He's always been an arrogant ass.
Hell, in that very episode, he acts like he's the only doctor in history who's ever lost a patient or had to decide who to treat.
Worst Character Assassination Episodes
- Thread starter Oddish
- Start date
He's always been an arrogant ass.
Hell, in that very episode, he acts like he's the only doctor in history who's ever lost a patient or had to decide who to treat.
He's always been an arrogant ass.
Hell, in that very episode, he acts like he's the only doctor in history who's ever lost a patient or had to decide who to treat.
Honestly, I sympathize with the Doctor somewhat. He was programmed with a triage subroutine, in which he would calculate a patient's age, value to the crew, chance of survival, effort involved in saving them, and sacrifice regarding other patients. After averaging all that, he would make a decision on who to save and who to sacrifice. Had the cases been unequal, it would have been a simple matter. Had Harry had a higher chance of living, or been a lot younger, or had unique skills that made him more essential, the Doc would have saved him, with no issues whatsoever.
Problem is, Harry and the other ensign had identical injuries, identical chances at survival, and they were both young. There was no clear choice, and so the Doctor's triage subroutines were at a loss. So, he ignored them and used his emerging humanity to choose instead. However, this created a conflict in his programming, causing him to lose his mind. Like HAL 9000, when he was instructed to lie.
The reason I regard it as assassination is that he didn't just accept that the erasure of his memories was an essential life-saving treatment, like removing an inflamed appendix. He thanks Janeway for saving his life, and moves on.
Speaking of Janeway, I think of Endgame as a serious assassination episode, given the sheer number of lives she changes or obliterates in that episode... she wasn't willing to have Q's kid to get Voyager home, but she wipes decades of history and dozens of lives... seems like her motivation was a little skewed.
If I recall correctly, in Nothing Human,Torres is virtually certain to die if she doesn't get the treatment quickly and Doc simply can't develop one of his own in time without the help of the Cardassian hologram. So the choice is to act now or lose her.
In the case of the EMH in Latent Image, there's no certainty what will happen once Janeway decides to take the risk. He could recover, or he could not. Turns out they simply rebooted him too quickly the previous times and he could recover and even grow from the experience.
And even if he didn't recover within a month or so, they still could have rebooted him and they would be no worse off, so in that sense there was no urgency to make the decision at that very moment. Which made it safe to at least try the EMH's request; a fundamentally different situation compared to that of Nothing Human. (Of course they should have inserted a line about some damage to the EMH being 'irreversible' if they didn't act right now, but AFAIK, they didn't.)
Tuvix, of course is a minefield of its own, not going there
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Archer in Cogenitor is the first thing that comes to my mind. He acted like a total dick to Trip, who was absolutely right.
Also, Picard in Homeward and Janeway in Repentance.
They acted in the most inhuman way possible in those episodes. Oh sorry, they just respected the Prime Directive, my bad...
Also, Picard in Homeward and Janeway in Repentance.
Gotta agree here, Janeway's portrayal was often written somewhat uneven, but that episode ruined her. Especially since she set such an arbitrary date and, for example, couldn't even bother going back two weeks more to save Carry (a father of two) just because he wasn't one of her "favourites"
The worst character assassination happens in the third season of TOS. All the characters and their relationships are are slightly off.
Kirk is too passive and doesn't drive the action. Spock is just a pedantic asshole to everyone. And McCoy is just a cantankerous contrarian prick in any given situation.
If DC Fontana had stuck around, she'd have fixed a lot of those issues.
Kirk is too passive and doesn't drive the action. Spock is just a pedantic asshole to everyone. And McCoy is just a cantankerous contrarian prick in any given situation.
If DC Fontana had stuck around, she'd have fixed a lot of those issues.
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Or maybe some small butterfly was killed at the end of “Assignment: Earth” and season 3 takes place
in an alternate timeline.
Plus there was no Prime Directive in existence at the time of "Cogenitor(ENT)" so we have to grade interference on a curve due to the Earth Starfleet not having a definite set of rules of conduct for crew out on the fringes of known space.
