Who Are Television's Most Boring And Uninteresting Characters?

[paranoid marvin]

Agreed. The Sonic Screwdriver was handy to help out in a tight spot, but (from memory) it never did anything truly outstanding. A bit like the Doctor's version of a multi-tool or Swiss army knife. It was his ingenuity and bravery that got them out of tight spots.

But whichever way you look at it, old Who (up to and including Peter Davidson) was great, and the rest just doesn't bear comparison for lots of reasons.

 

[farntfar]

I think the sonic screwdriver first saw the light of day in a Patrick Troughton episode of "The Tomb of the Cybermen??"
At that point it allowed the doctor to unscrew some panels in the room they were trapped in. It turned the panel screws at a distance but painfully slowly. Each screw would take about ten minutes as I remember it. It must have been quicker than that, surely, or we would all have given up ages before it finished. But that was its only function.

I know it evolved with each new screwdriver, but it really is too marvellous now. And the sonic glasses are just an excuse for endless jokes about Browser History.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think the sonic screwdriver first saw the light of day in a Patrick Troughton episode of "The Tomb of the Cybermen??"
At that point it allowed the doctor to unscrew some panels in the room they were trapped in. It turned the panel screws at a distance but painfully slowly. Each screw would take about ten minutes as I remember it. It must have been quicker than that, surely, or we would all have given up ages before it finished. But that was its only function.

I know it evolved with each new screwdriver, but it really is too marvellous now. And the sonic glasses are just an excuse for endless jokes about Browser History.

The Sonic Screwdriver morphed into a Sonic Crutch. But personally if there was one on the market , id buy it.

 

[BAYLOR]

Agreed. The Sonic Screwdriver was handy to help out in a tight spot, but (from memory) it never did anything truly outstanding. A bit like the Doctor's version of a multi-tool or Swiss army knife. It was his ingenuity and bravery that got them out of tight spots.

But whichever way you look at it, old Who (up to and including Peter Davidson) was great, and the rest just doesn't bear comparison for lots of reasons.

I do like older series better . My favorite who serial Inferno.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I do like older series better . My favorite who serial Inferno.

Love the way that tv makes 'good' characters into bad ones by the use of eye patches, scars - or goatees!

 

[BAYLOR]

Love the way that tv makes 'good' characters into bad ones by the use of eye patches, scars - or goatees!

Brigade leader Lethbridge Stuart , whit Mustache, Sir and Eye Pad? I I loved the way Nicolas Courtney completely turned the character into evil swaggering dictator.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Brigade leader Lethbridge Stuart , whit Mustache, Sir and Eye Pad? I I loved the way Nicolas Courtney completely turned the character into evil swaggering dictator.

Apparently during filming one of the Brigadier's bits, the other actors all turned up (off camera) all wearing eyepatches! Shame it didn't get recorded.

 

[BAYLOR]

Apparently during filming one of the Brigadier's bits, the other actors all turned up (off camera) all wearing eyepatches! Shame it didn't get recorded.

The actors must had had a fun time making this serial. I one it on dvd , I've rewatched it a few times,It so many story elements going on at the same, They did a wonderful job of balancing everything. It's a science fiction classic.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The actors must had had a fun time making this serial. I one it on dvd , I've rewatched it a few times,It so many story elements going on at the same, They did a wonderful job of balancing everything. It's a science fiction classic.

And shows how wrong 'new' Who is to focus on wide story arcs with evolving characters. In old Who you never knew where the Doctor would be or who he would encounter, or even who his companions might be from one story to the next. Each new adventure was a fresh start, and to a large extent could be watched without having had to watch the previous episodes. And if the storyline was a bit dull or silly or the monsters not as interesting, it wouldn't be long before it all started again. For example, the story before 'Inferno' was 'Ambassadors of Death' about missing astronauts, and the one after 'Terror of the Autons' about The Master trying to instigate an alien invasion - completely different stories.

Looking back, it seems that writers of science fiction at the time who couldn't get their work on to tv as serious science fiction stories used Doctor Who as a vehicle for doing so. Many of them (at the time usually set on Earth) could easily have been Quatermass rather than Who. And the series was all the better for it, getting the cream of science fiction authors and script writers to create stories for the programme.

 

[JunkMonkey]

And shows how wrong 'new' Who is to focus on wide story arcs with evolving characters. In old Who you never knew where the Doctor would be or who he would encounter, or even who his companions might be from one story to the next. Each new adventure was a fresh start, and to a large extent could be watched without having had to watch the previous episodes. And if the storyline was a bit dull or silly or the monsters not as interesting, it wouldn't be long before it all started again. For example, the story before 'Inferno' was 'Ambassadors of Death' about missing astronauts, and the one after 'Terror of the Autons' about The Master trying to instigate an alien invasion - completely different stories.

Looking back, it seems that writers of science fiction at the time who couldn't get their work on to tv as serious science fiction stories used Doctor Who as a vehicle for doing so. Many of them (at the time usually set on Earth) could easily have been Quatermass rather than Who. And the series was all the better for it, getting the cream of science fiction authors and script writers to create stories for the programme.

