Trivia
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RILEY, YOU BIG LUG
A small shrine to the dumbest man on TV. This week:
He undermines his own pep talk on the importance of hard work by immediately contradicting himself with a direct order to Buffy to go to a Halloween party.
Meanwhile, he's planning to spend the evening grading papers. Go for it, party guy!
All those commando guys. Being stealthy. Then popping out of the bushes and wandering around. Make your minds up.
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Rousing words: The title of this episode comes from American President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address, on March 4th, 1933: "This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper... Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Scary movie? Due to a mixup at the video shop, Xander's choice of 1979 horror film
Phantasm for the Scooby Halloween screening is replaced by the rather less terrifying 1940 Walt Disney animated showcase Fantasia.
Hit the juice, Igor: Giles’ line about the Frankenstein monster puppet, "It’s
alive!", is a quote from the 1931 Boris Karloff version of Frankenstein. As his creation begins to stir, Victor Frankenstein (Colin Clive) cries the line out.
Force feedback: There's yet another reference to Star Wars when Oz and Xander are checking the loudspeakers. "You're sensing a disturbance in the force, master?" asks Xander, quoting The Phantom Menace.
Halloween hijinks: There are references to a few previous episodes, including, of course, season two's Halloween. Remembering how he was possessed by his costume back then, Xander dresses as a suave secret agent.
Not mentioned, but clearly influential, was season one episode Nightmares, which also dealt with the Scoobies' fears. Back then, they were scared of singing, clowns, vampirism and illiteracy.
Crazy costumes: The Scoobies wear the following costumes to the party - Buffy her old Little Red Riding Hood outfit, Xander a James Bond costume, Oz as god (his outfit consists of just a label, reading "God"), and Willow Joan of Arc - figuring she "had a lot in common, being almost burned at the stake (in Gingerbread) and having a close relationship with god."
