INBOX: BUFFY TRIVIA
This arrived through a Buffy list the other day:
Trivial Pursuit
Written by Rob Francis
Transcribed by Hmorsey from Davidboreanazishot
20 Things You Never Knew About Buffy the Vampire Slayer
1. Despite the cast and crew's dedication to perfection, the 144 episodes of Buffy have plenty of goofs - lapses in visual continuity, contradictions with earlier mythology and more. The first recorded goof occurs in the opening scene of "Welcome to the Hellmouth". The top button of Darla's blouse is initially undone, but when she putss on her game face, it's magically done up. The last goof appears in the end of "Chosen." When Sunnydale collapses into the crater, there's no sign of the sea, despite it being firmly established as a coastal town. However, it is possible that the Scoobies escaped inland, and the ocean side of the town just isn't visible.
2. Alyson Hannigan is allergic to plaster dust, which caused problems during the filming of "The Body". When Xander punches his hand through the wall after Joyce's death, Alyson's right eye and face swelled up and she had to be taken to the hospital. The crew still had to complete the scene before Aly left the set, and if you look carefully, only one side of her face is in shot throughout that scene.
3. Tara gives Giles a rubber monster as a leaving present in "Bargaining" and says "Grr, argh" - clearly a reference to the monster in the Mutant Enemy logo. The Mutant Enemy monster was drawn by Joss, who also supplied its voice. The logo has altered specifically for various episodes. In "Amends" the monster wears a Father Christmas hat, in "Becoming, Part 2" the monster says "I need a hug", In "Graduation Day Part 2" he wears a graduation cap, In "Once More With Feeling" he sings his "Grr, argh", and in "Storyteller" he says "We are Gods". The name Mutant Enemy is a lyric from the song 'And You and I' by prog rock legends Yes. It's on their album, Close to the Edge.
4. The most popular first run episode of Buffy on American TV was "Innocence," which received a Nielsen rating of 5.2 or 5,096,000 American households. Least popular was "Puppet Show" with a Nielsen rating of 1.9 or 1,843,000 households. Buffy's highest chart position on American TV was 62nd place out of all Prime Time shows for Season Five's "Real Me."
5. Joss Whedon's original plan for bringing the character of Tara back involved Buffy being given the chance to play a mystical get out of jail free card - "One completely reality altering thing that she could have - she could bring Angel back to her, she could do anything she wanted," noted Joss at a recent convention appearance. "At the end of the episode she basically comes to Willow and says 'Look at these shoes I got!' and Willow's like 'What?' 'I got these really awesome shoes. I wanted them, and now I have them!' and Willow's like 'You used the wish for shoes?' and Buffy says, 'Of course not, you idiot,' and walks out of the room and Willow turns around and Tara's standing behind her.
6. Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy) celebrated her 19th birthday in style. It was on the set of the Season 3 episode "Gingerbread," whilst filming the scene where her character was being burned on a pyre. "When they lit me up they yelled 'Fire in the hole' and everybody started to sing 'Happy Birthday'". Despite Amy turning into TV's most famous rodent since Roland Rat shortly after this, the actress is allergic to one of their favourite foods - cheese!
7. Of all the guest musicians to have played at the Bronze, only one was ever given any dialog. Aimee Mann gets the immortal line: "Man, I hate playing vampire towns" as she exits the stage in the episode "Sleeper."
8. In "The Dark Age," Xander discovers a picture of a youthful Giles with leather jacket and bass guitar. Sadly, Anthony Stewart Head's own photo album didn't contain anything suitable, so the Buffy production crew faked the photo by superimposing his head onto the body of Sex Pistol's bassist Sid Vicious. Vicious has been cited by many as the primary influence on the character of Spike, although the fellow punk and bleach-blond Billy Idol was also a major visual influence.
