Sir Patrick Stewart Set the Standard

[2takesfrakes]

TNG was a ... fancy restaurant with fancy prices, and a lot of people said of course it was great ..

I'll have a glass of Château Picard with that statement!

... Patrick Stewart has an excellent range. I enjoyed his performance in Lady Jane, and he was excellent in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (brief as that appearance was).

... AGREED!!! Sir Patrick Stewart always delivers. It's like watching a world-class athlete winning the Gold Medal! Even now, in his advanced years, he's managed to keep physically fit. It's good to know not every STAR TREK actor has to bloat in their Golden Years. Again, I find that inspirational about the man.
Patrick Stewart fans ... unite!

 

[Timewalker]

TNG was a ... fancy restaurant with fancy prices, and a lot of people said of course it was great ..

I'll have a glass of Château Picard with that statement!

That's some selective editing...

I hope you realize that my original post was not meant to praise TNG.

 

[Margaret]

I think Sir Patrick us a brilliant actor.I saw him do his one man ' Christmas Carol '. A few years back and was blown away. However it annoys me when people praise one actor whilst disparaging another. Shatner is a better actor than some people give him credit for. I'm sure he did not win two Emmys out of sentiment.

 

[desfem79]

If you look at Stewart's pre-Trek film career he's mostly in supporting roles and not always secondary ones, either. And in Dune he played Gurney Halleck, not Duncan Idaho. With out Trek he'd probably continued to be in supporting character parts in films.

He's said publicly that he wasn't looking for Hollywood work, and was content to just do Shakespeare and other British literary works on the stage. I think story is that an American Shakespeare body invited him as an RSC speaker, Roddenberry saw him and the rest is history. Even still as a fellow Brit, I'd say he's one of our greatest living actors. Only Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Ian McKellen, Jeremy Irons and Sir Michael Caine are on a par.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Sir Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, and Christian Bale all say hello.

opinion, you damned evil thing...

 

[Taranis]

... AGREED!!! Sir Patrick Stewart always delivers. It's like watching a world-class athlete winning the Gold Medal! Even now, in his advanced years, he's managed to keep physically fit. It's good to know not every STAR TREK actor has to bloat in their Golden Years. Again, I find that inspirational about the man.
Patrick Stewart fans ... unite!

I think this is the lowest statement you spouted yet.
Stewart is 73
Shatner is 82
If you like Stewart more.. great, more power to you, but there is no need to deride another Actor .
From what I have read from your posts, your trying your best to inflame argument.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Untrue! From the first, you ... you people ... have been derailing the topic of this thread - with assorted Shatner comparisons - which was meant to acknowledge and, perhaps, even celebrate the abilities and fine achievements of Sir Patrick Stewart and what he's brought to the STAR TREK legacy. And the fact is that William Shatner is not interested in maintaining his physique and has not been, since the 8O's. Am I meant to pretend otherwise? As to his acting abilities, they are what they are ... but, again, this thread is about Patrick Stewart, after all.

 

[urbandefault]

Untrue! From the first, you ... you people ... have been derailing the topic of this thread - with assorted Shatner comparisons - which was meant to acknowledge and, perhaps, even celebrate the abilities and fine achievements of Sir Patrick Stewart and what he's brought to the STAR TREK legacy. And the fact is that William Shatner is not interested in maintaining his physique and has not been, since the 8O's. Am I meant to pretend otherwise? As to his acting abilities, they are what they are ... but, again, this thread is about Patrick Stewart, after all.

You asked for opinions.

So ... I was curious to see how many of you agree with this assessment that TNG's overall improved acting quality was - at least in part - due to Sir Patrick Stewart.

It's not our fault you don't like what you got.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

I'm on the edge of closing this thread before it turns into a self-righteous food fight. Please cool the personal arguments and stick to the subject with some relevant content.

 

[Nerys Myk]

It's hard for me to believe that some of the powers that be behind TNG didn't want Patrick Stewart at first. It's just crazy to me that they almost missed him and probably would have gone with someone more like Kirk.

Riker was intended to be the "Kirk", so it's unlikely they's cast someone like Kirk for Picard.

 

[Shat Happens]

It's hard for me to believe that some of the powers that be behind TNG didn't want Patrick Stewart at first. It's just crazy to me that they almost missed him and probably would have gone with someone more like Kirk.

Riker was intended to be the "Kirk", so it's unlikely they's cast someone like Kirk for Picard.

That's because DC Fontana, I believe, pointed in the 1970s it made bad tactical sense for the captain and first officer and chief medical officer to endanger themselves together in away missions like always happened in TOS. If they died, the crew and the ship would be crippled.

So GR created Riker+Picard and that talk about away teams since their first scenes in the pilot.

The result was TNG Season One of course.

 

[Taranis]

Untrue! From the first, you ... you people ... have been derailing the topic of this thread - with assorted Shatner comparisons - which was meant to acknowledge and, perhaps, even celebrate the abilities and fine achievements of Sir Patrick Stewart and what he's brought to the STAR TREK legacy. And the fact is that William Shatner is not interested in maintaining his physique and has not been, since the 8O's. Am I meant to pretend otherwise? As to his acting abilities, they are what they are ... but, again, this thread is about Patrick Stewart, after all.

Ah but you mention Shatner in your first post.

(Shatner just gave his usual Shatner peformance in Generations, unfortunately)

which prompted most of the reactions.

No one as far as I can tell is taking anything away from Patrick Stewart at all.. he is a great actor and very personable when dealing with fans (whatever the franchise).

If you want to applaud Patrick Stewart abilities I am right with you, a Tour de Force actor. but not at the expanse of another.

regards

 

[Taranis]

It's hard for me to believe that some of the powers that be behind TNG didn't want Patrick Stewart at first. It's just crazy to me that they almost missed him and probably would have gone with someone more like Kirk.

Riker was intended to be the "Kirk", so it's unlikely they's cast someone like Kirk for Picard.

That's because DC Fontana, I believe, pointed in the 1970s it made bad tactical sense for the captain and first officer and chief medical officer to endanger themselves together in away missions like always happened in TOS. If they died, the crew and the ship would be crippled.

So GR created Riker+Picard and that talk about away teams since their first scenes in the pilot.

The result was TNG Season One of course.

Makes a lot of sense not taking all the command crew down as away team. would never have worked on the TOS at least for me..

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

After a PM request from the OP, I'm closing this thread. Sorry to have to do so.