Ben Sisko shaking and spazzing

[Joaqin]

I just watched Far Beyond The Stars and cringed towards the end when Sisko flips out. Sure it was a heart breaking scene, but why does the actor act like that? I don't know if the writers of the show specifically call for the actor to shake and spasm in anger and frustration, but I do recall seeing him do this type of acting in previous episodes. Can you help me list them? I think it would be funny to see a compilation video of him spazzing, in sort of a sick and twisted way.

It makes me think to myself, damn, Captain Picard was so much more bad-ass, and I am sure he would have handled the situation better. Why can't all captains be as awesome as Picard?

I am getting about half way through DS9 now and I am starting to question whether or not I like the show anymore. There are many episodes that make me cringe with "ahhh! this is dumb!" moments, and a few that I consider decent. I don't know. I have enjoyed the episodes dealing with the Dominion War. I hope season 7 is good.

/rant

 

[Hoshi_Mayweather]

I just watched Far Beyond The Stars and cringed towards the end when Sisko flips out. Sure it was a heart breaking scene, but why does the actor act like that? I don't know if the writers of the show specifically call for the actor to shake and spasm in anger and frustration, but I do recall seeing him do this type of acting in previous episodes.

From what I recall, he was being treated unfairly due to the color of his skin; and this was a recreation of the 1950s...before the civil rights movement where African-Americans (and a lot of people of color) were not treated in a humane manner.

It makes me think to myself, damn, Captain Picard was so much more bad-ass, and I am sure he would have handled the situation better. Why can't all captains be as awesome as Picard?

He would have handled being a black man in a 1950s recreation?

I am getting about half way through DS9 now and I am starting to question whether or not I like the show anymore. There are many episodes that make me cringe with "ahhh! this is dumb!" moments, and a few ones that I consider decent. I don't know. I have enjoyed the episodes dealing with the Dominion War. I hope season 7 is good.

Every one has their own opinion.

I'm not much of a TNG fan, but there is something for me....same with ENT...VOY...etc...(Heck, I'm a big TOS fan, but there are things in that series I can do without).

If you look on the boards, no two people are alike in their likes or dislikes. However, I do wonder why you would continue to watch the show to its sixth season and wonder why you like it or not?

It would take me a couple of episodes in the 1st season, for me, to decide if I wanted to switch to another show.

 

[cultcross]

"Spazzing"?

 

[Joaqin]

He would have handled being a black man in a 1950s recreation?

Sure, we know that Picard was not a black man, but I am saying that his personality, lets say hypothetically in a black man's body, maybe would have handled it better.

Don't mean to be badmouthing DS9, I feel compelled to watch every bit of Star Trek I can find. I know we all have different tastes. On the whole though, I love it.

 

[Hoshi_Mayweather]

He would have handled being a black man in a 1950s recreation?

Sure, we know that Picard was not a black man, but I am saying that his personality, lets say hypothetically in a black man's body, maybe would have handled it better.

I'm sorry, but you're repeating yourself.

Picard is a white male, not a black male; and being a white male from the 24th century, if Picard was to undergo a 'Quantum Leap' (as a black man) into the 1950s, I think he would have acted the same way Sisko did. (Especially as I believe that treatment would have been very alien to Picard, or maybe even similar to what he went through in 'Chain of Command').

If we recall, Picard wasn't so 'bad-assed' in that episode...

As we've seen in the show, being a 24th century black male, even Sisko was aware of his mid-20th century roots....but, of course, he didn't expect to have to undergo treatment from that particular era.

Don't mean to be badmouthing DS9, I feel compelled to watch every bit of Star Trek I can find. I know we all have different tastes. On the whole though, I love it.

No worries.

That's why there is a BBS, so people can express their opinions....and exchange thoughts.

 

[john titor]

picard was in general someone who tended to be very private with his emotions and tended not to act on them. Spock remarked that he was more Vulcan than human. Apart from Kirk I think he was one of the best captains who wouldn't lose it as easily as say Sisko or Janeway. However there were moments when he could be a bit of a nancyboy but overall he was logical to the last, example: first encounter with the borg, he said he was frightened but didn't show it much.

 

[Semah]

"Spazzing?"

Keep in mind that this wasn't Sisco in the form of a 1950's black man, this was Benny Russel, an actual 1950's black man, who was having a nervous breakdown due to his entire worldview being crushed.

 

[Marie1]

^ Thats what I always thought. It wasn't just anger at racism, he ended up having a mental, and then physical breakdown. I'm sure it happened back then too. If he'd just been upset, I wouldn't like it, but since it was worse... its actually rather scary when I think about it- what would happen if some of the people who made social impacts had breakdowns to the point they couldn't have an effect...

When it comes to Sisko's (not BR's) breakdowns... I thought he was usually commanding, and only rarely lost it- and that was in severe cases regarding Tosk, Worf/Kurn, and telling Worf to look before blowing things up, and he got mad when he realized Jake stayed behind...

 

[Captain Brylcream]

No, I've noticed that the respected artist portraying the esteemed Mr Sisco does have a tendancy to overact, and I remember feeling that the Far Beyond the Stars episode was not one of his best performances.

However all Sci-Fi actors are given a pretty hard job compared to say detective show stars in that their situations are rather difficult to draw inspiration from real life for.

