Buffy’s apology

In the original cut of A New Man, Buffy said the following line to Giles: “I’m so sorry about, you know, stabbing you in the heart.” This was deleted from the episode, due to time constraints.

Ethan as Roger Moore

The following exchange between Giles, Ethan Rayne and the waitress at the bar was deleted from A New Man:

Riley’s father

This line of Riley’s was deleted from the episode A New Man: “My dad was out of work for a while back. He sells farm equipment. It was rough.”

Spike crashes

A short clip was cut from A New Man due to time purposes. According to Jane Espenson (who wrote the episode), after Spike crashed the car he got out and said, “I can kill demons. I can crash cars. Things are looking up!”

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.

Down and out?

Ethan is supposedly staying at the Sunnydale Motor Inn in A New Man, but the shot outside his motel is of a place called the Downtowner Apartments. This is exactly the same shot which was used in Faith, Hope and Trick, when Faith was staying there. The car at the front is even the same.

Giles’s first car

Giles’s first car seen on the show was an ancient silver Citroen, first seen in The Witch. The licence plate was 2GPU947. During the filming of Phases, the car refused to start so some members of the Buffy crew had to push the car from behind. They can be seen through the rear window in one scene. It finally died a nasty death when Spike crashed it in A New Man.

Hostile Seventeen

Hostile Seventeen was the Initiative’s code name given to Spike after they captured him in the episode The Initiative. Interestingly, Riley told Buffy in A New Man that he had captured or killed seventeen ‘Hostile Sub-Terrestrials’ (or HSTs, the Initiative name given to demons).
In Where the Wild Things Are, Spike goes to a party held by the Initiative boys. Xander calls out, “Hey! What a surprise! hostile 17! Can I get you a drink Hostile 17?”
In Goodbye, Iowa, Riley recognises Spike as Hostile 17. Spike attempts to fake an accent to disguise himself but gives up.
In The Killer in Me, when Buffy has Spike’s chip removed, the Initiative soldier calls Spike Hostile 17. In Lessons, Adam refers to Spike as “Number 17″.

Knocked out

In Buffy vs Dracula, Giles falls into Dracula’s basement, where he is surrounded by the sisters. After he falls he says, “Good show, Giles. At least you didn’t get knocked out for a change.” In A New Man, Giles says he has a “tendency to get knocked on the head”. He’s not kidding. Giles has been knocked unconscious in the episodes:

• The Witch (by vampires who want to raise the Master again)
• Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (by Andrew Vorba in the crematorium)
• Prophecy Girl (by Buffy, to stop him from trying to help her)
• When She Was Bad (by the vampires attempting to raise the Master)
• Passion (by Angelus, after Giles attacks him for killing Jenny)
• Becoming (Part 1) (by a group of vampires who take him to Angelus)
• Beauty and the Beasts (shot with a tranquilizer gun)
• Homecoming (by Lyle Gorch and Candy).
• Revelations (by Gwendolyn Post, in his office)
• Gingerbread (by the MOO mob as they come to take Buffy away. When Cordy wakes him up shes says, “I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious… again. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, one of these times, you’re going to wake up in a coma.”)
• Earshot (he doesn’t get knocked out in this episode - but he does walk into a tree in a very amusing manner)
• Flooded (by the Mfashnik demon as it breaks ino Buffy’s house. Giles later says, “Well, I know I’m back in America now. I’ve been knocked unconscious”).

Love is in the air

In A New Man, Willow lies when Buffy says, “I didn’t hear you come in last night”. This is the first sign that something is going on with her and Tara. The girls also do a highly charged spell on a rose together.

Mayor go boom

Buffy fills Riley in on the details of the Mayor’s Ascension in A New Man. Just how long have the Initiative been in Sunnydale? It seems to be only a short time if he knew nothing about the demise of last season’s nemesis.

Most of the time

In A New Man, Professor Walsh makes a joke about Buffy having been in her class, but not all the time. In Fear, Itself, Buffy missed a class due to being depressed about Parker.

Poke them with a stick

Professor Walsh discovers that Buffy is the Slayer in A New Man. She nastily tells Buffy, “It’s only our methods which differ. We use the latest in scientific technology and state-of-the-art technology. You, if I understand correctly, poke them with a sharp stick.”