True, that always irked me as well. And even though I it's possible to think up some head canon excuse (e.g. the could only travel to specific points in the past), it's still lame.
Honestly, in my head-canon the series finale of Voyager just doesn't exist. They found some other, less stupid way to get home.
Did you get that from Lynx?
Well, she couldn't/ wouldn't go back to a point in time where Seven had not arrived on board.
But yes, Endgame is highly problematic for me.
I got it from somewhere.
VOY: "Resolutions"
At this point in the series, Chakotay not only still has a war to return home to finish fighting (or at least thinks he does), but he has an entire crew of lost Maquis missing their commander, and he currently thinks Seska is carrying his son. At with NO hesitation, he giddily surrenders to the idea of living on New Earth with "Katheryn" for the rest of his life. His "Angry Warrior" story even spells out that he wants to spend the rest of his life as Janeway's subserviently boy-toy. Insulting to Chakotay's character. Not to mention an unhealthy idea of relationship to be pushing on the--let's face it--largely romantically-challenged Trekkie population. It's like watching a bad fanfiction, where Janeway is Mary-Sued like crazy. (Jeri Taylor was somewhat notorious for that.)
VOY: "Before and After"
I have such mixed feelings about this episode. Because honestly, it's a damn good episode. It's fascinating. But god, the Tom/Kes marriage is gag-inducing. It's far-fetched enough to believe that out of a ship of 150 people, the best matches for Tom and Kes after B'Elanna and Neelix stop being options is each other. But the way Tom fawns over Kes-- "I thought the day we got married was the happiest day of my life, but each day just kept getting better and better!"--Jeezus. Unless you interpret that as Tom just desperately trying to cheer up his dying, senile wife, and not really meaning everything he says. Otherwise, it sounds like a die-hard Kes stan wrote it.
(Amusingly, as soon as B'Elanna gets back into the picture, the episode does a 180, having her come up with the solution to Kes's time-traveling dilemma right on the spot, emphasizing how badass she is and how screwed Voyager was without her. It's like the first half of the episode was written by a Kes stan, and then a B'Elanna fan flew in to save the rest of the story.)
DS9: "The Darkness and the Light"
Brave, selfless Kira Nerys willingly and deliberately endangers the life of the O'Brien's baby, the one she volunteered to be a surrogate mother for, specifically to save said baby's life. (Side note; I'm very pro-choice, but she was like, half a week away from giving birth by this point; so it's a "baby.")
Worst of all, Kira gives birth in the VERY NEXT EPISODE. Ignoring how awful her attitude toward Miles in that episode looks after what she did to his son in this one, why the heck couldn't the writers have just waited until AFTER Kira's character gave birth to do the "Darkness and the Light" episode? I don't understand it, and it butchers one of my favorite DS9 characters.
DS9: The One Where Odo Fraks Himself-With-Tits
I don't know which specific episode in the Dominion War arc this was, and I don't care. All that matters is that Odo--the CONSTABLE of DS9--you know, whose entire career revolves around ensuring the safety of everyone on the station--decides to endanger everyone under his watch: the thousands of civillians he took an oath to protect, his fellow officers, his friends, his love interest Kira, and oh yeah, the entire frelling quadrant, and for what?
Sex.
With another Odo.
That has tits.
I'm not exaggerating. If you aren't familiar with DS9, Google "Odo," and then Google "Female Changeling." She is LITERALLY him with tits.
And apparently Odo's ego is so through the roof that he cannot resist himself-with-tits, even when everything he values and holds dear is on the line.
DS9 "Time's Orphan"
Keiko O'Brien was always a flawed human being. But here, she does/says something heinous. Her young daughter Molly has fallen through a time portal, and grown up alone in the jungle on an alien planet for like 15 years. The traumatized, Tarzan-ized young woman is reunited with her parents, unable to speak or control her rages. The O'Briens are told an EASY solution, that will undo this timeline and restore little Molly to her proper age, so she can live a decent life. And Keiko says, "This IS our Molly. We don't have the right to take these last 12 (or whatever) years away from her."
