Changes: Night of the Living Rerun

Revision as of 15:01, 23 April 2020

The subject of this article is non-canonical.
While created as part of licensed material, it has not been confirmed as part of the "real" Buffyverse continuity.

Night of the Living Rerun is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel. Written by Arthur Byron Cover, it was originally published on March 1, 1998 by Pocket Books.

Summary

A HISTORY LESSON?

In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, the Despised One was raised from the Otherworld and Samantha Kane, that generation's Slayer, died while defeating it. Now in 1997, the Master is trying to have history repeat itself but this time with a different ending. The spirits of the people responsible for the rise of the Despised One in 1692 are now inhabiting the bodies of Buffy and her friends. Buffy must stop the ritual from happening or the Master will rise from his prison below Sunnydale.

Continuity

The events of this story take place on Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 2.

Appearances

Individuals

Cordelia Chase
Lora Church
Rick Church
Sheriff Corwin
Judge Danforth
Despised One
Sarah Dinsdale
Augie Duluth
Edith
Robert Erwin
Eric Frank
Rupert Giles
John Goodman
Alexander Harris
Samantha Kane
Daryl MacGovern
Cotton Mather
McCrumski
Pat
Heather Putnam
Willow Rosenberg
Buffy Summers
Joyce Summers

Species

Locations

Sunnydale
- Billy Bob's Country Steak House
- The gallery
- Police station
- Sunnydale Central Park
- Sunnydale High School
  - Sunnydale High School library
- Rosenberg residence

Weapons and objects

The Book of Eibon
3HUJ259
Moonman
Stake

Behind the scenes

Production

The cover features a promotional picture taken for episode "Prophecy Girl".
The book was written during season 1 and the official summary references the Master being trapped in the church. Edits were made before its publication to make it compliant with canon established by "Prophecy Girl", making the Master plot from Hell and seek his return to Sunnydale through the Hellmouth, instead of merely seeking to leave the church.
The Master holds responsibility for the Salem Witch Trials.
The Lovecraftian tome The Book of Eibon appears in Giles' library.

Collections

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Volume 1

International titles

Dutch: Herhaling van het Verleden (Recurrence of the Past)
German: Die Nacht der Wiederkehr (The Night of Returns)
French: Répétition Mortelle (Deadly Repetition)
Portuguese (Portugal): A Noite da Reencarnação Final (The Night of the Final Reincarnation)
Indonesian: Malam Pengulangan (Night Repetition)

Other

The book is the third entry in a trilogy of standalone books connected by the theme of "Cowboys and Indians", along with Halloween Rain and Coyote Moon. The cowboy theme is represented by the climactic battle humorously taking place in a western-themed restaurant and the Indian theme is represented by both the historical conflict between Salem and the Wabanaki Confederacy in the flashback setting and as Native American bodies in the Sunnydale area being among the various zombies to animate in the modern setting.
The book is the first Buffy tie-in novel whose plot is not envisioned as a one-shot monster-of-the-week adventure but as a full season arc — in this case, for a speculative season two — with scattered references to the monster-of-the-week adventures the Scoobies face in-between events that progress the main plot.