Buffy’s shorter hair

Sarah Michelle Gellar cut her hair in the episode Gone, which caused lots of internet discussion about her new “do”. Personally, I think the show is way above the issue of the length of the lead actress’s hair but there we go (plus, why is it that everytime Anya changes hair color and style, no one says anything, but as soon as Buffy cuts her hair everyone makes a fuss about it?). The main thread of the hair discussion was how Sarah’s new hair cut would affect the ratings of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The reason for the discussion was that Keri Russell, the title character in the WB show Felicity, had cut off her long curly hair between seasons, which executives later blamed for Felicity’s fall in the ratings. They then enforced a “no hair cut” policy,.

Elin Hampton’s cameo

There is an unconfirmed rumour that Elin Hampton, the wife of writer/director David Fury, appeared in Gone, in the scene at the Social Services office. She’s the woman who stares at Doris acting strangely. Elin and David co-wrote the episode Go Fish together.

Marti on invisible sex

Marti Noxon said about the episode Gone:

Wiggins

Sarah Michelle Gellar seems to have been wearing a wig in the scenes prior to, and including, cutting her hair in Gone. This suggests that she had her hair cut before shooting of this episode began. It’s unlikely that she would have cut her own hair on film as it would be too risky in case she messed up and had to reshoot the scene. Sarah also doesn’t seem like the type of girl who would cut her own hair.

Wiggly ear

The effect of an invisible Buffy nibbling Spike’s ear in Gone was apparently achieved by gluing a stick to James Marsters’ earlobe, wiggling it about and then removing the stick with computer graphics in post-production.

Susan Ruttan

Susan Ruttan, who played Social worker Doris Kroeger in Gone, appeared as Roxanne in L.A. Law from 1986 to 1993. Susan appeared alongside Clea DuVall (Marcie Ross in Out of Mind, Out of Sight) in the movie Helter Skelter about Charles Manson. Clea played Linda Kasabian, the key witness in Manson’s trial and Susan played her mother, Mrs Kasabian.

Doris Kroeger

Doris Kroeger was the Social Services worker who visited Buffy’s home in Gone to analyse the situation with regards to Dawn. She didn’t like what she saw, but Buffy (when invisible) managed to make her look mad. Doris was forced to take a few month’s leave and Dawn’s case was reassigned.

Flying monkeys

In Flooded, Andrew says, “I had nothing to do with the devil dogs. I trained flying demon monkeys to attack the school play. School play, dude!” In Gone, he tells Buffy, “I summoned the flying monkeys that attacked the high school.”

I can’t even see

After making social worker Doris Kroeger look crazy in Gone, Buffy whistles part of her song ‘Going Through the Motions’ from Once More, With Feeling. She whistles “I can’t even see, if this is really me” - a fitting choice for the episode.

Marcie again

In Gone, Buffy namechecks invisible girl Marcie Ross from Out of Mind, Out of Sight:

Xander: “Buffy, how did this hap– wait a sec. Have you been feeling ignored lately?”
Buffy: “Yeah, ignored. I wish. No, this isn’t a Marcie deal.”

Nemeses

In Conversations with Dead People, Holden says to Buffy, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we became nemeses?” to which Buffy replies, “Is that how you say it?” This is a reference to the season six episode Gone, where Warren, Andrew and Jonathan reveal themselves to Buffy and struggle to say they are her “arch-nemsis-es”.

Pinball machine

When Buffy fights Lyle Gorch in the mall in Bad Eggs, she pushes him into a pinball machine. It seems to be the same machine she throws Andrew onto in the season six episode Gone.

Tucker’s brother

Tom Lenk played two characters in Buffy - Cyrus in Real Me and Andrew Wells in seasons six and seven. A small piece of continuity for these two characters is that others find it hard to remember who they are. In Real Me, when Harmony is talking to her minions about “the plan”, she can’t remember Cyrus’s name, and asks him what it is.
In Flooded, Warren confuses Andrew with his brother Tucker (seen in The Prom):

Additionally, in Gone, Doublemeat Palace and Never Leave Me, Buffy, Xander and Spike all say they have no idea who Andrew is.

Uncle Rory

Xander’s Uncle Rory, who was a “stodgy taxidermist” by day and at night it was “booze, whores and fur flying”. Mentioned in The Dark Age, The Zeppo (when he lent Xander his car), Fear, Itself, Gone and As You Were. We finally got to meet Uncle Rory when he was a guest at Xander’s wedding in Hell’s Bells - and he didn’t disappoint. He pretended to be electrocuted by a toaster and hit on a waitress at the wedding, pretending she was his date. He then explained the finer points of taxidermy to her.

Invisibility gun

The trio of nerds invented an invisibility ray, using the Illuminata diamond, stolen from Sunnydale museum in Smashed. They accidentally shot Buffy with it in Gone, and she became invisible. Anya and Xander discovered that the invisibility ray was actually unstable, and everything it was used on eventually disintegrated.

Kokopeli

Kokopeli is a fertility god. Joyce Summers owned a statue of him, which Dawn loved. Buffy disposed of the statue in the episode Gone in an attempt to try and stop Willow from practising magic.

A Christmas Carol

In Band Candy, the Scoobies ran into Principal Snyder who was giving students chocolate to sell. Xander said, “You weren’t visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, by any chance?” He’s referring to the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol, in which a man named Scrooge changes his miserly ways after being visited by three ghosts who show him his past, present and future.
In Gone, Buffy paraphrases a famous line from A Christmas Carol when she says, “I am the ghost of fashion victims past”.

Godfrey Cambridge

In Gone, Xander walks in on Spike having sex with an invisible Buffy and says, “Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike!” Godfrey Camridge (1933-1976) was and American actor who appeared in Watermelon Man (1970), Friday Foster (1975) and Scott Joplin (1977).

Goldilocks

Spike calls Buffy “Goldilocks” (after the children’s story Goldilocks and the Three Bears) twice in Buffy: in Goodbye, Iowa, he says, “Got to hand it to you goldilocks - you do have bleeding tragic taste in men I’ve got a cousin married to a regurgitating Frovalox demon that’s got better instincts than you.” and in Gone, he says, “So what should I call you then? Pet? Sweetheart? My little goldilocks?”, to which Buffy replies by cutting off her hair.

Lord of the Rings

The demon Gnarl in the episode Same Time, Same Place, is very similar to the Lord of the Rings character Gollum. Jane Espenson confirmed that this was intentional in a post at the Bronze Beta: “Collect the money on the bet. There was some Gollum in the history of Gnarl.”
In Intervention, Xander says that Buffy called Glory’s minions “hobbits with leprosy”. He’s referring to J.R.R. Tolkien’s creatures from his book The Hobbit and the trilogy the Lord of the Rings. Hobbits are like men, but are much smaller, with large hairy feet. They are home-loving and enjoy food, parties and smoking pipes. Glory later calls Spike “Precious”, which is fitting as the Lord of the Rings character Gollum refers to the One Ring as “my precious”.
In Gone, Warren says to Jonathan, “Oh, cheer up, Frodo”. Frodo Baggins is a character from Lord of the Rings. In Chosen, the scenes of the thousands of CGI Turok-Han in the Hellmouth was clearly influenced by the scenes in the Mines of Moria in the Lord of the Rings movie The Fellowship of the Ring.
In Damage, Andrew reacts to Spike’s reappearance by comparing it to Gandalf’s resurrection in The Fellowship of the Ring (“more beautiful than ever”} before weeping on Spike’s shoulder and whispering “Frodo, he’s alive.”
In Power Play, Gunn calls Drogyn “Aragorn.” Aragorn is the name of a long-haired character in The Lord of the Rings, played in the movie version by actor Viggo Mortensen.

