My problem with Deep Space Nine...

[BillJ]

...is Nana Visitor.

She has to be one of the most horrific actresses I've ever seen on screen. Every time I hear her voice I'm reminded of the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer has seizures when he hears the voice of Mary Hart from Entertainment Tonight.

Absolutely ruins any entertainment value I get from the show.

 

[Kegg]

Really?

Not Terry Farrell? Because I always figured her for the show's weak link.

 

[Joeman]

I think she plays the character perfectly. Although I'm not a huge fan of Kira personally (in that I wouldn't want to hang out with her, and I strongly disagree with things she does), I think she is one of the more vital characters to the show. Dislike her as I do sometimes, it's never crossed my mind that the acting is poor.

The only acting I have any problem with on the show is the occasional overacting mode that Avery Brooks goes into, with the shaking and trembling voice. He looks like he's about to have an acting seizure.

 

[TerokNor]

I like her acting just fine, how she plays Kira it comes across as real, not acted and I guess that is a good thing.
And agree with Joeman on Avery Brooks, he not always sounds..well natural... too much gasping for air and such. However I nontheless like that calm voice of his.

TerokNor

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Her acting is fine. The character she plays is deliberately written to be abrasive. If that weren't the case, then Kira couldn't have undergone the profound character arc over the series' run - one of the best and most complex that Star Trek has ever done (not that Star Trek even attempts a serious character arc very often).

The moral of the story is, don't confuse a character who is written to have some unappealing attributes with bad acting. The actor isn't the one who decides how the character will be written and in any case, giving a character unappealing attributes is not bad writing (the reverse is often true).

Not Terry Farrell? Because I always figured her for the show's weak link.

Now there's an example of dull writing that doesn't even begin to address the potential of the character. It's so bad that I can't really tell whether Terry Farrell is a good actor - she never had a chance to demostrate whatever talent she might have.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I think she's terrific.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

The only acting I have any problem with on the show is the occasional overacting mode that Avery Brooks goes into, with the shaking and trembling voice. He looks like he's about to have an acting seizure.

Yeah, this.

The other bad acting culprit is Siddig El Fadil in the first season, though he got better over time.

 

[flemm]

One of the most consistently well-written and acted characters in all of Trek imo. Kira is an actual character, though, not a paragon or archetype, meaning she is not always admirable and has flaws 'n' stuff

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Contrast first season Kira with the S7 episode where she makes a cutting remark about Damar's hypocrisy when he's still reeling from the news that the Dominion has murdered his family - and the look on her face is instantly, "shit, why did I say that?" S1 Kira would have has no such regrets. That's the kind of character development that proceeds subtly over time, but is cumulatively impactful, I wish Trek could give to all its characters.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Yeah, I think "Ties of Blood and Water" changed her...I have to think that having Dukat manipulate her into being awful to her dying "godfather" would make an impression.

 

[Bones2]

I think her acting's great, though the character was a bit of a bitch. I warmed to her when she started fooling around with Odo, though what he saw in her I'm not sure.

As ever, I concur that Avery was a bloody poor actor.

 

[Kegg]

Not Terry Farrell? Because I always figured her for the show's weak link.

Now there's an example of dull writing that doesn't even begin to address the potential of the character. It's so bad that I can't really tell whether Terry Farrell is a good actor - she never had a chance to demostrate whatever talent she might have.

The writing is also at fault, but Terry Farrell is also pretty bland in Becker. I guess you could blame the writing there too (mediocre sitcom, really) but I've never seen anything by her that impressed me.

 

[flemm]

The writing is also at fault, but Terry Farrell is also pretty bland in Becker.

I've always seen Terry Farrell as competant within a fairly limited range, but somewhat lacking in the capacity to stretch toward more extreme emotions the way Visitor and Auberjonois can, for example. I can't really rule out the possibility that the writers just never challenged her, but this kind of thing does seem to be reciprocal: the writers react to what the actor gives them and vice versa.

Odo to my knowledge was not conceived as a character whose soul was being devoured by romantic angst, for example, but Auberjonois could do both "gruff lawman on the outside" and "tortured adolescent changeling on the inside," and so the writers went with it.