As an L.D. person whose parents ignored the urges of teachers and counselors begging to get me tested and treated, this hits me hard. Refusing to let your child experience full awareness and independence, because you want to make some philosophical point to the universe, is disgusting. I'll never forgive Keiko for that.
TNG "Relics"
The way EVERYONE treats Scotty seems very cold, for an old man that was just freed from decades in transporter limbo, who's just learned all his friends are long dead. But this old man is SCOTTY. It's like if NASA discovered Neal Armstrong frozen in carbonite, and none of the NASA workers found anything interesting or remarkable about him. Most ludicrous of all is Geordie, the engineer. Scotty should be to Geordie what Kirk is to captains.
Later in the movie "First Contact," Geordie wastes no time fangirling over Zefram Cockblock or whatever his name is. But he doesn't care about meeting Scotty?
At this point in the series, Chakotay not only still has a war to return home to finish fighting (or at least thinks he does), but he has an entire crew of lost Maquis missing their commander, and he currently thinks Seska is carrying his son. At with NO hesitation, he giddily surrenders to the idea of living on New Earth with "Katheryn" for the rest of his life. His "Angry Warrior" story even spells out that he wants to spend the rest of his life as Janeway's subserviently boy-toy. Insulting to Chakotay's character. Not to mention an unhealthy idea of relationship to be pushing on the--let's face it--largely romantically-challenged Trekkie population. It's like watching a bad fanfiction, where Janeway is Mary-Sued like crazy. (Jeri Taylor was somewhat notorious for that.)
VOY: "Before and After"
I have such mixed feelings about this episode. Because honestly, it's a damn good episode. It's fascinating. But god, the Tom/Kes marriage is gag-inducing. It's far-fetched enough to believe that out of a ship of 150 people, the best matches for Tom and Kes after B'Elanna and Neelix stop being options is each other. But the way Tom fawns over Kes-- "I thought the day we got married was the happiest day of my life, but each day just kept getting better and better!"--Jeezus. Unless you interpret that as Tom just desperately trying to cheer up his dying, senile wife, and not really meaning everything he says. Otherwise, it sounds like a die-hard Kes stan wrote it.
(Amusingly, as soon as B'Elanna gets back into the picture, the episode does a 180, having her come up with the solution to Kes's time-traveling dilemma right on the spot, emphasizing how badass she is and how screwed Voyager was without her. It's like the first half of the episode was written by a Kes stan, and then a B'Elanna fan flew in to save the rest of the story.)
DS9: "The Darkness and the Light"
Brave, selfless Kira Nerys willingly and deliberately endangers the life of the O'Brien's baby, the one she volunteered to be a surrogate mother for, specifically to save said baby's life. (Side note; I'm very pro-choice, but she was like, half a week away from giving birth by this point; so it's a "baby.")
Worst of all, Kira gives birth in the VERY NEXT EPISODE. Ignoring how awful her attitude toward Miles in that episode looks after what she did to his son in this one, why the heck couldn't the writers have just waited until AFTER Kira's character gave birth to do the "Darkness and the Light" episode? I don't understand it, and it butchers one of my favorite DS9 characters.
DS9: The One Where Odo Fraks Himself-With-Tits
I don't know which specific episode in the Dominion War arc this was, and I don't care. All that matters is that Odo--the CONSTABLE of DS9--you know, whose entire career revolves around ensuring the safety of everyone on the station--decides to endanger everyone under his watch: the thousands of civillians he took an oath to protect, his fellow officers, his friends, his love interest Kira, and oh yeah, the entire frelling quadrant, and for what?
Sex.
With another Odo.
That has tits.
I'm not exaggerating. If you aren't familiar with DS9, Google "Odo," and then Google "Female Changeling." She is LITERALLY him with tits.
And apparently Odo's ego is so through the roof that he cannot resist himself-with-tits, even when everything he values and holds dear is on the line.
