Smartest TV or Movie Character?

[bramma23]

I'm pretty open to the rules but I'd prefer they be human and based in this world and somehow aren't divinely inspired or created for the purpose of knowing all the answers intuitively like an oracle or something. Maybe if there's enough nominations it could be a poll?

It's up to you how to define intelligence. Problem solving skills? critical thinking skills? wisdom? high test scores? etc.

Here are some of my thoughts:
Will Hunting
House
Josiah Bartlet
Doc Brown (he did invent a time machine)

[JThunder]

Doc Savage and Buckaroo Banzai would have those guys beat.

[zamboniracer]

Agent 86 Maxwell Smart :-)

[Meltdown]

Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory? Certainly he would think so.

[cmkeller]

Dogbert or Dilbert's garbage man (they qualify due to the TV series).

[Contrapuntal]

Nero Wolfe hands down.

[glowacks]

Reginald Barclay during "The Nth Degree".

[panache45]

I don't watch a lot of different shows, but of the ones I do watch I'd say Greg House . . . at least professionally. His personal life doesn't indicate much intelligence though.

[Maggie the Ocelot]

Peggy Hill! She's got a 180 IQ (self-estimated)!

[Antinor01]

Dr Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds would be up there. Graduated high school at age 12, holds Phds is mathematics, engineering and Chemistry plus 3 other BA's and has an IQ of 187.

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

Batman's a scientist.

[Der Trihs]

Reginald Barclay during "The Nth Degree".He'd be my vote.

[Stauderhorse]

Sam Beckett, Quantum Leap.

Has an IQ of 267 and graduated from high school at 16. Completed four years worth of classes at MIT in two years. Has seven doctoral degrees (Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics, Archeology, Ancient Languages, Chemistry, and Astronomy) and speaks 11 languages (including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese). Developed the string theory of time travel.

[pancakes3]

stewie

[shantih]

Sherlock Holmes, of course.

[BigT]

Sam Beckett, Quantum Leap.

Has an IQ of 267 and graduated from high school at 16. Completed four years worth of classes at MIT in two years. Has seven doctoral degrees (Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics, Archeology, Ancient Languages, Chemistry, and Astronomy) and speaks 11 languages (including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese). Developed the string theory of time travel.

And then has most of his mind taken away from him by the swiss-cheese effect.

Anyways, unless there was a population explosion in the far off year of 1999, there is no way he could have a 267 I.Q.

[pancakes3]

doogie howser, m.d.

[Chronos]

Do the characters have to be fictional? Because Einstein and Newton have appeared in TV shows and movies.

[Suburban Plankton]

No love for Perry Mason?

[Darth_Hamsandwich]

Hannibal Lecter, M.D.

[John DiFool]

I don't watch a lot of different shows, but of the ones I do watch I'd say Greg House . . . at least professionally. His personal life doesn't indicate much intelligence though.

Wisdom vs. Intelligence, man. Compare to Gump, Forrest.

Sam Beckett, Quantum Leap.

Has an IQ of 267 and graduated from high school at 16. Completed four years worth of classes at MIT in two years. Has seven doctoral degrees (Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics, Archeology, Ancient Languages, Chemistry, and Astronomy) and speaks 11 languages (including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese). Developed the string theory of time travel.

Yet, if you actually watched the show, none of that informed brilliance (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAbility) ever quite comes across; most of the solutions to the Problem of the Week are derived from his compassion & intuition. Ever hear him speak one of those languages?

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

Sam Beckett, Quantum Leap.

Has an IQ of 267 and graduated from high school at 16. Completed four years worth of classes at MIT in two years. Has seven doctoral degrees (Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics, Archeology, Ancient Languages, Chemistry, and Astronomy) and speaks 11 languages (including English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, and Japanese). Developed the string theory of time travel.

Yet, if you actually watched the show, none of that informed brilliance (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAbility) ever quite comes across

I think I'd give him "show, don't tell" points for music and medicine.

And even if we ding him on archaeology because he only ever really displayed a knack for reading hieroglyphics and rattling off a few pieces of trivia, I think he deserves a pass on physics; we not only get to see his time machine up and running, but -- in The Leap Back -- we actually get to see Sam tinkering with it while in full possession of his faculties.

[Bakhesh]

Would have thought Doctor Who should be top of the list. He is improbably intelligent most of the time.

[Sigmagirl]

Beauregard Bottomley in Champagne for Caesar (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042325/).

[Skald the Rhymer]

I'm going to nominate Julian Bashir, from DS9. Unlike many of those named above, he pretty much concentrated on a single field (well, two: medicine & math), which to me is a plus rather thana minus. And he caused a lot fewer problems than a lot of Star Trek geniuses I can name.

[Giles]

You're all living in the wrong universe: the smartest person definitely is Washu Hakubi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washu_Hakubi), in the Tenchi Muyo universe.

[Annie-Xmas]

Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory? Certainly he would think so.

I think Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj, if not geniuses, are reaslly high up on the IQ scale.

[Alessan]

My vote is for Ben Linus of Lost.

[Hazle Weatherfield]

Bugs Bunny

[Max Torque]

Hm. Tony Stark? He built an arc reactor and a set of flying armor in a friggin' cave using scrap metal and a propane welder, and it only took him about a week.

[Bakhesh]

Hm. Tony Stark? He built an arc reactor and a set of flying armor in a friggin' cave using scrap metal and a propane welder, and it only took him about a week.

Well, if you are having Tony, then Reed Richards should be in there too, despite not seeming that smart in the movies

[Jenaroph]

Would have thought Doctor Who should be top of the list. He is improbably intelligent most of the time.
Thought of him first too but the OP says "preferably human."

[Antinor01]

I'm going to nominate Julian Bashir, from DS9. Unlike many of those named above, he pretty much concentrated on a single field (well, two: medicine & math), which to me is a plus rather thana minus. And he caused a lot fewer problems than a lot of Star Trek geniuses I can name.

I would exclude Dr Bashir because his intelligence was artificially enhanced through genetic engineering.

[Kilmore]

The chicken hawk.

[Gagundathar]

Reid Richards and Charles Xavier come to mind.
I suppose I have always identified with Mr. Fantastic.
I mean, he is ultra-intelligent and is married to a total babe.

[Alka Seltzer]

Deep Thought.

The Great Hyperlobic Omnicognate Neutron-Wrangler can talk all four legs off an Arcturan Mega-Donkey but only I can persuade it to go for a walk afterwards.

[cosmosdan]

I'd suggest Spock but without a doubt the smartest character is John Doe from the short lived series of the same name (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320038/)


The guy supposedly knew everything, except his own past.

John Doe is an intelligent adventure series, named after the main character, albeit not by name: 'John Doe' is called thus because nobody knows the name of the man who literally fell from the sky, naked, in the sea near an obscure island. When Far Eastern fishermen save him, it soon becomes clear his memory is in a paradoxical state: he has total amnesia concerning his own past, even his real name, but has more factual knowledge stored in his brain then even the Google computer banks on every possible other subject, as if he had memorized the Library of Congress, so one rarely needs to read anything when he's around. He also is intelligent and inquisitive enough to understand and use much of that knowledge, and keeps rolling into all kinds of weird mysteries, teaming up with various characters, each of which must first be convinced he's legit, such as police detectives Frank Hayes and Jamie Avery, but gets frustrated by finding his own story the most elusive, probably linked to some secret experiment.

I win! Right? :)

[Chronos]

I think that runs afoul of the "no oracles" stipulation in the OP.

[pancakes3]

Chuck has the capacity to become the smartest, well most knowledgeable.

i think the OP actually nailed it with doc brown.

[pancakes3]

Chuck has the capacity to become the smartest, well most knowledgeable.

i think the OP actually nailed it with doc brown.

[xizor]

Good News Everyone! What about Professor Farnsworth?

[Corner Case]

Agent 86 Maxwell Smart :-)Missed it by - that much.

[YogSosoth]

Reginald Barclay during "The Nth Degree".

Q when he was turned human. He had an IQ of 2005 or something

[cosmosdan]

I think that runs afoul of the "no oracles" stipulation in the OP.

Dam it. Another victory snatched from my grasp. :mad: