Eggs with a side of Brooks
- Thread starter Ragitsu
- Start date
Brooks has his moments but his acting often feels very stagey which comes off as weird on a tv show imo. He sometimes seems to act for the person in the last row when the camera is in his face.
I usually like him in scenes with Jake, Cassidy and Dax off duty, he was more relaxed talking to family and friends but when he switched to starfleet officer mode he tended to SPAT. OUT. EVERY. WORD. as if it was its own sentence, his enunciation and articulation are a bit over the top for me.
I usually like him in scenes with Jake, Cassidy and Dax off duty, he was more relaxed talking to family and friends but when he switched to starfleet officer mode he tended to SPAT. OUT. EVERY. WORD. as if it was its own sentence, his enunciation and articulation are a bit over the top for me.
Very much that, and I believe this is why DS9 never took off as it should have. Shatner was a big ham (especially after the accident that damaged his hearing) but it's excused, while Brooks' style is not the current style (thank the stars we never had Jack Lord as Captain Kirk, because his hamminess is off the charts.)
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What are ou talking about? Shatner's hammy acting has been made fun of for decades.
While I can understand Avery Brooks' acting style might be a turnoff for some people, he most certainly is NOT a bad actor. Even in season 1.
A few examples:
"EMISSARY" - he kept his anger subdued when talking with Picard... a man who represented the greatest loss of his life, the death of his wife. Or when he was finally facing how he never moved on from her death, thanks to the Prophets keeping him in their quarters on the damaged Saratoga.
"A MAN ALONE" - Sisko addressing the mob outside Odo's office. He was authoritative, but also trying to show a measure of calm amongst the angry people.
"CAPTIVE PURSUIT" - Sisko clearly did not take kindly to what he saw as an abuse of a sentient being when the lead Hunter was talking to him in his office. Also, in the last scene, he was 'angry' at O'Brien for interfering in the hunt, but once O'Brien called him on that one bit where he didn't have security move fast enough, he smiles after O'Brien leaves.
"DAX" - in Dax's quarters, he was frustrated at her for not even trying to defend herself.
"THE NAGUS" - when Sisko finds Jake has been sneaking off to simply teach Nog how to read, you can see the look of pride on his face.
"PROGRESS" - when Sisko was on the moon with Kira, he showed empathy with her because he knew she was torn between what she always was and what her current role is. And was sincere in his talking to her as a friend.
Oh, and EVERY scene with him and Cirroc... you can clearly see the bond is there.
Nothing about his performances in season 1 make me think he was just an automaton or a broken machine. Quite the opposite... automatons don't show anger, grief, love, friendship, or pride.
He was a character that was rebuilding his life and also trying to help a society around him rebuild their lives, and that's exactly what he gave us.
And the man just got even better as the series went on and he got more comfortable in the role and was given more to do.
In short, Avery Brooks is a wonderful actor who gave us an excellent role model of a father and a leader.
Yesterday's Enterprise was in the third season.Denise Crosby ?
Actally...no.
Exactly.
I don't think that everyone who has a criticism of Brooks's acting style is racist. But I do agree that there are some people who feel threatened by a confident, emotionally expressive black man. I think they are only a minority of those who don't like Brooks's acting choices, but they're definitely present. There's a definite segment of fandom who, say, have no problem with William Shatner's acting choices but don't like Brooks's, even though their acting styles are actually quite comparable.
It amuses me that some people are complaining that Brooks was too wooden at the same time that others are complaining that he is too emotive.
You'd expect him to speak differently when he is giving orders as Commander than he would speak as dad, lover or husband, or old friend. (If he failed to do so, it would be a valid criticism.)
Of course there should a difference, that doesn't mean I have to like the choices he makes for his command voice.
Take this scenes for example:
Towards the end when he gets angry he starts to overenuniciate and it to me it doesn't sound natural, "CULtural diVERsity" is one example where I think nobody talks like that.
I thought he played that scene very well. A commander frustrated that his officer has come up to the line of premeditated murder and making it very clear that it will not be tolerated again.
You've pretty much told me you don't hang with black intellectuals.
I'm glad this has been brought up again. I love and watch everything Star Trek however I also couldn't stand the way Avery Brooks portrayed the character of Sisko. Whether that was intentional or not, and it did get somewhat better as the series progressed, however his acting performance ruined most of the entire series for me when it first aired.
The "Prophets" sometimes work in predictable ways. 
I mean, of course it's not natural. It's clearly a way of speaking that Sisko has developed over the years as part of how he chews out insubordinate officers or otherwise addresses people he needs to intimidate. It's like how drill sergeants today put on a particular verbal affect when they're speaking, or how people who work in customer service use their own verbal affect. It's not natural but it's not meant to be natural. It's a way of speaking that's appropriate for a particular professional role.
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