Alternatives for the show

There are a few alternative Chosen scripts on the internet with many differences, including: Xander dying to save Dawn; Anya living to see the end and Dawn being the third Slayer. In the alternatives, there are many extra guest stars including Kendra. Sarah Michelle Gellar told Entertainment Weekly in 2003 that she knew of Joss’s grand plan for the show:

Amber in the credits

Amber Benson became ‘Amber Benson as Tara’ in the guest credits from the episode Buffy vs Dracula. She was a member of the main cast credit montage for only one episode - Seeing Red, in which her character was killed.

Finding out about Tara’s death

Amber Benson had the following to say about discovering Tara would die:

“I knew at the beginning of Season Five that Willow was going to go bad and that I was going to be the impetus for that, but I wasn’t 100 percent certain about the dying until the very end of last season. I mean, I wasn’t at all surprised when Joss finally told me when were shooting the season finale last year [The Gift]. He was all excited about it. In fact, I even knew I was going to be in the main credits just for the one episode [Seeing Red]. Joss was like, ‘I want to put you in the credits,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s so evil! How can you do that to the fans?’
“As much as I hate the fact that she died, I think that it was needed. I know they were really worried about making people unhappy, but it was the only way to take Willow to another level. It furthered the plot and made it possible for Willow to go bad. This was the only thing that could have pushed her over the edge. I was all for me being maimed and coming back, but it wouldn’t have been enough. I feel as upset about it as the fans do. I know it was necessary, but still, ‘No, don’t kill her, I love her! She’s part of me!’ I thought I was going to be dead in the 16th episode. They just kept pushing it back, so I didn’t know when I was going to be dying, because they switched around the episodes.”

General Cirrhosis

The following lines were deleted from Seeing Red, after Buffy tells Xander it’s a little early for her to be drinking:

I’ll be back

At the end of the episode Seeing Red, Spike said, “…I’ll be back, and when I do…” His incorrect grammar was corrected in the “Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer” section in Villains.

Marti on Tara’s death

Marti Noxon said about the episode Seeing Red in the SFX Year End Collector’s Edition (written by Edward Gross):

Red cuts

Several scenes from Seeing Red were cut out during it’s first airing on the BBC in the UK. The attempted rape of Buffy was cut from where she falls and hits her back on the shower to where she finally kicks him away. The exit wound appearing on Tara’s chest and her blood being splattered on Willow’s shirt was also cut and restarted from where Tara says, “Your shirt.” Warren snaps a demon’s neck, but the scenes were changed so that only the sound effect was heard.

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Parts of the episode Seeing Red were filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in California (when the nerds try to break into a armoured van). The banner at the amusement park which reads “Opening Weekend” is the same font and colour as the Once More, With Feeling logo.

Straight man

During a Buffy convention in London in June 2003 (’The Harvest‘), James C. Leary, who played Clem, said how difficult it was to film the scenes in Seeing Red with James Marsters as his character had only been in comical scenes before.

Tara’s blood

Amber Benson on filming Tara’s death scene:

Adam Busch

Adam Busch played Warren Meers in seasons five to seven. Adam previously appeared in Magic Rock, Sugar & Spice and Leon (as Manolo). He sings in a band called Common Rotation, the other members of which are Eric Kufs (singer/guitarist), Mike Uhler (bassist) and Ken Beck (drummer). Adam plays alto sax, harmonica, guitar, drums and the piano. The band’s second album, ‘The Big Fear’, was released in February 2003. Adam was born in Long Island on 6th July, 1978. Adam originally auditioned for a role on Angel which led to him getting the part of Warren. He is friends with his fellow onscreen ‘nerds’, Danny Strong and Tom Lenk. Since leaving Buffy he has appeared in Point Pleasant and The Jury.

Nichole Hiltz

Nichole Hiltz, who played Diana (the girl Warren hits on) in Seeing Red, has been in Austin Powers in Goldmember (which stars Seth Green), Shallow Hal and Dude, Where’s My Car?

Troy Brenna

Troy Brenna, who played the Nezzla demon in Seeing Red, was a regular Buffy and Angel stuntman. He played the Avilas demon in Help and the “Plated Demon” in the Angel episode ‘Ground State‘. Troy has also done stunts for Hulk, Cradle 2 the Grave, The Scorpion King and X-Men.

Frankie

Frankie used to bully Warren Meers in fifth grade. Warren used the Orbs of Nezzla’khan to beat Frankie up in a bar as revenge in Seeing Red.

Warren Meers

Warren was a nerd who was able to create perfect human-like robots, including one which was an exact likeness of Buffy. He hooked up with Jonathan and Andrew to ‘take over Sunnydale’. The three devised mad James Bond-style gadgets and robbed banks and museums as well as confounding Buffy using magic. Warren became the leader of the three nerds and started to feel more and more power. He accidentally killed his ex-girlfriend Katrina and blamed it on Buffy. Warren went out of control and left his friends behind. He eventually got a gun and shot Buffy blaming her for messing up his latest plan. He shot and killed Tara, which made Willow ’see red’ and, summoning all the dark magics she could, she killed Warren by flaying him alive. The First took the form of Warren in season seven to try and trick Andrew into helping it.

