Better or Worse 3

[james_davis_nicoll]

Who was a better addition to the cast, Cousin Oliver (Brady Bunch) or Gambit (X-Men)?

And why the hell did Marv Wolfman add a character so similar to Cousin Oliver to the Teen Titans?

Comments

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Gambit, no question. He was dorky, but at least had some semblance of style.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I have to come in on the side of "Gambit was a sorry waste of skin, and not even useless narratively, as they already had several 'bad boys', several 'dark pasts' and several 'blow things up guys' in the team at the time."

Also, misogynist asshole who the ladies somehow magically liked anyway because the authors said they should.

Ptui. :-> And I was a teenage, crush-able girl at the time he came out, so I guess I'm just resistant. I didn't see the point of his storyline; it seemed designed just to shoehorn in another character that the current writer thought was KEWWWWWL!

[enigmania.livejournal.com]

As someone who used to be a teenage girl, I am obligated to endorse Gambit out of residual crush-loyalty.

[cheshyre]

As someone who was a Rogue fan around the time of Gambit's introduction, I hate him with a fiery passion for seeming to endorse the notion that with enough persistence, sexual harrassment and refusing to take no for an answer can win the girl...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Is there any Gambit/Night Girl fan fic?

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I just checked out Robbie Rist's filmography (he played Cousin Oliver) and was surprised to find how much he has done. A lot of voice work, but his work includes:

1. The voice of Michelangelo in all three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies
   
2. Batman: The Animated Series
   
3. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring Video Game
   
4. Dr. Zee #1 in Battlestar Galactica (the original series)
   

in all, he has more than sixty acting credits on IMDB.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I try not to hold poorly written/directed roles against actors.

[tacithydra.livejournal.com]

Oh, Gambit, definitely. He was irritating, but there was always the potential that a different writer could give him more depth or take him a new direction. The tone of various X-men altered enough from author to author that it was completely a possibility - just look at, say, the treatment Illyana Rasputin got (though in this case she was taken from interesting to lame).

Cousin Oliver, on the other hand - what can you do with him? He's this irritating kid. In the context of the Brady Bunch world, there was no way you could add depth - if he stopped being irritating, he'd just be Bobby. The only thing you could do with Oliver is possibly turn him satanic, as with Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son (the only movie I have ever thought him properly cast in).

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Do not speak of what they did to Illyana. ::bitter::

[tacithydra.livejournal.com]

Oh, :: bitterer ::

Dude, such a waste. And that horrible excuse of a miniseries a while back with Amanda? ARgh! They left this clean little gap in the plot when she got de-aged that would have easily allowed them to have her show up again later on, but has anyone capitalized on it? No!

:: obsesses ::

[snowwy.livejournal.com]

*ahem* Party Monster.

[tacithydra.livejournal.com]

Wow. Today I am slow. For a second I was all, "Wait, did I forget a particularly stupid issue of the New Mutants with some guy called Party Monster?"

But no! I forgot about Macaulay Culkin, instead.

Re: Party Monster... ehhh... yeah, yeah, I guess I have to concede that point. I think the thing of it is that there was Home Alone, and lots of stuff with him being way too precious, and watching him as Satanic Youth was just so satisfying that emotionally, for me at least, I don't think The Good Son will ever be trumped. But in terms of accurate casting... touche.

[snowwy.livejournal.com]

Mind, I've not seen The Good Son. Now I'll have to. Thanks for the tip!

[tacithydra.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'd call it a tip so much - I think I saw the movie over a decade ago, at this point, so my taste then was somewhat more... forgiving, shall we say? I doubt it's aged well.

[snowwy.livejournal.com]

So noted. I'm a very forgiving movie watcher, by my lights.

My friends call me hypercritical. I have no idea what they're talking about. :)

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Gambit be de better addition.

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

Gambit, no question.

I mean, I've always hated him, but he was *such* a boon to the fanfic writers and all the teenaged girls and boys who had crushes on him.

[drelmo.livejournal.com]

Well, I hated the Brady Bunch with or without, and I didn't read X-Men when Gambit was in.

Now, if it had been Married with Children's Seven and the Justice League's Triumph, there I could have had an opinion....

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

Gambit, if only because I know one person who really liked that character. I don't know anyone who liked Cousin Oliver.