Bloopers and Whatnot

[LRae12]

Well, we had this thread at BW, and like everything else...it needs moved over.

So, what Bloopers or inconsistencies do you see in the Buffyverse?

Here's one for me:

In Halloween, Willow goes right through everything because she's a ghost, but at Buffy's house, Buffy goes up and grabs Willow's arm because she's afraid...wouldn't she have gone right through her?

[holypotatoes]

I got one! In season 3 of buffy in "Gingerbread" at the end when Buffy, Willow and Amy are tied up watch the ropes tied around Buffy. The ropes with be off of her arms so you see her kind of waving her arms around then in another shot they'll be completely tied down with rope where you're only able to see her hands. I noticed it yesterday while watching that episode. It was amusing since I never noticed before.

[sherrilina]

I got one! In season 3 of buffy in "Gingerbread" at the end when Buffy, Willow and Amy are tied up watch the ropes tied around Buffy. The ropes with be off of her arms so you see her kind of waving her arms around then in another shot they'll be completely tied down with rope where you're only able to see her hands. I noticed it yesterday while watching that episode. It was amusing since I never noticed before.

Not to mention the fact that they're sitting there in a closed room with two huge bonfires burning, waiting for all the oxygen to get burned out...

Some other bloopers/inconsistencies I've noticed:

In The Prom Angel tells Joyce he doesn't drink coffee b/c it makes him jumpy--a statement which is contradicted by the fact that he gets coffee twice in early season 2, and drinks it every day in ATS in season 1 (even though it tasted like crap!)

Well season 7 is terribly inconsistent in general, but the one that always pisses me off the most is Buffy's "My death will make one of you the Slayer" speech. No it won't, Buffy, your death in season 1 made Kendra the Slayer, and the Slayer line has gone on from there--your death is irrelevant now!

And speaking of Kendra, how could her Watcher not know/tell her about Buffy, when Giles still works for the Council and they would have no doubt been aware that Buffy was still alive and working for them (as they showed in season 3 in Helpless)?

That's all I can think of for now, but more will probably come to me....

[holypotatoes]

I think I have another one. In season 7 episode "First Date" towards the end when Buffy is out on her date with Robin during the fight and the dinner look at her bigger hooped earrings. The hoop on the left side of her head has a dangly thing attached to it while the hoop on the right side is only the hoop no dangly. I'm pretty sure this wasn't done on purpose because usually you would make them drastically different not make it look like a piece fell off. I have a feeling the dangly piece came off before they started shooting since the hoops don't match the entire time. IDK. It's annoying whether it was done on purpose or not.

[LRae12]

oooh, in a similar way, in the episode where Kendra is leaving town...(WML2?) The scene when Kendra is getting into the cab Buffy's neckace moves around during the entire conversation. In one shot it's crooked, then straight, then crooked, then straight...it bugs the crap out of me!

[LRae12]

Ok...don't want to double post, but it's been several days and I found a new inconsistency last night.

I was watching Angel last night when Buffy and Angel ran from the three into her house and they were chasing them...one of the vampire's hands came past the threshhold and was trying to reach Buffy behind the door...yet in all the other episodes that I can recall, there was always the 'invisible' forcefield that they ran into - like a wall. Maybe they just hadn't thought that up yet.

[sherrilina]

Ok...don't want to double post, but it's been several days and I found a new inconsistency last night.

I was watching Angel last night when Buffy and Angel ran from the three into her house and they were chasing them...one of the vampire's hands came past the threshhold and was trying to reach Buffy behind the door...yet in all the other episodes that I can recall, there was always the 'invisible' forcefield that they ran into - like a wall. Maybe they just hadn't thought that up yet.