Soylent Green

When Buffy and Cordelia collide and spill the contents Buffy’s tray in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, Owen says, “at least you won’t have to eat your Soylent Green…” This is a reference to the Charlton Heston movie, Soylent Green, in which Soylent Green is actually human remains processed into food.
The movie is also referenced in the episode Doublemeat Palace, when Buffy runs into the customer area of the restaurant yelling, “It’s people!” Heston’s character tries the same thing in Soylent Green.

Spongebob Squarepants

Andrew wears a Spongebob Squarepants t-shirt in Gone. This cartoon was also referenced in Life Serial by Tara, who revealed she once ‘zoned out’ when watching it. Spongebob Squarepants has become something of a gay icon, so this may be an in-joke into Andrew’s questionable sexuality, and Tara’s obvious one.

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?”

The Shining

In The Puppet Show, Xander holds up Sid the Dummy and says, “Redrum, Redrum”. Redrum is from Stephen King’s novel The Shining, and for those not in the know, it’s ‘murder’ spelt backwards. The Shining was made into a movie starring Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance.
In Gone, Buffy says, “All work and no play makes Doris a dull girl”. This is a reference to The Shining in which the main character, Jack Torrance, writes the words “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” when he starts to go crazy from cabin fever.
In Normal Again, Jonathan says, “I’m going all Jack Torrance here, you know?” referring to the main character in The Shining.
In Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, Angel is staying in room 217 in the hotel. This is the same room number in The Shining in which young Danny Torrance finds a dead woman in the bathtub.
In Billy, the scenes of Wesley chasing Fred through the hotel with an axe are reminiscent of the move version of The Shining, in which Jack Torrence does the same thing.

The X Files

The X Files was an influential TV show (1993-2002) following two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who investigate the unexplained. It has been mentioned in the Buffyverse on several occasions.
In The Pack, Buffy accuses Giles of trying to “Scully” her (Scully was sceptical about Mulder’s supernatural beliefs).
In Living Conditions, Buffy says about Kathy, “You’re right. Ooh! She’s even affecting my work, now. She’s the Titanic. She’s a crawling black cancer… She’s… other really bad things.” The “crawling black cancer” line is likely a reference to The X-Files. In the show, it’s an alien liquid organism which looks like oil. When someone is first infected by the black substance, it crawls up the body like bugs under the skin.
In Life Serial, the trio of nerds test Buffy using different methods, one of which being a time loop. Warren mentions a similar plot in an X Files episode “where the bank kept exploding”. The episode was called ‘Monday’ and was during season six of the show.
In Gone, Buffy says, “Xander and Anya are working on it. Mulder-ing out what happened.”
In Sanctuary, the following conversation takes place:

Kendrick: “Come on Kate. Everyone knows you’ve gone all Scully. Anytime one of these weird cases crosses anyone’s desk, you’re always there. We used to be friends - what’s going on with you?”
Kate: “Scully’s the sceptic”.
Kendrick: “Huh?”
Kate: “Mulder’s the believer, Scully’s the sceptic.”
Kendrick scratches his head: “…Scully’s the chick, right?”

The X Files returned the favour in it’s season nine episode ‘Daemonicus’ by referencing Buffy with the following dialogue:

Scully: “For the past eight years I was part of a unit known as the X-Files. Some of you may have heard of it.”
Cadet: “Ever slay a vampire?”
Scully: “Sorry to disappoint you, but this is a course in forensic pathology. Hard science. An X-File is a case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Bureau, because such a case cannot be solved it may beg other explanations… a vampire, perhaps.”

Seen at 06.50 minutes:

There are sun rays on Spike in the kitchen yet he doesn’t burn.

Seen at 20.45 minutes:

In Gone, when invisible Buffy is flicking through the folders on the social worker’s desk, you can see a visible thumb flick the folders over.

Seen at 20.51 minutes:

While on the computer in the Social Sevices office Buffy types “All work and no play makes Doris a dull girl”. We see the ‘B’ and ‘F’ keys being pressed, though those letters are not used in any of these words. She also doesn’t press the ‘A’ key.

Seen at 32.02 minutes:

When Invisible Buffy talks to Dawn in the kitchen, there is a pan on the stove which disappears then appears again.