There was The Key to Time though in which a whole season had a story arc as The Doctor and Romana gathered the various dispersed bits of the dingus that holds the fabric of the universe together.

 

[Extollager]

And what makes them so memorably boring and uninteresting ?

Why would anyone stick around long enough to find out?

Is the idea that you're talking about otherwise good programs that are worth the time you give (out of a limited lifetime) to watching them, but that have these boring characters also?

 

[paranoid marvin]

There was The Key to Time though in which a whole season had a story arc as The Doctor and Romana gathered the various dispersed bits of the dingus that holds the fabric of the universe together.

Yes, but although this was a superficial overarcing and tended not to drive the actual story. From memory, I don't think that you would have been missing much if you saw one of the 'adventures' on its own. By the time of Davison, I recall that Tegan had things reoccurring with The Mara from 'Kinda', but these type of stories were the exception rather than the rule. I don't think that 'The Key to Time' went down very well, and some of those stories are quite weak.

 

[BAYLOR]

And shows how wrong 'new' Who is to focus on wide story arcs with evolving characters. In old Who you never knew where the Doctor would be or who he would encounter, or even who his companions might be from one story to the next. Each new adventure was a fresh start, and to a large extent could be watched without having had to watch the previous episodes. And if the storyline was a bit dull or silly or the monsters not as interesting, it wouldn't be long before it all started again. For example, the story before 'Inferno' was 'Ambassadors of Death' about missing astronauts, and the one after 'Terror of the Autons' about The Master trying to instigate an alien invasion - completely different stories.

Looking back, it seems that writers of science fiction at the time who couldn't get their work on to tv as serious science fiction stories used Doctor Who as a vehicle for doing so. Many of them (at the time usually set on Earth) could easily have been Quatermass rather than Who. And the series was all the better for it, getting the cream of science fiction authors and script writers to create stories for the programme.

The best written science fiction show on television.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes, but although this was a superficial overarcing and tended not to drive the actual story. From memory, I don't think that you would have been missing much if you saw one of the 'adventures' on its own. By the time of Davison, I recall that Tegan had things reoccurring with The Mara from 'Kinda', but these type of stories were the exception rather than the rule. I don't think that 'The Key to Time' went down very well, and some of those stories are quite weak.

I liked The Pirate Planet by Douglass Adams Very dark stuff . Though not a part go the Key time Adams story The City of Death was even nastier. I wish the water strike had happened , we might have gotten s bonded competed Shada. Adams was a truly great writer , died way too young.

 

[CupofJoe]

I've been thinking about this [probably too much].
Most of the Big Bads in Buffy.
You always knew Buffy was going to win. Even if she died in the process.
About the only interesting Big Bads were The Master from Series 1, who actually killed Buffy [for the first time].
Then later in series 6, Evil Willow. I assumed it would Buffy that would do her thing, but it was Xander stepping up.

 

[KGeo777]

MCMILLAN & WIFE - Two Dollars on Trouble to Win - A horse racing murder mystery that feels like it limps to the finish line although there's a scene where Rock Hudson is trapped in a garage with the exhaust tank of a car spewing out the fumes and he has to figure out how to break the window on a Rolls Royce--finally taking apart a shelf and using the wood to smash the window. One funny scene where John Astin as Sykes, the police forensics expert gets momentarily confused by two thermos containers--one is his lunch drink and the other is evidence in a poison case.
Premiered on April 1st, 1973.

 

[Pyan]

I've been thinking about this [probably too much].
Most of the Big Bads in Buffy.
You always knew Buffy was going to win. Even if she died in the process.
About the only interesting Big Bads were The Master from Series 1, who actually killed Buffy [for the first time].
Then later in series 6, Evil Willow. I assumed it would Buffy that would do her thing, but it was Xander stepping up.

No, no, no - the most interesting BB was Glory, by far. (S.5) We all knew Evil Willow was just a temporary aberration, and the Master was really only a stock, old time vampire. But you never could be sure who Glorificus would be this episode.

But by far the most boring and and uninteresting Buffy character, worthy to stand among the greats, is Riley FInn, from the Initiative. (S4)
He could have been awarded the Teredo Award for it. I mean, just look at him...

 

[BAYLOR]

Dick Sargent good actor took over the role of Darren Stevens in Bewitched. But his version of Darren was very boing stuff.

 

[BAYLOR]

I've been thinking about this [probably too much].
Most of the Big Bads in Buffy.
You always knew Buffy was going to win. Even if she died in the process.
About the only interesting Big Bads were The Master from Series 1, who actually killed Buffy [for the first time].
Then later in series 6, Evil Willow. I assumed it would Buffy that would do her thing, but it was Xander stepping up.

I liked Rock Hudson the actor but thought Macmillan to be a pretty bland character.

 

[Vince W]

Star Trek: Discovery. Almost all the characters but especially Michael Burnham, Paul Stamets, and Sylvia Tilly.