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The best character transformations on TV

Joe Washington

Joe Washington

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
My favorites are Wesley from Angel and Walter White from Breaking Bad.

Wesley went from a bumbling bookish nerd to a rugged, tormented badass. Walter went from a mild-mannered family man who look like he wouldn't hurt a fly to a calculating drug dealer and master liar with some blood on his hands.

Which are your favorites?
 
Fox Mulder in the X-Files is my number one. He went from a self-loating, depressed man to a man who came to terms with his life and found someone he truly cared about. By the end of the series he was a much more satisfied person than when we first met him down in that basement and he informed us he was the FBI's most unwanted.

John Locke from LOST is my second. I don't want to comment too much on his arc yet, though, because the show is still ongoing.

Third is a tie between Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5. That played out quite masterfully.
 
I'm gonna have to go with Lee Adama from nuBSG. His character arc took him all over the place.

From the mini to the finale, he really evolved.

And, I'm going to have to mention Star Trek here and go with Worf's 13 year arc. (Encounter at Farpoint - What You Leave Behind)

Dude went from a growling background character to one of the most endearing characters in all of Trek.
 
Wesley from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"/"Angel", is definitively #1 in change.

Then, as someone pointed out, Mulder change,d but then again -- so did Scully.


And let us not forget Frasier Crane.
 
Tom Paris from Star Trek Voyager- from federation criminal and all around careless fuck up with zero care or worry for anyone else to respected federation member and devoted husband and father.
 
Wesley Windham-Price from Buffy/Angel definitely gets the award for this one. I'd also throw in other characters from the Buffyverse, such as Fred, Willow and Spike.

Trek characters such as Kira and Worf received a lot of development over the years.
 
Many of the characters in LOST would be on my list. John Locke for sure, but I personally feel a better example is Sawyer: initally a sarcastic wiseguy with a grim backstory and questionable methods, who shows warmer nuances to his personality such as his love of books and pop culture, works hard to win the love and respect of his new friends, and eventually becomes a reliable and trustworthy leader, a reasonably safe pair of hands, and a caring lover.
 
1. Londo/G'Kar - Babylon 5. These two characters essentially 'grew each other' in alot of ways, and therefore I don't think can be listed separately. They were responsible in large part for each other's growth, and both of them ultimately grew in a positive direction....although both got worse before they got better. Which I think only added to the growth.

2. James "Sawyer" Ford - LOST. Sawyer started out LOST as what was quite possibly the most selfish, self-serving, hostile, and downright mean-for-the-sake-of-it characters ever to hit prime time. This was a guy who went out of his WAY to do the wrong thing, just to hurt someone for no reason at all other than that it increased his rep for meanness and hostility. This was a guy who TRIED to be hated.

I won't say too much for fear of spoiling n00bs to LOST out there....but these days, Sawyer is pretty damn near a loyal, stand-up guy who even puts his life on the line for his friends. But as a bonus, he has not lost his quite formidable sense of humor in the process.

Interestingly, although others in this thread have listed Locke, I actually actively dislike his transformation and find him to be quite arrogant, bullying, and narrow-minded these days. I guess it's one of those transformations where 'your mileage may vary'. :lol:

Transformations 1 and 2 are so pronounced that it's barely worth mentioning any others. But I suppose some other ones would be -

Daniel Jackson - Stargate SG-1. Was always a nerd...but became a more 'socialized' nerd.

Kira Nerys - DS9. She became alot more trustful of the Federation...and alot less hostile in general as time went on.
 
I always liked the way Crais developed on Farscape. Made his and Talyn's sacrifice all the more powerful.
 
^ Good point. And you can't really mention Farscape without bringing up Aeryn Sun. She REALLY went through a transformation. In fact, she'd probably be my third choice after Londo/G'Kar and Sawyer.
 
The first thing I thought when I saw the thread was "I wonder how many people are going to pick Wesley" and then rolled my eyes.

I admit I'm not much of an Angel fan, but the overbearing warship the guy gets makes me want to vomit.
 
JonathonWally said:
And, I'm going to have to mention Star Trek here and go with Worf's 13 year arc. (Encounter at Farpoint - What You Leave Behind)

Dude went from a growling background character to one of the most endearing characters in all of Trek.
Click to expand...

So true.

It's a shame the morons behind Insurrection and Nemesis anally raped Worf of all he had gained in Deep Space Nine.
 
T'Baio said:
JonathonWally said:
And, I'm going to have to mention Star Trek here and go with Worf's 13 year arc. (Encounter at Farpoint - What You Leave Behind)

Dude went from a growling background character to one of the most endearing characters in all of Trek.
Click to expand...

So true.

It's a shame the morons behind Insurrection and Nemesis anally raped Worf of all he had gained in Deep Space Nine.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for the graphic picture of Worf...:vulcan:

Anyway, one character that I remember watching was Margaret Houlihan from M*A*S*H. She went from Frank's mistress and Henry's perpetual pain in the butt in the beginning to a very caring, less strict Head Nurse in the end.
 
I just finished watching all seven seasons of Buffy for the first time, but have yet to watch Angel, so I'm interested to see what they do with Wesley's character.

For me, it has to be the twelve-year transformation of NYPD Blue's Andy Sipowicz. At the beginning of the series, he was a racist, alcoholic asshole who'd just had his badge taken away, and the pilot episode left him comatose in the hospital after the gangster he'd been harassing put six slugs in him. Twelve years later, he's a family man, he's wiser, sober, a mentor, and ultimately the commander of the detective squad. Yeah, he's still an asshole, but that's part of his charm. Dennis Franz earned all four of the Emmys he won for the role, and he really brought to life one of the best characters on TV.
 
PKTrekGirl said:
And you can't really mention Farscape without bringing up Aeryn Sun.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Aeryn, G'Kar from B5, Kerr Avon from B7 and David and Claire from Six Feet Under are the standouts for me. They were all very different people by the end of the shows in which they appear than they were at the beginning.
 
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