Buffy Season 1 question

[Overread]

So I found Buffy on Amazon Prime and started watching it all over again from the very beginning - only its not the beginning I remember.

I have a distinct recollection of seeing an episode of Buffy where she first encounters the powers of the slayer, meets a different Watcher to Giles and does her first vampire killing, followed by her trip to a mental ward for a short spell in dealing with it. All in advance of the first season 1 episode that appears to be listed everywhere where she's already generally aware of being the slayer and Watchers and the like.

I'm also sure I've heard her reference that point more than once (about going a bit nuts after killing her first vampire).

So am I going mad? Or is this one of those "it was made and vanished" episodes or a one off thing or is it backstory that gets covered in a mid-season episode?

Anyone got any pointers?

 

[Pyan]

I think your backstory theory is the most likely - the only episode prior to "Welcome to the Hellmouth" that I've ever heard of is the unaired pilot, and there's no mention of any previous one in the Watchers Guide for S1.
This pilot has a different actress playing Willow, though, and I would have thought that that would be one of the things that you remembered about your phantom one...

 

[Overread]

Yeah my googling only found that pilot too and I never remember seeing that. Thing was I was sure what I remembered was the intro to the whole franchise. Buffy does, episode 1, seem to start running as soon as it hits the ground; its just odd that she's already slayer aware and already burned down one school and such before the audience sees anything.

It might be a flashback, I hope its a flashback episode otherwise I might be going mad - or perhaps I've tapped into Jose's brainwaves and can mind read him?!

 

[dekket]

Are you thinking of the movie? Different lead actress, different school?

 

[Bagpuss]

There is a season 6 episode called "Normal Again" where Buffy gets poisoned by a demon and wakes up in a mental ward in an LA hospital, where she's actually been for the past 6 years. The episode then plays the game of which version of reality is real - the mental hospital or Sunnydale. In that episode Buffy also tells Willow that she spent two weeks in a mental hospital after she told her parents about seeing her first vampire. In the episode it's not made clear how old she was when the hospitalisation happened and it's not something that's otherwise mentioned in the series.

The movie started from the point where she had no idea she's a Slayer and it had Donald Sutherland playing a different Watcher to Giles. But s1 ep1 starts from the point that everything in the movie happened and that she's transferred to a new school as a result of what happened in the movie, rather then as a total reset.

 

[Hugh]

the only episode prior to "Welcome to the Hellmouth" that I've ever heard of is the unaired pilot, and there's no mention of any previous one in the Watchers Guide for S1.
This pilot has a different actress playing Willow, though, and I would have thought that that would be one of the things that you remembered about your phantom one...

Many thanks for posting this: had not seen it.

 

[SilentRoamer]

Came in to post what Bagpuss had already posted

 

[Anthoney]

I think you're putting together pieces from a few episodes. There's nothing new in the unaired pilot but hair color and a different Willow. It's not the movie. As mentioned above everything you say has either been referenced or happened at some point throughout the series.

I hope you're enjoying the rewatch. I like rewatched the whole series every 3 or 4 years. Buffy is on my list of the 10 greatest TV shows along with things like Star Trek and The Sopranos.

 

[Overread]

It might be that I'm putting together bits from other episodes, thing was I was sure it was early in the series as I was sure it was one of those things that made me pay attention to Buff (that and it was on at 6pm in the sci-fi slot on BBC2)

 

[Daysman]

Spoiler: Flashbacks...

Becoming part I covers some of this from Angel's perspective...

 

[Overread]

Spoiler: Flashbacks...

Becoming part I covers some of this from Angel's perspective...

Ahh having just made it here, yes this at least is the memory of the older, larger guy approaching Buffy to reveal to her her Slayer status! Now just gotta keep going through till I find one on her going nuts!

 

[Daysman]

Excellent!

Good luck with season 3...

 

[L4lindetta]

Ahh having just made it here, yes this at least is the memory of the older, larger guy approaching Buffy to reveal to her her Slayer status! Now just gotta keep going through till I find one on her going nuts!

Yes, this happens in season 2, I believe. Angel is remembering the first time he saw Buffy and takes place in LA. She is waking out of her school with some friends. When her friends part, a man approaches her and confronts her about vampires.

 

[L4lindetta]

Sorry for the repeat above, I just noticed someone already posted about that episode.

Could there be more in the Angel series?

 

[Overread]

Amusing thing I spotted (and which doesn't really warrant a thread of its own). Watching Season 1 of Angel now and in the second episode in his first fight with the episodes monster there's an amusing few seconds where one is thrown and the set photographer, camera and back are fully on show and you even see the pulse of light from the flash. It's really obvious and I'm surprised they didn't edit it out (I assume during shooting it was missed until editing).

 

[Werthead]

The movie started from the point where she had no idea she's a Slayer and it had Donald Sutherland playing a different Watcher to Giles. But s1 ep1 starts from the point that everything in the movie happened and that she's transferred to a new school as a result of what happened in the movie, rather then as a total reset.

Not entirely correct. Joss Whedon was still annoyed that the producers butchered his script, so for the TV show his original movie script is canon, not the finished movie itself. That's why there's references to Buffy burning down the school gym (which doesn't happen in the film) and why Buffy meets her Watcher in a different way to the film. Later on they adapted the original script into a graphic novel, Origins, which is broadly considered canon.

Yes, this happens in season 2, I believe. Angel is remembering the first time he saw Buffy and takes place in LA. She is waking out of her school with some friends. When her friends part, a man approaches her and confronts her about vampires.

The two-part Season 2 finale. One story strand follows the demon Whistler, who is trying to help Angelus, and he recalls meeting Angel, helping him get to Sunnydale and find a new path of tracking down Buffy. We meet Buffy's Watcher in one of these flashbacks.

Amusing thing I spotted (and which doesn't really warrant a thread of its own). Watching Season 1 of Angel now and in the second episode in his first fight with the episodes monster there's an amusing few seconds where one is thrown and the set photographer, camera and back are fully on show and you even see the pulse of light from the flash. It's really obvious and I'm surprised they didn't edit it out (I assume during shooting it was missed until editing).

Is that the widescreen edition? All of Buffy and Angel were shot in widescreen but were not "protected" for it, meaning that sometimes light stands, extras, cameramen etc come into the edges of the shot but were ignored because they wouldn't be seen on the standard-ratio square TVs of the day. When Buffy and Angel were released on DVD, some idiot had the bright idea to release them in widescreen in the UK and Europe despite this problem, and that's the versions we have at the moment. It's not too egregious in most cases (especially as Seasons 1-3 of Buffy are left in standard ratio because there were far too many goofs to fix or ignore), but this was a bad one.