Best/Worst/Most underrated Trek XI casting decision

[steveman]

Of course, it's a tad unfair to judge the poor actors in the film before they've even uttered one line for us, but considering how this cast will be one of the largest ones ever for a Trek film (including both main and minor characters) I thought it'd be a good idea to take a critical look at all of the film's casting decisions thus far...

Best: Quinto as Spock. A dead-ringer for a young Nimoy. Probably going to have a strangle hold on the top spot.

Most underrrated: Simon Pegg as Scotty. One of the more interesting casting decisions of the movie. Sure, this was a head-scratcher for many (including myself) but if there's one performance you're looking forward to seeing in this movie (outside of the obvious suspects), it's got to be Pegg, right? IMO, the casting of Pegg pretty much sent up a flag that Scotty's primary role in this movie will be as comic relief, but seeing what Pegg does with the role, comedy and pathos alike, will be fun.

Worst: Tough one. I don't necessarily feel the casting directors have made made any egregious moves. I don't. If anything, there are simply moves that I'm lukewarm on. Such a move would probably be Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Pike; saw him last night on I, Robot again. He was OK.

 

[Dale]

steveman said:
Of course, it's a tad unfair to judge the poor actors in the film before they've even uttered one line for us, but considering how this cast will be one of the largest ones ever for a Trek film (including both main and minor characters) I thought it'd be a good idea to take a critical look at all of the film's casting decisions thus far...

Best: Quinto as Spock. A dead-ringer for a young Nimoy. Probably going to have a strangle hold on the top spot.

Most underrrated: Simon Pegg as Scotty. One of the more interesting casting decisions of the movie. Sure, this was a head-scratcher for many (including myself) but if there's one performance you're looking forward to seeing in this movie (outside of the obvious suspects), it's got to be Pegg, right? IMO, the casting of Pegg pretty much sent up a flag that Scotty's primary role in this movie will be as comic relief, but seeing what Pegg does with the role, comedy and pathos alike, will be fun.

Worst: Tough one. I don't necessarily feel the casting directors have made made any egregious moves. I don't. If anything, there are simply moves that I'm lukewarm on. Such a move would probably be Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Pike; saw him last night on I, Robot again. He was OK.

Wow. QFT. My thoughts almost exactly.

 

[Kegek]

Best: Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Okay, yes, I know Quinto has a following and all, but there's only one I'd bet good money will give us a great Spock. Which is because I am a conservative better.
Most underrated: Eric Bana as Nero. The villain is called Nero, which is cool. And Bana is generally a good actor. Honorary shout-out to Greenwood, who I liked in Thirteen Days.
Worst: I don't want to condemn an actor before I've seen his performance. I'd call that the CraigIsNotBond syndrome, if you will. But Karl Urban really threw me for a loop. What the hell? I'm just hoping this actor's got a side to him I don't know. The only side I know is Eomer, so that's pretty probable. Anyway, we'll see.

 

[steveman]

^

Nimoy as Spock. Come now, that's too easy.

And I agree, I'm lukewarm on Karl Urban as well.

 

[Kegek]

steveman said:
^

Nimoy as Spock. Come now, that's too easy.

You did say best. Not a hard one, just best. Damn it, I'm going to be honest. But if Zach Quinto gives the better performance, I'll sing his praises too.

 

[steveman]

Kegek Kringle said:

steveman said:
^

Nimoy as Spock. Come now, that's too easy.

You did say best. Not a hard one, just best. Damn it, I'm going to be honest. But if Zach Quinto gives the better performance, I'll sing his praises too.

On my end, I suppose I was just thinking about the actors who are new to Trek, because we don't know what we'll get from them. Nimoy, we know, will deliver the goods.

But if one had to say best, it is Nimoy. The chances of any random Trek fan walking out of this movie and saying "Gee, Leonard Nimoy really hurt this movie..." are next to nil.

 

[commodore64]

Best, most underrated: Simon Pegg as Scotty.
Worst: Maybe everyone else. I don't see many of the casting decisions and am lukewarm on Quinto as Spock.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Quinto as Spock is the one I'm most confident in. Urban as Bones is the one that most gives me pause, tho of course I'll wait to see what the guy can do. I just have no idea, that's all.

Most underrated? How about Saldana as Uhura? Or maybe she's pretty popular as is...how about Ryder as Amanda, then?

 

[Jack Bauer]

The only one I'm concerned with is Urban as McCoy. He seems a little too bad ass to play McCoy. I've never seen Pine in anything so I'm totally neutral on him.

 

[johnconner]

Best: Quinto. Spot-on as far as casting for looks. We'll see on the actual performance.
Worst: Kirk's dad, only because I happened to click on a clip of his work on some soap opera, and he was TERRIBLE. Who knows, though, really.
Underrated: Pine as Kirk. The clips I've seen, I can absolutely see him pulling this off. I don't get the naysaying.

