Buffy vs. Dracula

Template:Buffyepisode

"Buffy vs. Dracula" is the season premiere of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show, and the seventy-ninth episode in the series. Written by Marti Noxon and directed by David Solomon, it originally broadcast on September 26, 2000 on The WB network.

Synopsis

THE LAST SEDUCTION — Still searching for a normal life, Buffy is shaken by the awesome power — and more than a little star-struck — when she and her friends come face to face with the greatest vampire of all time, Dracula. While Buffy is powerless under Dracula’s thrall, Xander becomes the dark one’s emissary and leads his friends into peril. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Buffy, Giles is seriously contemplating returning to England as he feels she no longer needs his help.

Summary

Unable to sleep, Buffy goes out to patrol the cemetery and, after staking a vampire, she returns to bed with Riley. The next day, Buffy and Riley play catch at the beach with the others watching, until Buffy "slays" the football (in Riley’s words). Xander tries to ignite the barbecue but fails. Willow magically ignites the barbecue, but immediately a sudden storm forces them all to seek shelter from the rain. Meanwhile, two men deliver a large crate filled with dirt to a residence, but when they drop it, a clawed hand breaks through the wood and attacks one of the men.

Giles has Willow begin scanning books so that they can be resources for the gang to use. He then announces that he’s going back to England because it seems he’s no longer needed by Buffy nor the Scoobies. Buffy has dinner with her mother but ends the meal quickly by announcing she is going out to patrol. Joyce remarks that she will have to get used to the house being empty and quiet again.

While patrolling, Buffy is confronted by a vampire who condenses from a mist and introduces himself as Count Dracula. She is flattered when he tells her she is known throughout the world, but discomforted when he says her power is rooted in darkness. When she tries to stake the legendary vampire, he disappears. Xander and Willow arrive to see Dracula before he turns into a bat and flies away. The women discuss how amazing Dracula is, and Riley and Xander both express their jealousy towards the infamous "Dark Prince". Willow makes a lame attempt to attract attention to Giles and his usefulness, but the gang seems oblivious.

As Xander is walking home alone, he encounters Dracula. Using his mysterious hypnotic charms and promises of immortality, the vampire persuades Xander to be his emissary and lure the Slayer to him. Riley interrogates Spike about Dracula, but the former commando is warned that although Dracula is mostly show and tricks, he is too dangerous for Riley to take on alone.

Buffy awakens to find Dracula in her bedroom. She is helpless against his powers and unable to stop him from biting and drinking from her. Upon waking the next morning, Buffy looks in the mirror and sees the puncture marks on her neck. She hides them with a scarf.

While munching on donuts, the gang discusses their plan of attack. Buffy seems distracted and after hearing about the truths of Dracula, she leaves abruptly. Riley follows her and forces her to take off the scarf to show the puncture marks on her neck. Everyone is shocked to see that she has been under the control of Dracula. Since Xander is also under Dracula’s power, he has a strange hunger for spiders and attempts to defend the powerful vampire to his friends. Xander volunteers to have Buffy stay safely at his place. Willow and Tara use magic to protect the Summers' residence, and Giles and Riley go after Dracula. Anya complains about not going after Dracula herself, until Xander locks her in the closet. Xander takes the willing Slayer to his "Master" in hopes of getting immortality in return.

After being left alone with Dracula, Buffy tries to take control and stake him, but he is easily able to make her put the stake down. Riley and Giles discover Dracula’s castle, remarking how they’ve never noticed it before, and enter carefully. Dracula talks to Buffy of all the things he will do for her while she struggles to regain control of herself. Xander tries to stop Riley from going after Dracula, but Riley quickly knocks him out. Giles finds himself victim to the Three Sisters, who effectively keep him distracted. Dracula offers his blood to Buffy, and she hesitantly takes a drink.

A flash of memories allows Buffy to break his control over her. Riley rescues Giles from the sister vampires, and they go to save Buffy. Buffy and Dracula fight in a vicious battle, and finally, Buffy stakes him. After they leave, Dracula comes back from the dust. Buffy is there and stakes him again, knowing he would come back. Dracula attempts to re-form again but is reminded by Buffy that she is "standing right here". He slips away in his mist form.

Giles calls Buffy, preparing to tell her about his plans to leave however she says she wants to talk to him as well. Letting her go ahead, Buffy tells Giles that since her encounter with the spirit of Sineya she’s been wondering about where her power comes from and what it means to her inside as she feels that if she knows then she can become stronger as a result. She asks Giles to be her Watcher again, to train and teach her about what her power truly means. Giles is pleased and decides to stay in Sunnydale.

