First box-sets

The Witch and Never Kill a Boy on the First Date were released together on 15th September 1998 as the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer home video box-sets.

Locker check

In the scene when Buffy and Giles are checking in the morgue lockers for vampires, the items in the background change (light, scale, vent, etc.) but the angle of the wall in the background doesn’t. They obviously kept the camera in the same place for each shot.

Reused shot

At the very beginning of When She Was Bad, we see a courtyard shot of students. It is reused footage from season one’s Never Kill a Boy on the First Date. The guy walking away in the lilac shirt is Owen from that episode.

Andrew J. Ferchland

Andrew played The Anointed One in the episodes Never Kill A Boy On the First Date, Angel, Nightmares, Prophecy Girl, When She Was Bad and School Hard. Andrew’s character was rumoured to be killed off in season two because he began to go through puberty and was growing fast. (The undead don’t go through puberty). Andrew has also had roles in Mad About You, ER and Chicago Hope. He played Sam in Manhood (2003).

Christopher Wiehl

Christopher played Owen in Never Kill A Boy On the First Date. Owen starred in the Wall Street drama series Bull, working alongside Elisabeth Rohm (who played Kate in Angel) and Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison). Stephen Cragg, a Buffy director, also directed a few episodes of Bull. Owen has also appeared in Can’t Hardly Wait, which featured Seth Green (Oz) and Amber Benson (Tara).

Dean Batali

Dean was a Buffy writer who wrote five episodes with Rob Des Hotel: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, The Puppet Show, The Dark Age, Phases and Killed By Death. The two have also both written for Fantasy Island, Hope & Gloria, Duckman and The Adventures of Pete & Pete (which starred Michelle Trachtenberg as Nona). Rob and Dean are both co-executive producers on That ’70s Show.

Geoff Meed

Geoff played Andrew Vorba in Never Kill A Boy On the First Date and Mag, one of the biker-demons in season six’s Bargaining (Part 1) and Two. Born in Texas, Geoff began as a stuntman working in the Universal Studios Hollywood Tour. From there he began work as an actor, and performed all his own stunts. His TV and film credits are extensive, having worked on Port Charles (as Bruno), Enterprise, ER, Judging Amy, Charmed and Babylon 5. He also played ‘Hitman’ and ‘Seedy Guy’ in Spike’s favourite soap, Passions. Geoff played Kowalski in the movie as lame as it’s title: Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996). He has had five original plays produced in Los Angeles. He directed four of them, and starred in all five.

Rob des Hotel

Rob was a Buffy writer who wrote five episodes with Dean Batali: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, The Puppet Show, The Dark Age, Phases and Killed By Death. The two have also both written for Fantasy Island, Hope & Gloria, Duckman and The Adventures of Pete & Pete (which starred Michelle Trachtenberg as Nona). Rob and Dean are both co-executive producers on That ’70s Show.

Andrew Borba

Andrew Borba was a religious nut who was turned into a vampire. He attacked Buffy and Owen in Sunnydale’s morgue. Buffy mistakenly thought he was the Anointed One and killed him by throwing him into an incinerator in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.

Anointed One

The Anointed One was a small boy named Colin who became a member of the Master’s Order of Aurelius. Buffy believed she had killed The Anointed One in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date but she got the wrong vampire. The Anointed One led Buffy to the Master in Prophecy Girl, and took over as leader when the Master was killed. Spike killed him by putting him in a cage and hoisting him up into sunlight in School Hard. The Anointed was the first vampire to be killed by sunlight in the show.

Owen Thurman

Owen was a shy and good-looking boy in Buffy’s class. Cordelia chased him but he asked Buffy on a date. Buffy was forced to leave the date early to go on a Slayer-related mission but Owen followed her. They were attacked by a vampire. Owen discovered he loved being in danger and Buffy broke up with him when she realised she didn’t want to have to protect him in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.

Changes afoot at the house

Buffy’s house was orignally shot on location, but was later built on a soundstage to make filming easier. Changes can be seen in the original and rebuilt house:

1. In The Witch, when Buffy walks into the kitchen, we can see that the regular dining room is not through the door. Instead, there is a hall with peach-coloured wallpaper.
2. In Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, in the scene where Giles finds Owen at Buffy’s house, it looks like there is no entrance to the dining room to the right of the front door.
3. In Angel, when Angel bursts through the back door in the kitchen after Darla has bitten Joyce, we can see that the back door is different. The exterior side is green not white, and it’s window only has 4 panes, whereas the on-set house has 9 panes. The white door with nine panes can be seen in Surprise.
4. In Angel, just after Buffy and Angel run into the house to escape The Three, Angel looks through the window at one of the vampires. At that point, the window is small and divided into four panes. It also has a white and yellow checkered curtain over it’s bottom half. In The Body, it can be seen as a longer, thinner, frosted window on either side of the door.

