Amy Acker?

A few people have written to me saying that when Xander walks into the Bronze to meet Buffy and Willow in The Pack, he stares at a girl who looks just like Amy Acker (who played Fred in Angel). On closer inspection, it’s definitely not Amy.

Jungle welcome

The following line of Xander’s was cut from the episode The Pack: “Welcome to the jungle”.

No pants Nicky

Sarah Michelle Gellar told Jay Leno an on-set story when she appeared on his chat show. She was going to pull down Nicholas Brendan’s pants one day, as he was acting dumbly. At the last moment, she chickened out, so Alyson Hannigan said she’d do it instead. She got a little “overzealous” as Sarah put it and pulled down his underwear as well.
From the way Sarah described, it seems this incident happened during the filming of the dodgeball scene in The Pack in front of lots of extras.

Zoo

The Scoobies go on a school trip to the zoo in The Pack. All the zoo scenes in that episode were filmed at the Santa Ana Zoo in California. All the signs are in the same font as that in Jurassic Park. The zoo is seen again in Shadow, when Glory raises Sobek in the reptile house.

Barbara Whinnery

Barbara played Mrs. Anderson (the lady whose family car was terrorised by the hyena-people) in The Pack. She played Dr. Cathy Martin in St. Elsewhere, and has been in ER, Brimstone, Matlock, and Diagnosis Murder.

David Brisbin

David Brisbin played Mr Anderson in The Pack. David also appeared in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Forrest Gump (as ‘newscaster’) and Leaving Las Vegas (as Nicholas Cage’s landlord).

Eion Bailey

Eion played Kyle (the Hyena-peoples’ ringleader) in The Pack. Eion played Campbell Chasin in Significant Others, which also starred Jennifer Garner from Alias. He played David Kenyon Webster in Band of Brothers, and Billy Konrad in Dawson’s Creek. Eion has also been in Fight Club, Sexual Life, Mindhunters and Almost Famous. He appeared in the HBO feature film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, alongside Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) and Alexa Davlos (who played Gwen in Angel).

Gregory White

Gregory White, who played the sports coach in The Pack, has also been in Rumor Has It, L.A. Confidential, A Very Brady Sequel, The West Wing, The Drew Carey Show, Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Becker, Suddenly Susan, Beverly Hills, 90210, Ellen, Diagnosis Murder, Home Improvement, Matlock, The Golden Girls and Married… with Children.

James Stephens

James played Dr. Wierick, the zookeeper in The Pack. James has also been in Father Dowling Mysteries, Diagnosis Murder, Moonlighting, Murder, She Wrote and M*A*S*H.

Jeff Maynard

Jeff played Lance, the boy bullied by Kyle’s gang in The Pack. Jeff has also been in Illusion, Diagnosis Murder, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.

Jeffrey Steven Smith

Jeffrey Steven Smith appeared in The Harvest (in Cordelia’s computer class) and The Pack (asking Xander about the lead guitarist of a band). In The Harvest, Jeffrey he had a very distinct So-Cal accent but the accent was gone when he appeared in The Pack, so he was obviously playing a different character.

Jennifer Sky

Jennifer playing hyena-possessed Heidi in The Pack. Jennifer starred in her own show, Cleopatra 2525 - the tale of a cryogenically frozen exotic dancer battling robots in the 26th century. She has also been in Xena: Warrior Princess (as Amarice) and played Sarah Webber in General Hospital.

Joe Reinkemeyer

Joe was a Buffy writer who wrote with Matt Kiene. They have both written for Andromeda, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Space: Above and Beyond and Law & Order. Matt and Joe also wrote The Pack and Inca Mummy Girl together.

Justin Jon Ross

Justin played the young Joe Anderson in The Pack, who family’s car was attacked by the hyena-people. He was the voice of Phil the Scout in Recess and has been in Zigs, Little Giants, Ellen, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Men Behaving Badly.

Ken Lerner

Ken Lerner played Principal Flutie in season one. Ken studied acting in New York, and appeared in a few Broadway shows before moving to Los Angeles. He was cast in Happy Days, where he played several roles, including tough guy Frankie Bing Bong, Demolition Derby driver Rocko Malacchi, and Fonzie’s best friend, Rocko Baruffi. Ken has worked on screen for the last 25 years. He has appeared in more than 50 television shows, including NYPD Blue, Chicago Hope, ER, Judging Amy, The Drew Carey Show, Dharma and Greg, Beverly Hills 90210, LA Law, Family Ties and Hill Street Blues. Ken’s films include Unlawful Entry, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Story of Us and Irreconcilable Differences. Ken has also starred in U.S. commercials for Snickers, Federal Express, McDonalds, Toyota and Delta Airlines. Ken has been teaching acting classes for the past twelve years and has helped numerous actors get acting jobs. His past and present students include Sheena Easton and Famke Janssen.

