girl, interrupted

I know most of you didn't like Dawn. What could have made her character more tolerable?

Lazy Cat

Maybe if she didn't scream so much...

=-Kathy->

Having Douglas Petrie write for her character. I found her appealing in the Fool for Love episode of season 5. I would have liked her character to whine less.

I would have liked for her to get an acting coach to train her to get that naselly tone out of her voice when she was throwing a tantrum. When I listen to her say "get out, get out, get out" that naselly tone is very irritating. There was another actor who screamed or shouted "get out" (may have been Glory) and it did not have that "fingernails scraping a blackboard" grating quality.

Giving her less screen time would have helped. I realize that some of her comments to caused problems for the other characters were necessary for the plots but most of stories that center on her I find boring. I skip most of her part of Him and her part of Conversations with Dead People.

I liked her in several episodes and didn't mind her in most but I think keeping her screen time to small doses would have helped a lot.

Scythe

I liked Dawn because she's a pretty typical teenager in her reactions. Plus she was the same age as me in each season when they were on TV so I could really relate to her quite well.

MissDarkandTwisty

Yes but must have been kind of hard for her to *grow up* with that older sister, and in comparison with Buffy she always didn't look good.
And she caused so much trouble too often. Sometimes I was like "Oh Dawnie please not AGAIN"

Lazy Cat

Kathy, you said it all. I totally agree with you.

Sometimes I was hoping for someone to JUST KILL HER ALREADY! .... =|

girl, interrupted

I thought the premise for Dawn could have been really neat. But then I watched and was like, "wtf?" If you were going to have her appear out of nowhere, at least give her a cool storyline where people are like, "Oh that's kind of cool," instead of, "Wow, that sucks!"

I really like Michelle Tratchenberg as an actress, but I hated her in the role of Dawn. It may not have been her fault, but she was supposed to be 14 and she was acting like she was 5 (this could have been the writing/directing).

I know this is kind of stupid, but she wasn't very visually appealing most of the time. It could have been the lack of makeup or her clothes, but it might have been because she was standing next to Sarah.

Her acting was whiny when it could have been possibly been humorous. But I think it was really the writer's faults. They kind of brought Dawn in for season 5 and then left her hanging after the storyline was finished. It was really sad. Her character was underdeveloped as well as her relationships with other characters.

Wish they would have been a little more creative with her character and also the choice in actress!

Scythe

And in Season 7 there was the promise of Buffy showing her the world and training her to fight, but then Buffy had to abandon her to train the others. In Season 5 Buffy DIED for Dawn, but in Season 6 & 7 is was like she didn't care enough. I agree that the writers just didn't know what to do with Dawn after her keyness storyline.

Callace

It didnt seem like Buffy cared any less for Dawn in S 7. but she had SO many others to care about that she didnt have the time or energy for any more.

Scythe

I think it did, there was barely any interaction between them

MockYouWithMyMonkeyPants

I'm a rare breed, I like Dawn. When she's talking, not screaming.

girl, interrupted

I'm glad you like Dawn! I tried to like Dawn, but it was hard when her character was underdeveloped. Thanks for everyone who responded!

Scythe

Not so rare I like Dawn too.

Shades

I kind of liked that the writers saw this and went with it enough for it to become a sort of in- joke within the series. It was funny and cute, at times.

What I didn't like, though, was that the character felt like it existed for people to relate to the experience of having a younger sister. It felt like it was a setup for people to empathise with Buffy rather than Dawn herself, and this bugged me. A lot.

I think this was mostly just in the first episode of season 5 (or, you know, second one, but I always skip the first.) David Fury mentioned on the director's commentary of Real Me that he noticed it when rewatching the episode and didn't like how the character started off, but it did change a bit from here, which was nice.

Still. I'm not a huge fan, but I've never exactly hated her. And the dynamic between her and Xander was always adorable

Bronson

I liked Michelle Tratchenberg's performance as Dawn but I agree there was a lot of missed opportunity with her after Season 5.

Michelle even said that she hated Dawn's constant whining.

I loved Dawn fighting along side Buffy in the Season 6 finale and in beginning of Season 7 when Buffy was training her.

What did you guys think of the possibility of Dawn being a future Slayer? That might have been good.