From: madlove@arkham.dc   
      
   David wrote:   
   > 5) Human Fish Creatures -- Season 2 -- "Go Fish"   
   > After the gang noticed some odd behavior from the Sunnydale High swim   
   > team members and Xander goes undercover (see previous thing about Xander   
   > being stupid), they figure out that the swim team is being turned into   
   > giant fish because the coach is performing fish DNA experiments on them   
   > from the Soviet Union, that were supposedly conceived to ensure a better   
   > swim team. It wasn't a very good plan, mostly because man-eating human   
   > fish are typically disqualified from athletic participation.   
      
   Someone came up with the idea of ripping off HP Lovecraft's "Shadow Over   
   Innsmouth" and this mess was the result.   
      
   "The Shadow over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft in the horror   
   fiction genre. The narrator is a student on a sightseeing tour of New   
   England who learns of Innsmouth, a coastal town that, following an   
   epidemic and rioting in the last century, fell into such decline that it   
   is no longer shown on maps.   
      
   Although he is cautioned that Innsmouth is avoided because of "race   
   prejudice" against the townspeople, and that visitors sometimes   
   disappear or go insane, he decides to stop there. He finds the   
   inhabitants have a repulsive appearance and the whole town reeks of   
   corruption, most houses are boarded up and apparently derelict.   
      
   Interested in folklore, the narrator locates an elderly local drunk   
   known for his tales. He hears that seafaring inhabitants of Innsmouth   
   generations before had voyaged to the South Seas, finding a cult that   
   practiced human sacrifice to placate immortal undersea creatures.   
      
   The creatures made a pact with the sailors, who brought them back to   
   Innsmouth to dwell on an offshore reef and be worshipped; in exchange   
   the undersea creatures provided gold.   
      
   The townsfolk revolted against making human sacrifices, but were   
   defeated by the creatures following a nocturnal invasion. Surviving   
   residents agreed to join the cult and keep its secrets. They were forced   
   to intermarry with the creatures; the resulting children appeared human,   
   but became undersea creatures in later life."   
      
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_over_Innsmouth   
      
   Even the producers publicly admitted this ep was bad, but what made it   
   even worse was that the show had become popular due to good writing. And   
   this was a simplistic   
   monster story better suited for season 1.   
      
   > 4) Hyena-Possessed Students -- Season 1: -- "The Pack"   
   > This entire list could have practically been comprised of episodes from   
   > the first season, and this is a perfect example why. After a high school   
   > field trip to the zoo -- because seriously, what high school kids go on   
   > field trips to the zoo -- Xander and a bunch of other kids get possessed   
   > by hyenas, which just gives hyenas a bad rap. Spoiler alert, turns out   
   > the hyena's zookeeper did it. A bunch of high school kids also murder   
   > and eat the principal in this episode, which is uncharacteristically   
   > morbid, even for Buffy.   
   > [See # 6]   
      
   I agree. 'Nuff said!   
      
   > 3) An Old Lady With A Demon Head -- Season 6 -- "Doublemeat Palace"   
   > Buffy gets a job at a fast food restaurant because her mom is dead and   
   > she has to support her whiny, pain in the ass sister. Because trouble   
   > follows her everywhere, she soon notices that fellow employees of the   
   > Doublemeat Palace start disappearing. After some investigation, Buffy   
   > finds out that it's one of the restaurant's sweet old lady customers   
   > (character actress Pat Crawford Brown) whose wig hides a head with a   
   > demonic lamprey in it. Also the lamprey looks like a penis.   
      
   One of the few eps that has nothing redeeming about it.   
      
   > 2) The Internet -- Season 1: -- "I Robot, You Jane"   
   > 1997, The Internet, everyone! Giles has Willow scanning some old   
   > texts onto a computer and because this is how the internet worked in   
   > 1997 according to TV -- the demon that was released by scanning the texts   
   > (which apparently had the same effect as reading them) could access the   
   > internet everywhere once he was on a computer that didn't even have   
   > Wi-Fi or high speed internet, and decides to stalk Willow and try to   
   > become her internet demon boyfriend. I'm sorry, web demon boyfriend.   
   > Then he builds himself a robot and transfers himself into the robot.   
   > The '90s were a weird time for technology.   
      
   Sadly this was the first ep I ever saw, that's why I didn't watch it   
   until years   
   later.   
      
   > 1) Beer That Turns People Into Cavemen -- Season 4 -- "Beer Bad"   
   > See: Previous Thing I Said about Buffy's whole moral standpoint when it   
   > came to alcohol and underage drinking. This might be not just the worst   
   > episode villain, but the worst episode of Buffy of all time. When Xander   
   > gets a job as a bartender at the local college bar, Buffy abuses his   
   > power to go drinking with college boys. Oops! The beer has actually   
   > been chemically brewed by a bartender who wants revenge on   
   > college kids for being a-holes to him by turning them into Neanderthals   
   > with the beer. Wouldn't it be easier to just like, put cyanide in the   
   > beer? And if the bartender possess the kind of scientific know-how to   
   > turn people into cavemen, why is he working at a bar and not at like   
   > NASA or something, since he clearly does not enjoy his job? And then the   
   > cavemen burned down his bar anyway, so great plan. This episode is garbage.   
      
   The gaffer used magic, not science, to make the kids cavemen. Also the only   
   reason this morality tale was written was to get the funding that was being   
   given out to any TV show that showcased booze in a bad light.   
      
   They didn't get it... story was deemed too unrealistic. Unfortunately   
   the public   
   still had to sit thru this putrid excuse of an episode.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)