T.E. Lawrence, Jake Gittes, Kirk, The Dude, AND HAL...? No contest.

supermallet,
Robodad's list is too family friendly and not risque enough.

I'm going with Suprmallet's list with The Dude, Dirty Harry, and HAL 9000.

I am going with RoboDad simply because he has a number of characters that were on my short list.

1. Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski, 1998) - S
2. "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry franchise, 1971-1988) - S
3. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen, Toy Story franchise, 1995-2010) - R
4. T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia, 1962) - S
5. Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen, The Lord of the Rings franchise, 2001-2003) - R
6. HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968) - S
7. Spock (Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto, Star Trek franchise, 1979-present) - R
8. Doctor Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future trilogy, 1985-1990) - R
9. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson, Chinatown and The Two Jakes, 1974 & 1990) - S
10. Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tatou, Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, 2001) - S
11. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor, Star Wars franchise, 1979-2005) - S
12. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner, Chris Pine, Star Trek franchise, 1979-2009) - S

It thought this would be closer because I couldn't wait to put Spock ahead of Kirk, my my apathy toward Cap'n Jack kills RoboDad.

I picked Suprmallet for Jake Gittes.

RoboDad
1. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, 2003-present) Oh man, a gay cartoon? I wish Johnny Depp would go back to playing characters.
2. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen, Toy Story franchise, 1995-2010) Really? Seriously, really? Maybe you have kids? I could see this being the highlight of the horrific children's programming parents have to sit through.
3. Doctor Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future trilogy, 1985-1990) Cool.
4. Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride, 1987) Ok.
5. Officer Alexander James Murphy/RoboCop (Peter Weller and Robert John Burke, RoboCop franchise, 1987-1993) Eh, whatever.
6. Spock (Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto, Star Trek franchise, 1979-present) Wonderful choice, though it's being diluted by someone other than Nimoy playing him.
7. Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen, The Lord of the Rings franchise, 2001-2003) That's cool, I guess.
8. Frankenstein's Monster (various actors, Frankenstein franchise, 1931-present) Oh boy.
9. Phil Connors (Bill Murray, Groundhog Day, 1993) Good movie, but, I mean... a great character?
10. Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969) Don't know.



Suprmallet
1. Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski, 1998) Yeah, good choice, but I'm kind of tired of all my pothead friends idolizing him. I mean... he was meant as a joke to kind of make fun of that loser lifestyle and I think a lot of losers took it as validation.
2. Bugs Bunny (various actors, Looney Tunes franchise, 1981-present) Oy vey. Was he in any movies? And wait... 1981?? Hasn't Bugs been around for decades longer than that?
3. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner, Chris Pine, Star Trek franchise, 1979-2009) Good, but Spock is better.
4. "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry franchise, 1971-1988) Ok, i guess
5. T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia, 1962) Excellent.
6. The Girl (Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch, 1955) I could've played that part in a wig and a whispery voice. That Marylin was one overrated actor.
7. HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968) Good.
8. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson, Chinatown and The Two Jakes, 1974 & 1990) Awesome.
9. Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tatou, Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, 2001) Lame.
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor, Star Wars franchise, 1979-2005) Fine.

A massacre. Robo for the win.

With Kirk, HAL, and Bugs, no way I could vote against Suprmallet. (And Marilyn just caps it.)

Phil Connors is an interesting choice. I've often wondered how he would have worked with someone other than Bill Murray portraying him. Too much humor here, not enough charisma there and voila: a character in a movie no one would have even cared about. As it stands, he's a flawed guy who gradually comes to the epiphany we see coming from the outset. I don't know that enough fans appreciate just how challenging it is to keep from losing an audience in a story like that.

Butch Cassidy is a great choice, too; I said in the draft thread that I could never convince myself whether to go with him or The Sundance Kid, which is why I passed on both. I also like Frankenstein's Monster, but I have to confess that I prefer him as Mary Shelley's literary character than as any of his cinematic depictions (with the notable exception of Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein). The Princess Bride is ripe with great characters; I had Vizzini on my list, as well as Inigo Montoya. Westley is the hero, but I find him less interesting than these two. Still, a likable enough choice that I'm on board with him. I'm also a fan of Captain Jack Sparrow and "Doc" Brown, even though I find their characters less interesting in the sequels than in their respective series's first films. And I think Buzz Lightyear is another inspired choice; this is a guy who personifies the issues of finding one's place in life. Dismiss Toy Story as some kind of "parental nightmare" all you want; there's no more universal theme in storytelling than Buzz's story.

Lawrence of Arabia is probably my favorite movie of all time, and I confess I thought about slipping in Aud Abu Tayi in one of the later rounds; by default I want to vote for Suprmallet's list based on T.E. Lawrence alone. Obi-Wan Kenobi is my favorite Star Wars character, period. Alec Guinness is the entire reason I really even like A New Hope, because his Obi-Wan hints at all kinds of things, tantalizing Luke Skywalker--and me--throughout. And, I also thought he was a strong point of the prequels. It's too easy to hate on those movies; Obi-Wan really does grow over the course of those three movies, as well. He starts off as Qui-Gonn Jinn's apprentice, thinking it's better not to be so rebellious, and winds up discovering that his former master wasn't being rebellious for the sake of it, but because his perspective on life was informed by wisdom.

It's hard to ignore the TV series of Star Trek, but concentrating exclusively on the features, it's hard to pick between Kirk and Spock. Kirk's arc from The Motion Picture through Generations is one of a guy who comes to admit that the only thing that matters to him is being in the center seat. Spock, meanwhile, reflects a lot of the nuances of the human condition: fitting in, being selfless, tests of loyalty...there's a lot going on there.

Ultimately, RoboDad has more characters that interest me...but Suprmallet has a couple of my top favorites. Quantity vs. Quality here...and since the directions for this are to choose the better roster, I'm afraid Quantity must, by definition, win. RoboDad gets my vote.

Actually, I would argue that Kirk proves in the feature films that while he does desire to be in the captain's chair, it's due to his desire to really help humanity (although there's definitely ego mixed in with that). His actions in Star Trek III and IV prove that he cares more for his friends and the Earth than he does for his career.

In the case of The Voyage Home, I would say that "saving humanity" = "center chair" activity. Jim Kirk needs to be in the thick of things, period. As for The Search for Spock, I think there's definitely an argument to be made that the one thing he places above his desire for being in command would be the loyalty to those under him. That's probably why I've always loved III so much; it really exemplifies the shared bond amongst the original series crew.

I saw it more as Kirk seeing a problem and jumping in without hesitation. When Spock says they have to go back in time, Kirk doesn't think much about it before jumping in with both feet. And that's why Kirk and Spock are such good foils, because they represent different parts of the psyche and work best in conjunction with each other.

All true. But would you agree that Kirk thrives on being in a position to respond to those kinds of situations? That's all I mean by characterizing his feature film arc as demonstrating his need for being in command of a starship. It's addressed in every one of the features, from his wrangling of command away from Deckard to Spock telling him that anything else is "a waste of potential" to being dispatched to Nimbus III because his experience puts the otherwise handicapped U.S.S. Enterprise ahead of any other starships.

I don't disagree that Kirk is a man of action, and that being captain of a starship allows him to be in action. But I don't think that his actions are entirely those of a man who is fixated on his position, so much as someone who is trying to do the most good.

Enter the Generations portion of our discussion. When he can't be in the thick of things, Kirk finds himself withdrawing entirely from humanity. When he takes stock of his life outside his career, he finds he has little to show for years of service. Even if you want to dismiss that as being the influence of the Nexus, you can look to his morbid birthday celebration with Dr. McCoy in The Wrath of Khan to see a man who finds no joy in life outside of a starship bridge. Likewise, when he's demoted in The Voyage Home, his reaction is nothing short of exuberant. Even in the shuttle contemplating that his new command might be "a freighter," his anticipation never wavers.

24 hours left to vote, please do so if you haven't

Fixed.

suprmallet (because I don't want to be banned for not voting for him)

Suprmallet for Bugs Bunny, Dirty Harry, T.E. Lawrence and Marilyn Monroe.
'nuff said.

Congratulations to Suprmallet for a decisive round 1 victory. Ironically, a few of his choices were also on my list, but he picked them before I got around to it.

Looking back, I think I might have improved my chances with a few minor tweaks. I probably should have chosen Inigo or Vizzini over Westley, and maybe gone a different route from the Phil Connors choice (for a while I was considering Gene Wilder's Jim character from Blazing Saddles for that spot).

But for those who lamented my inclusion of Jack Sparrow, all I can say is, 'oh well'. Different strokes, and all that. He is one of my top 5 all-time favorite film characters, so there is no way I could have not included him.

Didn't you guys know we weren't allowed to post in here anymore... wait...ooops