The Neidermeyer: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Stop '''exploding''', you cowards!"''|'''Zapp Brannigan''', ''[[Futurama]]''}}

 

 

In more upbeat war shows, he's usually forced to learn [[An Aesop]] about his awful command style and adjust his behavior in a way that either changes him into [[A Father to His Men|a likable officer]] or results in his resignation, demotion, or [[Reassigned to Antarctica|transfer to a more suitable post]].

{{quote|'''Soldat''': Serjeant! I 'ave a bullet hole between mine eyes! May I seek le first aid?

'''Sergeant Guillotine''': Slackair! [[Only a Flesh Wound|Eet ees a superficial wound!]] Back to ze fight! }}

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'', Private "Gomer Pyle" blows away [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]], who had [[Break the Cutie|driven him into a psychotic breakdown]].

** Although, to be fair, Pyle wasn't a model soldier, and when he did show improvement, Hartman did commend him. Plus there was the other Marines throwing a "blanket party" for him involving beating the poor guy with bars of soap.

* In ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'', Major Powers is a good supply clerk with delusions of grandeur.

* C.J. is introduced in such a way in 2004's ''[[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)|Dawn of the Dead]]''.

* ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'': At least in the first movie, the fact that {{spoiler|everybody in the squad likes Sgt. Shaw despite him being The Neidermeyer}} is a major clue that something's going on.

 

* The ''[[Sharpe]]'' books were full of these. Some of them learned their lesson (kind of), some of them just ceased to be Sharpe's problem, and some were mercilessly bayoneted by their own troops.

** Sharpe himself was The Neidermeyer for a while, after he first became an officer. And yes, [[Unfriendly Fire|his men did attempt to kill him]]. Luckily for him, that's easier said than done.

** Given the rate of promotion in the [[Star Trek]] universe, could this be Lieutenant Styles from the Original Series episode "Balance of Terror"? If so, [[Fantastic Racism|he wasn't a very nice person back then, either]].

*** The lieutenant's name was spelt "Stiles", sadly.

** If this troper remembers correctly, said misfired missile had actually exploded and was tumbling back towards the launcher - keeping the other launch cells closed was a prudent thing to do; keeping on firing might have risked BOTH ships.

 

** Hawkeye and Winchester both had their opportunity to be Neidermeyers when given the chance to command. Pretty much anyone other than Blake or Potter in charge of the 4077th ends up as this trope. The difference between them and Burns is that these episodes set up an [[An Aesop]] about the difficulty of true leadership when the rest of the main cast calls them out on it, and they see the error of their ways.

* Colonel Crittendon on ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' is one of these. The Heroes' plans to murder him weren't entirely sarcastic.

* General Melchett from ''[[Blackadder|Blackadder Goes Forth]]''. Melchett is distraught by the death of his pigeon "Speckled Jim", yet blissfully uncaring about the fifty thousand men a week dying in the trenches. His bizarre tactics that help expedite the latter include "doing precisely what we've done eighteen times before" and "climbing out of [the] trenches and walking very slowly towards the enemy". Sadly, both are to some extent [[Truth in Television]].

* ''[[Generation Kill]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhGIFLWadEU "Follow My TRACERS!"]

{{quote|'''Marine #1:''' He's got his fucking bayonet out. [[Leeroy Jenkins|Doing his Rambo thing]].

** While Captain America embodies this trope in the HBO version, don't forget Sgt. Major John "Fucking" Sixta who has more power than either of them—and uses it to continually insist on personal grooming standards while allowing the company to abandon their ammo supply truck in enemy territory.

*** In the final episode, Sixta {{spoiler|reveals that his psychotic obsession with the men's grooming standards was a [[Genghis Gambit]] to give them an outlet for their stress.}}

** The first is Captain Herbert M. Sobel. Sobel is portrayed as a petty tyrant whose harsh training earns him resentment from the men under his command. This is because he isn't tough on them because he cares about them and wants to teach them to survive in war. He's only tough on them because he cares about making himself look good. While he is an effective leader in the garrison environment he proves to be very poor in the field. It is the catastrophic incompetence he shows in combat exercises that causes a number of his NCO's to flat out refuse to serve under his command.

*** Although his behavior sparked a literal mutiny, some soldiers later admitted that his training methods had been effective in a round-about way.

** ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' also had the ship's backup computer Queeg 500, who was installed for an episode when the crew got sick of Holly's incompetence. Queeg turned out to be so strict that even Rimmer got sick of him.

*** And then it turns out that Queeg was Holly all along.

** AND he makes Troi wear a real uniform instead of her bunny suit, an order Picard never rescinded.

*** To be fair, that may have been an order from Starfleet Command to the effect that all ship's counselors had to wear the standard uniform, and Jellico happened to be the one to break the news (although given his personality, he did so with less tact than one would expect). Neither officer would have the authority to rescind the order in that case.

* ''[[North and South US]]'' (the US one). Elkanah Bent treats Orry and George like scum. He gets Orry crippled by Mexican artillery. Orry cripples him, he murders Orry then George hangs him.

* In ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', Colonel Telford is The Neidermeyer in his early appearances. He utterly ignores not only the very immediate and life-threatening problems facing the crew in favor of the rules, but also completely ignores the fact that his [[Grand Theft Me|host body]] is in terrible shape the first time around. In the episode "Earth", he usurps Young's command (albeit on orders from higher up) and nearly gets the entire ship destroyed. To add insult to injury, he abandons ''Destiny'' while this happens ({{spoiler|which [[Magnificent Bastard|Dr. Rush]] had actually expected him to do and thus arranged the whole show just to make him look like an ass}}). Thankfully, this last one does not go unpunished; Young, having learned his lesson, never gives Telford the opportunity to try again, and burns him pretty good back on Earth for his actions.

** Subverted entirely later on, when it's revealed that {{spoiler|Lucian Alliance brainwashing is largely responsible for his behavior}}.

** No he doesn't, after that his suggestions get ignored and the people on the Destiny won't trust him anymore.

*** Don S. Davis, who played General Hammond, had prior military experience as a company-grade officer in real life, who had worked largely in administration at headquarters. He was quite familiar with how real-life generals actually behaved, how badly the scripts of TV shows generally departed from that standard, and was not shy about sharing his experience with the creative staff.

* Gordon Ramsay follows this trope in ''[[Hell's Kitchen]]'', and any of his American-produced shows. ''However'', Ramsay's behavior on the UK original of "Kitchen Nightmares" puts him much more in the ''[[Sergeant Rock]]'' personality trope. He may be harsh on the incompetent or misguided cooks, but he's doing it so the diners get the best experience and the cooks realize their own potential.

* Crashdown in ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' attempts to lead a squad on a hostile planet surface. [[Hilarity Ensues|Things go wrong]]. {{spoiler|He gets two of the squad killed then is shot ''by Gaius Baltar'' when attempting to force a needless suicide mission.}}

* Lieutenant Charles Marimow in ''[[The Wire]]'' is referred to as "The Unit Killer" and a man who "does not toss away talent lightly. He heaves it with great force."

** At a higher level, both Burress and Rawls are like this to the commanders beneath them, often using the COMSTAT meetings to berate and humiliate them for basically failing to win the drug war each month.

** Basically, he spends most of the series as this trope, then [[Character Development]] finally morphs him into [[Sergeant Rock]] late in the eighth season.

** Simmons during his brief stint as leader of the Blood Gulch Reds.

 

== Music ==

* Played for comedy in both videos by Twisted Sister: In "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT1LXhgXPWs We're Not gonna Take It]", The Neidermeyer is an irate dad; in "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRwrg0db_zY&feature=related I Wanna Rock]", the teacher is one. Either way, the guy ends up as the [[Butt Monkey]]. Note that both roles are played by [[Animal House|the original Neidermeyer]], Mark Metcalf.

** And The Neidermeyer father appears in one video by Lit.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Sergeant Snorkel in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''.

** Far more so Lt. Fuzz, whenever he gets the opportunity to command troops. Snorkel's men do respect him as a soldier - they just ''really'' don't want to be soldiers, and are rarely seen in the field (which for the strip means war games and exercises) where this becomes apparent. Fuzz tries to copy Snorkel's treatment of subordinates, and adds in his complete incompetence and desperation for recognition.

 

== Radio ==

* In ''[[The Navy Lark]]'' Captain Povey frequently falls into this category with his obsession for hounding the Troutbridge crew out of the Navy.

** To be fair, the crew of the Troutbridge are completely incompetent/derelict in their duties

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Captain Jasper Stone from ''[[Deadlands]]'' was a really bad version of this. He was shanked by his own troops in the Battle of Gettysburg... only to rise as an undead and become Death's right hand man.

