Ted Buchanan

"Beg to differ, lil' lady ..."

- Ted

Ted Buchanan was a robot duplicate of his creator, the original Ted Buchanan.

Creation
The original Ted, a sickly inventor in the fifties, created the robot after his wife left him. It was intended to be "a better Ted", possibly the man he should have been. The robot then kidnapped Ted's wife and held her captive in his bunker until she died.

Joyce Summers
Subsequently, the cycle continued long after the original Ted's death until he began to date Joyce Summers after redoing her computer system at her gallery. At that time, he fed her — as well as her daughter's friends — cookies laced with a drug called "Dematorin" which made them compliant and mellow, encouraging them to like him. However, Buffy became increasingly unnerved by Ted's actions. While it initially seemed she was just reacting badly Ted's intervening influence, it became clear something was wrong when Ted threatened her when he caught her cheating at miniature golf.

To discover what's going on, Buffy snuck into his workplace where she discovered his plans of marrying Joyce. That night, Ted, knowing that Buffy went through his office, came into Buffy's room while she was on patrol where he discovered her weapons and diary which contained information about her life as a Slayer. Believing she was delusional, he threatened to tell Joyce, condeming her to a life of physiatric rehabilitation if she didn't do as he said. Ted refused to give back her diary and smacked Buffy when she didn't take her hand off of him, Buffy then unleashed her Slayer wrath and gained the advantage just as Joyce walked in. Despite Joyce's pleadings for her to stop, Buffy continued to knock around until he fell down the stairs and broke down.



Although Ted was declared dead, he later reactivated at the morgue and angrily returned to the Summers house — even more unstable due to his damaged state. He knocked out Buffy in her room just after his 'skin' was pierced when she stabbed him with a sharp nail file, revealing the now ruptured wires in his arm. Covering his sleeve, Ted proceeded to reunit with reunited with Joyce and subsequently knocked her unconsciousness when his instability raised to the point her became completely unreasonable,

Buffy ultimately destroyed him by beating him with a fry pan, thus revealing the metallic under wiring in his face. The body of the robot was then disposed of in a "scrap heap...of life" while some of his parts were kept by Willow Rosenberg as study components.

Personality and Traits
"I'm not wired that way!"

- Ted

Unlike Warren Mears' creations, Ted"s robot was an independently adaptive and socially prevalent being that could maintain himself and even get a job at a telemarketing company selling software and earning more sales than any other worker, which was extremely impressive considering he was built in the fifties. However, his programming made him follow a strict code of how to act, obeying rules and strongly holding that 'right is right and wrong is wrong', leading him to overreact when Buffy attempted to cheat at mini golf where he threatened to attack her. Similar to the Buffybot, a specific degree of damage could create flaws in his system, causing him to randomly short out and say irrelevant statements.

He also apparently held 50's social norms, as he claimed he didn't take orders from a woman when Joyce made a mere suggestion.

Behind the Scenes

 * He was portrayed by John Ritter.

Appearances

 * "Ted"