I must have been alone in my watching the various TV shows with sarcastic leads...
Cut the quips
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
- Start date
Not all.
Heck, I remember Kirk and Spock trading funny repartee while under fire on Cestus III or while blowing up that arms depot on Organia. And certainly Chekov was often good for a wry remark or two, when he wasn't humorously giving Mother Russia credit for all that was good.
Meanwhile, I'm suddenly flashing back to an interview with screenwriter John Sayles I read back in the eighties, where he explained that the characters in THE HOWLING kept making wisecracks, even though it was a horror movie, because in real life people often try to relieve tension by cracking wise in unnerving situations, so it only made sense that horror-movie characters would do the same.
Same with facing danger on the Final Frontier, I figure.
Which is realistic.
James Bond has been quipping since the 60s.
It's not a modern thing to be humorous.
It's not a Marvel thing either.
It's a very human thing, which is what Star Trek is supposed to be all about.
It's not a modern thing to be humorous.
It's not a Marvel thing either.
It's a very human thing, which is what Star Trek is supposed to be all about.
At the risk of channeling my inner curmudgeon, I'm bemused by the idea that heroes tossing off breezy quips while in peril is some new Marvel thing.
Heck, that was pretty much the default when I was growing up in the sixties, watching shows like WILD WILD WEST, MAN FROM UNCLE, and (especially) THE AVENGERS with John Steed and Emma Peel. Steed and Peel often seemed to be having a grand time old time investigating cases of murder and mayhem, sipping champagne and throwing off bon mots right and left.
And going back even further, check out classic adventure films and thrillers like GUNGA DIN (1939), NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), etc.
It's not some pernicious new trend.
Heck, that was pretty much the default when I was growing up in the sixties, watching shows like WILD WILD WEST, MAN FROM UNCLE, and (especially) THE AVENGERS with John Steed and Emma Peel. Steed and Peel often seemed to be having a grand time old time investigating cases of murder and mayhem, sipping champagne and throwing off bon mots right and left.
And going back even further, check out classic adventure films and thrillers like GUNGA DIN (1939), NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), etc.
It's not some pernicious new trend.
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I'll be right there with you as far as being an inner curmudgeon, and I'm not even that old (yet). I'm sitting there going, I recall all my favorite TV shows having little quips, asides, jokes, and banter in some way, manner or form. So, this idea of it being a Marvel concept is one that makes me raise an old man eyebrow at it.
Invoking Marvel movies to complain about something one does not like in audiovisual storytelling has become the go-to of intellectually lazy criticism.
Is this like calling every bandage a Band-Aid?
Also, to be fair to the critics, especially plynch, I don't think it's necessarily an automatic laziness. I think it comes down to "This isn't working for me and I can't quite pin down why. Maybe it's because of this and it's like that other thing I don't like."
I'm loving the Golden Age of Marvel Movies (and TV shows). As somebody who grew up on Marvel Comics, I feel like I've been waiting my entire life for this pop-cultural moment. My teenage self would have been amazed to hear that someday the likes of Dr. Strange and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch and, yes, Morbius the Living Vampire would be movie stars.
(Says the guy who has also written seven novels for Marvel, plus a handful of short stories.)
(Says the guy who has also written seven novels for Marvel, plus a handful of short stories.)
I've actually found it common that when people want to complain about snarky sarcastic dialogue, they compare them to whatever current popular property noted for sarcastic quips. Case in point, I remember years ago, someone complaining about Peter David novels having "Joss Whedon style dialogue." Despite the fact Peter David's been known for his snarky dialogue long before Whedon was famous. These comparisons have even happened to Whedon himself, where I remember one time someone complaining about Firefly saying "all the characters talk like Jack O'Neill." Despite the fact that Whedon wrote sarcastic characters well before Stargate SG-1 was even on the air.
For what it's worth, because he's one of my favourite things, Shakespeare wrote quipping characters several centuries ago.
That's how modern it is.
Indeed and well said.
Yep. Or Steven Moffat writing sarcastic characters who drop one-liners into Doctor Who being a new thing for that show (somehow).
That's how modern it is.
Indeed and well said.
Yep. Or Steven Moffat writing sarcastic characters who drop one-liners into Doctor Who being a new thing for that show (somehow).
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My sister, who watches the show regularly, has complained of this. She had once compared this trend to the last 20 minutes or so of "From Russia With Love", which the both of us have always found annoying.
Indeed. TOS was full of quips. Fans wore the sayings on lapel buttons at conventions in the 70s.
But SNW shouldn't have quips because it is supposed to remind us of TOS.
I personally consider these 'one-liners' rather than quips. Like action hero one-liners, and boy did Janeway have good one-liners..... "TIME'S.....UP!" -delivered with no irony whatsoever.
As for SNW, the quippiness is all part of the wonderful package. More quips, I say! This is a group of sassy, professional friends. They're gonna be goofy sometimes.
The delivery of quips on SNW is so natural with the cast. Ortegas says a lot of the kinds of things Tom Paris would say in VOY, like if whomever they're talking to over the viewscreen is a big jerk, they could both say, "Nice guy!" and it'd be funny for me from Ortegas and just...kind of a slight eye roll with Tom.
"Give my regards to Captain Dumbass!" - Red "Annorax" Forman
Couldn't disagree more. Makes the characters seem more human. It's also very much in line with the TOS era they have set the series in.
If I wanted interchangeable banal and boring dialogue, I'd go back and watch TNG.
In the future, humanity will have evolved beyond the need for quips and pithy humour.
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