{"id":5263,"date":"2013-10-18T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T07:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=5263"},"modified":"2013-10-12T11:30:10","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T18:30:10","slug":"ten-famous-nerds-of-tv-and-the-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=5263","title":{"rendered":"Ten Famous Nerds of TV and the Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

They could be evil. They could be sloppily dressed. They may hang with a group, but most likely they’re loners. They are the famous nerds of television and film. No matter what the show, live or animated, sit them down in front of a computer and they’ll know exactly what to do.
\n
\nIn no particular order:<\/p>\n

#1<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Steve

Steve Urkel from the TV show Family Matters<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nSteve Urkel reigned supreme as king of all Nerds in the 1990’s TV sitcom Family Matters<\/em>. He was brilliant, no doubt, and also possessed the prime nerdly qualities of being socially awkward and aggressively annoying. Sadly, as the show progressed Urkel became more of a caricature and less of a character, almost to the point where some animated (cartoon) nerds were more believable.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#2<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"The

Russell Johnson as The Professor from Gilligan’s Island<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nHis real name is Roy Hinkley Jr. and what they say about this character is true: He could construct anything electrical or mechanical by using palm fronds, bamboo, and coconuts — yet he could not construct a boat or other floatation device that would get the castaways off that damn island. While the professor doesn’t ever construct a simple computer, it is mentioned in the show that he authored two books, Rust: the Real Red Menace<\/em> and Fun with Ferns<\/em>.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#3<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Desmond

Desmond Llewelyn as Q from many of the James Bond films.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nHis name originally wasn’t “Q,” but rather Major Quintin Boothroyd. He was simply the head of the “Q branch,” where Q stood for Quartermaster in the novels. In real life, the Q branch of British Intelligence makes things like radio transmitters and tracking devices. But on film, the Q branch makes all sorts of wonderful gadgets, from cars with ejector seats to laser pens and jet backpacks. Q himself delights in creating those gizmos and showing them to James Bond, who disappoints Q by destroying nearly every one.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#4<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Wayne

Wayne Knight as Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nThe rare evil nerd in this list, novelist Michael Crichton packed every nerd stereotype into the bumbling bonfire of Nedry’s personality. Even his name is a feeble anagram of nerdy<\/em>. Dennis Nedry was an untidy, obese, overeater, underachiever, anti-social, Unix geek. It seems only fitting that he was consumed by a dinosaur.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#5<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Velma

Velma from Scooby Doo<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nIt’s regrettable that you never see Velma sit down at a computer and hack out some descent code, or a at least some sort of AI program that would indicate to her that all her friends’ adventures follow the same plot line. While it’s cool that Velma is one of the first female nerds in cartoon fiction, it’s sad that they had to slap on her those horn-rimmed glasses. Personally, I think Velma is teh hot.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#6<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Martin

Martin Prince of The Simpsons<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nHonestly, The Simpsons offers up more nerdy characters per square foot than you could once find outside the old Quantum Books across from MIT. Martin is one of the smart nerds, but so is Lisa Simpson. Mad scientist Professor Frink could also be considered a nerd, as would be the Comic Book Guy. Even hapless Milhouse Van Houten is a nerd of sorts. But I feel that Martin epitomizes the best of all nerdly qualities. Although I don’t recall ever seeing him operate a computer, I’m certain that he has at least two, one laptop and a second desktop PC that dual-boots into Linux.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#7<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Brainy

Brainy Smurf.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nWhile not one of the original Smurf folk, Brainy Smurf is definitely one of the smartest (and that’s not saying much). Granted, the glasses are a bit clich\u00e9. While the appeal of this character to all of nerdom seems moot (Smurfs are generally despised in the computer community), Brainy Smurf does show the need for smart people to help resolve a complicated plot line — even if you have to inject the word smurf into your speech some way. Smurfarific<\/em>!\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#8<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"The

The nerd gang from Revenge of the Nerds<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nI adored the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds<\/em>. Rather than cramming all nerd types into a single character, the film showcased the nerd pantheon. I found that perspective charming because most people believe that they’re nerdy in one way or another. It’s more realistic than being a one dimensional stereotype, as demonstrated elsewhere in the mdeai. Plus the film showcased nerds as having great spirit. Their triumph over the jocks at the end of the film was sweet justice for anyone who’s felt detached from society’s social elite. Nerds rule.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#9<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Leonard

Leonard Nimoy as Star Trek’s<\/em> Mr. Spock.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nIf being a nerd meant that you joined a religion, then Mr. Spock would be one of the gods — if not the<\/em> god. Mr. Spock demonstrates what all nerds achieve to be: a walking, precise database and calculator, oblivious to emotions yet completely necessary for others to have around. Spock did the one thing that no nerd in real life could ever achieve: knowing that he’s the smartest guy in the room while maintaining his humility. Use a computer? You bet! In fact, not satisfied with the version of GNU Chess that came with the Starship Enterprise’s computer, Spock programmed his own version of the game. Now if only mere mortal nerds could master the Vulcan nerve pinch.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

#10<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Jim

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\nSheldon Cooper is the nerds’ nerd in residence on TV’s The Big Bang Theory<\/em>. He is the epitome of all nerds, primarily because over his overt, anti-social \/ Mensa \/ Asperger’s persona. As such he’s extremely dangerous. Not only to actor Jim Parsons (paging Adam West, typecasting devision), but because people actually like Sheldon. Sure, they admit that he showcases the worst of all nerd stereotypes, but the problem is that he’s likable<\/em>. Trust me, if you knew someone just like Sheldon in real life, you would not like him let alone be amused by his antics.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know ’em. You love ’em. Here are ten nerds, some of whom are actual computer nerds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5263"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5311,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263\/revisions\/5311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}