# Needless Movie/TV Deaths **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173 "2018-05-14T23:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/41 "2018-05-18T02:28:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Agreed. And if he had to die, I would’ve loved to have had him whisper “Edith…” as his last word. Right. George Takei is the only one who should get to say, “Oh, my.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/42 "2018-05-18T02:34:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Tasha Yar’s death in ST:TNG. But they even admitted that later. I concur with this. I think the idea was to shock everyone because we know despite what injuries they get, the main crew will survive so Tasha’s death was supposed to blindside us … except everyone knew it was going to happen before the episode even aired. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/43 "2018-05-18T03:00:53Z")
I thought killing off Lady Sybil and Matthew in one season of Downton Abbey was a little excessive, but if someone wants to leave the series there aren’t too many options. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/44 "2018-05-18T04:01:18Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I saw no good reason for death of Mrs. Landingham on **The West Wing**. It didn’t further the story at all. I disagree. It let the President dramatically rail at the Almighty - in the National Cathedral, no less! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/45 "2018-05-18T07:36:11Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I thought killing off Lady Sybil and Matthew in one season of Downton Abbey was a little excessive, but if someone wants to leave the series there aren’t too many options. They can go on tour, join the army, be posted overseas, go to live in The City, etc etc. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/46 "2018-05-18T07:37:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I disagree. It let the President dramatically rail at the Almighty - in the National Cathedral, no less! I lost a lot of respect for the character and the writers with that piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/47 "2018-05-18T07:54:36Z")
Jennifer Jones in _The Towering Inferno_. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/48 "2018-05-18T09:41:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Tasha Yar’s death in ST:TNG. But they even admitted that later. Fond as I was of Tasha, I always like the original death. The fact that it seemed pointless WAS the point. By giving her a death usually reserved for minor characters, but showing the reaction of all the major characters to it, they made it became more powerful somehow. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/49 "2018-05-18T09:53:02Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > I’m also trying to remember…was it JR who had the dream or Bobby? Ah, how memories fade. Pamela had the dream. And she woke up to find Bobby in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/50 "2018-05-18T09:54:21Z")
Talking about pointless deaths, I’d say just about all of them in _ **The Americans** _. All in the name of “the Cause.” ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/51 "2018-05-18T10:05:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Tasha Yar’s death in ST:TNG. But they even admitted that later. I thought they killed her off for doin nude pix. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/52 "2018-05-18T10:17:42Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > I thought they killed her off for doin nude pix. The pictures first appeared in “Playboy” in the late 1970s when she was billed as Bing’s granddaughter so they should have known about them. Playboy, always willing to recycle things , published them again when TNG became a hit. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/53 "2018-05-18T11:07:54Z")
Donny in _The Big Lebowski._ I mean, I do get how he was a mostly pointless character, and his random death underscored the pointlessness of everything, and that was the point. Or…something. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/54 "2018-05-18T14:43:25Z")
When _Grey’s Anatomy_’s Dr. George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) left the show, the writers had him join the Army. Problem solved. But no . . . before he could get out of the country, he was hit and dragged by a bus. He was so gruesomely injured that he was unrecognizable to his former coworkers. Completely unnecessary death . . . except possibly to sate the apparent bloodlust of GA viewers. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/55 "2018-05-18T14:53:19Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Donny in _The Big Lebowski._ I mean, I do get how he was a mostly pointless character, and his random death underscored the pointlessness of everything, and that was the point. Or…something. Well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/56 "2018-05-18T16:06:54Z")
The blind baby in the Crocodile episode of Black Mirror. But then, with both parents dead, it would be better for me to think about it as a mercy killing. Nah, nope. Needless and cruel. ---
**Author:** ![jerseymule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerseymule/32/3155_2.png) [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/57 "2018-05-18T16:45:30Z")
The dog in Dead Calm. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/58 "2018-05-18T17:50:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. He was out of his element. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/59 "2018-05-19T16:29:11Z")
The dog in _Mad Max._ ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173/60 "2018-05-20T20:02:06Z")
Another star trek one: The death of Commander Tucker in the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needless-movie-tv-deaths/814173.md?page=4)