Soup and pillows

The following is a stage direction from the script for Out of My Mind, referring to how well Buffy and Dawn are taking care of Joyce after her return from the hospital:

Charlie Weber

Charlie Weber, who played hospital intern Ben in season five, made his first appearance in the episode Out of My Mind. His character became a pivotal one in the season, after the revelation that he shared the same body with evil hellgod Glory. Charlie has done some modelling in the past and appeared in print ads for designers like Abercrombie & Fitch and Ralph Lauren. Charlie has also appeared in Cruel Intentions 3, Charmed, The Drew Carey Show, The Broken Hearts Club, Dead Above Ground, The Crawl Space and The Kiss.

Erik Betts

Erik was a regular Buffy and Angel stuntman and is married to Melissa Barker, who played one of Buffy’s stunt doubles from season five onwards. Erik appeared in many Buffy episodes including Out of My Mind (as Agent Brown), Checkpoint (as a Knight of Byzantium), Life Serial (Predator Demon), Tabula Rasa (as a vampire), Sleeper (as a vampire), Storyteller (as a vampire), Get It Done (as a demon), End of Days (as a Turok-Han) and Chosen (as a Turok-Han). Erik also played The Keeper in the Angel episode ‘Peace Out‘.
He has been a regular stuntman for Alias, She Spies, The Shield, V.I.P., Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, The Jamie Foxx Show (stunt double for Jamie Foxx) and Martial Law. Erik was a stuntman for the movies 18 Fingers of Death!, Crash, Torque (stunt double for Ice Cube), Bringing Down the House and Cradle 2 the Grave. He was the gymnastics trainer for Wild Wild West.
In 1996, Erik broke his right hip and thigh whilst taping a kids TV show. He was in intensive care for two weeks, had five surgeries and almost three years of rehab to get fit again. Erik was director Sam Raimi’s choice for doubling actor Tobey Maquire for Spider-Man, but was told by the costume designer that his shoulders were too large for the costume.

Rebecca Rand Kirshner

Rebecca Rand Kirshner was an executive story editor and writer on Buffy. She wrote the episodes Out of My Mind, Listening to Fear, Tough Love, Tabula Rasa, Hell’s Bells, Help, Potential and Touched. Rebecca was also a writer on Gilmore Girls, Las Vegas and Freaks and Geeks, and wrote (with Mira Friedmann) the story ‘Sonnenblume’ for Tales of the Slayer.

Time Winters

Time Winters, who played Dr. Overheiser, the Initiative doctor who pretended to remove Spike’s chip in Out of My Mind, played famous vampire Nosferatu in Nosferatu L.A. ‘02. He has also appeared in Pitstop, True Vinyl, A Little Princess, Poison Ivy, Doc Hollywood, L.A. Story and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Time has appeared in many TV shows including Providence, Chicago Hope, Early Edition, Babylon 5, Murder, She Wrote, Picket Fences, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Cheers.

Ben

Ben was the hospital intern who cared for Joyce when she first went to the hospital suffering from headaches in Out of My Mind. Ben was a mortal who shared his body with hellgod, Glory, through no fault of his own. Ben at first he tried to protect Dawn from Glory, but he ultimately turned on her, and delivered her to Glory to be sacrificed. Giles suffocated him in order to kill Glory in The Gift.

Dreamin’ of you

Spike realised he had a major crush on Buffy in Out of My Mind, after he had a dream about her kissing him. This was the beginning of a major story arc for him which covered the next three seasons, and the beginning of one of the most contraversial stories in the show. Fans either loved the “Spuffy” arc or hated it. Kind of like Marmite.

Harmony’s staking

In Out of My Mind, Harmony says that Spike staked her before. This occurred in The Harsh Light of Day, when he staked her whilst she was wearing the Gem of Amarrah which made her invincible.

Insecure Riley

In Out of My Mind, Riley tells Buffy he worries that she won’t like him if he doesn’t have his super-strength given to him by the Initiative. He mentions Buffy’s relationship with Angel and the fact that Dracula drank from her in Buffy vs Dracula. She says if she wanted a boyfriend with super powers she’d be dating Spike, which she eventually does, sort of, in season six. Riley’s insecurities eventually lead him to leave Buffy for secret Government work in Into the Woods.

Local anaesthetic

I raised the issue of whether the doctor would use only a local anaesthetic on Spike during his brain surgery in Out of My Mind and received an email in reply from J.C:

There you go, though I think I speak for all of us when I say “euw”!

Not going to die

In Out of My Mind, Buffy says to Riley, “you are not going to die” to which he replies “I bet you say that to all the boys”. Buffy says something similar to Angel in Graduation Day (Part 2) when Angel has been poisoned by Faith. She tells Angel, “You’re gonna live. You have to live.”
So Riley’s statement is sort of true and Buffy has told both her long term boyfriends that they are not going to die.

