Spaz

In Halloween, Willow says to Buffy, “Wild on me equals spaz”. This line was cut when shown on the BBC.

Carl Ellsworth

Carl Ellsworth wrote the episode Halloween. He has also written for Cleopatra 2525 and Xena: Warrior Princess. Carl wrote the screenplay for the Wes Craven movie Red-Eye. He spoke to the Louisville Courier Journal about how he left the Buffy writing team:

Larry Bagby III

Larry played Sunnydale High bully turned gay activist Larry in the episodes Halloween, Phases, Anne, The Wish, Earshot and Graduation Day (Part 2). Larry is a Mormon, but this didn’t stand in his way of playing a gay character (Mormons do not condone homosexuality). Larry was in an episode of Mr. Belvedere with Seth Green when the two were about 12 years old. The two also worked together on Airborne. Larry played another bully in Hocus Pocus, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Bette Midler.

Robin Sachs

Robin played Giles’s college friend turned nemesis Ethan Rayne. Sachs starred as Heinrich the vampire acrobat in the 1972 British horror film Vampire Circus. He’s also featured in Ocean’s Eleven, Jurassic Park - The Lost World, Bridehead Revisited, Galaxy Quest (where he played the villain Sarris) and a couple of episodes of Babylon 5 as Hedronn. Robin voiced the character of Ethan Rayne for the Buffy video game Chaos Bleeds.

Ethan Rayne

Ethan was an old college friend of Giles, or ‘Ripper’ as he called him. The two used to hang out, worshipping demons and creating dark magic spells. After Giles went on the straight and narrow, Ethan continued his bad ways. He occasionally came to Sunnydale to cause havoc, such as turning people into their Halloween costumes, enchanting Band Candy to turn adults into teenagers, and turning Giles into a Fyarl demon (A New Man). Ethan was extremely powerful magically, but had no physical strength so would flee after creating chaos. He was arrested and removed to a secret military base in Nevada by the Initiative in A New Man, never to be seen on the show again. We never found out what happened to Ethan.

Larry Blaisdale

Larry was Sunnydale High’s school bully (Halloween, Phases) who was “outed” by Xander and transformed himself into being comfortable with his sexuality (Earshot). Larry helped his classmates to battle with the Mayor’s Ascension. The last we saw of Larry was him being thrown into the air by the Mayor’s tail, which killed him.

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.

Buffy’s moving door

The front door of Buffy’s house changes in different episodes. In the season one episode Angel, when Buffy is trying to close her front door on The Three, you can see that the front door opens on Buffy’s right. In the season two episodes Inca Mummy Girl and Halloween, we see that Buffy’s door now opens on her left.
Later in season two, when Cordelia talks to Norman Pfister in Buffy’s hall in What’s My Line? (Part 2), you can see that the door handle of Buffy’s front door is on the left. But when Xander let Cordelia in the house in the previous episode (What’s My Line? (Part 1))the handle was on the right!

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.

Janus again

In Tabula Rasa, there is a replica of the two faced statue Janus behind Giles when he finds his airline ticket in his pocket. The statue was seen first used by Ethan Rayne in Halloween.

Miss Edith

Drusilla’s favourite doll is called Miss Edith. In School Hard, Miss Edith was punished by Dru who said, “Miss Edith speaks out of turn. She’s a bad example, and will have no cakes today.” In Halloween, Dru says, “Miss Edith needs her tea” and in What’s My Line? (Part 1), she tells Spike, “I need to change Miss Edith”.

No heroes

When Buffy and Willow sit in the bathroom in Halloween, there’s a poster behind Buffy which says, “There are no heroes in this locker room” which seems apt considering how many students have been killed/attacked in the school’s locker room - when Buffy hasn’t been around!

Oz’s van

In Halloween, Oz drove a zebra-striped van with right-hand drive. His van changes to a dark left-hand drive van in Innocence.

Photo friends

The photo that Buffy looks at when she visits her office in Empty Places is the same one she looked at in Primeval. It is also similar to a photo she looked at in Dead Man’s Party and Halloween.

Soldier Boy

A large part of the episodes Innocence and Graduation Day (Part 2) rely on Xander’s recollection of the events of Halloween, when he became a soldier for a short time. In Innocence he says he still has all his memories of being a soldier, including “procedure, ordnance, access codes, everything.” Xander’s military knowledge was a great plot device help to Buffy writers when they needed lots of gun power easily. We discover in the episode The Harsh Light of Day that Xander has lost his power when he has a girly scrap with Harmony, though in The I in Team, he says “My pseudo-soldier memory bank tells me that’s a tracer.” In Goodbye, Iowa, Anya says, “It’s not like he was in the ‘Nam. He was G.I. Joe for one night.”
In Never Leave Me, Xander realises that Spike has a “trigger”, to which Willow replies, “Is this left over from your days in the Army?” He admits that knowledge comes from Army movies. In Potential, Dawn says to Xander, “Well, you had that sexy Army training for a while.”

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).

The Shelter Club

Dingoes Ate My Baby have a gig at the Shelter Club in Halloween. We don’t know if it’s in Sunnydale or not.

Watcher’s Journal

All Watchers who are assigned to Slayers must keep a journal of activities, as a reference for future Watchers. It is from these that Giles and Buffy learnt about the histories of Angel (in Halloween) and Spike (in School Hard).

Who’s that girl?

Oz first noticed Willow in Inca Mummy Girl when she wore an eskimo costume to the dance. In Halloween, Cordelia bosses Oz around, then when she walks away, Oz says (sarcastically) “Why can’t I meet a nice girl like that?” He then turns and bumps into Willow, wearing her ghost costume so he doesn’t recognise her. At the end of Halloween, Oz saw Willow once again, this time in her very non-Willow Halloween costume. They didn’t meet properly until What’s My Line, Part One, in which they are both picked out for special treatment by software recruiters, and bonded over finger food.

Epperley

In Halloween, we hear ‘Shy’ by Epperley at the Bronze, while Buffy and Angel are talking.

Treble Charger

We hear Treble Charger’s ‘How She Died’ (from their album Maybe It’s Me) as Willow walks in front of Oz’s van in Halloween.

Halloween

Halloween gets its name from the Catholic celebration of All Hallow’s Eve, a day when all the saints, not just those with their own feast day, were honoured. Its real origins go back much further, to the ancient festival of Samhain, the Celtic new year. On that day it was believed that the boundaries between the worlds of the living and dead were weakened. Thus spirits were able to cause trouble on earth, and humans to gain otherworldly knowledge. According to Giles, Halloween is traditionally a quiet night for undead activity as they think it’s corny. Halloween is celebrated in the Buffy episodes Halloween, Fear Itself and All the Way.

Janus

Janus was the god worshipped by Ethan Rayne in Halloween. In Roman mythology, Janus was the two-faced Roman god of gates, of doors, and of beginnings and endings, and was worshipped at harvests, marriages, births, and other kinds of beginnings.

Vamps on tape

Seeing as they have no reflection, one might assume that vampires would be a bit tricky to capture on film (or video). Yet, it appears to be perfectly possible. We first discovered this in Halloween when Spike watched Buffy’s fighting technique via video tape, and Andrew later videos Spike in Storyteller. Likewise, in Helpless, Zachary Kralik was able to photograph himself.

Batman

The comic Batman, by DC Comics, is mentioned several times in Buffy.

• In Some Assembly Required, Buffy says to Willow, “Sorry to interrupt, Willow, but it’s the Bat-Signal.” She’s alluding to the ‘Bat-Signal’ in Gotham city which is used to alert Batman that he is needed.
• In Halloween, Xander says to Cordelia, “Catwoman, you’re with me.” In the Batman comics, Catwoman is a cat-burglar, and the alter ego of Selina Kyle.
• In The Yoko Factor, Xander says, “You and Willow go do the superpower thing, I’ll stay behind and putt around the Batcave with crusty old Alfred here.” The Batcave was Batman’s high-tech base and Alfred was his loyal butler.
• The nerds’ freeze ray gun in Smashed may have been inspired by Batman’s Mr Freeze, who used a similar device.
• In Beneath You, Spike says, “A little touchy-feely, and you’re off to the Batpoles?” He’s referring to the 1960s TV show Batman in which Batman and Robin would slide down poles to the Batcave when they were needed.
• In Bring on the Night, Andrew mentions Batman’s foe The Riddler.
• Vincent Schiavelli, who played Jenny’s uncle in Surprise and Innocence played the Organ Grinder in the movie Batman Returns.
• In the Angel episode Lonely Hearts, Doyle says, “It’s not like you have a signal folks can shine in the sky whenever they need help, you know?”, referring to the Batsignal.
• In ‘In the Dark‘, Spike says of Angel, “quickly to the Angelmobile, away” - another Batman reference.
• In Benediction, Lilah says of Connor,”Who’s the boy wonder?” This is the name often given to Batman’s sidekick, Robin.

Care Bears

In Halloween, Cordelia compares Angel to a “Care Bear with fangs”. Care Bears were a late-80’s range of toys, with their own cartoon series, and I seem to remember a couple of films too. They included Bedtime Bear, Cheer Bear, Funshine Bear, Share Bear and Tenderheart Bear and were sickeningly cute.

JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy

Cordelia references JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy in the episodes Halloween and The Wish. A real person, JoJo was amongst the human oddities exhibited in the 1880s by P T Barnum. He suffered from hypertrichosis, or abnormal hair growth, which caused him to grow long hair all over his face.

The Godfather

Ethan Rayne says to Buffy in Halloween, “I feel quite moved to make you a deal you can’t refuse.” This is a reference to the 1972 movie The Godfather, in which Don Vito Corleone often uses the phrase, “an offer you can’t refuse”. In Choices, Faith tells the Mayor, “I made him an offer he couldn’t survive”, paraphrasing the famous line.
In Fredless, Lorne says, “But it turns out massacres are a lot like sitting through Godfather 3: once is enough.”

The Prisoner

In Halloween, Ethan leaves behind a note on the counter of the costume shop which says, “Be seeing you.” When Eyghon leaves Giles’ apartment after first possessing Ms. Calendar in The Dark Age, it also says, “Be seeing you.” The phrase is a reference to 60s cult paranoia drama The Prisoner.

WP (Widespread Panic)

A black and white oval sticker with the letters “WP” can often be seen in Sunnydale. The sticker is for a band called Widespread Panic. Examples of episodes in which this is seen include:
Inca Mummy Girl: behind Xander when he says to Ampata, “Why’d you run away?”.
Halloween: next to Cordelia when she’s dressed as a cat and talking to Oz (on Oz’s locker door), and when Willow walks into the library when she’s a ghost, there is one on the bulletin board to her right. There is also a sticker on the bathroom wall, seen behind Buffy’s right shoulder when she an Willow look through the book.
Reptile Boy: at the beginning of the episode, behind Xander’s left shoulder in Buffy’s room.
Bad Eggs: behind Jonathon’s right shoulder on the locker when he is being attacked.
Surprise: on the locker behind Cordelia when she is talking to Xander and behind Xander when he calls Giles a party weasel. A colourful Widespread Panic poster can also be seen behind Joyce in Buffy’s dream.
Phases: when Buffy is in the Bronze looking for the werewolf, a WP sticker can be seen on a pillar behind her right shoulder.
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: poster in Xander’s room and behind Xander when Harmony tells him he should learn a second language so more girls can reject him. A sticker can also be seen on the locker behind Cordelia when Harmony is telling her off for breaking up with Xander.
Becoming (Part 2): at the beginning of the episode, when the cop is arresting Buffy in the hall, you can see a WP sticker on the lockers behind her.
Dead Man’s Party: on a guitar case behind the drums during the party.
A New Man: behind Giles when he’s at Buffy’s party.
Wild at Heart: a colourful WP poster (not the sticker) can be seen to the right of Oz’s bedroom door.
The Yoko Factor: in Buffy and Willow’s dorm room.
The Replacement: on the payphone that Xander uses to call Buffy.

Xena: Warrior Princess

In the season two episode Halloween, a spell by Ethan Rayne turns everyone into their Halloween costumes. Buffy is dressed as an eighteenth century noblewoman and loses her memory of being the Slayer. A frustrated Willow sarcastically asks, “She couldn’t've dressed up like Xena?”
Xena: Warrior Princess was a TV show which ran for six years (1995-2001). Set in ancient mythical lands, the show followed the tales of Xena, played by Lucy Lawless. There are many similarities between Buffy and Xena. Both lead characters are strong women who fight the forces of evil and help people in need. Like Angel, Xena is trying to atone for her past evils. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is referenced in the Xena episode ‘The Play’s the Thing’. Two theatre critics discuss which play to see and one says, “There’s the opening of Buffus, the Bacchae Slayer across the street.” Like Buffy, Xena had a musical episode.

Seen at 06.38 minutes:

When Buffy slams Larry against the vending machine, a diet Dr Pepper falls out, though this wasn’t a choice on the selection buttons.

Seen at 10.11 minutes:

When Buffy and Willow are in the bathroom looking at the diary, Buffy says there’s no name for the girl drawn but if you look closely, it says Sarah.

Seen at 14.08 minutes:

When he’s watching the video tape, Spike tells his minion to rewind the tape, but if you look closely, the tape is being fast fowarded.

Seen at 21.15 minutes:

When all the children are first turned into monsters you see one of the children from the back and he’s wearing a green mask - it’s definitely a child not a monster. Yet one second later when you see him from the front he’s a proper monster.

Seen at 21.43 minutes:

When Willow falls on the porch, her costume falls over her arms so that you can only see her hand sticking out. But when the ghost Willow gets up, you can see the costume is in a different position.

Seen at 29.31 minutes:

The intruder Angel fights in Buffy’s house is a vampire - who was not invited in.

Seen at 32.43 minutes:

When Willow is turned into a ghost she can’t move anything. But when Giles tells Willow to leave she moves a curtain and you can hear her shut the door.