Spyke
feddit.org

Come on, Pulaski wasn't that bad. She even had a decent character arc to become likeable. Winn though.. yeah we hate her.

121

She was one of the only characters to have true growth. I loved her. Plus, Diana Muldaur is awesome. Still with us at 86!

61
14th_cylonreply
lemm.ee

Are you saying Winn didn't have character arc?

She had the biggest arc in startrek and it was masterfully acted...

31
14th_cylonreply
lemm.ee

Yeah, but there was that little moment in between where you almost felt sorry for her, before the ultimate "nah, she is still piece of shit..."

25
lemmy.world

Same with Dukat. They really hit it out of the park in DS9 with characters in general.

14

The entire situation around her death was nasty, not just dirty. But we got Ezri, and I really liked her.

5
Jarixreply
lemmy.world

Not once did in all the times I've re watched that show have i had so much an amount of sorry for winn.

Ds9 IS my favorite Trek for what it's worth

5
macnielreply
feddit.org

I have nothing against her actress. She played wonderfully. I really loved to hate her character. This overzealous and overtly jealous priest.

16

When Louise Fletcher, who played Kai Winn, won the Oscar for the equally-horrific and hateable Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, she started her acceptance speech like this:

Well, it looks like you all hated me so much that you've given me this award for it, and I'm loving every minute of it. And all I can say is I've loved being hated by you.

Clearly she enjoyed playing evil people and is very good at it. And, like most actors who get regularly cast as evil, she's apparently a sweetheart in real life.

8

I don't know, Winn stresses me out. I always think DS9 is my favorite until I remember how much I hate Winn, and how much anxiety she creates, and I hesitate. I don't like to hate her. I just wish she weren't there.

7
Optionalreply
lemmy.world

The Elders tell me Pulaski was supposed to be “unlikable” but in a gruff, McCoy dammit-i’m-a-doctor kind of way.

But the fact that that wasn’t possible to do (and wouldn’t have worked if it was) apparently didn’t stop them from trying.

The sophomore slump hits everybody.

27
GraniteMreply
lemmy.world

I think they were trying to build a Pulaski-Data relationship that mirrored the McCoy-Spock relationship, where McCoy would say something shockingly racist like calling Spock a green-blooded hobgoblin, but then Spock would insult him right back and it was all in good fun so it was "okay." The problem was that Data wasn't able to give as good as he got, so it came across as Pulaski bullying the sweet autistic kid, which did not work as well as McCoy-Spock.

23

Agreed! And something that could have been worked out in the writer's room before they committed. Eh. It's fine. They backed off of that intended relationship after a very short amount of time and gave her another vibe.

7

with every rewatch of TNG, i come to appreciate Pulaski more and more. her exchanges with Moriarty, in particular, make for an enjoyable watch.

22
lemmy.world

She even had a decent character arc to become likeable.

Her whole arc was supposed to explore the idea of a kind-of rational and legitimate hatred, then see where it led.

::: spoiler spoiler Time and again, her bigotry caused new injury to herself and to others. But then this was held in contrast to Ed Mercer's persistent failed efforts to extend an olive branch to rival alien races who were unable to divest of their own bigotries. :::

That's what made the latest season of Orville so fucking good.

::: spoiler spoiler The whole season is about trying to build a coalition between the liberal Planetary Union and the fascist Chak'tal and ultra-conservative Moclan. But, in the end, their commitment to their own moral compass paves a way for an unexpected alliance with the Kaylon that yields far more fruit than any kind of strategic military compromise with the corrupt governments of the Chak'tal or Moclan. :::

It wasn't just that she became likeable. Its that the guiding principles of the Planetary Union usher the crew towards a better galaxy, even when that path isn't immediately clear from the outset.

15
Billiamreply
lemmy.world

While I like your analysis, the comment you're responding to was referring to Pulaski's arc, not Charlie's.

20
DUMBASSreply
leminal.space

Pulaski was a better Doctor on her worst day than Beverly ever could be.

11
Ruttyreply
sh.itjust.works

Come on now, I don’t want to get in an argument with a dumbass, but the Beverley character had some fine moments.

I’ll give you ghost sex, and collapsing universes, but she was pleasant. Really she was there for to give Picard more emotional dynamism.

Pulaski was kinda baller though, I liked her. She had opinions and wasn’t afraid to express them. Even better she would reevaluate them upon have more data. I have a 3D printer named after her. I print my with my favorite plastic on it, TPU.

9

I'm just talking medical skills, Beverly was a terrible doctor, there's no way Polanski is letting a de-evolving virus get loose on the ship!

Beverly isn't that bad of a character, she's just a bad doctor.