Well there's also just the retconning in general that happened so often in later seasons that completely contradicted what we had learned before....for example, in Becoming we see Angelus first meet Dru in the confessional, only for them to have him first see her elsewhere in Darla. Then there's the fact that Angel thinks he has a chance of fooling Spike in School Hard about being his old killing bud, when we see later in Darla that Spike was there when Angel was cursed with a soul again, he already knew it wasn't just an act as Angel tries to pretend it is in SH. Not to mention the infamous "You were my sire!" (Or, not....). Or the way Angel was still called Angel after he lost his soul again and reverted, even by Darla, Dru, and Spike, who on Angel always refer to him as Angelus (esp. Darla and Dru). It's like the writers didn't come up with the idea of calling his evil alter ego that reemerges in season 2 Angelus until after the season.....I get so annoyed when I see Angelus go "I am Angel...at last!" in Innocence, when for the rest of both series Angel is always is souled self and Angelus his "at last!" soulless evil self. I want to say--no you're not! You were never Angel when you had no soul....

But besides the many incontinuities involved with all the flashbacks of Angel and the fanged four, you also have the worst, most absurd retcon of all, when Buffy says her parents put her in an institution for a few weeks, and her story of telling her parents after she saw her first vamp. Well we see what happened when she saw her first vamp in Becoming (and that was confirmed in season 7 when Buffy notes she missed the heart the first time she slayed), and she definitely didn't tell her parents the truth afterwards, she lied about it. Not to mention I find it hard to believe Joyce would ever do that to her daughter, or that Buffy could have been the bubbly and sunny girl she was if she had experienced something that tramatic.....and the idea that her parents would forget they did that to her after a while! I love Normal Again, but I want to throw something at the TV screen during that scene, lol!

Not to mention the historical innacuracies, especially when it came to Darla....apparently in 1608 or 1609 there were two women in Jamestown, neither of whom was a hooker. Especially not a wealthy hooker with a gorgeous house with huge glass panes...I don't think anyone had houses that nice or glass windows (or certainly not ones that big and nice, if any) two years after Jamestown was settled, let alone a hooker! Then there's the idea that in this most staunchly Protestant colony they would bring nuns and a priest there (not only were nuns scarce in England, and that they would never bring Catholics to their little Anglican colony there in the first few years, but again, only 2 women--which didn't include 3 or 4 nuns!). Or the idea that Darla would already have an American accent after less than a year (or 2 at most) in an all-English colony! I'm sorry, but I just get pissed off when Joss can't be bothered to do a little research, or just use common sense (like with the nuns). I can't watch this scene without getting irritated, it's just so silly and absurd....it's almost like they wanted to go with the "Interview with the Vampire" bed biting scene, but forgot that that happens in the late 1700s, not the first two years fo the colony....

[LRae12]

Not to mention the historical innacuracies, especially when it came to Darla....apparently in 1608 or 1609 there were two women in Jamestown, neither of whom was a hooker. Especially not a wealthy hooker with a gorgeous house with huge glass panes...I don't think anyone had houses that nice or glass windows (or certainly not ones that big and nice, if any) two years after Jamestown was settled, let alone a hooker! Then there's the idea that in this most staunchly Protestant colony they would bring nuns and a priest there (not only were nuns scarce in England, and that they would never bring Catholics to their little Anglican colony there in the first few years, but again, only 2 women--which didn't include 3 or 4 nuns!). Or the idea that Darla would already have an American accent after less than a year (or 2 at most) in an all-English colony! I'm sorry, but I just get pissed off when Joss can't be bothered to do a little research, or just use common sense (like with the nuns). I can't watch this scene without getting irritated, it's just so silly and absurd....it's almost like they wanted to go with the "Interview with the Vampire" bed biting scene, but forgot that that happens in the late 1700s, not the first two years fo the colony....

I never connected that before, but that's sooo true! Gosh, I'll never be able to watch that again without groaning!

"You were my sire!" (Or, not....).

Ugh! I know, that bothers the hell out of me! It so irks me when there are huge story inconsistencies like that (like how Spike pronounced Angelus as Angel-us - with the accent on 'an' instead of 'gel'. That drives me INSANE!