Dead children

Unlike Angel, children in Buffy the Vampire Slayer don’t die very often. The first child to be vamped was The Anointed One (by the Master in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date). He was killed by Spike in School Hard, after being exposed to sunlight.
The first child actually to be killed on Buffy was in Killed By Death, in which a child was killed by Der Kindestod in the hospital. We also saw a flashback to Buffy’s cousin Celia’s death in that episode. The only other kid killed on the show was in season four’s Goodbye, Iowa, in which a small boy was killed by Adam, using his Polgara skewer.
We saw two ‘dead’ children in Gingerbread but it was later revealed that they were not actually children, but a demon disguised as kids.

Knocked out

In Buffy vs Dracula, Giles falls into Dracula’s basement, where he is surrounded by the sisters. After he falls he says, “Good show, Giles. At least you didn’t get knocked out for a change.” In A New Man, Giles says he has a “tendency to get knocked on the head”. He’s not kidding. Giles has been knocked unconscious in the episodes:

• The Witch (by vampires who want to raise the Master again)
• Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (by Andrew Vorba in the crematorium)
• Prophecy Girl (by Buffy, to stop him from trying to help her)
• When She Was Bad (by the vampires attempting to raise the Master)
• Passion (by Angelus, after Giles attacks him for killing Jenny)
• Becoming (Part 1) (by a group of vampires who take him to Angelus)
• Beauty and the Beasts (shot with a tranquilizer gun)
• Homecoming (by Lyle Gorch and Candy).
• Revelations (by Gwendolyn Post, in his office)
• Gingerbread (by the MOO mob as they come to take Buffy away. When Cordy wakes him up shes says, “I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious… again. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, one of these times, you’re going to wake up in a coma.”)
• Earshot (he doesn’t get knocked out in this episode - but he does walk into a tree in a very amusing manner)
• Flooded (by the Mfashnik demon as it breaks ino Buffy’s house. Giles later says, “Well, I know I’m back in America now. I’ve been knocked unconscious”).

Slayer Handbook

The rule book for Slayers, which also suggest study material. Giles decided not to bother with one for Buffy as soon as he met her (which explains why he told Buffy he had no “rule book” for her in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date), as he realised it would be useless in her case. He told this to Buffy in What’s My Line? (Part 2).
In This Year’s Girl, Buffy said to Giles, “Why? Because ray guns aren’t in the Slayer handbook?”

Sunnydale Press

Sunnydale’s local newspaper was called the Sunnydale Press. It can be seen in the episodes Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, Reptile Boy, Becoming (Part 1), Bad Girls, Consequences, Graduation Day (Part 1), Hush and Once More, With Feeling.

Watcher boy

Giles revealed in Never Kill A Boy On the First Date that he was ten when his father told him that he was destined to be a Watcher. Giles wanted to be a fighter pilot, or a greengrocer. At least two of Giles’ relations had been Watchers: his father and grandmother.

Wrong guy

In Prophecy Girl, Giles finally realises that the vampire Buffy killed in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date wasn’t the Anointed One. Oops.

Kim Richey

In the episode Never Kill A Boy On the First Date, when Buffy breaks up with Owen, we hear “Let the Sun Fall Down” by Kim Richey.

Rubber

In the episode Never Kill A Boy On the First Date, when Angel enters the Bronze, we hear “Junkie Girl” by Rubber.

Three Day Wheely

In the episode Never Kill A Boy On the First Date, we hear the music “Rotten Apple” by Three Day Wheely (from the album ‘Rubber Halo’) as Cordelia and Owen dance.

Velvet Chain

The band Velvet Chain appeared on stage in the Bronze in the episode Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, performing the tracks ‘Strong’ and ‘Treason’. The band’s singer, Erika Amato, became a huge fan of the show and used to write to fans on the official Buffy website’s posting board. Velvet Chain wrote their own theme song to the show, called ‘Buffy’. They then released The Buffy E.P. (1999, Freak Records - Velvet Chain’s own label). The album became so popular that it was distributed nationally in America, as the original album had only previously been available on Velvet Chain’s website. While writing the lyrics to the song ‘Buffy’ Jeff Stacy (the band’s composer) logged on to the Buffy Posting Board and asked fans for their ideas about what a Buffy song should say. He received over 100 e-mails from Buffy fans within three days. Seth Green (Oz) contributed guitar tracks on the song ‘Buffy’ on The Buffy E.P. and appears in the album credits. Seth has also performed with the band on stage. Nicholas Brendon (Xander) appeared in a photograph on inside sleeve of the E.P., with his twin brother Kelly.
Velvet Chain also performed at the show’s production wrap party in 1998, held at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. They have also performed at the Buffy Posting Board Parties held in 1999 and 2000.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Soundtrack (1999) includes the Velvet Chain song ‘Strong’.
In Phases, we see that Buffy’s locker has a Velvet Chain sticker on it.

Dodgy mythology

A discrepancy (and not the last!) in vampire mythology is shown at the beginning of Never Kill a Boy on the First Date. When Buffy stakes a vampire, he leaves a ring behind, but in all other cases when a vamp is staked everything turns to dust including clothing and jewellery.

