| Episode No. | Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1, Episode 6 |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Bruce Seth Green |
| Written by | Matt Kiene & Joe Reinkemeyer |
0:12 : We start off in Sunnydale Zoo, another big thing in a small town. We’ll revisit the reptile house in Listening to Fear. The actual location where filming took place was the Santa Ana Zoo, in Santa Ana, California.
0:24 : We meet the four students who will form the Pack of the title. They are named as Kyle, Rhonda, Tor and Heidi. Only Kyle is named in the episode, with the others named in the credits or on the subtitles. Eion Bailey (Kyle) went onto roles in Once Upon A Time, Emily in Paris and The Stand (2020-2021). Michael McCraine (Rhonda) was also in Sliders. Brian Goss (Tor) had roles in NCIS, The Division and Bones. Jennifer Sky (Heidi) was a regular on Cleopatra 2525 and also appeared in Charmed.
1:31 : Another student, Lance Lincoln. He’s played by Jeff Maynard. The character’s surname comes from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Yearbook. Before Buffy, Maynard had appeared in two episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Heidi, Tor, Kyle and Rhonda
3:40 : Enter the Zookeeper. Not named in dialogue, his name tag identifies him as Dr. Wierick. He’s played by James Stephens who entered voice work after Buffy and worked on Courage, the Cowardly Dog. Which is appropriate, kinda.
6:27 : A good credit to have as, despite it, Charisma Carpenter is absent from this episode.
7:39 : Willow makes a point of mentioning Angel’s jacket, which he gave to her in the last episode. Buffy’s reactions to Angel suggests she’s come quite far in her crush since The Harvest.
8:23 : Willow asks Xander if he needs help with Geometry. Xander asked Willow to help him with Math in Welcome to the Hellmouth.
9:12 : The song playing when the Pack enter the Bronze is “Reluctant Man” by Sprung Monkey.
10:35 : This scene, with Herbert running through the corridors of the school, was shot on location in Torrance High. You can tell by the corridors. After season one, Mutant Enemy would built their own permanent high school sets.
17:05 : The student who asks Xander about the band? Does he look familiar? He should – Adam, played by Jeffrey Steven Smith, asked Cordelia about Buffy in The Harvest. A nice beat of continuity, he sadly never appears again.
18:08 : No pigs were harmed in the production of this episode.
18:14 : The very effective song playing when the Pack are walking across the quad, with Xander listening into Buffy and Willow’s conversation, is “Job’s Eyes” by Far.
19:44 : Can we take a moment here, just to appreciate the talents of Nicholas Brendon in this episode. He turns sweet, goofy, loveable Xander into a vile, scary piece of work and it’s all in Brendon’s skills and his talents. It’s utterly convincing, and upon rewatch, is quite disturbing in places.
25:45 : Xander asserts that Buffy likes dangerous men. Over the course of the series, Willow, Spike and Buffy herself will echo this statement.
27:30 : We say goodbye to Principal Flutie after just four episodes. The next principal will be eaten too, although not by hyena-possessed students. It’s a particular gross and icky death, that plays on your mind for quite some time afterward. He therefore becomes the first recurring character to die.
30:05 : Willow will gain plenty of experience of locking up her male friends in that book cage and, at one point, even lock in herself.
31:19 : The video of hyenas that Willow is watching is slightly inaccurate. The video clips on her computer monitor are actually of African wild dogs.
31:53 : Xander asks Willow if she believes things were simpler when it was just the two of them. Surely, this would have been an ideal place to mention the late, and completely-ignored best friend Jesse?
35:22 : Giles’ book cage is destroyed for the first time, here by the hyena-possessed students. It will not be the last.
35:49 : Now this corridor, compared to the one from 10:35, is the Mutant Enemy school set, in the process of being expanded.
41:41 : Dr. Wierick reveals that he wants the hyena spirit and in the process attacks Giles. Number of Times Giles is Knocked Unconscious in the Series: 3.
42:22 : Presumably, the Pack do not face any jail time for the eating of Principal Flutie, but, despite the potential for more, none of them are seen or heard from again.
44:00 : Giles says that he’ll keep Xander’s secret until the day he dies. He won’t have to wait that long: Xander gives himself away in Phases.
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