Alyson’s favourite episodes

Alyson Hannigan told Entertainment Weekly which her favourite Buffy episodes were in an interview in October 2005:

1. Hush: “It was a whole new way of figuring out how to act, the not-talking thing.”
2. The Body: “I just remember the no sound, no music - it was so disconcerting.”
3. Ted: “John Ritter was the best. We would all just hang out in his trailer and be like, ‘Hi, John Ritter!!’ and he didn’t care. And, we got to shoot at a mini-golf place.”
4. Doppelgängland: “I was in the vampire Willow outfit, and Alexis had some holy water, and he made this noise, like FFFFT!! And it just cracked me up. I had such a crush on him.”

Cut lines

A few lines were cut from the episode Doppelgängland:

and

D’Hoffryn’s nickname

The Buffy make up team initially called D’Hoffryn “Mr. Hodgepodge” because he was made by using pieces from The Judge, a demon of Jhe and Pete from Beauty and the Beasts.

Is that Amber?

When Willow is impersonating Vampire Willow at the Bronze in Doppelgängland, she runs her hand through the hair of a young woman (though it could be a guy, it’s hard to tell) sitting alone at a table. Many fans thought the girl was Amber Benson (Tara), but after a close examination, it’s definitely not her.

Joss Whedon’s favourite episodes

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon spoke to USA Today in May 2003 (after the final episode had aired) about his favourite Buffy episodes. They are as follows:

1. Innocence: “It’s a mission-statement show, and one of the ones where I first found out what we could do.”
2. Once More, With Feeling: “What am I going to say?”
3. Hush
4. The Body
5. Doppelgängland: “Because one Willow is certainly not enough.”
6. The Wish: “Very bleak, very fun. It went to a dark place, and that’s really exciting to me. That’s where I live.”
7. Becoming (Part 2): “Buffy loses everything. Also, it had a sword fight. I love sword fighting.”
8. Restless: “Most people sort of shake their heads at it. It was different, but not pointless.”
9. Conversations with Dead People: “I’m very fond of ‘Conversations with Dead People.’ I just thought structurally and tonally it was very interesting and had a lot to say. And I got to write another song.”
10. Prophecy Girl: “Because that was my first time, besides telling directors what to do, that I actually got to direct. And it was the first time I got to kill Buffy, and the first season ender, and it was the first time I realized I could take everything we did in the season and tie it in a bow.”

Sophia’s favourite episode

Sophia Crawford, Buffy’s stunt double, said that Doppelgängland was her favourite episode in the October 1, 1999 issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Andy Umberger

Andy Umberger played the recurring role of Anya’s boss D’Hoffryn. Andy appeared twice more in Joss Whedon’s shows - he also played Doctor Ronald Meltzer in the Angel episode ‘I Fall To Pieces‘, and he played Dortmunder Captain in the Firefly episode ‘Serenity’. Andy has also been in First Daughter (with Marc Blucas), Coach Carter, Friends, The West Wing, ER, 7th Heaven, The X Files, NYPD Blue, Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane and Bull.

Ethan Erickson

Ethan Erickson, who played Percy West, started out as a gymnast before turning to acting. Joss Whedon gave Ethan his role on Buffy after he performed a back-flip at his audition. Ethan dated Rose McGowan in 1998. He appeared on an episode of Friends (as Dirk in ‘The One With The Soap Opera Party’).

Megan Gray

Megan Gray, who played Sandy in Doppelgängland, Family and Shadow, played Emma Jones in Dawson’s Creek. She has also been in Welcome 2 Ibiza, Picking Up Chicks with Harland Williams and Giving It Up.

Norma Michaels

Norma Michaels, who played the ‘Older Woman’ in Doppelgängland, appeared in the Angel episode ‘Happy Anniversary‘ as Aunt Helen.

D’Hoffryn

D’Hoffryn was head of the vengeance demons, with the power to make humans into demons, if they show enough talent. He monitors events on Earth from a demon dimension called Arashmaha. D’Hoffryn was responsible for making Anyanka and Halfrek vengeance demons, and offered to do so for Willow in Something Blue, but she declined. He became a type of father figure for many of his demons, even attending Anya’s wedding in Hell’s Bells, though he quickly became angry when they went against his wishes. When Anya decided to become human again, D’Hoffryn killed Halfrek to spite her, in Selfless.

Percy West

Percy was a basketball playing jock who Willow was forced to tutor in order for the school’s sports teams to do well. She gained his respect when her vampire lookalike beat him up in the Bronze in Doppelgängland. She later met him at a college frat party in Doomed and was upset to hear he thought she was square. We learnt in Doomed that Percy was attending the University of Southern California (USC) on a football scholarship.

