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.

I mean, the execution’s not great, but the idea of a rogue Vulcan’s interesting enough, and Luckinbill brings enough energy to the part that he’s fun to watch.

(Though, yes, the connection to Spock is pointless, and was I believe a late addition to the script. If nothing else, it makes no sense Spock wouldn’t shoot his brother to save the Enterprise when he was willing to let Sarek die in Journey to Babel rather than relinquish command…)

Regarding Shinzon - the worst part of Nemesis is that it’s got no sympathy for the Remans at all. I’ve got no problem with the Romulans having a slave caste - they’re space-Romans, of course they have slaves! - but we probably shouldn’t be expected to sympathise with them when the slaves revolt! But half the film seems to have been scripted by Gul Dukat, with the original draft having Riker yelling one-liners as he kills the Reman leader, and the Romulan military redeeming themselves by finishing off Shinzon’s flagship.

If Sinzon’s meant to be Picard’s doppelganger, then that should have been part of it, that no matter what the circumstances, Picard doesn’t suffer injustice, so having him as alien-Spartacus should have been emphasising that they share things in common, but instead the writers want us to hate him for it…

(One of the things I like in Star Trek Online is that the Remans are one of the good-guy factions, allied with the Romulan unificationists against the Empire and the Tal Shiar.)

[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 however understandable the background, torture and rape are wrong no matter who does it. So if Shinzon had been a Dark!Spartacus, someone with admirable goals but who due to the way he grew up and all the suffering around him is responsible for war crimes in turn, he could have been a fascinating villain. Though I think in that case they didn't need the clone connection, on the contrary, it would have been far better if he'd been a Reman himself.

I could imagine a plot where the Federation is at first delighted with rumors of an uprising in the Romulan Empire, and sends Picard & Co. on a covert mission to support the rebels, and Picard meets Shinzon and admires him a lot, only for Shinzon's troops to fall into war crimes, with the ethical dilemma being not just how to stop it but also how to stop it without simply restoring the pre-uprising Romulans-On-Top status quo (especially since that would subject the Remans to a whole new cycle of abuse). But for that, the Remans and Shinzon would have needed to be thought through and presented as layered, and the movie's goal far more ambitious. Ah, well.

[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.