Worst character in the history of science fiction?

[Orrex]

I'm not talking about "most evil" or "most poorly acted." Instead, I'm talking about a character that was so misbegotten that it should have been put down before it ever made it onto the page or screen. Also, it would be best if the awful character were reasonably well known and not some unnamed walk-on in an obscure Kapek play.

Really, there can be only one sensible choice, but I'd be interested to hear if others have different suggestions.

[flvegan]

1. Captain Kirk.

:popcorn:

:hide:

[TZ]

2. Now you've done it

The Lounge Geek death squad is gonna be after you...:rofl:

[Parche]

3. Captain Janeway

:grr: :grr: :grr:

I despise voyager............so stupid....:hi:

[TZ]

4. Dead to me

Loved Voyager..Loved Janeway.

[Parche]

14. Neelix sux

:grr: :grr: :grr:


Turtleandsue just dropped off my radar............:rofl: :hi:

[pokerfan]

24. Watched "Fair Haven" the other evening

"You know the story, girl meets boy, girl modifies boy's subroutines..."

"Delete the wife."

[Orrex]

36. I liked that episode when she *didn't* use her sandy, monotone delivery

Oh, wait--that episode doesn't exist! :evilgrin:

I kid the zealot. I actually don't mind Janeway, and I found her to be a credible Captain. Still, Mulgrew's delivery of her lines often really grated on me.

Nana Visitor and Avery Brooks suffer from the same problem: both are pretty good actors, but they always spoke their DS9 lines as if they were trying to be the most dramatic kid in the high school play.

[Kutjara]

52. I always thought Avery Brooks learned to act...

...by correspondence course from the "James Earl Jones Academy of Scene Chewing." Jones has a beautiful voice and a commanding screen presence, but Captain Sisko was a bit too "mini-me" for my liking.

[tigereye]

79. no, no

:cry: He's a wonderful actor.

[Orrex]

97. Yes indeed he is, and that's what bothers me so much!

His performance as Sisko seldom rose above "I can scarcely keep from laughing as I read my lines in super-dramatic fashion."

I've liked him elsewhere (even in Spencer: For Hire), but as Sisko he always seemed like a joke. I can't imagine why they didn't let him really showcase his ability, rather than forcing him into a straightjacket.

[Fenris]

5. Now, see, he said this *wasn't* about the "most poorly acted"

[flvegan]

19. I know. He's the worst character. He was genesis for the duration of Trek.

[LeftyMom]

60. Fuck you, Trek hater.

:grr:

[stuntcat]

62. but he's HILARIOUS

and kind of a hotty :blush:

I just watch Star Trek for the laughs, 40 year old sci-fi is always ridiculous.

[Faygo Kid]

99. Kira Nerys, ST:Voyager. Soap opera angst throughout.

:puke:

[Blue_Tires]

136. die in a fire, plzkthxbai

[Auggie]

6. Alexander Rozhenko

Worf's son. Bad character. Bad actor.

[Orrex]

27. Oooh--good call

I can't consider him worse than Jar Jar because Alexander had comparatively little impact on the series, whereas Jar Jar was given about fifty hours of uninterrupted screen time in The Phantom Menace.

Let's just say that both are god-awful.

[tigereye]

80. but that would have to be the guy who played Anakin!

horrible, just horrible!

[redqueen]

7. Any female character Heinlein ever wrote. Or most Sci-Fi writers, really.

I swear Sci-Fi writers have done more to fuck up young men's expectations.

[XemaSab]

12. AMEN!

:toast:

[redqueen]

15. Yes! I knew someone else around here had to have noticed and would agree...

:toast:

:loveya:

[MrCoffee]

17. That's exactly why MrsCoffee refers to sci-fi as "nerd porn"

She just doesn't get it.

[redqueen]

18. Oh no... she gets it all right.

I'm not explaining that cause it could be interpreted in a few ways, and most of them would be correct, so I'm leavin it. :)

[NeedleCast]

25. Try Jack McDevitt

Especially his "The Academy" series of books.

The lead through most of the books is female and a very interesting character. Strong, talented and resourceful. I think the first book in the series was Deepsix and should be widely available.

[Orrex]

29. McDevitt is quite recent, though

Several generations of awful s/f writers precede him, and I believe that these fit redqueen's description more precisely.

[Fire Walk With Me]

118. Seconded.

[hunter]

26. Any female character? Heinlein only wrote one female character.

"A perfect lady in public... utterly uninhibited in private."

And with very poor taste in men, I must add.

In a more realistic world any male Heinlein hero would be quietly murdered and the body disposed of. There would be no time enough for love, no sailing beyond the sunset, just a bloated body on a beach somewhere and a strong woman glad to be rid of a flaming asshole boyfriend.

[redqueen]

37. ...

:thumbsup:

[Orrex]

28. A great answer!

Heinlein might very well be the worst of the bunch, but stupid female roles are pretty much the cornerstone of the "Golden Age" of science fiction.

[redqueen]

38. Yup... to the point of being cliche...

as cliche as the studly, handsome, independently-wealthy, sensitive-yet-still-rugged and secretly but fervently and expressively romantic male characters in romance novels. :)

[XemaSab]

39. Even up until the modern age, I think

Witness "Cryptonomicon," by Neal Stephenson.

6 female characters, 2 of which were old women, 2 of which were there so some man could get fucked, 1 ex-wife, and 1 pathetic attempt at salvaging the plot. And only one of which, the last, was treated as a real human being. Sort of.

[Orrex]

41. Isn't that the book that's 100,000 pages? I haven't bothered

Every good review I've heard of it is countered by five not-so-good reviews, so...

And, sadly, your point is overwhelmingly correct.


Of course, I blame you wimminfolk. If you'd make up more of the genre-buying demographic, they'd pander more to your sensibilities, rather than the standard male expectations so often portrayed on the page.


Note to readers: 1. That's sarcasm! 2. I know that not all s/f is like that; I engage in hyperbole to make a point or something.

[YankeyMCC]

54. Asimov is probably as guilty as most but

What about the characters from the Foundation series of Dors Venabili (although I suppose she was technically a humanform robot) and Bayta and Arkady Darell? Where they so bad?

[redqueen]

59. I did say "most"... those exceptions only serve to prove the rule. (nt)

[cemaphonic]

91. As Azimov had a tin ear for dialog and characterization

and tended to write everything in the same enthusiastic tenor he used in his non-fiction, I'd call him an equal-opportunity bad-character writer.

[tigereye]

77. depends on the writers- there are a lot of sci-fi writers!

how about some Olivia Butler or some of the feminist speculative fiction writers? LeGuin, Sherri Tepper? Much more aware and not bound to typical conventions... I think there are also lots of male sci-fi writers (maybe even a few from the 50s and 60s who transcended some of the sexism of the time.)

:hi:


I loved Heinlein when I was in high school, but I've come a long way since then!

[redqueen]

84. Hi there!

Yeah I've read some female writers that broke out of that tradition and some that seemed happy to work within it... and I too liked Heinlein, before I grew up! :P

:hi:

[Orrex]

115. That's OCTAVIA Butler, you heretic!

:evilgrin:

[DarkTirade]

100. Wait... you mean Friday WASN'T a realistic depiction of a woman?

... my entire worldview has been shifted.

[JVS]

108. What about Vonnegut? Paul Proteus' wife Anita was certainly not a lesson in high expectations.

If anything she helped build the expectation that a wife would be a totally non-supportive being.

On edit: then there is the wife in Fahrenheit 451 who is similar.

[redqueen]

126. I did say *most* authors...

IMO these exceptions are doing nothing but proving that there is indeed a rule.

[Radical Activist]

111. Can it be any worse than Disney

and what they've done to fuck up young girls expectations? :shrug:

I haven't read any Heinlein.

[JVS]

114. Thank God that there is one animated show that keeps it real

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS45ChXCZAE

[Radical Activist]

116. hells yeah

even i look good by comparison

[redqueen]

132. Um... yeah.

[LanternWaste]

128. I would hazard that that hack 'artist' Boris...

I would hazard that that hack 'artist' Boris did even more damage than Heinlein in the regards to young men. He led us to believe that strong women (and female aliens and female demons and female...) *always* wore a bikini-- regardless of time, place, weather or setting.

And, much like Heinlein, Boris appears to have influenced the generations of hack artists that have come since...

