Gnashing little teeth

The following line of Joyce’s about Principal Snyder was deleted from Dead Man’s Party:

“Have you ever noticed his teeth? They’re like tiny, little rodent teeth – horrible gnashing little teeth. You just want to pull them out with pliers.”

Like riding a bike

When the episode Dead Man’s Party was first released on video in the UK, the shots of Giles hot-wiring his car were edited out. This was to meet the 15 certificate rating, which contains an ‘anti-imitation’ clause, so imitable actions can’t be shown.

Heath Castor

Heath Castor played various characters in the episodes Dead Man’s Party, I Only Have Eyes For You, The Freshman, Living Conditions and Beer Bad. He was in the Angel episode ‘Untouched‘.

Nancy Lenehan

Nancy Lenehan, who played Joyce’s friend Pat in Dead Man’s Party, has had a varied career. She played Daisy Skelnick in The Faculty (which starred Clea DuVall from Out of Mind, Out of Sight), and she was Carol in Catch Me If You Can. Nancy has also been in Malcolm in the Middle, That ’70s Show, Ally McBeal, Felicity, Two Guys and a Girl (which starred Nathan Fillion, who played Caleb in season seven), Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane (which starred Azura Skye, who played Cassie Newton in Help and Conversations with Dead People), Dharma & Greg, ER, Ellen, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Grace Under Fire, Seinfeld, and V. Both Nancy and Paul Morgan Stetler (who plays the doctor in Dead Man’s Party) were in Pleasantville, which also featured Marc Blucas (Riley), Danny Strong (Jonathan) and Jason Behr (who played Billy Ford in Lie to Me).

Pat

Pat was an irritating woman who befriended Joyce at a book club after Buffy ran away from home. The two became good friends and Joyce invited Pat to Buffy’s welcome home party, or hootenanny or whatever it was. Pat was killed by zombies during the party and revived by the Ovu Mobani mask, which made her the demon incarnate. Buffy then killed demon-Pat by lodging a garden spade into her eyes in Dead Man’s Party.

All the way to the top

Joyce tells Snyder in Dead Man’s Party that she’s prepared to fight to allow Buffy back into the school. She says, “If I have to, I’ll go all the way to the Mayor”. This is the first mention of the Mayor in season three, who becomes integral to this season’s arc.

Buffster

Xander calls Buffy “Buffster” in the episodes Dead Man’s Party, Revelations, Buffy vs Dracula and Tough Love.

Buffy’s pink dress

The pink dress that Buffy wears in her dream in Anne (when she and Angel are on the beach) is the same one she wears in Dead Man’s Party.

Chips ‘n’ dips

In Surprise, when the gang discuss Buffy’s birthday party, Xander and Cordy have the following conversation:

Xander: “You’re cooking?”
Cordelia: “Well, I’m chips and dips girl.”
Xander: “Horrors! All that opening and stirring.”
Cordelia: “And shopping and carrying.”

Later, in Dead Man’s Party, Cordelia seems to be resigned to her fate as “chips and dips girl”:

Cordelia: “I’m the dip.”
Xander: “You gotta admire the purity of it.”
Cordelia: “What? Onion dip. Stirring, not cooking. It’s what I bring.”

Dingoes Ate My Baby

Dingoes Ate My Baby were a rock band, fronted by Devon with vocals, and Oz, who played lead guitar. They played on various occasions at venues including the Bronze (Inca Mummy Girl, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and Doppelgängland) and Buffy’s house (Dead Man’s Party - where they played ‘Never Mind’, ‘Sway’ and ‘Pain’). The band were mentioned in the unaired pilot, when Xander said, “They don’t know any actual chords yet, but they have really big amps”.
In Earshot, Freddy Iverson writes a bad review of the band in the school paper (”Dingoes Ate My Baby play their instruments as if they have plump polish sausages taped to their fingers”) but Oz thought it was fair. Cordelia briefly dated Devon (Inca Mummy Girl).
The band’s name comes from a famous Australian outback incident, in which Lindy Chamberlain was accused of killing her baby, which had actually been taken by dingoes. The Dingoes’ music was provided by real-life band Four Star Mary, with whom James Marsters has occasionally performed. Four Star Mary themselves appeared in the season four finale Restless.
The Four Star Mary song “Pain” became one of the signature tunes for Dingoes Ate My Baby. It was heard in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (performed in the Bronze), Dead Man’s Party (performed at Buffy’s house) and Living Conditions - on the stereo in the dorm when Willow moves in suggesting that the Dingoes had recorded a CD.

