Was Dawn a good decision ?

[Deus Ex Machina]

I can see your point, but I think this had the potential to become just too cute, which is why Joss Whedon decided to go with Dawn around 14-15. If anything I think they should have just written her to be a little more mature and a lot less whiney.

I wouldn't say cute. I would say...even more depressing. Maybe it's because I'm jaded towards teenagers but I find the aspect of a 9-10 year old finding out that they're not real and also saying that they cause pain to everyone around them to be way more depressing that a 15 year old coming to this realization.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think bringing the character of Dawn into the show was a great idea. It took the show in a whole new direction, and I think the writers did an excellent job of weaving Dawn into the threads of the Buffyverse and making it seem as if she had always been there.
I know a lot of people say that bringing Dawn into the show forced Buffy to grow up a little too quickly, but I disagree. Buffy was fresh out of her first year of college, an experience in itself which does tend to make most people mature a lot anyway. I don't blame Dawn for the changes in Buffy's personality. I think the things Buffy was going through with her mom were the main reason Buffy was forced to become more of an adult, because she was having to assume more of an adult role in the home, having to take care of Joyce and run errands for her, etc. I actually liked seeing Buffy in the big sister role as well. 🙂

 

[ticonderouga]

I think its going a bit far to call the addition of Dawn lazy writing. Its actually very difficult to pull something like this off in the middle of a TV series, without completely losing your audience. Joss Whedon was well aware of the problems with plot consistency when he introduced Dawn, he mentions it repeatedly in the DVD commentary for season 5. However the need to give Buffy a real world responsibility that would rival her duties as the Slayer became more important to the story in his opinion, and using the device of Dawn as the key fit within the shows mythology.

I also think that one of the reasons why many people have a hard time with this is because Dawn as the key is perhaps the single biggest loose thread from the show that has never really been resolved. I always thought that the monks had a larger agenda in making Dawn the key, and ensuring that Buffy would not try to destroy the key if it threatened to fall into the hands of Glory. The only reason why they would do this was if the key had some larger purpose other then simply opening the portals to other worlds. Maybe season 9 will go into some of this.

 

[Stakesteak]

Ticonderouga I think you overestimate the immediate impact that doing a bad job introducing a new character has on a show, especially one that had as passionate a fan base as Buffy. When the show was still on the air I remember me and all my friends who watched it hated Dawn and wished she'd go away but we'd always tune in for each new episode. My complaints about Dawn aside there was still plenty of awesome parts of the show that made Buffy my all time favorite series.

That being said I don't think it's possible to determine the exact extent that bringing in Dawn affected the show because there are too many other variables. One thing is for certain though, the ratings for seasons 5 and 6 were below season 4 and season 7 had the worst ratings of the entire series (even worse than season 1). Maybe it was because of Dawn, though it also could have been the darkness of season 6, the show moving away from the real world and focusing on Buffy's living room, or even the show switching networks. I tend to think it was a combination of all of the above.

 

[caritas08]

I like Dawn okay. I read in an interview that Joss felt the show was becoming too much about Buffy's love life and wanted Buffy to focus on her family instead. I feel like Dawn was better than if they had introduced some new guy, Riley 2.0, and tried to give Buffy a new replacement relationship. (Spike was great, but he wasn't Buffy's focus the way Dawn was which is part of what makes me like the Spuffy relationship so much even though I like Bangel too).

Joss seemed to try to do the same thing with Conner too (which is ironic because I think that turned out to be a disaster and almost ruined the show and the AtS gang's relationships).

 

[ticonderouga]

Its kind of hard to figure how the show would have gone without Dawn, yet season 5, and 6 drew in a different audience while essentially maintaining its core audience. For many the show only got deeper from season 5 onward. You say that the show became increasingly separate from the real world and more focused on Buffy's living room, but the problems that Buffy faced were real problems and not simply metaphoric monsters that represented real problems. So you say that season 5 and 6 were not as realistic, but the thing is that what happened was that they were showing a more adult oriented worldview. Its not that the show became less rooted in the real world, rather it became more rooted in real life rather the sheltered existence of a high school or college student. While the show's ratings may have declined, the shows critical acclaim was never higher then during these seasons.

Now that being said, could the writers on BtVS gone in a different direction? Of course they could have, this show had among the more talented writing staffs on TV. They managed to turn a show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" into a well respected show that lasted for 7 years and is still being discussed by a great many people. So yes they probably could have been successful if they had gone in a different direction. Also, as caritas, introducing a character like Dawn mid series could have been much worse. Look at Conner, which I think had a lot to do with AtS's cancellation after season 5. I don't think the show ever fully recovered from the introduction of Conner, who completely wrecked the character dynamic of Angel inc. So while Dawn definitely shifted and changed the dynamic between the scoobies she didn't destroy it.

 

[Harlan Phoenix]

I'm gonna say Dawn was a good idea.

I like Dawn. Although she likely wasn't intended as such, I saw her as a spectacular comment on fanfiction and the notion of characters being inserted into rigid character dynamics where they don't belong. The dynamics felt out of whack when Dawn appeared...but that was kind of the point. Unnatural outside tampering of your personal history would do that to you. It feels like such a metafictional concept, and I love metafiction hardcore.

And quite frankly, having a (relatively) peer relationship founded on the concept of blood related unconditional love is probably vital, on some level, to Buffy's health. Buffy is a Slayer. A warrior. In love, she can only relate to other warriors or what goes bump in the night. In friendship, she must drag her friends into becoming allies.

But in family, she is always kept relative to what grounds her. Even in season 8, there is concern that she's not being a big sister. It's the only truly normal obligation that remains a constant.

 

[Enemies]

Dawn was a bad idea. She was a whiney brat and i really couldnt stick her. I personally was disapointed with her as a character.

 

[Whirlwind]

I think Dawn was a good decision. We got some good episodes because of her, and her presence really helped out Season 5. I do think, though, the writers didn't really know what to do with her in seasons 6 and 7, but I liked the character.

 

[dexeded]

I don't really like Dawn, but I thought she was a good decision. When I first watched Season Five, during her first appearance, my reaction was: asidufahspiduvnasdblkbWTF??? So... surprised. Which is good. But while the idea and concept was great, I think they could have done better on her character and her role in later seasons.

 

[theyellowcrayon]

I like Dawn okay. I read in an interview that Joss felt the show was becoming too much about Buffy's love life and wanted Buffy to focus on her family instead. I feel like Dawn was better than if they had introduced some new guy, Riley 2.0, and tried to give Buffy a new replacement relationship. (Spike was great, but he wasn't Buffy's focus the way Dawn was which is part of what makes me like the Spuffy relationship so much even though I like Bangel too).

Joss seemed to try to do the same thing with Conner too (which is ironic because I think that turned out to be a disaster and almost ruined the show and the AtS gang's relationships).

i don't think the prob there is trying to make the main character focus more on family, it is how they presented both dawn and connor as so damn self-centered and how their "pain" is so much more important, or greater then anyone else's. they wrote both of these characters in such a way that everyone eventually revolved around them, instead of everyone being concerned about the well being of the group as a whole. dawn was written as a prissy princess, and connor was written as an ungrateful brat! this didn't have to be the case, both were great ideas, but both were executed badly.

 

[orpheusxi]

I'm torn honestly. On one hand I think Dawn gave Buffy a sense of responsibility on a much deeper personal level than she already had & with her mom dying it forced her to grow up. At the same time Dawn herself really didn't develop how i would have liked her to after season 5. As the "teenage character" I don't think she was as detrimental to Buffy as Connor was to Angel.

 

[theyellowcrayon]

that was for sure!! and even the explanation of why connor was created was lame!! i have netflix and they recently added buffy the last few weeks i have watch middle of season 2-7 with enthusiasm, but after connor got his fake family and fake memories and we were finally rid of him i just don't have the same enthusiasm for angle that i did before. and i love angle, the guy and the show LOL!!

 

[Ripper666]

I like Dawn becasue she bring something fresh in the Gang. Ok, sometimes she is going on my nerves, but it was really good handled from the writters. I think its quite difficult to bring a new Person inside a story after 4 Seasons without her.

And I like that there is someone in the age of a teenager, I loved the school Scoobies not the student Scoobies. She is like a ticking bomb, noone knows what she is going to do next when she feels loonely and cheated by the rest f the Scoobie gang. Will she cry... will she run away like Buffy did? Or turn Evil like Willow did´?

I think that dawn is good stuff for some episodes! ( the ones who have finished BTVS have to excuse, I'm at the beggining of season 7 so I hope for a intersting character story>)

 

[badwolf]

I think ultimately it was a good decision and I am warming up to Dawn quite a bit (specially in the comics), but initially I hated Buffy getting a sister all of a sudden. For one, she was alien to the fans, even if she'd been their for Buffy her entire life. I just couldn't buy it at first. And I don't understand giving Buffy more of a family, she had her mother who was there from the beginning and even though she died, I don't understand why they needed to compenstate if that was what the writers were doing.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

Should Dawn have never happen?

Many people dislike Dawn's charcter. Nevermind the fact that you don't or do like her, doesn't matter if she was annoying. Story wise, would you prefer if Dawn wasn't brought in at all? I'm asking this because she was the key character (pun intended) of season 5. But later on, after the portal closed down, Glory was defeated, it seemed like she had no place there, not really. She was just Buffy's little sister. From being a key character to being just the little sister, she seemed a little pointless. Did we really need her after season 5? Was it right to create that character only for one season?

 

[Steven123]

If they could have found a bigger role for her to play after season 5 then it probably wouldn't have been as bad, i just don't think she ever really integrated herself into the group.

She was more the sort of character that gets refered to a few times through the show, but you never see them.

 

[Seeing Red]

I don't understand why the monks just did not turn the Key into a rock and put it on a mountain or something.
1. There are lots of rocks on mountains
2. Rocks can't bleed

Dawn was not necessary in my opinion.

 

[Goby]

I don't understand why the monks just did not turn the Key into a rock and put it on a mountain or something.
1. There are lots of rocks on mountains
2. Rocks can't bleed

Dawn was not necessary in my opinion.

I like Dawn, but sometimes if you think too hard, BtVS doesn't make sense. OTOH, making the key Buffy's sister ensured that Buffy would protect it with her life. And she did.

 

[Hale Caesar]

I really do not like Dawn. But do I think she should not have happened? No.

The idea behind Dawn is a very good one. A character who helps show how mature and responsible the Scoobies have become. She was also needed because the Scooby relationship was broken during seasons 6-7, and the audience needed to see Buffy have family to protect. However the execution was terrible, IMO, Michelle Tratchtenberg is a pretty awful actress (to be honest I haven't seen anything else she was in) and whenever she was in a scene with Sarah or James she would just seem awkward and out of place. Much like the rest of the characters, Joss and the writers did an awful job planning her character, I actually didn't mind her in season 5, but in Season 6 she was the same annoying character and this season is why I don't like her. Season 7 Dawn is okay, but that season didn't do anything right, they develop Dawn in the beginning and she just gets brushed aside in the second half.

The only way I can think of making Dawn better was to get a better actress, have her do something in Season 6 besides be an annoying pain in the a$$, and give her a smaller role. I think Joss and the writers pushed Dawn as such an important character, but she never delivered any successful stories, she has always been a support character and never lived up to her own hype, IMO