Best sci-fi TV stupidity of all time

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Westworld picture

Les Écorchés - S2-E7

Stupidity: The highly trained, elite security officer who tracks Angela down to the backups knows exactly what she is, how dangerous she is, and what she's capable of, but still drops his guard, flirts with her, lets her get up close and personal with him, and as a result gives her a clear window to grab his grenade to blow up herself, him, and all the backups.

Jon Sandys

More Westworld stupidity
Supergirl picture

Medusa - S2-E8

Stupidity: At the beginning, James and Winn argue in whispers about who gets to tell Kara that James is the Guardian, a secret they've been keeping from her, both of them apparently forgetting that she has superhuman hearing.

Cubs Fan

More Supergirl stupidity
Star Wars: The Clone Wars picture

Show generally

Stupidity: Whenever General Grievous fights another lightsaber-user, there's almost always a moment with all the sabers crossed dramatically in front of both participants, one preventing the other striking a killing blow. Looks good, but utterly ridiculous, because he's got 4 arms and 4 lightsabers - he could easily block the blade in front of him with one or two arms, and simultaneously swipe at their head and legs, which no-one with two arms could ever defend against. Of course that would make for a lot of very short duels.

Jon Sandys

More Star Wars: The Clone Wars stupidity
Black Lightning picture

The Book of Rebellion: Chapter Three: Angelitos Negros - S2-E10

Stupidity: The SWAT van transporting Khalil comes upon the most obvious setup in the history of setups, a crashed car with a miraculously unharmed woman lying in the street next to it, one arm suspiciously out of view. And of course one highly trained SWAT agent, instead of going in with backup, circling around for a proper look, or driving around (as his teammate suggests) or anything similar, wanders over and is immediately killed for his trouble. And then of course despite being surrounded by armed cops, she somehow manages to kill all of them without a problem (offscreen of course, because there's no way to believably show her single handedly killing about 20 cops).

Jon Sandys

More Black Lightning stupidity
Spider-Man picture

The Return of Hydro-Man: Part 1 - S5-E7

Stupidity: When Spider-Man is working in the lab, he uses his webbing to barricade the door shut so no-one interrupts him. When Debra Whitman shows up and asks who is in there, he identifies himself as Peter Parker. When he is finished with his work, he leaves out of the window so that by the time the security guards break the door down, he has vanished. Since he used his webbing to keep the door closed, it would be pretty easy for Debra and the security guards to figure out that Peter is Spider-Man since Spider-Man's webbing is at the scene and Peter seemingly vanished into thin air.

Phaneron

More Spider-Man stupidity
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier picture

The Whole World Is Watching - S1-E4

Stupidity: The Dora Milaje arrive to take Zemo. John calmly attempts to talk them down, but it leads to a huge fight when he puts his hand on Ayo's shoulder. There are multiple instances during this fight where they totally would have stabbed John and Lamar with their spears, and are only stopped because Sam and Bucky intervene. While it's understandable they would want to obtain Zemo, attempting to kill two people to do so is completely out-of-character and goes against all of their morals and principles.

Casual Person

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: I watched the scene and I never saw any of them try to straight up murder anyone. They were very skilled and precise in their attacks (for example, pinning John) and wouldn't have murdered anyone.

Bishop73

Here's a link to the scene (https://youtu.be/cpUq-kYMPkc). I counted three times when they almost kill them. First, after Ayo knocks John to the ground after he puts his hand on her shoulder, she attempts to stab him with her spear, prompting John to pick up the shield to stop himself from getting stabbed. There is no way she could have known that he would have picked up the shield, and if he did not do that, she would have totally stabbed him.

Casual Person

Second, there is another attempt where Ayo tries to stab John, which is only avoided because Bucky grabs onto the spear with his metal arm. Third, the two other Dora Milaje get into a fight with Lamar, and there is a point where one of them is about to throw her spear at him, but Sam grabs onto the back of the spear, so she cannot stab him. These are clear attempts to kill John and Lamar and were only avoided because Sam and Bucky intervened.

Casual Person

More The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stupidity
Star Trek: The Next Generation picture

Identity Crisis - S4-E18

Stupidity: When Riker and Worf are searching for Geordi on the holodeck, why don't they just terminate the program, instead of looking for him in the simulated jungle? Would have made it a heck of a lot easier to find him in the relatively small empty holodeck, invisible or not.

wizard_of_gore

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Geordi had already mutated and since one of the abilities of the mutation is invisibility, shutting off the holodeck wouldn't have helped as, without being able to see Geordi, it would be impossible to know where or if he was still in the holodeck.

The original stupidity still holds though. As the original poster said, it would be easier to find Geordi in the smaller holodeck, without the simulated jungle, "invisible or not."

wizard_of_gore

No, it wouldn't. Before going to the holodeck, the computer was asked where Geordi was with the response he was no longer on board. This would indicate that any type of scanner would not be able to find him. Plus, how would shutting off the holodeck help? Geordi was now invisible, being invisible would have no shadow and shortly after Worf and Riker had even got to the holodeck, a partially mutated Geordi had already got to the transporter room and beamed himself down to the planet.

I have to agree. How would shutting down the holodeck be useful in finding Geordi since he was now invisible and the scanners on the Enterprise couldn't detect him?

Because of how the Holodeck works, turning off the program would leave him in a small room and standing on the floor, so they could at least try to physically sweep the room. Leaving the program running, he's still invisible, but now a physical sweep would be nearly impossible since he could be in trees above them or hiding below them and not on the same ground level.

Bishop73

More Star Trek: The Next Generation stupidity
Batwoman picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Stupidity: Batman and his security guy Luke Fox have the worst IT security in America, since the security network of Wayne Enterprises has had the same password for years, and it is just six letters.

Sammo

More Batwoman stupidity
More Star Trek stupidity
Fantastic Four: The Animated Series picture

Behold, a Distant Star - S2-E10

Stupidity: When Johnny finds out his father is alive and wanted for murder, he is livid with his sister for telling him neither fact. When Sue decides to tell him the whole story, she asks Reed to pull a photo album from the drawer next to him, which contains a newspaper clipping detailing that their father was wanted for murder. If Sue didn't want Johnny to know about that, she shouldn't have placed the clipping in a photo album, and then kept the photo album in a communal area where Johnny could have easily discovered it at any time. (00:06:19 - 00:07:34)

Phaneron

More Fantastic Four: The Animated Series stupidity
Sliders picture

Dead Man Sliding - S3-E10

Stupidity: And the end, after sliding to another world, the group is caught on film by someone in her house. Quinn goes (illegally) into the home to get the tape. There is no point to this. Throughout the series, many people have seen them arrive, or leave, and usually when there's a mix up with one of their doubles, they spend so much time trying to convince people they are in fact from another world but can't prove it. Quinn doesn't even bother to see how long they're going to be on that world first.

Bishop73

More Sliders stupidity
Star Trek: Voyager picture

Unforgettable - S4-E22

Stupidity: When Kellin is hit with the neurolytic emitter, it erases her memories of the outside world. However, the effects aren't immediate and take some time (enough to get her to sick bay and have time to talk to Chakotay). However, she spends her time telling Chakotay to help her remember their relationship, etc. when her memory is gone instead of just making a recording of herself describing the relationship and her feeling which can then be shown to her after her memory is gone. She might not believe the recording, but seeing herself discuss the situation would be better than just relying on Chakotay (who will soon be a stranger she never met) telling her something so unbelievable.

Bishop73

More Star Trek: Voyager stupidity
Continuum picture

A Stitch in Time - S1-E1

Stupidity: During a shootout in front of a bank, one of the bank robbers lays his shotgun on the trunk of a car and yells "I'm out!" However, he has 6 additional rounds in a shell holder on the side of the gun. (00:35:20)

More Continuum stupidity
The Mandalorian picture

Chapter 13: The Jedi - S2-E5

Stupidity: Ahsoka is fighting against the spear-wielding woman. She keeps blocking the spear using both her sabers. It would be very straightforward to block the spear with just one lightsaber (as she proves she can do just as well after she loses the smaller one) and use the second one to, for example, cut off the woman's hands.

Jon Sandys

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This is opinion, not stupidity.

More The Mandalorian stupidity
X-Men picture

Slave Island - S1-E7

Stupidity: The mutants that are held prisoner and forced to build the dam on Genosha are allowed to keep their costumes on. The prisoners are captured so that their powers can be used to build the dam faster, but there's no reason why they wouldn't all be given prison uniforms. Characters like Gambit and Jubilee are wearing jackets, and Jubilee uses it to her advantage by pocketing a piece of twine to pick the lock to her cell later on.

Phaneron

More X-Men stupidity
Obi-Wan Kenobi picture

Part II - S1-E2

Stupidity: Whilst Reva is running across the rooftops, there is a moment where she does a backflip in order to propel her forwards towards the next rooftop. If she was attempting to jump between roofs, then doing a backflip would not have been useful as it would only slow down her momentum instead of build it. (00:25:28)

Casual Person

More Obi-Wan Kenobi stupidity
The Twilight Zone picture

Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up - S2-E28

Stupidity: The whole plot is based upon 6 people not being able to spot the seventh (odd man out). We can eliminate the couples, the driver remembers the pretty blond getting on the bus and the crazy old guy would stick in anybodies memory, so it leaves only the sour old guy in the coat and hat as the martian.Also all the troopers has to do was ask for IDs which they do but quit after they ask the crazy old guy for his.

hifijohn

More The Twilight Zone stupidity
Titans picture

Nightwing - S2-E13

Stupidity: Donna runs in to save everyone from the collapsing pylon, dying in the process, despite the fact that Superboy or Raven, both more powerful/resilient, could have stopped it falling without any issues whatsoever. Not even like anyone was distracted - the fight was over, they were all just standing around.

Jon Sandys

More Titans stupidity
The X-Files picture

Soft Light - S2-E23

Stupidity: After Mulder requests a fingerprint check on light bulb, Scully wipes it down with a napkin, removing any such evidence with no possible useful outcome. (00:06:00)

More The X-Files stupidity
More Time Tunnel stupidity

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