Buffy Logo 'Nightmares'
Story Code '4V10'

by Joss Whedon (story)
and David Greenwalt (teleplay)
Buffy

Everyone in Sunnydale is suffering from extremely bad nightmares, some of which seem to intrude into real life. Meanwhile, Buffy spies a strange little boy hanging around the school, but she is the only one that can see him. When a pupil sneaks into the school boiler room for a cigarette between classes, she is viciously attacked by a hideous man whose only words are “Lucky Nineteen”, repeated over and over. Buffy and Giles discover that the girl is the second victim of such an attack; the first was Billy Palmer, a Junior League baseball player, who lies in a coma at the Sunnydale Memorial Hospital. Giles theorises that Buffy is seeing an astral projection of Billy, who is desperate to tell someone what happened to him. Buffy manages to communicate with Billy, who tells her that “the ugly man” attacked him, and that he is now trying to hide from the man. Buffy and her friends' nightmares become reality: Buffy dreams that the Master is free from his prison, and he turns her into a vampire; Xander is chased by his sixth birthday party entertainment, a maniacal clown; Willow must perform an opera in front of a sell-out audience, despite the fact that she cannot sing; and Giles’ worst nightmares, that Buffy will die in the line of duty and that he will lose the ability to read, all appear to come true. They all head to the hospital to try and wake Billy, believing that he is causing all of their nightmares to come true. Here they discover that the Ugly Man is a nightmare projection of the Billy’s baseball coach, who was responsible for putting Billy into his coma. Buffy makes Billy face up to his fears and everything returns to normal, while Xander stops the coach from avoiding the law.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Mark Metcalf (The Master), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Andrew J. Ferchland (The Anointed One), Dean Butler (Hank Summers), Jeremy Foley (Billy Palmer), Justin Urich (Wendel), J. Robin Miller (Laura), Terry Cain (Ms. Tishler), Scott Harlan (Aldo Gianfranco), Brian Pietro (Coach), Johnny Green (Way Cool Guy), Patty Ross (Cool Guy's Mom), Dom Magwili (Doctor), Sean Moran (Stage Manager)
Directed by Bruce Seth Green

TX (US): 12th May 1997
TX (UK - Sky One): 7th March 1998
TX (UK - BBC 2): 10th March 1999

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

*The first appearance of Buffy's father, Hank Summers