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One of the great tragedies of history is that Carl Sagan failed to live to see Mythbusters air. He would have loved that show...
Something semi-related that I cannot stand is when a character who's smart is almost always an Insufferable Genius (Jimmy Neutron, I'm looking at you). As if just being of above-average or genius intelligence gives a person the right to be a Jerkass about it. Come to think of it, that's not really a good message for children, either, in that it may promote the idea that smart people are jerks who think they're better than you, and if you're smart, that's the way you should be.
edited 9th Nov '11 10:10:46 AM by Luna87
“Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert EinsteinIt's not that it gives you the right to do so, it's just that extremely intelligent children tend to be insufferable about it at times.
Either way, have you ever seen that trait being portrayed in a positive way? I've always seen it as being portrayed as being annoying.
edited 9th Nov '11 10:12:30 AM by 0dd1
Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.In Jimmy Neutron, even though the title character is portrayed as being somewhat obnoxious, he's still the hero (sort of).
edited 9th Nov '11 10:15:41 AM by Luna87
“Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert EinsteinLike I said in my edit to my post, it's not usually portrayed as a positive trait.
EDIT: Not every protagonist has to be 100% nice.
edited 9th Nov '11 10:17:31 AM by 0dd1
Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.But in Jimmy Neutron, everyone is obnoxious. If anything, I find Jimmy much less obnoxious than ignorant characters like Sheen or Jimmy's Dad, who still act as if they knew everything.
Between allegations of Satanism and cries demanding realism, I'm not sure when we're allowed to enjoy fantasy any more.
"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~MadrugadaYeah, it's like a Kindhearted Simpleton, a stupid character but has the redeeming aspect of being very gentle and caring, a smart character can have intelligence as a redeeming aspect but also have other negative traits such as egotism, arrogance or bad temper. I prefer flawed geniuses over ones that represent all the positive personality traits of their group. eg. Sandy Cheeks became a much more entertaining character when they gave her actual obnoxious traits and flaws compared to her earliest appearances where she is a borderline Parody Sue.
I think this was folly in Sally's development in Sat Am, in early episodes she was smart and Closer to Earth, but writers weren't afraid to point out she could be a pompous idiot every now and then. In the second season a lot of episodes seemed to end with Sonic realising he can't work without her constant advise. I truthfully find these type of characters more insufferable than straight played in-universe ones.
edited 9th Nov '11 6:12:47 PM by Psi001
Early on, I believe it was Moedantes who pointed out how routinely mocked Brainy Smurf was. It should be pointed out that the only thing brainy about Brainy is his name, which is a name given to him by Hanna-Barbera at that. In the original Belgian comic by Peyo, he never had an official name, but was referred to by readers as "The Bespectacled Smurf" and "The Moralizing Smurf." Brainy's defining personality trait is his pomposity, not his intelligence, so his American name is a bit of a misnomer. As to Sokka in "The Fortuneteller," I always took as part of the point of the episode that the villagers were all superstitious, and that Sokka, while correct in his assessment of their predicament,is woefully undiplomatic in his approach to acquainting people with the truth.
I admit characters like Brainy Smurf may represent the opposite end of development, a 'smart' character whose flaws are so dominant their actual 'smart' qualities become implied only and they are something of a Know-Nothing Know-It-All with no real redeeming qualities. Though I suppose it's very possible in the case of Brainy Smurf the title is meant to be ironic.
Then again he did solve a complex murder case once...
edited 9th Nov '11 6:36:16 PM by Psi001
Frankly, I found Scooby to be at its best in some of the cases where the monsters were real, namely Scooby Doo On Zombie Island. It does work best in small doses, though.
To be blunt, I love supernatural elements in general, as long as they don't interfere with an already established setting where they don't exist. If all of fiction was just getting beat over the head with "this does not exist", the world of storytelling would be a very sad place.
Also, I like science-themed characters, but as everyone else as said, it's all a matter of balance. If your ultra-smart character has no flaws, they're either going to come out a Flat Character or a Mary Sue.
Now there's a radical idea.
I think this is a reason Lisa Simpson is such a polarizing character. She's seen as several times smarter than the rest of the cast and attempts to give her balancing flaws are met with mixed results, Depending on the Writer. Times she is Closer to Earth and good natured she is seen as a bland Mary Sue and symbolism of Positive Discrimination, times she is flawed or obnoxious she is seen as mean spirited or irritating.
Smart characters seem to be harder to develop in a popular fashion than stupid ones, that don't have to worry as much about obnoxious traits to balance out their already prominant flaw (not to mention are dumb enough to make them seem more innocent, a smart character should know better than to act vindictive or pompous).
edited 10th Nov '11 3:45:03 AM by Psi001
Well, my theory is that smart characters are harder to write than dumb characters. Smart characters are most commonly written with some of the ways of invoking Super-Intelligence, rather than simply, say, thinking faster than others.
Fight smart, not fair.
Smart characters are not hard to write - execs don't want their viewers to think or writers to do their job proper and give us smart, likable characters.
There's no excuse for a show ruined by having too many stupid people in it!
Western fare (US and Canada) is a huge victim of this BS. Rather than putting time into them, the execs think we can only sympathize with stupid/bashful people, except no one can nor should they!
This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacioStupid people already have a flaw set for them, smart people don't. Intelligence flaws are easier to write since you can still make a character dumb and likeable. Smart characters need different flaws, usually attitude problems which don't always fare well as being 'sympathetic' (eg. ego, neurotics/temperment, self centeredness). It's not as if stupid characters don't suffer in development either, how many loveable dumbass types have you seen that have Took a Level in Jerkass as of recently?
edited 11th Nov '11 8:55:05 AM by Psi001
Sokka's "science" can be described as "if I can't find a reasonable explanation, its not valid." Never mind what the rest of the planet does. The best example of this is in the bending, in their world it is a science, yet he blows it off as "magic tricks" because he can't figure it out. For all they know, Soothsaying has had its kinks worked out just as well bending. That the Flat-Earth Atheist was right once doesn't really make him the smart guy. I could be wrong but when he does use critical thinking to convincingly prove or invent something they lay off mocking him for awhile right?
As for Fairly Odd Parents, isn't their an entire nation of evil magic users called anti fairies in that show? Isn't Timmy's irresponsibility with fairy magic the show's whole premiss? Maybe I'm wrong. If cartoons really were saying science is bad I'd agree with you but I'm not convinced its that common. Don't watch my little pony so maybe that was a case but I think if there is any misuse its the tendency not to really explain to kids what science really is, so much as to label some people scientist and leave it at that. I suppose that's the school's job to teach them and the show's is selling toys.
Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Mystery Inc is rather cool and it is the closest you will have to an adult-compatible Scooby doo. (Besides of the talking animals, admitely).