2
the_crotchreply
sh.itjust.works

I think we could have done a bit better than copy/paste and gender swap. She never got a chance to develop into her own unique character.

1

Pulaski had more development in a season than Crusher had in the series. When Pulaski was in a scene her presence was felt and affected the scene. When Crusher was in a scene she was just there as well, (unless the episode was specifically focused on her).

1

I don't remember Polaski reversing the assimilation process on Picard.

2

Yeah she had character and was interesting. Crusher had hot redhead. I liked Crusher but would have preferred Pulaski stick around.

10
infosec.pub

Yeah, but you're supposed to dislike Winn, she's the villain. Her acting was perfect for the role.

100
IninewCrowreply
lemmy.ca

Personally I absolutely love Winn ...... because I hate her character so much.

As soon as I see her in an episode I know I'm gonna enjoy it because she'll leave a lasting memory for me as to why I dislike her so much. Louise Fletcher is such a beautiful actress because she makes you forget you're watching a TV show and makes you absolutely want to step into an air lock and blast yourself out into the vacuum of space just to leave her presence.

68

yup. it wasn't until the final season that I recognized her as Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over.... damn fine casting, and she's an impressive actress, it takes SKILL to make people hate you like that.

12

Good villains make you want to crawl in through the screen and punch them, and boy is Kai Winn a punchable character.

Ironically, I have never wanted to punch Q, but Sisko punched him and never Winn.

34
Echo Dotreply
feddit.uk

I always got the impression that everything Q did was simply irritating. Winn made decisions that actively risked people's lives because she was looking for career advancement. She was actually a threat.

Also they kind of knew that Q wouldn't actually allow anyone to get hurt because he probably wasn't allowed to.

7

Q did things that were ultimately to the benefit of the characters. Picard is a better person from Tapestry alone. I wouldn't even call Q a villain. Antagonist, yes, but not a villain.

11

I thought the idea there was that the Borg were already on the way and him doing that gave them a chance to prepare. Then they reinforced that idea with First Contact and Enterprise, because at that point they didn't know how to write a series without the Borg.

9
lemmy.world

Wait, people would seriously put her as 'most annoying' on TNG or DS9? Next to Wesley and Winn?!

7
frezikreply
midwest.social

Yes. Her back story is of a smart, driven scientist. Her DS9 portrayal is of a nagging wife. It's one of the few character writing misses on the show.

14

Hmm, I don't really remember that. OTOH, it HAS been a long time since I've watched DS9. I rewatched TNG more recently, so I have that Keiko in mind.

1

True reason for O'brien must suffer. Ancient Lebanese curse.

1
Breadhax0rreply
lemmy.world

The funny thing is Whill Wheaton has famously bad luck with dice

5
Echo Dotreply
feddit.uk

It wasn't the actor's fault, he was given absolutely nothing to work with. Every time I've seen him in anything subsequently he's been a likable character and a good actor.

I really don't know why his character was on the show the writers clearly didn't have anything for him to do.

7

On the flip side of that, I don't like him as an audiobook narrator. Quite a few authors who grew up with TNG and write sci-fi now have him do narration, and he's just kinda meh as a narrator.

3
lemmy.world

Hmm, it's been a while since something reminded me of alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die

9
roscoereply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

He's hated. But in a way that makes you want to see more of him.

39

I truly love that the writers set Dukat up for a redemption arc, but that he chose to become worse instead.

19
lemmy.world

Maybe I'm alone on this, but I found a lot of the story lines with Neelix from Voyager to be hard to watch.

28
Taleyareply
aussie.zone

If they'd only stopped making him so damned childish.

Ever seen Avenue5? Spike was what Neelix shoulda been and it's hilarious.

17
lemm.ee

Actually, I wish they'd made his girlfriend a little less, ah, childish.

19
lemmy.zip

Hot take: i never understood the whole controversy around him dating an alien with a very short lifespan.

She isnt a child in their society, just a (young) woman. Had she remained with the okampa she would likely have had romantic partners around that same time in her life, possibly children as well. For that matter, as far as I know neelix isn't interested in her for her age in any way either, so I have a hard time seeing how it is considered creepy or inappropriate. Also, the actress was a normal adult woman, so that wasn't weird either (I cringe more at the scenes of O'Brien and teen aged Keiko in that one TNG episode, at least they didnt kiss I guess).

I found him more annoying for his petty jealousy and overused mister vulcan interactions (although I generally enjoyed their dynamic).

13

agreed. OH NOE SHE'S TWOOOO she's not a fuckign human so that makes her a grown woman who's expected to have kids at this point. Gentle and thinking the best of people =/= naive and childish.

