Breath off

In an (undefined) interview about the episode Angel, Joss Whedon said that Sarah and David had what he called a “breath off”, where they both ate as many horrible things as possible before the kissing scene.

Scream 2

When Angel hears Joyce scream in the episode Angel, it’s actually a reused version of Buffy’s scream taken from earlier in the episode.

Vamped up

It takes between an hour and ninety minutes to do David Boreanaz’s vampire make-up. His favourite part of the costume is the yellow contact lenses he gets to wear (though after putting them in for eight years I’m sure his opinion of them has changed!).

Julie Benz

Julie Benz’s first speaking movie part was in 1990 in a small role in the Dario Argento/George Romero co-directed horror movie, Due occhi diabolici playing alongside Harvey Kietel. Julie had a role playing a receptionist in the movie As Good As It Gets. She auditioned for a role in Eyes Wide Shut but decided against it when she was going to have to do the scene topless. Julie also played Kate Topolsky in Roswell. Julie auditioned for the role of Kendall Hart on All My Children, and for the role of Buffy. Both roles were taken by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Julie can also be seen in Steven Spielberg’s Taken, and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The Thirteenth - alongside Danny Strong, who played Jonathan.

Scott Brazil

Scott Brazil directed the episode Angel. Scott has also directed Nip/Tuck, CSI: Miami, L.A. Doctors, Nash Bridges, JAG, Baywatch and Hill Street Blues. He was the co-executive producer on many shows including Gideon’s Crossing and Cracker. Scott won two Emmys for ‘outstanding drama series’ in the early 1980s as part of the team of producers responsible for NBC’s “Blues.”
He sadly died from respiratory failure on 17th April 2006, aged just 50.

Darla

Darla was a vampire who was sired by the Master and became a member of his brethren. Her time on time on the show Buffy was short but her role was a pivotal one: she was the vampire who sired Angel. Darla and Angel were a pair for a few generations, prowling the world and killing at will. They teamed up with Spike and Drusilla to cause havoc. When Angel was cursed with his soul, Darla was disgusted and left him. Angel killed Darla, but the vampire was brought back as a human by Wolfram and Hart in the spin-off show Angel. Angel tried to help Darla but she was sired again by Drusilla and she and Angel again became enemies. Angel slept with Darla in a fit of rage and she became pregnant with his child. The baby had a soul which began to affect Darla and she realised once she gave birth she would be a danger to her baby. Darla staked herself, which led to the birth of Angel’s son Connor.

The Three

The Three were a group of fierce vampire warriors set on Buffy by the Master. They wore armour and nearly killed Buffy and Angel. When they failed to do this they offered their lives to the Master as penance, and he got Darla to stake them in the episode Angel.

Angel’s restoration

In the episode Angel, it appeared to be established that the restoration of Angel’s soul took place sixty years ago, or sometime in the 1920s. However, in Becoming (Part 1) it’s revealed to have taken place in 1898.

Angel’s siring

The scene where Darla sires Angel was first alluded to in the episode Angel. We see the scene in a flashback for the first time in Becoming (Part 1). Angel was sired in 1753 in Galway, Ireland.

Angelic faces

In the episode Angel, Giles reads from a book that Angel is the “one with the angelic face.” In Storyteller, as Andrew is introducing Spike, Buffy, and Anya in their sexy poses, he describes Buffy as having an “angelic face”.

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.

Close your eyes

Angel should really learn not to trust women when they tell him to close his eyes. When he first met Darla (in the episode Angel), she told him to close his eyes and she then sired him as a vampire. In Becoming (Part 2), Buffy told him the same thing and then stabbed him, sending him to hell.

Crossbow girl

Buffy used a crossbow for the first time in the episode Angel, when she went to hunt Angel after dicovering he was a vampire.

Darla’s prophecy

In the episode Angel, Darla asks Angel if he thought Buffy would see his face, his true face, and would give it a kiss. In other words, she highly doubted that Buffy would ever be able to accept Angel to the extent that she could kiss his demonic vampire-face, the person he truly was. However, this snickering and doubtful comment of Darla happens to come true in What’s My Line Part One. After the assassin attacks Buffy and Angel at the ice skate rink, Buffy kisses Angel, whom is wearing his demonic face, proving Darla’s thought to come true.