Tachicardia

Tachicardia is an overactive heart, resulting in a racing pulse. Riley suffered from it as a withdrawal symptom from the drugs that The Initiative had been feeding him. It was fixed in Out of My Mind.

Tarot cards

Tarot cards have been used twice in the show - Tara uses them in The Magic Box in Out of My Mind and Drusilla used them in What’s My Line? (Part 1).

Teenage daughter headache

The first episode to suggest that there was a problem with Joyce’s health was The Replacement when she told an arguing Buffy and Dawn that, “this must be my teenage daughter headache”. Joyce collapsed in Out of My Mind and was taken to the hospital where she was declared fit. They doctors were wrong - they discovered she had a brain tumour in Shadow and she eventually died of an aneurysm in I Was Made to Love You.

Training room

In Out of My Mind, Giles surprises Buffy by showing her a special training room at the back of the Magic Box. She trains there for much of the next two seasons.

What are you?

Before she fainted in Out of My Mind, Joyce realised there was something strange about Dawn. We saw this before in Real Me, when a crazy guy told her she wasn’t real. It occurs again in Listening to Fear when a mental patient says something similar to Dawn. We discover in Blood Ties that people ‘removed from reality’ can see Dawn - or the ‘Key’ - for what she really is: a mystical ball of energy designed to fit an inter-dimensional lock.

Nickelback

When Riley plays basketball in Out of My Mind, we hear the song ‘Breathe’ by Nickelback.

Salamander Eyes

In Triangle, Willow uses salamander eyes in her ball of sunshine spell, which cost $10 for twelve. These were last mentioned in Out of My Mind, when Giles said, “No, these are salamander eyes, it’s the cataracts which give them their newt-like appearance. They’re really equally effective, though, it’s just a matter of overcoming snobberies.”

Smokin’

The issue of vampire’s breath arises again in the episode Out of My Mind, when Harmony attempts to smoke. She chokes on the smoke which seems impossible as vampires can’t breathe. This isn’t really a goof as such, as it could be seen as her just not being used to having smoke filling her throat. A certain amount of artistic license has to be allowed for this kind of mythology. Yes, vampires shouldn’t really be able to smoke, cough or be out of breath. But if we’re going to be picky - vampires aren’t real either so that’s kind of a goof too!

Dawson’s Creek

There are a few connections between angsty teen drama Dawson’s Creek and Buffy. Katie Holmes, who played Joey in Dawson’s Creek, was originally cast as Buffy Summers but she turned the part down to continue school. Several Buffy actors have appeared in Dawson’s Creek, including Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall), Bianca Lawson (Kendra), Adam Kaufman (Parker Abrams), Megan Gray (Sandy), Meredith Salinger (Grace Newman) and Alex Breckenridge (Kit). Nick Marck, a Buffy director, has also directed some episodes of Dawson’s Creek.
Nicholas Brendon (Xander) is friends with Joshua Jackson, who plays Pacey on the show.
In Out of My Mind, Spike watches Dawson’s Creek on TV. In Chosen, Buffy says to Angel, “Are you gonna go all Dawson on me everytime I have a boyfriend?”.

George Orwell

In Out of My Mind, Buffy says, “It’s so unfair. It’s like Big Brother can spy on you all the time, and the second I have something to say, no one will listen.” Big Brother comes from George Orwell’s scary 1948 novel 1984 in which the Government spies on it’s people. Big Brother is now also the name of a reality TV show (named after Orwell’s novel) which places contestants in a house which is watched 24 hours a day by people who have nothing better to do.

James Bond

In the episode Ted, Cordelia states Buffy should have ’special rules’ when it comes to the subject of murder to which Xander replies, “What? A license to kill?” This is the title of the 1989 James Bond movie starring Timothy Dalton.
In The Prom, Cordelia says that Wesley would look “way-007 in a tux”, referring to Agent 007 - James Bond. In Flooded, the nerds can be seen playing 007 Golden-Eye on their Playstation. In Out of My Mind, Buffy says, “You’re like my fairy godmother and Santa Claus and Q all wrapped up into one… Q from Bond not Star Trek“.
In Life Serial, Jonathan, Andrew and Warren discuss the different actors who have portrayed James Bond. Warren likes Sean Connery, Jonathan favours Roger Moore and Andrew’s favourite is Timothy Dalton. They mention the movies Dr. No, Moonraker, Licence to Kill and The Living Daylights.
In As You Were, Buffy says to Riley, “you still carry around all that James Bond stuff.” They later abseil down a giant dam, 007-style.
In Lessons, Dawn says, “Check out double-oh Xander”, referencing James Bond. In Showtime, Andrew tells Dawn she has a “License to Kill” and in Villians, Buffy, Xander,and Dawn are talking about what to do with Warren and Buffy says, “That doesn’t give me a license to kill.”

