Most overrated actor?

[JiNX-01]

Well, if you think she is "somewhat overrated," you're still saying she's overrated.

Um ... yeah?

I don't think she is.

Let me clarify.

You can think someone's a very good actress (which I do about Jeri) while others think that same person is absolutely unimpeachable and brilliant. By that criteria (the one I'm using), she's overrated.

Well, I look at the raving that some TNG fans do about Stewart and Spiner -- and I don't recall anyone going on about Jeri like that. So I don't consider the people who do praise her as "over-rating" her.

 

[greenmystik]

I'm gonna have to say Avery Brooks. I could never tolerate his pitch problems. They were worse than Shatners.

 

[JM1776]

Well, I look at the raving that some TNG fans do about Stewart and Spiner -- and I don't recall anyone going on about Jeri like that. So I don't consider the people who do praise her as "overrating" her.

You're still on this? Our opinions differ.

Let it go.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Michael Dorn: Yawn. Oh look at me, I'm gruff. That's all I can do. Amazing that he got cast in not one Trek show but two. What were Brannon and Braga thinking?

Let's go over the very obvious mistakes you made.

1) "Brannon and Braga?" You do realize that Brannon Braga is one person, right?

2) Brannon Braga didn't start working on TNG until its fourth season. Long after Dorn was cast as Worf.

3) Braga was never involved with DS9, and therefore had no influence in bringing Worf to that show.

Yup!

Methinks the thread is just meant stir up trouble or, at the very least, get a good debate going.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^ i would like to see an actual article that declared combs dead.
i read a lot of 911 stuff and never saw a reference to it.

especially that the names are differerent plus a significant age difference would have made for some really sloppy reporting.

I don't remember if it ever made the mainstream media, but it was being reported and discussed in these parts, I remember well. Trek Today reported his statement that he was alive. Probably somebody in Trek fandom saw the name in a passenger list, assumed the worst, and started spreading the news on the internet.

 

[M'Sharak]

^ i would like to see an actual article that declared combs dead.
i read a lot of 911 stuff and never saw a reference to it.

especially that the names are differerent plus a significant age difference would have made for some really sloppy reporting.

I don't remember if it ever made the mainstream media, but it was being reported and discussed in these parts, I remember well. Trek Today reported his statement that he was alive. Probably somebody in Trek fandom saw the name in a passenger list, assumed the worst, and started spreading the news on the internet.

I went and looked up the TrekToday article.

http://www.trektoday.com/news/140901_03.shtml

Unfortunately, the link contained therein to the original message from Combs is no longer working, and Combs' website does not seem to have an easily-searchable archive.

 

[TrekNut87]

I'm going to say Shatner and Blalock.

I was re-watching some TOS episodes the other day and couldn't stop laughing every time Shatner went into his overly dramatic narration style.

And Blalock, she was just a terrible Vulcan period.

 

[Keith1701]

Shatner is the most overrated, no question. Nobody's as good as they say he is.

I agree with you!!!!! 110%%%%%%

 

[Trekwatcher]

Avery Brooks. I love DS9, but he is just not a great actor, IMHO. His acting style is so forced and unnatural it just makes me cringe at times. He definitely got better as time went on, but for most of S1 and S2 he just looks so uncomfortable with the material it is painful.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Garrett Wang: If the whites were annoyed by him, but thought that he was "the savior" for Asian Americans in the media, they are clearly WRONG! Most Asian Americans either:

1.) Did not even know who he was because they did not watch Star Trek.
2.) "Garrett Who?"
3.) Discussions of Asians in the media revolved around Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Lucy Liu, Chow Yun-Fat, Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, John Cho, Margaret Cho, etc. but NONE of my Asian and Asian American friends ever brought him up. They just simply did not know who he was. He might as well have been Rocky "The Pussy" Red Ranger of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for all we care...

The character of Harry Kim was to Star Trek what Adam Powell was to "Charles in Charge," and more people know who Adam Powell is compared to Garrett Wang when they don't even know who Adam Powell is in the first place? So, don't go off thinking that Garrett Wang is like the "Kanye West" of Asian Americans, because he sure ain't...he was never a contender. Not even worthy of a trivia question on Trivial Pursuit.

