Unpopular opinions?

[ceebee_eebee]

Another meme, ganked from prettyquotable this time.

Name a fandom, and I'll give you the scoop on at least three of my unpopular opinions related to that fandom.

To be honest, I'm not sure what unpopular opinions I actually HAVE because I never really think about it that way. I'd say the possible fandoms to request are: Doctor Who, Supernatural, Heroes, Star Trek, Star Wars, Batman, BSG, X-files, Farscape, Lexx, Xena, James Bond...or pretty much anything else I've watched in the last 15 years.

Hit me! I'm probably more curious about what my answers will be than you are. ;-)

ETA. The responses may contain spoilers!

Comments

[vann.livejournal.com]

Doctor Who! XDXD

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Dude. If this results in wank, I am SO blaming you. ;-)

(1) Although I agree that the Doctor loves all of his companions, I think each incarnation has ONE companion that he loves the most. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, just that there is one person for each incarnation that he just clicks with, that he's the most himself with, and that he, therefore, cares for the most. Here's my personal breakdown:
One - Susan (obv)
Two - Jamie
Three - Jo
Four - Romana
Five - Nyssa
Six - Evelyn
Seven - Ace
Eight - Charley (although the Fitz people will, of course, disagree with me on that one)
Nine - Rose (again, obv)
Ten - Donna

(2) I think Tom Baker and David Tennant are the weakest Doctors of them all, mostly because I think they both bought into their own hype. I will never understand the fandom adoration of them.

(3) I think that Nine was utterly obsessed with Rose because she gave him a reason to keep going after the Time War. I don't, however, think that Ten felt anywhere near that same level of love. Once he regenerated, they no longer fit together and he couldn't look to her for meaning anymore. Hence the downward spiral in S2 and his eventual genocide/suicide bullshit in The Runaway Bride.

(4) I loathe Davros. I think he is the worst big bad in all the whoniverse and I am SO pissed they are bringing him back again. I think he sucks, his voice makes me want to stab my own eardrums, and I want him DEAD DEAD DEAD.

(Oh, and a bonus Torchwood opinion, just because I feel like it. I think Jack/Ianto is a ridiculous pairing because I can't imagine someone like Jack giving a shit about someone like Ianto beyond a convenient shag. Love? Please.)

::MWAH::

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

I am SO pissed they are bringing him back again

I wish you had warned that your answers might contain spoilers, because I'm really trying to avoid them.

[madelf.livejournal.com]

Oh, and a bonus Torchwood opinion, just because I feel like it. I think Jack/Ianto is a ridiculous pairing because I can't imagine someone like Jack giving a shit about someone like Ianto beyond a convenient shag. Love? Please.

I think I love you. I have never been able to buy this pairing as more than convenience on both their parts. I generally think Ianto is involved with Jack because he thinks it's what Jack wants and Jack is involved because the guy is there, willing and looks good in a suit.

[vann.livejournal.com]

I disagree about Nyssa, but the rest seems pretty logical. Though I'd say Peri for Six, since I don't know Evelyn.

I do like Tom Baker a lot, but I agree both he and Tennant are far over rated.

I agree completely about Nine and Rose vs. Ten and Rose.

._. they're bringing Davros back?!!! Ugh.

And, as for the TW one, ha. I think it's a crap pairing because I think Ianto is about ten billion times better than Jack. :P

[pink-soprano.livejournal.com]

Star Wars. (Aah, the nostalgia! It was my first fadom.)

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Yay! I was hoping someone would ask for SW.

(1) I loved the prequels despite their incredibly shitty writing and some equally shitty acting because they gave me some truly amazing characters (ie. Qui-Gon, Shaak Ti, Aayla Secura, Luminara Unduli...) and made the SW-verse SO much richer.

(2) I think all of the EU novels are 1000000000000% canonical. Without them, I probably wouldn't be as hardcore of a SW fan. Plus, the Clone Wars stuff is the best thing to happen to the SW-verse since Princess Leia told Grand Moff Tarkin to go fuck himself.

