The Scrappy/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions
m
no edit summary
mNo edit summary |
mNo edit summary |
||
Line 204:
* Lana Lang from ''[[Smallville]]''. Many people who watch the show also consider her a [[Creator's Pet]], because the writers seem to refuse to do anything interesting with her character that contributes positively to the story.
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' had Ezri Dax, the seventh season's [[Replacement Scrappy]], who filled in after Jadzia was killed.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'':
** First, the elephant in the room, Dr. Pulaski:
*** She replaced Wesley's mother as the ship's doctor for a single season before fan outcry got them to bring Dr. Crusher back. Not only was she a [[Replacement Scrappy]], but the writers made a major miscalculation in their attempt to make her a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of [[The McCoy|Dr. McCoy]] from the original series. Since McCoy's arguments with Spock were such a fan favorite aspect of the character, the writers tried to duplicate it by having Pulaski take a dislike to [[The Spock|Data]] and toss him similar insults about being so logical all the time. Unfortunately, unlike Spock (who routinely gave as good as he got, and seemed to actually enjoy the battle of wits as much as a Vulcan would allow themselves to enjoy anything), Data couldn't even really understand that he was being insulted and never responded in kind, so Pulaski came off as a bully who kept picking on Data because he couldn't fight back.
*** Further, while it's still sorta rude (or, rather, it would be entirely rude ''if'' Spock ever actually chose to take offense) it's not ''horrible'' for McCoy to insult Spock because McCoy's seriously punching uphill here. Vulcans are the co-dominant species of the Federation, and for that matter helped ''found'' the Federation. Also, nobody would cite Spock's being a Vulcan as a reason to remove him from command given that Vulcans are the second-most common species in Starfleet after humans. And on an individual level, Spock outranks McCoy and Spock's father is Vulcan's ambassador to the Federation High Council, meaning Spock is in absolutely no fear of political or career consequences to anything. Data, on the other hand, is ''not'' the Enterprise's First Officer and so doesn't have seniority on the Chief Medical Officer. Furthermore, he has no influential relatives, routinely goes through ''genuine'' prejudice over his status as an android, and actually has officers questioning if Data can do things like make command decisions or care for small children. At the time in which Pulaski was on the ship, Data wasn't even being recognized as a sentient being, and thus had none of the rights that would entail. In short, the target of McCoy's jibes is not only entirely indifferent but is also in a position where the only person McCoy could get in trouble is himself. Pulaski, meanwhile, is dumping crap on someone in no position to defend themselves, and who arguably lacks the mental capacity to deal with it emotionally at all. Keeping all this in mind, Pulaski's slamming of Data's cold logic making him inferior to humans just makes her look like a bigot.
*** Making all of the above even worse is the fact that an elderly Admiral McCoy actually ''met'' Data briefly (in the TNG pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint")... and was entirely respectful and polite to him. Furthermore, in his conversation with Data he actually compares him to a Vulcan and in the process of doing so emphasizes that Spock was an honored and beloved friend 'even if he was damned annoying at times'. A more direct contrast to Pulaski's bullshit would be harder to imagine. That this was also DeForest Kelley's final appearance as McCoy, the note he chose to exit the series on, only underlines it yet again.
*** [[Creator's Pet|Pulaski was also regularly cited by other characters as having a very kind and compassionate personality]]. Her treatment of Data says otherwise. On that note, it should be mentioned that she didn't only insult him directly; in her earlier appearances, she repeatedly talked about him in the third person while he was in the room and ran a scanner over him the same way one would run a scanner over an indistinct object, chemical, or other substance. [["It" Is Dehumanizing|Oh, and she called him "it."]] This is basically the most rotten and degrading thing you can do to someone without actually resorting to physical violence; her implication was that she considered him to be no more worthy of respect than the matter replicator.
*** Not even getting into the political status/power argument, Vulcans are ''capable'' of emotions, though they control/suppress them, and can be a bit haughty about it. ''Data,'' however, was ''physically incapable of feeling emotion'', and not only didn't have any issue with others feeling emotion, often wished that he ''could'' experience it himself. So Pulaski was basically ''tormenting a disabled person for her own amusement.'' Maybe she should have been on [[Villain Protagonist|Voyager]].