Ditch fear

In Dead Man’s Party, Joyce says to Buffy, “You can’t imagine months of not knowing. Not knowing whether you’re lying dead in a ditch somewhere or, I don’t know, living it up…” Later, in Wrecked, Dawn says, “What if they’re all in a ditch somewhere? Ditches are bad. Mom always used to talk about the ditches.” Apparently, Joyce instilled some ditch-fear into Dawn too.

Espresso Pump

The Espresso Pump is a coffee bar in Sunnydale’s main street often visited by the Scoobies (first seen in Dead Man’s Party). Giles sang and played guitar there in Where the Wild Things Are. The Espresso Pump was first shown in the episode Dead Man’s Party.

Eyeless

When Buffy sees Xander fighting vampires in Dead Man’s Party, she says, “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.” Xander actually loses an eye in season seven’s Dirty Girls.

Gathering, Hootenanny and Shindig

In Dead Man’s Party, Oz defined different types of parties: a gathering as “Brie, and mellow song stylings”, a hootenanny as “Choc full o’ hoot. Just a little bit of nanny” and a shindig as “Dip, less mellow song stylings, and large amounts of malt beverage”.

Hot Dog

In Dead Man’s Party, Principal Snyder sarcastically suggests Buffy go work for Hot Dog on a Stick: “In fact, I noticed as I came in this morning that Hot Dog on a Stick is hiring. You will look so cute in that hat.” In Pangs we find out Xander worked there briefly when Willow says, “I miss the free hot dogs on sticks.”

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.

Police matters

In Becoming (Part 2), Buffy is on the run from the police who think she murdered Kendra. In an attempt to avoid being arrested she knocks out a police officer and escapes. In Dead Man’s Party, Oz tells Buffy that shes not wanted for murder anymore (”Good. That was such a drag”). OK, so they realise she had nothing to do with Kendra’s death but why aren’t they charging her for assaulting a police officer? Or resisting arrest?

State Street

Sunnydale’s State Street, which included the town’s cinema and the Espresso Pump, was first shown in Dead Man’s Party. The cinema was first seen in Faith, Hope and Trick.

Four Star Mary

The music for Oz’s band Dingoes Ate My Baby was provided by real-life band Four Star Mary. James Marsters has performed with them on stage (off screen) a few times. The band themselves appeared in the season four finale Restless, as the band who play with Giles during the Exposition Song.

Four Star Mary songs can be heard in the following Buffy episodes:

• Inca Mummy Girl - The songs ‘Shadows’ and ‘Fate’ at the Cultural party in The Bronze.
• Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - ‘Pain’ is heard in The Bronze.
• Dead Man’s Party - The Dingoes mime to ‘Pain’, ‘Nevermind’ and ‘Sway’ at Buffy’s party.
• Homecoming - we hear the song ‘She Knows’ at the Homecoming Dance - it’s the song Oz wrote for Willow.
• Living Conditions - ‘Pain is heard when Buffy and Willow move into their dorm room.
• Band Candy - the Dingoes mime onstage at The Bronze to ‘Violent’, when the adults are acting weirdly.
• Revelations - Dingoes Ate My Baby perform ‘Run’ in The Bronze at the start of the episode.
• The Harsh Light of Day - ‘Dilate’ is played at the Bronze at the start of the episode.
• The Initiative - Riley gets the song ‘Fate’ turned off at the party as it upsets Willow.

