10 Sci-Fi TV Characters With Absurd Weaknesses

Split image of Dalek, Morty and Eleven in Sci-fi feature

Science fiction has led to some bizarre narratives and in a serialized format there’s even more room for character flaws that might be a little strange to be explored. Out of context, these protagonist and antagonist weaknesses will likely seem completely absurd, especially when placed in a different genre.

However, within the sci-fi shows themselves they somehow make sense and play into the narratives. These are some of the most popular science fiction series in recent memory and in each, one of the lead characters boasts an unexpected flaw that surely wouldn’t impact anyone else in cinema history.

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10 The Solar Opposites – The Mission

Solar Opposites Season 1 Hulu

Solar Opposites might just be one of the strangest sci-fi shows out there right now, following a family that have been sent from their planet to try and find a new home. The group are so dependent on one another to complete their mission, but weirdly it’s a lack of focus that has become their weakness.

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If the team are not going about their daily chores, in service of the mission at hand, then they fall apart. That’s not just metaphorical. The group’s leader, Korvo, literally melts if the group isn’t living up to their full potential. They have to get back to work in order for him to just survive.

9 Daleks – Stairs

A group of Daleks in Doctor Who

Daleks, in their earlier days, had one fatal flaw. Doctor Who might have now created Dalek variants that can overcome this obstacle, but their original design meant that the monstrous robots weren’t able to climb upstairs. It was a source of constant embarrassment.

Humans could flee from the attacking aliens fairly easily if they manage to find some uneven terrain. Now Daleks have flight capabilities, but when they used to hover just above the ground, anything too rocky would have posed a real problem. The limitation certainly made them slightly less terrifying.

8 Sabine Wren – Art

Sabine Wren in Madalorian Armor

Sabine Wren is one of the most valiant fighters of freedom in Star Wars Rebels. She continues to protect the galaxy alongside the rest of her kind, the Mandalorians, and the Phoenix Squadron. She has a very specific personality trait which has also become her weakness.

She is an avid artist, with the character even crafting plenty of symbolic pieces dedicated to the rebellion. Unfortunately, when faced with a threat like Thrawn though, that art becomes a weakness. The sharp mind of the Grand Admiral can gain all the information he needs from Sabine’s talents.

7 Brad Boimler – Training

Brad Boimler holding a datapad on Star Trek: Lower Decks

Brad Boimler is one of the most promising young cadets in Lower Decks. The Star Trek spinoff feels like a parody in some ways, but the canon animated comedy does actually boast some of the most intriguing characters in Trek lore to date. Boimler’s flaw is his penchant for following the rules.

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His weakness, as absurd as it seems, is his inability to ignore his training. It’s taken a long time for Boimler’s partner in the field, Beckett Mariner, to break him out of the habits of a lifetime and become adaptable to the situation at hand. With so many outdated protocols to follow, the very sequences put in place to protect Boimler continues to put him in danger.

6 Westworld Hosts – Unexpected Encounters

Dolores in her original outfit and hairstyle in a scene from Westworld.

All the hosts in Westworld suffer from the same dangerous weakness. They are unable to truly break out of their narrative cycle and are often struck by unexpected encounters. In the early days of the park, the hosts weren’t able to respond to things that they weren’t programmed to comprehend.

As the series has developed and they have seemingly gained sentience, that flaw remains. The hosts, when met with free humans, for instance, don’t know how to react and end up killing themselves. Unexpected encounters should be dealt with easily, yet they are the biggest danger to any host.

5 Sara Lance – Alien DNA

Caity Lotz as Sara Lance taking cover in Legends of Tomorrow

DC’s Sara Lance has been through it all. She was trained to be an assassin, died and was resurrected, joined the Justice League, and became the captain of a time-traveling superhero team. Within all of that though, becoming an alien wouldn’t have been on her radar.

It’s become a gift and a curse, Sara Lance has been recreated with alien DNA. She might be invulnerable and boast extra abilities. However, the unpredictability of her new physical form has also proven to be quite challenging, even weakening her in certain situations. The fact that she evolved in this way is absurd in itself, let alone that it causes new conflicts.

4 Morty Smith – Love

Rick and Morty could solve their darkest unanswered question.

Morty has continued to learn so much from his grandfather, Rick, and might just be the second most competent member of the Smith household. But Rick and Morty never fails to demonstrate the protagonist’s most inconvenient flaws and for Morty it might seem a little absurd.

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Morty is pretty much obsessed with finding love. That’s usually celebrated and paid off in most films and TV shows, but it’s only ever treated as a weakness in the Adult Swim series. Time and time again Morty takes his eye off the ball for a chance to not be alone. He even destroyed whole worlds just for brief romances.

3 The Doctor – Memory

The Twelfth Doctor encounters a Mondasian Cyberman

Doctor Who has created whole narratives surrounding the many flaws of The Doctor. Most of them are pretty obvious, but his memory is the one that continues to plague him, which is a strange flaw. After all, this is the mind of a Time Lord; The Doctor can remember everything.

But absurdly, The Doctor’s brain melts a lot of things together, meaning they don’t always have the answer when they need it. What’s more, they get things wrong because their memory has confused various elements together. For a time-traveling hero of infinite potential, it’s odd that something so human could hold them back.

2 Eleven – Aging

Eleven in Stranger Things season 4

Eleven of Stranger Things fame is one of the most powerful beings in the world. She’s taken on the beasts of the Upside Down and lived to tell the tale. Her powers are extraordinary and they only get better with time and experience. However, that’s not exactly true.

There’s been increasing evidence that as Eleven gets older, she grows more disconnected from the period when she developed her gifts. Despite it making no sense in all sci-fi logic, Eleven seems to be losing her power throughout her coming-of-age arc.

1 Baymax – Charging

Baymax debuted in Big Hero 6 but he recently took center stage in the Disney+ spinoff Baymax! The android might spend his evenings alongside the rest of the team fighting crime as a superhero, but most of Baymax’s days are spent as a personal healthcare assistant.

Sharp things are quite a threat to the balloon man, but what gets to Baymax is not being charged. The climax of the Disney+ series saw Baymax lost and in trouble after he failed to plug in. This is the robot that faced down super villains, but weirdly he will get floored by a lack of electricity!

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Author: Deann Hawkins