9. Five actresses (excluding stunt doubles) have played the character of Buffy during the course of the TV show. Aside from Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mimi Paley played young Buffy in "Killed by Death." Mimi also played Mulder's sister, Samantha in The X-Files. Candice Nicole played her briefly in "Blood Ties" as Dawn 'remembers' her fake past. Alexandra Lee played young Buffy in "The Weight of the World" and her photo is used in all subsequent photos of the character as a child. Finally, Eliza Dushku plays a body-swapped Buffy in "Who Are You?" On a side note, Giselle Loren took over the role for the two Buffy video games and will voice her in the planned Buffy Animated Series. An uncredited actress was also used to stand in for Buffy during the Angel episodes "Soul Purpose" and "The Girl in Question" and lets not forget Kristy Swanson in the original film.
10. Nicholas Brendon's real name is actually Nicholas Brendon Schultz. Professionally he uses his middle name as his surname. Likewise, his brother Kelly is really called Kelly Donovan Schultz rather than Kelly Donovan. Anthony Stewart Head only calls himself that in America because there's already an actor called Anthony Head working there. Tony is credited as Anthony Head for all his UK work. Eliza Dushku's middle name is Patricia. Ms. Calendar's name was originally Nicki, but was changed to Jenny to avoid confusion with 'Nicky' Brendon.
11. If it hadn't been for age restrictions for actors working irregular hours, another actress might have been cast as Buffy ahead of Sarah Michelle Gellar. "The only person for me who was a contender for Buffy that I had to eliminate immediately was Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek)," notes Buffy's casting director, Marcia Shulman. "[But] because of the nights shoots and the length of hours [and because] Katie was not yet 18... I couldn't put her up for the part." Katie went on to star alongside Marc Blucas in the film First Daughter. It's a bit like Season 4 might have been, only set in the White House.
12. The destruction of the original Sunnydale High School for "Graduation Day Part 2" didn't win the Buffy crew any friends. Sound and vibrations from the explosion, filmed at Torrance High School, California, woke up many residents and set off car alarms, causing locals to ban any future Buffy episodes from filming there. Producer Gareth Davies revealed. "Unfortunately, when we warned them we were going to blow it up, we neglected to say when, and when it went up at 5 am in the morning...Torrance is still upset with us actually." The crew were eventually allowed to return nearly 3 years later. "I've already heard of one phone call from some irate lady saying 'You should be punished for what you did 3 years ago,'" Gareth noted at the time.
13. You probably knew that writers/producers Marti Noxon and David Fury have both made cameo appearances in episodes of Buffy, singing in "Once More with Feeling" and "Selfless" but did you know that Jane Espenson briefly appears as a lunch lady in "Band Candy," and Andy Hallett can be seen sitting at the back of the UC Sunnydale lecture hall in a scene from "Hush?" Joss Whedon's only Buffy cameos are as the radio announcer in "I Robot, You Jane" and overdubbing Angel's heavy breathing during the sex scene flashback in "Innocence." He was too embarrassed to ask David Boreanaz to do it.
14. Angel, Lyle and Tector Gorch and Pike (from the Buffy film) are all named after characters from the classic Sam Peckinpah film The Wild Bunch - a favorite of Joss Whedon's and while it wasn't the inspiration for the character's name, did you know that the U.K.'s late, lamented Queen Mother was affectionately known as Buffy?
15. Everyone knows that Buffy's address is 1630 Revello Drive, but Giles' address was only revealed recently, when Fox auctioned off his $10,000 cheque to Buffy from "Life Serial". The address on that is 3441, Oakhurst Lane, Sunnydale, California. Although you can't see all of Giles' ZIP code on the cheque, it starts 900, which contradicts the Sunnydale ZIP code 95037 seen on Buffy's college rejection letter in "As you Were." Mind you, that claims she lives at 1630 Crewtview. Giles banks at the City Trust & Savings Bank on the corner of Third and Main, by the way.
