Terrible TOS performances....

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

  1. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    McCreedy as the barber is awesome. We reach on that ep, though. It has some great, small roles, the barber, the sheriff, Wyatt (or is it Morgan?). Love it. I truly cannot fathom the hatred some have for it.
     
  2. jayrath

    jayrath Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Bless his heart, but the actor who played John Gill wasn't too great.
     
  3. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    But the script calls for him to be drugged pretty much the whole episode. Not sure I can hold it against him.
     
  4. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ...then that kind of gives her an excuse, since she served her purpose.

    But in response to your topic: I cannot think of anyone bad enough to--err--stink up the joint, but I agree with AtoZ about Ed McCready as Dr. Carter. McCready's UUHHHEEEHEHHAAAHH death cry could have hurt the scene, if not for the principals giving such serious performances.
     
  5. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    You can't just blame the actors when it's a line here and there. The director and editors are complicit, as they might go for the blandest or most scenery chewing takes.
     
  6. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    :) Indeed. Then again, like Pettyjohn, you feel she wasn't hired principally for her acting talents. So I give her a pass. She does wear Ware Theiss well though. Slight off-track, but actress I thought did the Barbie-can-actually-act well was the one in that S3 speed-up time episode. That's still one of my personal underrated episodes.
     
  7. jayrath

    jayrath Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    That was Kathie Browne, Darren McGavin's wife. She had a long career and was really good. You can catch her in "The Rockford Files" as an evil small town mayor.
     
  8. Myko

    Myko Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    McCready was a personal friend, I believe, of director Vincent McEveety, and appears in all his episodes.
     
  9. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, but would a director tell any actor to do what McCready did as Dr. Carter? He was fine delivering his recorded warning, but the death cry was cringe-worthy. Again, IMO, that was the one and only bad acting moment in an episode played seriously--often grim, with great effect.
     
  10. Doug Otte

    Doug Otte Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It's very interesting to read these opinions, especially from younger fans who are approaching the show for the first time.

    I've been watching Trek for 40 years, and to me, all the performances seem right for the show and the time it was produced. I'm sure there were things that bugged me when I first saw them as a teen, but I can't remember them now.
     
  11. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    "Wink of an Eye."
     
  12. Jose Tyler

    Jose Tyler Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    In no particular order of bad acting:

    Antoinette Bower as Sylvia from Catspaw

    Mary-Linda Rapelye as Irina from The Way to Eden

    Stephen Brooks as Ensign Garrovick from Obsession

    Phyllis Douglas as Yeoman Mears from The Galileo Seven
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2012
  13. Grant

    Grant Commodore Commodore

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    I have to say Shana (Pettyjohn) came off as 'stupid' not brainwashed, uninformed, uneducated, unenlightened as she was meant to be.

    The actors who had to play unnatural accents (Irina) seemed to fair poorly as it seemed they were concentrating on their accent more than their performance.

    Something about 'Sylvia' did strike me as bad--maybe acting, maybe lines as written.
     
  14. Grant

    Grant Commodore Commodore

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    The 'Roger Corby' actor really did blow one line.....

    It was supposed to be....

    "I AM Roger Corby!" not

    "I am ROGER CORBY!"
     
  15. NTRPRZ

    NTRPRZ Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Robert Brown (no relation) as Lazarus would get my vote.

    Jeff Brown
    Hartly, Del.
     
  16. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Curious choice. I thought she gave the right amount of frustration with Spock and the overall situation. Sure, she was no Janice Rand, but as a one-time guest actress, she was fine, imo.
     
  17. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sure why Robert Brown is getting singled out here. His performance is fine, given the material (i.e. Don Ingalls' awful teleplay) and the especially rushed schedule (due to Barrymore, Jr.'s vanishing act).
     
  18. Mad Jack Wolfe

    Mad Jack Wolfe Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Richard Webb as 'Ben Finney' in Court Martial, particularly when Finney learns his daughter, Jame, is aboard. Just horrid. The rest of the time he sounds straight-up bonkers.
     
  19. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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    No one else has posted this yet, but it's my inevitable choice:

    Sabrina Scharf as Miramanee

    Not entirely her fault, perhaps, given lines such as "I have nothing to fear; you are here," "...the strange lodge which moves through the sky," etc. Despite her sporting what I believe to be the largest chest measurement of any (female) guest star, she simply was not equipped to breathe life into lines like that. (Who would have been, I wonder?)
     
  20. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yup, she was bad. Forgot about her. My kids like almost every episode uncritically. Not that one, though.