of this got out to fans before the episode aired.
Faith’s mind
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In the Buffy episode 4.16 Who Are You? Faith (in Buffy’s body) daydreams that she stabs Willow. A similar scene occurs in the Angel episode 1.19 Sanctuary. When Angel takes Faith back to his apartment she daydreams that she attacks Angel with a knife.
Giles and Joyce
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Whilst under the influence of the drugged 3.06 Band Candy, Giles and Joyce have sex on the hood of a police car. Twice. Buffy discovers this in 3.18 Earshot when she reads her mother’s mind, and later mentions it again to Giles when she’s in Faith’s body in 4.16 Who Are You?
Going for the boyfriend
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In 4.15 This Year’s Girl, Buffy asks Faith if she’s “going for the boyfriend again?” Faith tried to get at Buffy through Angel in 3.17 Enemies, by trying to seduce him then attempting to remove his soul by magic. Faith eventually sleeps with Riley in 4.16 Who Are You? when she takes over Buffy’s body.
Have a confrontation
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When Faith in Buffy’s body flirts with Spike in 4.16 Who Are You?, Spike says to her (believing her to be Buffy):
“When I get rid of this chip me and you are gonna have a confrontation.”
In a little bit of continuity, in season seven’s 7.20 Touched, after his chip is removed, Spike and Faith fight about Buffy.
Headland
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We hear ‘Sweet Charlotte Rose’ by Headland as Faith talks to Willow and Tara in The Bronze in 4.16 Who Are You?.
Jeff Ricketts
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Jeff Ricketts played Weatherby in 4.15 This Year’s Girl and 4.16 Who Are You?. A regular member of the Buffyverse, he has appeared in Angel as Weatherby, and he also played the Spider Monster in Angel’s season four episode 4.20 Sacrifice. Jeff played Malcolm in Amber Benson’s movie Chance. He also appeared in a couple of episodes of Joss Whedon’s Firefly. He has also appeared in Holes and Clockstoppers.
Joyce’s credit card
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The last four digits of Joyce’s credit card (read out by Faith in 4.16 Who Are You?) are 6447 and the expiration is 05/01.
Kevin Owers
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Kevin Owers, who played the Watcher’s Council’s Smith in Buffy and Angel, also appeared in Ballad of the Nightingale and Titanic. He has been in The West Wing.
Met me before?
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Faith returns to Sunnydale in season seven’s 7.18 Dirty Girls, after leaving in 4.16 Who Are You?. She meets Spike again, but naturally he doesn’t recognise her as the last time they met she was in Buffy’s body. She reminds him when they chat in Buffy’s basement and he tells her he remembers her speech:
“Like you could ride me at a gallop till my knees buckled. Squeeze me till I popped like warm champagne. That’s not the kind of thing a man forgets.”
Naughty Faith
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It is rumoured that Faith was supposed to tell Riley about the whole complex Buffy/Angel relationship when she was in Buffy’s body in 4.16 Who Are You? It was edited out of the final script because rumours of this got out to fans before the episode aired.
Nerf Herder
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The Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme tune was written and performed by the band Nerf Herder. The band took their name from a line in The Empire Strikes Back where Princess Leia called Han Solo a “stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy looking nerf herder”. Joss Whedon said in his DVD commentary for 1.01 Welcome To The Hellmouth that Alyson Hannigan brought the band to his attention by constantly playing their self-titled first album. Joss contacted them to compose Buffy’s title music.
Nerf Herder’s original recording of the Buffy theme tune had a point where the beat was lost slightly and it had to be re-recorded. The theme tune is available on the compilation Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album (1999, TVT Records). Nerf Herder’s song ‘Vivian’ (from How to Meet Girls, 2000) played during the episode 4.16 Who Are You? when Faith (in Buffy’s body) danced at the Bronze.
The band appeared on stage in 7.19 Empty Places when Faith, the Potentials and Dawn went dancing there, playing ‘Rock City News’ and ‘Mr. Spock’.
Kennedy: “What kind of band plays during an apocalypse?”
Dawn: “I think this band might actually be one of the signs”.
In the Nerf Herder song For You, one of the verses says:
And I’d bid too high on The Price Is Right
And I’d sweat to the oldies all night/
And I’d be depressed like Morrissey
And slayed by Buffy every week
I’d do anything for you.
In the commentary for 7.13 The Killer In Me, David Solomon says (though it’s unclear whether or not he is kidding) that the lead singer for the band Nerf Herder grows orchids in his free time and also judges orchid growing contests.
Nintendo
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In Angel’s season five episode 5.12 You’re Welcome, the video game Spike is playing is the original Donkey Kong game by Nintendo, the first videogame ever to feature Mario, Nintendo’s main mascot. You can tell by the very recognizable music and Spike’s comments about a “plumber” and a monkey.
In 4.11 Doomed, referring to a fancy Initiative device (which looks like a Nintendo Gameboy) held by Riley, Buffy says:
“Is this really the time for Donkey Kong?”
In the scene when Faith (in Buffy’s body) has slept with Riley in 4.16 Who Are You? the camera pans up from the bed past the alarm clock, and you can see that there is a black Game Boy Pocket in front of the clock.
