Better Than The Regulars

[Delta Vega]

Robert Walker as "Charlie X"
Some of the guys quoted in posts above were absolute dogshit
Walker was excellent

 

[johnnybear]

Dogshit? Don't mince your words, Delt, say what you mean!
JB

 

[Delta Vega]

Dogshit? Don't mince your words, Delt, say what you mean!
JB

Someone mentioned the guy who played Apollo for instance, I mean come on, he was complete dogshit
Dogshit
Dogshit
Dogshit
He wasn't the only one
The guy who played Matt Decker, in my opinion was extremely ham

 

[EnriqueH]

I liked William Windom’s performance. Especially when he was on the bridge, and later facing his death

 

[EnriqueH]

You may leave the bridge, doctor.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I liked William Windom’s performance. Especially when he was on the bridge, and later facing his death

...and he also whooped the red shirt!

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[EnriqueH]

I would absolutely add William Campbell as Trelane.

“Ahhhh yes. This won’t kill...and this will...”

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I liked William Windom’s performance. Especially when he was on the bridge, and later facing his death

I've been reading fan commentary here and there since about 1975, and Windom's Decker has always gotten raves. And he said he always got raves for it from people walking up to him in person. The idea that he was bad is "a unique point of view," as Sarek would say.

Most TOS guest stars were great. I haven't read this whole thread (the topic is a turnoff), so maybe I'm the fourth person saying it, but the regulars were fine too. And nobody in TOS was better than William Shatner.

 

[EnriqueH]

Shatner and Montalban had great chemistry.

I think it’s the only time someone threatened to outmacho Kirk, and I felt that Kirk could feel it, especially when they had their one on one conversation in Khan’s quarters.

 

[johnnybear]

Someone mentioned the guy who played Apollo for instance, I mean come on, he was complete dogshit
Dogshit
Dogshit
Dogshit
He wasn't the only one
The guy who played Matt Decker, in my opinion was extremely ham

Nope can't agree with you there, Delt! William Windom always gave a convincing performance in everything he appeared in that I've seen!
JB

 

[telerites]

For me on William Windom's performance, when I much younger, I thought his performance was corny and didn't like it. As I grew and continued watching syndication, I thought he was spot-on.

I felt the same with Morgan Woodward.

Maybe just too young to appreciate them when I was a kid but both were solid in their roles (in my opinion).

 

[drt]

My only issue with Windom's performance are the cringey faces he makes as the shuttle flies into the Doomsday Machine's maw, but I put that less on him and more on the director, who should have asked for something less goofy.

 

[Spock's Barber]

My only issue with Windom's performance are the cringey faces he makes as the shuttle flies into the Doomsday Machine's maw, but I put that less on him and more on the director, who should have asked for something less goofy.

Yeah, I always thought they could have edited some of that out and inserted it into the S2 blooper reel.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

My only issue with Windom's performance are the cringey faces he makes as the shuttle flies into the Doomsday Machine's maw, but I put that less on him and more on the director, who should have asked for something less goofy.

He wasn't acting like that to express fear. Decker was experiencing painful levels of heat and radiation in the last seconds of his life, and the performance was supposed to convey that. I always thought he did a great job.

 

[StarCruiser]

Yep - and the feeling of ants crawling all over him that would probably accompany all of the rest of the "fun"...

 

[Spock's Barber]

Leave it to TOS....they sure thought up some imaginative ways to kill off Starfleet personnel, whether they are Commodores or red shirts.

 

[Mysterion]

He wasn't acting like that to express fear. Decker was experiencing painful levels of heat and radiation in the last seconds of his life, and the performance was supposed to convey that. I always thought he did a great job.

And in any case the earlier scene where he describes what happened to Constellation more than balance out faults in his performance. It's a powerful scene, and one of the best in the entire run of the series, IMO.

 

[Maurice]

Yikes nobody else found Decker too hammy?

In moments, yes. He alternated between good and ham sandwich, heavy on the wry.

 

[Maurice]

He wasn't acting like that to express fear. Decker was experiencing painful levels of heat and radiation in the last seconds of his life, and the performance was supposed to convey that. I always thought he did a great job.

Nnnnnnope on the radiation and heat.

We can't know what the director and Windom discussed for this or what Windom decided himself. The only thing we do know—thanks to @ alchemist and Star Trek Lost Scenes—is that they filmed it so Decker slumped down, either unconcious or dead, in at least one take.

 

[EnriqueH]

I always felt a sense of loss when Matt dies.

Shatner feels it. Nimoy’s “sorry about the loss of your friend” accentuates it, but ultimately Windom’s tragic performance, flawed or not, is what sells it.