"I don't know where Whedon gets his material. Could it be that he's got a grimoire locked in his closet?" --- could be, could be.

Thanks Simon, that was interesting. And to think I just watch the show to be entertained. ;)

The Lady Pele | December 16, 18:00 CET

Biggest hint to me that Joss & Co. were looking toward Lovecraft territory was the the sluggoth demon in "Beneath You". That fits the "must-be-unpronouncable" naming convention Lovecraft loved, and is quite close the the shoggoths, which were the footsoldiers for the Elder Ones.

What gets me is that, in the Illuminatus! trilogy, they have Adam Weishaupt smoking weed and looking at a drawing of Yog-Sothoth and thinking "Du hexe hasen". Later Illumnati used this model of the Old One to create Bugs Bunny. Anya, the vengence demon, might know the face of Yog-Sothoth, and thus has some reason to fear rabbits. (I know, it's a long way to explain an in-joke.)

LudditeRobot | December 16, 18:12 CET

I love the fact that you can watch Buffy on so many levels. I do wonder if lately the more obscure references haven't taken the upper hand and that it´s become almost impossible to just enjoy the series without keeping one eye on The Stakehouse (speculation mailing list, home of the illustrious William the Poet).

Zelazny's Amber series (and it's basement pattern, the Shadow worlds, Merle's Logrus etc) has been mentioned too in various posts at the Stakehouse. I've been rereading the series and find that I now cannot read Corwin without imagining Giles.

... on another note, I was watching Firefly's last episode Ojects in Space (Joss Whedon penned and directed) and thought; "Is River a 'sleeper'"...

Caroline | December 16, 18:33 CET

Necronomicon brings back good memories of the awesome Evil Dead series. Ash rules all!

voodoo_daddy | December 17, 04:44 CET