DS9 is problematic, we need to talk

[Captain_Nick]

It's an issue everywhere but it really sticks out like a sore thumb in DS9

Top tier DS9 is gold plated, but you know what they say about bad Trek - it's pretty bad.

I am of course talking about extras who are not paid to speak. This must be a thing right? Because in so many episodes, we break into a scene with one of the leads talking to an extra, and getting nothing but a nod or a very obviously forced facial expression in reply. This really grinds my gears. You can tell they are doing their best with what they're given, but it's the TV equivalent of removing a violist from an orchestra and replacing them with a fart machine.

How hard would it be to script in a 'yes', 'ok', or some other response which a normal person would make in a normal conversation. I submit that it would not be hard.

The Actors Guild or whoever should sort out their contracts with the TV studios to eliminate this bad practice.

 

[Vger23]

Never noticed it.

 

[fireproof78]

How hard would it be to script in a 'yes', 'ok', or some other response which a normal person would make in a normal conversation. I submit that it would not be hard.

Hard? No. Money? Yes.

 

[Jayson1]

This stuff started on TNG. Dr Crusher once did a entire medical scan on a lady without the lady saying a word even though Crusher was talking.

 

[GNDN18]

Extras have been shrugging on this show since 1964.

You might want to take it up with SAG.

 

[UssGlenn]

Talking gets you upgraded from extra to actor, and that's more expensive, and requires a SAG card. That's why the Jordanian Prince just knods at Janeway during his cameo, he's not in the union. There's really no way around it. You don't want to demote people who say 5 words down to extra status.

 

[fireproof78]

Talking gets you upgraded from extra to actor, and that's more expensive, and requires a SAG card. That's why the Jordanian Prince just knods at Janeway during his cameo, he's not in the union. There's really no way around it. You don't want to demote people who say 5 words down to extra status.

Exactly.

 

[Jayson1]

Sometimes they reward a long standing extra like with Ensign Gates on TNG who got one line in a episode and Aillo I think his name was on Voyager who was a Maquis guy who came over to the ship with the others.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

I'll admit, your fart-machine analogy made me laugh out loud.

And I agree, but it's not DS9 alone that has this problem. "Voyager" definitely did, and probably every other "Star Trek" series (at least before "Discovery"). The Ferengi in charge hated paying guest actors to for ANY lines at all, which is why the same nine protagonists seem to do every job much of the time.

 

[Relayer1]

Talking gets you upgraded from extra to actor, and that's more expensive, and requires a SAG card. That's why the Jordanian Prince just knods at Janeway during his cameo, he's not in the union. There's really no way around it. You don't want to demote people who say 5 words down to extra status.

Absolutely. Speak and you're not an extra.

It can actually screw up your working - I met a guy who had been a regular long term extra in a UK hospital drama (Casualty) who got a line in an episode. It finished him for being an extra on the show.

He was lucky - they liked him and employed him to drive vehicles in the background of outside shots, but speaking is bad news if you earn your living as an extra.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Why would this be worse on DS9? There were actresses, like Christi Haydon, who would nod at Stewart and Spiner from navigation, sometimes being promised spoken lines that never materialized or cut before being filmed.

 

[Captain_Nick]

The reason why I'm targeting DS9 in particular is because I just finished watching the series (for the first time in maybe five years) and it really stood out. No doubt it's a problem in the other series as well.

 

[Relayer1]

The reason why I'm targeting DS9 in particular is because I just finished watching the series (for the first time in maybe five years) and it really stood out. No doubt it's a problem in the other series as well.

It's a fact of life in all shows.

Extras don't speak. If you speak you're not an extra.

It's pretty much the difference between cast and set dressing.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Morn never complained.

 

[jackoverfull]

I’ve been doing extra works for years, if you don’t talk you usually get 70€ A day, if you do 150€, easy to see why a company with a limited budget wants to be careful here. Note that there is no guild in Italy, where I live.

But yes, this is especially noticeable at times, even more than on DS9 I’d point to voyager and later series. ent “In a mirror darkly part ii” was notorious for being so over budget that they couldn’t pay people to answer to Hoshi when she was the only proper actor still on the bridge during the battle.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It was always most obvious to me on TNG when they'd have an extra at conn who wasn't verbally acknowledging orders the way the regular characters always did.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

In case anyone was interested in the fate of one recurring extra, Sparks tried to give her a music career.

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[jackoverfull]

It was always most obvious to me on TNG when they'd have an extra at conn who wasn't verbally acknowledging orders the way the regular characters always did.

yes, but this tended to happen less in tng (and even more so on TOS), we had plenty of helm officers whose only line was something around “yes sir”. This is probably because the prices went up over the years, and also the reason Chakotay routinely takes the helm when Paris is not available, or T’Pol tactical when Malcolm isn’t while logically some other backup officer should.

 

[DS9forever]

Broik and M'Pella had dialogue in the penultimate episode; they were featured extras for a long time.

 

[kkt]

DS9 is an American commercial TV show. Try Netflix or Downton Abbey if they've gotta spend a boatload of money on nonessentials to enjoy the show.