(3) Anakin Skywalker did not deserve redemption. I understand that Lucas thinks SW is really "The Darth Vader Story", but screw him. Authorial intent does not dictate reality, and George Lucas is mostly a jackass who I am completely convinced has never known the touch of a woman. Anakin Skywalker was NEVER a good man. He was a selfish, manipulative, egomaniacal, BASTARD right from the start...and then, he was a child killer. He slaughtered children that were looking to him for protection. And that's BEFORE he became one of the most genocidal monsters in the history of the anything ever. He doesn't get to be redeemed. He doesn't get to pretend that there was ever good in him. There wasn't.

(4) I love Yoda with the heat of a thousand suns, but he was a completely shit teacher. ;-)

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

1) Yes! Yes they did. I can't honestly say I enjoyed the prequels, but the wealth of secondary characters and new alien races and new worlds still made up for a lot. (Kit Fisto was one of my personal favorites.)

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Supernatural.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Sweet! (But rereading what I just wrote, it appears I have a pretty narrow focus with my unpopular opinions in this fandom. Ha!)

(1) I loved Cassie. I agree that the actress was wooden, had zero chemistry with Ackles and the entire episode was an embarassment. But the way that Dean looks at Cassie when they are making love is one of the hottest things I've ever seen. It's like this incredible mix of amazement, worship, gratitude, and love, and it makes me love Dean SO much more knowing that he can feel that way about someone.

(2) I think the Winchester brothers need strong women like Ellen and Jo in their lives. Getting rid of those two characters was probably the stupidest thing Kripke ever did. Ellen and Jo made Dean and Sam better men, ya know? They need women in their lives that aren't potential sex partners or damsels in distress, or enemies, and without that, the show just isn't as interesting to me because it weakens them as characters.

(3) I think Dean would make a FANTASTIC father and an incredible husband and despite the fact that I am all about the Wincest in fiction (because HOT!) I think he really does love women and deserves to have a family of his own. I mean just look at how he reacts to a smart, competent woman like Sarah (Provenance)! His line to Sam "you need to marry that girl" increased my Dean love by like 100%. And his relationship with Carmen in the wish-verse sealed the deal. Dean absolutely should get married to a fantastic woman and raise a family of his own.

(4) I hated all the FBI bullshit and I hated Henricksen. I think it was a completely unnecessary plotline and I am sick to death of zealot law enforcement characters. They do nothing but annoy me. While I agree that Night Shifter is one of the single greatest episodes of the entire series, I still could have done without the FBI crap.

[madelf.livejournal.com]

Batman!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

I can't BELIEVE I finally get an opportunity to use my batman icon and I swapped it out like 2 days ago. I'm gonna have to fix that when I get home.

(1) I don't think this is a particular unpopular opinion, but I don't believe Bruce Wayne really exists. He is merely a cover that Batman uses in order to interact with the larger world.

(2) Batman is a psychotic sociopath who is just as insane (though in a different way) as the criminals he fights.

(3) I don't think Batman would ever have a "team" like he does in the later stories. I can understand the whole Robin thing, and I respect how the larger team (ie. later Robins, Nightwing, Oracle, etc.) came about, they just don't mesh with how I see the character of Batman. Though, I think he WOULD work with the Justice League, mostly to keep them under surveillance.

(4) I think Superman is the only person that Batman has ever loved. (In his own, unique Bat-way). I think Batman is mostly homosexual (when he let's himself even consider sex) and Superman is Batman's mirror. He hates him and loves him and wants him, and hates himself for wanting him. It's f-ing brilliant.

(5) I think Dick was always in love with Batman (in a sexual sense), but it never would have occurred to Batman to reciprocate those feelings. Which is probably what REALLY led to Dick leaving and all the resentment.

[madelf.livejournal.com]

Wait, those are unpopular opinions? I found myself nodding in agreement with almost all of them. So, at least you aren't alone in your unpopular opinions. ;)

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell - Star Trek!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Dude, this is SO fun.

(1) Kirk was a far better captain than Picard. Though Picard was a better Starfleet officer. I recognize that Kirk did some truly questionable shit, and violated the Prime Directive left and right, but he was a man that would have done ANYTHING for his crew. He was brave and brilliant and utterly devious and I will always, always love him.

