Conner Trenner was Brillient in Enterprise

[tomalak301]

I don't post in this forum very much, and hell I don't even watch Enterprise that much these days but I was watching some of the Marathon that Scifi had yesterday. One of the episodes I recorded and watched just now was The Forgotten from Season 3. Season 3 did a lot for Trip, but I think this episode was when everything all came together and it made Trenner my favorite actor from this series. He made this episode rank up there with the likes of Inner Light, The Visitor, and maybe City but it's not often Enterprise makes me cry. This one did all thinks to Trips story and how Trenner played it. That scene with Trip and T'pol at the end was some of the best stuff I think I've seen from this show. Enterprise may have many faults, but when it brought out this episode, I actually think emotionally and in the tradition of Star Trek, this, and this arc as a whole might have been the best ENT ever got.

 

[Trippy]

I couldn't agree more. The Forgotten is one of my favourite episodes of ENT (the other fave of mine is Shuttlepod One, another Trip-centric show...well, teamed with Malcolm )

 

[JiNX-01]

I agree that Connor was the best thing to come out of Enterprise. He is so natural and even when he's not part of the action or the dialogue, he's always in the scene and in character. He's not just standing by waiting for his next line to come up.

From the S3 DVD profile:
Connor's an incredible actor. He's one of those actors that comes to the set and nails it. And not only nails it, surprises you. And makes you want to write for him.

-- Brannon Braga​

 

[suebsg9]

AT 3:00 a.m. this morning I was watching The Forgotten I figure have it on DVD and was Dvr'ing also that I didn't need to watch it but ended up when I heard the eps I did watch it. And yep the ending letter at the end of eps was a very well done part of eps and I always cry with Trip when he talks about when he starts the letter and says about loosing so young he is not thinking of the dead engineer he is thinking of his sister and I thought that whole scene told alot about what Trip went through those many months. Connor did a great job.

 

[gblews]

I don't post in this forum very much, and hell I don't even watch Enterprise that much these days but I was watching some of the Marathon that Scifi had yesterday. One of the episodes I recorded and watched just now was The Forgotten from Season 3. Season 3 did a lot for Trip, but I think this episode was when everything all came together and it made Trenner my favorite actor from this series. He made this episode rank up there with the likes of Inner Light, The Visitor, and maybe City but it's not often Enterprise makes me cry. This one did all thinks to Trips story and how Trenner played it. That scene with Trip and T'pol at the end was some of the best stuff I think I've seen from this show. Enterprise may have many faults, but when it brought out this episode, I actually think emotionally and in the tradition of Star Trek, this, and this arc as a whole might have been the best ENT ever got.

I might quibble over the comparisons to"Light", "Visitor", and "City", but I can certainly understand why you feel the way you do about the episode. No question Trinneer (and John Billiingley) were the acting heavy weights on ENT.

 

[commodore64]

Connor Trinneer was good, but I never thought he was brilliant or remarkable. He portrayed a fun character, who got less fun -- especially in season 3 and 4. In my eyes, his character never reached "most interesting Star Trek character" or came even close. I would also say by Connor's lack of juicy work after ENT, he hasn't been seen as a heavy weight in the business. (For the all the unfairness of the biz, I think talent is often rewarded -- i.e., Patrick Stewart.)

The best actor on Enterprise in my opinion was John Billingsley, Phlox. He made a rather trite character interesting. His character and the actor should've been given more time on ENT. He definitely deserves more gigs.

 

[pookha]

patrick stewart already had a rep before tng.
which helped to keep him from being typecast.
really it seems that the people who had it easiest still acting post their trek gig seemed to be based more on whether they had an identity established before doing trek.
not their acting chops.
despite getting the mission impossible gig after trek nimoy later had problems.

heck shatner despite his later success had a very long bleak period .

whatever..

any as far as iam concerned even in some of the weaker episodes it was still fun to see what connor could do with what he had to deal with.

 

[angie]

I think the story Forgotten was ok but as has been discussed here before blubbering doesn't constitute good acting to me. Trineer is average to me, Billingsley is good and should have been given a bigger role on Ent IMO.

 

[gblews]

I think the story Forgotten was ok but as has been discussed here before blubbering doesn't constitute good acting to me.

No, but "good" blubbering sure does.

 

[pookha]

I think the story Forgotten was ok but as has been discussed here before blubbering doesn't constitute good acting to me.

No, but "good" blubbering sure does.

of course it was also discussed real men of certain backgrounds and different regions indeed to cry just like that.

i guess some of us are not as aware of that as some of us..

shrug..

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

I took a look at the OP's original post again, and I didn't see any mention of tears... There may well have been other elements to the scene that made it, or Trinneer's performance, particularly memorable for him/her.

I enjoy Trinneer's work, and I am one of those who ranks "The Forgotten" among my top five or so Enterprise episodes. But there are countless reasons for that...the writing, the performances by all the actors, including Randy Oglesby and Kipleigh Brown, the direction and cinematography, the music.