He was a hired token...like one of those things you put in the slot machines to "bop the beaver" at Chuck E. Cheese!

 

[MadBaggins]

...And the only Enterprise actors that are not overrated are Ensign Hoshi, Ensign Mayweather, Malcolm Reid, and T'pol? Interesting.

They're not overrated because nobody rates them. Everyone knows Reed, Mayweather and T'Pol are some of the worst actors on Trek and openly admits it. Hoshi gets off lightly because she's hot.

I think I should add Terry Farrell to the list because she doesn't get mentioned often as a bad actor WHEN SHE MOST CERTAINLY IS. It's a shame she didn't leave to join Becker (and get fired from that after a year lol!) earlier as Nicole DeBoer is eighteen times better.

I will not add Jonathan Frakes to the list because his charisma made up for his sometimes poor acting and he was great in 'Frame Of Mood'.

 

[gblews]

I will not add Jonathan Frakes to the list because his charisma made up for his sometimes poor acting

"Chrisma"?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Shatner

 

[CaptainHawk1]

I have never seen so many idiots post in a thread in 8 years.

-Shawn

 

[drasche]

We all love Star Trek. It is very important to us all in different ways.

It's the only one thing I'll agree with. Although I'm not sure you like Star Trek. Reading your post, it is clear you assume too much and you do not check your facts.

About Life on Mars, producers decided the show will be New York-based instead of Los Angeles-base as it was originally planned. Therefore, they decided to recast at least the Gene Hunt character. Nothing to do with Meaney's acting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colm_Meaney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(U.S._TV_series)

After reviewing the pilot episode, ABC ordered the series be overhauled with a new format. As a result, there will be significant changes in cast and crew, and production will be relocated to New York "to allow producers to take advantage of recently enacted local and state tax credits for shows filmed in that state."

And you've missed the most obvious: Jolene Blalock is the most overrated actor in Trek ever. To think that some people believe she can act is beyond me. I've seen her in CSI and Stargate SG-1, and she's incapable of acting.

I will not add Jonathan Frakes to the list because his charisma made up for his sometimes poor acting and he was great in 'Frame Of Mood'.

That's Frame of mind.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I think this topic is overrated.

 

[Squiggy]

That's Frame of mind.

He was just parrot phrasing.

 

[Timewalker]

Hands-down Patrick Stewart. He's exactly the same in every role he ever does. He has no range, other than switching from "normal mode" to "yelling mode" and vice versa. It bewilders me why he's often thought of as a "great actor".

Really. And which roles have you seen him in? Any Shakespeare? Any historicals? (and I do NOT refer to "Excalibur" or "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" -- although he does a credible Sean Connery impression in that one)

If you want to see Patrick Stewart ACT, try watching the middle episodes of the miniseries I, Claudius. He plays Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the Commander of the Praetorian Guard who, by blackmail, murder, and political maneuvering, nearly managed to get himself declared Emperor Tiberius' heir to the Roman Empire.

Or how about as Henry Grey in Lady Jane? His part in that movie wasn't large, but he did well as the father of a 16-year-old girl who was used as a political pawn to grab the throne of England away from Mary Tudor.

William Shatner: The obvious choice. Some people still insist he was a great lead. Some say he was brilliant in Star Trek 2. He wasn't.

I disagree. So much of his Star Trek acting was overacted, or off-beat. But he was absolutely spot-on right in TWOK.

Patrick Stewart: Sad to say, because he is a good actor, and certainly a better lead than Shatner, Brooks, Mulgrew and Archer. But he is as overrated as fuck by some people. For example, the "THERE IS FOUR LIGHTS!!!!" scene. Absolutely cringeworthy. Would never cut it on a real tv show.

Odd. I saw that episode and I could have sworn I was watching a "real" TV show and not an imaginary one. Why do you apparently not consider TNG a "real" TV show?

Brent Spiner... Michael Dorn... Avery Brooks... Nana Visitor

I can't disagree on those. Aside from some decently funny moments, I don't care for these actors. I find them boring. And Nana Visitor's voice is annoying.

Colm Meaney: I used to think he was good, but I rewatched the scene from Paradise Lost where he was playing a Changeling and it was embarrassingly bad. He's good at playing O'Brien but that's it. The fact that he was fired from new sci-fi comedy "Life In Mars" confirms this.

