Bad Machida

The demon Machida was originally supposed to be in at least two episodes, but the makeup was too difficult to put on, and there were some technical problems (such as one of the stuntmen fainting), he was killed off in the episode Reptile Boy. The following is from the original script:

There was also an extra line later in The Bronze when the gang are there.

Devotion

The French title for the episode Reptile Boy is ‘Devotion’.

Tooled already

David Greenwalt, who wrote the episode Reptile Boy, thought he made up the name Machida, but found the name (though spelled differently) is a brand of tools.

Greg Vaughan

Greg Vaughan played Richard Anderson in Reptile Boy. Greg played Dan Gordon in Charmed, Cliff Yeager in Beverley Hills 91020, Lucky Spencer #3 in General Hospital and Diego Guttierez in The Young and the Restless. Coincidentally, Joss Whedon’s assistant is called Diego Guttierez (he also wrote the episode Normal Again). Greg was in the short-lived series Malibu Shores with Charisma Carpenter. His surname name was misspelt as Vaughn in the opening credits of Buffy.

Jordana Spiro

Jordana Spiro, who played Callie Anderson in Reptile Boy, also appeared in From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter, which starred Ara Celi (Ampata in Inca Mummy Girl). She has been in One World, JAG, Must Love Dogs, The Greener Grass, Playas Ball, The Huntress and Undressed.

Robin Atkin Downes

Robin played Machida in Reptile Boy. He also played Byron, a poetic telepath on Babylon 5. He played the ‘Demon of Illusion’ in an episode of Charmed called ‘Chick Flick’. Robin’s main occupation is voice work and he has provided the voices for many video games including The Hobbit, Doom 3 and Rise To Honour.

Todd Babcock

Todd played evil frat boy Tom Warner in Reptile Boy. He also played Vin Ramsell in Days of Our Lives and appeared in the crappy 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes.

Callie Megan Anderson

Callie was a student at Kent Preparatory School who was kidnapped by the Delta Zeta Kappa frat boys as a sacrifice to the demon Machida. She was saved when the Scoobies rescued Buffy and Cordelia from the frat house in Reptile Boy.

Richard Anderson

Richard was a senior at Cresswood College and member of Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity house, and a friend of fellow frat boy Tom Warner. His family owned Anderson Farms, Anderson Cosmetics and Anderson Aeronautics. He dated Cordelia and invited her to a frat house party in order to offer her as a sacrifice to the demon Machida. Buffy fought the demon and Richard and his fellow frat boys were jailed in Reptile Boy.

Tom Warner

Tom was a senior at Cresswood College, friend of Richard Anderson, member of the Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity house and the leader of the sect that worshipped Machida. Tom charmed Buffy into trusting him and invited Buffy and Cordelia to a frat party where he intended to sacrifice them to Machida. He drugged their drinks and chained them in the basement, where he summoned Machida. Buffy defeated the demon and Tom was jailed (Reptile Boy).

Age of Angel

Angel revealed to Buffy that he was 241 years old in Some Assembly Required. He also said this in Reptile Boy. This means he would have been born in 1755 or 1756. In Halloween, Willow states that Angel was eighteen in 1775. But in Becoming (Part 1) we see that he was made into a vampire in 1753, even though by previous reckonings he wouldn’t have been born yet. It’s all very confusing, but Joss Whedon has admitted that he’s terrible at maths, so I’ll leave it at that.

Alcohol

Drinking alcohol in Buffy the Vampire Slayer has always been frowned upon, though the rules were relaxed slightly as the Scoobies got older. The general rule is: if you have a drink, something bad is going to happen to you. Here are some examples of this rule:
In Teacher’s Pet, Xander is the first of the Scoobies to drink alcohol. He has a sip of Martini given to him by Natalie French who is really a giant preying mantis in disguise. The drink has been drugged and he passes out. When Xander awakes he only narrowly escapes mating with and being killed by the mantis.
In Reptile Boy, Buffy and Cordelia go to a frat house party where they drink alcohol which has (again) been spiked. They pass out and awaken in a basement, ready to be sacrificed by Machida.
In The Dark Age, Giles gets busy with the whiskey and then his girlfriend gets possessed by Eyghon the Sleepwalker.
In Lover’s Walk, Spike returns to Sunnydale and gets extremely drunk, he awakes in the morning when sunlight touches his hand, which goes up in flames.
In Something Blue, Willow’s friends freak out a bit too much when they see she’s drinking - GASP! - low-alcohol beer. Willow later does a spell which makes her will be done, causing havoc for her friends (OK, so the alcohol/badness link isn’t as strong in this example but I like it because she’s only drinking a low-alcohol beer!).
Beer Bad: the episode title says it all. Buffy drinks beer and turns into a Neanderthal… blah blah blah. Unfortunately, the “isn’t alcohol terrible” motto was lost on me as I was forced to get very drunk to sit through the episode.
In Life Serial, Buffy and Spike go drinking together and Buffy is really ill. She then tells Giles about how she’s messing up (though in fairness this started before she was drinking!)
The Bronze serves alcohol but the rules are very strict about the age limit. Underage people have to wear a stamp on their hand so they won’t get served (Dawn in Family) and when Anya tries to get a beer in Doppelgängland, she’s asked for ID.
The rules are later relaxed and finally, in Older and Far Away, Buffy celebrates her 21st birthday, meaning she can now legally drink alcohol, though we saw her previously drinking beer in Dead Things.