On that note, I really don't get why people are kneejerking that Scotty is destined to be comic relief just because they picked Pegg. IMO, one of the reasons Shaun of the Dead - and even moreso Hot Fuzz - worked so well is because he could do serious AND comedy. If he doesn't pull off the everyman, serio-heroic part - as opposed to the over-the-top comedy of Nick Frost, et. al. - those movies aren't half as good. My 2c.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

steveman said:the casting of Pegg pretty much sent up a flag that Scotty's primary role in this movie will be as comic relief

You don't think Pegg could do a dramatic role?

Hell, if Bruce Campbell, of all people, can pull it off (he played it serious when he appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street), then anything's possible.

 

[Kegek]

Babaganoosh said:

steveman said:the casting of Pegg pretty much sent up a flag that Scotty's primary role in this movie will be as comic relief

You don't think Pegg could do a dramatic role?

Hmm. How about one puts it this way: Do you think Pegg has been cast for a dramatic role?

Using secondary characters for comic relief isn't an uncommon film device; Gimli in the LOTR adaptions is a recent and successful example. The desire to have Scotty as a comic relief character is almost certainly why Pegg was cast.

Scotty's not immune to comic relief anyway, he was played for that often on the series and in the movies, most notably in "By Any Other Name".

 

[Tamek]

Having seen the movie, I have to admit that I was completely underwhelmed by the way Winona Ryder played Spock.

Very disappointing.

And they didn't even bother giving her ears or making her a fighter pilot!

If they're going to make Spock a woman, the lesat they could have done would have been to give her ears and told her how a Vulcan acts.

O wait...she probably swiped the ears...to ebay them...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't think Simon Pegg's casting necessarily means that Scotty will only be comic relief. As I said, it is entirely possible Pegg can pull off a dramatic role. To say that Scotty must be comic just because Pegg's playing him, would be an insult to Pegg's acting skills.

I'll have to bring up H:LOTS again. Comic actors such as Robin Williams and Bruce Campbell have done excellent dramatic roles on that series. There's no reason why Simon Pegg couldn't do so now.

 

[Kegek]

Babaganoosh said:
I don't think Simon Pegg's casting necessarily means that Scotty will only be comic relief. As I said, it is entirely possible Pegg can pull off a dramatic role. To say that Scotty must be comic just because Pegg's playing him, would be an insult to Pegg's acting skills.

It's entirely possible, perhaps. Damned if I know, I've never seen a Simon Pegg movie. All I'm saying is, if you cast a noted comic actor, it's probable - barring evidence to the contrary - that is purpose is comedic.

 

[Skywalker]

Best: Zachary Quinto
Worst: John Cho as Sulu. I actually don't mind Cho, but he was far from what I imagined when I was thinking of people to play Sulu. Maybe he'll surprise me, though.
Most Underrated: Simon Pegg as Scotty. Pegg is a very good actor, and has already shown in some scenes in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (the only movies of his that I've seen) that he can do drama just as well as comedy.

 

[johnconner]

Kegek Kringle said:

Babaganoosh said:
I don't think Simon Pegg's casting necessarily means that Scotty will only be comic relief. As I said, it is entirely possible Pegg can pull off a dramatic role. To say that Scotty must be comic just because Pegg's playing him, would be an insult to Pegg's acting skills.

It's entirely possible, perhaps. Damned if I know, I've never seen a Simon Pegg movie. All I'm saying is, if you cast a noted comic actor, it's probable - barring evidence to the contrary - that is purpose is comedic.

So you haven't seen a Simon Pegg performance, but it's a foregone conclusion that Scotty's role will be comic relief? Hey man, that's stereotyping. Mr. Nimoy would like a word with you over the corner.

j/k

Seriously, I don't think Scotty will be any more comic relief than the McCoy/Spock relationship will be played for laughs. I assure you that Pegg's acting in both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz consisted of a lot more than just mugging and jokes.

 

[cooleddie74]

WORST(so far)? Probably Eric Bana as the (Romulan?) villain. I never cared much for Bana in other movies and he's certainly not much of a convincing villain OR hero in anything he's ever done.

 

[Tamek]

Babaganoosh said:
I don't think Simon Pegg's casting necessarily means that Scotty will only be comic relief. As I said, it is entirely possible Pegg can pull off a dramatic role. To say that Scotty must be comic just because Pegg's playing him, would be an insult to Pegg's acting skills.

I'll have to bring up H:LOTS again. Comic actors such as Robin Williams and Bruce Campbell have done excellent dramatic roles on that series. There's no reason why Simon Pegg couldn't do so now.

I've read somewhere that it is a *lot* harder to pull off comedy acting than anything else

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Very few comic actors have taken on dramatic roles and embarrassed themselves; the reverse cannot be said.