Matt Kiene

Matt was a Buffy writer who wrote with Joe Reinkemeyer. They have both written for Andromeda, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Space: Above and Beyond and Law & Order. Matt and Joe also wrote The Pack and Inca Mummy Girl together.

Michael McCraine

Michael McCraine played the hyena-possessed Rhonda in The Pack. Michael has also been in Luster and Nebraska. Her partner is Stephen Gaghan (who wrote the screenplay for The Alamo which starred Marc Blucas).

Andersons

The Andersons were a couple who, along with their son Joe, were attacked by the hyena-people in their car in The Pack. Buffy saved them.

Herbert

In The Pack, Principal Flutie brought a piglet named Herbert to be the mascot of the school football team, the Razorbacks. Herbert was eaten alive by students who were possessed by the spirits of hyenas, including Xander.

Kyle

Kyle was the leader of the gang of students who became possessed by the spirit of hyenas in The Pack. They ate Principal Flutie and Herbert the school mascot.

Lance

Lance was a student who was bullied by Tor and his gang before and after they became possessed by hyenas in The Pack.

Principal Bob Flutie

Bob Flutie was the Principal of Sunnydale High who allowed Buffy to join the school despite her “colourful” record. He was tragically eaten alive by a group of students who had been possessed by the spirit of hyenas.

Rhonda

Rhonda was the dark haired student who became possessed by the spirit of hyenas in The Pack. The group ate Principal Flutie and Herbert, the school mascot.

Tor

Tor was one of the students who became possessed by the spirit of hyenas in The Pack. The group ate Principal Flutie and Herbert the piglet, the school mascot.

Zookeeper - Dr. Wierick

Dr. Wierick was the zookeeper at Sunnydale Zoo. He pretended to help Giles in The Pack after some students become possessed by hyenas at the zoo. Instead he planned to gain the power from the students and use it for himself. His plan backfired when he fell into the hyena cage and was killed.

Anderson

In Reptile Boy, both Richard (one of the college guys) and Callie (the kidnapped girl) have the last name Anderson. The name was also used in The Pack: the family whose car was attacked by hyena-people were named Anderson.

Angel’s jacket

The first true hint of a chemistry between Buffy and Angel developed as he gave her his leather jacket in Teacher’s Pet - much to Xander’s annoyance. Buffy wore the jacket in several subsequent episodes (such as The Pack), even as late as the third season (Beauty and the Beasts).

Animal instincts

Xander discovered he had a better sense of smell after being a hyena in The Pack, when he tried to sniff out a werewolf in Phases.

Foreshadowy goodness

Willow watched over Xander while he was in the library cage as a hyena in The Pack. This was a practice run as she did the same sort of thing on the nights that Oz turns into a werewolf.

Little piggy

Buffy seems to have a thing with pigs, as her stuffed toy Mr. Gordo (first seen in What’s My Line? (Part 1)) is a pig, and she manages to capture the school’s mascot - a piglet - in The Pack. Mr. Gordo was stolen by the vampire Sunday in The Freshman, but was eventually returned to Buffy.

Nobody messes with…

In Bargaining (Part 2), Tara says of Willow, “Nobody messes with my girl”. This could be a reference to season two’s What’s My Line? (Part 2), in which Buffy says of Angel, “Spike is going down. You can attack me, you can send assassins after me, that’s fine. But nobody messes with my boyfriend.” Additionally, Xander says, “Hey! Nobody messes with my Willow” in The Pack.

Razorbacks

Sunnydale High’s sports teams were called the Razorbacks (discovered in The Witch). They got a short lived piglet mascot called Herbert in The Pack, but it was eaten by the hyena-people.

Remember when…

In Phases, Xander brings up the time he spent possessed by a hyena in The Pack, but when the girls remind him that he said he didn’t remember anything about his possession, he shuts up pretty quickly.

Dashboard Prophets

The band Dashboard Prophets can be heard in the Bronze in The Harvest. We hear their tracks “Ballad For Dead Friends” (as the vampires approach the Bronze) and “Wearing Me Down” (Cordelia says she loves the song). Both songs are from their album Burning Out The Inside.
We also hear “All I Want” (from the same album) in The Pack in the Bronze, near the beginning of the episode.

Far

In The Pack, we hear Far’s ‘Job’s Eyes’ from the album Tin Can With Strings To You as the hyena gang do their slow-motion walk.

Sprung Monkey

The first ever band to play at the Bronze was Sprung Monkey in Welcome to the Hellmouth. They play “Things Are Changing” from their album Swirl as Buffy leaves the Bronze looking for Willow, and “Believe”, from the same album, as Buffy enters the Bronze for the first time. They also play “Swirl” in the Bronze. We hear their song “Saturated” (from the album Swirl) as Buffy is choosing an outfit.
Their song “Right My Wrong” (again from Swirl) can be heard in The Harvest as Buffy attempts to leave the school, and “Reluctant Man” (Swirl) can be heard in The Pack when the bullies enter The Bronze.