Obsession for vampires
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When Faith is in Buffy’s body in 4.16 Who Are You?, she flirts with Spike, and there’s a lot of sexual tension between the two. This is the beginning of his obsession with the Slayer.
Poetic justice
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It seems as though Faith didn’t learn the meaning of poetic justice the first time around. In Graduation Day, Part One, after Faith hit Angel with poison:
Buffy: “There’s a cure.”
Faith: “Damn. What is it?”
Buffy: “Your blood. As justice goes, it’s not un-poetic, don’t you think?”
Faith: “Come to get me? You gonna feed me to Angel? You know you’re not going to take me alive.”
Buffy: “Not a problem.”
Willow: “Where is she?”
Faith in Buffy: “On her way to the big house. Cops took her off my hands about an hour ago. Poetic justice.”
Anya: “How’s that?”
Faith in Buffy: “Well, she did all those crimes, and now she’s being arrested. I guess that’s just regular justice. It’s cool, anyway.”
Retrieval team
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In 4.15 This Year’s Girl, the Watcher’s Council send a tough retrieval team to get Faith and take her back to England. Giles describes them as:
“This is a special operations unit. They handle the Council’s trickier jobs: smuggling, interrogation… wetworks.”
The team include Weatherby, Collins and Smith.
Rick Scarry
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Rick Scarry, who played the Sergeant in 4.16 Who Are You?, comes from Delaware, Ohio - the same town as Claire Kramer. He has been in Dating Games People Play (as George), Down with Love (as the narrator), The Sure Hand of God (as Sam Wiggins), The Man Who Wasn’t There (as District Attorney) and Space Cowboys (as State Department Official). Rick has also appeared in The Negotiator, Wag the Dog, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Ghost in the Machine, Addams Family Values (with Buffy’s Mercedes McNab), Big Man on Campus, Fear (which he also co-wrote and produced) and Out of Control. Rick’s TV appearances include episodes of Strong Medicine, Malcolm in the Middle, That ’70s Show, Providence, Clueless, 7th Heaven, The Drew Carey Show, Weird Science and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Sarah and Eliza
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Joss Whedon said the following at the Posting Board about Sarah and Eliza playing each others’ characters in 4.16 Who Are You?:
“The girls watched vid of each other extensively, trying to ape each other’s movements without falling into parody.”
Sarah’s favourite episodes
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Sarah Michelle Gellar talked to Entertainment Weekly about her personal favourite Buffy episodes:
“I loved ”3.20 The Prom”. It stood for everything Buffy was about: the fact that she so badly wanted to be part of the other kids’ lives. I think ”5.16 The Body” is pretty amazing. I loved the episode in which Buffy and Faith switched. That was one of my all-time favorites because I thought Eliza was so great. And also when Buffy realizes she has to kill Angel and she kills him and he comes back. Those are my favorites.”
Seven minutes
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In 4.16 Who Are You? Anya says about Xander, “We were going to light a bunch of candles and have sex near them” to which Faith in Buffy’s body replies, “Well, we certainly don’t want to cut into that seven minutes.” Faith and Xander slept together in 3.13 The Zeppo.
Swappies
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The opening credits in 4.16 Who Are You? name Sarah Michelle Gellar as Faith and Eliza Dushku as Buffy.
Taxi Driver
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Faith as Buffy arguing with herself in the bathroom mirror in 4.16 Who Are You? is an homage to Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver.
The Cure
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In 4.16 Who Are You? we hear ‘Watching Me Fall’ by The Cure when Faith flirts with Spike in The Bronze.
The Who
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The Who sang a song entitled ‘Who Are You’, which is the same name as the season four episode where Faith and Buffy swap bodies.
Unpleasant possession
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In 4.16 Who Are You? Willow says,
“You didn’t sense a hyena energy at all, did you? Because hyena possession is just… unpleasant.”
She’s referring to 1.06 The Pack, when Xander was possessed by a hyena and became violent and mean.
Watcher’s tough team
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The Watcher’s Council Disciplinary Committee attempt to kidnap Faith to take her to England in 3.15 Consequences but she escapes. They try this again in season four’s 4.16 Who Are You?, and manage to bungle the job yet again.
[Goof] Buffy’s hair
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At the end of 4.15 This Year’s Girl, Buffy had straight hair, but at the beginning of 4.16 Who Are You? (a continuation from that episode) she has wavy hair.
[Goof] Door slam
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In 4.16 Who Are You?, Faith (in Buffy’s body) goes to Giles’ place for the Scooby meeting. She walks through the door and leaves it wide open. A second later, we hear it slam close - who closed it?
[Goof] Faith’s knife
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When Faith is in Giles’s apartment in 4.16 Who Are You?, she day-dreams that she stabs Willow. Before the dream, there is no knife to the left of her, but there is one there after the dream.
[Goof] Head or no head?
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Adam pulls the head off the vampire in 4.16 Who Are You?, but when we see the vamp’s body falling to the ground, the head is still attached.
[Goof] Ventriloquist Willow
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The Scoobies pull up to the church where the vampires are and leap out of their van in 4.16 Who Are You?. A policeman stops them from going inside, and Willow starts to protest. We then cut to a slightly different angle and you can see that Willow says an entire sentence without moving her mouth. This occurs when she says:
“But we can’t… we’ve gotta… you don’t understand”.
She can be seen in the bottom left of the screen.