Sandy

When Vampire Willow was at the Bronze in Doppelgängland, she bit a girl named Sandy. Riley later met the girl in Willy’s Bar in the season five episode Family. He realised she was a vampire, so Vampire Willow or another vampire must have followed through and sired Sandy. Riley staked Sandy in Shadow, after allowing her to bite him.

Anya’s age

In Doppelgängland, Anya reveals that she is 1120 years old to the bartender at the Bronze.

Bored now

Willow’s vampire self from an alternate universe used “Bored now” as her favourite phrase in Doppelgängland. Willow repeats this line in Villains.

Chicken feet

Chicken feet are a staple ingredient in witchcraft. They’re mentioned a few times in Buffy. In Doppelgängland, Willow says angrily to Anya, “I believe these chicken feet are mine.” In Forever, Anya says to Dawn, “We have some very amusing chicken feet you can play with.” In Into the Woods there’s the following scene:

Costume re-use

In the Bones episode (starring David Boreanaz) called ‘The Man With The Bone’, the Mayor’s wife is wearing what appears to be Vamp Willow’s leather top from Doppelgängland and The Wish. The only difference is there are some ruffles round the cuffs.
A screen capture of this can be found here.

Crazy like a… florist

On a few occasions (in both Buffy and Angel), a personality disorder test is mentioned and one of the questions to determine one’s sanity is if the subject ever wanted to be a florist. Additionally, whether you like shrubs or not seems to help determine your career aptitude, while a flower shop is a cover for the government conspiracy for which Riley Finn works.

Answering questions on their career aptitude tests during career week at school:
Xander: “Is murder always a crime?”
Buffy: “Do I like shrubs?”
Xander: “That’s between you and your god.”
Buffy: “(to Willow) What’d you put?”
Willow: “I came down on the side of shrubs.” - What’s My Line? (Part One)

Buffy: “The Watcher Council shrink is heavy into tests. He’s got tests for everything, T.A.T.s, Rorschach, associative logic. He even has that test to see if you’re crazy that asks if you ever hear voices or you ever wanted to be a florist.”
Willow: “Ooo, I used to want… Wait. Florist means crazy, right? I never wanted to do that.” - Doppelgängland

Buffy (on phone): “No, no, Finn is his last name. Yeah. Well, did he used to work there and then he got transferred Oh, is this actually a flower shop, or is this one of those things where I’m supposed to play along to show that I know it’s really secret ops? Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Oh, OK, right. Well, if some guy named Finn shows up to buy flowers — Yeah. Thanks.” (hangs up, turns to Spike) “Wrong number. Or a giant government conspiracy, one or the — Spike?” - The Killer in Me

Fred: “Don’t y’all think this is some kind of government conspiracy? ‘Cause my friend, Levon, says the government’s always taking kids and experimentin’ on ‘em. Did anybody else have to take a personality disorder test recently? They ask you about politics and your bowel movements and if you want to be a florist…“ - Angel, ‘Spin The Bottle’.

Doting Mayor

Early on in the episode Doppelgängland, when the Mayor is introducing Faith to her new digs, there is a red-wrapped fruit basket on one of the tables. There are two daggers in the basket, obviously in a nod as to what kind of “father figure” the Mayor is and what kind of presents Faith will be getting in the future.

Doubles

There have been a number of episodes with two of the same character in one shot. Willow met her vampire self in Doppelgängland, Xander had a double in The Replacement, we see two Spikes in Sleeper and the First takes on Buffy’s form in numerous episodes, including Chosen.

Evil Willow

In Doppelgängland, Willow says she never wants to end up evil, because the vampire Willow “messed up everything she touched”. Willow became evil at the end of season six, after her girlfriend Tara was murdered.

Floating pencils

In Gingerbread, Willow says she can make pencils float, seen later in Doppelgängland and Choices. In Triangle, Willow tries to persuade Anya to join her in doing spells by saying, “You could be floating pencils by the end of the day”. In Hush, Willow says she’d like to “float something bigger than a pencil one day”. By the end of the episode, she meets Tara and together they magically move a vending machine.

Kinda gay

Vampire Willow’s attraction to women in Doppelgängland is a foreshadowing of Willow’s future as she has a relationship with Tara from season four, and with Kennedy in season seven. Buffy says in this episode “vampires are nothing like the people they were, right?” to which Angel replies, “well, actually…” Willow says, “I think I’m kinda gay” again in Tabula Rasa.

Signals

In Dirty Girls, Buffy tells Xander that her signal will be lots of yelling. Willow said the same thing when she dressed as Vampire Willow in Doppelgängland.

Willow and Percy

In Doppelgängland, Principal Snyder makes Willow teach Percy in order to keep his grades up so he can play basketball. He made Willow coach students previously in the episode Go Fish. Snyder refers to the events of that episode as “the swim team debacle of last year”. Willow continues to coach Percy until graduation (We see that he’s “needy” in Earshot).

