Most Unrealistic Part

[caitaintdead]

What about the demon bars?
I'm sure the health or building inspector would come across these, and they wouldn't keep quiet about it. Would you?

I always assumed that all those kind of people in Jossworld were actually in on it. Getting paid to keep their mouth shout.

I think The Bronze was unrealistic. I never really got what exactly it was meant to be. A coffee shop/bar/nightclub... Is it supposed to be the only place in Sunnydale? If so then why do we see what looks like quite a busy little nightlife part of Sunnydale in Sleeper.

It seems strange that there were wouldn't be another place that the gang would start going to once they turned 21.

And what's with the lack of drinking in Buffy? I think we see alcohol maybe half a dozen times. Don't people in American drink? And what's with all the pizza and doublemeat burgers that Dawn and Buffy are eating in Season 6/7? They hardly look like they're the kind of girls that would eat anything other then salad.

/rant

Sorry, I don't know where that rant came from!

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

I find unrealistic the fact Richard Wilkins was Mayor for over 100 years, like no one's gonna figure it out for that amount of time. Also Dark Willow was too fake, flying and that. Apart from that the rest was very realistic imo.

 

[InsaneMystic]

I think The Bronze was unrealistic. I never really got what exactly it was meant to be. A coffee shop/bar/nightclub... Is it supposed to be the only place in Sunnydale? If so then why do we see what looks like quite a busy little nightlife part of Sunnydale in Sleeper.

It clearly was put out to be the only nightlife opportunity in SD during Season 1, and was no longer so by "Sleeper", very true. But that's just one thing where SD generally seems to have been growing FAST between the early and later seasons. From how SD is described in the highschool years (e.g. in Buffy showing Ford around town in "Lie to Me") it sounds almost like a one-horse town that should definitely neither have a university (S4) nor an international airport (S6) of its own! On the other hand, don't get me started again on the seaport, well established in earlier seasons, that mysteriously disappeared when the town just moved into the middle of the desert for "Chosen"... 😛

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

^agreed. Good points 🙂 but the sea in Chosen thing. Maybe the crater that was SD never extended to the sea! Like the crater may have been like just 3/4 the size of the full Sunnydale?

 

[Fredsicle]

Another thing I realized is unrealistic is in Graduation Day when the Scoobies are able to convince two hundred high school kids to fight with them. How would that conversation have gone down? "Hey yo. There's gonna be a huge snake/demon attack tomorrow. We need you to help us set him on fire. Or shoot at vampires with arrows on fire.
Oh and also, you might die. "
How difficult would that have been, really?

 

[Sweetescape]

Why Giles would never have been questioned for spending large amounts of time with the same 3 students nearly everyday always annoyed me, I mean people would have noticed! and he would have been seen by somebody hanging outside the school with them. Didn't he have any friends his own age? it seems hard to believe before Buffy came to Sunnydale he'd just sit on his own in the library.

Also how Xander and Willows parents never questioned them when they were out all hours, I mean they must have never been at home, asleep.

 

[Silum]

Silum agrees: they are very convincing when you want to be. 😉 other times? not so much.

ohh crap! That came out as an insult instead of what I meant to say! Yea, I suck at the English language....

they (the scoobies) are very convincing when they want to be. 😉 other times? not so much.

---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 PM ----------

Why Giles would never have been questioned for spending large amounts of time with the same 3 students nearly everyday always annoyed me, I mean people would have noticed! and he would have been seen by somebody hanging outside the school with them. Didn't he have any friends his own age? it seems hard to believe before Buffy came to Sunnydale he'd just sit on his own in the library.

They did make fun of that in one of the commentaries (i think it was Joss actually in Welcome to the Hellmouth), just how close he gets to buffy and how they were never questioned hanging out together.

 

[Buffy Summers]

I hate having this thought, lol, but in today's society...it wouldn't really surprise me if people saw that, thought something inappropriate was going on, and still did nothing.

 

[Flannen]

Another thing I realized is unrealistic is in Graduation Day when the Scoobies are able to convince two hundred high school kids to fight with them. How would that conversation have gone down? "Hey yo. There's gonna be a huge snake/demon attack tomorrow. We need you to help us set him on fire. Or shoot at vampires with arrows on fire.
Oh and also, you might die. "
How difficult would that have been, really?

You see, after The Prom and the acknowledgement of how Buffy had always tried to protect them, I think this is something quite convincing. It's one of my favourite scenes in all the show, it gives me goosebumps to see some kids pulling through when they needed to be.

Many of the students must have been saved by, or knew people that Buffy had helped to protect. And I guess that considering they had some knowledge of what was going on around them, I think they would have stepped up to defend their friends, and their families, because if the Mayor had achieved his goals at Graduation, the whole town and all their families would have been 'kibbles and bits.'

I try not to think too much about the Giles and Scoobies thing! 😛

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Well, the show is part of the fantasy genre. That pretty much excludes it from the realm of reality 😉

I'd have to vote for the fact that, despite no one having a job in S7 except Buffy's part-time work at the school, they still managed to keep the house. That seemed really unrealistic to me.

 

[Lacrimosa]

I think the most unrealistic parts was Buffy's shoes. How can she run, kick, fight and avoid apocalyps with those high heel shoes! =P

 

[skooks]

Oh another thing, Hank. We know he was a sucky Dad (although that only seems to happen after he and Joyce break-up) but where was he when Buffy ran away? Or when Buffy died, is it really believable that he didn't come to Sunnydale at all after Joyce's death?

To someone whose dad completely disappeared off the face of the earth several years ago and left his daughters wondering where he is and whether he's even still alive, I can safely say that yes, this kind of behaviour is absolutely believable.

 

[tkts]

Didn't he have any friends his own age? it seems hard to believe before Buffy came to Sunnydale he'd just sit on his own in the library.

I don't think he was in Sunnydale very long before Buffy came. Doesn't Willow refer to him as "the new librarian" at the beginning of S1? I always figured the Watchers' Council sent him to Sunnydale and set up the librarian job for him when they found out Buffy would be moving there.

Also how Xander and Willows parents never questioned them when they were out all hours, I mean they must have never been at home, asleep.

Two explanations for this:

(1) Xander and Willow were always "good kids" whose parents never had to worry about them getting in trouble. They'd also been friends since age 5 and probably spent a lot of time at each other's houses.

(2) Xander's parents are dysfunctional alcoholics and Willow's mom, as seen in "Band Candy," is pretty absentminded and not all that involved in Willow's life.

 

[Have Faith]

You mean other than the fact that we have a teenaged barely five foot tall cheerleader running around cemeteries all night killing demons and boffing one of two, take your pick, vampires? Well, how about Sunnydale residents who are so stupid that they don't even notice that there are things lurking around out in the dark that will kill and eat you if they're feeling charitable. Otherwise, they might give you some serious torture beforehand. Yeah, the totally oblivious citizenry of Sunnydale. That's the most unbelievable part to me.

(That and why Angel fixes his hair that way)

That is great. And also, if they "covered up" Buffy's death, then why do they do a close-up of her GRAVE in "The Gift"? I never understood that. Someone was bound to see her grave and then see her alive again. I'd be a little freaked, you know? Kind of like "Ummm.... aren't you.... dead?"

---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

I think the most unrealistic parts was Buffy's shoes. How can she run, kick, fight and avoid apocalyps with those high heel shoes! =P

Very, very, VERY good point, Lacrimosa.

---------- Post added at 01:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------

I never understood how the town would even exist. I always figured that it was to do with the fact people were oblivious to the evils going on. Until, Buffy gets the class protector and its revealed that they know just how high the 'mortality rate' is at Sunnydale and how it went down after buffy got there.... um, how irresponsible are these parents? Who in their right mind would still live there? Then after the mayor turns into a giant snake in front of every single parent and every single student (who in turn now fight)...this isn't something you can 'cover up' as kids on pcp.

So yea.... everyone obliviousness until it was needed for a plot device, always confused me a little. Other than that, a 5ft slayer fighting hell gods and demons; fairly accurate... vampires are supposed to sparkle in sunlight though.

I was with you all the way until the sparkling part.... now I slightly hate you.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 PM ----------

Also Dark Willow was too fake, flying and that. Apart from that the rest was very realistic imo.

You are not even a true Buffy fan if you think Dark Willow was "fake"!

---------- Post added at 01:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 PM ----------

Another thing I realized is unrealistic is in Graduation Day when the Scoobies are able to convince two hundred high school kids to fight with them. How would that conversation have gone down? "Hey yo. There's gonna be a huge snake/demon attack tomorrow. We need you to help us set him on fire. Or shoot at vampires with arrows on fire.
Oh and also, you might die. "
How difficult would that have been, really?

That IS a good point. I mean Buffy did win class protector and all, but there is no way MY high school would be that cheery in joining the death-fest, vampire-staking, and bigger-than-your-average-snake-demon slaughter.

 

[Fredsicle]

Something else occured to me, while I was sitting here at work (after being talked into working 11 hours). In Doublemeat Palace, the manager tells Buffy she is working a double shift, 16 hours. That's gotta be pretty illegal. Any person, realistically, would say "aw hell no" to that. Come on now, someone calls out so she has to work eight extra hours? Please. Not in this day and age.

 

[DrusillaRox]

Mine would be: Even though they were trying to cover up Buffy's death, they gave her a tombstone. Seriously! With an obvious thing like "she saved the world alot" on it!

WHAT were they thinking???

 

[Crashing Doors]

From the perspective of Sunnydale people, that one is a major "huh?"

But from the perspective of "this might be the final season of Buffy" it makes for a nice little moment. Although it still might have raised a few eyebrows in season 6, when people wondered about why Buffy would have a tombstone, even though she (well, Buffybot) was still around.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Something else occured to me, while I was sitting here at work (after being talked into working 11 hours). In Doublemeat Palace, the manager tells Buffy she is working a double shift, 16 hours. That's gotta be pretty illegal. Any person, realistically, would say "aw hell no" to that. Come on now, someone calls out so she has to work eight extra hours? Please. Not in this day and age.

If you need the money you take the work * shrugs *

 

[laianna]

In Not Fade Away, when Angel asks Harmony what she misses most about her human life. She says her heartbeat, but I would have thought her reflection would be pretty high up on the list too. Also, the fact that despite them not being able to see themselves, all the vamps look generally very attractive with intricate hair styles, etc. I think that should have been more of a brooding point.

Umm and how, as someone mentioned on like page 1, how nearly all of the main characters are only children. Seriously, I only know a few people who are. One or two I could see, but jeez, it was getting a bit discriminative.

And speaking of which, I hate to sound racist, but I feel like there should have been a bit more people of color. In Firefly, there was a great variety of nationalities but in Angel (and moreso in Buffy actually) they seemed rather white-dominating. We had Gunn, but the "missing black woman" concept really seems to apply here.

Another minor annoyance was the lack of female vamps in Sunnydale. Every time Buffy went patrolling, she was staking males left and right, but the only female I can remember is in Dirty Girls when it's specifically used to create an efficient meeting for Faith and Spike. I feel like there would probably be more.

Also that Cordelia would dye & cut her hair so badly in late season 3 of Angel. Cordelia Chase, fashion/bitch queen of Sunnydale wearing frumpy clothes and prematurely choosing mom hair? Ummm...

Okay, now I feel like I'm hyperfocusing on appearances.

The lack of parental involvement is definately a big one. It was nice to finally see Joyce stepping up to the plate in Becoming but to make it more realistic, more of that would probably be necessary.

I also don't believe that Buffy would be such an outcast in school. And the "most popular girl" cheerleader Cordelia & her Cordettes is too much of a cliche for real life.

So yeah. That's all I can think of right now. Sorry if that was too much...

 

[Phantom Dennis]

I've thought of two more things:

1. How come we never see anyone in the library? I don't know about you guys but my high school library always had people in it either students studying or looking for books. How was the gang always not interrupted during their important discussions. I love the bit in Passion that makes fun of this when students come in looking for books and the gang is suprised and just go outside lol.

2. If Cordelia was so popular, like head of her group, how did she get away from them enough to hang with the Scoobies through out Season 2? If she was so important wouldn't her gal pals be like "Where's Cordy?" I know they knew that she was hanging with Xander in BB&B, thats why she had to break up with him, but before this it seemed like she was living a double life hanging with the gang and socialising with the 'in' crowd at the same time. In fact, Cordy seemed to still remain popular even after she was dating Xander.

I dunno, those parts just jumped out at me last night when I was watching 'Passions' last night. (LOVE Angelus and Jenny Chase/Death Scene!)