Character Meme - The letter C

[menolly_au]

yarroway went easy on me and gave me a 'C' and I still had to fudge a little :)


Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment to this post.
2. Let me know if you'd like a letter and I'll give you one.
3. Post the name of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. The characters can be from books, movies or TV shows.

Hmm - this was harder than I thought it would be!

1) Charles Emerson Winchester III (M*A*S*H) - My favourite MASH character. The ass who has the occasional warm, heartwarming moment. Hmmm - I wonder if I have a trend in my favourite characters ? A pretentious, blue blood character who thinks he is better than anyone else, but has to face his vulnerabilities while in Korea. An accomplished surgeon he finds it a struggle to cope with the war environment, and resorts to drugs in one episode much to his shame. Often the butt of jokes he shows a softer side in several episodes and always retains his dignity in trying circumstances.

2) Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek : The Next Generation) (yes, I'm cheating a little :) - The man suffers beautifully. Has there ever been a more tortured Star Trek character? And he drinks tea while saving the universe, what's not to love? A seeming unlikely choice for a follow up to Captain Kirk but it worked, and led to a Star Trek revival over a decade or so.

3) Chuck Noland (Castaway) - Stranded on a deserted island for years and his only friend is a volleyball which he calls, wait for it... Wilson! How cool is that? Seriously Tom Hanks does a great job with this character, and Wilson becomes real. When Chuck escapes the island, and Wilson is lost at sea...well, I must admit, I shed a tear.

4) Chase (House) - I should be predisposed to like Chase, because, you know, Australian but I'm always a bit ambivalent about him. I do find him the most interesting of the fellows, but the later storylines with the excessive womanising are a bit of a turnoff for me. He's had some interesting scenes with House, and seems the most comfortable with him of all the fellows. I think there's a friendship waiting there for House if he ever wants to take it. I prefer the clean shaven, short hair look myself.

5) Cuddy (House) - She added greatly to the show in the first few seasons and the House-Wilson-Cuddy triangle was gold (and there are some excellent H/W/C stories out there, particularly the one where she has a baby by each man). She showed some great faith in House, and laid her neck on the line to get him out of the Tritter debacle. However there have been some really low points with the character (the tripwire) and I hated how she treated House in Help Me and throughout their 'romance'. Ultimately a sad ending to the character and not a fitting farewell for someone who had been such an integral part in the early years.


Oh - I just thought of another one - Al Calavicci from Quantum Leap - loved his storyline.

Comments

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

I should very much like a letter, please.

Who's Al Calavicci? God, I used to LOVE that show.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Okay, have the letter um....D

Al was Sam's sidekick, who used to give him instructions on what he is supposed to be doing or not doing. Married five times, was an admiral in the Navy and was a POW in Vietnam. Played by Dean Stockwell. I was madly in love with that show for a couple of years.

[yarroway.livejournal.com]

Charles was great! I adored him. Also Chuck Noland, though I didn't remember his name. I loved that film. I prefer Chase hairier, but I'm not that picky.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I might have cheated and googled 'movie characters beginning with C' to come up with Chuck Noland :)

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

LOL at the cheating!

[petitecuriosity.livejournal.com]

seems the most comfortable with him of all the fellows.

This is a rather interesting point. I definitely agree. I'm curious as to your reasoning behind it. Why is Chase the most comfortable with him? And do you feel that that's only now, in Season 8, or that that's how it's always been?

and there are some excellent H/W/C stories Yes there are. I posted a link to one recently that I found on Archive of Our Own...but it was pretty much just...smut. It really did illustrate the dynamics of the triangle when put into that situation though and that's what made it very well done.

I hated how she treated House in Help Me and throughout their 'romance'.

I agree completely.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I think Chase had a watershed moment in season 3, The Jerk I think it was, when he figured out that House had disrupted Foreman's job interview, I think he also came up with a diagnosis around that time. My personal canon for House firing him a couple of episodes later was that Chase had reached the point where he could go out on his own (of course House could have just been in a fit of pique because of the Foreman thing who knows)

Chase seemed confident and sure of himself in season 4, telling House off, and then arranging the betting scam with him. Then they had a moment when House pretty much told him that he (House) was miserable etc etc. So I think they reached a point where they were close to being peers. Chase knows that House helped cover up the murder, Chase punched House out for no other reason than to get the others off his back about Cameron. So I think he is comfortable with him now (also, there was the whole going bowling thing). Somewhere along the way though Chase seems to have lost any ambition to come out from under House's shadow and make his own way in the world. I hope by the end of the series he finds a a way to do that.

[petitecuriosity.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, fascinating reasoning! I think you've definitely summed it up right there.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

My first wish upon this is to hear you read aloud the name Calavicci. (It's the kind of Italian English speakers mangle up horribly).

I'm so happy you included Cuddy and tried to give her some of the justice tptb didn't.
particularly the one where she has a baby by each man
Link? Or at least a hint?
a sad ending to the character and not a fitting farewell
The way Cuddy's character was mangled through S6 and 7 was really, really horrible, and the end was the final aberration.

I now want a fic in which we learn that the whole series has been a Vicodin-fueled hallucination and Wilson is a ball.

I never really watched MASH properly, one of the problems being that I didn't get what kind of war it was supposed to be. I mean, the war finished in 1945 amirite? I was an innocent child.

Captain Picard is a bit cheating... on the other hand, whenever I hear the name Picard it's not him I think of. Plus, I like tea-drinking men. Great choices.

I find it fascinating that you didn't include any books - I tend to remember characters from books better than from TV. [My first choice with a C would probably have been Charlie Brown, tied up with Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes...]

[yarroway.livejournal.com]

MASH was set during the Korean War, 1950-53.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

I may have heard there had been a Korean War, but certainly not when I saw MASH: history in school finished with "and in 1946 we got a Republican Constitution and lived happily ever after".

Thank you (blushes, goes on to read wikipedia).

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

You got as far as 1946? Australian History when I was in school seemed to end with World War 1.

There was an Australian on Big Brother who had never heard of the Vietnam War...

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

We got until 1946 in middle school, but only in general lines (we were told that Italy became a Republic, but trivial issues like women getting the right to vote were not mentioned). And in high school the history teacher was a fascist in a communist town and school, so he wisely decided to stop at 1915.
And of course nowehere in my school education did I learn about Italy having anti-Jewish racial laws.

As for your education, I have no idea but I can't imagine Australian history after 1915 involves the country changing borders twice, a de facto civil war, and twenty years of dictatorship.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

My first wish upon this is to hear you read aloud the name Calavicci

I don't say english very well, pretty sure I would mangle Italian.

particularly the one where she has a baby by each man
Link? Or at least a hint?

And then I waste half the morning re-reading it...And Baby Makes Four No hot threesome sex though, but fantastic dialogue/banter. Looks like that's the only story of theirs they have on A03 but all their stuff is good. This is a H/W one Lost Causes

The funny thing about MASH is that it was based on the Korean 'police action' which lasted a couple of years but MASH went for eleven years.

I find it fascinating that you didn't include any books

Hee - I knew you'd say that. Honestly I'm not all that well read and I did a mental skim through what I could remember and couldn't come up with any book characters. I had to google both TV and Movie because my mind blanked out on anyone except chase/cuddy/cameron.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

Honestly I'm not all that well read
You see the wisp of smoke at the horizon? This is me burning with envy. Please, in the future, pretend you spend all your free time reading and have a Major in English literature followed by a Master in creative writing.

I now have to decided whether to click on 35K words. In the meantime I've read Lost Causes. And it's almost midnight.