TOS Season 3, looking back....

[johnnybear]

He should have been a good actor if he was a lawyer surely?
There wasn't much for him to do in the show to be honest but I found him quite scary as a youngster!
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

As I said, no, I don't think one automatically goes with the other. Being a good actor takes a lot more than just being able to tell a good lie or to convince people of something. Becoming a character convincingly is taking on another skin. You're not "you," you become someone else. You react as they would react. A good trial lawyer only need to present information as fact and do so strongly enough, with enough authority to present a reasonable doubt. That's not acting. Throw enough convincing facts at people and you'll get them to believe you. Melvin Belli may have been able to convince a room full of people a killer was innocent, but that does not mean for a moment he could convincingly portray a character in a play or movie. At all. He can just win an argument because he feels his case is strong enough and he believes in his point of view.

There is a lot more to acting that that.

 

[Commishsleer]

As I said, no, I don't think one automatically goes with the other. Being a good actor takes a lot more than just being able to tell a good lie or to convince people of something. Becoming a character convincingly is taking on another skin. You're not "you," you become someone else. You react as they would react. A good trial lawyer only need to present information as fact and do so strongly enough, with enough authority to present a reasonable doubt. That's not acting. Throw enough convincing facts at people and you'll get them to believe you. Melvin Belli may have been able to convince a room full of people a killer was innocent, but that does not mean for a moment he could convincingly portray a character in a play or movie. At all. He can just win an argument because he feels his case is strong enough and he believes in his point of view.

There is a lot more to acting that that.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Maybe Belli was a great amateur actor in other productions. Who knows?

But he was just terrible in this episode. He was in a terrible costume, had terrible lines and looked dreadful.
In court in his fancy lawyers suit using his own lines we'd probably be mesmerised by his closing statement.

 

[Ssosmcin]

My point was being a good trial lawyer doesn't mean you're a good actor. It's not the same thing. And, in any event, there's nothing good about his acting in this episode. So if he was a good actor in amateur productions, he didn't use any of those skills on Star Trek.

 

[FormerLurker]

Like I said in my first post, he probably did not take direction well. Being a good trial lawyer means not only being able to present a case convincingly, but being able to to do the research on the case (developing the character background for an actor) and collating that research into a presentable case for the jury (writing the script for the trial). Good trial lawyers are not only good actors, being able to present the case convincingly, but also good writers, being able to script their arguments so they can present them convincingly in the first place. No trial lawyer ever went into court without knowing exactly what they were going to say.

 

[CrazyMatt]

I know that others will disagree, but I don't like the music of the third season as much as the first two. Other than the score from "Elaan of Troyus," no score from season three stands out to me.

 

[EnriqueH]

I know that others will disagree, but I don't like the music of the third season as much as the first two. Other than the score from "Elaan of Troyus," no score from season three stands out to me.

I love the music in The Paradise Sydrome!!!

 

[Marsden]

You know there was that famous movie with that famous line that says don't pay attention to that man behind the curtain, well Star Trek tried to one up that with don't pay attention to the man wearing the curtain.

Thank you, I'm here all week. Try the veal.

 

[FormerLurker]

I'd rather try the mutton. The veal isn't free range.

 

[CrazyMatt]

I know that others will disagree, but I don't like the music of the third season as much as the first two. Other than the score from "Elaan of Troyus," no score from season three stands out to me.

I love the music in The Paradise Sydrome!!!

I'm not big on the romantic scores, so don't be too put out.

 

[CrazyMatt]

You know there was that famous movie with that famous line that says don't pay attention to that man behind the curtain, well Star Trek tried to one up that with don't pay attention to the man wearing the curtain.

Thank you, I'm here all week. Try the veal.

But not the liver.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Like I said in my first post, he probably did not take direction well. Being a good trial lawyer means not only being able to present a case convincingly, but being able to to do the research on the case (developing the character background for an actor) and collating that research into a presentable case for the jury (writing the script for the trial). Good trial lawyers are not only good actors, being able to present the case convincingly, but also good writers, being able to script their arguments so they can present them convincingly in the first place. No trial lawyer ever went into court without knowing exactly what they were going to say.

Nope, I can't agree with the generalization. Research on a case is often done by paralegals (at least in the three law offices I've worked in over the last two decades) but even when it's not, those are facts used to present arguments, not build a character and get into the skin of someone other than yourself. There's more to acting than citing facts and hammering home points of an argument. It's a different skillset.

As an actor, I've worked with more than a few trial attorneys in repertory companies and they're not all good. Some are, others are just not. It doesn't necessarily follow. What an attorney does isn't acting; he's finding legal precedent to back his case and is presenting that. He's not necessarily lying as much as finding the points needed to convince a jury to see it his way. That's not acting.

An actor, a good actor who knows his stuff, is becoming someone else. Even if the character is like himself, it's still a different person. An actor takes the time to peel back the layers of the character and put on a second skin in order to react honestly; "to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances." To laugh, to cry, to show genuine rage, or mental illness, sometimes all in one production. An attorney does not do that, nor do they have the time to devote to it. They only have time to find what they need to present a good argument in their favor.

But there ya go. I know i won't change any minds, which would make me a pretty crappy trial lawyer.

But I'm a damned good actor.

 

[CrazyMatt]

They should have cast Lionel Hutz instead.

 

[Marsden]

They should have cast Lionel Hutz instead.

I'd pay real money to see that.