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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a television series, created by Joss Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, which ran from 1997 until 2003. The series combined humor with horror in following the title character's battle against evil and the turmoil of young adulthood. Buffy and its spin-off series Angel have made several references to Muppet projects and share some common cast and crew.

Muppet MentionsEdit

From the unaired pilot (Xander is pointing out which high school kids belong to what cliques)...

Xander: And them?

Buffy: Uh... film club.

Xander: They spend their time deciding that every movie is an existential meditation on Freudian sexuality.

Buffy: Even The Muppets Take Manhattan?

Xander: Especially The Muppets Take Manhattan.

From the episode "Get It Done" (The gang is trying to find their enemy's weakness)...

Buffy: What's inside it?

Robin: I don't know. Hasn't been opened since...

[Buffy cracks open the case]

Robin: Well, since now.

Xander: [removing items and chuckling] Puppets... that's it! The First hates puppets. Now if we can just airlift Kermit, Fozzie the Bear [sic] and Miss Piggy into town, the First will be a-runnin'.

Willow: Those are Muppets.

From the episode "Buffy vs Dracula" (Xander doesn't believe a vampire is the real Dracula)...

Dracula: I have no interest in you. Leave us.

Xander: No, we're not going to [in Dracula's accent] "leave you." And where'd you get that accent, Sesame Street?

Dracula: [annoyed]

Xander: [as Count von Count]: Vun, two, three -- three victims. Mwa ha ha!

From the episode "Bad Girls" (After the two slayers defeat some vampires)...

Faith: Nicely diverted, B!

Buffy: Diverted? That was me fighting for my life, Miss Attention Span.

Faith: This isn't a Tupperware party. It's a little hard to plan.

Buffy: "The count of three" isn't a plan. It's Sesame Street.

The title of the episode "The Puppet Show" is a take on The Muppet Show and has been mistakenly listed as such on some fan websites.

In the canonical comic book story written by Joss Whedon that follows the television series, Buffy makes reference to the term Jim Henson coined for his puppet act as an adjective for a Norse god in expressing her feelings about sexual intimacy.

Issue #22 of the same comic book title features Kennedy wearing a shirt with Animal from The Muppet Show. On the series, Kennedy was played by Iyari Limon who has been photographed at fan conventions wearing an Oscar the Grouch t-shirt.

In issue #28, Georges Jeanty depicts Buffy wearing a t-shirt of The Count. The illustration is that of an actual licensed shirt.

In issue #40, Buffy and her sister Dawn converse in the kitchen on either side of a Cookie Monster cookie jar.

ReferencesEdit

In the Farscape episode "A Kiss Is But a Kiss," John Crichton complains to D'Argo about the ramifications of his being frozen for centuries: "Humans... do not live as long as Sebaceans or Hynerians, or Delvians. When I get back... everyone... my dad, DK, my sisters, Cameron Diaz, Buffy the Vampire Slayer... will be dead!"

Episode 425 of Mopatop's Shop is titled, "Vampy the Buffet Slayer."

Sesame Street Episode 4220 makes a subtle reference to the Buffy musical episode "Once More with Feeling" from 2001. Both stories are about the characters falling under a spell that makes them sing involuntarily. David Fury celebrates the removal of a mustard stain from his red shirt, while Chris requests that Leela help him get the mustard stain out of his red shirt. video

ConnectionsEdit

Joss Whedon's father Tom Whedon co-wrote the Muppet production Hey Cinderella and worked for the Children's Television Workshop as head writer on The Electric Company. Other Buffy cast and crew have worked on Muppet/Creature Shop projects:

Ashanti played Lissa in "First Date"
Christophe Beck scored seasons two through four and some episodes in seasons five and six.
Pat Crawford Brown played the Wig Lady in "Doublemeat Palace"
Mark Caso played a stunt vampire in various episodes
Alice Dinnean-Vernon performed a demon puppet in "As You Were" and a living mummy hand in "Life Serial"
Jane Espenson was a staff writer
Conchata Ferrell played Nurse Greenleigh in "Go Fish"
Seth Green played Oz
Joel Grey played Doc in "Forever," "The Weight of the World," and "The Gift"
John Hawkes played George the janitor in "I Only Have Eyes for You"
Jarrett Lennon played Martin Wilder in "Help"
Phill Lewis played Mr. Platt in "Beauty and the Beasts"
Pons Maar puppeteered demons in two episodes
John Ritter played Ted Buchanan in "Ted"
Brian Thompson played Luke in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest" and the Judge in "Surprise" and "Innocence"
Michelle Trachtenberg played Dawn Summers
Rick Zieff played Mr. Whitmore in "Bad Eggs"