(2) Deep Space Nine was, by FAR, the best modern ST series. Although I grew up loving TNG, I honestly think that DS9 came the closest to the original series vision of the future. Despite Roddenberry envisioning ST as a somewhat utopian future, I don't think Starfleet or the Federation were ever pictured as infallible. They made shitty decisions, they did morally objectionable things...they were human (in the broader sense of the word). I think DS9 did a MAGNIFICENT job of bringing that to the forefront and reminding us that Starfleet is a military organization, that no matter how benificent a government tries to be there will always be collateral damage, and that peace can only ever be relative.

(I'm not sure how unpopular this next opinion is, but what the hell)

(3) The Borg are one of the most terrifying enemies of all time, but they were a million times more terrifying before the show started fucking around with them. I totally get the whole Queen thing, because I always pictured them as more of an insect hive than anything else. Drones and soldiers being controlled by a central intellegence. But a lot of the stuff they did with Lore and Seven of Nine truly diminished them. An enemy you can't reason with or relate to is ALWAYS going to be more terrifying than an enemy with goals or motivations that you can understand.

(4) I think the new JJ Abrams movie is going to be a complete travesty and I am living in horror of it. The original crew is inviolate and I loathe the idea of any kind of "reimagining." I am torn, however, because I also can't think of anything more awesome than getting a new generation to fall in love with Trek, particularly after the televised abortion that was Enterprise. So, I just don't know what to do other than pray it doesn't suck donkey balls.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

I agree very strongly with 3 and 4. And intellectually I agree with 1 and 2, but emotionally...

I…just can't stand Kirk. Now, not quite as much as I loathe Ten, but it's in the same ballpark because of the smug. I just can never like any character who's self-centered to that degree (Kirk, again, less than Ten), but that swagger in Kirk is not only not sexy to me, it's actively repellent. I thought this when I was three, so it's hard for me to break it. I can see that he might be a good leader of his team, but not of me. That said, I really did like the chemistry of the three main characters. It was about the only time I found Kirk bearable, because the others were there to take him down a notch occasionally.

Conversely, I can tell you the exact moment when I fell in love with Picard, though. It was in the very first episode, when they're in an impossible situation, with the threat of death hanging over them, and Picard says, "We surrender." I literally punched the air. Live to fight another day, macho grandstanding be damned.

DS9 I have some similar problems with, in that I could never stand Sisko. The actor is so full of himself that I'm amazed his body can support his head. I liked a lot of the minor characters (and I think Bashir had a fascinating arc), but just as character, the TNG team felt like a family for me. So that's just a different criteria. I also think DS9 took a long time getting going. It got off on the wrong foot with me by so blatantly ripping off Carl Sagan's Contact without any credit, but I think it's only around S3-4 that it started to find its feet.

But the same thing you feel about the Borg, I also feel about the Klingons. If I could take one element out of the entire ST franchise, it would be Klingons. I always rolled my eyes on TNG when it would be a Klingon story. That whole glory/honor thing irks me something fierce!

So, that looks like more disagreement than agreement, but on balance, it's not!

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

James Bond!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Wheeeeee!!! (Again, I don't know how unpopular these opinions are, but they are mine and I've certainly seen plenty of people disagree with me on them)

(1) While I fully agree that the Daniel Craig version of Bond is necessary and brilliant and the closest they've ever come to Flemings original concept, I looooooooooooooooooove Brosnan's Bond and always will. Goldeneye is one of the all-time greatest Bond films.

(2) I think Goldfinger is my least favorite Connery!Bond film. I recognize that it is super popular and that fandom (and the larger audience) consider it the quintessential C!Bond film, but I think From Russia with Love and Thunderball were WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better.

(3) I don't think Bond was ever a shallow, womanizing man-whore. Connery's Bond was too cold and driven for that, he merely enjoyed women as a way to feel something for a moment and did love some of them (to the extent he could love anyone). Then, after On Her Majesty's Secret Service he became a different man. I think Alec Traveleyn hit the nail on the head when he said:

"I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis ever silence the screams of all the men you've killed... or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect."

IMO, that is the very heart of who James Bond is, and I think that Moore's portrayal of Bond was at its weakest when he forgot that part of the character.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

My favourite Bond is Dalton (even though his movies were crap), and my favourite Doctor is Nine. I am destined to go against the flow!