Ovu Mobani

In Dead Man’s Party, Joyce got an evil-looking Nigerian mask from her gallery and hung it on her wall. The mask embodied the power of a demon, Ovu Mobani, which was able to ressurect the dead. If one of the zombies put it on, it made them the demon incarnate. Joyce’s friend Pat was killed by a zombie, reanimated and put the mask on. Buffy destroyed the mask (and demon-Pat) by driving a spade through it’s eyes, which were the source of it’s paralysing power.

Zombies

Zombies have been seen several times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The loosest explanation of a zombie is a corpse which has been reanimated in some way - mainly through magic. Examples of zombies seen on the show include those in Dead Man’s Party (who were revived by a magical Nigerian Ovu Mobani mask); Forrest and Maggie Walsh in Primeval (brought back to “life” by Adam); Joyce (resurrected by a spell by Dawn in Forever); and Jack O’Toole and his pals in The Zeppo. With the exception of The Zeppo zombies, most zombies have no free will and are essentially automatons. Click here for a full explanation of different types of zombie.

Deep End of the Ocean

In Dead Man’s Party, Pat (the woman who befriended Joyce after Buffy had run away) tells Buffy that, “Well, between, uh, your situation and reading Deep End of the Ocean, she was, uh, she was just a wreck. You can imagine.” Deep End of the Ocean was a novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard, written in 1996. It features a mother’s emotional search for a missing child.

Foot-binding

In Dead Man’s Party, Joyce Summers tells Buffy she has been looking at different schools to send Buffy to, including a girls’ school. Buffy replies, “A girls’ school? So now it’s jackets, kilts, and no boys? Care to throw in a little foot-binding?” Buffy is referring to the Chinese tradition of tightly binding the feet of girls to stunt their growth as small feet were considered a sign of beauty. The process was extremely cruel and painful.

Mr. Belvedere

One of the party-goers in Dead Man’s Party says to Giles, “You got the wrong house, Mr. Belvedere.” He’s referring to the American sitcom which ran from 1985 to 1990. It starred Christopher Hewitt as a British society butler who takes a job as a live-in nanny for a typical American family and records their everyday experiences in his diary for future use in writing a novel.

Oingo Boingo

The episode title Dead Man’s Party is a reference to the 1985 Oingo Boingo song of the same name. The song includes lines such as “Going to a party where no one’s still alive”.

The Deep End of the Ocean

In Dead Man’s Party, Joyce’s friend Pat references The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the critically acclaimed and best-selling 1996 debut novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard about the problems a family faces when their youngest son is kidnapped. A few months after the episode aired, the movie version entered cinemas.

Weebles

In Dead Man’s Party, Xander says, “Man, this sucker wobbles but he won’t fall down.” He’s referencing Weebles, which were bottom-heavy toys. The ad campaign said that, “Weebles wobble but they won’t fall down.”

Seen at 10.33 minutes:

In Dead Man’s Party, when Buffy walks up her path and meets Pat for the first time, she is wearing blue wedge shoes. Then, when she goes down to the basement to collect the “company plates” for her mother, her shoes have changed to blue high heels.

Seen at 20.10 minutes:

When Xander asks for a vote on how to celebrate Buffy’s arrival home, Willow raises her hand with a pencil in it. In the next shot, the pencil is gone.

Seen at 20.25 minutes:

Buffy sets the table for six but Joyce invited eight people to the dinner party (including Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz and Pat).

Seen at 26.00 minutes:

Buffy goes up to her room to pack, she leaves the door slightly ajar. In the next shot, the door is wide open.

Seen at 26.01 minutes:

Why is there no noise in Buffy’s room from the massive party downstairs? Her door is wide open but we can’t hear anything of the party.

Seen at 35.29 minutes:

Xander and Cordelia are in the kitchen fighting a zombie.They pin the zombie down and Xander tells Cordelia to hurry and go help Buffy, as he holds the Zombie down. When Cordelia reaches the front door, Xander is already helping Buffy hold the door shut as if he has been there the whole time.