One of the things that worked particularly well for me about the Trip/T'Pol scene the OP refers to is the controlled performances of Trinneer and Blalock. The scene could have been directed as a gloppy hugfest, but instead, the most powerful emotions remain under the surface, though their presence is almost tangible nevertheless. Far from "blubbering" (which is noisy sobbing), Trip spends most of his time trying not to cry after he breaks down, and we only see tears in his eyes, not gushing down his cheeks. T'Pol speaks in quiet, measured tones, but there is so much emotion in her eyes and behind her voice.

I also really like that they didn't hug. It was clear that T'Pol grieved for Trip, as a Vulcan would, and wanted to comfort him. Her hand on his shoulder meant far more, IMHO, than a big sweeping embrace between two humans would have meant. And his hand over hers showed his respect for her gesture, as well as a wish to reach out to her as well. There was so much said with an economy of action, hardly any tears, no wailing.

of course it was also discussed real men of certain backgrounds and different regions indeed to cry just like that.

i guess some of us are not as aware of that as some of us..

shrug..

I remember that discussion. I have known folks like Trip, so I found his behavior quite realistic and credible. Viewers not exposed to that background/upbringing/mindset kind of guy--the guy who is strong for everyone else, who holds in his emotions or is in denial, then something unexpected triggers the floodgates to open--they may have been surprised.

 

[angie]

I think the story Forgotten was ok but as has been discussed here before blubbering doesn't constitute good acting to me.

No, but "good" blubbering sure does.

of course it was also discussed real men of certain backgrounds and different regions indeed to cry just like that.

i guess some of us are not as aware of that as some of us..

shrug..

It has been discussed before--I am an Okie by birth and all my family are southern and Texan.Blubbering is an acting choice---crying is a good real emotion but that blubbering performed by the actor had nothing to do with region.

 

[Trippy]

Well said as always HR

 

[pookha]

see what hopeful romantiic said at the end. i have seen this and known these people.
shrug..

but to get this puppy back on track what other moments do you think connor bought something special as trip.
since that scene in forgotten has been mentioned i want to mention one in shuttle pod one.
\really it is a great one for dominic and connor both.
trip is about to light some type of light thing confronts malcolm who finally confesses just alone he had been till enterprise.
trip then quietly puts it out .
great scene.

even though there are other malcolm scenes i liked with others one thing i noticed with connor he often bought out the best in the people he was working with.
see the catwalk prep scenes with travis.

 

[trj]

No, but "good" blubbering sure does.

of course it was also discussed real men of certain backgrounds and different regions indeed to cry just like that.

i guess some of us are not as aware of that as some of us..

shrug..

It has been discussed before--I am an Okie by birth and all my family are southern and Texan.Blubbering is an acting choice---crying is a good real emotion but that blubbering performed by the actor had nothing to do with region.

ohh please,he wasnt blubbering it was a pretty touching scene i thought

 

[gblews]

but to get this puppy back on track what other moments do you think connor bought something special as trip.

I don't think Connor gets enough credit for his performance in IaMD I. He created a salacious, desperate, fearful, and corrupt alternate version of Trip that was as multi-dimensional and layered as RU Trip.

The scenes with T'Pol in engineering where he slinked up next to her and tried to coerce her into helping him move up in the chain of command while simultaneously hitting on her were as un-Trip-like and at the same time fascinating, as anything he'd shown us to date. His time in the agony booth was a tour deforce in showing what "agony" was all about. The producers should really not have chosen to show anyone else in the booth after Trip because all it did was make one wonder if Malcolm was laying it on extra for him. The subsequent booth visitors didn't seem to be in nearly as much "agony" .

Throw on top of that his supposed "anger" with T'Pol that melted into something, well, less than anger, shall we say. He even pulled a very subtle and multi faceted performance out of Jolene as she showed through T'Pol that "using" MU-Trip meant a bit more to her than she wanted him to know.

Kudos to Billingley, Keating, and Vaughn Armstrong too for presenting realistic alternate versions of their characters.

 

[tomalak301]

What is this about Blubbering? Personally, I enjoyed the scene because it felt real. Here is someone who has been grieving for his sister all season, and when he is asked to write a letter about someone whom he worked with, she reminded him so much of her. This was the episode were we really got to see Trip confront what had happened and stopped denying it. For that, I thought it was very powerful, and Trinneer did it so very well.

 

[Amaris]

I remember that discussion. I have known folks like Trip, so I found his behavior quite realistic and credible. Viewers not exposed to that background/upbringing/mindset kind of guy--the guy who is strong for everyone else, who holds in his emotions or is in denial, then something unexpected triggers the floodgates to open--they may have been surprised.

I can really identify with that.
What season is that episode? I may have to buy a season of Enterprise. (Never thought I'd say that, did any of ya?!)

J.

 

[Trippy]

^The Forgotten, as well as all the Xindi based episodes, were in the 3rd season.

 

[Amaris]

^The Forgotten, as well as all the Xindi based episodes, were in the 3rd season.

Seasons are a little steep at the moment when checking on Amazon, so I bought the actual episode. I also bought "The Expanse" so I can get some background on it.


J.