Buffy comes home and announces to her mom that she’s going out with Riley. As she enters her room, she finds a girl there going through her stuff. Joyce tells Buffy that she should take her sister with her if she goes out. Buffy and Dawn turn and, in annoyance, call out: "Mom!"

Continuity

• Dracula appears for the first time, to eventually become a reluctant ally of the Scooby Gang, mainly due to the connection he forms with Xander in this episode.
• Dracula is the third vampire to drink from Buffy. She was previously bitten by the two well-known vampires the Master in "Prophecy Girl", and Angel in "Graduation Day, Part Two".
• Spike drinks from Buffy next, in Desperate Times. Willow comments she knew Buffy was bitten once again from the moment she saw the scarf, in reference to Buffy’s behavior in this episode.
• This is the first time we ever see Giles bitten by a vampire on the show, although, in "Into the Woods", he refers to having experience of vampire brothels, so it may not be his first time.
• Joyce appears to be unaware that Tara and Willow are a couple, remarking to them that she feels like "giving up on men altogether". In the next episode, Joyce appears to know about their relationship.
• Riley states that he has lived in Sunnydale for a couple of years, implying the Initiative was active in the town from at least season 3. 
• Riley maintains the scar he got in "Primeval" after removing the Behavior Modifier from his chest.
• Xander refers to getting "funny syphilis", which occurred in "Pangs".
• Giles prepares to leave Sunnydale, but changes his mind, due to Buffy asking him to be her Watcher once again. In season 6, he actually does leave for England until returning at the end of the season.
• Dracula’s revelation of the inherent darkness of the nature of the Slayer is foreshadowing the demonic origin of the Slayer lineage, as revealed in "Get It Done".
• The rivalry between Spike and Riley begins in this episode.
• Riley’s asserts in that the Initiative have been active on Sunnydale for several years prior to the Scoobies first confront ("Wild at Heart").
• This is the first episode in which Buffy turns to Giles to really dig into her calling’s past, notably deepening her study in "Fool for Love".
• This marks the first appearance of Dawn, Buffy’s younger sister, who would continue to be featured in every remaining episode and would be a very important arc to the show.
• Dawn’s real nature is revealed in episode "No Place Like Home".
• Xander says "Blood is life" when talking about Dracula. This could be foreshadowing season 5 finale "The Gift" when Spike tells Xander "Blood is life." in regards to the key to stopping Glory.

Appearances

Individuals

• Dracula
• Riley Finn
• Rupert Giles
• Alexander Harris
• Anya Jenkins
• Tara Maclay
• Willow Rosenberg
• Sineya (Only in flashbacks)
• Spike
• Buffy Summers
• Dawn Summers
• Joyce Summers
• Unidentified mover I
• Unidentified mover II

Organizations and titles

• Scooby Gang
• Initiative (Only mentioned)
• The Key
• Three Sisters
• Slayer
• Watcher
• Witch

Species

• Human
• Vampire

Locations

• Sunnydale
  • 1630 Revello Drive
  • Dracula's mansion
  • Maple Court
    • Espresso Pump
  • Rupert Giles's apartment
  • Sunnydale beach
  • Sunnydale Cemetery

Weapons and objects

• Blood
• Stake

Rituals and spells

• "Ignis incende"
• Revoke Invitation Ritual

Death count

• Two vampires, staked by Buffy Summers.
• The two movers, killed by Dracula.

Behind the scenes

Production

• Originally Buffy should have "defeated" Dracula this way:^{[citation needed]}

Buffy arms herself with a lit torch, when Giles and Riley burst into the room.

Dracula: (sends Buffy one final look full of pain and fury) "What a shame. You could have been great, you know." (He jumps out of the window, changes himself into a wolf and lopes into the dark woods).

• The vampire who was going to show Buffy a darker side of herself was originally envisioned as "just another vampire who rode a horse and was all cool", says writer Marti Noxon. "I kept saying, ’Like Dracula’" — until Joss Whedon said, "Why not Dracula? He’s public domain."^{[citation needed]}
• Noxon says the scene in which Dracula implies that Buffy would "make an amazing vampire" thematically resonates with the questions of identity with which Buffy struggles throughout Season 5.^{[citation needed]}
• Emma Caulfield is added to the opening credits beginning with this episode.
• Amber Benson is now credited with "as Tara" under her name.
• This episode marks Michelle Trachtenberg’s first appearance in the series.
• Michele Waitman replaces Sophia Crawford as Sarah Michelle Gellar’s stunt double.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar’s husband Freddie Prinze Jr was originally going to play Dracula.^{[citation needed]}

Broadcast

• In Australia, this episode was shown as the season 4 finale cliffhanger. Viewers had to wait three months to find out who the new sister was.