Prisoner Spike

In Pangs, Spike goes to the Scoobies for help after the Initiative chipped him. They tie him up and later question him as to what he knows about the Initiative (seen in Something Blue). Spike then lives with Giles for some time, and stays with Xander (Hush, Doomed) before moving into his own place in A New Man. It’s all very buddy-movie-tastic.

Surprise party

Why, why, WHY do Buffy’s friends throw surprise parties for the Slayer? Let me repeat that… The Slayer. Who has demons and vampires jumping out at her all the time, and has really sharp reflexes. Who carries a weapon nearly all the time. Now that’s the kind of girl you really don’t want to be jumping out on! The Scoobies threw Buffy surprise parties in Surprise and A New Man.

Fyarl demon

Ethan Rayne turned Giles into a Fyarl demon in A New Man. Spike told Giles that Fyarl demons are very strong, with a tendency for violence so they are often used as henchmen. They have the ability to shoot jets of paralysing mucus from their nostrils. The demons have curling horns on their head, which Xander confusingly described as “tufty”. Fyarl demons have tiny tails which Giles says hurts when he sits.

Labyrinth

In A New Man, Giles met Professor Walsh for the first time. He said, “You’re hard to find. These halls are quite the labyrinth. I felt like Theseus and the Minotaur in the . . . labyrinth.” Giles is referencing Greek mythology, in which the Minotaur (a creature with the head and tail of bull and the body of a man) was cast into a huge maze known as the Labyrinth. Theseus killed the beast by fastening a ball of thread at the entrance of the maze, and using it to guide himself to the Minotaur, which he beat to death. He then used the thread to make his way out of the Labyrinth.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a popular Marvel comic starring Peter Parker, who leads a double life as superhero Spider-Man. Made into two successful movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. There are many similarities between Peter and Buffy, as she too is trying to lead a normal life, and (occasionally) make a living, whilst saving the world. Spider-Man has been mentioned in numerous Buffy and Angel episodes, including:

• Angel - The Master says, “With power comes responsibility”, which is the motto of the Spider-Man comics and movie.
• I Robot, You Jane - Buffy says, “My spider-sense is tingling”.
• A New Man - Riley says to Buffy, “You’re strong. Like Spider-Man strong”.
• No Place Like Home - Ben suggests Buffy’s strength comes from a “Radioactive spider bite”.
• Flooded - Anya and Dawn argue over if Spider-Man charges for helping people - Xander reminds them that “Action is his reward”.
• Two To Go - Andrew says, “Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man Treasury edition”
• Selfless - Xander says, “This isn’t springy high-flying fun!”
• Bring on the Night - Andrew says “My spider-sense is tingling”.
• Inside Out - Cordy says “That’s it? I get away with bringing the world down around you and two eensy words tingle your spider sense?”
• Additionally, Buffy stuntman Erik Betts was director Sam Raimi’s choice for doubling actor Tobey Maquire for the movie Spider-Man, but was told by the costume designer that his shoulders were too large. Nicholas Brendon auditioned for the role of Spider-Man in the movie.

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.

Seen at 05.03 minutes:

In A New Man, whilst packing to leave Xander’s basement, Spike steals Xander’s radio with his left hand. There is then a cut to another angle and he’s suddenly holding it with his right hand.

Seen at 05.22 minutes:

Spike throws his lit cigarette away in Xander’s basement and neither Xander or Anya seem to care.

Seen at 22.25 minutes:

When Buffy and Willow have breakfast, Willow picks up her glass of orange juice while the camera is facing her. When the camera faces Buffy, the glass is still on the table. Cut back to Willow, and she’s setting the glass down.

Seen at 25.43 minutes:

Why did the Scoobies take so long to go to Giles about the demon? Xander was woken by it at 10am but the Scoobies go to Giles’s place at night.

Seen at 26.03 minutes:

Xander doesn’t even go halfway up the stairs before coming back down and stating matter-of-factly that Giles isn’t upstairs.

Seen at 27.30 minutes:

When Spike and Giles talk in the cemetery, Spike puts a cigarette in his mouth. The camera cuts to Giles, then quickly back to Spike - and he’s suddenly holding the cigarette down by his waist and then tosses it aside.

Seen at 32.49 minutes:

In A New Man, when Spike and Giles are trying to find Ethan Rayne, Spike asks the barkeeper if she knew where to look for Ethan. She tells Spike that Ethan said he was staying at the rat infested “Sunnydale Motor Inn”. We later see an exterior shot of the motel, and the neon lights say “Downtown Apartments” (a reused shot as this was the former home of Faith).