What happened to Jennifer Lien?
- Thread starter Infern0
- Start date
That's pretty common in television.
On the DVD extras for the 80s show "thirtysomething," one of the writers talks about how he'd sit in his office just letting one of the actresses chat with him *in character*. He got ideas from her just carrying on a conversation--in character. He won Emmys, she won Emmys, the show went down in history as groundbreaking television.
Sounds like an all-around win to me.
hey, he only died twice
yep, the actors get to know their characters and I'm sure they come up with good things. Picardo is actually famous in the Trek circle for getting lines changed and getting jokes added
He served very competently for several years. That should have been enough to get him to lieutenant junior grade. (wouldn't even have affected the chain of command much).
Well, here's the thing. I don't agree with you that the stories were good. They were derivative of other stories told hundreds of times before. And, according to the writers, they agree with me.
That much is true.
Beltran's character started as a racial stereotype & only got worse. How they were supposed to magically fix it is beyond me. And apparently beyond Beltran, who is on record as saying he wasn't supposed to do what Colm Meaney did to keep O'Brien from turning into a stereotype or what Picardo did to get more to do: give the writers ideas.
Thing is, there are times that you simply have to go above and beyond your job description. Beltran chose to whine & complain & trash other people publically instead of doing that.
Being someone who worked her way up from a blue collar job by taking every opportunity thrown at me and running with it, I don't have a whole lot of respect for that.
Well Meany did perhaps one advantage, the creaters of DSN brought him over from TNG. So they wanted O'Brien, perhaps it was to ad a bit of familiarity to the show. They also loved to do the O'Brien must suffer episodes (at least once a year), so they must have felt he was upto the task as an actor.
Well, here's the thing. I don't agree with you that the stories were good. They were derivative of other stories told hundreds of times before. And, according to the writers, they agree with me.
That much is true.
Beltran's character started as a racial stereotype & only got worse. How they were supposed to magically fix it is beyond me. And apparently beyond Beltran, who is on record as saying he wasn't supposed to do what Colm Meaney did to keep O'Brien from turning into a stereotype or what Picardo did to get more to do: give the writers ideas.
Thing is, there are times that you simply have to go above and beyond your job description. Beltran chose to whine & complain & trash other people publically instead of doing that.
Being someone who worked her way up from a blue collar job by taking every opportunity thrown at me and running with it, I don't have a whole lot of respect for that.
I think that most of the stories which featured Kes were very good. As for the writers, why didn't they come up with better stories? They had all the opportunities in the world to0 do that. If an amateur like me can come up with decent Kes stories, then I expect more than that of professional writers.
As for characters with great mental powers and such, we have had Vulcan senior officers, Klingons, green ensigns & whipping boys, funny aliens and characters searching for their humanity before too and no one is complaining about that.
As for Beltran, maybe he tried to make something better out of Chakotay but wasn't allowed to do so?
In my life and where I live I've learned that you have to stand up and fight for your rights, otherwise you'll be trampled underfoot. Bowing and crawling for the authorities won't get you anywhere.
KaraBear wrote:
What I've heard, Beltran had a lot of discussions with the producers about what he wanted out of his character but they constantly ignored everything. After years of trying, he lost his temper and spoke out and I admire him for that.
I don't know if or how Lien had any discussions with those in charge about her character. Maybe she was one of this too nice and friendly people who only did what she was ordered to do and look what happened to her!
But when it comes to acting, she really did a great job in portraying Kes. She really gave life to the character.
Well, here's the thing. I don't agree with you that the stories were good. They were derivative of other stories told hundreds of times before. And, according to the writers, they agree with me.
That much is true.
Beltran's character started as a racial stereotype & only got worse. How they were supposed to magically fix it is beyond me. And apparently beyond Beltran, who is on record as saying he wasn't supposed to do what Colm Meaney did to keep O'Brien from turning into a stereotype or what Picardo did to get more to do: give the writers ideas.
Thing is, there are times that you simply have to go above and beyond your job description. Beltran chose to whine & complain & trash other people publically instead of doing that.
Being someone who worked her way up from a blue collar job by taking every opportunity thrown at me and running with it, I don't have a whole lot of respect for that.
I think that most of the stories which featured Kes were very good. As for the writers, why didn't they come up with better stories? They had all the opportunities in the world to0 do that. If an amateur like me can come up with decent Kes stories, then I expect more than that of professional writers.
As for characters with great mental powers and such, we have had Vulcan senior officers, Klingons, green ensigns & whipping boys, funny aliens and characters searching for their humanity before too and no one is complaining about that.
As for Beltran, maybe he tried to make something better out of Chakotay but wasn't allowed to do so?
In my life and where I live I've learned that you have to stand up and fight for your rights, otherwise you'll be trampled underfoot. Bowing and crawling for the authorities won't get you anywhere.
KaraBear wrote:
What I've heard, Beltran had a lot of discussions with the producers about what he wanted out of his character but they constantly ignored everything. After years of trying, he lost his temper and spoke out and I admire him for that.
I don't know if or how Lien had any discussions with those in charge about her character. Maybe she was one of this too nice and friendly people who only did what she was ordered to do and look what happened to her!
But when it comes to acting, she really did a great job in portraying Kes. She really gave life to the character.
Lien has said herself she never went to meet with anyone, that doesn't make her too nice, that shows a lack of interest in your job.
I will have to disagree with you about her acting, I think she was not very good. With her you could always see that she was acting, she never BECAME the character like many of the other actors did
Boxed in? Kes was set up to be Janeway's guide through the Year of Hell. It seems like the writers had plans for the character.
I think there were plans for her from the beginning, but I think seeing that she wasn't a strong actor maybe they didn't give her as much
I was actually sad to see him go when he crashed a 747 in a fireball in Die Hard 2, though he was really a minor character.
But they could have been ALIEN Tomatoes from OUTER SPACE and grew in 2 days!
Anyhow, technically we are in agreement, since I say 3-4 months and you say anywhere between 2-8 months, as long as its on the lower end of the spectrum.
As for Tom Paris not being seasoned, I chalk that up to one of the many things the Memory Alpha article talks about not showing a sufficient passage of time. Then again, maybe its because Tom was kicked out of Starfleet to begin with, only to be drafted back into service, so his command style is a lot more looser than the typical Starfleet officer?
I think Tom would step up if he got called to be XO. I think he would take it on and be a good choice
But they could have been ALIEN Tomatoes from OUTER SPACE and grew in 2 days!
Anyhow, technically we are in agreement, since I say 3-4 months and you say anywhere between 2-8 months, as long as its on the lower end of the spectrum.
As for Tom Paris not being seasoned, I chalk that up to one of the many things the Memory Alpha article talks about not showing a sufficient passage of time. Then again, maybe its because Tom was kicked out of Starfleet to begin with, only to be drafted back into service, so his command style is a lot more looser than the typical Starfleet officer?
Beltran himself said he gave 2 suggestions: get rid of the spiritual mumbojumbo and make Chakotay Christian like him and make him a boxer.
Glad they didn't go with the first and wish they hadn't gone with the second.
Meaney's the quintessential character actor: he makes you care about the supporting characters he plays.
Which makes them ideal candidates for torture, haha.
True, he only had a few lines but sometimes that's all you need. Though perhaps he shouldn't have been so quick to critisie British Rail. (I wonder if our American cousins got that joke)
How about giving him a real tribe with a real religion?
Um, yeah, it could have been worse. Chakotay & Janeway debating the one true faith...
It would have made sense to make him part of the Native American Church, including the use of peyote.
Similar threads
