Buffy and Riley

Joss Whedon had the following to say about Buffy and Riley’s controversial relationship: “Some people think they’re just too cute and fluffy. Well, maybe I think it would be nice for Buffy to have an easy, stable relationship for once that doesn’t cause her any grief, doesn’t become dark and confusing so she can have some peace! Or maybe I’m Joss… “

Burned out school

The ruins of Sunnydale High seen in Doomed were all computer generated.

Marc in the credits

Marc Blucas was added to the opening credits as of the episode Doomed, an indicator to fans that his relationship with Buffy would be fairly long-term.

Marc’s second chance

Marc Blucas mentioned in an interview about how he got the part of Riley:

Spike’s white knees

The following conversation, from when Spike is wearing Xander’s clothes, was cut from Doomed:

UC Santa Cruz

Buffy writer Marti Noxon attended UC Santa Cruz. Three colleges from Santa Cruz are named in season four of Buffy: Stevenson, Kresge and Porter. In Living Conditions, Buffy tells Parker her dorm is in Stevenson Hall (number 214). There’s a party at Porter in Doomed and in The I in Team, Buffy mentions Kresge Hall.
In Life of the Party, Eve says, “Angel, it’s not like this is the first time I’ve had sex under a mystical influence. I went to U.C. Santa Cruz.”

Anastasia Horne

Anastasia Horne, who played Percy’s date Laurie in Doomed, has also been in Port Charles (as Lark), The Batchelor and Boy Meets World.

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’).

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.

Birth of the Buff

In Doomed, Buffy says that she’s a Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius, which confirms that her birthdate is somewhere between the 17th and the 20th of January. This corresponds to the fact that her birthday episodes usually air that week in the US (usually the 18th or 19th episode of each season).

Can’t go there again

In Doomed, Buffy talks about a failed relationship with someone who knew her secret identity - she is obviously talking about Angel.

Demon violence

Spike discovers, much to his delight, in Doomed that he can still be violent as he can hurt demons without the chip wrecking his head (”Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let’s annihilate them. For justice and for the safety of puppies and Christmas, right? Let’s fight that evil! Let’s kill something!”). This doesn’t explain why Riley said in The Initiative: “The implant works. Hostile 17 can’t harm any living creature in any way without intense neurological pain.”

Earthquakes

In Doomed an earthquake in Sunnydale signals the end of the world (again). The last time there was an earthquake was in season one’s Prophecy Girl, when the Hellmouth opened and the Master drowned Buffy. Buffy says, “the last time we had an earthquake I died” referring to the events of that episode. We discovered in season one that it was an earthquake which had trapped the Master underground in 1937, and in Pangs the Scoobies found out that an earthquake in 1812 buried the Sunnydale mission. We learn in Grave that Prosepexa’s temple was sunken into the ground in the Sunnydale earthquake of 1932.

Fun coma

In Doomed, Buffy says, “The last person I know that believed that is in a coma right now because she had so much fun on the job.” She’s talking about her nemesis Faith, who she stabbed in Graduation Day (Part 1).

Hostile Sub-Terrestrials

Hostile Sub-Terrestrials (or HSTs as Buffy accurately guesses in Doomed) was the Initiative code name for vampires and demons. In Doomed, Riley says that the Vahrall demon is “not a capture, it’s a kill,” meaning that the Initiative don’t capture all their specimens alive for experimenting.

Lilac One

Lilac One was Riley Finn’s Initiative call sign, seen in Doomed.

More on Riley

We discover in Doomed that Riley is a Psychology graduate student, which means that he already has a Bachelor’s degree, and that he’s at least 21.

Office romance

In Graduation Day (Part 1), Buffy says that her relationship with Angel will be her “last office romance”. She contradicts this in later seasons with her relationships with Riley and Spike.

Pizza boy

Xander has another new job in Doomed - despite his construction job gig in Pangs. This week he is delivering pizzas.

The museum

Buffy’s class go on a school trip to the museum in Inca Mummy Girl. The scenes were shot at the Natural History Museum, at 900 Exposition Boulevard (very apt) near the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Sunnydale Museum is also seen in Becoming (Part 1) (where Acathla was examined), Doomed (where the gang studied the Word of ) and Smashed (when the nerds stole the Illuminata diamond).

Party tunes

At the party in Doomed, we hear ‘Hey’ by The Hellacopters while Willow talks to Percy and ‘Mouth Almighty’ by Echobelly, when Willow overhears Percy talking about her

Slayer comma The

In Doomed, Buffy realises that Riley has never heard of the Slayer, though Forrest had. He says to Riley that she is a myth, “some kind of bogeyman for the Sub-Terrestrials. Something they tell their little spawn to make them eat their vegetables and clean up their slime pits.”

Vahrall demons

Vahrall demons are green, three metres tall (according to Riley), with spines across the back of their scalps, and clawed hands. They are said to be: “Slick like gold, and gird in moonlight, father of portents, and brother to blight, limbs of talons, eyes like knives, bane of the blameless, thief of lives.” Their aim in Doomed was to end the world using the Hellmouth, the blood of a man, the bones of a child, the Word of Valios, and three sacrifices (themselves).

Word of Valios

Three Vahrall demons attempted to open the Hellmouth in the episode Doomed using the blood of a man, the bones of a child and the Word of Valios. This was a fifteenth century talisman, which Giles just happened to have in his apartment. He says he brought it at a “sorcerer’s estate sale”.

CBS

When looking at a mystical symbol in Doomed, Xander says, “It’s kind of the CBS logo. Hey, could this be the handiwork of one Mr. Morley Safer?” CBS is a television network whose logo is an eye. Morley Safer is a news caster for CBS.

He Got Game

Forrest, played by Leonard Roberts, tells Riley in Doomed that he “don’t got game,” which is an in-joke because Leonard was in the 1998 movie He Got Game.

Nintendo

Referring to a fancy Initiative device (which looks like a Nintendo Gameboy) held by Riley in Doomed, Buffy says, “Is this really the time for Donkey Kong?” In the scene when Faith (in Buffy’s body) has slept with Riley in Who Are You? the camera pans up from the bed past the alarm clock, and you can see that there is a black Game Boy Pocket in front of the clock.

Slayer

In Doomed, Forrest thinks Riley is talking about the band Slayer: “thrash band. Anvil-heavy guitar rock with delusions of Black Sabbath.” Fred thinks the same thing in SDpin the Bottole - “Slayer? The band?”

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?”

Seen at 00.38 minutes:

In the first scene, Buffy’s hair is different than at the end of Hush, though it is supposed to be a continuation of the end scene in that episode.

Seen at 13.48 minutes:

When the lights first turn on to show Willow with the dead guy, his eyes are open. In the close-up shots his eyes are closed.

Seen at 23.20 minutes:

When Riley briefs the Initiative on the demon, he says it was “three metres tall… based on my visual analysis”. It certainly wasn’t that tall.

Seen at 23.48 minutes:

When the gang is researching, Xander’s work shirt is open over a white t-shirt. In one shot the shirt is buttoned up, before going back to being open again.

Seen at 25.20 minutes:

When Spike attempts to stake himself, the stake goes flying off and cannot be seen in the shot of Spike lying on the floor. Xander then steps in front of him, and picks the stake up, though the stake wasn’t there a moment before.

Seen at 30.07 minutes:

When Spike, Willow and Xander leave the museum, Spike is wearing Xander’s short trousers, but when they get to the school, he’s wearing jeans.

Seen at 37.48 minutes:

How does Buffy manage to fall into the Hellmouth more quickly than the demon?