5
klemptorreply
startrek.website

She was the human equivalent of 18 years old, and Neelix was middle-aged. Sure she was technically an adult but just barely. She'd lived a very sheltered life, whereas he'd had so much life experience. Plus he was a weird mix of romantic and paternalistic toward her, with inappropriate jealousy followed by love bombing. I'm glad they got rid of that storyline because it really didn't work IMO.

4

She was the equivalent of 18 for about a month or so? in her life cycle. She was probably older (and more mature) than neelix by the point she broke up with him.

3
Maestroreply
fedia.io

I have never seen Avenue 5, but as an old Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan I suddenly saw a foul-mouthed English bad boy Neelix in my head and it was hilarious 😂

8
Taleyareply
aussie.zone

Weirdly? A5 spike is a lot filthier and hornier.

"Hey, a hole's a hole"

1

He does the audio books for the Dresden Files. I love it

3
MajorHavocreply
programming.dev

Spike is awesome. I need them to make a lot more Avenue 5. I'm holding out hope that it'll get the Red Dwarf treatment.

6

If Avenue 5 gets Red Dwarf revived, I will buy two or three box set collections to celebrate. Canceling Avenue 5 was a crime.

2

Spike was what Neelix shoulda been and it's hilarious.

Yes! All the resourcefulness, without the childishness.

2
lemmy.world

I found most of Voyager to be too cringy to watch.

It was just such a weird vibe, like they targeted it for kids who liked trek, and ultra-horny neckbeards at the exact same time.

15
lemmy.world

The hormones didn’t come in until seven of nine in the way late seasons. And she’s no different than Troi, except more useful on the ship.

Are you forgetting the leotard stretching scene…? Or almost anything Troi wore in the early seasons?

18
lemmy.world

No, that was bad too.

I mean, s1 and s2 was very cringy too, but they had episodes that were very well written by people other than Roddenberry, and we all tend to blank out trauma in our past.

Voyager? This wasn't the first trek show in decades, we weren't dying for want of decent scifi, we had tng, ds9, b5, farscape was coming online, stargate too, and before Voy finished we had The Phantom Menace and the Matrix.

The mid-late 90s were a golden age for media, our standards had increased dramatically particularly for writing.

For TNG I'd say 50% of episodes are either forgettable or near-unwatchable, with a bias towards the early seasons, S3 and S4 are just gold though.

Voyager, I have a few episodes I like (, but many more I can't watch, the writing is just so uneven.

Btw, I have a warm spot in my heart for Enterprise, I think it got a majorly unfair rap, but the first 2 seasons are similar in their unevenness, though Season 4 is again, just gold.

4
lemmy.world

we had The Phantom Menace

Hey, I thought we were talking about decent examples of sci fi

TNG ... 50%

I'd put it more like 25%. That being said, I def consult episode guides when I'm rewatching and skip accordingly.

4
lemmy.world

Hey, I thought we were talking about decent examples of sci fi

Yeah, they kind of screwed the pooch when they brought that up. Sort of negates the rest of their argument.

1
lemmy.world

Did you see it in theaters when it came out?

I think we're spoiled with all the cgi enabled scifi now, it didn't hold as well as the ot (and the st is rancid garbage) but the prequels were epochal at the time, mass market, high budget scifi, alongside indepdence day they changed everything.

1

I did. And the CG is not my problem with that movie. The plot and the characters and the dialogue are my problem with that movie. If a movie is good but the effects aren't, I'm fine with it. I don't generally watch movies just because they look cool.

1
feddit.uk

Yes but she was meant to be hated the other characters were just annoying characters but she was actually meant to be a bad guy.

I also love the idea that Getty images somehow has a copyright on the picture. How can they possibly have copyright they didn't take the picture it's a screenshot from a TV series.

23
lemm.ee

To this day I am still sad Kira wasn't the one to do her in at the end.

22

Oh that would have been so nice, the last episode was very much "quick, we need to tie these threads!"

Kira going to save him from a trap through her faith somehow would have been so much cooler.

14

Arising from the ashes, Rey Skywalker joins the fray.


Seriously tho I have seen way more mainstream hate for Rey.

Not that Star Wars is scifi as much as space opera. Nor does it technically count as a TV series as much as a film series.

22
lemmy.world

flipping through my big list of Star Wars characters to dislike

There are so many people ahead of her on the list.

  • Prequels C3PO, all the cringe and none of the comedy

  • Rose Tico, the plot hook that can't act

  • Watto, the flying anti-semitism

  • Snoke, what are you even doing here? The practice sphere Luke spared with in A New Hope advanced the plot more than you did.