Hyena possession

In the episode The Pack, a group of Sunnydale High students (Xander, Kyle, Tor, Rhonda and Heidi) accidentally became possessed by hyenas whilst on a school trip to the zoo. They steadily began to act more like predatory hyenas, culminating with the group, minus Xander, eating Principal Flutie alive. Giles says of the possession, “Apparently there’s a sect of animal worshippers known as primals. They believe that humanity, consciousness, the soul, is a perversion, a dilution of spirit. To them the animal state is holy. They’re able, through trans-possession, to draw the spirits of certain animals into themselves.” Primals are completely fictional.

Malleus Maleficarum

Giles mentions the book Malleus Maleficarum in The Pack, saying it deals with demonic possession. The book is real. It was written by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, in the late 15th century and acted as a kind of manual for witch hunters. It contained information on how to recognise witches, and the ways ’suspected’ witches should be tortured and put to death.

Madonna

Buffy’s line in The Pack “shiny and new” (”You know, you’re right! Suddenly the animals look shiny and new”) is a quote from Madonna’s song ‘Like a Virgin’.

The Wizard of Oz

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 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 Flooded, Andrew says he trained flying demon monkeys to disrupt the school play.
In 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 What’s My Line? (Part 2), Xander says, “Welcome my little pretties”. In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West called Dorothy her “pretty”.
In 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 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 There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb.
In 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 Empty Places, Rona says, “Ding, dong, the witch is dead.” This is from a song in The Wizard of Oz.
The title of the Angel episode 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.”

The X Files

The X Files was an influential TV show (1993-2002) following two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who investigate the unexplained. It has been mentioned in the Buffyverse on several occasions.
In The Pack, Buffy accuses Giles of trying to “Scully” her (Scully was sceptical about Mulder’s supernatural beliefs).
In Living Conditions, Buffy says about Kathy, “You’re right. Ooh! She’s even affecting my work, now. She’s the Titanic. She’s a crawling black cancer… She’s… other really bad things.” The “crawling black cancer” line is likely a reference to The X-Files. In the show, it’s an alien liquid organism which looks like oil. When someone is first infected by the black substance, it crawls up the body like bugs under the skin.
In Life Serial, the trio of nerds test Buffy using different methods, one of which being a time loop. Warren mentions a similar plot in an X Files episode “where the bank kept exploding”. The episode was called ‘Monday’ and was during season six of the show.
In Gone, Buffy says, “Xander and Anya are working on it. Mulder-ing out what happened.”
In Sanctuary, the following conversation takes place:

Kendrick: “Come on Kate. Everyone knows you’ve gone all Scully. Anytime one of these weird cases crosses anyone’s desk, you’re always there. We used to be friends - what’s going on with you?”
Kate: “Scully’s the sceptic”.
Kendrick: “Huh?”
Kate: “Mulder’s the believer, Scully’s the sceptic.”
Kendrick scratches his head: “…Scully’s the chick, right?”

The X Files returned the favour in it’s season nine episode ‘Daemonicus’ by referencing Buffy with the following dialogue:

Scully: “For the past eight years I was part of a unit known as the X-Files. Some of you may have heard of it.”
Cadet: “Ever slay a vampire?”
Scully: “Sorry to disappoint you, but this is a course in forensic pathology. Hard science. An X-File is a case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Bureau, because such a case cannot be solved it may beg other explanations… a vampire, perhaps.”

Yanni

In The Pack, Buffy says of hyena-possessed Xander, “it’s safe to say that in his animal state his idea of wooing doesn’t involve a Yanni CD and a bottle of Chianti.” She’s referring to the Greek keyboard player and composer Yanni, whose speciality is new age music.

Seen at 00.14 minutes:

If you look closely at the shot from outside the school early on in the episode (and use your zoom button on your DVD player!) you can see that the shot was actually taken from Teacher’s Pet. Willow can be seen sitting on a bench wearing a red t. shirt and checked trousers, the same clothes she wore in the scene when the gang first see Natalie French in that episode. The same shot can also be seen in Nightmares.

Seen at 12.41 minutes:

In the dodge ball scene, why is Buffy the only student wearing a strappy top when all the others are wearing t-shirts?

Seen at 29.46 minutes:

Some of the video clips of hyenas that Willow watches on her computer monitor are actually of African wild dogs.

Seen at 40.24 minutes:

When Buffy fights the Zookeeper at the end of the episode, her stunt double’s hair is noticably different to Buffy’s own.