Deleted scenes

• Dracula was trying to convince Buffy in this exchange cut due to length:^{[citation needed]}

Dracula: "I know intimately what it is to be different. Human, but not quite... Of the world but still an outsider... You see? We understand each other. Both of us are born of darkness, masters in the art of death-"

Buffy: "No. Hold it. Enough with the darkness. I’m born of Joyce, pal."

Pop culture references

• Buffy mentions vampires calling themselves Lestat de Lioncourt, the fictional character from The Vampire Chronicles novel series.

Music

• Vertical Horizon — "Finding Me"
• Thomas Wanker — "Dracula's Power / Opening / Buffy Fights Dracula / Dracula Bites Buffy"
• Thomas Wanker — original score

International titles

• Armenian: "Բաֆֆին Դրակուլաի դեմ" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Czech: "Buffy proti Drákulovi" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Finnish: "Buffy vastaan Dracula" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• French: "Buffy Contre Dracula" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• German: "Buffy vs. Dracula"
• Hungarian: "Buffy kontra Drakula" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Italian: "Il Morso del Vampiro" (The Vampire's Bite)
• Japanese: "ドラキュラ" (Dracula)
• Polish: "Buffy kontra Drakula" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Portuguese (Brazil): "Buffy Versus Drácula" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Romanian: "Buffy vs. Dracula"
• Russian: "Баффи против Дракулы" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Spanish (Latin America): "Buffy Versus Drácula" (Buffy versus Dracula)
• Spanish (Spain): "Buffy Contra Drácula" (Buffy versus Dracula)

Goofs, bloopers & continuity errors

• After Buffy is bitten by Dracula, it cuts to day outside of Buffy’s house and the actual address of 1313 can be seen instead of Buffy’s actual address 1630 which has been pointed out/seen in several episodes.
• When Buffy is in bed with Riley, in the close up shot of Buffy’s head you can see Riley’s elbow sticking near the upper left corner. But when it changes to a medium close up shot with both Buffy and Riley you can see Riley’s arm is bent with his elbow under Buffy’s arm.
• A water bottle is visible on the mantel in Dracula’s mansion, adjacent to more Dracula-appropriate urns and candles.
• Giles yet again says that Buffy has no need of him, although it is extremely rare for an episode not to include him as a crucial element in the defeat of the little bad.

Other

• Rudolf Martin played Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character’s love interest Anton on All My Children.
• Rudolf Martin later played Vlad the Impaler (the supposed inspiration for Dracula) in a TV miniseries, Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula, released in the same year.
• Excerpts from this episode appear on a television screen in the Russian vampire film Night Watch.

Gallery

Promotional stills

Behind the scenes

Advertisement

“Season premiere event: They were destined to meet. Dracula & Buffy”

Quotes

Xander: "I’m exhausted just lookin’ at those two. All the splashing and jumping and running. Shouldn’t relaxing involve less exertion?"

Anya: "Absolutely. Exertion can lead to sweatiness."

Tara: "Oh, which can cause the, um, pain and heartbreak of stinkiness. Better to just stay put."

Willow: "I think we’ve just put our finger on why we’re the sidekicks."

Buffy: "Where’s my burger?"

Riley: "Yeah, man, I’m starving. Cow me."

Xander: "The, uh, fire’s not cooperating. It’s comforting to know that I lack the culinary finesse of a caveman."

Willow: "Ignis incende."

Buffy: "Willow, check you out! Witch-fu."

Buffy: "So let me get this straight. You’re... ‘Dracula’. The guy. The count."

Dracula: "I am."

Buffy: "And you’re sure this isn’t just some fan boy thing? ‘Cause I’ve fought more than a couple pimply overweight vamps that called themselves ‘Lestat’."

Xander: "Please. He was no big whoop."

Willow: "No big whoop? What about that thing where he turned himself into a bat? That was awesome!"

Giles: "It must have been, yes. I must admit, I’m sorry I missed that."

Willow: "Me, too! The whole time I was thinking ‘Gosh, I wish Giles were here. He’d know what to do!’"

Willow: "I think we have Dracula factoids."

Xander: "Like any of that’s enough to fight the dark Master... bater."