Halloween (27 Oct. 1997)

On Halloween, Buffy and her friends patronize an unusual costume shop where customers turn into whatever costume they are wearing.

Director:

Bruce Seth Green

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Carl Ellsworth

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Seth Green	...	Oz
James Marsters	...	Spike
Robin Sachs	...	Ethan Rayne
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
Armin Shimerman	...	Principal Snyder
Larry Bagby	...	Larry Blaisdell (as Larry Bagby III)
Twyla Banks	...	Girl / Gennie

Storyline

It turns out that Halloween is the one night of the year when vampires actually lay low, so everybody is getting their costumes from the new store in town, Ethan's Costume Shop. Buffy wears a noble woman's dress from the time when Angel was human, Xander dresses up like a soldier, and Willow chickens out on dressing like a hooker and goes as a ghost. But Ethan Rayne, the shop owner, has invoked the Roman god Janus so everybody becomes their costume. That means all the kids in the neighborhood are now monsters and Buffy thinks she is an 18th-century maiden who faints at the sight of demons and vampires.

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Plot Keywords:

halloween | female protagonist | library | heroine

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

27 October 1997 (USA)

Filming Locations:

1800 Stewart St., Santa Monica, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the end of the episode, Ethan leaves a note for Giles that says "Be Seeing You". This is a tribute to the cult series, The Prisoner where that phrase was used as a typical farewell.

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Goofs

Willow remarks that in 1775 "Angel was 18, and still human." It is later established that Liam was born in 1727 and became the vampire known as Angel in 1753.

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Quotes

Ethan Rayne: What? No hug? Aren't you pleased to see your old mate, Rupert?
Giles: I'm just surprised I didn't guess it was you. This Halloween stunt stinks of Ethan Rayne.
Ethan Rayne: [proudly] Yes, it does doesn't it? Don't wish to blow my own trumpet, but it's genius. The very embodiment of "Be careful what you wish for."
Giles: It's sick, brutal, and it harms the innocent.
Ethan Rayne: [sizing him up] Oh, and we all know that you are the champion of innocents and all things pure and good, Rupert. It's quite a little act you've got going here, ...
[...]

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Connections

References The Godfather (1972)

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Soundtracks

"Shy"
Performed by Epperley

User Reviews

Utterly fantastic

Halloween

The Good; Pretty much everything, great ep, love the alternate Scoobies, the Xena ref, the first appearance of Ethan and Ripper, the fight in the pumpkin stall at the beginning, Dru and Spike back, Oz, Larry, Cordy in her pussycat costume, Willow getting 'Sexy and Wild' (love her strutting at the end, do you think she got any offers?) the list goes on. Buffy unknowingly impersonating Darla and fainting (but at least she doesn't get tied up) and clinging onto Cordy's arm

The Bad; Open to suggestions?

Best line; Hard to pick but I'd say; Willow "She couldn't have gone as Xena? Just pipping Giles' "The ghost of what exactly?" upon seeing Will's streetwalker outfit and "You went mental when?" from Cordy

Questions and observations: Willow appears to be a Xena fan. Hmmmmm? Callings Captain Subtext! Of course Xena started a couple of years before Buff and without it I don't think we'd have had Buffy. In one ep they refer to the play 'Buffus the Bachae Slayer'. You could say that Spike's fascination with Buffy is evident in his watching the video of her fighting. Love Willow walking through the wall and people's reaction to it. The long tracking shot of Xander transforming into Rambo. Where are Joyce and Dawn during all of this? Either he reloads offscreen or Xander's rifle has a limitless magazine. Another hint of attraction between Cordy and soldier Xander. Angel wears a blue shirt which is OK but not really him. The Summers house get's trashed for the first time. How does the vamp Angel fights in the kitchen get in without being invited? First appearance of SDH's famous soda machine. Buffy get's sexually assaulted AGAIN, mauled by Pirate Larry (who really musn't be himself considering what we learn later). We discover that Cordy doesn't know Angel is a vamp. Xander tells Cordy she'll never get between Buffy and Angel, well almost. Giles tortures Ethan for info, the Scoobies really seem to have a knack for it. Reputedly Joss fired the writer of this ep afterwards, don't know why he did a good job? (and goes on to write for Xena)

10/10 afters a couple of false starts season 2 firing on all cylinders