Star Trek Meme: Day 3

[selenak]

Day 3 - Who is your least favorite character?At first I t hought: I don't have one, in any of the series/movies. Then I reconsidered. But let's define what I mean by "least favorite" first. The criteria isn't "being a villain"; there are some villains I'm very fond of indeed for, well, reasons (Kai Winn, you manipulative scheming Renaissance

Comments

[4thofeleven]

I actually kind of like Sybok - in a fit of poor judgement, I recently rewatched Star Trek V, and I found him rather refreshing, in that he’s not really a villain. He’s misguided and nuts, but he tries to avoid bloodshed on Nimbus 3, he genuinely believes he’s helping people, and once he takes the Enterprise beyond the barrier, he’s willing to let Kirk take the lead in exploring the planet they find, and, as you say, in the end he dies heroically. I thought it was refreshing after however many attempts to re-do Khan to have an antagonist who’s a bit more reasonable

[selenak]

I don't know whether I would have had less of an issue with Sybok without the "Spock's brother" factor, but I suspect "putting everyone in touch with their feelings" and this resulting in cult like adoration by many would have rubbed me wrongly either way.

the worst part of Nemesis is that it’s got no sympathy for the Remans at all.

True. The Nosferatu look is just the outward symptom of that. And considering the Romulans were originally emigrated Vulcans, the idea that there was already a sentient species around which got subjugated is certainly workable. But they're just around to be evil minions of evil. Speaking of Spartacus, for all its guts & gore trashiness Spartacus the series actually did a good job in its characterisation of not just the gladiators but also the other slaves in terms of how people who were exploited, abused and traumatized their entire lives respond once they have not just a shot at freedom but actual power over some of their abusers, making it varied from person to person, and making it clear that

[astrogirl2]

I've often thought that the sad thing about Sybok is that he could have been a really good and interesting character, if only he'd been in a better movie. (And not written as a stupid retcon of Spock's backstory, of course.) Because I agree: Luckenbill is good, the idea of a Vulcan who rejects the whole "emotionless logic" thing is actually a really interesting one with lots of possibility, and the fact that he's well-meaning but misguided rather than evil is great. ("What have I done?" is, IMO, a great climactic turn for a bad guy.) And yet the whole thing just... kinda fails to work. On nearly every level. Sigh.

[redfiona10]

>> (Kai Winn, you manipulative scheming Renaissance Pope in space, let me introduce you to Rodrigo Borgia!), << No good will come of this meeting, none whatsoever.

[selenak]

No, but it would be immensely entertaining. :) And they could compare Sisko and Savonarola.

[tavella]

Harry Mudd. He was always referred to as some kind of adorable rogue, so when I watched TOS a few years back, the creepy guy who tried to kill of a bunch of women rather than be caught came as a surprise.

[selenak]

The idea of Harry Mudd with his Stepford Wives as a lovable rogue is one of the most dated (in a bad way) 1960s things about TOS, you're right. (Though always surpassed in that department by Spock telling Janice Rand "the intruder had some... interesting qualities, didn't he?" at the end of The Enemy Within, implying she secretly enjoyed Evil!Kirk's attempt to rape her.)