From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   https://www.cbr.com/buffy-season-finale-dawn-death/   
      
               In Season 5 of Buffy, the “big bad” was Glory, a god from a   
   hell   
   dimension who was banished to Earth, trapped in the body of an unsuspecting   
   human named Ben. Glory discovers that there is an inter-dimensional “key”   
   that she could use to return to her home dimension, but using the key would   
   essentially merge all of the various dimensions, which would mean unleashing   
   literal hell on Earth. In an attempt to protect the key from Glory, its   
   protectors turned the key into a human girl, Dawn, and made her the sister   
   of Buffy (using magic to make everyone believe that Dawn has always been   
   around), with the theory being that the Slayer would naturally do whatever   
   she could to protect her own sister.   
      
           Throughout the lead up to the finale, the option seemed to exist   
   that Dawn could sacrifice herself to stop the whole dimension problem.   
   However, Buffy could not let her sister do that and so, instead, Buffy used   
   her own body to stop the ritual and save Earth from the merger of the   
   dimensions (meanwhile, Buffy’s watcher, Giles, murdered the innocent human   
   that was the host of Glory, so that he could assure that Glory would die, as   
   well).   
      
   Sad stuff.   
      
           This was the last episode of Buffy to air on the WB, with the show   
   moving over to the rival UPN for Seasons 6-7.   
      
           There was a different version of the ending that has made the rounds   
   of the internet, purporting to be the original way that the episode would   
   end. Here it is:   
      
   The rift opens and a huge dragon flies out, screaming as it sails past Dawn   
   and Buffy.   
      
   Dawn:  Buffy…   
      
   Buffy:   I  don’t care! Dawn I wont lose you   
      
   Dawn:   You have to! You have to let me go! Blood starts it and until the   
   blood stops flowing, it will never stop. You know you have to let me.   
      
   CAMERA ON BUFFY   as she takes in Dawn’s words, knowing its true   
      
   CAMERA ON DAWN    as, slowly at first, she takes a few steps away from her   
   sister toward the end of the platform   
      
   CAMERA ON BUFFY    who does nothing to stop her   
      
   CAMERA ON DAWN   a few more steps faster this time gaining speed until she   
   is running toward the edge of the platform   
      
   ANGLE: ABOVE THE END   as Dawn reaches it and Swan dives right out and down   
   toward the ball of energy   
      
   CLOSE ON DAWN   as she starts down   
      
   CLOSE ON BUFFY   as she watches crying   
      
   ANGLE: THE BALL OF ENERGY   as Dawns body sails down into and disappears in   
   a white light causing the energy to go even wilder   
      
   CLOSE ON THE GROUP   as they look in vain to see what has happened   
      
   CLOSE ON DAWN’S FACE   as she floats in the center if the maelstrom, being   
   hit with the equivalent of a million jolts of electricity   
      
   CAMERA ON BUFFY   unable to leave the platform   
      
   CAMERA ON Dawn   her eyes slowly close   
      
   THE ENERGY BALL   exploding and suddenly contracting out of existence and   
   Dawn disappearing with it   
      
   CLOSE ON BUFFY’S FACE   
      
   BLACK OUT   
      
           [The only problem I see with this is that Dawn was ALREADY at the   
   end of the platform, and all she had to do was to take one step backward (or   
   fall backward in a reverse swan dive for dramatic effect) ]   
      
      
   So, was that the original ending? Wad Dawn really going to die?   
      
   No, that was not the original ending and it wasn’t even really technically   
   an alternate ending. It was a fake ending designed to help disguise the fact   
   that Buffy was going to die. Shows often do things like to try to hide big   
   twists, even though the Buffy dying twist was not particularly hidden well,   
   as many folks seemed to know about it beforehand, but hey, they tried! This   
   isn’t the only time that Buffy the Vampire Slayer used fake scripts to try   
   to hide twists.   
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)