[redqueen]

133. Don't know Boris...

glad of that, actually... based on your description. :)

[Orrex]

139. Valejo--an artist more than author

You've seen his stuff a brazillion times over, even if you didn't realize it. Really, his skill is phenomenal, and he has a wonderful eye for color, but he doesn't seem to have much luck with painting clothes on his subjects...

[Orrex]

140. LOL! Well...

In fairness, he usually paints his muscle-bound male characters in similarly inadequate attire, FWIW.

And even if you don't care for the subject matter, it's not really fair to call him a hack, because he's quite talented and has spent decades honing his skill.

For that matter, it's not true that his women *always* wear bikinis. I cite the cover of To Sail Beyond the Sunset as just one example:

[pokerfan]

8. honorable mention

[Orrex]

31. Yes! He meets the "misbegotten" criterion even better than Alexander

Deliberately written as a ploy to catch the interest of These Kids Today, Wesley embodies a sort of half-assed pandering that didn't even make sense on paper, since the very audience that he was intended to attract either wouldn't ever watch Trek anyway (eg., young women without an interest in science fiction) or would watch Trek whether he was there or not (eg., young men with an interest in s/f).

The sad part is that Wil Wheaton is, by all accounts, an admirable guy and honestly not a bad actor. Too bad he got saddled with that role.

[pokerfan]

40. Life ain't easy for a boy named (Mary) Sue

Mary Sue is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized and clichéd mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors.

Note that 'Wesley' is Roddenberry's middle name.

[tigereye]

81. but the character was able to transcend the typical roles for Trek characters

wow, I'm such a geek to be arguing about this...

[petronius]

47. But the star of the best TNG scene ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcPi-kGZvD4

[pokerfan]

51. I could watch that over and over...

[Giant Robot]

72. I would have agreed with you

Prior to reading his blog. I find more sympathy for him now. Or maybe just sympathy for Wil Wheaton. His take on the character was very enlightening. OK, Wesley sucks. But Jar Jar is worse.

[pokerfan]

93. While Wesley sucked; Wil Wheaton did/does not

But the OP was asking for worst characters.

[Giant Robot]

95. Yeah as I was typing my reply

I realized I was arguing the wrong thing. But I was too lazy to edit it. So yes I am lazy and stupid!

[pokerfan]

102. No, it's just my pedantry rearing its ugly head

I just felt it worth repeating.

Wesley Crusher could have been played by a young Laurence Olivier and that character would have still sucked.

[Giant Robot]

103. Let's shake hands and say it was both

Your pedantry and my laziness. Like I said, Wil Wheaton's blog has some interesting perspective on the character. He repeatedly said the character was set up to fail. There was no way he was getting over with Trekkies.

[JVS]

109. ahhhhhh. It burns!

[Fenris]

9. Wesley Crusher or Worf's kid.

Blech.

[LostInAnomie]

33. Ugh! Alexander was the fucking worst.

I couldn't believe that ST gave a bad ass like Worf such a lame ass kid.

[Auggie]

57. Running out of plot ideas, most likely.

A good reason some some series should only last 5 years.

[pokerfan]

74. And for some series, five years is five years too long

There is a fundamental problem with episodic sci-fi with respect to the basic narrative structure and that is that nothing of any real significance can ever happen. At the end of every episode, the cosmic reset button is pressed and everything returns to normal.

A story should have an ending. The nature of episodic television in general is that it must never end. It just goes on and on and on...

[DarkTirade]

105. Unfortunately if they DON'T do that, they'll lose the casual viewer crowd

much like when Enterprise started doing long story arcs, or Babylon 5. Because the casual viewers won't be able to keep up with the ever-changing universe, so they'll just stop watching.

[pokerfan]

117. It's a conundrum all right

One of the advantages of 24 is that it's basically a series of self-contained stories, each one season in length. It's better than hitting the reset button after each episode without bogging it down with a years-long story arc and it allows new viewers to join at the beginning of each season. I think I joined in the fourth season.

One of the many reasons I prefer my SF written.

[deucemagnet]

61. "I've got two dead wives and a son named Alexander!"

"Mr. Worf", the song. Nerd rock, yeah! :headbang:

[IndianaJones]

10. all the idiots on that re-imagined Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi. nt.

[MrCoffee]

11. with a Special Distinctive Crappy Performance award to Starbuck

[IndianaJones]

13. that Trish Hefer chick is screwing up Burn Notice now. nt.

