Character names that become distracting in reruns

[Guest-starring_Id]

The Cosby Show shared the same surname - Huxtable - as my cosuins did, so I just started calling them the Cosbys.

[Peter_Morris]

@Shoeless

I always wondered if “Cardassians” in Star Trek was some kind of Hollywood in-joke.

I doubt it. The Cardassians first appeared on Star Trek TNG in 1991. They appeared in several episodes. DS9 started in 1993.

The O.J. Simpson trial started in January 1995. Was the name Robert Kardashian well known before that? Would it have been recognised by the general public, or TV writers, actors and producers?

[Acsenray]

@Shoeless

I always wondered if “Cardassians” in Star Trek was some kind of Hollywood in-joke.

Not even remotely possible. The Kardashians didn’t become Hollywood fixtures until decades after the Cardassisns were introduced.

[Andy_L]

Niven and Pournelle’s 1974 novel “The Mote in God’s Eye” introduces a concept/folk legend among aliens called “Crazy Eddie” (that’s the alien’s translation into English). As West Coast dwellers, they weren’t familiar with this guy Crazy Eddie - Wikipedia - but I sure was when I read the book.

[kenobi_65]

@Peter_Morris

The O.J. Simpson trial started in January 1995. Was the name Robert Kardashian well known before that? Would it have been recognised by the general public, or TV writers, actors and producers?

I answered this upthread, back in February:

@kenobi_65

It doesn’t seem likely, for a couple of reasons (though, I agree, it’s now distracting).

The Cardassians were introduced in ST:TNG in 1991, four years before Simpson’s trial.

While Robert Kardashian got his JD in the late '60s or early '70s, he had stopped practicing law by sometime in the '70s, to pursue a business career, and while he was involved in several companies connected to the entertainment industry, it doesn’t look like he was a particularly big name in entertainment (source: Wikipedia).

Kardashian reactivated his law license (which he had allowed to lapse) in '94, to serve on Simpson’s defense team. Up until then, I don’t get the sense that he was particularly well-known.

Also, there’s this note on the origin of the Cardassian name on Memory Alpha (the Star Trek wiki):

Jeri Taylor – an executive producer for TNG and the writer of “The Wounded”, the first episode to feature the Cardassians – invented the group name for the species. " I came up with ‘Circassians’ which I thought had a vaguely alien sound, though something in the back of my mind thought it came too easily, " Taylor explained. " And someone (probably Joe Menosky) pointed out that the Circassians were a real people on Earth, in antiquity. So I just played around with the sounds and ‘Cardassian’ kind of fell into place. "

[Didi44]

@Banksiaman

Betamax.

Nerd trivia. Beta is the name of the tape format. Only Sony Beta machines were Betamax. Which is why Sanyo called their Beta machines, Betacord. IIRC, even the Zenith Beta clones made by Sony weren’t Betamax.

There was a VHS vs Beta format war. But not a VHS vs Betamax one.

[Banksiaman]

@Didi44

There was a VHS vs Beta format war. But not a VHS vs Betamax one.

But, but, but ‘Dr VHS Beta’ doesn’t sound halfway as good. You nerds just want to spoil our fun.

[Didi44]

LOL!

Sorry, being a former Betafphile, I had to post that!

[terentii]

A character in one of the “Aesop & Son” cartoons on Rocky and Bullwinkle has the same name I do, though it’s not clear if it’s his last or first. Either way, I was surprised to hear it because it’s fairly unusual and has political connotations, none of which are in this case apparent. Why the writers chose it is beyond me, though I do laugh whenever I hear it.

[Asuka]

Similarly the name of the lead scientist in War of the Worlds (1953) was Doctor Clayton Forrester, which should be familiar to all Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans.

[CalMeacham]

@Bootb

On the other hand, I’ve noticed that a lot of Turkish names (and names from ancient Asia Minor) bear a striking resemblance to a lot of the alien names in Star Trek.

Having had a couple of Armenian roommates, I knew that the “-ian” ending of a name often indicates Armenian ancestry*. So when “Lando Calrissian” showed up as a major character in The Empire Strikes Back I had to wonder if it was an in-joke, probably directed at producer Howard Kazanjian

• not invariably, though. Some other ethnic groups in thhat area also had the “-ian” suffix, like Pyotr Bagration. And not all Armenian names end that way. Photographer Yousuf Karsh, for example.

[terentii]

I’m watching an episode of Hawaii Five-0 from 1972. McGarrett has been paralyzed in an auto accident, and the doctors keep using the term “spinal tap.”

I hear “Big Bottoms” every time they say it.

[terentii]

… And an important piece of evidence comes from “the Simpson case.”

[nightshadea]

its not names that distract me its voices … there are certain voices that i can pick out in a animated series no matter how they try to change them

[Intergalactic_Gladiator]

I am totally like that too. If you’re John DiMaggio, Clancy Brown, or Dee Bradley Baker I’ll recognize your voice for sure.

[erysichthon]

@Banksiaman

Recent series Mindhunter , which is generally excellent, has a lead character called Holden Ford. The two main rival Australian car companies over the past half century have been Holden (taken over by GM) and Ford.

It was distracting to me, too, but for an entirely different reason—it reminded me of Blade Runner (Harrison Ford, and the Holden character who is shot in the opening scene).