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BUFFY VS DRACULA

Season Five

Episode One

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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The Plot

  • Buffy and her friends come face to face with the greatest vampire of all time, Count Dracula…Vlad Tepes.
  • Buffy is powerless under Dracula’s thrall
  • Xander becomes the dark one’s emissary and leads his friends into peril.

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Bram Stoker’s Dracula

  • Bram Stoker's 1897 book, Dracula, was inspired by existing vampire legends and the brutal acts of a legendary tyrant.
  • Stoker found the name Dracula in a book on the history of Wallachia.
  • The name was associated with a 15th century Transylvanian known as Vlad the Impaler, also called "Vlad Dracul," which means "the devil" in Romanian.
  • Dracula favored impaling as a form of execution and a scare tactic used to instill fear in his enemies.
  • Vlad hated non-Christians, making it a policy to kill any non-practicing residents under his authority.
  • Fearing for their lives, his subjects placed crosses on their front lawns and doorways to keep Dracula at bay.

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Traditional Vampire Beliefs

  • Transylvanian traditions were also a source of great inspiration for Bram Stoker.
  • They believed in what were called "strigoi" (the undead) who would walk the earth because they were improperly buried or had lived an evil life.
  • Like vampires, they would stalk and kill humans.
  • Stopping them meant driving a stake through their heart.
  • They would then be placed in a coffin where the same stake was driven through the coffin and into the ground. That was the only procedure known to keep the undead in the ground where they belonged.

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Count Dracula

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Buffy Vs Dracula

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Some Context Questions

  • What two vampires are referenced when the cast is speaking to Dracula?
  • Which character in Dracula most accurately reflects Xander’s role in this episode?
  • Which character in Dracula most accurately reflects Giles’ role in this episode?
  • Identify at least three ideas/concepts from vampire folklore that appear in this episode.
  • Identify two similarities between this Dracula and Vlad the Impaler.

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Catchy Quotes

  • Dracula: Why else would I come here? For the sun? I came to meet the renowned killer.�Buffy: Yeah, I prefer the term Slayer. You know, killer just sounds so...����

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Catchy Quotes

  • Dracula: Silence.�Xander: Yes, Master. No, that's not...�Dracula: You will be emissary. My eyes and ears in daylight.�Xander: Your emissary.�Dracula: Serve me well. You will be rewarded. I will make you an immortal. A child of darkness that feeds on life itself... on blood.�Xander: Blood? Yes, yes! I will serve you, your Excellent Spookiness. Or Master. I'll just stick with Master.�Dracula: You are strange and off-putting. Go now. ��