Discussion of 1.08 "I Robot, You Jane" - Aired 4/28/1997 (WB-US)

I think it was more the dangers of chat rooms. I was a pre-teen when the episode was aired. We used to go into chat rooms and pretend we were a sexy 20 year old girl - because 20 was so old 😀 - to play with boys' minds. Even though the general idea back then was more "Girls, be careful. Don't let the dirty minded men fool you." We did the fooling, idiots. 😀
 
I remember the scare about chat rooms back in the late 90s/early 00s. Not that concern wasn't unwarranted of course. But it was like anything new that younger people get into that older people don't understand - "Oh this is something new - it must be evil! Parents, lock up your children! Hide your computers!"

This is an episode that has really aged badly because chatting online is just a part of life that kids grow up with now and everybody knows the dangers... just like crossing the street. The whole metaphor of the episode : "the person you are chatting to isn't who he says he is" just seems unworthy of the show now. Ironically in trying to be current and topical, the episode now seems cliche and eye-roll worthy. A more refreshing and original take on the story may have been for the guy Willow was chatting to online to turn out to be a normal, nice guy, (after much suspicion) with the demon aspect of the story coming from elsewhere.
 
YummySushiPJs said:
I remember the scare about chat rooms back in the late 90s/early 00s. Not that concern wasn't unwarranted of course. But it was like anything new that younger people get into that older people don't understand - "Oh this is something new - it must be evil! Parents, lock up your children! Hide your computers!"

This is an episode that has really aged badly because chatting online is just a part of life that kids grow up with now and everybody knows the dangers... just like crossing the street. The whole metaphor of the episode : "the person you are chatting to isn't who he says he is" just seems unworthy of the show now. Ironically in trying to be current and topical, the episode now seems cliche and eye-roll worthy. A more refreshing and original take on the story may have been for the guy Willow was chatting to online to turn out to be a normal, nice guy, (after much suspicion) with the demon aspect of the story coming from elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I can be as dismissive of this issue as you are. I'm not saying people shouldn't chat online, but I do think we need better education for young people about it. And I think that parents need to take a stronger role in limiting the amount of hours their kids/teenagers spend per day on the internet. And finally there needs to be more responiblity taken from the people who run these sites, and harsher punishments if they don't take responibility.

That could have been a good alternative yes. The only problem with that was that to some people it may seem a bit of a cop out to pull a fast one at the end like that. I think they dropped the ball with Willow in this episode anyway. She should have been the main focus. I never cared about the nerds.
 
YummySushiPJs said:
This is an episode that has really aged badly because chatting online is just a part of life that kids grow up with now and everybody knows the dangers... just like crossing the street.
Click to expand...

Doesn't mean people don't get hit by cars while crossing the street...though I don't think most people take the danger seriously.
 
Season 1 is one of my favourites so nothing but love here. Just one thing that bothered me because I'm a perfectionist.
Giles says "In the dark ages, souls of demons were sometimes trapped in certain volumes." But.... demons don't have a soul, right ?
 
Oh and I just realized (third time watching this episode) that Joss Whedon is doing an announcement on the radio in Giles' office when he's researching Moloch
 
bafshd said:
But.... demons don't have a soul, right ?
Click to expand...

I think it's a murky area. Vampires don't have souls (except in a couple of notable instances), but other demons might. In Selfless, D'Hoffryn talks about "the life and soul of a vengeance demon." So they seem to have them. However, I don't think we know if a demon soul is equivalent to a human soul.
 
I guess in those cases the word soul meant more like the essence of the demon, and in that case vampires might have them as well. But when talking about humans, the word soul is used more as a conscience, something that allows you to feel. And especially allows you to feel remorse and guilt.
 
Willow might have rushed into "love" too fast with someone she was just chatting with online, but she's just a kid and it happens. Re-watching this I'm surprised how on the ball she is with realizing things are off. As soon as Malcolm says something about Buffy that he shouldn't know, she immediately turns off her computer. Then later on we see her ignore an e-mail from Malcolm about meeting, clearly starting to realize things are off about him. I'm just glad they didn't turn Willow into a complete moron to further the agenda of "chatrooms are bad". If this wasn't a demon, Willow did everything right and nothing bad would have happened.