*** And that's just her treatment of Data; she constantly interrupted everyone else, ''including'' the captain of the ship, threw her opinions out without thinking of the consequences, practically bullies the crew into doing what she wants, even at the risk to herself, them, and/or the ship...let's just say that if she isn't related to Janeway, in some capacity, it would be a profound shock.
*** A major problem with her portrayal was that the writers seemed to think that all you needed to make a TNG version of Dr. McCoy was to make the character abrasive. They missed the fact that Bones was also a very close friend of Kirk and Spock, was loved and respected by the entire crew, and had served with them for years. In other words, he'd ''earned'' the right to occasionally act like a jerk. No one would ever question his loyalty or respect for the crew, even if he was curt with them much of the time. Whereas Pulaski, as the newest member of the TNG crew, came off as an arrogant newcomer who had never proven herself yet expected others to instantly think the world of her.
*** McCoy also leavened his moments of abrasiveness with moments of strong friendship and emotional support -- both to Kirk ''and'' to Spock. In McCoy's case, being compassionate and empathetic was not an [[Informed Attribute]]. In Pulaski's case... see above.
** Reginald Barclay was a character designed to be a [[Black Sheep]] who didn’t fit in with the rest of the crew. Unfortunately, the writers did that far too well. His character orchestrated a lot of great moments, mostly via the Holo-Deck (seeing the main cast as swashbuckling characters was a great scene) but in every great scene he was a part of, he only succeeded in making everyone else look great. Barclay himself was… lame. Still, he did much better on Voyager.
** And, of course, there's Wesley Crusher. See the [[Creator's Pet]] page for more.
** Lwaxana Troi has a few fans and had a few good moments, like the the episode “Dark Page”, but others like “The Muse”, “Manhunt”, and “Fascination” presented her as simply annoying. Most of the time she was simply Deanna’s [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parent|Amazingly Embarrassing Mother]] (often embarrassing Captain Picard in the process), and an [[Attention Whore]]. Overbearing and brash, loud to the point of obnoxious, with little concern for anyone but herself, there was little that made her appeal to fand.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'':
** Neelix.
Line 223 ⟶ 226:
** Chakotay has this among American Indian Trekkies for [[Ethnic Scrappy]] [[Magical Native American|reasons]].
** The entire Kazon species basically constituted one of these on the first two seasons of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''; while nearly every other alien species on [[Star Trek]] gets some measure of character development, the Kazon were ''never'' depicted as anything other than [[Card-Carrying Villain|moustache-twirling badguys]]. And in spite of the fact that the entire species seemed to be rock-stupid and technologically backwards, ''Voyager'' somehow managed not only to keep running into them, but to keep running into the ''same'' ones. Later in the series, the writers themselves took shots at the Kazon by revealing that the Borg took a pass on assimilating them on the grounds that doing so would undermine their perfection. Their role as a major power in the Delta quadrant seems an [[Ass Pull]] as well. On the first episode they are shown, they are depicted as a small nomadic slave-trading tribe always on the move to find vital water supplies... but the minute Neelix pisses them off, out comes the armada of Voyager-level warships always on the Voyager's tail. It's almost like refusing change to a bum on the subway only to find you pissed off [[The Godfather|Don Corleone.]]
** [[Tagalong Kid|Naomi Wildman]] was a case of [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character]]. On the surface, Naomi was a chilling reminder of the situation the crew was in, and the possibility that, if the Voyager ever made it home, it would be the children or even grandchildren of the current crew who would be manning it. Sadly, that was really the only thing she did, other than occasionally say something to help a member of the main cast remember something they forgot. This was a case where the idea was sound, the execution of it was poor.
* Narissa from ''[[Star Trek: Picard]]''. It would be easy to call this character "the Evil Romulan Lady", but the trouble there is, that's the usual moniker given to the Romulan Commander from the OS episode "The Enterprise Incident", and ''she'' is a memorable, likeable, three-dimensional character, unlike whats-her-name from this series. Again the fault of the writers, as Peyton List tried hard trying to eek out a personality in a flat role that gave her nothing to work with. The Admonition storyline seemed to open her to some character development, but it came and went quickly. Even her death after a fight with Seven of Nine (who, ironically, was on her own way to being [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap]] by then) seemed bland and anti-climatic. Still, ''Star Trek'' is often a series where [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]], so there ''might'' be some chance she'll return and improve as a character... maybe...
* ''[[Supernatural]]'':
| |||