Buffy Trivia Archive

[CowboyGuy]

I came across this in the archives of TV.COM and thought it would be neat to make a thread for info pertaining to the shows. If you have anything interesting to add, freel free. Anyway:

"Three actresses who tried out for the part of Buffy Summers appear in this treatment -- Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Julie Benz (Darla) and Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall). However, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who eventually won the part of Buffy, originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia (but lost out to Bianca Lawson, who would have to pass on the role but would come back as the Vampire Slayer, Kendra, in season 2).
One other actress who appears in the regular run of the show, Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison), also competed for the role of Buffy."

[Lukee]

oh i knew that Sarah was going to play Cody but didn't know the rest.
I cant see Bianca as Cody it would have felt strange, even thinking about it feels odd =P
thanks for the info.

[CowboyGuy]

Here we go:

* Series star Sarah Michelle Gellar initially auditioned for the role of Cordelia Chase, and Charisma Carpenter, who plays Cordelia, auditioned for the role of Buffy.

* Nathan Fillion (Caleb) originally auditioned for the role of Angel when the show was first being cast in late 1996.

* Julie Benz tried out for the part of Buffy and ended up in the part of Darla.

* Elizabeth Anne Allen, who had a semi-recurring role as the witch Amy Madison, originally auditioned for the role of Buffy.

* Other actresses considered for the lead role as Buffy also included Katie Holmes and Selma Blair.

* Bianca Lawson, who played Kendra the Vampire Slayer in season 2, originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia.

* Danny Strong (Jonathan) originally auditioned for the role of Xander.

* The Gorches in episode 2-12 "Bad Eggs" have the same first names, Lyle and Tector, as the Gorches from Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). Giles refers to them slaughtering a Mexican village in 1886, similar to the event that ends the movie, but the movie is set in 1913.

* Seth Green played Oz, the werewolf boyfriend of Alyson Hannigan. He also played her boyfriend in My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988).

* Seth Green is the only cast member to have acted in both the TV series and the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). (Green was cut from the feature film, but still appeared on the videotape box.)

* Joss Whedon supplies the voice of the Mutant Enemy mascot which says "Grrr ... Arrgh" heard at the end of almost every episode.

* Series Creator Joss Whedon has said that the idea for Buffy came from all the horror movies he had seen featuring a helpless young blonde who would almost always be the first to die. He felt she needed a better image.

* The character Jenny Calendar was originally to have been called Nicki. This was changed to Jenny to avoid confusion on the set, Nicholas Brendon being generally called Nicky by his co-stars. (However, in season 7, the character Nikki Wood was added and appears in several episodes.)

* "Mutant Enemy", Joss Whedon's production company, was the name he gave to his first typewriter when he was 15. The logo was created in 20 minutes when he was told he had to have one.

* Many of Andrew Wells's (Tom Lenk) lines include references to the online fan community (the male slayer discussion, his inability to understand Dawn and Buffy's link).

* The Summers' Sunnydale address is 1630 Revello Drive.

* The names of buildings and places at fictional U.C. Sunnydale are actual locations and buildings at real-life U.C. Santa Cruz.

* The entire first season was filmed before the first episode went to air, giving them the opportunity to go back and re-shoot various scenes. The scene in the library where Buffy states "it's my first day..." was actually filmed on the last day of shooting after they decided her original performance was too forceful and aggressive. Another scene added to the pilot (to fill in time as it was shorter than expected) was the infamous "you have something in your eye" scene where The Master blinds a vampire who had failed him.

* The prologue ("In every generation there is a chosen one....") is not used consistently. Two of the first twelve episodes don't use it. During the second season, use of the prologue becomes even more spotty. Anthony Head intones it only during the second season.

* The first Sunnydale High School set is the same set used in Beverly Hills 90210 as West Beverly Hills High.

* Joss Whedon gave the character Riley the last name "Finn" after hearing executive producer Marti Noxon talking about taking her dog, Finn, to the vet.

* Originally, Joss Whedon didn't want either of Buffy's parents to appear as characters on the show. Accepting that that could get complicated, he settled on just having her mother, Joyce, appear. Joyce ended up staying on the show for five seasons.

* Originally, the third member of the sixth season's nerdly Trio was to be Tucker, who appeared in the third season as a student who wanted to kill everyone at the prom. Plans fell through with that, so the writers replaced him with Andrew, Tucker's younger brother.

* Tom Lenk, who plays Andrew Wells, originally appeared in the 5th season episode "Real Me" as Harmony's minion, Cyrus.

* In the episode "Dark Ages" Giles states, "And the rest is silence." This seems to be a reference to the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as it was the last words Merrick, Buffy's first watcher, left with Buffy. The phrase in the movie would later become relevant to Buffy in her defeating Lothos.

* Kali Rocha, who showed up in the sixth season as vengeance demon Halfreck, first appeared in a flashback episode in the fifth season as Cecily, the woman who spurned William, causing him to become the vampire known as Spike. Having already cast Rocha as Halfreck, the writers knew the loyal fans would immediately recognize her, so as an inside joke between them, when Halfreck first saw Spike, she said, "William?"

* The character of Dawn was originally intended to have the power to speak to the dead. She was also supposed to be able to move objects with her mind. These powers were later dropped.

* The series is based not on the feature film Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), but Joss Whedon's original screenplay, which had been heavily rewritten to be more comedic. The Buffy comic book series adapted the screenplay, bringing the events of the movie in line with the TV show's continuity.

* Ranked #3 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!" (30 May 2004 issue).

* In a number of scenes involving the club The Bronze, copies of books from The Destroyer series by Murphy, Warren and Sapir, Richard can be seen on book racks in the background.