Star Trek

There are many cast/crew links between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the long-running cult sci-fi show Star Trek. Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder) played Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for seven years. Dominic Keating, who played Blair in the episode Helpless, later went on to star in Star Trek: Enterprise as Lt. Reed. Jennifer Hetrick, who played the teacher Ms. Moran in Homecoming (whom Buffy asked for a reference) played the girlfriend of Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Buffy writer Jane Espenson wrote an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called ‘Accession’. Star Trek has also been referenced numerous times in Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

• In Prophecy Girl, Xander says, “Calm may work for Locutus of Borg here, but I’m freaked and I intend to stay that way.” Upset by Giles’ reserve, he is referencing Star Trek’s emotionless cyborgs from the episode ‘The Best of Both Worlds’. Locutus was the name given to Captain Pickard (Patrick Stewart) when he was captured, and ‘assimilated, by the Borg.
• In Homecoming, Cordelia woos the nerds at Sunnydale High by saying, “Are you kidding? I’ve been doing the Vulcan death grip since I was 4.”
• In Consequences, Cordy calls Wesley, “Giles the next generation” in a reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• In Out of My Mind, Buffy says, “You’re like my fairy godmother and Santa Claus and Q all wrapped up into one… Q from Bond not Star Trek“.
• In The Replacement, the two Xanders say, “Kill us both Spock” - a reference to a Star Trek episode where Kirk is split two - one being good and one bad.
• In Flooded, the nerds vote with the Star Trek Vulcan salute, which is the same salute that Cordelia used to impress the ‘geeks’ in Homecoming.
• In Smashed, Spike tells the nerds, “You can play holodeck another time” - he means the virtual reality technology used in Star Trek.
• The nerds compare Buffy’s time loop in Life Serial with an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called ‘Cause and Effect’ (Andrew: “I just hope she solves it faster than Data did on the ep of TNG where the Enterprise kept blowing up.”)
• In As You Were, Buffy says. “they’re like really mean Tribbles”, referring to the popular, but quick breeding, pets on board the Starship Enterprise.
• After her visit to the nerds’ ‘lair’ in Doublemeat Palace, Willow says that they had numerous pictures of the “Vulcan women from Enterprise“. She’s referring to Jolene Blaylock, who played T’pol in UPN’s Star Trek show.
• The episode Normal Again is similar to the season five episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called ‘Far Beyond the Stars’. In that episode, Captain Benjamin Sisko imagines that he is a science fiction writer living on 1950s Earth and writing about a station full of aliens called Deep Space Nine. He hallucinates that the people he knows in the 1950s are futuristic aliens and is thrown into an asylum.
• In Seeing Red, Andrew references Star Trek: The Next Generation when he discusses who’s boss of the nerds: “Warren’s the boss. He’s Picard, you’re Deanna Troi. Get used to the feeling, Betazoid.” In that episode, Xander realises that the nerds had love poems in their lair written in Klingon.
• In Grave, after the Magic Box has been destroyed, a William Shatner book can be seen on the floor.
• In Conversations with Dead People, we learn that Andrew learned Klingon (a language in Star Trek) from a dictionary in two and a half weeks.
• In Dirty Girls, Andrew hilariously confuses Faith’s murder of a Volcanologist with a Vulcan:
  

  Andrew: “Nobody was immune to her trail of destruction. Not friends, not family, not even the most pacifist and logical of races…”
  Amanda: “What the hell are you talking about? I thought Faith killed a volcanologist.”
  Andrew: “Silly, silly Amanda. Why would Faith kill a person who studies Vulcans?”

Seen at 19.00 minutes:

After Riley’s basketball game, the amount of sweat on his back changes in different shots.

Seen at 24.36 minutes:

In the episode Out of My Mind, Graham answers the hospital door only to be knocked out with an unconscious security guard by Harmony. Later, when Buffy and Riley arrive at the hospital Graham tells them that it was Hostile 17 (Spike) and Harmony that did it. How did he see who it was? Harmony was smaller than the security guard so he couldn’t have seen her. He certainly wouldn’t have seen Spike, who was a few paces behind Harmony. Graham was unconsious when Spike and Harmony took the doctor (or he would have no doubt tried to stop them) and he didn’t start to wake till Buffy and Riley arrived.

Seen at 34.50 minutes:

How did the Initiative doctor perform brain surgery on Spike without shaving any of his hair off? Or affecting his hairline in any way?

Seen at 36.06 minutes:

You can clearly see Riley’s stunt double in the scene where he fights Harmony.

Seen at 36.55 minutes:

Spike’s reflection can be seen in the tin holding the penny.