Lurker Central

I just started Splinter of the Mind's Eye and man, it is uncomfortable hearing Luke rhapsodize about Leia. Obviously the book came out in 1978 and Alan Dean Foster had no way of knowing that ROTJ would fill his book with creepy subtext, but still. I'm justifying it to myself as the Force trying to tell him that there's a connection between he and Leia and Luke is just hilariously misinterpreting.

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This week's fannish5: Name 5 characters you initially found appealing, but eventually came to hate.

1) Kyp Durran (Star Wars EU): Seriously. When I finished the first Jedi Academy book I turn to Fiance and said, "I don't know why everyone hates Kyp. I kind of like the kid." He pretty much grinned and said to read the rest of the series and report back. Yeah. The honeymoon period ended real quick.

2) Lyta Alexander (Babylon 5): This is kind of a cheat, because while I liked Lyta well enough in the pilot when the series proper started and Talia showed up I remember thinking "Oh much better." And I can't put my finger on why; believers and fanatics are usually characters I'm all over (see John Locke), so I don't know why Lyta leaves me so cold. Part of it is irrational (I wanted Talia back, not a Token Telepath replacement), but even putting that aside there's a brittle neediness to the character that's a turn off. And I hated her jealousy towards Sheridan and his relationship with Kosh (Interesting? Yes. Likeable, not so much.) Then came the Mind War and Byron and I was pretty much done with the character.

3) Sam Rappaport (One Life To Live): This was a combination of character derailment and an actor change. Sam came on the show as a former mentor of Todd's and a stabilizing influence, and I liked him right off the bat. Kale Brown was fun to watch and had great chemistry with the rest of the cast, and it helped that he was older and not generically soap opera handsome. Then Brown left and the role was recast with Laurence Lau and it all went downhill.:) Lau wasn't a bad actor but he was miscast; he was a good ten years younger and Sam's relationship with Todd turned combative and weird. It didn't help that for a while the writers had him romancing Blair, Todd's love interest, which just turned everything vaguely incestuous. When they finally killed him off I cheered.

4) Niki Sanders (Heroes): Oh, Niki. Niki was actually my favorite female character at the beginning, but as it progressed I thought the DID backstory was tired (and very OLTL!) and her arc never matched the scope of everyone else's. Then she got DL killed and later told Micah that trying to be a hero was what got his father killed and that was that. I'm glad I like Tracey, because I always thought Niki was well played, just not interesting.

5) Meldrick Lewis (Homicide: LOTS): This is another irrational one. The aftermath of the Mahoney shoot gutted me and I never saw Lewis the same way after, even though looking back I can't say any specific thing he should have done differently. It's an emotional, gut reaction that he didn't do right by Kellerman and I still have a hard time rewatching episodes that focus on Lewis.