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

You sure these are unpopular? Because I agree with all three of them. Brosnan!Bond was my first Bond, as much as I disliked his last few pictures I really, intensely loved GoldenEye. (Although Sean Bean had a lot to do with it too.) And while I liked Goldfinger, I'd hardly call it the best Connery!Bond ever. And 3...yes. That's it exactly. That's one of the things that I thought Craig!Bond got so right.

[lilas.livejournal.com]

Lexx!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

SHIT! I don't know Lexx fandom at all, so I think most of my "unpopular" opinions are going to be "unpopular with the general viewing public" more than anything else. Hope that's ok.

(1) Lexx had some of the greatest dystopian scifi world building of any series EVER. It was a fully realized, horrific universe with its own internal logic and rich, rich backstory. I think I Worship His Shadow might actually be on my top 5 list of favorite science fiction stories ever. It boggles my mind that people dismiss it.

(2) I think Zev was a more interesting and deeper character than Xev, but I think had Zev stuck around the series would have been RADICALLY different because she was so much darker and more hopeless and full of unresolved rage than Xev.

(3) I don't think the series was sex obsessed at all. I think that all of the characters were so desperately lonely and broken that they were just looking for a human connection and never really found one. Their inability to ever get laid without horrific complications and ramifications was a fabulous way of demonstrating that loneliness and alienation.

(4) Kai is the single most tragic character EVER. Obviously this is just my opinion, but everything about him makes me so gutwrenchingly heartbroken I actually feel nauseous when I think about it.

(5) I haaaaaaaaaated the last season with them on Earth. It sucked ass. The previous one with it's long arc was terrifying and brilliant, though. Such a radical change from everything that had come before but FUCK did it work. Unrelentingly dark and horrible and I loved every minute of it.

[lilas.livejournal.com]

I don't know the fandom either, but I was curious as to what you'd say because I don't see Lexx mentioned much anywhere. :)

I wholeheartedly agree with your points in general though! It was so wonderfully dark, and the ads for the show hyped up the sex thing much more than it really existed. Such an amusing and fascinating and disturbing show though! It's really unlike anything else out there.

Either I didn't see the last part, or I've forgotten about it. It's been quite a few years since I saw the show.

[niffler09.livejournal.com]

As a former x-phile I just have to ask about X-Files!

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Ok. I really, really, really hope you don't hold any of these against me. I don't know what kind of x-phile you were and I mean no harm. Having said that:

(1) I loved the mytharc. I know it totally went off the rails in the later seasons and a lot of it was contridictory and retconned, but I still loved it. It's what held the show together for me and made me so obsessed at the time. The stand alone eps were great, but it was the mytharc eps that involved most of the character stuff and the characters are what made me love the show.

(2) Mulder and Skinner were totally not slashy. While I read some good Mulder/Skinner in my day, I really did not see any UST between those two and I always thought Skinner was completely in love with Scully. The only believable way I could see Skinner and Mulder getting it on would be as part of a threesome, and that's just crazy fanfic believability anyway. The only real slash I saw on that show was Mulder/Krycek because...come on, now. That was pretty canonical, wasn't it?

(3) I thought the movie was straight-up awesomesauce.

(4) I never thought Eugene Victor Tooms was a particularly frightening villain and I can't understand why he appears on so many "most frightening tv monsters" lists. IMO, Donald Addie Pfaster was a million times more terrifying than Tooms because he was just a dude. (I personally believe he was just a serial killer necrophiliac and not supernatural in any way). Irresistable is probably my favorite episode of the entire show because he never fails to scare the living shit out of me.

(5) I think that Mulder/Scully is totally awesome and I absolutely ship them. I think, however, that the MSR people had a one-way ticket to crazy town most of the time and their characterizations of the M/S relationship were batshit looney. Those two are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too fucked up and broken and dysfunctional to ever have a real healthy relationship. The sex would be hot, and yes I think they are OTP, but that means nothing in the face of their obsessive insanity. (And I hope that this fandom is old enough now that people aren't going to be pissed at me for thinking the MSR fen were wacked.)