Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Today I've scheduled a busy day for myself. I'm up and into the office early this morning. This afternoon I'm going to get a haircut and visit Puja, and then I think I might go see Greenberg. I was thinking of seeing Kick-Ass because I've heard good things, but honestly, it just looks too stupid. Just like I heard good things about Ironman but that movie was horrible.

The following I wrote a couple months ago but never posted for some reason (or perhaps with-reason, if it bothers you).

5 Most Annoying characters on TNG

Weasly Crusher - An obvious choice. Supposedly this character is how Gene Roddenberry pictured himself as a kid in the star trek world, which really makes him more annoying. Almost every line makes you want to punch him.
Tasha Yar - Most people would skip right to Beverly or Troi because Tasha Yar was only in the first few episodes before they killed her off. But this character dominated the annoyingness aspect of the few episodes she was in. Constantly overly-macho. Like Worf, but without all the honor talk. And who goes through one-by-one and compliments everyone else at their own funeral?
Beverly Crusher - Maybe it's because she's Weasely's mother. Maybe it's because as the doctor she tries to mother everybody on the ship. Beverly is super annoying, and I would have fired her and replaced her with the holographic doctor after the first threat of "As your doctor I can order you to your quarters." That comes up at like every other encounter with the captain.
Deanna Troi - "I sense great anger." STFU Deanna. This character was ridiculous from the start. It might have worked as the ship's psychological counsellor (being on a ship for extended periods could be stressful). But the idea that she can sense feelings across thousands of miles of space (as she often does from the bridge of the Enterprise) always seemed silly. They might as well have added a witch doctor to the bridge crew.
Geordi LaForge - Usually Geordi blends into the background and isn't annoying, but occasionally there's an episode where he gets romantic about something or other. Sometimes socially inept engineer dates can be funny but Geordi is so disgustingly sincere that it's annoying. Surprisingly, I don't mind his whole "blindman's glasses" gimmick.

5 Most Entertaining characters on TNG
Worf - Worf is always the straight man, and I appreciate it. When the joke is dumb he comes out and says "You humans are strange" or he just grunts in resposne and I think exactly the same thing. The few episodes dealing with the Klingon aspects of his character are all pretty good. Even when he had a girlfriend and a kid, which would normally annoy me to no end with most characters, it wasn't too bad with Worf.
Picard - Obvious choice. I don't like the Dickson Hill episodes, any Picard+Weasley episodes, and any Picard gets romantic episodes, but all the other ones are pretty great. I saw an interview where Roddenberry said "At first we thought there was no way we could have a bald captain for the show, but thank God we cast him!" So, so true.
Q - Another obvious choice. Q is always good at making fun of the other characters. If only he was a more regular character on the show.
Data - Sometimes Data was annoying. Why he couldn't pronounce contractions doesn't make any sense, and every episode where he gets all autistic with his shipmates gets a little old. About half the time he is quite funny. The episode when he had a daughter was mildly annoying, so he's ranking at the bottom of this list.

Special mention: Lieutenant Barclay. I think he only appeared in like 4 episodes, but Barclay deals with social situations the way Geordi and Wesley should. He stutters and says weird things and can't focus, the way an engineer or science nerd with social issues should. But the writers, who don't understand engineers, instead play it off like general incompetence, and suddenly Barclay is just the embarassing fool that nobody wants to take on their away team. There was a funny moment when Picard heard Riker refer to him as Broccoli and told him to stop.

Picard: I speak now as the Captain of the USS Enterprise and Lieutenant Worf's commanding officer. You will not execute a member of my crew, nor will I turn his brother over to you.
K'mpec: This is not the Federation, Picard. If you defy an order of the High Council, the alliance with the Federation could fall to dust.
Picard: The alliance with the Federation is not based on lies, K'mpec. Protect your secrets, if you must. But you will not sacrifice these men.
(I should start ending all my episodes with Trek quotes)

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