Most overrated actor?

[MadBaggins]

We all love Star Trek. It is very important to us all in different ways. To some Trek was our only friend growing up. To some it inspired us to become better people and make a difference in the world. So naturally we are all very protective of Trek. We like to think Trek is the "best" and everything about Trek is the "best" including the acting. I used to think that way.

As I got older, I realised just how foolish I have been. The standard of acting in Trek is at times shockingly low. It's no coincidence that you hardly ever see any Trek actors in leading roles on other major network shows. They just aren't good enough. Who do you think is the most overrated? My list...

William Shatner: The obvious choice. Some people still insist he was a great lead. Some say he was brilliant in Star Trek 2. He wasn't.

Patrick Stewart: Sad to say, because he is a good actor, and certainly a better lead than Shatner, Brooks, Mulgrew and Archer. But he is as overrated as fuck by some people. For example, the "THERE IS FOUR LIGHTS!!!!" scene. Absolutely cringeworthy. Would never cut it on a real tv show.

Brent Spiner: People praise him because he played several different characters in the same episode. Wowee whoopy pants. What they fail to mention is that he didn't manage to play any of them convincingly. Masks is the worst episode ever made.

Michael Dorn: Yawn. Oh look at me, I'm gruff. That's all I can do. Amazing that he got cast in not one Trek show but two. What were Brannon and Braga thinking?

Avery Brooks: Probably the aboslute number one. People love DS9 and it's understandable why: it's different from the other Treks, a bit darker, has better writing...but that's it. The acting is in NO WAY superior to other Trek...in fact it's worse, it's much much worse. EVERY single person I've asked why they don't watch DS9 has said it's because of Brooks. He is TERRIBLE. He can't even SPEAK normally. His voice goes up and down with every word and it's so distracting that I'd rather watch Andromeda! There's a reason he's never been in another tv show after DS9 finished.

Nana Visitor: While she isn't quite as bad as Brooks (she can speak normally) she is cringeworthy in any emotional scene. So many epsiodes that should be moving are ruined by her.

Colm Meaney: I used to think he was good, but I rewatched the scene from Paradise Lost where he was playing a Changeling and it was embarrassingly bad. He's good at playing O'Brien but that's it. The fact that he was fired from new sci-fi comedy "Life In Mars" confirms this.

Kate Mulgrew: It's like they thought we have a new Trek so let's get any actor even WORSE than Brooks as the lead! They nearly managed it with Mulgrew and her sub soap opera level performances.

Robert Picardo: See Brent Spiner. So annoying.

Scott Bakula: He was great in Quantum Leap. Maybe he thought he could get away with half-assing it on Enterprise because it's "only" Star Trek?

Connor Trineer: Zzzzz.

The Guy Who Played Phlox: See Robert Picard and Brent Spiner.


There's more, but I won't others to answer.

The only Trek actors who deserve praise are: Levar Burton, Rene Auberjoinois, Armin Shimmerman, Jeri Ryan, Jeffrey Coombs and Andrew Robinson.

 

[sbk1234]

Wow! A little tough, in my opinion. I do agree with your analysis of Shatner and Brooks, however. Most of the rest are just mediocre.

I am one of those who feels that Patrick Stewart is a great actor. I also like Robert Picardo. Whatever problems I've had with The Doctor has had to do with the writing, not the acting.
I also feel that in order to be over-rated, they'd have to be respected as actors to begin with. Sadly, most of the actors on Trek are generally not considered by most to be great talents. The few names that repeatedly come up as highly talented are the few you've mentioned. I think those with the most talent you can see on many more acting roles.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Patrick Stewart is the most overrated.

 

[Damask]

Colm Meaney: I used to think he was good, but I rewatched the scene from Paradise Lost where he was playing a Changeling and it was embarrassingly bad. He's good at playing O'Brien but that's it. The fact that he was fired from new sci-fi comedy "Life In Mars" confirms this.

So one scene means he's a bad actor versus every other scene where he's "good at playing O'Brien". Wow.

And is the US version Life on Mars a comedy? If so it has bigger problems then I thought.

 

[Kryton]

Life on Mars is a sci-fi drama with comedy elements (and not many of them, based on the unaired pilot).

 

[Mysterion]

I agree about Patrick Stewart, but the OP is way off-base about Avery Brooks.

 

[Kegek]

Colm Meaney is a fantastic actor who has preformed many roles over the years; O'Brien being just one of them. Patrick Stewart is also very solid, a class act all the way (Nemesis notwithstanding). Brent Spiner and Robert Picardo are also among the best actors Trek has had.

I'm casting my vote for Jolene Blalock. It's not that people are in awe of her acting... but I've heard people speak of her as if she could, you know, act.

 

[Star Treks]

Are you sure you like Star Trek, MadBaggins? Yeesh.

 

[Sheliak]

Janeway did seem a bit forced at times, but Stewart in "Sarek"?

 

[Navaros]

Hands-down Patrick Stewart. He's exactly the same in every role he ever does. He has no range, other than switching from "normal mode" to "yelling mode" and vice versa. It bewilders me why he's often thought of as a "great actor".

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[Outpost4]

Boy, you guys are tough.

I'll answer the question a little differently. My choice is for the worst actor put in a major role, and without a doubt, that is Robert Beltran. Acting? He played a wooden Indian.

And Colm Meaney is a damn fine actor. You need to see him in more roles, MadBaggins.

You are right about Masks. But I don't blame that on Spiner. The script was worse than Threshold. Well, maybe not, but at least Threshold gave us slimy Janeway.

 

[Eric Cheung]

Patrick Stewart: Would never cut it on a real tv show.

What's a real TV show?

Michael Dorn: Yawn. Oh look at me, I'm gruff. That's all I can do. Amazing that he got cast in not one Trek show but two. What were Brannon and Braga thinking?

They're one person and neither of him had anything to do with casting Dorn. Though he was mostly gruff, I thought he showed how much you can do within that trait by playing it for comedy and tense drama.

The only Trek actors who deserve praise are: Levar Burton, Rene Auberjoinois, Armin Shimmerman, Jeri Ryan, Jeffrey Coombs and Andrew Robinson.

All of the ones you praise are pretty solid (though I can't speak for Coombs as he died on 9/11 and I'm not aware of his work, but I love Jeffrey Combs' performances.)

It sounds like the problem you have is that a lot of the acting is over-the-top. Well, yeah, I suppose that's fair. But it is a show about heroes travelling through time and space and encountering giant amoebae, and Greek gods, and omnipotent beings that see humans as pets, and zombies that are half-machine/half-undead, and videogames where people can live out their wildest fantasies, and alien bars with gambling and gansters and war criminals clinking chalises of blood wine. Over-the-top is inherent, but all part of the fun. In that context, and in my mind, most of the actors you mentioned don't strain credibility too much.

 

[The Wormhole]

Michael Dorn: Yawn. Oh look at me, I'm gruff. That's all I can do. Amazing that he got cast in not one Trek show but two. What were Brannon and Braga thinking?

Let's go over the very obvious mistakes you made.

1) "Brannon and Braga?" You do realize that Brannon Braga is one person, right?

2) Brannon Braga didn't start working on TNG until its fourth season. Long after Dorn was cast as Worf.

3) Braga was never involved with DS9, and therefore had no influence in bringing Worf to that show.

 

[RandyS]

Shatner is the most overrated, no question. Nobody's as good as they say he is.

 

[aladinsane]

Much of Trek, and television in general, is filled with pedestrian acting. Nothing horribly wrong or cringe-worthy, but also nothing to make people stand up and take notice. To me there are only a handful of truly great trek actors, among them Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Leonard Nimoy, Brent Spiner, And Deforest Kelley. I know that I'm going away from the OP, but I'm not feeling like bashing at the moment.

For the life of me I cannot understand how someone can criticize the performances of Shatner and Stewart as they've become iconic over time. Both actors have been nominated and won many prestigious awards, and both continue to be cast in excellent roles--something that is rare for former TV stars. I feel their talent is beyond reproach. I will concede that Shatner's performance of Kirk was very different--hence the frequent parodies, but he's certainly proven over time that he's no one-trick pony.

 

[SFRabid]

Wow. Someone swallowed an entire bottle of bitter pills.

Would you judge a musician by their worst recording. A painter by the worst painting they ever did? A sculptor by the worst statue or an author by their worst book?

It is one thing to talk about overrated actors but that was nothing but

 

[Eric Cheung]

For the life of me I cannot understand how someone can criticize the performances of Shatner and Stewart as they've become iconic over time. Both actors have been nominated and won many prestigious awards, and both continue to be cast in excellent roles--something that is rare for former TV stars.

Shatner's not a former TV star just yet.

You have good taste in actors though.

 

[Wowbagger]

"Commander" rank notwithstanding, I'm calling "troll" on this one.

A "real" TV show? Excuse me?

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

...So you think that the only actors on TNG that are not overrated are Dr. Beverly Crusher, Counselor Troi, Commander Riker, and Geordi LaForge?

...And the only Enterprise actors that are not overrated are Ensign Hoshi, Ensign Mayweather, Malcolm Reid, and T'pol? Interesting.