The Growing Problem of Death in SF TV and Movies and yes books

[The Terminator]

Awww I only made this topic off topic for a few posts

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

One option that the series "Doctor Who" has employed is regeneration, where a new actor can take over the role without the character dying (the current Doctor is his 10th regeneration). There's still some drama since there's no guarantee that the Doctor will survive regeneration (he barely survived his 5th regeneration) and he is limited to 12 regenerations.

Although it wasn't a death, in the series "Bewitched" they brought in a new actor (Dick Sargent) to take over the role of Darren Stevens when the original actor (Dick York) was no longer able to continue in the role. They simply transitioned from one actor to another without comment.

Aren't we on Doctor #14?

Also, Roseanne had rotating Becky's when the original grew up and wanted to go to college. She was replaced by the beautiful Sarah Chalke, but came back a few times.

[Solitaire1]

DixieGal wrote as part of a post:

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Aren't we on Doctor #14?

It is possible if you count the Doctors who aren't in continuity, such as Peter Cushing (who appeared as a human Doctor in the two Doctor Who feature films). I checked Wikipedia and it lists more than 15 actors who've played the Doctor, not including the ones in the regular show.

As far as in continuity, the following actors have been The Doctor:

- 1st Doctor: William Hartnell
- 2d Doctor: Patrick Troughton
- 3d Doctor: Jon Pertwee
- 4th Doctor: Tom Baker
- 5th Doctor: Peter Davison
- 6th Doctor: Colin Baker
- 7th Doctor: Sylvester McCoy
- 8th Doctor: Paul McGann
- 9th Doctor: Christopher Eccleston
- 10th Doctor: David Tennant
- 11th Doctor (Current): Matt Smith

[The Terminator]

Another off topic topic

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by THE TERMINATOR

Another off topic topic

Sorry about that, it's so easy to get off topic.

Returning to topic, I agree that it has been far too common for characters to return from the dead. For me, its gotten to the point where a "death" is simply met with a shrug and waiting for the character to return to life.

As a comic book reader, a return from the dead is so common that it often has become a non-event. Often, other life events have a greater impact on a character than death (which sometimes is barely mentioned).

[GeoffC]

if this off-topic was about to get onto topic again would it be fair to say that going back off-topic could be the death of this topic ?

[Mortis]

Ok now I'm confused, we were on topic and then we weren't and again we went back on topic, so are we now on topic or are we off topic trying to get back on topic? I need a drink

[GeoffC]

are you allowed a drink ?

[kennyc]

Vote for Milton Freud!

[CWatkinsNash]

It used to be that a series regular getting killed off was because the actor was moving on to other things, or for dramatic reasons (or they really did die). In the second case, he or she was likely to reappear in an equally dramatic fashion (or so the producers hoped). Now it's usually just a sign of stalled contract negotiations and the easiest way to predict whether or not they will return is to follow the trade gossip.

I worked on a feature film where we killed of THE main character about 2/3 of the way through. Those at the screenings talked about how brilliant and unexpected it was, and how it really worked for the film. (Film snobs use the word "brilliant" a lot. For everything.) The truth? He turned into a diva during shooting and made a bid for more money, breaking his contract in the process. He made the mistake of thinking he was irreplaceable. Rookie.

But to be mostly on topic, because of the frequency of these types of "deaths" it is now hard to convince me that a character is really dead, even when they are, and that definitely sucks the drama right out of it.

[GlennD]

I understand where the article is coming from but I think the 'coming back from the dead' idea can be handled well. I have a harder time with the overuse of time travel in sci-fi.

The article mentions Buffy several times; although the season where they brought her back was sort of a downer, I liked the idea that bringing her back had consequences. It was dealt with pretty well, and had consequences. Besides, it led up to the Buffy musical, which was one of the best hours of TV ever. :P And the series did deal realistically with death elsewhere, particularly in the case of Buffy's mother.

And I never really questioned Gandalf returning. Maybe I read the series the first time at too young an age to worry about it, but from the reader's point of view you're not even sure that he's dead - he falls into the depths of Moria still fighting the Balrog.

[GeoffC]

and there's a certain gentleman in the bible ....

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

...and every major comic book hero...

[covingtoncat73]

That was an interesting article. I do wish to point out, though, that Boromir and Theoden got dead and stayed dead in LOTR and Gandalf isn't really mortal, anyway. Also, Frodo can be said to have died of his wounds in a way.

Oh, don't forget that Beowulf dies at the end of his story and that is a very old tale, indeed.

Also, speaking of dying and coming back, though he doesn't do it until after Ragnarok...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balder

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

...and every major comic book hero...

In the recent DC Comic miniseries "Blackest Night" they provided an explanation for why so many super heroes returned from the dead: Nekron (the gatekeeper between life and death) prevented the heroes from going to their final, and permanent, rest. His goal was to use them as sleeper agents when the time was right (which he was able to do for a time). In addition, he was able to animate the corpse of every dead hero and villain in the DC Universe and use them as his weapons.

Eventually, his grip on the resurrected heroes was broken and he was cut off from the living world. Due to this, real death in the DC Universe is now supposed to be permanent. Whether this actually true or not is still to be seen.