Hot Topic: How much are you bothered by continuity errors?

Continuity errors happened a lot for 2 reasons on this show (and AtS also). No show bible about the supernatural, demons and vampires. And the other is of course plot. Established characterization often times being thrown out the window to get a ship a-going or to yank characters in a certain direction because again, plot.

Vampire physiology has never made sense in any form, even if you count the demon as metaphysical or magic. They don't breath, yet they can talk and smoke. They don't have blood flow due to a non-beating heart, yet they can get erections and be taken down by drugs that directly affect the brain (how does the blood get there?). They are also supposed to have heightened senses like smell/hearing and dulled senses like taste.

So they don't breathe but The Lamest Evil tries to torture a vampire by drowning. And we see another vampire surviving underwater for months. We see one vampire who hears a baby's heartbeat in the belly and regular human heartbeats basically thunder in his ear. And we see another who can't tell that's not a robot in front of him. Apparently his hearing was off, not to mention his sense of smell. But it's ok his sense of smell will work fine in other situations.

I won't even start about pure plot devices like triggers and chips that work differently in every damn episode. Or the changing rules of magic. And a multitude of other things that all could have been solved with something as simple as a show bible.
 
thetopher said:
I can enjoy something and critique it at the same time. Is doing two things at once an odd idea to you?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is. Because thats multitasking you are talking about. So let me help you and perhaps also others.


So, if we trust in MIT (I hope so) there is nothing good coming from this. By the way, this isnt me talking. I am not trying to make that so-called side-helping of condescention thing. I dont wrote that article. And I dont work at the MIT.

But, to add something of my opinion. So this not-healthy-doing-more-then-more-one-thing-thing, might lead to errors. And with this errors clouded in your opinion, there could be a toxic mix at an blind spot behind your vision . I dont saying it is, but it could. And if you had read the article, then it should be clear, that I am not just making this up.

Only trying to help. 🙂

So, to sum things up, maybe, if there is any trust in science left, this whole topic isnt that trivial as it seems to be. I am only trying to point out, there is not just the one and only black and white thought terminating cliche "respect opinions or you are the bad guy". Because this dogmatic view of things could lead to blind spots on the map. Sometimes a larger view is needed. But, if someone is already pissed off by my opionion which could easily misunderstood with this so-called side-helping of condescention thing, this is only brainstorming. It is up to yourself, to think out of the box.
 
ChaseRules
ChaseRules
That study was a real eye opener
thetopher
thetopher
I can't even with this post...
I still dont know how they can have continuity errors within the same episode. That is just ambivalence and it's inexcusable in my book.
 
Lyri said:
Getting paid to work on my favorite show? You bet your ass I'd be first in line for that job.
Click to expand...

It more than working on it. It making sure it a better show . That a lot better than being a stage hand so to speak.
 
Exactly. That's my point. It's a job where it's up to someone to make sure that everything is as researched and flawless as possible when it comes to continuity. It's a job I would kill for.
 
Lyri said:
Exactly. That's my point. It's a job where it's up to someone to make sure that everything is as researched and flawless as possible when it comes to continuity. It's a job I would kill for.
Click to expand...
You could always start retroactively. Go back and fix all of the many mistakes they made from the first season on... I think that's a great idea actually.
 
Just imagined how Buffy would be if they had someone like that & almost drolled . I help you hide the body.
 
To be honest I don't usually catch continuity errors in shows, unless they are glaringly obvious. I usually notice them more in books, because I usually concentrate more while reading, unlike watching a show where my brain is usually halfway out of commission. But once people point them out, ya, it does get annoying.
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
I notice them way more in books too! :)
I hate continuity errors, I feel like Buffy was good at avoiding them, especially if the Angel drinking coffee is the main one, my main gripe is the mayor being a pure demon but in Angel we have a race advocating the puracy of demons but they're just random. Or Angel's prophetic people referencing the end of days, or in the comics, where they seem to be saying Angel and his brethren are descent from a different demon than other vampires

For me, I struggle to suspend disbelief, when I'm made to do so, it bugs me
 
Puffy said:
Yes, it is. Because thats multitasking you are talking about. So let me help you and perhaps also others.


But, to add something of my opinion. So this not-healthy-doing-more-then-more-one-thing-thing, might lead to errors. And with this errors clouded in your opinion, there could be a toxic mix at an blind spot behind your vision . I dont saying it is, but it could. And if you had read the article, then it should be clear, that I am not just making this up.