16. Joss nicknamed Marti Noxon "Suicide Girl" for the first year she worked on the show, "because all of my projects had a theme of wanting to off yourself," Marti explains.
17. Despite being far more hands off during the show's final years, Joss Whedon has still written or co-written the greatest number of Buffy episodes (27), with Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson both in second place with 23 episodes apiece. Joss has also directed the most episodes (20), sharing the honor with James A. Contner. David Solomon directed 19 episodes.
18. Nerf Herder fan Alyson Hannigan persuaded Joss Whedon to use the band to write the Buffy theme tune. A nerf herder is a kind of shepherd/rancher from Alderaan, referred to but not seen in the original Star Wars film. Nerf Herder performed at the Bronze in the episode "Empty Places." Oz's band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, was named after a famous line uttered by Meryl Streep in the film A Cry in the Dark, based on the true story of an Australian court case surrounding a woman who claimed her child had been taken and killed by one of the creatures.
19. It's possible that Michelle Trachtenberg's first Buffy appearance was in the Season 4 episode "Restless" rather than Season 5's "Buffy vs. Dracula". When Xander is talking to Buffy in the sand box during his dream, we also see a second Xander in the ice- cream van. There are a group of children queuing to the right of the van, but if you look to the left there's a girl with long, straight brown hair - who looks very similar to Dawn. Although we only see this girl from the back, Sarah Michelle Gellar apparently took Michelle Trachtenberg to the Buffy set on one of the days this episode was being filmed, which adds to the possibility that it could be her. As we know, there were many references to the arrival of Dawn in this episode - perhaps Joss and Co. decided that it may be fun to actually sneak the actress in there as well.
20. Buffy's birth date has changed several times. In "I Robot, You Jane" its given as both 24 October 1980 an 6 May 1979. In "Nightmares" her gravestone reads 1981-1997., and in "The Gift", it says 1981-2001. The official date is widely believed to be 19 January 1981, as that's the date many of Buffy's birthday episodes have aired on US TV. She also claims to have been born on the cusp of Aquarius, which ties in with that.
Trivial Pursuit
Written by Rob Francis
Transcribed by Hmorsey from Davidboreanazishot
20 Things You Never Knew About Buffy the Vampire Slayer
1. Despite the cast and crew's dedication to perfection, the 144 episodes of Buffy have plenty of goofs - lapses in visual continuity, contradictions with earlier mythology and more. The first recorded goof occurs in the opening scene of "Welcome to the Hellmouth". The top button of Darla's blouse is initially undone, but when she putss on her game face, it's magically done up. The last goof appears in the end of "Chosen." When Sunnydale collapses into the crater, there's no sign of the sea, despite it being firmly established as a coastal town. However, it is possible that the Scoobies escaped inland, and the ocean side of the town just isn't visible.
2. Alyson Hannigan is allergic to plaster dust, which caused problems during the filming of "The Body". When Xander punches his hand through the wall after Joyce's death, Alyson's right eye and face swelled up and she had to be taken to the hospital. The crew still had to complete the scene before Aly left the set, and if you look carefully, only one side of her face is in shot throughout that scene.
3. Tara gives Giles a rubber monster as a leaving present in "Bargaining" and says "Grr, argh" - clearly a reference to the monster in the Mutant Enemy logo. The Mutant Enemy monster was drawn by Joss, who also supplied its voice. The logo has altered specifically for various episodes. In "Amends" the monster wears a Father Christmas hat, in "Becoming, Part 2" the monster says "I need a hug", In "Graduation Day Part 2" he wears a graduation cap, In "Once More With Feeling" he sings his "Grr, argh", and in "Storyteller" he says "We are Gods". The name Mutant Enemy is a lyric from the song 'And You and I' by prog rock legends Yes. It's on their album, Close to the Edge.
4. The most popular first run episode of Buffy on American TV was "Innocence," which received a Nielsen rating of 5.2 or 5,096,000 American households. Least popular was "Puppet Show" with a Nielsen rating of 1.9 or 1,843,000 households. Buffy's highest chart position on American TV was 62nd place out of all Prime Time shows for Season Five's "Real Me."
5. Joss Whedon's original plan for bringing the character of Tara back involved Buffy being given the chance to play a mystical get out of jail free card - "One completely reality altering thing that she could have - she could bring Angel back to her, she could do anything she wanted," noted Joss at a recent convention appearance. "At the end of the episode she basically comes to Willow and says 'Look at these shoes I got!' and Willow's like 'What?' 'I got these really awesome shoes. I wanted them, and now I have them!' and Willow's like 'You used the wish for shoes?' and Buffy says, 'Of course not, you idiot,' and walks out of the room and Willow turns around and Tara's standing behind her.
6. Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy) celebrated her 19th birthday in style. It was on the set of the Season 3 episode "Gingerbread," whilst filming the scene where her character was being burned on a pyre. "When they lit me up they yelled 'Fire in the hole' and everybody started to sing 'Happy Birthday'". Despite Amy turning into TV's most famous rodent since Roland Rat shortly after this, the actress is allergic to one of their favourite foods - cheese!
7. Of all the guest musicians to have played at the Bronze, only one was ever given any dialog. Aimee Mann gets the immortal line: "Man, I hate playing vampire towns" as she exits the stage in the episode "Sleeper."
8. In "The Dark Age," Xander discovers a picture of a youthful Giles with leather jacket and bass guitar. Sadly, Anthony Stewart Head's own photo album didn't contain anything suitable, so the Buffy production crew faked the photo by superimposing his head onto the body of Sex Pistol's bassist Sid Vicious. Vicious has been cited by many as the primary influence on the character of Spike, although the fellow punk and bleach-blond Billy Idol was also a major visual influence.
9. Five actresses (excluding stunt doubles) have played the character of Buffy during the course of the TV show. Aside from Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mimi Paley played young Buffy in "Killed by Death." Mimi also played Mulder's sister, Samantha in The X-Files. Candice Nicole played her briefly in "Blood Ties" as Dawn 'remembers' her fake past. Alexandra Lee played young Buffy in "The Weight of the World" and her photo is used in all subsequent photos of the character as a child. Finally, Eliza Dushku plays a body-swapped Buffy in "Who Are You?" On a side note, Giselle Loren took over the role for the two Buffy video games and will voice her in the planned Buffy Animated Series. An uncredited actress was also used to stand in for Buffy during the Angel episodes "Soul Purpose" and "The Girl in Question" and lets not forget Kristy Swanson in the original film.
10. Nicholas Brendon's real name is actually Nicholas Brendon Schultz. Professionally he uses his middle name as his surname. Likewise, his brother Kelly is really called Kelly Donovan Schultz rather than Kelly Donovan. Anthony Stewart Head only calls himself that in America because there's already an actor called Anthony Head working there. Tony is credited as Anthony Head for all his UK work. Eliza Dushku's middle name is Patricia. Ms. Calendar's name was originally Nicki, but was changed to Jenny to avoid confusion with 'Nicky' Brendon.
11. If it hadn't been for age restrictions for actors working irregular hours, another actress might have been cast as Buffy ahead of Sarah Michelle Gellar. "The only person for me who was a contender for Buffy that I had to eliminate immediately was Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek)," notes Buffy's casting director, Marcia Shulman. "[But] because of the nights shoots and the length of hours [and because] Katie was not yet 18... I couldn't put her up for the part." Katie went on to star alongside Marc Blucas in the film First Daughter. It's a bit like Season 4 might have been, only set in the White House.
12. The destruction of the original Sunnydale High School for "Graduation Day Part 2" didn't win the Buffy crew any friends. Sound and vibrations from the explosion, filmed at Torrance High School, California, woke up many residents and set off car alarms, causing locals to ban any future Buffy episodes from filming there. Producer Gareth Davies revealed. "Unfortunately, when we warned them we were going to blow it up, we neglected to say when, and when it went up at 5 am in the morning...Torrance is still upset with us actually." The crew were eventually allowed to return nearly 3 years later. "I've already heard of one phone call from some irate lady saying 'You should be punished for what you did 3 years ago,'" Gareth noted at the time.
13. You probably knew that writers/producers Marti Noxon and David Fury have both made cameo appearances in episodes of Buffy, singing in "Once More with Feeling" and "Selfless" but did you know that Jane Espenson briefly appears as a lunch lady in "Band Candy," and Andy Hallett can be seen sitting at the back of the UC Sunnydale lecture hall in a scene from "Hush?" Joss Whedon's only Buffy cameos are as the radio announcer in "I Robot, You Jane" and overdubbing Angel's heavy breathing during the sex scene flashback in "Innocence." He was too embarrassed to ask David Boreanaz to do it.
14. Angel, Lyle and Tector Gorch and Pike (from the Buffy film) are all named after characters from the classic Sam Peckinpah film The Wild Bunch - a favorite of Joss Whedon's and while it wasn't the inspiration for the character's name, did you know that the U.K.'s late, lamented Queen Mother was affectionately known as Buffy?
15. Everyone knows that Buffy's address is 1630 Revello Drive, but Giles' address was only revealed recently, when Fox auctioned off his $10,000 cheque to Buffy from "Life Serial". The address on that is 3441, Oakhurst Lane, Sunnydale, California. Although you can't see all of Giles' ZIP code on the cheque, it starts 900, which contradicts the Sunnydale ZIP code 95037 seen on Buffy's college rejection letter in "As you Were." Mind you, that claims she lives at 1630 Crewtview. Giles banks at the City Trust & Savings Bank on the corner of Third and Main, by the way.
16. Joss nicknamed Marti Noxon "Suicide Girl" for the first year she worked on the show, "because all of my projects had a theme of wanting to off yourself," Marti explains.
17. Despite being far more hands off during the show's final years, Joss Whedon has still written or co-written the greatest number of Buffy episodes (27), with Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson both in second place with 23 episodes apiece. Joss has also directed the most episodes (20), sharing the honor with James A. Contner. David Solomon directed 19 episodes.
18. Nerf Herder fan Alyson Hannigan persuaded Joss Whedon to use the band to write the Buffy theme tune. A nerf herder is a kind of shepherd/rancher from Alderaan, referred to but not seen in the original Star Wars film. Nerf Herder performed at the Bronze in the episode "Empty Places." Oz's band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, was named after a famous line uttered by Meryl Streep in the film A Cry in the Dark, based on the true story of an Australian court case surrounding a woman who claimed her child had been taken and killed by one of the creatures.
19. It's possible that Michelle Trachtenberg's first Buffy appearance was in the Season 4 episode "Restless" rather than Season 5's "Buffy vs. Dracula". When Xander is talking to Buffy in the sand box during his dream, we also see a second Xander in the ice- cream van. There are a group of children queuing to the right of the van, but if you look to the left there's a girl with long, straight brown hair - who looks very similar to Dawn. Although we only see this girl from the back, Sarah Michelle Gellar apparently took Michelle Trachtenberg to the Buffy set on one of the days this episode was being filmed, which adds to the possibility that it could be her. As we know, there were many references to the arrival of Dawn in this episode - perhaps Joss and Co. decided that it may be fun to actually sneak the actress in there as well.
20. Buffy's birth date has changed several times. In "I Robot, You Jane" its given as both 24 October 1980 an 6 May 1979. In "Nightmares" her gravestone reads 1981-1997., and in "The Gift", it says 1981-2001. The official date is widely believed to be 19 January 1981, as that's the date many of Buffy's birthday episodes have aired on US TV. She also claims to have been born on the cusp of Aquarius, which ties in with that.
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