K’s Choice

The band playing on stage in the Bronze in Doppelgängland when Vamp Willow enters is K’s Choice, playing their song ‘Virgin State of Mind’.
In Hush, as Tara runs up the stairs to escape the Gentlemen, she passes a board. If you look closely or pause the picture, you will see a poster of K’s Choice’s album “Cocoon Crash”.

Spectator Pump

Spectator Pump’s “Priced 2 Move” plays in the Bronze in Doppelgängland. When Buffy goes to Faith’s apartment in Graduation Day (Part 1), Faith is listening to Spectator Pump’s “Sunday Mail”.

Crucifix

A crucifix is a Christian symbol which depicts the cross on which Jesus was crucified. It can be used to repel vampires, and will burn their skin if it touches them. For some reason, it also repels non-Christian vampires. For example in Doppelgängland, Willow, a Jewish vampire, was warded off with a crucifix.

Dart to heart

It is well-established that though a vampire possesses a heart, it does not pump and, accordingly, does not circulate blood through the vampire’s vestigial circulatory system. (Recall in the episode of Angel, when electro-Gwen kisses Angel, we, the gentle viewers (sorry), are given a rather graphic demonstration of Angel’s dormant heart as it is momentarily revived by Gwen’s high-voltage kiss.

If the vampire heart does not beat, then, how, in Doppelgängland, does the tranquilzer dart that human Willow shoots Vampire Willow with cause her to pass out? Tranquilizers function by entering the blood stream, slowing heart rate and moderately depriving the brain of oxygenated blood, hence, the target of a tranquilizer gun loses consciousness. But, if the heart ain’t beating, the blood ain’t flowing, and the sedative is just going to pool in the spot where the dart hit, and the vamp should, logically, go about his or her merry way, slowed down not in the least.

Doppelgangers

Doppelgangers are the ghosts of living people. They are identical in every way. Mythology has it that if you meet your doppelganger you will die, though this isn’t the case in the Buffyverse.

Biography

In Doppelgängland, Xander asks Willow, “did you remember to tape Biography last Friday?” This is a reference to the TV show Biography, which is shown on the A&E network in America. Each episode is a biography of a famous person.

Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a B-movie directed in 1954 by Jack Arnold. It’s is about a group on expedition to the Amazon who are menaced by a half-man, half-fish creature. In Go Fish, Cordelia called the swim team monsters the “creature from the Blue Lagoon”, Xander corrected her saying it should be the “Black Lagoon”. The monsters that the swim team turned into in Go Fish look as if their design was influenced by the movie.
Anya also referenced the movie The Creature from the Black Lagoon in Doppelgängland (Anya said, “If she’s a vampire then I’m the Creature from the Black Lagoon”).

John Wayne

In Doppelgängland, Xander says, “So we charge in, much in the style of John Wayne?” referencing the actor John Wayne (1907-1979) who was most famous for his roles in western and war movies. Wayne was also referenced in the episode The Initiative, when Buffy called Riley “John Wayne”.

Old Faithful

Old Faithful is a geyser in Yellowstone National Park which erupts on a frequent basis. Mentioned by Xander in Doppelgängland, when he confuses it with “Old Yeller”.

Old Yeller

In Doppelgängland, Xander refers to Old Yeller, a 1957 Disney movie about a stray dog who is adopted. The film has a notoriously sad ending.

Princess Margaret

In Doppelgängland, Faith says about Wesley, “Princess Margaret here had a little trouble keeping up.” Princess Margaret was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. She was born in 1930 and died in 2002, after bad health problems including a stroke, a heart attack, and lung surgery.

Vanity Fair

In Doppelgängland, Buffy says, “I know Faith’s not gonna be on the cover of Sanity Fair, but she had it rough.” This is a pun on the fashion magazine Vanity Fair, and Faith’s fluctuating mental state.

Watchmen

In Doppelgängland, vampire Willow breaks the fingers of a vampire henchman, whilst asking, “who do you work for?” This scene is a direct reference to the 1980s comic book Watchmen by UK writer Alan Moore.
There is a scene on page 16 of Watchmen issue 1, where a character in the book breaks the fingers of a barfly to get information. The identical “camera angle” of the scene, and the fact that it’s the little finger first, makes the Buffy version an homage to the comic.

Seen at 27.56 minutes:

In the scene where Vampire Willow licks the real Willow’s neck, real Willow’s hair is tucked behind her left ear, but when the camera switches to Vampire Willow hair hair is hanging loose.

Seen at 35.45 minutes:

How did Wesley get into the bathroom before Cordy and Vamp Willow? He was running towards them in the hallway, but somehow got in there first and came from behind Cordelia.