|
Short Version
Due to the fact that the full version of Once More, With Feeling
runs 8 minutes longer than a normal episode -- which would play havoc
with scheduling -- a shorter version was cut for all airings after its
premiere.
I haven't seen the shorter version, but the BBC
listed the cuts (following an outcry when the short version was aired
in the UK on 19 December 2002, after the long version had been promised)
as well as TV
Tome and Peripheral
Visions, who have the most detailed list of the cuts.
The missing sections are:
 Overture:
an alarm clock goes off and
the gang cheerily -- Buffy less cheerily -- get ready for the
new day, including Tara finding a flowery herb (the one Willow
used to cast a spell on her) under her pillow while making the
bed. She has it pinned to her shirt later when Dawn mentions
"that fight you guys had about magic and stuff," and
Tara begins to suspect what it is. |
After Going Through the Motions, Buffy enters
the Magic Box and is too preoccupied by her experience to really
take notice of the others greeting her and asking about Dawn getting
off to school.
All of If We're Together is cut; after
Bunnies and before Buffy checks outside and sees The Mustard.
After The Mustard, Dawn enters the Magic
Box excited about her musical experience:
 |
DAWN: |
Oh, my god! You will never believe
what happened at school today! |
| BUFFY: |
Everybody started singing and dancing? |
| DAWN: |
(deflated) I gave birth to a pterodactyl. |
| ANYA: |
Oh, my god. Did it sing? |
After Under Your Spell, part of Xander's suspicion
that Tara and Willow aren't actually working right at that moment
is cut.
While lying in bed before I'll Never Tell,
Xander explains to Anya why he's taking the day off work: "My
guys started dancing around me. I don't know if I can deal. It's
a flab thing."
Rest In Peace
is missing the verse:
You know you got a willing slave
And you just love to play the thought
That you might misbehave
But 'til you do, I'm telling you
Stop visiting my grave!
And let me rest in peace! |
 |
Just before Dawn's Lament, her line that "the
fifteen-year-old can spend half an hour alone in her locked house"
is cut.
 |
Dawn's Ballet
- After Dawn is captured by Sweet's henchmen, she awakens lying
on the pool table at the bronze. She tries to escape while the
henchmen surround her in a West Side Story-esque ballet. |
Just before Walk Through The Fire, Anya's line
that she's "seen some of these underworld child-bride deals
and they never end well.... Maybe once" is cut.
Walk Through The Fire
has a few lines removed:
|
BUFFY:
So one by one
they turn from me
I guess my friends
can't face the cold
But why I froze
Not one among them knows
And never can be told
|
TARA:
What can't we face
If we're together?
|
 |
Some of the dialogue between Buffy and Sweet before
Something To Sing About is cut.
Dawn quoting Buffy from episode #100: The Gift
is cut from the end of Something To Sing About: "The
hardest thing in this world is to live in it."
After Something To Sing About, when Xander
admits to being the one who originally brought in the talisman, is
the exchange:
 |
XANDER: |
Does this mean that I have to...be
your queen? |
| SWEET: |
It's tempting, but I think we'll
waive that clause just this once. |
The last part of Where Do We Go From Here?
including the line: "The curtains close on a kiss, God knows"
is trimmed.
|
Update:
When the episode was repeated in Australia in April 2003, the uncut version
was shown, but it still ran for only 60 minutes of programming time. How?
They sped up the entire episode slightly so that it fit, which meant all
the songs sounded a bit squeakier. I wonder if this is the new strategy
for the syndicated version...
|
176 pages -
Script & Sheet Music!