DS9 "Time's Orphan"
Keiko O'Brien was always a flawed human being. But here, she does/says something heinous. Her young daughter Molly has fallen through a time portal, and grown up alone in the jungle on an alien planet for like 15 years. The traumatized, Tarzan-ized young woman is reunited with her parents, unable to speak or control her rages. The O'Briens are told an EASY solution, that will undo this timeline and restore little Molly to her proper age, so she can live a decent life. And Keiko says, "This IS our Molly. We don't have the right to take these last 12 (or whatever) years away from her."
As an L.D. person whose parents ignored the urges of teachers and counselors begging to get me tested and treated, this hits me hard. Refusing to let your child experience full awareness and independence, because you want to make some philosophical point to the universe, is disgusting. I'll never forgive Keiko for that.
TNG "Relics"
The way EVERYONE treats Scotty seems very cold, for an old man that was just freed from decades in transporter limbo, who's just learned all his friends are long dead. But this old man is SCOTTY. It's like if NASA discovered Neal Armstrong frozen in carbonite, and none of the NASA workers found anything interesting or remarkable about him. Most ludicrous of all is Geordie, the engineer. Scotty should be to Geordie what Kirk is to captains.
Later in the movie "First Contact," Geordie wastes no time fangirling over Zefram Cockblock or whatever his name is. But he doesn't care about meeting Scotty?
Strange... I liked this one, still do, but I see your point. At first, it could be argued that Chakotay was being pragmatic: he knew he was no use with the science, so he took care of the things he was good at, like building bathtubs. But, it does seem like he was ready to accept his lot in life pretty quickly.
Still, being in an idyllic vacation spot with a woman you have genuine feelings for (and I think those two did have feelings for each other), as opposed to facing 70 years in a 343-meter tritanium can? I can see the appeal.
Ironically, you're one of the few who mentions Tom/Kes, as opposed to Harry/Linnis (given that the entire lifespan of an Ocampan is half of the human age of consent, the idea of relationships between the two requires some... adjustment).
One thing that this episode does is oppose what I call the One Twoo Wuv trope, which is "there is one person you're fated to love. Lose them, be it to death or being the third leg in a love triangle, and you're alone forever". However, even after losing B'Elanna, Tom loves again. And I admire the way he discusses his feelings as frankly as he does. In their respective timelines, Kes and B'Elanna were lucky to have him.
I think the point was just how powerfully Odo was tempted to be able to link with another changeling, and how much he had to give up to remain on DS9. But you're right, he messed up big in this one.
Totally with you on this one. After Miles had 20 years of hell forced on him, he and Keiko should have known better. Thankfully, Molly did.
Yeah, really. Another episode where Geordi behaves like a prick. Though if I remember right, he was under a lot of pressure, what with the Dyson Sphere and all. None of us are at our best then.
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Yeah, Time's Orphan is pretty problematic. No way does a parent send their child back in time to live alone in that situation for the rest of her life, with no chance of a family or a future. They would have instantly saved the young innocent version at the beginning, or would have left DS9 to go somewhere for older Molly to be treated. Definitely not believable.
Ben Sisko: I feel Ben Sisko was character assassinated when he started taking this prophet thing too seriously and got way to caught up in the destiny thing. I wish he stayed on the skeptic/believer line.
Picard: I feel he had already made his peace with the Borg by the end of the series and he was even able to accept a one Hue a "reformed " borg, and then there was that whole Lore leading the Borg thing. He did not seem a bit traumatized or angered even being surrounded by them. He even tried to reason that Lore wasn't the answer to their independence. First Contact totally obliterated that in a rage by Picard, granted it's the only film from TNG sill worth watching more than once. I chalk it up with them probably wanting to compete with DS9.
Picard: I feel he had already made his peace with the Borg by the end of the series and he was even able to accept a one Hue a "reformed " borg, and then there was that whole Lore leading the Borg thing. He did not seem a bit traumatized or angered even being surrounded by them. He even tried to reason that Lore wasn't the answer to their independence. First Contact totally obliterated that in a rage by Picard, granted it's the only film from TNG sill worth watching more than once. I chalk it up with them probably wanting to compete with DS9.