[MilesColtrane]

16. "Lost in Space" can't really be called science fiction, but...

...I'll go with Dr. Smith anyway because I always wanted to toss him out of an airlock.

[pokerfan]

21. Not sure if Star Wars can really be called SF either

http://www.starwarsontrial.com

[Orrex]

34. That discussion can never be resolved

Because even if you asked a science fiction author and his clone to define science fiction, they still wouldn't agree.

The criteria are so nebulous that the boundaries between fantasy and science fiction can only be stated in terms of the preference of the person currently offering the definition.

[YankeyMCC]

55. Dr Smith was the only character that made that show

interesting at all.

[geomon666]

20. I see your Jar Jar and I'll raise you this....

The most powerful and evil empire in the entire galaxy, all undone by a bunch of fucking spear chucking build a bears.

[pokerfan]

22. Lucas should have "trusted his feelings"

<Lucas> wanted Return of the Jedi to feature a tribe of primitive creatures that bring down the technological Empire. He had originally intended the scenes to be set on the Wookiee home planet...

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

[Aristus]

23. Yeah, that's almost as unbelievable as the most powerful military force in the world

undone by a bunch of tiny, rice-eating peasants with simple rifles and sharpened stakes.

Who'd believe that?

[geomon666]

58. Hey if we had had AT-AT's in Vietnam....

War=Over

[Aristus]

63. Don't be so sure...

[geomon666]

66. How many Ewoks do you think it took to raise those logs off the ground?

I'm guessing those trunk must weigh about 900 pounds each. Yeah, really realistic Lucas.

[Aristus]

70. A block-and-tackle isn't exactly world-shaking technology. Not to mention the pulley.

I think the Ewoks could have managed it.

[geomon666]

71. Are you serious?

It took like 6 of those things just to lift up C3-PO into a sitting position.

I can't believe I'm having this debate. I am such a geek.

[Aristus]

76. Me too.

Geekdom triumphs! :party:

The way I see it, if they had gliders and bolos, they had to have had the fairly simple technology needed to hoist those logs. Primitive heavy-lifting tech+a lot of Ewoks=dead AT-ST's.

[Orrex]

98. Let that scene be a lesson to anyone who says that Star Wars tech beats Star Trek tech

If two logs can smash an allegedly formidable piece of Imperial military armament, a phaser would cut that thing to ribbons in less time than it takes to say "Ewoks suck."

[DarkTirade]

101. Well duh.

Trek ships are powered by combining matter and anti-matter. Of COURSE their technology is gonna be a bit higher powered. A regular blaster pistol can blow holes in things, but a pistol-sized phaser can fucking vaporize someone.

However, the Star Wars universe tends to have MORE guns at their disposal. A Star Destroyer is practically bristling with turrets. Not to mention the number of single or two pilot fighters that every capital ship usually has. So putting a Star Wars capital ship up against an Enterprise or original series ship might be a fair fight. A couple of heavy weapons vs. a lot of lighter ones. But Next Generation and beyond? Pfft. No chance.

And in reference to the AT-ST, first off, it's the small scout model. Not the heavily armored and armed version. It's made to repel small arms fire and maybe an RPG type explosive or two. Also, it's hollow inside the 'head' section. So it's not too unrealistic to think that a direct hit from two large logs like that would cause a crunch. If one log had hit, it probably would have just knocked it over at the worst. If they'd tried that on an AT-AT it wouldn't have even scratched the surface.

[geomon666]

124. Don't forget.

Star Wars did have the Death Star. Get close enough to Earth and bam, end of the war pretty much.

[DarkTirade]

125. Right, but that super-sized cannon woulda had a hard time tracking a ship moving at a quarter

impulse. :P So it might have a hard time fighting its way to get to earth.

[geomon666]

134. That's what the rest of the armada is for. n/t

[DarkTirade]

135. Unfortunately TIE fighters are basically tin cans with wings.

Now if you mix and match... put Republic ships with a Death Star... then things might get interesting.

... god damn it, I'm a geek.

[geomon666]

137. Well when I say armada....

I mean like the Star Destroyers and things like that. Things that won't explode with one hit.

[DarkTirade]

138. Heh... getting a funny mental picture

of a squadron of TIEs closing in on a Federation vessel... and a single sweep of the forward phaser pops every single one of 'em like a soap bubble.