Hurting Darla

In the Buffy episode Angel, Angel grabs Darla and she says “That’s good. You’re hurting me. That’s good, too.” When Angel grabs her in the Angel episode Dear Boy, she says “You’re hurting me. I like it.”

Kimono

In the episode Angel, Angel says to Darla, “What’s with the Catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos.” This line was followed up four years later in the Angel episode ‘Darla’. In a flashback to the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, Darla wears a kimono.

Mr. Gordo

Buffy owns a cuddly toy pig called Mr. Gordo. He was first seen in the episode Angel and was mentioned by Willow in The Initiative. Sunday and her gang of vampires stole Buffy’s belongings in The Freshman and she saw them throwing Mr. Gordo around.
Gordo means “fat” in Spanish.

Revello Drive

Scenes at Buffy’s house were originally shot on location, but later the interior was re-built on a soundstage. The location used for the exterior of Buffy’s home was 1313 Cota Drive in Torrance. It can be found just 3 blocks away from Torrance High School (used for the location of Sunnydale High). Bear in mind that people live there and most likely don’t want to be disturbed, so don’t go gawking at the house!
Buffy’s fictional address is 1630 Revello Drive. This is discovered in the episode Angel when Buffy rang the paramedics after her mother was bitten by Darla. The address was also mentioned again in The Body (again when Buffy rings for an ambulance) and in Dirty Girls, when Shannon asks Caleb to take her to Revello Drive.

Sophie Zelmani

Sophie Zelmani’s “I’ll Remember You” plays when Buffy and Angel kiss goodbye in the episode Angel.

Vampire mythology

We discover a lot about vampires in the first season episode Angel. Only direct sunlight seems to kill vampires in the Buffyverse as both Darla and Angel are able to stand in filtered sunlight. We also discover in that episode that bullets can’t kill vampires.
The belief that a vampire cannot enter one’s home unless invited dates back to the middle ages, when this was believed in eastern European. Joyce invites Darla into her home in Angel.
On the vampire itself, Giles says, “A vampire isn’t a person at all. It may have the movements, the memories, and even the personality of the person that it took over, but it’s still a demon at the core.”
Angel says, “When you become a vampire, the demon takes your body. But it doesn’t get your soul. That’s gone. No conscience, no remorse…it’s an easy way to live. You have no idea what it’s like to have done the things I’ve done, and to care.”

Gatorade

Gatorade is an American sports drink, referenced on Buffy three times: In Angel, Xander says, “Duh! I mean, guys’ll do anything to impress a girl. I once drank an entire gallon of gatorade without taking a breath.” In The Zeppo, Buffy says, “‘Sisterhood of Jhe. Race of female demons, fierce warriors…’ Eww. ‘…celebrate victory in battle by eating their foes.’ They couldn’t just pour Gatorade on each other?” In Smashed, Buffy says to Amy, “Oh - Gatorade has a new flavour. Blue.”

Just say no

In Angel, Darla says, “Come on, Angel. Just say yes.” She’s paraphrasing the famous anti-drug message from the 1980s: “Just Say No”. It was first coined by Nancy Reagan, though British viewers may remember the kids from Grange Hill singing their version of the message.

Robin Hood

In Angel, Buffy says about Giles’s training quarterstaff, “I’m not gonna be fighting Friar Tuck.” Friar Tuck is the well-known ‘holy’ man in the legend of Robin Hood.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a popular Marvel comic starring Peter Parker, who leads a double life as superhero Spider-Man. Made into two successful movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. There are many similarities between Peter and Buffy, as she too is trying to lead a normal life, and (occasionally) make a living, whilst saving the world. Spider-Man has been mentioned in numerous Buffy and Angel episodes, including:

• Angel - The Master says, “With power comes responsibility”, which is the motto of the Spider-Man comics and movie.
• I Robot, You Jane - Buffy says, “My spider-sense is tingling”.
• A New Man - Riley says to Buffy, “You’re strong. Like Spider-Man strong”.
• No Place Like Home - Ben suggests Buffy’s strength comes from a “Radioactive spider bite”.
• Flooded - Anya and Dawn argue over if Spider-Man charges for helping people - Xander reminds them that “Action is his reward”.
• Two To Go - Andrew says, “Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man Treasury edition”
• Selfless - Xander says, “This isn’t springy high-flying fun!”
• Bring on the Night - Andrew says “My spider-sense is tingling”.
• Inside Out - Cordy says “That’s it? I get away with bringing the world down around you and two eensy words tingle your spider sense?”
• Additionally, Buffy stuntman Erik Betts was director Sam Raimi’s choice for doubling actor Tobey Maquire for the movie Spider-Man, but was told by the costume designer that his shoulders were too large. Nicholas Brendon auditioned for the role of Spider-Man in the movie.

The Bible

The Bible is referenced a few times in the Buffyverse. In the episode Angel, the Master says, “out of the mouths of babes”, which is from Psalms 8:2. Absalom, the religious vampire in When She Was Bad, was named after a character in the Bible. Absalom was the third son of King David. He turned against his father and challenged him for the kingdom of Israel. The story is told in the second book of Samuel (2 Samuel 13:20 - 19:10).
The title of the episode Faith, Hope and Trick is from the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Love has been replaced by Trick.
In Hush, as Buffy and Willow are first walking through town after their voices have been stolen, they walk past a group of Christians reading from the bible. The verse they’re reading is Revelations 15:1: “Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and wonderful: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for in them the wrath of God is ended.”
In Never Leave Me, Quentin Travers quotes Proverbs 24:6: “Proverbs 24:6. O, by wise council, you shall make your war”.
In Dirty Girls, Caleb says to Faith, “Well you’re the other one. The Cain to her Abel. No offence to Cain, of course.” In the Bible, Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain murdered Abel out of jealousy.

Todd Oldham

In the episode Angel, Cordelia spots another student wearing the same dress as her. She says, “Where did you get that dress? This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this dress cost? Is this a knockoff?” Todd Oldham is a couture fashion designer, and is also involved in film, photography, furniture design and graphic art. He was a commentator on MTV’s House of Style, and he redesigned teenagers’ homes in MTV’s Crib Crashers. Todd designed Sarah Michelle Gellar’s costumes in her 1999 movie Simply Irresistible.

Seen at 17.00 minutes:

In the episode Angel, Buffy says to Giles at the hospital, “I invited him into my home. Even after I knew who he was, what he was, and I didn’t do anything about it… ‘cause I had feelings for him, because I cared about him.” The problem with this is that Buffy only ever invited Angel into her house before she knew he was a vampire.

Seen at 03.54 minutes:

When Buffy is walking home from the Bronze, she passes a window with a green light shining on it, before being attacked by The Three. She and Angel then escape, and they pass by the same window… so either Buffy was walking the wrong way home or they took a weird detour.

Seen at 06.20 minutes:

When Angel and Buffy are running from the Three, and take refuge in Buffy’s house, one of the Three gets his arm through the door before Buffy forces him back out. But he was a vampire and also uninvited, so how did he get his arm in?

Seen at 11.55 minutes:

When exactly did Buffy call Giles and tell him about the three vampires so that he could research it from midnight until six?

Seen at 14.30 minutes:

Why did Buffy let Angel stay at her house for a whole day instead of making him leave the next morning? She didn’t yet know he was a vampire and so couldn’t go out in sunlight and there was no danger that The Three (all vampires) could pursue Angel in daylight. Surely she must have thought it strange that he want to stay the whole day, considering the danger was over.

Seen at 24.04 minutes:

While Willow is trying to tutor Buffy in the library, Darla watches in the background. Her reflection can be seen in the side of one of the bookcases.

Seen at 26.57 minutes:

Joyce screams when Darla bites her. The scream is exactly the same as Buffy’s, used earlier in the episode.

Seen at 27.01 minutes:

How did Darla know that Angel would arrive at Buffy’s house, just in time to be found with Joyce?