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

Well, as for this whole "spazzing" thing, Avery Brooks has done that a number of times throughout the series -- witness in Emissary, when the Bolian lieutenant drags him away from his wife Jennifer's dead body, he yells, "WE . . CAN'T JUST . . . LEAVE HER! AHHHH-AHHHH! AHHHH-AHHHH!" He's shaking in rage when he's pulled away. It's simply a physical representation of fury.

Sure, Brooks has a tendency to overact a tad -- he is a worthy Shatneresque heir, after all -- but I believe it's justified in Far Beyond the Stars, as he's having a nervous breakdown because of events he can't control and feels are unjustified and unfair.
So I don't have as much of a problem with it as some of you all. Hey, that's cool.

Red Ranger

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

Sisko's entire life is being torn asunder at Wolf 359 and you consider that overacting? He had barely even come to terms with his wife being dead, and then he was dragged away to leave her body to the tender mercy of a warp core breach. Frankly, I think he was being restrained in his reaction.

Jeeze, I've seen someone freak out 10X worse than that just because their kid was unaccounted for after school (the older brother had taken the 10 year old for a quick trip without mentioning it to mommy).

 

[Commander Rabbit]

"Spazzing?"

Keep in mind that this wasn't Sisco in the form of a 1950's black man, this was Benny Russel, an actual 1950's black man, who was having a nervous breakdown due to his entire worldview being crushed.

Exactly. I was really moved by the scene.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

No, I've noticed that the respected artist portraying the esteemed Mr Sisco does have a tendancy to overact, and I remember feeling that the Far Beyond the Stars episode was not one of his best performances.

Well said. I don't think anybody is arguing the intensity of emotion that a man in Benny Russell's position would feel, or the fact that it could psychologically break a person in extreme ways.

What IS up for debate--and where I totally agree with you--is that I don't think that said reaction was well-portrayed. It came off as SO overblown as to make what should've been a very poignant moment quite ridiculous.

Comparable, I'd say, to "THEY TOOK THEM AWAAAAAAAY!" in "Rapture"...again, very overdone.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

No moment of acting--not even Shatner's "Khaaaaaaaaan!"--divides fans more than this. I'm of the "it was brilliant" camp precisely because it was uncomfortable to watch. I really felt that Benny was experiencing a full-on nervous breakdown here, perhaps even a psychotic break, and Brooks's body language and voice conveyed just how spectacularly awful such a thing is to witness. No one undergoing such a break stops to wonder "Is this over the top?" To me, this was an actor stripping himself of his vanity to fully expose the anguish his character was feeling.

 

[adamczar]

I just watched Far Beyond The Stars and cringed towards the end when Sisko flips out. Sure it was a heart breaking scene, but why does the actor act like that?

...because he does? That's like asking why a writer writes like that, or why an artist paints like that. They just do. Nobody says you have to like their style.

 

[Therin of Andor]

this was an actor stripping himself of his vanity to fully expose the anguish his character was feeling.

And I reckon he did his research for the part. Either drew on memories of people he'd known who have undergone a mental and physical breakdown, or talked with people who have. The writer and director, of course, had input too, so it's not as one person is responsible for any scene. Also the editor, who could have chosen different angles.

Steven Barnes, the SF writer who was asked to do the novelization, is an African American and the scenes of the breakdown are disturbingly recreated in that book, IIRC.

To "spaz", or "go all spastic", has fortunately fallen by the wayside as a colloquialism.

 

[TheGodBen]

I'm indifferent about it. When I saw it as a teenager I thought it was a bad case of overacting, but now I can understand why Benny acted that way in that scene. It was either magnificent or it was terrible, and I'm not sure where I stand.

 

[Darth_Pazuzu]

No moment of acting--not even Shatner's "Khaaaaaaaaan!"--divides fans more than this. I'm of the "it was brilliant" camp precisely because it was uncomfortable to watch. I really felt that Benny was experiencing a full-on nervous breakdown here, perhaps even a psychotic break, and Brooks's body language and voice conveyed just how spectacularly awful such a thing is to witness. No one undergoing such a break stops to wonder "Is this over the top?" To me, this was an actor stripping himself of his vanity to fully expose the anguish his character was feeling.

I agree 100% with that assessment. I think when confronted with something that makes people uneasy or uncomfortable, their first impulse is to either laugh and make fun of it, or to dismiss it as being "over-the-top." Bottom line is, Avery Brooks can be said to have done almost too good a job in portraying Benny Russell's nervous breakdown in Far Beyond The Stars, or was perhaps too authentic, because the sight of a human being genuinely coming completely unglued and unraveled makes people uneasy.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

this was an actor stripping himself of his vanity to fully expose the anguish his character was feeling.

And I reckon he did his research for the part. Either drew on memories of people he'd known who have undergone a mental and physical breakdown, or talked with people who have. The writer and director, of course, had input too, so it's not as one person is responsible for any scene. Also the editor, who could have chosen different angles.

Steven Barnes, the SF writer who was asked to do the novelization, is an African American and the scenes of the breakdown are disturbingly recreated in that book, IIRC.

To "spaz", or "go all spastic", has fortunately fallen by the wayside as a colloquialism.

Yeah, I'm African-American myself, which may explain why I'm inclined to go with Brooks's performance.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

To "spaz", or "go all spastic", has fortunately fallen by the wayside as a colloquialism.

It's actually quite an offensive word over here in the UK, I'd think that'd be why cultcross was questioning it.

I actually like the performance. There are times when I think Brooks does overact, but more in the "knocking it out to the cheap seats." theatre style way, than a bad acting kinda way.