Angel

for other uses, see Angels

Alice Dinnean-Vernon, puppet Angel and Drew Massey.

Angel was a television series spun off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer which ran from 1999 until 2004. Like Buffy, the series included sporadic Muppet references as well as cast and crew connections (creator Joss Whedon being the son of former Muppet writer Tom Whedon). This culminated into the fifth season episode "Smile Time," scripted by Ben Edlund (The Tick), in which Angel is turned into a live-hand puppet. The plot involves a group of demons (disguised as puppets) who plot to drain the life energy out of children (not unlike the relationship between Skeksis and Podlings) by way of posessing a children's television puppet series. The "Smile Time" television series is a loose spoof of Sesame Street, which is cited by the writers as a childhood influence. The puppet version of Angel, meanwhile, displays the very Muppet-like ability to remove his own nose.

Several Henson veterans were involved in the episode, including Alice Dinnean-Vernon, Leslie Carrara, Victor Yerrid (as Polo), Julianne Buescher (as Flora), Tim Blaney, and Drew Massey, performing the puppet Angel.

Muppet Mentions

• In "The House Always Wins," Lorne sings "Bein' Green" in Las Vegas. The song made it to commercial release on the Angel soundtrack.

• From "Disharmony" (Cordelia has just had a vision of danger and informs her colleagues of the trouble)...

Cordy: They're taking... people and-- whoa, big bird.

Gunn: Big Bird?

Cordy: Not the Muppet, you dumb ass.

• In the aforementioned "Smile Time" episode, a line of dialogue by Charles Gunn was cut regarding potential legal action against the law firm where Angel and his crew work if they were to shut down the demon-possessed puppet show: "Think about the headlines: ‘Big Bad Wolfram and Hart Drops Iron Heel On Fraggle Rock’."

Connections

• Mark Ginther played the head demon in "The Prodigal" and Lasovic in "The Ring"
• Rena Owen played Dinza in "Ground State" (2002)

External links

• Buffyverse Wiki