Worst Star trek actor ever

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by The Overlord, Feb 11, 2011.

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  1. DS9

    DS9 Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    As I have been reading this particular thread I am seeing a lot of hate towards Beltran. Was he my favorite Trek character? No. Was he the worst in my opinion? No. I think the problem with him in addition to Beltran being kind of being a stick in the mud was that his character wasn't that great. I thought the idea of having a Native American Maquis on Voyager was cool. Very early on in the series one gets introduced to Chakotay's spirituality and his Native American practices but then the writers just kind of stopped writing anything interesting for him and that was disappointing. From about the third season on, the creativity behind Beltran's character was just uninspired and and non-interesting.They hardly even had any Chakotay-centered episodes. Having a Native American character could have been really interesting and it just wasn't. I thought they were going to show more of his ethnic background and personality and they never really did and that was disappointing to me. I partially blame the writers for this.
     
  2. Cyke101

    Cyke101 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, Memory Alpha lists her in four, perhaps five episodes (because of the nature of Course: Oblivion): http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Lang_(Ensign)

    But the actress page and IMDB list only three episodes for her. So I'm guessing either one of those was an uncredited role like so many other ensigns, or someone's purposely trying to erase her "acting" history from the minds of Trekkies everywhere.
     
  3. LeadHead

    LeadHead Director of Comedy Premium Member

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    I'd bet it has more to do with lines. She actually had lines in Blood Fever and Displaced. Maybe there were deleted lines from her in another one of the episodes she was seen in,
     
  4. Cyke101

    Cyke101 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That may be the truth, but in my personal canon, her acting was such a mistake that there is now a clandestine conspiracy to erase her history from time itself.


    And I don't find myself lifting a finger to fight this conspiracy, either.
     
  5. ToddPence

    ToddPence Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The nameless "Personnel Officer" from "Court-Martial".
     
  6. RavenCWG

    RavenCWG Ensign Red Shirt

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    I think Will Wheaton has gotten a really bad rap over the years. I personally don't feel like his acting ability had much of anything to do with why his character wasn't good. You see, I was 13 y/o (about year younger than Will) when TNG started in 1987, so one of my biggest pet peeves, particularly of that first season, was the demeaning and dismissive way the writers treated, not only Wesley Crusher, but children and teenagers in general. In the case of Wesley, you had this 14-15 y/o teenage actor playing the part, but they wrote the character as though it was for an 8 or 9 y/o, and that is exactly how all the other characters treated him. His was the most prominent example, but certainly not the only one. Consider the "children" in "Justice". The Enterprise goes to this planet where its inhabitance are all about sex and "make love at the drop of a hat...ANY hat." as Tasha Yar put it, and yet all of the "children" (who in actuality all appeared to be between 15 and 17) act like a bunch of 50's, "Leave it to Beaver" innocent, naive 5 y/o's completely oblivious and disinterested in the fact that all of the adults are making out in plain sight all around them. Yah, that's realistic!
     
  7. Vulpes

    Vulpes Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    To be honest, Shatner. As far as I can tell, he can convey two emotions: smug and very smug.
     
  8. barnaclelapse

    barnaclelapse Commodore Commodore

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    I'd have to disagree with that, but that's just me.

    I happen to think the guy is a fine actor, but in terms of performances I'd have to say I've never cared much for Stephen Collins in TMP. Most of the time he was either completely unremarkable or just kind of annoying.
     
  9. Merky

    Merky Captain Captain

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    Shatner in TOS, which is really weird to say because he's an excellent actor in everything else but Star Trek.

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWpjhdZZAko[/yt]

    I was blown away here. Like, dude, he's the best thing out of this whole radio play!

    Of course in the movies he toned down the ham, but jfc, sometimes it got so campy that you actually have pause the DVD and shake your head.

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvRBDQqSmY[/yt]

    :guffaw:
     
  10. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    tbf, that second clip - isn't it from Turnabout Intruder? Which is pretty fubar ep. as not really 'Kirk'.
     
  11. Merky

    Merky Captain Captain

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    And the Children Shall Lead, Kirk freaks when they make him think he lost command of his ship.
     
  12. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    :lol: well, Kirk did tend to do that anytime he was threatened with losing control of ship...
     
  13. Merky

    Merky Captain Captain

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    :lol: that is true!

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bZKEhgieoc[/yt]
     
  14. Cyke101

    Cyke101 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I actually agree with this statement. For a time I used to get really bewildered at all the praise that Shatner would get on this board, as if people were just kissing his butt out of favoritism more than anything else. But name another prominent show or film with Shatner and it's great. Denny Crane!


    Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fan and I think he does his job in TOS. But TOS-Shatner isn't his best work imo.


    Maybe this is why nuKirk got to be captain so fast -- the higher-ups knew that if he didn't get the ship, THIS would happen :)
     
  15. Elder Knight

    Elder Knight Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Which was damn near every week for three years.
     
  16. mobes

    mobes Ensign Newbie

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    You guys are daft! You're only thinking about the really bad bits, the scenes that comedians copy for laughs. There's thousands of other scenes where he doesn't overact, and they're excellent.

    Remeber Charlie X for example :
    "Go to your quarters, or I'll pick you up and carry you there."

    You have to look at all the scenes, not just the intense dramatic, screwed up ones. And the director has some responsibility there too, which is why I don't blame the tng actors solely for their incredibly stiff performances :p
     
  17. MHT1138

    MHT1138 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I find this a difficult question to answer in regards to the regular actors, I find it difficult to distinguish between characters I'm not that fond of and the actor's performances.
    Katherine Hepburn once told Cary Grant that he wasn't acting, he was just playing himself. Grant replied yes, but I play myself so well. We remember him for his performances not his acting. There is definately a difference between acting and a performance. I prefer Alexander Siddig's performance better than Nana Visitor's, but I don't think I could tell you who was the better actor.

    As for the guest stars on the other hand, the female Vulcan maquis member from season 2 of DS9 was pretty awful.
     
  18. Cyke101

    Cyke101 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've been rewatching TOS lately, so no, I don't think I'm remembering just what comedians are saying. And for a time during the TNG run, I preferred TOS. I just don't find TOS-Shatner to be all that exceptional or nuanced as an actor. The way he slips out of his chair when he finds out that David died in TSFS is great, but you don't see that kind of depth in TOS from him in my opinion (then again, Shatner could have been taking advantage of 20 years worth of experience since TOS, too).
     
  19. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    Cynthia Gaow is the actress who played the Romulan.
    http://www.cynthiagouw.com/
     
  20. barnaclelapse

    barnaclelapse Commodore Commodore

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    Shatner's best acting work may not have been on TOS, but he was certainly entertaining for the most part. I'd venture to guess that was closer to his job description on TOS than anything to do with a fine performance. Or at least that seems to be how he looked at it.

    Anyway I'm glad the show got Shatner instead of Jeffrey Hunter. Talk about a guy who just seemed to suck the fun out of everything.
     
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