[geomon666]

141. lol you know that would happen too

Star Wars vehicles (other than the big capital ships) are tissue thin.

[DarkTirade]

142. Sucks for the pilots too...

TIEs don't have ejection seats.

[Orrex]

143. Or landing gear

Either fly back to your hangar (literally a "hanger") or crash land. Good thing there's ten million more pilots exactly like you!

[JVS]

110. Dude, we already had nukes and/or B-52s.

If we had been willing to kill everyone we would have "won", but since we weren't not, even the AT-ATs could have changed the outcome.

[Danger Mouse]

30. Jar Jar wins.

[sarge43]

32. Lwaxana Troi

[MJW]

121. Lwaxwana Troi

wins hands down. She is even worse than Deanna Troi (or whatever her evil spawn daughters name was)

[MJW]

122. whoops

[Dr. Strange]

35. Jar Jar wins.

Or rather, loses.



Followed closely by Lucas.

[elshiva]

42. Terl, the Psychlo

http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Battlefield_Earth_2000.aspx


WORSE THAN JAR JAR!


buffy

[Orrex]

43. Awful indeed, but I don't know that he's worse than Jar Jar

Still, anything that falls out of Hubbard's anus and onto the page is inherently awful, so Terl is definitely in the top ten.

[elshiva]

45. I don't want to argue about Jar Jar. Personally,

I liked Jar Jar, but that is only me. Terl is just utterly awful and uglier looking than Jar Jar. He also has massive codpiece, which says to me that he is compensating... :(

















buffy

[Orrex]

46. Ugly, I grant

We'll call it a draw, then!

[elshiva]

48. Good on you, Orrex.

:toast:


buffy

[Orrex]

49. Right back atcha!

:hug:

[elshiva]

50. I'm having trouble posting the codpiece closeup

Go to the top of this page with Jason Sartin's avatar...

http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Casino_Royale_1967.aspx?Page=2

[Orrex]

113. Yikes!

I have trouble with "codpiece closeup" just from reading it.
:scared:

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

44. No contest! It has to be the Talkie Toaster!

I told Kryten not to bother fixing that thing. So did Lister. But you know how mechanoids are. :eyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZslRQvv5zM

[elshiva]

56. Will you being wanting any toast?

buffy

[YankeyMCC]

53. Maureen Robinson

I don't know how June Lockhart put up with the role. I suppose it was par for the course for her but for a character that was supposed to be a scientist with the courage to go out into space as a pinoneer she was painfully (to watch/listen to) subservient and without any apparent free will of her own. There were moments when she showed a compassion or understand of Dr Smith or one of the other characters but she basically walked around doing laundry, chattering about hair dos and saying 'yes John' 'whatever you say John'

[Zavulon]

64. I don't see how any vote other than Wesley Crusher makes any sense at all.

Alexander Rozhenko was a little asshole to be sure, but his screen time was far more limited than Wesley.

I can't comment on Jar Jar Binks, since the only Star Wars movie I ever saw was the original and I hated it.

[ElboRuum]

69. Beverly Crusher easily beats Wesley in the OMG how annoying can you be department.

IMHO.

[Zavulon]

75. With all due respect,

no effing way. Wesley's mere appearance on any episode made me want to see the Enterprise attacked by a superior force. Beverly was a twit, but at least she was easy on the eyes. Plus, the scene when Q turned her into a dog ranks as one of the funniest I've ever seen.

[Phredicles]

82. That's just because the actress who played her could not act,

and her delivery was just cringe-worthy. Her character was pretty dopily self-righteous, but it was the actress who made the Beverly-centric episodes unwatchable.

Wesley, on the other hand, is a relentlessly annoying little shit. I was severely disappointed at the end of the first-season episode where he got out of the death penalty (which I'm otherwise against :P ).

[Orrex]

88. Geez--how big a geek am I?

I believe that still is from the closing scene in Menage a Troi wherein Picard has to profess his "love" for Lwaxana and his willingness to open fire on the Ferengi ship to get her back.

Am I right?

[Phredicles]

94. I believe you are indeed right!

:applause:

I see there are some Lwaxana non-fans here, but I found (most of) her episodes a hoot (This particular seen is a fave of mine. And in the background it looks like Mr. Frakes is enjoying himself, too).

[Orrex]

96. I don't know the title, but...

She was in an early DS9 episode during which got stranded in a turbolift (or something) with Odo, for whom she'd developed a quick affection even though she made him intensely uncomfortable. Baret played against expectation and actually downplayed the character's wild and flamboyant excentricities, and the result was a deeper look into her character than (I believe) we've ever gotten from any non-central character in Trek (with the possible exception of Sarek, now that I think of it).

[Radical Activist]

112. Exactly what I was thinking.

[Initech]

65. Will Smith in "I, Robot" vintage 2004!!!!!

[ElboRuum]

67. Security Chief Tasha Yar.

Bad character, bad actor, bad lines, painful delivery, no reasonable plot involvement, was killed by evil tar. Thank the maker.

[ElboRuum]

68. Just about every villain in the Gil Gerard Buck Rogers series.

But especially the Vorvon, the Trabor, and the War Witch.

There was a lot of drug use amongst screenwriters in the late 70's early 80's era as if you couldn't tell.

[LeftyMom]

73. Deanna Troi.

"Captain, I sense hostility." Well no shit, the fucking Klingons are attacking. She never "senses" anything that somebody with a room temperature IQ couldn't guess. The one time she actually tried to do something useful, she ran the Enterprise into a planet.

Also, the drunk scene in First Contact is just painfully bad.

[petronius]

83. Perhaps, but as someone mentioned upthread about Dr. Crusher,

Troi is easy on the eyes, so she's not a complete waste of space. However, I do wish she'd been called at least once on the vapidity of her 'observations.'

[Orrex]

85. For real

TROI: I'm sensing something about something, but I can't say for sure what it is.

PICARD: Why the hell do you have a command chair on my Bridge?

Seriously. A wholly disaffected sociopath with minimal interpersonal contact can make better guesses about people's feelings than this supposed empath. WTF?!?

[tigereye]

127. at least they did show her doing some hypnotherapy and using some

strategies... but for the most part she stated the obvious most of the time.


Although the idea of her Betazoid abilities parallel some therapeutic skills.

[tigereye]

87. yeah I even cringed a lot and I'm a mental health professional -

plus her accent and cleavage were just too much.


I loved the character of her mom, though.

[LeftyMom]

89. Her mom is a riot.

:)

[pokerfan]

104. Majel Barrett turned in a very good performance

with David Ogden Stiers in the TNG episode, Half a Life. Her character was mostly used for comic relief but that episode was a pleasant surprise.

[Orrex]

107. Yes--good call

In particular, her clash with Deanna in the Transporter Room was particularly effective, I thought. It nicely captured a tense mother:daughter relationship and also highlighted the demands of their respective roles in the Federation.

[tigereye]

78. you mean science fiction films or books?

big difference....

[Orrex]

86. Either, but see the criterion in the OP

The character should be reasonably well known, so that the average person has some idea of who it is (as opposed to characters known only to hardcore s/f geeks).

[tigereye]

92. hmm, no wonder it got down to Heinlein and Asimov

:rofl:




Then that's a pretty short list, I am sorry to say. Personally, I think everyone should have to read the Hyperion series or books by Lem, but that's just me.

[Redstone]

90. Any character in any book by Robert Heinlein. What a fucking HACK he was.

Redstone

[MJW]

123. I got my pedigree read

for calling Heinlein a hack a few years ago on DU! It was so bad I STILL remember it!

[BlueIris]

106. I'm not a big fan of the annoying Sam Carter.

Particularly her "Atlantis" incarnation.

[ElboRuum]

120. Oh, c'mon.

Amanda Tapping is teh hawt.

[Doug.Goodall]

119. The 1928 Porter automobile in "My Mother the Car"

<>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmWivt-aLnw

[terrya]

129. Any character from any L. Ron Hubbard science fiction novel.

[LanternWaste]

130. Keanu Reeves. Hands down. Contest over.

I finally watched Matrix some years back-- and I freely admit that while the movie was worse than what even I had been led to expect, Keanu took it to realms of horrible-ness never before charted in cinematic history..

[Orrex]

131. Ah, but I asked for "worst character," and you gave us "worst absence of character"

I thought that the first Matrix was pretty good. The other two were so bad that I could have sworn that Lucas directed them.