[holypotatoes]

oooh, in a similar way, in the episode where Kendra is leaving town...(WML2?) The scene when Kendra is getting into the cab Buffy's neckace moves around during the entire conversation. In one shot it's crooked, then straight, then crooked, then straight...it bugs the crap out of me!

Another one that might annoy you. I can't think of the episode at this very moment but it's the one in season 5 when Buffy is tested once again by the council and finds out what Glory really is. That one. Anyway after Buffy gets done doing the physical part of the test she pulls the bandana past her forehead and it's placed on top of her head but everytime they go to a 2 shot from the side it's only pulled onto her forehead. It's really annoying. I'll think of more just wait!

[LRae12]

ooh, that's a new one - never caught that one before.

But I just watched When She Was Bad today, and noticed another continuity error (or maybe editing error). In the scene where Joyce is driving Buffy to school, she's wearing a pink tank top and her hair is pulled up. Yet the next scene at school she's wearing a white tank and her hair is down. At first I thought, well, maybe it's a different day. But then the NEXT day when Buffy walks in on the Bitca speech, she's wearing the pink tank and her hair up again. Maybe they just put the car-ride scene in the wrong spot in the episode? Or maybe they just screwed up.

[Willow's Tara]

The history stuffs doesn't bother me, only because I know less then Modern History less then Ancient (I get bad with timelines too as just like Joss!, I am always I can't do this because that happened and so on).

Anyway, in OMWF, in the dancing scene when Buffy is dancing, Anya and Tara go to be her backups, if you watch carefull you can (Sor tof) see Amber Benson hit the pole behind her and for a split second has a smile on her face (Poor Amber, that must have hurt) but it's pretty common, regardless of what it is acting or not, I know I done that a couple of times, turn around just to bang into something because I forgot it was there or didn't notice

[sherrilina]

The history stuffs doesn't bother me, only because I know less then Modern History less then Ancient (I get bad with timelines too as just like Joss!, I am always I can't do this because that happened and so on).

Anyway, in OMWF, in the dancing scene when Buffy is dancing, Anya and Tara go to be her backups, if you watch carefull you can (Sor tof) see Amber Benson hit the pole behind her and for a split second has a smile on her face (Poor Amber, that must have hurt) but it's pretty common, regardless of what it is acting or not, I know I done that a couple of times, turn around just to bang into something because I forgot it was there or didn't notice

Well the religious stuff though (nuns in a Protestant colony) would still apply today...

And you remind me of another one--how Anya's hair is completely different in her "flashback" to OMWF in Selfless! Whoops!

[Willow's Tara]

Well I will try to remeber that..Try to anyway.

And yeah now I remeber that, Anya didn't have long blonde curly hair in either OMWF or Tablua Rasa or All the way

[vampmogs]

Well there's also just the retconning in general that happened so often in later seasons that completely contradicted what we had learned before....for example, in Becoming we see Angelus first meet Dru in the confessional, only for them to have him first see her elsewhere in Darla.

Well it was never stated that this was the first time Angelus had met Dru. Perhaps his first encounter with her was in Darla and whilst on a common feeding happened to stumble upon Dru again, when his interest was revoked after talking to her. I think that can be easily fanwanked, it was sort of implied this was their first meeting in the episode Becoming II but since it is never stated that it is, one could fanwank this rather easily.

Then there's the fact that Angel thinks he has a chance of fooling Spike in School Hard about being his old killing bud, when we see later in Darla that Spike was there when Angel was cursed with a soul again, he already knew it wasn't just an act as Angel tries to pretend it is in SH.

