David Fury

David Fury started out as an actor on stage and film, and then became a stand up comedian. He started writing for television with his then girlfriend Elin Hampton. The two wrote a couple of specs (sample scripts for TV shows which are then sent to executives as proof of writing skill) and from they got jobs on The Jackie Thomas Show and Pinky and the Brain. David and Elin were then offered work on two shows: Buffy and Life’s Work. David actually turned down Buffy, even though he thought it was a better show, as Life’s Work had the potential to be bigger. It was cancelled and he ended up meeting Joss again and writing the episode Go Fish. His partner Elin took a job at Mad About You, and David got the job at Buffy. David rose from Producer to Co-Executive Producer in just three years, and was a Consulting Producer of Angel. Fury wrote a story called ‘Glittering World’ (a OMWF reference?) in the graphic novel, Tales of the Slayers. He was also the voice of Jock, in Raider’s of the Lost Ark. The clearest example of his work are the prop plane pilot’s words to Indiana Jones, “That’s just my pet snake, Reggie! Show a little backbone, will ya?”
David played Gregor Framkin in the Angel episode ‘Smile Time‘, and appeared in the Angel season two episode ‘Reprise‘ as one of the people sacrificing the goat.

Angel the puppet

In Lineage, Wesley’s father says of Angel, “He’s a puppet. He always has been. To the Powers That Be, to Wolfram & Hart. Now he’s ours.” In Smile Time, Angel literally becomes a puppet.

Pinocchio

In Once More, With Feeling, Spike says, “Strong. Someday, he’ll be a real boy”, when he notices the strength of one of Sweet’s henchmen. This is a reference to Italian author Carlo Collodi’s children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio which features an animated marionette whose dream is to become human. The story was made famous by Walt Disney’s film Pinocchio.

In To Shanshu in L.A, Wesley realises that the Shanshu prophecy means that Angel will become human after fulfilling his destiny. The gang have the following conversation:

Wesley: “Well, it’s saying that it won’t happen tomorrow or the next day. He has to survive the coming darkness, the apocalyptic battles, a few plagues, and some - uh, several, - not that many - fiends that will be unleashed.”
Angel: “So don’t break out the champagne just yet.”
Cordy: “Yeah, break out the champagne, Pinocchio. This is a big deal!”

In Hellbound, Spike says,”To making me a real boy again?” - an echo of the comment he made in the Buffy musical. It’s also a Pinoccio reference. In Soul Purpose, Freds says that Spike, “Deserves to become a real boy.”
In Smile Time, Lorne says of the injured puppet-Angel, “Medic! Doctor! Is there a Gepetto in the house?” Gepetto was Pinocchio’s wood-carver father.