Poor Dave in this episode, he deserves some credit for saving Buffy. His friends and family think he committed suicide. 🙁

YummySushiPJs said:
I remember the scare about chat rooms back in the late 90s/early 00s. Not that concern wasn't unwarranted of course. But it was like anything new that younger people get into that older people don't understand - "Oh this is something new - it must be evil! Parents, lock up your children! Hide your computers!"

This is an episode that has really aged badly because chatting online is just a part of life that kids grow up with now and everybody knows the dangers... just like crossing the street. The whole metaphor of the episode : "the person you are chatting to isn't who he says he is" just seems unworthy of the show now. Ironically in trying to be current and topical, the episode now seems cliche and eye-roll worthy. A more refreshing and original take on the story may have been for the guy Willow was chatting to online to turn out to be a normal, nice guy, (after much suspicion) with the demon aspect of the story coming from elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I think if they went that route with this episode back when it aired, it might have gotten a lot of heat from angry parents who think Buffy is supporting their children chatting to strangers online. It's hard to win here. I kinda enjoy that I Robot You Jane serves now as a nice fossil of the mentality of the early 00s lol.
 
YummySushiPJs said:
I remember the scare about chat rooms back in the late 90s/early 00s. Not that concern wasn't unwarranted of course. But it was like anything new that younger people get into that older people don't understand - "Oh this is something new - it must be evil! Parents, lock up your children! Hide your computers!"

This is an episode that has really aged badly because chatting online is just a part of life that kids grow up with now and everybody knows the dangers... just like crossing the street. The whole metaphor of the episode : "the person you are chatting to isn't who he says he is" just seems unworthy of the show now. Ironically in trying to be current and topical, the episode now seems cliche and eye-roll worthy. A more refreshing and original take on the story may have been for the guy Willow was chatting to online to turn out to be a normal, nice guy, (after much suspicion) with the demon aspect of the story coming from elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure that's true. Are these videos real or fake?



I never know with TV. It could be acting for all I know, though it strikes me as believable (and, as often happens, they can choose the "worst examples" to showcase as if it's normal when the majority weren't as stupid or foolish as those shown).

But I saw the Stranger Danger vids (and read a book on it) and yet I got into the car of a man who'd try to rape me later when I was 15. Why? Because everything on "stranger danger" was so over the top to make strangers scary that it became counterproductive, so when a guy is friendly and offers me a ride in broad daylight with many people about (and no scary music, furtive behavior, etc), I figure it's legite. And kids are notorious for thinking they're smarter and more world-wise than they actually are (to be fair, so are many adults). Lesson learned. Just because we know the danger exists doesn't mean the danger is averted (though education--real education, not scare tactics--is always preferable over ignorance).

And this one goes into how even college students fall for mind boggling simple tricks:

Undercover investigation: 'Stranger danger' applies to college kids, too
 
Other than the lame monster of the week, I enjoy this hilariously dated episode. It's not a good episode – I'm almost certainly laughing more at the episode than with it – but it's fun! Jenny Calendar is wonderful and so is her banter with Giles throughout the episode.

Okay. I will defend this episode but this opening flashback has me cringing! I do like the transition between the book being put into the box and Buffy opening it.

"I'll be back in the Middle Ages." / "Did you ever leave?" Comedy gold, I'm tellin' ya.

Undercover Buffy! Always a favourite.

As much as I enjoy this episode, there really isn't much to say about it.

"None of us are ever gonna have a happy, normal relationship." / "We're doomed!" And on that happy and foreshadow-y note...

NimbleCandidCorydorascatfish-max-1mb.gif

(source)

Tagline for I Robot, You Jane: "There's a demon in the internet." (It's very to the point)
 
This is one of the worst episodes of the whole show IMO. But yet it is oddly watchable in places. I love the final shot. Buffy's concern for Willow is touching. Jenny makes a great debut too. The MOTW sucks balls🙄
 
Guilty pleasure. The idea of a demon being sucked into the internet is a pretty interesting one, but this episode can't treat it with any level of seriousness. Then again, it's better that way considering how funny it becomes as a result. As soon as the robot appears you can't help but laugh; it's ridiculous but fun. There is some dodgy dialogue that sounds like it comes from A Very Special Episode of a family sitcom though. Then again, it's part of the charm.
 
This is another one of those episodes where I think the potential is there but is never fully realised. The technology dates it and in a way I think it would be better received if it had aired today (with better effects) rather than back then because technology is everywhere now.
 
Was Jenny always planned to become recurring character or was she only meant to be in this episode.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom