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The episode's trailer has a nod to Darkness Falls episode
Blue, with its roll-in shot of Death in the library. In another
take of this same shot, actress Heather Walker raised her
arms in a similar gesture to Clarrisa Shepard's in Blue.
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The script was based on a story originally written by Justin
Biggers in fall of 2001 and later adapted to a script for
submission to Darkness Falls.
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The scenes in Lenoir Dining Hall were actually done over two
different shooting days, a couple of weeks apart.
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The clear liquid which Alaster gets in the dining hall actually
came out of the orange juice dispenser, and theoretically
was supposed to be orange juice.
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Producer Beth Mayo is seen in her role as wearing a Dream
t-shirt (from the Sandman comic series by Neil Gaiman) as
a visual gag.
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During Alaster's voiceover in the Arboretum, he is seen listening
to a MP3 player which switches from track 25 to 26. This visual
gag is a nod to the Japanese anime series Shin Seki Evangelion
(English title - Neon Genesis Evangelion), in which the main
character is always listening to a walkman that plays either
track 25 or 26 (which were numbers of the finale episodes
of the series). The additional joke is that both tracks were
the Darkness Falls theme song, "Pretty When You Cry" by VAST,
edited by series creator M. Wilson Burdorff and then renamed
before they were put on the player (you can tell by looking
at the total length of track 25 before it switches to track
26).
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The shoot of Alaster's room actually took place in writer/director
Justin Biggers' dorm room. The room seen in the episode looks
nothing like what Justin's room normally does, as he converted
the entire room into a set for the shoot, removing all unwanted
items and decorations, and restocking the book shelf with
particularly chosen titles.
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The books on top of Meg's microwave were supposed to be ones
that Alaster had loaned her - Group Dynamics and Wittgenstein's
On Certainty.
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The figurine seen standing on top of the TV in Meg's room
is the character Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series.
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The books visible on the desktop during the Apathy trial sequence
are Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being
and Franz Kafka's The Trial. These same books, along
with The Denial of Death and The Concept of Anxiety
appear in the episode's trailer.
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The Pride trial sequence contains a nod to the Japanese anime
series Shoujo Kakumei Utena (English title Revolutionary Girl
Utena) with its blue books lining the desks in the background.
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During the shooting for the Anger trial sequence, cameraman
Justin Biggers was almost squashed by the table that actor
Ben Lawson overturned for the scene. Fortunately, the camera
escaped unharmed.
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During shooting for the Lust trial sequence, the wax from
the candles on top of Emily Morelli's microwave overflowed,
running down the side of the refrigerator below and staining
it an interesting rainbow color.
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The graveyard scene was done as the last day of shooting for
the episode. With a Murphey's Law predictability, it rained.
However, this was the only day possible to get all actors
in the same place at the same time before actor Sam Cone had
to leave for a semester abroad program. To that end, the scene
was shot in freezing rain, using a tarp that director Justin
Biggers owned to protect the camera. Actors not on screen
worked as "tarp crew," holding the tarp up over
the camera to protect it as well as keep themselves dry, and
walked around the graveyard holding the tarp up as the camera
moved position.
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During the graveyard scene, a tombstone with the name Walker
(actor Heather Walker's last name) can be seen in the background.
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Actress Heather Walker had already been intending to dye her
hair white previous to the episode, and so waited until all
other shoots with the first form of Death with dark hair were
finished before doing so.
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The two parts of the title of the episode "Graveyard Path"
and "Way of the Gods" are both derived from the Japanese word
"shinto" and its Chinese cognate "shendao".
In Japanese, the word refers to the indigenous religion of
Japan, and its literal translation would be rendered as "gods'
path/way." An obscure Chinese meaning is any pathway leading
to a tomb marker. The phrase has a third meaning of referring
in general to any mystical system. The episode's title format
is also a nod to Neon Genesis Evanglion, which had two titles
per episode.
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Despite what you may have thought, Alaster's name was not
derived from Aleister Crowley. Brownie points for those who
guessed that though.
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The Avatar characters were partially derived from three different
sources: the Seven Deadly Sins, the Endless of Neil Gaiman's
Sandman series, and the sefirot of Kabbalah. The color of
their second form outfits were derived from the tables of
correspondences from Crowley's 777.
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The Trial was derived in parts from the Magical Theatre of
Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf, the Dueling Arena and the Consultation
Room from Shoujo Kakumei Utena, and the Instrumentality Project
from Shin Seki Evangelion.
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Despite what you might think, the words that appear throughout
the episode in different languages (the Avatar markings, the
Trial plaques) are not crucial to understanding any of the
episode's main themes. They're mostly for visual effect and
differentiation, as well as symbolic value. The kanji (Chinese/Japanese
characters) marking the Avatar's foreheads were used to simply
further indicate that the Avatars, while being part of a continuum,
were also distinct from one another. Kanji was chosen as it
would be recognized as having specific meanings, but ones
apparently different from one another.
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Shooting for the episode monopolized an outlandish 8 reels,
outstripping all previous Darkness Falls episodes and competing
with the hour long "Heir to the Throne" for reel
usage. Director Justin Biggers explains this as being due
to trying to avoid taking shots from too few angles. Producer
Beth Mayo explained it as being due to the director's insanity.
Actors were too busy trying to cope with long shooting days
to bother devoting time to theorizing such a minor detail.
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