'Halloween' Story Code '5V06' by Carl Ellsworth

A vampire videotapes Buffy in action, but she is running late for a date with Angel; when she arrives at ‘The Bronze’ she is hurt to see him dancing with Cordelia. Angel tries to salvage the situation, but Buffy is feeling sorry for herself and leaves. At school the next day, Buffy and her friends are forced by Principal Snyder to ‘volunteer’ for a Halloween safety program, for which they are to oversee a group of trick-or-treating children. The gang are unhappy with their new task, especially as Giles had told them that Halloween is a quiet night for undead activity, and with no vampires to slay they made plans to enjoy a calm evening. Buffy and Willow conspire to steal the Watcher diaries from Giles' office to learn more about Angel; inside the book they find a drawing of a beautiful Eighteenth-century noblewoman whom Buffy surmises was Angel's ‘type’ when he was alive. Later, Buffy and her friends go to a new costume shop called ‘Ethan’s’ to find something to wear for Halloween; here, the suave, British costume shop owner convinces Buffy to buy a beautiful Eighteenth-century gown for her costume. Meanwhile, Spike is watching the videotape of Buffy in action, trying to figure out how to kill her so he and Drusilla can have their run of Sunnydale. Drusilla foresees that something is going to happen on Halloween night, because someone has come to change its traditionally quiet nature. Later that night, the costume shop owner conducts a candlelit ritual before a bust of the Roman god Janus. Buffy tries to convince Willow to don a sexy, revealing outfit for Halloween, in the hope that Xander will finally realise that his long-time friend has a crush on him. Buffy succeeds, but only briefly - Willow prefers the anonymity of her white-bedsheet ghost costume. After a brief, run-in with Oz, Willow joins Buffy and Xander in taking the children out trick-or-treating. But then the ritual takes effect and all the kids actually become their costumes; so too do the teens: Willow finds she is a real ghost; Xander's toy gun has become a real M-16, turning him into a real army grunt, with no memory of Willow. They two of them turn to Buffy for help, but she promptly faints; it seems that Buffy doesn't remember who she is either, and so Willow has to take charge. After she gets them back to Buffy's house, they eventually encounter Angel, and Cordelia, who is unaffected by the spell, despite being costumed. Willow leaves Xander in charge while she goes to the library; a demon attacks Buffy, but Angel leaps to her defence. Unfortunately, that also brings out his vampire face, which scares Buffy so badly that she runs away. Willow tells Giles that Cordelia got her costume from ‘Party Town’, while everyone else got theirs from the new shop, which would explain why Cordelia did not change. Meanwhile, Spike overhears Angel comment about Buffy, and decides to lead a troupe of kids-turned-demons to find her. Ethan, the shop owner, is really Ethan Rayne, an old acquaintance of Giles who scornfully derides him for putting on a goody-goody act as Buffy’s Watcher. A dangerous, uncharacteristic calm comes over Giles and he effortlessly beats Ethan into telling him how to break the spell. Elsewhere, Spike and his army of demons catch up with Buffy, but just as Spike is about to sink his fangs into her, Giles breaks the spell, and Buffy the vampire slayer is back! She fends off Spike, who beats a hasty retreat, and then goes home to be with Angel. The next day, Giles find in the costume shop deserted, except for a calling card which reads simply: "Be seeing you"…

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Robin Sachs (Ethan Rayne), Seth Green (Oz), James Marsters (Spike), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder), Larry Bagby III (Larry), Abigail Gershman (Girl)
Directed by Bruce Seth Green

TX (US): 27th October 1997
TX (UK - Sky One): 2nd May 1998
TX (UK - BBC): 29th October 1999

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Oz, Cordelia and Angel

*This episode features the first appearance of Ethan Rayne