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[QUOTE=caj;5053370]What are some examples where they made a terrible mistake in killing off a character in a tv show or film?[/QUOTE]
Sarah and Laurel Lance on Arrow. With Sarah's death, Oliver completely swept it under the rug and became BFF's with Malcolm Merlyn, who brainwashed Oliver's freaking sister into doing it, and never mentioned her death again.
With Laurel, it was done solely to prop up Felicity. While I liked Black Siren, her death was still a complete waste. And while Oliver did kill Darhk, Malcolm's role in her death once again went completely unpunished.
Filmwise, the OG Heroes of the Star Wars Series being thrown away like trash.
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[QUOTE=Güicho;5053837]I'm fine with the entire R1 crew all being wiped out.
In fact it's what I always imagined the fate of the (until then unnamed - "Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans ....") was, even before the film, it's what I expected.
They were designed to be the unsung "nobodies" of war, who don't get the credit, the medals, the kiss from the princess, the recognition, the glory, or any reward.
To the contrary, they are doing what everyone else writes off as a doomed, hopeless failed mission.
That's them, there is no one else for it, and they knew it.
Yet I do wish there was one scene that hinted that right before he's taken down, that K2 had secretly downloaded his memories (specifically of them) into the mainframe, and by extension, interlaced into the transmission and disc that everyone is after.[/QUOTE]
My only issue with them all dying, it was a bit too "on the nose" for me. The second they sent in "blue squadron" I knew they were all dead.
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I never did like Data's death in [I]Nemesis[/I]. I bought the[I] Countdown[/I] IDW (I think?) comic where he was resurrected, that was actually supposed to be canon but Picard's new show I guess changes all that? I know Brent wanted Data killed because he felt he was getting too old and he wanted to move on to other things. What's funny is, is that they ever had another movie afterwards anyway.
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[QUOTE=Synestra;5053389]
I'd probably also say Cottonmouth on Luke Cage. I know his death paved the way for Mariah's turn into a villain in Season 2, but Mahershala Ali's performance was just so good.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Immortal Weapon;5054597]Cottonmouth in Luke Cage. The quality of the second half of season one took a dive after his death. Diamondback made for a lousy main villain and was too over the top for my liking.[/QUOTE]
I agree that the loss of that character really affected the quality of the show. I know it was all because of the actor's schedule (same for Ben Urich in "Daredevil") so it wasn't really their decision to kill him, but it made me think of Sigourney Weaver's character in "Defenders." Was that because of scheduling too or did they think the switcheroo thing would work this time? Maybe they placed too much faith in Elektra (whom I actually liked in Dardevil, but she's no Sigourney Weaver) to carry the last third of the series and wanted the finale to be more fighting? I dunno, but it was [I]not[/I] a good "shocking death", just dissatisfying.
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Brian from Family Guy: This was before they turned Brian into a dog version of Quagmire. He was my favorite character and the way he was killed off...to put it mildly, I wasn't happy
Captain Lorca from Star Trek Discovery: Total Nerd Rage. By far my favorite character of the show. I loved his military mind and his flaws. He was my favorite captain since Sisko. Absolutely hated what they did to his character at the end. Dropped Discovery and didn't give Season 2 a chance.
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killing hicks and newt in alien 3 killed off the franchise.
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To me, Lorne actually murdering Lindsey was one of the biggest flubs of the entire series. Just forcing a character into something entirely out of character when they had any number or magical workarounds that would have been roughly equivalent to murdering Lindsey.
Even more so when you consider the ending of the episode.
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One other one that is a modest spoiler(So, I'll tag it as such for folks that haven't actually seen all of the AMC run of [B][I]Preacher[/I][/B]...)
[SPOIL]Killing Jesse's mother off for no real reason other than to try to cement that Jesse's grandmother was a hard case. While the show was inferior to the comic in a number of ways, just killing Christina as a quick aside was one of it's biggest mistakes.[/SPOIL]
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[QUOTE=AndrewCrossett;5053473]Wash in the Serenity movie.
His death really seemed like checking the "main character death" box. Joss Whedon's biggest storytelling flaw is his overuse of the "beloved character snuffs it" trope to establish emotional resonance. There are other ways to do it. I think he himself admitted killing Wash might have been a mistake. Unfortunately it's not the Buffyverse where dead characters can be brought back.[/QUOTE]
By that same token, Book's death really doesn't serve much purpose (we know the bad guys are evil already) and for anyone who never watched the show, his death carries no meaning or extra weight. Just the death of a supporting character rather than a main cast member.
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Anyway, moving on ...
- Ser Barristan Selmy's early death was a forerunner to all the meaningless deaths in the final season
- Optimus and most of the Autobots in the 1986 Transformers movie. Optimus was eventually brought back, but the powers that be severely underestimated their connections with kids. The movie and then the show were full of unfamiliar faces, and the show was soon cancelled. There's a reason why the OGs keep coming back in one form or another in different incarnations and iterations.
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They killed Optimus and the others as a way to then push the new toys onto kids, I think that they admit it in the commentary for the movie or something along those lines...
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John Connor, in the Terminator movie who shall not be named.
I'm still kinda salty about that one.
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Grace's death in Terminator: Dark Fate. Wonderful character, should have build the franchise around her.
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Death on Supernatural
Granted that the show's quality fluctuated drastically after season 5, Death's appearances were always great on the show. Billie is okay as a character (I like that she doesn't take any of Sam and Dean's shit), but there really isn't replacing the original Death, and the way they killed him was just stupid.
Not to mention, he has one of the best intros I've seen on TV.
[video=youtube;5EcsBgxXDqc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EcsBgxXDqc[/video][QUOTE=j9ac9k;5055076]I agree that the loss of that character really affected the quality of the show. I know it was all because of the actor's schedule (same for Ben Urich in "Daredevil") so it wasn't really their decision to kill him, but it made me think of Sigourney Weaver's character in "Defenders." Was that because of scheduling too or did they think the switcheroo thing would work this time? Maybe they placed too much faith in Elektra (whom I actually liked in Dardevil, but she's no Sigourney Weaver) to carry the last third of the series and wanted the finale to be more fighting? I dunno, but it was [I]not[/I] a good "shocking death", just dissatisfying.[/QUOTE]
I never looked into why Sigourney Weaver's character was killed in Defenders, I just assumed it was because they wanted Elektra as the final villain. Which I guess I understand from a character standpoint, but yeah, it wasted Weaver's talent and the plan didn't work as Defenders was overall underwhelming.
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I think killing off Jadzia Dax on DS9 was a mistake since the actress was willing to make a few guest appearances in the last season. Instead, they went with a predictable "kill of the character and destroy the marriage" routine.
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[QUOTE=Powerboy;5055867]I think killing off Jadzia Dax on DS9 was a mistake since the actress was willing to make a few guest appearances in the last season. Instead, they went with a predictable "kill of the character and destroy the marriage" routine.[/QUOTE]
100% agree. There was no point they couldn't still have her appear in the show and at the same time release the actress to pursue the roles she wanted.