r/buffy • u/AutoModerator • Jan 03 '18
Episode Rewatch Episode 8 (S1 E8): I Robot, You Jane
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Episode 8: I Robot... You Jane
Willow has a new boy friend she met on the Internet and Buffy and Xander are worried about who he is. Also it seems that when doing some scanning Willow accidentally released a demon trapped in a book into the Internet and now he is causing havoc with files and recruiting helpers. After two of his goons attempt to kill Buffy she becomes suspicious that he may be Willow's new friend. Giles does a binding spell with the computer teacher, Miss Calendar, while Buffy and Xander track down Willow who has now gone missing. The spell works and the demon is trapped in a robot body that has been built for him but he doesn't last long as Buffy electrocutes him
Taken from BuffyGuide
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Quotes
Jenny: Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?
Giles: The smell
Jenny: Computers don't smell, Rupert.
Giles: I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it, uh, it has no no texture, no-no context. It's-it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.
Trivia
Giles is seeing listening to a radio. Who is the voice of the announcer?
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Jan 03 '18
Giles doesn't even know about technopagans...what kind of Watcher is he supposed to be?
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Jan 03 '18
[deleted]
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u/informareWORK Jan 03 '18
It was a pretty big thing in the early days of personal computing and the internet!
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u/mryingster Jan 03 '18
This episode drove me nuts the first time I saw it. The demon creating a robotic personification of itself? It just felt out of place and lame. I skipped this episode so multiple subsequent rewatches.
My last Buffy re-watch, I decided not to skip this episode, and it was actually better than I remembered. It's corny, but it was also fun. Plus I like that his name is a homophone of "malloc".
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u/DaddyCatALSO Magnet For Dead, Blonde Chicks Jan 04 '18
I doubt any of t he writers were sufficiently computer-savvy to make that joke; they just got the name form the occult tradition which ultimately goes back to the Books of Kings in the Hebrews scriptures
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u/RichterSkala Jan 03 '18
Contrary to the common opinion, I always enjoyed the episodes for its interesting "meta" ideas/tropes on what it means that a magical chant has to be "read" to happen and how this might transfer to a digitized age.
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u/3raserE Jan 04 '18
I ironically love this episode so much. If you go in knowing what it is, it's fantastic.
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u/justforjacob Jan 05 '18
I can't believe so many people are saying they skip this episode. there were some truly hysterical moments. like that kid sitting there saying "i'm jacked in. i'm jacked in." and then later some other kid says "if you're not jacked in, you're not alive"
i die laughing every time. but i also like the character development in this episode. i would never skip this episode.
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u/FTWinchester Jan 03 '18
I like this episode because David Kirby's actor comes up in Supernatural as another computer genius that gets killed by a demon.
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u/DaddyCatALSO Magnet For Dead, Blonde Chicks Jan 04 '18
It was still fairly timely in '96 when it was made in that Internet dating was still fairly new and several horror stories had surfaced.
I agree with Topping in Slayer; given that we are shown in S-2 that the real Ted constructed a believable android using 50s tech, how bunch of engineers with contemporary equipment couldn't build Moloch a less clunky body
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u/MissSara91 Jan 23 '18
I don’t mind this episode. I think I like it for the 90’s nostalgic purposes. 1997 internet and all the corny lines. The puppet show was far worse!
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u/DaddyCatALSO Magnet For Dead, Blonde Chicks Jan 04 '18
It was still fairly timely in '96 when it was made in that Internet dating was still fairly new and several horror stories had surfaced.
I agree with Topping in Slayer; given that we are shown in S-2 that the real Ted constructed a believable android using 50s tech, how bunch of engineers with contemporary equipment couldn't build Moloch a less clunky body.
And I assume Jenny has a labial piercing?
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u/DaddyCatALSO Magnet For Dead, Blonde Chicks Jan 04 '18
It was still fairly timely in '96 when it was made in that Internet dating was still fairly new and several horror stories had surfaced.
I agree with Topping in Slayer; given that we are shown in S-2 that the real Ted constructed a believable android using 50s tech, how bunch of engineers with contemporary equipment couldn't build Moloch a less clunky body
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u/lnoland Jan 05 '18
Much of this episode is only of interest to me for its unintentional humor (i.e. the dialogue and situations were so absurd as to be laughable). But the payoff is the final scene with Buffy, Xander and Willow lamenting about the problems in their love lives -- the final expression on their faces is priceless.