Actually in that episode neither Dru or Spike knew what happened to Angel, Darla appeared to keep it from them both. This is evident when Dru states to Darla that Angelus would be terribly angry that they slaughtered people (the gypsies) without him. If she knew that Angelus had lost his soul she wouldn't have said this, Darla just told them to kill and nothing else. This later continues during the Boxer Rebellion when Spike mistakes Angel's anger of him killing the Chinese slayer as jealousy because both he and Dru are not aware that he has now got a soul. Spike doesn't appear to ever find out about Angel's soul until at least sometimes after the second world war as in the Ats ep Why We Fight he believes that it is Angelus who is in the German submarine with him when the military forces Angel down there.

It isn't clear wether Spike learnt about Angel's situation sometime between this episode and Schoolhard or if one of the vampires in Sunnydale explained about Angel to Spike after his arrival.

Not to mention the infamous "You were my sire!" (Or, not....).

Well Angelus was his grandsire so perhaps vampires sometimes leave out the start and count their sire as anyone in their bloodline or very close to the vamp actually responsible for siring them? Spike also states that Angelus was his "yoda" implying his teacher, so perhaps he views both Dru and Angelus as his teacher. After all in Destiny Spike claims Angel was the one that really turned him into a monster.

Or the way Angel was still called Angel after he lost his soul again and reverted, even by Darla, Dru, and Spike, who on Angel always refer to him as Angelus (esp. Darla and Dru).

That did bother me slightly, I understand why the Scoobies continued to call him Angel but the others really shouldn't have. Even in s1 the Master refers to him by Angel rather than Angelus which really shouldn't be the case, although in episodes like Passion Spike does call him Angelus.

It's like the writers didn't come up with the idea of calling his evil alter ego that reemerges in season 2 Angelus until after the season.....I get so annoyed when I see Angelus go "I am Angel...at last!" in Innocence, when for the rest of both series Angel is always is souled self and Angelus his "at last!" soulless evil self. I want to say--no you're not! You were never Angel when you had no soul....

I think he said this to taunt Buffy more than anything else. Angelus was trying to work the whole angle of Angel always being evil to taunt Buffy, by calling himself Angel it was making it far more personal and hard for her so I can at least fanwank that with a reasonable explanation.

But besides the many incontinuities involved with all the flashbacks of Angel and the fanged four, you also have the worst, most absurd retcon of all, when Buffy says her parents put her in an institution for a few weeks, and her story of telling her parents after she saw her first vamp. Well we see what happened when she saw her first vamp in Becoming (and that was confirmed in season 7 when Buffy notes she missed the heart the first time she slayed), and she definitely didn't tell her parents the truth afterwards, she lied about it.

Whilst I hate the this idea presented in Normal Again it is possible Buffy freaked after Angel watched her and that Buffy then told Joyce and Hank when she could no longer keep it a secret. Non-canon comics about just this are released although they aren't canon and I don't have my hands on the exact copy this takes place. I think it could be easily fanwanked, although like you I can't stand this idea as it truly messes everything up.

Not to mention I find it hard to believe Joyce would ever do that to her daughter, or that Buffy could have been the bubbly and sunny girl she was if she had experienced something that tramatic.....and the idea that her parents would forget they did that to her after a while! I love Normal Again, but I want to throw something at the TV screen during that scene, lol!

It was rather foolish and I don't see how Joyce could ever forget no matter how many times they use this line, that she put her own daughter in a mental institution, especially when they perfectly remember her getting into fights and burning down the school gym. Furthermore, in Witch whilst under Amy's mother's spell she tells Joyce that she is a vampire slayer, in Bad Eggs Buffy playfully tells Joyce she was saving the world from vampires, and when in the hospital tells Joyce that she has to stop the vampires. Surley all three instances would raise some serious alarms for Joyce and would cause her to believe it is possible Buffy is loosing her mind again.

One thing I do think works rather nicely with the idea is in the episode Ted when Ted reads her diary and threatens to show the diary to her mother if Buffy doesn't behave. He states, "You'll spend the rest of your dating years behind the wall of an institution" which certainly strikes a nerve with Buffy which is when she gets very aggressive and demands her diary back. It is plausible Ted said the wrong thing, considering Buffy has already been through this before and this may be why she was so willing to hit him.

