Continuity Errors

[gumdrop331]

Yeah, I thought that was really stupid. He should not have cared about his mother after he was 'dead'. It doesn't go along with the whole vampire thing. They veer from that path quite a lot. I also noticed that there is very little garlic usage, or even referencing. Not exactly an error, but worth speculation.

[cyclica]

I'm glad garlic was never said to be a major threat to vampires. It seems a bit silly to me that they would be affected by garlic at all.

Another thing they never did was have characters use a wooden mallet to bash a stake into a vamps' chest. Vampires seemed far too easy to kill at times, just about anyone can tap a vampire in the chest with any long bit of wood and they die instantly.

[partcynic]

They were better with that in s1 and 2 - then, only Buffy and Angel were able to take on vamps 1-on-1, while the rest of the gang had to work in tandem. It got really silly later on though - if the 'unactivated' Amanda can take on a vamp all by herself (or Fred battle over on Angel), it makes me wonder what we need Slayers for.

[gumdrop331]

Yeah I mean in Anne (3.1) it was at least beleivable to have the whole gang able to get at least a fraction of the vamps Buffy got but even later in that season they were taking on vamps by themselves...

[cyclica]

When the show began buffy seemed to be the only demon fighter in the world, 'she alone can fight the forces of darkness'. But later on every one of ther friends could do what she did without needing her super strength or healing. Plus there were so many other demon hunters on the show like wood, and on angel there was gunn and justine, people who had been hunting demons their whole life. Not to mention other slayers like faith and kendra.

So why on earth did buffy beleive she was the only one? Like she could never quit because they would be overrun with demons if she did, even though clearly that wasn't the case.

[partcynic]

^ It really depends. In the original concept of the show, Buffy was supposed to be the only one, and besides, her demon fighting wasn't simply a job, but something she began to feel morally obligated to do. It was a basic part of who she was that for as long as she was the Slayer, she would be slaying.

In time, the writers screwed up the show's continuity so badly that very little of the later demon-hunting stuff made sense. Buffy (and later Kendra and Faith) should have been the only human characters capable of taking on vamps 1-on-1 (and in the early years, that's how it worked. Every other character had to work in tandem with others to do damage - and even then it was very risky). Even Gunn was originally fighting with a whole gang of people, lots of weapons and a tricked-out car (and it was a losing battle, judging by all the deaths in his team).

As for Wood, we all know S7 doesn't count. Angel S3 blows too, so I disregard Justine as having any validity whatsoever.

The problem with Buffy was really that the writers changed the vamp-hunting rules without altering her character in response. I think that her feelings about not being able to quit were much less about the aspect of demons taking over, but more her sense of duty to her role.

[gumdrop331]

They still needed to provide more separation between Buffy and humans. Like in S7 (which has to count to some extent, however little) Buffy, the experienced Slayer, can't take on one Ubervamp but then in the finale all the girls could suddenly fight them without any powers at all? It doesn't make any sense! They did screw it up quite a lot there.

[partcynic]

I've been rereading this thread, and there's one thing I can't believe I didn't write about before.

Am I the only person who was baffled by the change in the Hank Summers character? In the early seasons, he was making the effort to be part of Buffy's life (and he and Joyce seemed to have an amicable relationship), but by "Forever", he'd changed totally. Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but I'm dumbfounded at why he didn't return for his ex-wife's funeral or make any effort to visit his two daughters and provide them with emotional and financial support. I know the writers threw out the "he's swanned off with his secretary" excuse, but did anyone really believe he could be so callous?

[cyclica]

Up until forever, I assumed (in the back of my mind, without giving it too much thought) that he was still visiting buffy like in the early seasons. Though he really should have been there for joyce's funeral. Unless he just didn't know about it, but then again in bargaining part 1 dawn was expecting a call from him, so clearly he was still in contact with them. I guess he just didn't find out about the funeral in time. As for not supporting/visiting later on, I dunno.

The thing is though, there's always so much going on, you don't really think, hey where's buffy's dad? It's like the writers want you to forget about him.

I'm surprised they continued to bring the actor back in later seasons (the weight of the world, normal again) but only in fantasies and dreams (in very small cameos), and not in person. I mean, you can't argue that hank was written out of buffy's life so they wouldn't have to bring the actor back, because they *did* bring the actor back. So why wasn't he there? Did the writers just not know a way to work him into a script?

[Twisted Slayer]

Dec 11, 2006 9:42:58 GMT -5 partcynic said:

Another particularly annoying one is Anya's inexplicable forgetting how to drive between Graduation Day and Triangle.

She could forget how to drive, easily. I don't think I'm the only one to notice that Anya is very air-headed and she's always had a hard time remembering human things.

[cyclica]

I think it's graduation day that was at fault and the later episode that corrected it.

Anya had just spent a thousand or so years as a demon, teleporting where ever she wanted to be. It makes sense that she wouldn't know how to drive.