Worst line readings

[Grant]

This is not about actor bashing or taking shot, but once in a whikle an actor just blows a line and it doesn't get fixed.

One that always bothered me even as a kid was the line by Roger Korby...........


"I am ROGER KORBY!!!" at the end of "What are...."

I think the actor did a great job in the episode but clearly he should have said.........

"I AM Roger Korby." emphasizing that he was the essence Roger Korby & not a machine.

You got any examples?

 

[22 Stars]

I will go with STVI, when Valeris says something like 'Regulations specifically state thrusters.... only while in Space Dock' instead of 'thrusters ONLY, {pause} while in Space Dock', which would make it clear that anything more powerful, like impuse or warp engines while in Space Dock would be fool hardy.

 

[Santa Kang]

Saavik's "Captain, David is dead." gets me every time. Something's wrong with the way she said it. It was supposed to sound "emotionless" and Vulcan, but fails. Too robotic, even for a Vulcan maybe.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Kirk's "It wasn't your fault" to Rand in TMP is a really, really bad reading. But it's hard to beat TNG on this score - Crosby in "Hide And Q" with her "What am I doing? Crying?" is an evergreen example of bad.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Yep, "David is dead" (Ho-hum), "It wasn't your fault" (yeah, it was druggie), and "What am I doing? Crying?" (because I can't act) are some of the most aggregious.

I always get a chuckle out of "Gamesters of Triskelion" when Kirk says, "What's happening to Lieutenant You-hoo-ra!"

 

[Surfin' Santa]

This bit from “The Trouble with Tribbles”:

BARIS: And now, Captain, I want all available security guards. I want them posted around the storage compartments.

KIRK: Storage compartments? Storage compartments?

DARVIN: The storage compartments containing the quadrotriticale.

KIRK: The what? The what? What's quadrotriticale?

IIRC, the script directions called for Kirk's delivery to be “angry and puzzled,” but he read those lines way too angry and puzzled. He sounded like he'd been interrupted in the middle of taking a dump.

 

[sonak]

Similar to 22 Stars' issue of emphasis above, was Nichelle Nichols' reading of "It's the way we all FEEL Mr. Spock, instead of "It's the way we ALL feel Mr. Spock" in TMP, because it was supposed to show that the bridge crew were all happy to have Spock back.

And for over the top cheesiness, we have "I'm Captain Kirk!" from "The Enemy Within," as well as the iconic but silly "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan" from TWOK, plus "Risk is our business" from "Return to tomorrow."

 

[InklingStar]

Saavik's "Captain, David is dead." gets me every time. Something's wrong with the way she said it. It was supposed to sound "emotionless" and Vulcan, but fails. Too robotic, even for a Vulcan maybe.

I definitely prefer Kirstie Alley's portrayal of Saavik to Robin Curtis' (although much is due to the director of course) but this is one place I thought it worked. It sounds almost unemotional but there is a hint of sadness in the line. It looks like Saavik is trying very hard to avoid crying, trying to maintain her Vulcan control. I thought it worked.

 

[Captrek]

Similar to 22 Stars' issue of emphasis above, was Nichelle Nichols' reading of "It's the way we all FEEL Mr. Spock, instead of "It's the way we ALL feel Mr. Spock" in TMP, because it was supposed to show that the bridge crew were all happy to have Spock back.

I was going to mention that one, but you beat me to it!

Not to pick on Nichols, but another one of hers from TWOK:

After Kirk says “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor,” she says, appearing quite puzzled, “Now what is that supposed to mean?” I was always kind of puzzled myself by that line. Did Kirk say something cryptic? What’s she so confused about? Then one day I got my hands on a copy of a shooting script, with directions right there on the page, stating that Uhura is supposed to sound offended, not puzzled.

 

[Botany Bay]

What about Mr. Singh from The Changeling, when Uhura calls to check up on him :

Lieutenant Singh here.
All systems are normal
except warp power...indicators.

Instead of "warp power indicators", the actor gave us "warp power, indicators".

 

[Grant]

Wow, great job.

When I started this I could only think of the one I mentioned because it always stuck out, but every one of these is a good example.

It's we all FEEL, Mr Spock" = we feel by looking upset when we see an old friend, I guess.

Thrusters.... only while in spacedock." = yep that's the only time we're allowed to use them!

David is dead." = I don't care and I figure you don't either.

It wasn't your fault" = I hope they cut this line because I never liked your character and i'm mad they brought you back for the movie.

Lt you-hoo-ra!" = we're too lazy to fix this in post.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I have no problem with "It wasn't your fault" from TMP (stiff, yes, but that's exactly as it should be given the context) but I do have a problem with "Is there a next move?" from the same movie. Again, the problem is misplaced emphasis. Kirk says "Is there a next move?" when he should say "Is there a next move?"

 

[Santa Kang]

"I need you Bones, badly."

 

[22 Stars]

THE WOMEN!

 

[sonak]

The "I need you, bones... badly" line is to me an example more of bad writing than bad delivery.

It should have been something like "I really need your help." Instead, it almost comes across as if Captain Kirk is declaring his love for him.

 

[Santa Kang]

It is a badly written line, but Shat's delivery sure didn't make it better. If he was talking to a woman he wanted to have sex with, it might have worked.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There's subtext to Kirk's line to Rand other than him reassuring her - because the fatal accident was avoidable, and he knew it. It was someone's fault, and that clearly was supposed to come through.

Of course, Trek dialogue at its stiffist (?) is so on-the-nose that subtext is as superfluous as irony. Nichols appears to struggle with the "It's how we all feel" line because she's supposed to emphasize feel so that Spock can explicitly react with indifference to the suggestion that emotion matters.

 

[Surfin' Santa]

The “I need you, bones... badly” line is to me an example more of bad writing than bad delivery.

It should have been something like “I really need your help.” Instead, it almost comes across as if Captain Kirk is declaring his love for him.

Hey, everyone knows Kirk and Spock are the slashy couple.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Only when lirpas are involved.

 

[Rulius]

Kirstie's Saavik had.. some emotional overtones.. Curtis's had none, seemed pretty,,I don't know, bland.