Order of Aurelius

The Order or Aurelius is a sect of vampires who believe in the prophecies of Aurelius, a twelfth century prophet. His prophecies included the coming of the Anointed One to help the order defeat the Slayer (Prophecy Girl). The sect is led by the Master and includes Darla and Luke (who was killed in The Harvest). Angelus was offered a role in the sect because of his relationship with Darla, but he turned it down. The symbol for the Order of Aurelius is a sun and three stars, inside a rune depicting fidelity. This symbol was worn on a ring to enable members to identify each other. Buffy staked a vamp and recovered one of these rings in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.

Biblical king

‘The Anoited’ is actually a great judish biblical king title, which only very great and powerful man such as Moses could earn.

Emily Dickinson

In Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, Owen Thurman revealed to Buffy that he is a fan of the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).

Soylent Green

When Buffy and Cordelia collide and spill the contents Buffy’s tray in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, Owen says, “at least you won’t have to eat your Soylent Green…” This is a reference to the Charlton Heston movie, Soylent Green, in which Soylent Green is actually human remains processed into food.
The movie is also referenced in the episode Doublemeat Palace, when Buffy runs into the customer area of the restaurant yelling, “It’s people!” Heston’s character tries the same thing in Soylent Green.

Superman

Comicbook hero Superman has been epitomised in many comics (by DC Comics), movies (starring the late Christopher Reeve), TV shows (eg. Lois and Clarke, Smallville), cartoons (eg. The Adventures of Superman) and even a musical. He and the world he lives in have been referenced many times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel:

• In Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, Buffy says, “even Clark Kent has a job”, alluding to Superman’s alter-ego.
• In Reptile Boy, Xander’s chances of ever belonging to a fraternity of rich and powerful men are rubbished by Cordy as likely only “in the Bizarro world.” The Bizarro world is a weird, back-to-front version of the real world in Superman.
• In the episode Ted, Cordelia says of Buffy, “But she’s like this Superman.”
• In The Wish, Cordelia says to vamps Willow and Xander, “No. No! No way! I wish us into Bizarro Land, and you guys are still together?! I cannot win!”
• In Helpless, Oz and Xander discuss which colour Kryptonite hurts Superman. Writer David Fury said in his DVD commentary for the episode that he wasn’t sure which Kryptonite was which so wrote this scene as such.
• In The Zeppo, there area few references to Superman: Xander’s line, “But, gee, Mr White, if Clark and Lois get all the good stories I’ll never be a good reporter”, which he acknowledges as a “Jimmy Olsen joke”. He also name-checks the Daily Planet’s editor Perry White, Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, and his colleague Lois Lane. Cordelia’s jibe “You must feel like Jimmy Olsen” is another reference to the Daily Planet’s youngest photographer.
• In Doomed, Forrest says to Riley, “Granted they’re a little rarer than the one’s you grew up with on that little farm in Smallville.” Smallville, Kansas, was the small town where Clark Kent (Superman) grew up.
• In Superstar, Xander mentions Kryptonite again.
• In Real Me, Xander says, “She can turn this place into the fortress of solitude again”. Superman built the Fortress of Solitude in the North Pole as a place where he could relax and keep his souvenirs.
• In Gone, Andrew mentions Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor. Buffy also mentions Bizarro World again.
• In Two To Go, Andrew says, “Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man Treasury edition”.
• In Bring on the Night, Andrew says, “An evil name should be something like Lex” He’s referring to Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor.
• In the Angel episode Blind Date, Wesley says, “The human eye is only capable of registering a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. But if Brewer were somehow equipped to see outside that range…” to which Cordelia replies, “She’d be Superman.”
• In You’re Welcome, Cordelia ends her seeming obsession with the Bizarro world when she says, “What Bizarro-world did I wake up in?”

The Untouchables

Buffy says, “Here endeth the lesson” when she has kills the Turok-Han in Showtime. This has been said before in the series: by the Master in season one’s Never Kill a Boy on the First Date and Spike in Fool For Love. The line is taken from the movie The Untouchables - Sean Connery’s character says this to Kevin Costner’s Elliot Ness while lecturing him on how to bring down Al Capone.

Tweety Pie

Xander has a Tweety Pie wristwatch, seen in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date.

Seen at 10.47 minutes:

The inside bus lights are turned on at the first shot of the bus. When the scene cuts to the inside of the bus, the lights are off.

Seen at 20.12 minutes:

When Buffy reaches out to grab her pager, there is nowhere she could have picked it up from. Was it floating in mid-air? Buffy also never uses the pager after this episode. She gets one when she joins the Initiative in season four’s The I in Team and says “I always wanted one of these”.

Seen at 38.50 minutes:

At the end of the episode, when Buffy and Owen are talking, you can see a woman in a red and black checked jacket carrying a red bag standing behind Buffy several times. She can also be seen behind Owen, and walking up the stairs a couple of times.