- This topic has 12 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
This is our last “hate” poll, but we couldn’t resist.
Tony Verdeschi wins (or loses) on least favorite character.
Tell us who you really hate!
If you want more character names added, suggest them by responding to this post.
[b]annoyedchris wrote:[/b]
[quote]hmmmm … the only one that springs to mind is the costume designer for vindris[/quote]That designer would be tied for the one who dressed Julian Glover in ‘Alpha Child’!
My vote goes to Yasko, although the highly annoying voice of Brian the Brain makes ‘him’ a close second.
I’m surprised to see Commissioner Simmonds on the list. He is a wonderful ‘baddie’.
I’ll admit that Brian’s voice was not all that hot, but he wasn’t such a bad character. Honestly, he could have made a wonderful addition to the Moonbase Alpha staff. With a reprogrammed voice(something like Dr. Theopolis), the mobile computer could have worked alongside Maya.
And what is so bad about Yasko? Personally, I thought she was a decent(if not attractive)character. She has been given a hard time for over thirty five years. Honestly, she is not so bad.
But, that’s just my opinion.
🙂
I agree. I only learned about the dislike of the character on Online Alpha. I had never thought badly of her before then.
[b]Papillon wrote:[/b]
[quote]And what is so bad about Yasko? Personally, I thought she was a decent(if not attractive)character. She has been given a hard time for over thirty five years. Honestly, she is not so bad.)[/quote]Lovely lady, but very stilted acting along the lines of a high school performance. For a show criticized as having ‘wooden’ performances (which, btw, I heartily disagree with), the actor’s performance lived up to that reputation. But for what it is worth, her performances in ‘The Protectors’ was comparable.
I find all of the cast changes from Year One to Year Two unnecessary. And there were so many! In terms of Yasko, why didn’t they just give Zienia Merton a regular cast position and be done with it. Her acting skills made a small part VERY memorable and most people would believe her character had a bigger role in more episodes than she actually did–such was the impact and memorable nature of her performances.
Space: 1999 like Star Trek before was a ensemble show. True, its triumvirate of Koenig/Russell/Bergman was most prominent. But I felt Paul, Kano, Alan, and Sandra were also well used. Strangely enough, the episode where they got to shine was Full Circle.
I never really felt that any of the Year Two characters aside from Tony and Maya were really given a chance to shine. And they were so underutilized! Ben Vincent, Raul, Alibe, Yasko, they seemed to come and go.
I’m not sure [i]hate [/i]is really the right word for any of them. Yasko, BtB and DR all just make me want to squirm when they are on-screen. Simmonds, however – I LOVE. He reminds me so much of bosses I’ve had – stepping on people all the way up the political ladder. I am confident Powys could enlist one of their wonderful writers to come up with a short story or more concerning his whereabouts between Breakaway and Earthbound. He must have been a tremendous irritant during staff meetings – and you [u]know [/u]he would have insisted on attending.
-Pat.
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]… why didn’t they just give Zienia Merton a regular cast position and be done with it. Her acting skills made a small part VERY memorable and most people would believe her character had a bigger role in more episodes than she actually did–such was the impact and memorable nature of her performances.[/quote]Agree.
[quote]Space: 1999 like Star Trek before was a ensemble show. True, its triumvirate of Koenig/Russell/Bergman was most prominent. But I felt Paul, Kano, Alan, and Sandra were also well used. Strangely enough, the episode where they got to shine was Full Circle.[/quote]
A point I made on another thread. I would really like to see Powys take even more advantage of this, although [i]Omega[/i] certainly allows the ensemble to shine.
We’ve been thinking about that for a while. We’d love to do a novel giving Sandra the spotlight, but the danger is that we end up with a novel that does nothing more than give Sandra the spotlight!
By this I mean, the characters’ roles should be organic to the novel, not forced. The novel’s plot should not be “engineered” to spotlight a particular character.
Resurrection was long discussed as a story that would let Bergman take a leading role and save the base, but ultimately the STORY demanded that Helena Russell be the strongest character. And it is indeed SHE who saves the base. Even the author did not know that going in. Her role grew out of the needs of the story; we didn’t shoehorn her into the leading role.
So we just have to come up with the right story.
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Resurrection was long discussed as a story that would let Bergman take a leading role and save the base, but ultimately the STORY demanded that Helena Russell be the strongest character. And it is indeed SHE who saves the base. Even the author did not know that going in. Her role grew out of the needs of the story; we didn’t shoehorn her into the leading role.[/quote]This is so true of good writing. The story dictates the actions of the characters. The opposite is rarely true or nearly as effective. In my own writing, my characters often say and do things that surprise even me. Although my plot generally follows its intended course, the characters often take it down interesting paths that I had not originally intended or forseen. Good honest writing is often like that, and trying to force a situation or plot element to fit a particular predetermined goal usually cheats the organic nature of the characters and almost always rings false.
That’s one of the things I am enjoying about the new [i]Space: 1999[/i] books: you have a larger goal than just the individual stories, but you allow the characters room to explore the various aspects of their journey. The characters act in surprising, but actually very honest and believable ways. My favorite book so far is [i]The Forsaken[/i] (I’m only up to [i]Shepherd Moon[/i]) because although Paul’s actions were surprising, they seemed like something someone in his position would really do.
I guess this is off the subject of this thread, but I wanted to respond to this idea. These so-called hated characters could yet play important roles in the journey of Moonbase Alpha, in either positive or negative ways. But if written honestly in a way that contributes to the story, they could become important to the overall arc. Who knows?
Dave Reilly- what the hell was Patrick Mower thinking?
Still, it’s nice to be able to do something about these things…
Oh, and I like to think Sandra gets a good crack at the whip in BFA…
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.