  • Porkins, the pilot who couldn't hold it together

  • Maz Kanata, a bargain basement Yoda and absolutely abhorrent waste of Lupita Nyong'o's talents

  • Jar Jar Binks

  • Everyone who made the Star Wars Christmas Special possible

I get being a bit annoyed that they gender-swapped Luke Skywalker got to just kinda mime her way through the first three movies. But if the worst thing Disney did was file the serial numbers of the George Lucas originals and ad a splash of color to the cast, I can almost forgive them for it.

Even just within the third trilogy... Daisy Ridley was fucking trying to give that ham of a script some spice. And she managed to leave more on the table than Hayden Christensen did with the Anakin role. Hell, she ran circles around the desiccated corpse of Harrison Ford, an honorable mention for some of the worst performance in the series.

She's not even in the top five worst characters in the sixth best Star Wars series. Cut her some slack.

24

Just to be clear, I was more commenting on how much hate I saw for her, because I'm pretty much on the same page as you in terms of how I feel about it. It's pretty silly to be mad about.

6

You leave Porkins alone. That man was a hero.

(I fully agree with everything else though.)

2
lemmy.world

I think she's the banner target for frustration with the Disney sequels. Almost like Jar Jar for people who didn't like the prequels, although now that it's been 20 years people don't seem to hate Jar Jar as much.

15

Yeah. It's worst for the most recent movie, because we're always afraid the latest bad movie is the last one we will get.

For example, I probably don't need to hate Pacific Rim 2, so much, and I might stop if we get some better sequels.

7

It doesn't help that they basically refused to flesh out her character like there was some sort of overarching secret that was going to make it totally worth it. They kind of screwed up the algorithm, like in lost you can have mystery building mystery but you need to give away decent hints on the way through and through no fault of her own her character was just kind of bland.

3

Bester was so damn good. Babylon 5 made me realise that Trek kind of squandered his acting talent a bit by making him a goofy Russian comic relief character.

11
fedia.io

Don't get me started with this guy and his fake British accent

18

Yeah, early Neelix is the reigning champ. He may be slightly less so if he had just kept his original outfit from ep 1 instead of his technicolor seizure suit.

6

They made Tuvix in an explicit attempt to show that comparatively Neelix isn't such a monstrosity.
They only partially succeeded.

God save Janeway the caffeinated for saving the day!

4

I love the way the two principle evils of DS9 are both motivated by a deep conviction that they have been treated unfairly.

14
fedia.io

Getting Nurse Ratched to play Kai Winn was genius casting.

12

Concurring, and it seems a popular opinion here.

There is a world of difference between a character you hate seeing, and a character that you love to hate.

6

Replacing Alara didn’t help, and her PTSD aspect was really the most compelling per of her character. What really turned me off about her was how she could do everything. Need someone who can play 5 dimensional squidgyball? She’s already got her racket. The character was forced with poor writing to complete an arc too quickly. I like what the writers and show runners were trying and all, but the short seasons and long episode format weren’t great for telling that story.

14

Charly is hated because she looks like a Fox Newz Gurl on the bridge and it’s just too convenient. Her acting is fine but there was no discernible angle there - why? I only found out she was Seth MacFarlane’s girlfriend after the season was over. Then I was like “Oohhhhhhhh. So that’s what that was about”

Yeah.

11
lemmy.world

Burke was a horrible racist and bigot who went against the entire point of the academy. If I can see her as an awful bigot, in her futuristic society she must have been the equivalent of a klan member. She was a horrible person through her entire existence and we're supposed to like her cause she redeemed herself in the last 10 seconds? Nah she sucks. Also she wasn't really a proper character, just a racist Alara clone

10
lemmy.world

In all fairness alot of it stemmed from the fact she watched her partner die after they were betrayed by a supposedly ally - trust from that wouldn't come back quickly.

Would have liked to see the series carry on a bit more though

5
  1. amanda wasn't her partner, she was a crush that she never approached

  2. she wasn't on the Orville, so Isaac wasn't an ally to her - just a bumfuck rando sleeper agent on another ship. One who turned against his own people to stop an armada, which meant precisely jack and shit to her self involved pain.

2
lemmy.world

I get that. But if she's that compromised, she should never have been on active duty and serving alongside the race she was prejudice against.

2

Extention level threat, qualified officer, not injured who can serve. Predjiced against said event.

100% would be allowed to stay.

1
Taleyareply
aussie.zone

Frustratingly, her entire kaylon aggro arc would have worked spectacularly with Gordon. They dropped a couple of aborted hints to this end.