Ain’t love grand?

In Into the Woods, Spike says “Ain’t love grand?” which he also says to Dawn in Seeing Red.

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.

Losing the one you love

During the seven years of Buffy, all four core Scoobies have the person they love die at some point:

• Xander - Anya dies fighting against The First’s army (Chosen)
• Willow - Tara is shot and instantly killed by Warren (Seeing Red)
• Giles - Jenny gets her neck snapped by Angelus (Passion)
• Buffy - Angel was already dead but Buffy kills him by stabbing him in the heart with a sword (Becoming (Part 2))

Love’s a funny thing

In Lover’s Walk, Spike says, “Love’s a funny thing”. Clem repeated this line to him in the episode Seeing Red.

More Janice

We met Dawn’s friend Janice Penshaw in the episode All the Way. In that episode, Dawn and Janice lied to their families so they could go out on dates with what turned out to be vampires. Janice is mentioned in several more episodes. In Doublemeat Palace, Dawn mentions that her friend Janice has a sister who is a lawyer. In Dead Things, Dawn tells Buffy she’s sleeping over at Janice’s house, but Buffy says she isn’t falling for that again. In Normal Again, Dawn says, “I’m going over to Janice’s where they actually like having me around.” In Seeing Red, Dawn tells Spike, “I’m sleeping over at Janice’s.”

Niblet

Spike’s pet name for Dawn is “Niblet”, heard in Blood Ties, Seeing Red, Beneath You and Lies My Parents Told Me.

Part Fish

In Seeing Red, Xander says he is part fish, which could be a reference to the season two episode Go Fish. He was exposed to weird Russian steroids in a sauna when undercover spying on the Sunnydale High’s swim team.

Season six timeline

From the episode Seeing Red until the end of this season’s finale Grave, all events occur within around 24 hours. According to Tara’s grave in Help, these episodes occur between May 7th and May 8th 2002.

Spike’s bike

Spike takes one of the hellions motorbikes in Bargaining (Part 2). He can be seen riding it again in After Life, Seeing Red and Empty Places.

Nezzla demons

Nezzla demons live underground and use a mystical barrier to protect the Orbs of Nezzla’khan. In Seeing Red, the Trio electrocuted one of the demons and used it’s skin to make a suit in which they could safely pass through the barrier without being vaporised, in order to steal the Orbs. The Orbs are two red tennisball-sized crystals, with white and gold symbols etched into them. They make humans incredibly strong and invulnerable. Warren used them to beat up Frankie and Xander in a bar, and later to fight Buffy. The Slayer smashed the Orbs and Warren lost his power.

Bladerunner

Andrew calls Jonathan “skinjob” in Seeing Red. This is a reference to Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Bladerunner, in which skinjob is a derogatory term for androids.

Knight Rider

In Seeing Red, Clem comes over to Spike’s lair to watch a Knight Rider marathon. Knight Rider was a popular 1980’s TV show starring a coiffed David Hasselhof and his talking car.

Mighty Mouse

In Seeing Red, Xander calls Warren “Mighty Mouse”, referencing the super-hero cartoon character who has been around since 1942.

Siegfried and Roy

In Graduation Day (Part 1), Willow hopes that Siegfried and Roy might be the speakers at the graduation ceremony. This is a reference to the pair of flamboyant magicians who used to perform with big cats and bad mullets in a spectacular Las Vegas show. They are referenced again in Seeing Red by Andrew: “You can’t Siegfried-and-Roy the barrier”.

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?”

Vampirella

In Seeing Red, Buffy discovers several toys in the nerds ‘lair’, including a figure of Vampirella. She was a comic book superhero created in the late 60’s who killed vampires. Dean Grimes, who played one of Frank’s friends in Seeing Red, did stunts for the straight to video movie Vampirella.

Seen at 05.14 minutes:

In Seeing Red, Buffy finds the nerd’s new ‘lair’. There, she picks up some papers and you can see that there’s nothing on the back of them. In the next shot, there’s writing on the back of the papers.

Seen at 24.37 minutes:

When Spike and Buffy are in the bathroom you can briefly see Spike’s foot in the reflection of the mirror.

Seen at 33.10 minutes:

When we first see the armoured car, it seems to be night time, but when Warren tries to tip the car, it is dusk.

Seen at 34.41 minutes:

You can clearly see Warren’s stunt double when he fights Buffy.

Seen at 38.00 minutes:

Tara and Willow hug in the bedroom, then Tara sees Xander. There’s no way she could have seen him from the position she was standing in.

Seen at 40.17 minutes:

Warren fired four shots before the one that hits Tara. She and Willow are smiling at each other throughout this. Didn’t they hear the shots?

Seen at 40.20 minutes:

The bullet that hits Tara is all wrong. Firstly, Warren doesn’t shoot towards the house. Secondly, if he had fired in that direction, the bullet would have gone up, though the window, then changed direction to hit Tara. Lastly, the exit wound looks like the bullet should also have hit Willow. Where did the bullet go?