Inca Mummy Girl (6 Oct. 1997)

A beautiful Inca princess who was buried alive in a tomb 500 years ago is brought back to life.

Director:

Ellen S. Pressman

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Matt Kiene,

Stars:

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angel (credit only)
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Ara Celi	...	Ampata Gutierrez / The Inca Mummy Girl
Seth Green	...	Oz
Jason Hall	...	Devon MacLeish
Henrik Rosvall	...	Sven (as Hendrik Rosvall)
Clayne Crawford	...	Rodney Munson (as Joey Crawford)
Danny Strong	...	Jonathan Levinson
Kristen Winnicki	...	Gwen
Gil Birmingham	...	Peruvian Man

Storyline

While on a field trip to the local museum, one of the students breaks a ceramic seal in the coffin of an Incan mummy, who rises and must consume the life-force of others in order to remain alive. She tries to fit in with the students at Sunnydale, and even starts to have real feelings for Xander. But when Buffy, Willow, and Giles realize who and what she really is, they may have to rescue Xander before he becomes the mummy's next victim.

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Plot Keywords:

heroine | library | title directed by female | inca indian

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 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

The band name on the drum kit for Oz's band is "Dingoes ate my Baby" and the Australian flag hangs over them, a reference to the Lindy Chamberlain Creighton case in Australia.

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Goofs

When they enter the exhibit for the Incan burial chamber, most of the sculptures are examples of Chavin art, not Incan art.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Buffy Summers: This is so unfair.
Willow: I don't think it's that bad.
Buffy Summers: It's the Über-suck. Mom could've at least warned me.
Xander: Well, a lot of parents are doing it this year. It's part of this whole cultural exchange magillah. The exhibit, the dance...
Willow: I have the best costume for the dance!
Buffy Summers: A complete stranger in my house for two weeks. I'm gonna be insane! A danger to myself and others within three days, I swear.
Xander: I think the exchange student program's cool. I do! It's a beautiful melding of two cultures.
Buffy Summers: ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Fate"
Performed by Four Star Mary

User Reviews

Do you want your mummy?

Re-watching episodes of Buffy for the first time since my teens, I've found I prefer the vampire episodes to the miscellaneous monster of the week episodes. Vampires, witches and demons are classic villains and work well, but other things on this show- say, for example, a giant praying mantis disguised as a high school teacher- are a little harder to swallow. This episode references the praying mantis episode and follows in its footsteps in making Xander a romantic interest for the monster of the week- this time, an Inca mummy. At first I brushed this off as another weak Buffy episode, but on reflection I realized there were a few things I liked about it, re-watched the episode, and gave it a higher rating.

The plot: Buffy and her class go on a field trip and see an Inca mummy, which one student accidentally awakens. It takes on its appearance as a teenage girl and takes the name Ampata from a boy who was going to live with Buffy and her mother for a number of days. Ampata and Xander meet and begin to like each other, with Willow becoming jealous, but Ampata has a dark secret- she has to suck the life out of innocent people so she can continue living herself. Buffy and Giles figure this out while Xander and Ampata go to a high school dance.

There are some weaknesses in the writing and maybe a little in the delivery- okay, Xander, we get the point, you don't like it that a boy might live at Buffy's house. Although the special effects mostly work, I was also not impressed when the mummy first opens her eyes. And we have a tragic villain, a mummy who started out as an innocent teenage girl who was sacrificed, but we don't get to feel much of her pain. But there are some good points to this episode- some parts are funny, with Willow hoping for a happy ending for the mummy story and later considering whether she should wait for Xander to notice her or get on with her life. And the plot is actually good. We have a villain with some parallels to Buffy, a tragic background, and, just to make things complicated and more interesting, a love for Xander. We also get helpful instructions as to how to eat twinkies. I'm a third of the way through re-watching season 2 and have been noticing the improvements over season 1, and this episode indicates that the non-vampire episodes are improving also. 7.5-8/10