So who did the worst single acting job in the first 10 films.

I didnt mind Curtis as Saavik just prefer Alley, it wouldnt have been so bad if Nimoy hadnt insisted on ignoring the character that we saw in TWOK and instead focusing on her Vulcan more Spock like elements.

I can't imagine the Curtis/Nimoy version of the character crying at Spock's funeral like the Alley/Meyer one, but then by TSFS her supposed Vulcan/Romulan heritage was now being ignored as it was never stated.

Id probably go with Mr Adventure being the worst played act in the movies (although I loved the scene... and TSFS in general)

 

#1: Marina Sirtis as Drunk Troi, in "First Contact"

#2: Brent Spiner with emotion chip in "Generations".

These two performances took me out of both movies, as I found them embarrassing.

These scenes were tailor made to give the actors a moment, but both actors took it too far.

I thought " Mr.Adventure " and the Romulan lady in "Star Trek V"- are more amusing as a slice of '80's bit players.

 

That's what happens when actors scream for recognition in ensemble productions. Everyone wants to finally take center stage and have flowers tossed at them.

In Sirtis and Spiner's case...it did not work, and the "moment" business was painfully obvious.

 

It worked for me.

 

Ok I agree that Valeris to michael Corolone is a stretch and they are totally different in importance and depth. But the basic point I was making is if the character is likable when you first see them it makes the point when they go bad more dramatic and surprising.

If Michael had been a violent lunatic from the start it wouldn't have been powerful when he wipes everyone out.

Anakin Skywalker basically came off as a psycho and and an asshole so it was hard to feel sorrow when he got fucked up and was put in the Vader suit. In the OT we were led to believe his was a story of a good man who fell into darkness, which is not what happened at all.

Personally I never found sarek smug and a jerk. Yes he was cold and standoffish but he's a Vulcan but had a personality too. Same with savvik. She wasn't warm and cuddly but she still came off as a likable person who was following her society's beliefs. If she turned out to be in league with khan it would have been stunning.

Valeris from almost minute one didn't come off as cold but likable, she came off as a conceited smug bitch who clearly thought she was way smarter than everyone else. So it had the effect of when she was revealed as a conspirator of the audience going "who cares. She was a jerk anyway". It also took any suspense out of the film because you could see it coming a mile away she was going to be the traitor.

 

Maybe that's happening all the time.

Ulp, scrambled two more, that's an even dozen today, time to make some omlettes.

Actually, can I nominate that whole scene as the worst scene in the first 10 movies? Well, first 6 anyway.
I'll just break that off to it's own thread.

 

I know exactly what you mean.

The Mr. Adventure dude had a very early-mid 80s blow dried hair look about him, he looked like nearly every other 19
year old guy from around 1983 or 1984. And the Romulan chick in Star Trek V had a very late 80s 1988/1989 vibe about her. I didn't mind her, she was hot and her cheesiness fit the campy nature of Star Trek V. If you look up Cynthia Gouw, she still looks good today.

 

I liked Sirtis' scene in First Contact. Spiner's scenes in Generations could have used some more rewrites (like much of the rest of the movie).

 

The guy who played Captain Esteban, ugh. There was no reason to make the Captain such a putz, he wasn't part of the "adversary" group of Starfleet at spacedock opposing Kirk & Company.
"Stand by for evasive!" LOL.

 

I want to give the award to Spiner for Generations but I can't for two reasons.

1. Data wanting to be more human had been brewing for years now, so it was inevitable it was going to happen, especially after the introduction of the emotion chip. It wasn't something that came out of nowhere leaving you going "Where the hell did that come from."

2. It was clear that after he popped the chip in he was supposed to turn into a stupid cornball and Spiner played the role well. So his ACTING was actually good, despite how dumb the character.

It's like a film like "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes ". The film was bad but the makers were obviously trying to make it bad, and they succeeded spectacularly, so the movie was actual good in it's intended purpose.

Can't stand Data in generations. But Spiner played it like it was supposed to be. If you're told to F up and you do a good job at F'n up. Then you can't be faulted for doing a good job at what you were told to do.

 

The actor playing Estaban wasn't bad, at all. But I completely agree, otherwise. It's pretty obvious that Lenny & Harve are putting emphasis on the fact that Kirk's an Independent Thinker who gets things done, unlike those boring By the Book types with the P!NK seat cushions. But it's so not necessary to "make sure" that "people" don't LIKE anyone else BUT Jim Kirk and pals. I mean ... STAR TREK wasn't new, even all those years ago. It's not like people are expecting anything but what STAR TREK had been known for ... I don't know, it just seems like playing down to the audience, herding us into the "Hooray for Kirk" pen, instead of just accepting that we're smart enough to realise who to root for in these movies.

 

I guess it depends on how closely they directed him. "More patronizing!" etc, then it's really not his fault. I like to imagine, for example, how someone like Paul Gleason might have taken a role like that and made it memorable. If you're going to have a character be a putz and an a**hole, at least make it interesting.

 

How funny....I barely remember that she had more than one line! it seems a recipie for disaster..... Take a beautiful mediocre actress, give her bad lines and probably bad direction, stick her in a stinker of a movie, and put her in stupid make up (ear muffs?)......ta da....

 

As for major characters.... McCoy seemed to sleep walk through every film past the first one. The transparent aluminum scene...ugh. The camping scene...ahhh! Painful.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. Esteban and Morrow's attitude bothered me for a long time (Styles would have, too, but Horner's "Stealing the Enterprise" suite fleshes out that character so wonderfully). Not only does it unnecessarily diminish Our Heroes by comparison, it simply fails to jibe with all the of starship captains we've seen.

As Portmaster Stone commented, "Not one man in a million could do what you and I have done. Command a starship. A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives staked on you making every one of them right." All of the starship commanders and flag officers with experience on the line were capable individuals. TWOK would have been very different if Clark Terrell had simply conceded that Ceti Alpha VI was a no-go because of a particle of preanimate matter.

 

I think they were all different characters actually. Esteban was a play it safe by the book guy who seemed afraid of getting in trouble if he did anything wrong. Morrow seemed like he could have been a risk taker in the past, but because of the importance of his position he couldn't do it anymore. Styles was just a smug ass who thought he was smarter than anyone else and he deserved the best Starfleet had to offer him served on a silver platter.

 

ditto

 

I thought drunk Troi was hilarious.

 

The Romulan praetor guy at the very beginning of Nemesis. The consoler/advocate who speaks first wasn't much better.

I remember thinking it was such a striking contrast after what I thought (at the time) was the best Trek film opening. It was like they open the movie, get you all psyched, and then people start talking.

 

My nominee would be Nichelle Nichols from the ABC extended version of the TMP; After Chekov gets zapped through his tactical panel, Chapel comes to the bridge, and with cringe-worthy delivery, Uhura says, "Oh good, Christine, it's Chekov", as if there is more than one person on the bridge with their arm hair smoking...