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June 14, 2004
Favorite Fictional Characters
John Hawkins asked bloggers to choose their favorite Fictional Characters from TV, movies, books, comics, fairy tales, whatever.
For a moment I was tempted to make up a list of completely fictional, fictional characters and submit that but I'm too much of a conformist. Besides, that would have required me to think, and that was a bridge too far this weekend :)
Here are the winners, number of votes in parentheses. Runners up are listed at Right Wing News. My list is here. I placed an asterisk before the characters in the list below that appeared on my list.
13) Wolverine: From the X-Men comics & movies: (5)
13) Rick Blaine: Humphrey Bogart's classic character from "Casablanca" -- (5)
*13) Merlin: From Arthurian Legend -- (5)
13) John Yossarian: from "Catch-22" -- (5)
13) John McClane: The Bruce Willis character from the "Die Hard" trilogy -- (5)
13) James T. Kirk: William Shatner's character from the original "Star Trek" series -- (5)
13) Jack O'Neil: The Colonel from "Stargate SG1" -- (5)
13) Inigo Montoya: 'Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." From "The Princess Bride" -- (5)
13) Homer Simpson: From "The Simpsons" -- (5)
8) The Man With No Name: Clint Eastwood's character from a trio of Sergio Leone Westerns -- (6)
*8) Samwise Gangee: From J.R.R Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy -- (6)
*8) Lazarus Long: A hero from a number of Robert Heinlein books -- (6)
*8) Elizabeth Bennett: From the Jane Austen book "Pride and Prejudice" -- (6)
8) Dr. Who: Scarf wearing TV star -- (6)
7) Batman: The DC Comics Super-Hero from comics, TV, & on the big screen -- (7)
5) Jack Ryan: The hero from a variety of Tom Clancy books and movies -- (9)
*5) Gandalf: From J.R.R Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy -- (9)
3) Sherlock Holmes: Arthur Conan Doyle's great detective -- (10)
3) Han Solo: From The "Star Wars" Movies & Books -- (10)
2) James Bond: Secret Agent 007 from a variety of different books & movies -- (11)
1) Indiana Jones: From the Indiana Jones Movies -- (14)
- Cassandra
June 14, 2004 at 08:02 AM | Permalink
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Comments
Three Harrison Ford characters in the top 5. Wow! What a stud.
I read a lot of comic books as a kid, so my first thought, before reading the list, was Batman. My favorite enemies in the comics were Spiderman's: Green Goblin and the Octopus guy. I liked Wolverine, but I liked Beast more perhaps. I don't know why they haven't put his character in the X-Men movies.
In thinking about fictional characters in real books, movies and other medium, just off the top of my head I think of Milo Minderbinder (Catch-22), K in Men In Black, Vip Van Torn's charcter in The Gary Shandling Show, Cartman (and Saddam Hussein) from South Park, the Tick (OK, more comic books), The Man With No Name (see above list), Michael Corleone (Godfather), and Al Gore in the Presidential race of 2000.
Posted by: KJ at Jun 14, 2004 9:34:57 AM
These characters are all hereos! (Ok, Homer is a bit of a stretch, but heoric nonetheless). Who says that your favorite fictional character has to be the protaganist? Think about it. Are Long John Silver or Captain Ahab somehow inelegible? How about Ricardo Montelban as "Khan?" Surely these characters were superior to the often meek and wooden "heores" they nearly defeated. You want heroes? How about Huckleberry Finn? Where the helk is Superman? Cyrano? Anti-heroes? How about Milo Minderbinder? Ignacious J. Reilly? Pig Bodine? Travis Bickel?
Okay, I'll stop now.
/rant off/
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 9:42:42 AM
Maybe when he said "favorite" spd, that just brings up positive connotations in most people's minds. Not everyone has anti-social tendencies, you know...
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 9:47:44 AM
Actually, it was interesting that I got the email from John because that very day I was going to send out an email asking who everyone's Heroes were when they were children.
So that would have been very similar - I was glad I got his email before I sent mine out. I thought I would do heroes/villians thing. I still might - I think it would be fun.
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 9:50:10 AM
I AM NOT ANTI-SOCIAL, DAMMIT! :)
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 10:02:09 AM
Liar, liar, pants on fire... :)
I think we should do the Villains - that would be fun.
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 10:04:16 AM
May I suggest catagories of evil?
Diabolical
Supernatural
Inhuman
Sociopathic
Stupid
Insane
Criminal
Tragic
Best looking
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 10:34:08 AM
I'm holding back the snark mr. rdr, but it's killing me...
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 11:01:05 AM
you can take your choice of villians: tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral...
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 11:12:26 AM
You're my hero(ine), Cassandra; and Pile On (where is he when you really need him?). Though I sometimes am not sure if you (or he)are fictional or not(?).
And 'Snake' Pliskin, though I'm not sure if he's dead or not.
Posted by: Don Brouhaha at Jun 14, 2004 11:25:36 AM
Bill the Cat.
Posted by: joatmoaf at Jun 14, 2004 11:58:25 AM
Well, you've never seen either of us, have you???
And we haven't heard anything from Mr. On for a while, so it is entirely possible that he was just a figment of our tortured imaginations.
Either way, our existence is problematic, Mr. Brouhaha.
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 12:01:29 PM
Fat Freddie's Cat.
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 12:24:59 PM
I can't believe I forgot Opus and Bill the Cat.
Villians:
Mojo Jojo
The Riddler from Batman (the old one played by Frank Gorshin, or was he called The Joker? I can never remember)
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 1:48:28 PM
Nero Wolfe!
Mack Bolan "The Executioner"!
Villians:
Don Coreleon! (?)
Lucy Van Pelt!
Posted by: Purple Raider at Jun 14, 2004 2:22:07 PM
spd rdr,
Your first post was funny to me, since I covered about every category you said in my list.
Purple,
It is Corleone - see my first post, which happens to be THE first post. I do refrain from saying that nowadays. I am maturing. Slowly. Problem is, Don Corleone isn't a villian. He was a hero to the oppressed Italian immigrants of New York.
===========
Huck Finn is a good choice.
Side Characters:
Dr. Frazier Crane (sp?) of Cheers/Frazier.
Gus Portakolos (My GBF Greek Wedding)
Bad guys:
Hannibel Lechter (Silence Lambs, etc)
Mr. White (Resevoir Dogs)
Computer acting weird. Back later.
Posted by: KJ at Jun 14, 2004 2:48:22 PM
Favorite villain (drum roll please):
Ellsworth Toohey (from "The Fountainhead")
Other great movie villains:
The character Angela Lansbury played in "The Manchurian Candidate", very psychotic and dangerous!
Marcus Crassus from the movie "Spartacus", ruthless!
Posted by: Don Brouhaha at Jun 14, 2004 3:33:24 PM
Movies
Diabolical - Dr. Moriarity, Dr. Phibes, Fu Man Chu; Dr. No & most James Bond villains
Supernatural- - The Preacher from Poltergeist, Beetlejuice
Inhuman- The Creature from Aliens
Sociopathic - Ed Norton character in No Fear.
Stupid- Jeff Buscemi and Partner in Fargo
Insane- Hannibal Lecter, The Tooth Fairy
Criminal - Assorted colorful Misters in Reservoir Dogs; John Travolta in Broken Arrow & Swordfish
Tragic -Ed Norton's character in Fight Club,
Best looking- Sharon Stone
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 3:35:57 PM
Don:
You have just completely creeped me out. Ellsworth Toohey was the the most disgusting villian I could possibly think of - he still gives me the shivers.
spd, I don't like thinking about villians. I don't know if I'll be able to come up with that many.
Posted by: Insensitive Illogical Conclusion Woman at Jun 14, 2004 3:48:11 PM
IICW:
Heh heh. Livia Soprano!
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 3:54:13 PM
You know spd, I've never watched an entire epispode of that show.
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 4:55:25 PM
Does Ransputnick count as a "fictional" character?
Posted by: spd rdr at Jun 14, 2004 4:57:58 PM
Cassandra: you say Corleone, I say Coreleon, let's call the whole thing off.
Posted by: Purple Raider at Jun 14, 2004 5:00:17 PM
Oh you're just way too witty, Purple... :)
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 5:07:07 PM
re: Does Ransputnick count as a "fictional" character?
Yes, I believe he falls into the tragical-comical-historical-pastoral category.
Posted by: Cassandra at Jun 14, 2004 5:08:55 PM
