Terrible TOS performances....

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Grant, Nov 13, 2012.

  1. Grant

    Grant Commodore Commodore

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    Not goona make a poll, but who really stunk up the joint on TOS with their performance.

    PLEASE NOTE: not talking about 1 or 2 line bit parts by any number of young or inexperienced actors (who usually were playing bit crewperson roles.)

    What sizable parts were examples of bad acting?


    Not too easy because I don't think there were that many.
     
  2. Grant

    Grant Commodore Commodore

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    Oh, I forgot to say mine. LOL.

    I guess I'd have to go with Angelique Pettyjohn--she wasn't hired for her acting.
     
  3. Silvercrest

    Silvercrest Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Do we have to mention Melvin Belli by name, or can we just take that as a given?
     
  4. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    I'll bet she appreciated getting a role which required so many cothing, though.

    Yea, I'd say she's pretty much at the top of the pile, along with the girl from Spock's brain

    ETA: Oh, yea, Silvercrest...I pretty much blocked the Gorgon fom my mind :alienblush:
     
  5. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    He was the one that immediately came to mind for me as well. :techman:
     
  6. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I love TOS, though it might as well be Greek tragedy for all its performance relevance. The only fruity/ripe performance I noticed was Tracey in Omega Glory. The rest I can live with.
     
  7. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    I loved Morgan Woodward in The Omega Glory!

    "We killed thousands! And they still came!", great performance. :techman:
     
  8. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Like I said, I love TOS. :) I sometimes wish contemporary actors would be braver in going for 'bold' performance.
     
  9. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    I just don't think their as capable. So many of those actors from TOS grew up on the stage, one of the reasons Stewart really sticks out among Modern Trek actors.

    One of the reasons modern dramas don't really grab me the way those in the sixties and seventies did.
     
  10. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, being a brit (hopefully with taste but fun as well) I hear you :)
     
  11. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    They could "project to the back row."

    :)
     
  12. Grant

    Grant Commodore Commodore

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    Given. :lol:
     
  13. AtoZ

    AtoZ Commander Red Shirt

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    Agree 100%
     
  14. EnsignHarper

    EnsignHarper Captain Captain

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    Does Robert Brown get a pass because it really wasn't his fault? I am sure he got to see the AF script for about ten minutes - while they were measuring for his costume, and telling him that a car would be picking him up at 5 the next morning to take him out to Vasquez Rocks. :wtf: Even Olivier would be giving a sub par performance under those conditions.
     
  15. jayrath

    jayrath Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I thought she did a fine job in a lousy part. She did exactly what the script demanded, and executed a pretty good fight scene. It's not like she was called upon to emote, though she did tear up on cue at the end. I have greater problems with other obligatory babes of the week, such as (I forget her name) the vacuous cloud city woman.
     
  16. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    Yeah, Droxine was pretty bad.
     
  17. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Guy who plays Roger Corby. Too lazy to look him up.
    I have no prob with Belli, actually.
    OH! Mira Romaine! or however you spell it. Too lazy to look that up either. She was bad.
     
  18. KirkPicard

    KirkPicard Captain Captain

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    Aurelan Kirk, Nancy Hedford, and Victor Lundin (the unamed Klingon Lt. from "Errand of Mercy") come to mind.
     
  19. AtoZ

    AtoZ Commander Red Shirt

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    I love TOS and as such I feel that they did a fine job, a marvelous job of stocking the episodes with fine and often underrated talent. Wracking my brains here. If you are looking for "terrible" then I have to confess I cannot think of it, at least in the classic sense. As the years have passed I have come to view TOS as fine art, from a different era albeit, but art nevertheless.

    If there is one actor who gave me something notable to mention here, it doesn't qualify as "terrible", but damn, it sure is over the top and laughable, if not believable.

    Ed McCready

    He was strangely effective if somewhat suspiciously exaggerated as the aging boy creature in Miri....an episode I love.

    He played Chief Medical officer Carter on the USS Exeter, Captain Tracy's ship - another episode I absolutely love watching to this very day.

    McCready's warning, facial expression, loud and laughable demise, his collapse from the Captain's chair, made me laugh with horror as a child and today I have to laugh at it for its comic book flare. Point taken, message delivered. The Enterprise landing party is in trouble. LOL!

    If that performance wasn't proof enough then his next appearance underlined his colorful contributions to TOS forever as a sort of colorful and at-times understated secret weapon, as Barber in Spectre of the Gun - another of my all-time favorite episodes.

    I have to wonder if McCready was sought out for his talent on other television shows more than any convenient availability, but having said that, while he may not come off as believable as a day-to-day sort of real life person, he fit perfectly in the TOS world of over the top characters and fantasy.

    I mean no disrespect. In a way, he was so bad he was very very good.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2012
  20. Elder Knight

    Elder Knight Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    In another era, he could have sued you to beat the band, but now it's safe.