Terrible TOS performances....

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

  1. T'Bonz

    T'Bonz Romulan Curmudgeon Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2000
    Location:
    Across the Neutral Zone
    Finney wasn't bad. Jame on the other hand. Ugh....
     
  2. Jose Tyler

    Jose Tyler Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2005
    I was thinking about her less than stellar delivery of lines like when she dropped to her knees and and announced "We're moving" as the shuttle lifts off, and "It's getting hot" as the shuttle began to burn up. Her delivery always seemed very wooden to me...
     
  3. AtoZ

    AtoZ Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2009
    I completely agree. It is to me one of the top ten or perhaps at worst, top 15 of TOS
     
  4. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2006
    Location:
    Escaped from Delta Vega
    I thought he was fine because he was borderline insane.

    Anyone who would plot to have an innocent man end up in prison/lose his command, then rig the ship to burn up in the atmosphere is not exactly playing with a full deck.
     
  5. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2005
    Location:
    Real Gone
    Honestly, you never really know what you've got til you see the footage. Sometimes something that looked great on set set is terrible through the camera and vice versa, especially with something as easy to get wrong as a death scream.
     
  6. TOSalltheway

    TOSalltheway Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2011
    Location:
    Canada
    Morgan Woodward was not bad, he was "over the top" and as a result gave a great performance. Now Lazarus in Alternative factor, he was just bad.
     
  7. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    I thought Morgan Woodward was good in both his appearances. However, he was highly critical of his own work in "Dagger of the Mind", thinking he went over the line (he was more comfortable playing villains in westerns). As a former theatre major, I like filmed science fiction because of its artificialness and theatricality while delivering a message. To me, Star Trek does that better than anyone else.
     
  8. Surak of Vulcan

    Surak of Vulcan Ensign Red Shirt

    Mary-Linda Rapelye and Melvin Belli.

    I disagree with anyone who would say that Morgan Woodward's performances were terrible. I liked his performance a lot in "Dagger of the Mind" and I personally think that his performance as Captain Tracey in "The Omega Glory" made the episode much better.
     
  9. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2006
    Location:
    Escaped from Delta Vega
    Woodward was fantastic in "The Omega Glory," a natrual progression going from manipulative control--even sinister, to hateful, feverish and just plain immoral in his twisting of the Yang's Holy Book. He was one of the best villains of any ST series, and was more than a match for Kirk--he did not roll over for the hero just for the story to reach its conclusion.
     
  10. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2001
    Location:
    America, Fuck Yeah!!!
    :techman:
     
  11. st.barthgirl

    st.barthgirl Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2012
    Location:
    I Believe in Dog
    I'm trying to figure out Who- or what- Was NOT terrible in Mark of Gideon. I just want to close my eyes and wish it into nothingness.....
     
  12. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    The best performance in "Mark of Gideon" was by the Enterprise.
     
  13. TorontoTrekker

    TorontoTrekker Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2002
    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    I've never been a fan of Frank Gorshin's performance in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". It's been a while since I watched it last, but my memory of the episode is primarily of Gorshin pausing every time he had to say "Cheron", as though he was trying to remember how it was supposed to be pronounced. And I'm pretty sure he pronounced it in at least two different ways.
     
  14. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Location:
    Maryland
    I don't fault the actors in "Mark of Gideon" given what they had to work with.

    The best performance was by the fake Enterprise, which was just one of the story's idiocies - even a Federation member planet would have a hard time faking a whole large starship well enough to fool its captain for even a microsecond.

    Gorshin redeemed his approach to Bele by the way he said "I once heard that on some of your planets people believe they are descended from ...apes."

    Even Kirk sometimes pronounced a name in two different ways; in one episode he pronounced Kyle as "Cowell" throughout.

    EDIT: Hey! I finally made Commander!
     
  15. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
    Location:
    T'Girl
    On TOS, sometimes the same actor would play different characters, in different episodes. Was John Winston supposed to have been "Kyle" is that episode?



    :)
     
  16. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Location:
    Melakon's grave
    That happened in "The Immunity Syndrome" (space amoeba). Memory Alpha mentions Shatner consistently mispronouncing Kyle's name. But it also mentions John Winston wearing a red shirt and a gold shirt (to match viewscreen stock footage). So maybe we can in-universe explain it as Kyle having a doppelganger who never appeared again.
     
  17. Nascence

    Nascence Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2009
    Location:
    Western MA
    I had always thought the Kirk's/Shatner's pronunciation of Kyle's last name was the actual Scottish/Irish/Scandanavian?pronunciation?
     
  18. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 24, 2006
    Location:
    Escaped from Delta Vega
    I thought he played that pause and "apes" line for all the racist intent it was worth, and it worked to establish his true beliefs. Gorshin had range, and not once have I read or heard anyone say they thought of his Riddler while watching the episode. In other words, he was not a one-note performer.

    In fact, the episode's other guest star--Lou Antonio-- effectively played the hot-headed political revolutionary on ST, then be just as effective playing a dumb hillbilly on sitcoms like The Monkees.
     
  19. Myko

    Myko Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2004
    Location:
    Hell on Earth, Stockholm
    I always thought the Kyle/Cowl thing to be similar to sabotage/"sabatadge".
     
  20. TorontoTrekker

    TorontoTrekker Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2002
    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    I have a couple of scripts I've picked up over the years, and in one of them, I remember there being a character named "Kowal". So I think Kyle and Kowal were definitely intended to be two different characters, who just happened to both be played by John Winston.