Best adventure TV stupidity of all time

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The Flash picture

Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3 - S4-E8

Stupidity: After the power cuts out, Thawne realises an obvious hiding spot and races to the secret room. He sees it's empty and just...stops looking? We literally just saw The Flash take a fraction of a second to scout out an entire enemy base we're told was 22km away! While he's dawdling in the secret room, Iris and Felicity get to Kara, knock out the guards, and get her down the corridor to the lift. He could have checked the entirety of Star Labs 10 times over in that time.

Jon Sandys

More The Flash 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
More Batman 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
Pokemon picture

Friend and Foe Alike - S1-E79

Stupidity: After eventually arriving at the stadium, why didn't Ash tell anyone that he was late due to getting kidnapped by Team Rocket? He arrived with half of his Pokémon exhausted and subsequently lost his battle. If he informed everyone about his situation, his battle with Ritchie would likely have been postponed until tomorrow, giving him some much-needed time to rest, which would have given him a bigger chance to win.

More Pokemon stupidity
Ahsoka picture

Show generally

Stupidity: Recurring issue when Ahsoka is fighting with dual sabers - there are often times in a duel when one saber is clashing with the other person, but she still has a hand free with her shoto that she could use to stab/slash and win the fight easily. Would make for shorter battles of course.

Jon Sandys

More Ahsoka 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
Magnum, P.I. picture

Try to Remember - S2-E14

Stupidity: Magnum totals his car and suffers " a severe concussion, numerous cracked ribs, bruised hip and a contused kidney." The injuries are methodically listed and can't be dismissed, but he's driving, on his own, literally the next day, and the Ferrari (which requires importing pieces, plus an insurance claim) is repaired just a day after. Both are more than miraculous recoveries - and his friends who care this much about him just let him drive in such condition (one has to assume that with damage so severe he'd also be on pain medication, but that's not mentioned).

Sammo

More Magnum, P.I. 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
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
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 Adventures of Tintin picture

The Secret of the Unicorn: Part 2 - S1-E4

Stupidity: When the Bird brothers are searching the treasure room for Tintin, one of them claims they have found him, and points. The other brother then shoots at him which was turns out to have just been a mirror reflection. The brothers then proceed to find Tintin and start by going straight forward, completely in a different direction than the mirror. If they wanted to find Tintin, wouldn't the more logical thing to do be simply look in the direction the mirror was pointing at? The whole point of a mirror is to reflect what is in front of it, so Tintin would probably have been standing in that direction anyway. (00:37:25)

Casual Person

More The Adventures of Tintin 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
Game of Thrones picture

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - S8-E2

Stupidity: It is decided that those who cannot fight will hide in the crypt from the army of the dead, and Jon Snow suggests during the war council to put Bran in the crypt as well, "where it's safest." Jon knows full well that the Night King can resurrect the dead and add them to his army. Not only should he not suggest to hide Bran there, he should be telling everyone not to go anywhere near the crypt.

Phaneron

More Game of Thrones stupidity
Star Trek: Picard picture

Maps and Legends - S1-E2

Stupidity: The super powerful Romulan commandos (no doubt with the help from the higher-ups infiltrated in the Federation) managed to touch up the footage of the fight in the roof so to remove every trace of the Romulan agents present. But Picard has been running, dodging blasts, ducking, and is knocked back by a huge explosion caught on camera and not deleted; we see it in this episode and it is unequivocally not caused by him. What is the point of going through subtly deleting every trace of the aggressors when it is transparent that something real happened and it's not all Picard's imagination? And the police simply take Picard back home from San Francisco to France without questioning him, not caring about investigating the explosion in the heart of the city involving a famous Admiral battling invisible enemies. If the conspiracy can erase anyone from the tape, why not erase Picard too, or the explosion and explain how he ended up K.O.'d differently?

Sammo

More Star Trek: Picard stupidity
What If...? picture

What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath? - S1-E9

Stupidity: Ultron says he can destroy galaxies with a thought. So regardless of Dr. Strange's protection spells, he could destroy the planet they're all standing on, or evaporate the atmosphere, leaving them all suffocating in space, and just step away from the fight entirely while they die.

Jon Sandys

More What If...? stupidity

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