So, to sum things up, maybe, if there is any trust in science left, this whole topic isnt that trivial as it seems to be. I am only trying to point out, there is not just the one and only black and white thought terminating cliche "respect opinions or you are the bad guy". Because this dogmatic view of things could lead to blind spots on the map. Sometimes a larger view is needed. But, if someone is already pissed off by my opionion which could easily misunderstood with this so-called side-helping of condescention thing, this is only brainstorming. It is up to yourself, to think out of the box.
Click to expand...

I wonder what MIT would think of musicianship - using left and right hands on a piano or both hands and feet on an organ. I don't see any drop in IQ in musicians - the musicians I know are among the smartest people I know. If I write a story where things get complicated, I write up a timetable, a map and anything else I need to keep track of continuity. It doesn't help if you drive home west in one chapter and south in another (which I did have at one point in the story). A series with many writers definitely needs a bible to define the 'verse.
 
I must admit , I find the shifting geography of the One Starbuck Sunnydale really quite charming . 😀 I always thought it was deliberate ....rather than fleshing out a larger area they just used 'Sunnydale' like a brand .

Sunnydale reminds me of other magical realist television worlds ; Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls ...or Cicely Alaska in Northern Exposure. They feel like tangible landscapes but with a dreamlike quality .

It's amusing to me that most of the SNAFUs mentioned here have never even registered in my head 😀 . I will never be able to look at The Scourge in the same way now 🙂

For me it's just the biggish plotholes that bother me....particularly as the Buffyverse is a really forgiving place to tell a story . The phrase 'it's a whole big thing' can explain pretty much anything 'inverse' 😀 . You ve got limitless shrimp dimensions , parallel realities , wishverses , time travel , vast spells etc etc . Plus a seemingly endless supply of enchanted knickknacks and magical doodads to fall back on .
.
 
When it comes to cross seasonal incontinuities, I try to look at it the same way I look at a movie being different from the book. Except with a TV show there is no book, so the first couple seasons are basically "the book".

I have a certain level of forgiveness and then a place where a line has been crossed and it bugs me. Especially when there appears to be no good reason for it, I feel like I'm being jerked around just because the director is wanking over something.

There were SO many idiotic things and inconsistencies with Spike's chip, I just found the entire chip thing ridiculous and one of the hardest things to swallow on the show. Talk about a contrived plot prop. Insert pseudo soul.
 
cryptwarmer said:
There were SO many idiotic things and inconsistencies with Spike's chip, I just found the entire chip thing ridiculous and one of the hardest things to swallow on the show. Talk about a contrived plot prop. Insert pseudo soul.
Click to expand...
The best example is Spike not being able to point a fake gun at Xander without the chip going off. 9 episodes later Spike can point a fully loaded, cocked shotgun at Buffy without anything setting off the chip. And both episodes were written by the same damn person. And the rule was changed just to get a ship a-going. Stuff like that annoys me to no end.
 
Maybe because it's all about the chip picking up the intention? Spike didn't know the gun was fake and in reality couldn't have cared less if he'd fired or not, and when it came to Buffy, he was all talk. His words said one thing and yet his heart was saying another.
 
Silverspike said:
Maybe because it's all about the chip picking up the intention? Spike didn't know the gun was fake and in reality couldn't have cared less if he'd fired or not, and when it came to Buffy, he was all talk. His words said one thing and yet his heart was saying another.
Click to expand...
Oh please not that fanon crap again. They showed it worked both ways. And constantly contradicted itself. He tries to do violence he gets a jolt. He does violence in the heat of the moment with no intent, the chip goes off. Except when for plot purposes it needed to work differently.

He tries to hit Xander from behind with a wrench and bite Willow and it goes off. Both of those are intentional attempts to do violence. He runs into a person after Fuffy teased him, which wasn't done with intent, and it goes off.

Funny though that he could easily throw the doctors around when he escaped the Initiative, which was intentional. How he could throw Willow violently on the bed and nothing happens but he tries to bite her and it finally hits him (way to contradict the workings of the chip in the same damn scene). The chip needed to contradict itself because the Spike/Willow scene was staged as a college rape scene, complete with turning up the music so no one can hear her scream. And for that Spike needed to be able to toss Willow around without chip jolt but get hit with pain when he tries to penetrate her (bite her) only to find himself completely flaccid.

The chip was the worst thought out (aside from Dawn and the monks) plot device on the show and the flimsiest excuse for a plot shield ever. The rules of the chip constantly changed with the plot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom