But the first four seasons did happen the way they did. It's just that no one remembers it that way. All this insertion of Dawn into the story is just looking at fake memories.

I still find it distancing to remember things differently from the characters--at least in a situation where a) no one's got the memories I do and b) the story doesn't problematize this at all. (The Connor-forgetting in "Home" doesn't bug me the same way, for instance.)

But the first four seasons did happen the way they did. It's just that no one remembers it that way. All this insertion of Dawn into the story is just looking at fake memories.

True.

But I think it is a cool idea to do the animated series from the pov of the altered memories.

If the animated series ever actually happens for real, I'll probably just end up hoping it turns into something like an anthology, skipping here and there around the Buffyverse.

I have no problem with watching early Buffy with Dawn. It's not as if what happened never happened in the first four seasons, we just never saw what was happening to Dawn. Nothing that Dawn did was pivotal, or if it was, it would be a good way to explain some of the asspulls from earlier seasons. It's not like she was necessary to stop any of the apocalypses. At the most, her presence (or lack of it) would be like an unfilmed "Zeppo" episode. I say, bring it on.

(Do I actually really sit this alone in the "I really like Dawn" corner?)

I really liked the Dawn that they tried to create in the shooting scripts, but who kept getting cut for time out of the final aired episodes. She was snarky and proto-goth morbid with a kind of gleeful, somewhat violent (like Fred) streak.

She was snarky and proto-goth morbid with a kind of gleeful, somewhat violent (like Fred) streak.

Heh, she liked to listen to Spike's stories, didn't she? She would have been totally "go, you" if he'd been able to finish the coal bin story properly.

Well yeah, IsThisBlood?Dawn and DoYouReallyThinkI'mAfraidOfYouBecauseYou'reTheSlayer?Dawn showed a fair amount of promise. Unfortunately, we got about 60 episodes of GetOutGetOut!GETOUT!Dawn to go along with those brief glimmers.

And unexplainedly klepto Dawn, and...nah, I don't even want to think about her. Hated Dawn. Realized how much I hated the Slayerettes in the final season when I would get relieved to see Dawn on screen. With Matt in thinking that a looney bin without Dawn beats working at Doublemeat Palace and going home to Dawn.

I don't remember them sucking this much the first time around.

Crap. I've always assumed that I'll like them better when I watch them again. I felt betrayed by the series at the time; then I thought I'd look back and see how mature and good they were.

IsThisBlood?Dawn

I love IsThisBlood?Dawn. That's one of the moments that stayed with me for a long time. I really like what Michelle Trachtenberg does with her voice when she gets emotional like that.

Unfortunately, we got about 60 episodes of GetOutGetOut!GETOUT!Dawn to go along with those brief glimmers.

Oh God. And the TWoP recaps kept mentioning how often she flounced, and I never really noticed, but now it's so incredibly blatant. I've lost count of all the flouncing. Gosh, kid, walk away normally for once.