* On Bravo's "100 Greatest TV Characters", Buffy came in at number 13.

* Before he was turned into a vampire, Spike's name was William. Angel's real name was Liam, which is the Irish version of the English/British William.

* After the series ended, Eliza Dushku was offered her own spin-off series as the character Faith. But then she turned it down to do "Tru Calling" (2003).

* Buffy's birthday was celebrated in the episode first aired on or near 19 January each year. In the first-year episode "I Robot, You Jane", Malcolm brings up Buffy's school records on his computer. In the first view, we see that Buffy was born on 24 October 1980, and that she is a sophomore. The second time we see Buffy's records, her birthday is 6 May 1979, and she is a senior. Joss Whedon finally decreed Buffy's birthday to be 19 January 1981.

* In April 2002, TV Guide named "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) as one of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time".

* In the Sunnydale cemetery, there is a frequently seen mausoleum with the family name Alpert. Alpert is the last name of one of the show's producers, Marc D. Alpert.

* Amber Benson only appeared in the opening credits as a regular once. It was the episode in which her character, Tara, was killed off.

* Buffy, Xander, and Willow each have at least one episode where there character is doubled. There are 2 Willows - regular Willow and Vamp Willow - in the season 3 episode "Doppelgangland"; Buffy appears alongside the Buffy-Bot in several episodes; and Xander is split into 2 Xanders in the season 5 episode "The Replacement".

* In the final season during the Dungeons and Dragons game between Andrew, Giles, and one of the potentials the creature "Trogdor the Burninator" is a reference to a character in an on-line comic/mini-game.

* The character of Angel was supposed to stay dead after the season finale of the second season, but the WB network came to Whedon with the desire for a spin off series, so Angel was brought back during the third season to set up his spin-off series.

* With the second season, David Boreanaz makes it onto the opening credits as opposed to being listed as a guest star.

* Anthony Head tutored James Marsters in his London accent for Spike. In reality, Head's accent is more like Spike's than the clipped English tones that he sports in the show.

* James Marsters originally auditioned for Spike with a Texan accent. This was quickly jettisoned in favor of a London accent instead.

* Spike's trademark coat cost $2000 from a top fashion store. It was then run over repeatedly by a truck to give it that distressed look.

* Oz was originally supposed to wear thick rimmed glasses, much like the lead singer of Weezer. This was dropped at the last minute as Joss Whedon felt that it looked tacky.

* The headstones in Sunnydale Cemetery are actually made out of Styrofoam.

* There are 43 churches in the town of Sunnydale (something to do with it being located on the Hellmouth).

* Series creator Joss Whedon wanted to do a musical episode as early as the first season, but the network wouldn't allow him to. When the show switched networks after the fifth season, he was finally able to get his wish, resulting in the episode "Once More, With Feeling".

* The library is stocked with all real books.

* It cost $5000 to "dust" a vamp using computer graphics

* The characters of Spike, Oz, Faith, Wesley and Drusilla were all supposed to be killed off, but have ended up living long past their initial storylines. Also, the characters of Jenny and Joyce were supposed to be killed off sooner than they were.

*Joss Whedon is known to plan his season storylines years in advance. Clues to Dawn's arrival can be found as early as the third season, but she doesn't actually show up until the fifth.

*Many actors were able to reappear on the show, despite the fact that their characters were killed off. Among those who reprised their roles, once their characters were killed or murdered were Mark Metcalf as The Master, Robia LaMorte who appeared several times after the character of Jenny was killed, Azura Skye , Danny Strong , Lindsay Crouse and Kristine Sutherland . Darla played by Julie Benz was killed during the first season yet not only did the character appear in flashbacks, but she was also later resurrected from death on the sister show _"Angel" _(1999).

[Bennyboi]

Now here are the stuff you need to know to be a hardcore buffy fan!!!

[pesk]

admin said:

* Buffy, Xander, and Willow each have at least one episode where there character is doubled. There are 2 Willows - regular Willow and Vamp Willow - in the season 3 episode "Doppelgangland"; Buffy appears alongside the Buffy-Bot in several episodes; and Xander is split into 2 Xanders in the season 5 episode "The Replacement".

So did spike (season 7, meeting the First looking like him, as did buffy), Gunn (A whole in the world) and Lorne (Life of the party, although it was a different actor playing monster lorne). Aslo there was a warrenbot, but he never had any scenes with the real warren.

[Melissa]

Does anyone know what the references to Dawn's arrival were in season 3? That would be interesting to find out!

[Lukee]

"Little Miss Muffet Counting Down from 7.3.0" Graduation day pt2
I cant be too sure but i think that was the number of days till Dawn would be coming into the show?

And Tara says in Restless "Be back before Dawn"

[Bennyboi]

The '7-3-0' thing was counting down to Buffy's death.

[Lukee]

ahhh thats it. Thanks for letting me know XD

[Slayer489]

Some interesting trivia here guys! I knew most of it but some parts are new to me. Thanks!

In "This Year's Girl", in Faith's dream, her and Buffy are making a bed in Buffy's room and Faith mentions that Buffy has a "little sis coming" and then in "Restless" Buffy sees the bed all messy and says "Faith and I just made that bed" which is another example of how slayers dreams can be connected.

[Bennyboi]

OMG that had never occured to me before, good find.

[Slayer489]

bennyboi said:

OMG that had never occured to me before, good find.

I didn't find that, I typed it lol. But thanks.

[spikeluv13]

yeah. i love that scene. Faith had referred to buffy as big sis at one point, so when she said get ready for little sis and then faith wakes up, one assumes its about faith, but it seems to be more about dawn...