* Excessively Righteous Blossom in ''[[Exalted]]''. His military career was marked by ''repeatedly'' getting a battalion whittled down to about company size, and he made it very clear to everyone who would listen that he viewed this as a result of the incompetence of his soldiers. Especially hilarious since he ''is'' very talented - at personal combat - but has exactly no ability to recognise what his talents ''are'', leading to both military and civilian careers [[Dwarf Fortress|crafted from incompetence and menacing with spikes of fail]].

 

== Video Games ==

* Due to the open ended nature of the story, it is entirely possible that both brothers in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' count as this. All of the mercs on both teams start haphazardly next to the other side, and can just run to battle in about 4 seconds, and everybody should die at least once. Given that the announcer seemed to be looking for this setup, it may be the brothers were intended to both become "the Neidermeyer".

* Lt. Cole Phelps of ''[[L.A. Noire]]'' is such a Niedermeyer that it actually winds up driving most of the game's plot. Cole [[Freak-Out|being paralysed with fear at a convenient moment]] ensured that he was the last man standing after a night fighting the Japanese on Okinawa, which made him a war hero and he rose rapidly through the LAPD as a result. His Marines, infuriated at this, decided to steal massive crates of guns and drugs from the military because they thought they deserved to get rewarded as well. {{spoiler|Cole's order to burn out an enemy cave that turned out to be a field hospital gives one of his men massive PTSD and he is later revealed as the serial arsonist. This also so enrages the unit's medic that he actually shoots Cole in the back and goes on to lead the aforementioned heist.}}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

'''The Emperor:''' Occupied? [[Hold Your Hippogriffs|What on Bleen]] were you doing other than [[Attack! Attack! Attack!|advancing the mighty flag of your sovereign]].

'''Bleen soldier:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|Screaming? Praying? ...fighting over the escape pods? The usual.]] }}

 

== Western Animation ==

* Zapp Brannigan of ''[[Futurama]]'', who's especially fond of saving himself by [[Redshirt Army|sacrificing those under his command]]. Samples:

{{quote|'''Bender''' (with his Patriotism Circuits activated): Sir, I volunteer for a suicide mission!

{{quote|'''Zapp''': Stop exploding, you cowards!"}}

{{quote|'''Zapp''': You see, Killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of ''[[Redshirt Army|my own men]]'' at them, until they reached their limit and shut down. Kif, show them the medal I won.

{{quote|'''Zapp''': Whatever it is, I'm willing to put wave after wave of men at your disposal. Right men?

''Dead silence''

{{quote|'''Zapp:''' We made it through, Kif. How many men did we lose?

'''Kif:''' All of them.

* In the Generation 1 ''[[Transformers]]'', Megatron was competent, but selfish. This and his ego led him to doing quite a few stupid things and even abandoning Devastator in one episode. To be fair, it's really Starscream that was made out to be incompetent by the cartoon's writers, though his comic and toy bios show that he is far more brilliant.

** The real gem, however, is Galvatron. This insane psychotic warfreak shot at his own troops and did more damage to his own army than the Autobots. Needless to say, if it weren't for a number of certain extenuating circumstances, the Decepticons would have recycled Galvatron a long time ago, no matter how powerful he was. Said circumstances mainly being that, because of the backstabbing treachery endemic in their ranks, the first thing that would happen when Galvatron got slagged would be civil war breaking out due to there being no clear-cut successor to Galvatron's rank. And this would doubtlessly be fatal to the Decepticons, due to them being stuck on a burned out world and barely scraping together enough fuel, parts and ammo to survive from day to day.

*** With regard to the slapping incident, the soldier in question was away from his unit without permission and legally Patton could have had him executed for desertion. What Patton did was the better option, albeit not the best one available.

** There is one story that the sailors aboard a US Navy vessel were lining up for geedunk(ice cream)when two Ensigns shouted "Make way for officers" and started shoving through. Whereupon [[Four-Star Badass|Admiral]] [[Father Neptune|Halsey]] who had been waiting his turn patiently with [[A Father to His Men|every other sailor]] shouted "Get back where you belong!" With appropriate sailorly adjectives no doubt.

** And how. For the link impaired, Holly Graf’s Neidermeyer behavior includes:

*** When approached for advice by a junior officer, Graf allegedly responded with “Don’t come to me with your problems. You’re a fucking department head”, and later “I can’t express how mad you make me without getting violent!”