Espenson Draft series #3 - Band Candy






Today's drafts take us back to the beginning - Espenson's debut as a writer on Buffy in season three's 'Band Candy. Featuring the character of Ethan Rayne who first appeared in the Halloween season two episode.

Note the relative stability of the teaser sequence - which, at least based on the drafts to the other episodes Espenson wrote, would seem to be relatively uncommon. This might be due to the fact that the premise for the episode (if not all its detail) was, as Espenson told me in our email exchange:

"That was an unusual situation. I pitched that episode. I mean that this was an idea that I had and brought to Joss. Some episodes came about in this way, although not as many as you'd think. I think this was the only ep I ever pitched that Joss took. Luckily, I pitched it at my job interview. The original idea was coffee - Giles and Joyce were going to be regressed to teens by drinking magical coffee. That turned into candy as we worked on the idea."

A great episode of altered consciousness (one of Espenson's specialities), it provides great humour, the on-going strain on friendship and trust due to the secrecy over Angel's return, and Faith's unstable contribution, to say nothing of the continued charnm of the Mayor. Seeing how these aspects inter-act, and the shifts in the script that enable that to happen is fascinating.

The Outline is here.
Draft 1 is here.
Draft 2 is here.
Draft 3 is here (note that both drafts 2 and 3 carry the claim of being 'writer's final draft'.


Also, please see these links for drafts for The Replacement (5.3) and End of Days (7.21)

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