3
lemmy.world

Gordon was such a badass and a great character, so happy we're getting a new season

1
Kaboomreply
reddthat.com

Because she had untreated PTSD and hated the robots who killed her best friend/lover/whatever.

And then she was rude to a robot belonging to the same group as the ones who killed her best friend/lover/etc.

She's pretty well written imo, of a traumatized character.

6
Billiamreply
lemmy.world

The question is whether the dislike of the character was because it was poorly written or poorly acted.

In this case I feel like Charlie was a well-written character who had a good arc (despite a touch of Mary Sue-itis) but Anne Winters' delivery was absolutely flat.

7

The Orville has literally some of the worst acting I've ever seen put onto film, and Seth's girlfriends were rarely bringing up the average. Seriously, it's like the half the cast was there specifically to make Travis Mayweather seem like an Emmy-winning tour-de-force.

The fact that it was so damn earnest and had a some good slush-pile scripts from Star Trek saved it overall, but nobody was watching The Orville for the acting, though Penney Jerald, Peter Macon, and Adrianne Palicki handled the material well.

11

Yeah, she was a bit rough at first, but I didn't have a problem with her, especially given her arc.

4

She should have, but plot. And also traumatized people irl have a habit of rejecting help

4

Me too!

But I understand why the writers had a hard time justifying Kira killing Keiko in cold blood.

4
fedia.io

Eh, the doctor character was the worst one to me. The religious woman was a character you were intended to dislike, but the doctor character I believe was intended to just be a curmudgeon who is generally good, except she wound up being extremely off putting instead.

7

She was supposed to be like Dr.McCoy from TOS. They were going for a Spock/McCoy type relationship between her and Data. Data was a far more autistic coded character than Spock plus there was a different dynamic because Spock was rejecting his human half and Data was striving to be more human so it mostly just came off as her being super abusive to a fan favorite character.

14

Something something transporter buffer reorganisation of the meat and for the finishing to doctor Crusher at sickbay.

2

Charlie.

The other two were intentionally contentious and had good actresses. Charlie was nothing more than a poorly written strawman

7
lemmy.world

I recognize the bottom two, but not the top one. Those uniforms look like The Orville but I don't recognize that character at all. But I also never watched S3 and it's been since they aired (5 years?) that I watched the first two seasons of that show.

Edit: Looks like I missed the comment saying who the top character is, which is from S3 of The Orville, so I guess I am out of the loop on this one.

6

I've said for years that we need one more episode of Celebrity Death match. Kai Winn vs Delores Umbridge.

6

I think Umbridge wins for me. Torturing kids feels worse than Kai Winn’s power grabbing machinations.

3
lemmy.world

Nah, celebrity deathmatch was a claymation show on MTV. The one I remember the most was Lucy Liu vs Lisa Ling. No one knows who won

1
lemm.ee

I hate Janeway, and the main reason is because whether or not she has any respect for the Prime Directive depends solely on "Will obeying this get my crew back home?"

If no, then yes If yes, then no

4

I love Janeway to death, it's just that she was put into the unenviable position of making tough choices for the needs of the many... or the brew.

18
lemm.ee

No, her prime directive was keeping her crew stranded and actively finding any pretentious moral excuse to pretend to justify it

If the show was realistic, she would have died very early on during a mutiny.... and Chakotay wouldn't be one of the most shocking racist characters I've seen in an 90's/2000's era TV show

2

Basically, Janeway would often get an offer "Do this and we'll send you and your crew back to where you come from." or a warning "Don't do this or we won't be able to send you and your crew back where you came from!"

And it always ended in Janeway going "I can't do this, it goes against everything I stand for!" or "But I MUST do this, not doing it goes against everything I stand for."

Even if the thing she "MUST DO or her crew won't go back home" is in direct contradiction with what she "MUST NOT DO or her crew can't go back her." last episode

Basically Janeway kept flip-flopping on her morals to the point where it legitimately seemed like she was TRYING to leave her crew stranded in a territory where she was actively making enemies of pretty much every faction she came across.

2

She did have some HFY moments though, like when those phased aliens were experimenting in the crew so she ordered the ship through The middle of those weird stars and killed them all.

Oh you want to make me crazy? I'll show you motherfuckers crazy. Imma channel my inner John Creighton you bastards.

3

Jelico was cool. After him Deanna has worn proper uniform. And it looked good on her.

3

Yeah Jellico was hated at first, but in retrospect, he was goddamn right about a lot of things

2

Honestly, Riker was kind of a little bitch with Jelico. Jelico may have been a little kurt, but he was mostly right.

1

Wait... holier-than-thou Kai Winn drinks beer!? TIL... and might need to rethink some life choices as a result. :-P

2