His being fired from one show proves he was good at playing a different role on another show? I've seen Colm Meaney on other shows, and he was in a miniseries that took place during Canada's colonial period. He was quite good in that.

Kate Mulgrew: It's like they thought we have a new Trek so let's get any actor even WORSE than Brooks as the lead! They nearly managed it with Mulgrew and her sub soap opera level performances.

Watch many soap operas? I can think of several dozen actresses much worse. Or maybe you just don't like Kathryn Hepburn, who Kate Mulgrew happens to resemble in looks and voice.

The only Trek actors who deserve praise are: Levar Burton, Rene Auberjoinois, Armin Shimmerman, Jeri Ryan, Jeffrey Coombs and Andrew Robinson.

I won't disagree that these actors deserve praise (except Coombs -- could never stand him, no matter which alien he played).

I'm casting my vote for Jolene Blalock. It's not that people are in awe of her acting... but I've heard people speak of her as if she could, you know, act.

I first saw her as Medea in the two-part TV movie "Jason and the Argonauts." I kept wishing just this once that TPTB would re-write the story and let Jason end up with the girl who loves him, instead of Blalock's character -- she was Absolutely. Terrible. And her character wasn't very nice, either.

Robert Duncan McNeill did a damn fine job as Tom Paris.

Agreed.

I think you'd have to see the actor in more than one role to really judge. The actress who was 7 of 9 in Voyager played a nother nearly opposite character in Boston PUblic, which I think is a better indication of the actor then just a single role. On the other hand, even in interviews, Nimoy is completely emotionless. He did a movie of the week in which he played the wife of Golda Meir and it was almost exactly the same persona as Spock. If you're the same in every role, you aren't acting -- you're playing yourself while saying lines other people wrote.

Jeri Ryan is an excellent actress. She is a natural impressionist, and quite natural when she does interviews.

Regarding Leonard Nimoy... emotionless? I've seen him do interviews where he was laughing so hard he nearly fell off his chair.

And isn't a part of acting saying lines other people wrote, anyway?

I haven't seen the others in enough other roles to really judge them. Shatner seems pretty good in Boston Legal, and it is a completely different character. So maybe he can act.

Shatner has had a wide variety of roles, but it's just his Star Trek stuff and other roles he's had in the past 10-15 years that people tend to remember. I enjoy Kirk (although I find him to be one of the most parody-able ST characters ever), I enjoyed him in the TV movies he was in, he was pretty good in "T.J. Hooker" and he's an absolute hoot in "Boston Legal." I have to wonder, though, how many people differentiate between Kirk the character and William Shatner the actor. It's hard to know where to draw the line.

I'm going to say Shatner and Blalock.

I was re-watching some TOS episodes the other day and couldn't stop laughing every time Shatner went into his overly dramatic narration style.

And Blalock, she was just a terrible Vulcan period.

Kim Cattrall and Robin Curtiss were much, much worse. The actress they should have had was the one who played the Vulcan girl who was taking the Starfleet Entrance Exam at the same time as Wesley. Her role wasn't big, but she nailed it perfectly.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

A very *underrated* Trek actor, IMHO, is Vaughn Armstrong.

He is probably my favorite actor of all time, in or out of Trek. Sadly, his name is nowhere near as well-known as it should be. Not only has he done more of a sheer volume of roles than any other - go ahead, try to tell me that there is any other actor, in any franchise whatsoever, who played over a DOZEN different roles - but, you gotta admit, he's simply a GREAT actor.

Sometimes when he is in an episode, he'll only be there for a few minutes at most, but whenever he's on the set, he owns it. (Take "First Flight," for example, when Forrest is laying the smackdown on Archer and Robinson. )

I always wondered what he would have been like in TOS (the only Trek series he never appeared in). True, he himself would have been a teenager at the time, but if - for example - he had been cast in ST XI, how would he have done? Here's hoping they get him for ST XII, whatever form that film takes.

 

[Navaros]

Really. And which roles have you seen him in? Any Shakespeare?

Examples of what I've seen him in: Dune; TNG; the X-Men movies; the movie where he plays a guy with dementia who thinks everyone is out to get him. How exactly did his acting differ one iota in any of these roles?