Ben Sisko shaking and spazzing

[Navaros]

Brooks doesn't really have the acting range to be able to spaz out convincingly. That's the core issue. He's really good at acting when he's just playing 'normal', but it doesn't translate when he's called to do more than that. He also gives some similarly bad-acting in "Our Man Bashir", and when he screams "I WILLLLL!!!!" in WYLB, and some other episodes that I don't recall off the top of my head at the moment.

 

[DS9Continuing]

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 don't if I'd go so far as to say it's offensive. Perhaps a little tasteless, in a schoolyard kind of way. It's the same way that "idiot" and "cretin" used to be clinically defined terms, then became nasty insults, and now are fairly innocuous terms.

I remember our annual swimming contest at high school. The final relay, where students who were no good at anything else went just so that they could be included somewhere, was affectionately known as the "flid race." "Flid" being short for "thalidomide" - appallingly inappropriate of course, but that's school kids for you.

 

[JoeZhang]

I don't if I'd go so far as to say it's offensive.

Let's say you called a disabled workmate a spazz - in most modern workplaces, you'd be off the premises and your P45 would be in the post in about 10 minutes.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

It's funny--BSG is on and the scene where Adama weeps about finding out that Tigh is a Cylon just played, the scene where Olmos slobbers all over Bamber's hand. Another OTT moment, maybe.

 

[Therin of Andor]

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

And what makes it so offensive is that people often use/used it to taunt a mentally disabled or slow person, when the term spastic was applied to someone with a lack of good control of the limbs, with no bearing at all on intelligence.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

It's funny--BSG is on and the scene where Adama weeps about finding out that Tigh is a Cylon just played, the scene where Olmos slobbers all over Bamber's hand. Another OTT moment, maybe.

I actually found that one more believable. Can't exactly say why...

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Compare either to "Klingon bastard, you killed my son."

And I like Shatner.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

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

And what makes it so offensive is that people often use/used it to taunt a mentally disabled or slow person, when the term spastic was applied to someone with a lack of good control of the limbs, with no bearing at all on intelligence.

It actually came quite high on the list of "most offensive words" others on the list were nigger, paki, and cunt, so I'd say it is considered fairly offensive.
As for why it's offensive it became offensive was because school kids started throwing it about as an insult. It was used as the word for people with cerebral palsy, so became insulting to those people too.
I know what the word means used properly, just as I know the word Paki is just a shortening of the word Pakistani but that doesn't mean it's any less an offensive word in the UK.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

The simple answer is that Benny was having a nervous breakdown... it might not seem normal to us, but we aren't having the breakdown.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

It was Avery acting as Benny Russell, and he did a fantastic job. No one was expecting this fine performance by a great actor.

 

[Odo's_Bucket]

^ 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...

Don't forget how mad Eddington made him.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Brooks doesn't really have the acting range to be able to spaz out convincingly. That's the core issue. He's really good at acting when he's just playing 'normal', but it doesn't translate when he's called to do more than that. He also gives some similarly bad-acting in "Our Man Bashir", and when he screams "I WILLLLL!!!!" in WYLB, and some other episodes that I don't recall off the top of my head at the moment.

"I WILLLL!" did make me cringe but I wouldn't put this scene in that category. Not at all.

To make a comparison: when Picard breaks down and weeps in "Family," I bought it. When he later breaks down and weeps in Generations, it struck me as Patrick Stewart having a bad acting moment (even Olivier had 'em). So it is if I compare "It's reeeeal!" with "I wiiiillll!"

 

[cultcross]

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

And what makes it so offensive is that people often use/used it to taunt a mentally disabled or slow person, when the term spastic was applied to someone with a lack of good control of the limbs, with no bearing at all on intelligence.

It actually came quite high on the list of "most offensive words" others on the list were nigger, paki, and cunt, so I'd say it is considered fairly offensive.
As for why it's offensive it became offensive was because school kids started throwing it about as an insult. It was used as the word for people with cerebral palsy, so became insulting to those people too.
I know what the word means used properly, just as I know the word Paki is just a shortening of the word Pakistani but that doesn't mean it's any less an offensive word in the UK.

Once upon a time it was a medically correct, accepted word (well, 'spastic', not 'spaz'), just like 'moron' was. But being used as a taunt and insult has turned it into an unacceptable word. And I do find the word completely inappropriate for such casual usage as the OP, which is why I questioned it. To me, it's akin to titling it 'When Ben Sisko was that nigger in the 50s'.
But I'm willing to accept given the reaction of the non-UK members that this is probably merely cultural bias on my part.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

And what makes it so offensive is that people often use/used it to taunt a mentally disabled or slow person, when the term spastic was applied to someone with a lack of good control of the limbs, with no bearing at all on intelligence.

