The movie The Wizard of Oz, made in 1939, in mentioned several times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Buffy refers to the hyena-possessed bullies in 1.06 The Pack as the “winged monkeys”. The phrase comes from the scene in The Wizard of Oz in which the Wicked Witch of the West sends her loyal winged monkeys to collect Dorothy and the ruby slippers.
- In 6.04 Flooded, Andrew says he trained flying demon monkeys to disrupt the school play.
- In 1.10 Nightmares, Billy Palmer awakens from his coma and, seeing the Scoobies around his bed, says, “I had the strangest dream. And you were in it, and you”. This is a reference to when Dorothy wakes in her bed and sees her friends around her.
- In 2.10 What’s My Line? (Part Two), Xander says, “Welcome my little pretties”. In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West called Dorothy her “pretty”.
- Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch of the West by throwing water on her. The following dialog is from 1.17 Eternity:
- In 4.20 The Yoko Factor, Willow says, “If ever a whiz there was.” This is a line from the song in the film ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ / ‘We’re Off To See the Wizard’.
- The episode 5.05 No Place Like Home takes it’s name from Dorothy clicking her heels together and repeating the phrase, “There’s no place like home” in order to get back to her Kansas home.
- A similar reference to this phrase is in the Angel episode 2.22 There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb. In that episode, Lorne also sings the song ‘Over the Rainbow’.
- In 6.22 Grave, Willow says, “Fly my pretty…fly!” when she sends her ball of fire to find Andrew and Jonathan. This is what the wicked witch says to her flying monkeys when she sends them off.
- In 7.19 Empty Places, Rona says, “Ding, dong, the witch is dead.” This is from a song in The Wizard of Oz.
- A similar reference to this phrase is in the Angel episode 4.13 Salvage. Lorne says, “Well, ding-dong, the Beast is dead!”
- The title of the Angel episode 2.20 Over The Rainbow is another reference to The Wizard of Oz, in which the land of Oz is said to be ‘over the rainbow’. In that episode, Cordelia clicks her heels three times (as Dorothy does in the film) and says, “Worth a shot.”
- In 4.15 Orpheus, Cordelia says, “You want to go, Glinda?” This is a reference to Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.
- In 5.02 Just Rewards, Angel says, “To see the wizard”, is a reference to The Wizard of Oz song called “We’re Off to See the Wizard”.
- In 5.21 Power Play, Lorne says, “And what if he’s skipped too far down that evil brick road?” This is a reference to the yellow brick road which Dorothy and the others follow to Oz.
(Cordy pulls off the top of a water container.)
Cordy: “Back off!”
Angel: “What are you going to do? Melt me?”
Cordy: “One more step and you’ll find out. You think this is just water?”
Related episodes: 1.06 The Pack, 1.10 Nightmares, 1.17 Eternity, 2.10 What's My Line? (Part Two), 2.20 Over The Rainbow, 2.22 There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb, 4.13 Salvage, 4.15 Orpheus, 4.20 The Yoko Factor, 5.02 Just Rewards, 5.05 No Place Like Home, 5.21 Power Play, 6.04 Flooded, 6.22 Grave, 7.19 Empty Places
Comments on this trivia
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MagicBone on October 24th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
this has nothing to do with The Yoko Factor, but in Over The Rainbow, Angel 2.20, when Cordelia ends up in Pylea, she clicks her heels together 3 times, like Dorothy does in the Wizard of oz to get back to Kansas.
Julie on July 11th, 2006 at 7:40 am
In Grave, when Giles does the binding spell on Willow, she becomes green because of the light and reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West, who is evil.
Meghann on July 4th, 2007 at 10:07 am
“Orpheus”
Cordelia: “You want to go, Glinda? We
Meghann on April 29th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Jess,
Here’ anouther from Eternity:
(Cordy pulls off the top of her water container and threatens him with it.)
Cordy: “Back off!”
Angel laughs: “What are you going to do? Melt me?”
Cordy: “One more step and you’ll find out. You think this is just water?”
ormaybemidgets on April 30th, 2008 at 1:37 am
I don’t think she (or the writers) was meaning to reference Wizard of Oz. She goes on to say it’s holy water.
Meghann on May 4th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Angel’s line is a reference to the water melting the Wicked Witch. I don’t think he would have said it if the bottle was marked with holy water. Since she randomly grabbed the bottle, him seeing it was water, he wasn’t threatened and made the comment about being melted. Then Cordy proceeded with her speal of it being blessed. :o)
ormaybemidgets on May 4th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Oop, jeez, you’re right. I was totally concentrating on Cordy’s line. :)
jayunderscorezero on September 10th, 2008 at 7:50 am
One more: in Power Play, Lorne talks about Angel having “skipped down that evil brick road.”