Worst Character Assassination Episodes

[DonIago]

The same that puts kids on starships facing destruction every other week...

To be fair, if the alternative is leaving your kids elsewhere for months or years at a time (especially if you go by TNG's original premise), I can't blame parents for wanting to bring their kids with them.

Besides, it's not as though planets in Trek are necessarily any safer. At least a starship can get out of the way of danger when it's not busy putting itself in the way of danger.

 

[Swedish Borg]

To be fair, if the alternative is leaving your kids elsewhere for months or years at a time (especially if you go by TNG's original premise), I can't blame parents for wanting to bring their kids with them.

Besides, it's not as though planets in Trek are necessarily any safer. At least a starship can get out of the way of danger when it's not busy putting itself in the way of danger.

Not when Deanna is at the wheel...

 

[Orphalesion]

The same that puts kids on starships facing destruction every other week...

But the thing is, the majority of the time the Enterprise was a safe place to be at. We only saw a small part of the seven years that passed during the series. It stands to reason that we saw the interesting/dramatic part, and even so the ship and its crew weren't in mortal danger every week.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not when Deanna is at the wheel...

Ooh, a joke about Deanna crashing ships. How 2003 of you.

 

[Swedish Borg]

But the thing is, the majority of the time the Enterprise was a safe place to be at. We only saw a small part of the seven years that passed during the series. It stands to reason that we saw the interesting/dramatic part, and even so the ship and its crew weren't in mortal danger every week.

Do we know how many crewmen were killed during that time?

Speaking of cheats. In Genesis when the whole crew had been turned into beasts, the kids would have been the first victims...unless for some reason they were all sent away at the time. Imagine ugly beasts like whatever Worf was, neanderthal Riker and spider Barclay roaming the corridors while unattended children were there as well...

 

[Farscape One]

I've always been torn on Geordi during 'Interface' because I always felt the petulant chair banging just wasn't him. Also, it obviously wasn't his mother and I couldn't understand why Geordi would actually believe it was, he was too intelligent and experienced for that.

Geordi is very smart and not given to flights of fancy, but I would argue against this episode with him being out of character. His mom is missing, so it's going to cloud his judgment. It's unreal to expect anyone to not be emotional at that time. Frankly, if he was not emotional and not trying to save her, I'd say he was a terrible son. This episode may not have been great, but it certainly didn't assassinate his character.

If nothing else, it indicates which captain handled the Maquis most effectively...

Picard: Sends a deep cover operative to infiltrate the organization. She promptly betrays him and joins them for real.
VERDICT: Accomplished nothing except costing Picard a valued officer.

Sisko: Loses one friend to the Maquis, then is betrayed by a colleague. Said colleague then causes so much trouble, Sisko finds it necessary to poison a planet to stop him.
VERDICT: Broke the bio-war plan and took a very effective Maquis member out of play, but... poisoning a freaking PLANET?!

Janeway: Added a ship with about 30 Maquis to her own ship's company. Had them eating out of her hand in a year.
VERDICT: I think we have a winner.

I actually disagree... Sisko handled them most effectively. And for a very basic reason.

The Maquis on Voyager had only ONE way to get home... stay aboard. Later in the series, Chakotay even said that the Maquis never forgot who they were. So Janeway can't really be credited with taming the Maquis... they simply went along with the situation because they had no other options.

 

[Farscape One]

Hi. I'm bethrothed to Farscapeone. Please note that "The Quality of Life" irredeemably assassinated Data's character. I am not here to dispute this. I am here to decree it.

 

[Oddish]

I'm not sure I would not dispute it anyway.

 

[Weyoun 251]

Ooh, a joke about Deanna crashing ships. How 2003 of you.

The joke may be old hat, and arguably is poor taste due to the implications (same as Voyager with the female captain got lost going for a drive stuff) but I'm sure on the old FC VHS extras Marina Sirtis does at least make a similar joke herself.

Still not very 2021 but at least it has some mitigation

 

[DonIago]

I'm not sure I would not dispute it anyway.

I'll dispute it, or at least ask for clarification: How did "The Quality of Life" assassinate the character of Data?

 

[cooleddie74]

Didn't he commit himself to proving the exocomps had sentience and were thus worthy of recognition and legal protection within the Federation much like he'd been granted? That seems like a very Data thing to do. I'd be baffled to hear why that episode assassinated his character. He was always fascinated by the possibility of other intelligent artificial life forms such as himself and his brothers.

 

[Nerys Myk]

You forget that back then there were no photographs, no newspapers, in fact, most people couldn't read. Most news was delivered orally by itinerant merchants...

When he tried to flee France, Louis The XVIth was recognized because of a coin!!! And also because he looked rich and used to lots of ancillary help...

The printing press was invented in 1440. France's La Gazette was founded in 1631, almost four decades before the Man in the Iron Mask was arrested.

Before the advent of the printed Gazette, reports on current events usually circulated as hand-written papers (nouvelles à la main). La Gazette quickly became the center of France for the dissemination of news, and thus an excellent means for controlling the flow of information in a highly centralized state.[2] Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII were frequent contributors,[3] and until the revolution the magazine was frequently read by the nobility and aristocracy.

