The Puppet Show
July 16th, 2007 | 
Author: 
Sunnydale High’s new Principal – Snyder – forces Giles to run the school’s annual talent(less) show. Things start to go wrong when a demon begins to steal body parts from those taking part. Things get worse when the Scoobies realise a ventriloquist’s dummy may be to blame. (Description provided by The Buffy and Angel Trivia Guide)
Directed by: Ellen S. Pressman
Original Air Date: 5 May 1997
Guest Stars:
Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)
Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)
Tom Wyner (Sid’s Voice)
Trivia:
- Julie Benz will be in the upcoming Rambo film (Image Link)
- “REDRUM!” was an ad lib by Nicholas Brendon
- Willow running off the stage in the credits sequence was also not in the script
- According to Joss the reading of Oedipus Rex took a long time to shoot because the actors couldn’t keep from cracking up
Quotes:
Xander: “I have my pride. Okay, so I don’t have a lot of my pride, but I have enough so that I can’t do this.”
Key Events:
- Principal Snyder first appears
- Direct mention of previous slayers
- Cordelia sings
Rating:
Jason:
Kathleen:
Troy:
Images:
Other links:
Jetwolf’s top 100 moments in Buffy
Posted in 16 Responses to “The Puppet Show”
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Another great episode, although you seem to like this episode more than I… But at least I Robot, You Jane is still ranked way below it.
You talk of wanting to have a body count for each episode and I know that buffyguide.com did this. You could use them as a very good resource, even though I think the site is all but dead as far as growth goes. Still great for good show reference material, real world references, and trivia.
Oh man, that Monica Llewinsky reference popped into my head right before you said it. Awesome.
I love your podcast by the way. It’s insightful and very well done.
What a great podcast! I love listening to you all during my lunch break and conference period. (yes I am a fellow teacher who loves Buffy!!!!) I can’t wait to hear Nightmares.
Dragavan: Funny you should mention that, as soon as the episode was recorded we went out and found that very body count list. I’m thinking of adding it as an item in the episode notes. I can’t wait to get into some of the better episodes that are coming up.
ChupaChica: Too funny. Thanks for all the kind words!
Kim: Thank you so much for the praise!
Here’s a sneak peek of Nightmares, I’m with Xander, I thought Vamp Buffy was kinda hot too.
And, just because it has bothered me so much since I said it on the show, I finally looked up the name of the other former background hottie for Prince that eventually did the 180-degree thing by becoming a Born-Again Christian. It was Vanity! And yes, she recorded the brilliant love ballad “Pretty Mess”, which included such amazing lyrics as:
Ooh yeah,such a pretty mess
He made such a pretty mess on my dress
and
Here we go again,crawling through the kitchen…oh ho ho hum
I bet you got what it takes to get me into a living room position
Ahhh…now I feel better. And worse.
Merrick in the movie had it where the Watcher-Slayer relationship was more of a symbiosis. They were each reincarnated over and over again. One Watcher and One Slayer was the picture they painted.
I think that the American culture thing might be one explanation. It’s a little harder to get a kid away from their parents in America and raise them.
Great episode. The dummy thing is pretty much a universal fear– well, that’s what I tell myself so I can look people in the eye. I hadn’t thought about the ‘foreshadowing’ thing before, but yeah… clever.
I’m completely loving your podcast. It warms my cold little heart that someone out there is keeping Buffy alive years after it has gone off the air, and it makes my workday go by faster!
I recently started re-watching everything as well with some friends who had never seen Buffy, and it’s awesome that we’re not the only ones. Thank you, thank you, thank you for what you’re doing. I can’t wait until you guys get to some of the later episodes.
On the subject of Kevin Weisman (AKA Marshall Flinkman), he does in fact play the first main minion, Dreg. He’s only in a couple of episodes and then I think he’s killed. If you get to the episodes with the relatively tall minion, Jinx, then you’ve missed Kevin Weisman’s episodes. And if you get to the episodes with the first female minion, then you’ve gone way too far.
Love the podcast!
I love the podcast and really liked your analysis of the Puppet Show. This hadn’t been one of my favorite
episodes, I didn’t really think about it at all, but there are some really funny parts in it.
Anyway, I am the one who posted about Marshall Flinkman to begin with. If you look on imdb.com under Kevin
Weisman you will see that he did truly play Dreg. He was in three episodes: Shadow, Listening to Fear,
and Chechpoint. I recently rewatched season 5 and you can kind of tell by his voice, though it sounds
nothing like Marshall, but other roles he’s been in.
Again love the show!!
Don’t all bunnies has nasty pointy teeth. YIKES!
I’d like to donate my organ to Cordelia!
Can I write stuff like this?
Yay Spiderman!
No, Mojo! Yay, BUFFY! Get it right!
(though, yes. I agree. Yay Spiderman too. Curses, you win again.)
Boy I stopped that thread in it’s tracks.
Maybe I should try to be less silly.
Hey guys just listened to your Puppet Show podcast episode. Loved it. Also I wanted to point out something I noticed, the demon at the end I think looks like an early version of an Uber-vamp.. if a little greener.
I have to laugh at how a group of self-evident geeks continually rant & rave about the fashion sense (or lack thereof) of the characters. I am a major geek, and don’t care a single iota about fashion, other than shirts that revel in my geekdom & musical taste. I realize not all geeks are created equal, but I find it humorous