Pulling for the "Bad Guy"

[matt]

@KB

The spin off series, Spooks: Code 9, is s**t. Really, really bad. It’s basically aimed at teenagers (which is why it was shown on BBC3 here). It has nothing to do with the regular series - they just used the brand, that was all. It’s set in the future, after a bomb has wiped out London and so MI5 set up in Manchester or somewhere, and have to recruit all new officers, who are all about twelve (well, they are all around 18-20). To be honest I only watched the first episode, but if you like the intelligence of the regular series then don’t bother with Code 9.

Spooks meets the Power Rangers, that’s great! My favourite was always the green ranger.

[KB]

Talking of Jo… The actress is in a new Sitcom, called Plus One. There was a pilot for it starring Rory Kinnear last year which was hilarious. And then series got commissioned, Kinnear is no longer part of it and some other actor takes his place, and it is pretty dire… A shame as it had such promise.

Just got to to modify my (off-topic) opinion on this one. The second episode of Plus One was on tonight, and after my initial disappointment that Rory Kinnear wasn’t the lead and a shaky start with ep one as a result, tonight’s was very funny (and as a bonus it had Big Suze from Peep Show in it).

[pink]

Oh! that’s gutting. I hate it when someone ruins your audiotelevisual fun.

I also hate it when I look up wikipedia and accidently ruin a vital plot point for myself and don’t have anyone to blame and look dirty at.

Is Australia really that far behind with the tellybox? That’s a compelling reason for me NOT to move home…

I can’t think of any bad guys I liked more than the good guy, but I can think of plenty of good guys who totally failed to get my empathy in any way.

[jennydiski]

Satan (Paradise Lost)
Freddie (Nightmare on Elm Street)
Don Giovanni
The Beast (rather than Beauty’s Prince)
Humbert (always wanted Lolita to fall in love with him and happily ever after)

Does this make me a bad person?

[KB]

Does this make me a bad person?

What, rooting for Satan?

[Hugh]

Another vote for Satan
The Sheriff in Costner’s Robin Hood
Shylock
Malvolio (whatever Twelfth Night is about, it isn’t about poetic justice)
Edward Hyde
Long John Silver
The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera
And there are times when I want Fagin to win. (OK, maybe he’s not the baddest guy.)

That’ll do for now.

[Jacqi_Corgan]

Sorry. I just can’t root for Satan. Seems he’s having way too much fun around here already.

I, too, rooted for Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham over Costner’s Robin Hood. Once again, in movies & TV, a lot depends upon the actor. Costner was simply miscast; his deadpan delivery works for some characters, but it made his Robin seem more wooden than the trees of Sherwood Forest. He was clearly uncomfortable in the role, while Rickman took the Sheriff and had a bloody good time with him.

Iago’s pretty interesting, too, not just in “Othello,” but in Disney’s “Aladdin.” So are Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, and Mozart’s nemesis, Salieri.

[Siren]

Mephistopheles, in Goethe’s Faust
Carver Doone, in Blackmore’s Lorna Doone
Vicomte de Valmont in Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses (though much less likeable in the book than in the film)

I sometimes want goodies to die painfully even in the absence of a preferable baddie. The more perfect the heroes or heroines, the more harm I wish to befall them – in purely fictional terms, obviously! Baddies are often portrayed as being much more interesting and multi-dimensional, so I think baddie-fascination is quite widespread (in the mind of the author, as well as the reader). Look at the success of Artemis Fowl, who started off as an archetypal baddie-as-protagonist although my son says that he is redeemed gradually in later books.

[vic-k]

Vivent longtemps le mauvais garçon!!
Le D