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.

Coffee

In Reptile Boy, Buffy and Angel agree to go for coffee, and attempt to do this in Halloween. Buffy makes a big show that going for coffee is an important date-like event in season five’s I Was Made to Love You when she meets Ben and they have a painfully boring conversation using coffee as an analogy for their feelings for each other.

Cresswell College

Cresswell College is in Sunnydale, shown in Reptile Boy. The Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity boys there worshipped an underground monster named Machida.

ENT

Do Giles and Willow really need a computer in Reptile Boy to go through which letters of the alphabet go before ‘ENT’? Surely a pen and paper would do?

Jonathan dating

At the end of the episode Reptile Boy, Cordelia has decided that “younger men are the way to go” by dating Jonathan. In the season three episode The Wish, Harmony bitchily suggests that Cordelia date Jonathan as he probably wouldn’t cheat on her.

Kent Preparatory School

Kent Preparatory School, attended by Callie Anderson in Reptile Boy, is just outside of Sunnydale. In addition to Kent, St. Michael’s and Grant are other schools which are mentioned in that episode, which may or may not be in the area of Sunnydale.

Muffins and foam

Jonathan, who was introduced in the previous episode (Inca Mummy Girl), re-appears at the end of Reptile Boy as Cordelia’s date and is named for the first time.

Same Graveyard

The cemetery which Callie runs through at the beginning of Reptile Boy is the same one used in the season six episode Entropy where the nerds ride their ATVs, chasing a vampire. The graveyard features tombstones reading “Mother” and “Dad”. Nice and vague.

Spandex

A tiny hint that Cordelia and Xander would eventually get together is shown in the episode Halloween. Xander says to Buffy that he prefers his women in Spandex - Cordelia said that Spandex was one of her trademarks in the previous episode (Reptile Boy).

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.

Act of Faith

When Xander makes his pledge in Reptile Boy, Act of Faith’s song ‘Bring Me On’ (from the album Scream) can be heard in the background.

Louis Says

In Reptile Boy, Buffy and Tom dance to ‘She’ by Louis Says, from the album Gravity, Suffering, Love and Fate.

Delta Zeta Kappa

This fraternity was based at Cresswell College in Sunnydale. The fraternity worshipped Machida and offered sacrifices of girls to the demon, who lived in their cellar. Buffy and Cordelia were offered as sacrifices in Reptile Boy, but Buffy killed Machida and the fraternity were imprisoned.

Machida

Machida was a snake-like demon worshipped by members of Delta Zeta Kappa, including Tom Warner and Richard Anderson. Lived in a tunnel in the basement of the fraternity house. Machida’s followers sacrificed teenage girls to him every October 10th, and in return he blessed them with good fortune, power and riches. Buffy killed Machida and every frat boy who had worshipped him lost their wealth.

Shaving and blood

In Reptile Boy, Willow makes a good point on noticing Angel’s lack of reflection. How does he shave? Perhaps his hair doesn’t grow? We also learn in this episode that vampires have an amazing ability to smell blood.

Godzilla

Godzilla is a massive, nearly invincible dinosaur/lizard-like creature with incredible strength and destructive fire. Godzilla has starred in 22 movies produced from 1954 to the present. Godzilla has been referenced in Buffy a few times. In Teacher’s Pet, Xander says, “We’re on Monster Island”, meaning the island where Godzilla lives. Xander says in Reptile Boy, “Godzilla’s attacking downtown Tokyo! Aargh, Aargh!” In Crush, Harmony calls Drusilla “Droodzilla”, which is probably a reference to Godzilla.
In Dirty Girls, Amanda says, “Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla. How tough is he?” This is a reference to the 1997 movie Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick which disappointed many fans (like Xander and Andrew).
In Redefinition, Merl says “I heard about your girls - Godzilla, Darcilla, whatever”.

Kshatriya

The Bollywood movie that Buffy, Xander and Willow watch in Reptile Boy is the 1993 movie Kshatriya, directed by J. P. Dutta.

Nancy Sinatra

Xander says in Reptile Boy, “Ok boots. Start a-walkin’.” This is a reference to the 1966 Nancy Sinatra song “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”.

Sleeping Beauty

Angel says in Reptile Boy, “When I kiss you, you don’t wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after.” This is probably a reference to the fairytale Sleeping Beauty.

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 Incredible Hulk

In Reptile Boy, Tom says, “Anyway, the Hulk is gone, so you don’t have to dance with me.” This is a reference to Marvel Comics’ angry superhero the Incredible Hulk.

Seen at 01.23 minutes:

At the start of Reptile Boy, we see the missing girl, Callie, jump through a glass window onto a balcony. Later in the episode (at 24:58 minutes) Buffy stands on some broken glass from the same window and we see that the window has been boarded up. How did the glass get onto the ground below? When Callie broke the window at the start she was on a balcony and no glass went over the balcony onto the ground.

Seen at 18.43 minutes:

Cordelia tells Buffy specifically not to wear black, but Buffy shows up at the party in a black dress. She may have done this to spite Cordy.

Seen at 37.29 minutes:

When Buffy fights Machida, we see that she’s wearing flat shoes, though before and after this scene she’s wearing high heels.

Seen at 41.13 minutes:

The members of the Zeta Kappa fraternity were tried and sentenced awfully fast. In one day? Also, the newspaper Xander looks at has only the headline “Fraternity Arrested”.