People have been drawing images since we were in caves. Using woodcut and other methods to duplicate drawings were around in the 17th Century, too.

Because woodcuts and movable type are both relief-printed, they can easily be printed together. Consequently woodcut was the main medium for book illustrations until the late sixteenth century.

It was the 17th Century. The French Renaissance , not the Middle Ages.

 

[DonIago]

Didn't he commit himself to proving the exocomps had sentience and were thus worthy of recognition and legal protection within the Federation much like he'd been granted? That seems like a very Data thing to do. I'd be baffled to hear why that episode assassinated his character. He was always fascinated by the possibility of other intelligent artificial life forms such as himself and his brothers.

Exactly. It's essentially "Measure of a Man" writ small...no exocomp size puns intended.

 

[Farscape One]

I agree with you.

However, my wife felt that Data, 'essentially ready to let his captain and his best friend die on a maybe'. (I was paraphrasing my wife.)

Data is her favorite character from TNG, too, but she feels she has to forget that episode for his image to not be tainted.

I will say his actions at the station are difficult to defend, because what if the exocomps didn't agree to going over? We'll never know because the series was structured in a way that we would not lose either Picard or Geordi. Another point... she felt that it suspended disbelief that Data not only didn't suffer any consequences for disobeying a direct order from Riker, but Picard himself glossed it over as a compliment.

(I still don't think it hurts his character, but I am very biased because Data has always been my favorite character in scifi and I am more willing to overlook things on him than other favorite characters.)

 

[Swedish Borg]

The printing press was invented in 1440. France's La Gazette was founded in 1631, almost four decades before the Man in the Iron Mask was arrested.

People have been drawing images since we were in caves. Using woodcut and other methods to duplicate drawings were around in the 17th Century, too.

It was the 17th Century. The French Renaissance , not the Middle Ages.

That proves nothing.

The man in an iron mask had to be well-known or the mask would make very little sense. Drawings are not photographs. It took a long time to travel. at least a month to go from the north part to the south part of the country. So it's likely that people were drawing things that they did not witness personally.

La Gazette was a medium for the royalists, people who had very little interest in the third estate (IE most of the people). Plus you talk as if there were thousands of copies of it around when it was a very small circulation( a hundred copies at most). hardly a dozen in the beginning when it was written... BY HAND!!!

IOW you've proved nothing. You made a ton of assumptions that were mostly exaggerations and sometimes completely wrong to make it seem like you've proved your point when nothing could be further from the truth.

It's likely that a great number of people knew what the face of the king was like, with a delay of several years, but anybody else would be only known by a select few of people... You're thinking like someone who's used to a plethora of media! You can't put yourself in the position of someone in a world where literacy was rare and true-to-life drawings of people even rarer.

 

[Orphalesion]

Apparently, there was a concern that the unfortunate twin could conspire to take the place of his brother hence the man in an iron mask legend.

But the thing is... If they had been twins, then it wouldn't have mattered which one ascends to the throne, since they would have both been heirs of the dynasty.
And royal families from the time actively tried to have multiple boys, so that the succession would be secured even if some of them died(which children were likely to do before modern times)
So the French royal family would have never just dumped a spare heir into prison and obscurity out of some groundless fear that the younger twin migth try to ursurp his brother, especially not before his character was known. If he had proven to be problematic as he grew up, they would have just pressured him to take vows and become a Bishop (and maybe Pope)

 

[Nerys Myk]

That proves nothing.

It proves that there were newspapers, illustration, people who read and propaganda being spread through the country in the 17th Century in counter to your claim.

You forget that back then there were no photographs, no newspapers, in fact, most people couldn't read. Most news was delivered orally by itinerant merchants...

 

[1001001]

IOW you've proved nothing. You made a ton of assumptions that were mostly exaggerations and sometimes completely wrong to make it seem like you've proved your point when nothing could be further from the truth.

I've already told you once before...you are unnecessarily hostile. Dial it back.

You post an awful lot too. Something like 1,000 posts a month since you started. Maybe slow down, or take a break from the board once in a while. Might help.

In any event, you're going to start getting formal warnings if you don't stop with the aggression.

 

[Oddish]

Later in the series, Chakotay even said that the Maquis never forgot who they were. So Janeway can't really be credited with taming the Maquis... they simply went along with the situation because they had no other options.

Taming and assimilation aren't the same thing. Remember "Worst Case Scenario"? Even though the Maquis were rebels already, the events of that episode didn't happen. None of them even jumped ship in "The 37's".

 

[Swedish Borg]

I've already told you once before...you are unnecessarily hostile. Dial it back.

You post an awful lot too. Something like 1,000 posts a month since you started. Maybe slow down, or take a break from the board once in a while. Might help.

In any event, you're going to start getting formal warnings if you don't stop with the aggression.

I respectfully disagree. What you interpret as hostility is simply an opinion. Maybe I could change my prose to make it seem less hostile by adding a modifier here and there. Would that be more acceptable?