Eggs with a side of Brooks

[Paul Weaver]

Garrett Wang and Robert Beltran often come up with the actors who are bad in their roles (not saying they're bad in general)

However some have said they don't like Brooks, he name appears a fair few times In this thread -- https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/worst-star-trek-actor-ever.136887/

A lot of people disagree with me on this, but it's my opinion: The most disappointing performance overall from a series regular, from the front of the series to the back, comes from Avery Brooks. Too many of his episodes seemed to have been phoned in. There comes. A time. When you wish. Each sentence. Were not. Delivered. Like a bad. Shatner. Impression. From deep inside. A mayonnaise jar.

But even DFScott agreed Beltran was worse.

 

[somebuddyX]

I love Avery Brooks. I love his dramatic acting and I love his humour. I been watching that clip recently from "Second Skin" where Garak says "Commander, this is extortion" and Sisko thinks for a second and says "Hmmm, yes it is." Also being the punchline to Quark and Rom's trip through the jefferies tubes and they end up in his office. "Must have taken a wrong turn." "It looks that way." The scene I really like which is probably no one's favourite but Sisko laying out to the senior staff that Weyoun wasn't buying anything he'd said and the Dominion will soon be on it's way, and just the way he pauses at different times really enticed me. I think Sisko's a great captain and it's good we have so many different types of captains in Trek.

 

[at Quark's]

I can appreciate his acting style can be a bit jarring, but there have been far worse performances in Trek - Beltran sleepwalking through Voyager and Shatner at his hammiest come to mind.

To be fair though, Shatner also had some fine acting moments, and Beltran too, on those rare instances the script allowed him to be more than Janeway's Lap Dog, back when he probably still cared about the show.

 

[Dukhat]

Yes, there were many times on DS9 that Brook's acting could be described as 'wooden.' And there was an equal number of times where his acting was great. It is what it is.

 

[Vger23]

 

[Magistos]

Computer...erase this ENTIRE personal log.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

There was nothing wrong with Avery Brooks acting.

 

[XCV330]

Hello friends. This is my 1st post in THE TREK BBS.

I hope you don't feel some overwhelming need for a follow up, thanks.

 

[fireproof78]

The man's work speaks for itself.

 

[DonIago]

I agree that Brooks had an acting style that could be...very emotive, for lack of a better phrase.

So did Shatner though.

Basically, I don't really see a problem with someone having an issue with one actor's emotive style of acting as long as they're not singling out that actor while overlooking actors who had similar styles, or as long as their criticisms don't seem to be based on demographics.

I've no more patience for 'any criticism of Brooks is racist' than I do 'any criticism of Mulgrew is sexist'.

 

[StarMan]

I can understand that some people like DS9 as a TV show but look at him; the unnatural way he speaks and moves doesn’t remind me of a human Commander.

LOL - have you known many pretend space adventure Commanders?

Not unnatural for him. Plenty of actors are remembered for their idiosyncratic styles. Take Christopher Walken. Are you going to tell me. That he. Is a bad ACTOR?

 

[Magistos]

I think the real reason was that Brooks had played an iconic character, Hawk, for a number of years, and Hawk was bald with a goatee. The producers wanted Sisko to look different. Once a few years had passed and Sisko was well established in his own right, it wasn't that big a deal.

This - they didn't want a repeat of Hawk, which is completely fair, honestly. Though I will say Sisko had a LOT of Hawk in him. Sometimes, to me, it did seem like "Hawk in Space", but I was okay with that.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Plenty of actors are remembered for the idiosyncratic styles

Some call it "Idiosyncratic", I call them inspired choice or take on acting.
Potato, Po-ta-toe

 

[Faster Than Light]

People who rate Avery Brooks' bad acting as "acceptable" or even "excellent" might be referring to some DS9 seasons from 2 through 7.
I say this because I have just finished Season 1 (a fairly painful task for me, as I wrote in my 1st post) and I haven't noticed a single episode where Avery Brooks' performance was even slightly "acceptable", let alone "good" or “awesome”.
In all the episodes I watched, he talks, smiles and moves like a broken 18th century automaton.

Picard or Janeway were many Light Years ahead in acting performance…
Kim or Chakotay were indeed far less than perfect in acting performance, but still way above him.

 

[Oddish]

I will not oppose a person's right to state a sincerely held opinion... and I know that judging acting is a subjective matter to say the least. But... when i watch episodes like "The Visitor" and "Far Beyond the Stars"... nope, can't agree with you.

 

[Sci]

I have no idea how you can watch Sisko break down in grief over Jennifer's death as he tries to explain the nature of corporeal existence to the Wormhole Aliens in "Emissary, Part II" and imagine that Avery Brooks is a bad actor. Thirty years later, it's still one of the most moving scenes in all of Star Trek.

And calling someone a psychopath because you don't like their acting choices is really inappropriate behavior.

 

[at Quark's]

As far as Brooks' acting is concerned, he failed to convince me in several scenes. Then again, there are also some scenes in which he absolutely sells it (in my view).

 

[Snowdrop82]

I found Avery Brooks to be a highly capable actor. I do not see how he failed to perform well. He is one of my favorite actors in Star Trek.

 

[fireproof78]

And calling someone a psychopath because you don't like their acting choices is really inappropriate behavior.

Comes from a complete misunderstanding of the term, and how it is now used in colloquial shorthand rather than an accurate description.

As far as Brooks' acting is concerned, he failed to convince me in several scenes. Then again, there are also some scenes in which he absolutely sells it (in my view).

I feel like this is true for almost all actors that I've enjoyed, and not just in Trek but others as well.

 

[at Quark's]

I feel like this is true for almost all actors that I've enjoyed, and not just in Trek but others as well.

Yes, I know, I wanted to avoid controversy so I stated my remark in such general terms that it's (almost) a truism.

To make it a bit more specific though: Patrick Steward or Kate Mulgew failing to convince me when playing their roles of Picard or Janeway respectively are very rare occurrences (I'm talking here about actor/actress ability to sell the scenes, not necessarily the scripts they had to play though), though it has happened in a few instances. With Brooks' Sisko that proportion of 'failing to convince me' scenes is significantly higher (though still comparatively rare).