It actually came quite high on the list of "most offensive words" others on the list were nigger, paki, and cunt, so I'd say it is considered fairly offensive.
As for why it's offensive it became offensive was because school kids started throwing it about as an insult. It was used as the word for people with cerebral palsy, so became insulting to those people too.
I know what the word means used properly, just as I know the word Paki is just a shortening of the word Pakistani but that doesn't mean it's any less an offensive word in the UK.

Once upon a time it was a medically correct, accepted word (well, 'spastic', not 'spaz'), just like 'moron' was. But being used as a taunt and insult has turned it into an unacceptable word. And I do find the word completely inappropriate for such casual usage as the OP, which is why I questioned it. To me, it's akin to titling it 'When Ben Sisko was that nigger in the 50s'.
But I'm willing to accept given the reaction of the non-UK members that this is probably merely cultural bias on my part.

There was a big controversy last year when Nintendo release Mario Party 8 for the Wii, and all copies of the game was removed from shelves because one of the puzzles or clues or whatever said something along the lines of "The movement's getting spastic." And even though it was meant in the correct usage of the word there was still this big controversy surrounding it all. They re-released it a while later with that part changed.

 

[Semah]

And what makes it so offensive is that people often use/used it to taunt a mentally disabled or slow person, when the term spastic was applied to someone with a lack of good control of the limbs, with no bearing at all on intelligence.

It actually came quite high on the list of "most offensive words" others on the list were nigger, paki, and cunt, so I'd say it is considered fairly offensive.
As for why it's offensive it became offensive was because school kids started throwing it about as an insult. It was used as the word for people with cerebral palsy, so became insulting to those people too.
I know what the word means used properly, just as I know the word Paki is just a shortening of the word Pakistani but that doesn't mean it's any less an offensive word in the UK.

Once upon a time it was a medically correct, accepted word (well, 'spastic', not 'spaz'), just like 'moron' was. But being used as a taunt and insult has turned it into an unacceptable word. And I do find the word completely inappropriate for such casual usage as the OP, which is why I questioned it. To me, it's akin to titling it 'When Ben Sisko was that nigger in the 50s'.
But I'm willing to accept given the reaction of the non-UK members that this is probably merely cultural bias on my part.

Its use in the US isn't considered as offensive as it is really immature.

 

[Phily B]

That was years of abuse, and prejudice building up to a boiling point - as he said, being calm never got a damn thing and while the people he worked with were not racist, they didn't exactly jump to defend him or back him up either.

 

[Myasishchev]

I adored this performance.

In context it was quite powerful, and as a bonus, out of context it's hilarious.

 

[MadBaggins]

Avery Brooks' AWFUL acting ruined many an episode and the ratings back up that he CAN'T ACT. If only DS9 had had a compelling lead actor the show might have been the big hit it deserved to be.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

The first time I saw the episode was in our local Star Trek club, and I tried very hard not to snigger at that moment. I then watched the episode again a few years later and I couldn't help but be impressed.

Brooks doesn't really have the acting range to be able to spaz out convincingly. That's the core issue. He's really good at acting when he's just playing 'normal', but it doesn't translate when he's called to do more than that. He also gives some similarly bad-acting in "Our Man Bashir", and when he screams "I WILLLLL!!!!" in WYLB, and some other episodes that I don't recall off the top of my head at the moment.

"I WILLLL!" did make me cringe but I wouldn't put this scene in that category. Not at all.

To make a comparison: when Picard breaks down and weeps in "Family," I bought it. When he later breaks down and weeps in Generations, it struck me as Patrick Stewart having a bad acting moment (even Olivier had 'em). So it is if I compare "It's reeeeal!" with "I wiiiillll!"

I thought Stewart's acting in that section of Generations was actually very good indeed. During much of that part of the film Picard was completely a different person, snapping out at Riker, filled with grief. I was completely sold each time I saw that film.

As for "Our Man Bashir", it was a Bond pastiche, so I'll forgive Brooks for his (presumably intended) dramatic overacting there. And as for "I WILLLL!"... that was somewhat hilarious too.

I adored this performance.

In context it was quite powerful, and as a bonus, out of context it's hilarious.

There used to be a YouTube video splicing Benny's breakdown with Senator Vreenak's famous declaration...
I even made an avatar of it a while back.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

Avery Brooks' AWFUL acting ruined many an episode and the ratings back up that he CAN'T ACT. If only DS9 had had a compelling lead actor the show might have been the big hit it deserved to be.

Well it's you opinion and you're entitled to such. "To each their own" Of course I have to disagree with you assessment of the situation.