[LRae12]

Ok...a weird inconsistency or whatever I noticed tonight while watching Surprise...When the scoobies are all hiding out at the bronze waiting to Surprise Buffy, Angel says something like, 'where is she' and Willow says 'shhh, I hear her coming'...HELLO? Vampire ears? If anyone could hear her coming, it would be Angel!

[vampmogs]

I've got kind one. Throughout the first two seasons of the show Joyce apparently has a 'selective memory,' like Willow's mum develops after Gingerbread. However, where was Joyce's selective memory when Buffy told them about vampires or burned down the school gym, causing them to move to another town?

[Ahm Shere]

I have one. In 'Chosen', when Caleb throws Buffy against the Pillar, you can clearly see the wires that pulls the pillars out. In fact, in several on episodes in Season 7, you can see wires...I can't remember the other ones though...

[Veverka]

I've got kind one. Throughout the first two seasons of the show Joyce apparently has a 'selective memory,' like Willow's mum develops after Gingerbread. However, where was Joyce's selective memory when Buffy told them about vampires or burned down the school gym, causing them to move to another town?

I'm thinking the burning of the school gym wasn't so 'selective' on the principal's part! Plus, vampires aside, (which Joyce was clearly ignoring), there's nothing supernatural about burning down a gym, just delinquent!

I've got one that drives me up the wall: In the Season One Angel ep where Spike is there to get the ring back and Oz is there: when Angel is at the chick's house (the one he saves) her jumper falls off and on her shoulder everytime we cut back to her... drives me nuts!

[vampmogs]

I have one. In 'Chosen', when Caleb throws Buffy against the Pillar, you can clearly see the wires that pulls the pillars out. In fact, in several on episodes in Season 7, you can see wires...I can't remember the other ones though...

You can see the wires in Showtime when the Ubervamp hurls the Summer's door of its' hinges.

I'm thinking the burning of the school gym wasn't so 'selective' on the principal's part! Plus, vampires aside, (which Joyce was clearly ignoring), there's nothing supernatural about burning down a gym, just delinquent!

Well there wasn't anything really supernatural about Buffy going into a mental institution really. Ok yes she was saying it was because of vampires but regardless; no mother would forget this, just like I wouldn't expect them to forget their child burning down a school building.

[sherrilina]

Okay, here's one that annoys me, but might not bother other people--Joss/the writers need to learn what a crucifix is--b/c b/t the comics and episodes like Passions it's clear that they think "crucifix" is just another word for a plain cross--um, try googling it Joss...

First, there's the "joke" in the comics when

Spoiler:

Buffy says I feel kind of bad abotu killing it with a crucifix, and one of her slayers says "you don't know much about religion, do yeh?". Well no, Buffy doesn't know much if she thinks the plain wooden cross pictured there is a crucifix! But then neither does that other slayer, if she thinks crucifixes were ever used to kill people, when a crucifix is the name for a cross with JESUS ON IT--so unless they took the cross with Jesus on it and banged people on the head or something...crosses were used to kill people, NOT crucifixes! That joke is not a good one.

Then there's Willow nailing a plain wooden cross to the wall and mentioning nailing "crucifixes" to the wall--sweetie, that's just a cross, as Giles mentioned, not a crucifix....though it's understandable that Willow might not know the difference, I still find it annoying, and think it's jsut ignorance on the writers' part....

Sorry if I seem nitpicky, but it is a rather key distinction (especially as far as differences b/t Catholicism and most Protestant sects), and I think if Joss is going to use religious imagery on his show, he should do the most basic and cursory of research...like, googling it (maybe not for season 2, but the comics certainly!), or even wikipediaing it!

Speaking of the scene in Passions though, another blooper is if the nailing of the cross is part of it, how did they do that in Cordy's car? And did Buffy have to nail a new cross on the wall every time she uninvited someone? (ie Dracula, Harmony, Spike?)