Major Kira is tough and feisty as originally conceived, but once you see the vulnerable side of the character in episodes like Battle Lines and Duet, you end up seeing more of it in Second Skin, Ties of Blood and Water and many more, because Nana Visitor can be fragile without sacrificing her character's strength.

The characters end up having those extra dimensions because the actors have those dimensions, so when the writers go there, it works. Compare an episode like Necessary Evil to an episode like Chimera as far as character growth over time is concerned.

Not to exonerate the writers completely in the case of Jadzia (they don't handle her very overall imo), but Terry Farrell, while very likable, does seem to be most comfortable being, well... likable.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Visitor is a terrible actress?

Have you ever seen "Duet?" Or "Rocks and Shoals"?

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

What? I think she is the best actor on the entire show, possibly second to Rene Auberjenois

 

[Lt. Brannigan]

While at times Kira annoyed the hell out of me and I wished she would leave, I never for one second found her anything but believable as a character. If anything was going to be singled out as a real problem, it would have to be Avery Brooks performance on the series.

 

[DevilEyes]

I think Nana Visitor was absolutely amazing as Kira. I loved the character, because of the writing but also in large part because of the actress. I even watched all of Wildfire for her.

The only acting I have any problem with on the show is the occasional overacting mode that Avery Brooks goes into, with the shaking and trembling voice. He looks like he's about to have an acting seizure.

Yeah, this.

The other bad acting culprit is Siddig El Fadil in the first season, though he got better over time.

ITA.

One of the most consistently well-written and acted characters in all of Trek imo. Kira is an actual character, though, not a paragon or archetype, meaning she is not always admirable and has flaws 'n' stuff

This. I think this tends to be a problem especially with female characters in many shows, especially when there's a token female and a bunch of males. Look at Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Men can be flawed, angry, nerdy, humorous, reckless, etc. The women, however... can only be perfect (and therefore, a lot blander and less interesting). Kira is one of the great exceptions to the rule because she feels like an actual person with flaws and a backstory and development, rather than someone's idea of what everyone's ideal female co-worker/girlfriend should be.

The writing is also at fault, but Terry Farrell is also pretty bland in Becker.

I've always seen Terry Farrell as competant within a fairly limited range, but somewhat lacking in the capacity to stretch toward more extreme emotions the way Visitor and Auberjonois can, for example. I can't really rule out the possibility that the writers just never challenged her, but this kind of thing does seem to be reciprocal: the writers react to what the actor gives them and vice versa.

Odo to my knowledge was not conceived as a character whose soul was being devoured by romantic angst, for example, but Auberjonois could do both "gruff lawman on the outside" and "tortured adolescent changeling on the inside," and so the writers went with it.

Major Kira is tough and feisty as originally conceived, but once you see the vulnerable side of the character in episodes like Battle Lines and Duet, you end up seeing more of it in Second Skin, Ties of Blood and Water and many more, because Nana Visitor can be fragile without sacrificing her character's strength.

The characters end up having those extra dimensions because the actors have those dimensions, so when the writers go there, it works. Compare an episode like Necessary Evil to an episode like Chimera as far as character growth over time is concerned.

Not to exonerate the writers completely in the case of Jadzia (they don't handle her very overall imo), but Terry Farrell, while very likable, does seem to be most comfortable being, well... likable.

And this.

I like Jadzia, and Terry Farrell is not a bad actress, but she is limited. She does her job adequately, but she doesn't transcend the boundaries that were initially set for the character. It is really noticeable how other characters became more layered as a result of the talent of the actors who played them - like Kira or Odo, or recurring characters like Dukat.

 

[BillJ]

To each their own...

And I have watched the entire show and just cringe everytime she comes on screen. Whenever a story centers on her she comes across as whiney.

 

[Shatinator]

Ironically, I understand exactly the sentiment the OT is expressing, especially with the knowledge the role orginally started out as Ensign Ro. However that said, Nana Vistor does grow on you, and really becomes exactly what the role calls for.

My 2c

-The Shatinator

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Oh, I think Kira was an interesting, complex character, full dimentional character, which is not that common on too many series and movies.

I liked Jadzia fine too. My problem with DS9 was Ezri.

A little girl, with thin voice and no personality. Her counterpart in AU was just laughable - this girl being a "tough" person... no. No. No.