Worst Overacting

[Melakon]

The late William Campbell was good as a Klingon in 'Tribbles', but his acting ability in the Squire of Gothos disappointed me.

Funny, I always though the opposite. He was supposed to be effete, childish, a boor in Squire, and in this he was perfect.

Campbell was first choice for the role by casting director Joe D'Agosta, who had worked with him before and believed he could do it. Campbell was mostly known for thugs, killers, and rapists at the time, particularly for playing Caryl Chessman. Campbell was eager to show he had more range, and Trelane was the type of character any actor would have jumped at.

 

[bbailey861]

The late William Campbell was good as a Klingon in 'Tribbles', but his acting ability in the Squire of Gothos disappointed me.

Funny, I always though the opposite. He was supposed to be effete, childish, a boor in Squire, and in this he was perfect.

Campbell was first choice for the role by casting director Joe D'Agosta, who had worked with him before and believed he could do it. Campbell was mostly known for thugs, killers, and rapists at the time, particularly for playing Caryl Chessman. Campbell was eager to show he had more range, and Trelane was the type of character any actor would have jumped at.

And he did a great job of playing the spoiled, petulant child. That certainly wasn't overacting.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Funny, I always though the opposite. He was supposed to be effete, childish, a boor in Squire, and in this he was perfect.

Campbell was first choice for the role by casting director Joe D'Agosta, who had worked with him before and believed he could do it. Campbell was mostly known for thugs, killers, and rapists at the time, particularly for playing Caryl Chessman. Campbell was eager to show he had more range, and Trelane was the type of character any actor would have jumped at.

And he did a great job of playing the spoiled, petulant child. That certainly wasn't overacting.

More like terminal UNDER-acting. Ugh!!!!

 

[Corylea]

Uhura in "The Tholian Web." I thought Nichelle Nichols was great when they gave her more than usual to do in "Mirror, Mirror," but when they gave her something to do in "The Tholian Web," well, I understood why she wasn't used that often.

Awww. I actually liked her acting in "The Tholian Web". Could you clarify for me?

It's the part where she's in the corridor, after she's seen Kirk while she was in her quarters. She goes running down the corridor, screaming for Spock, and her body language is way over-the-top. I mean, I get it that it's a very emotional thing, to see your captain after he's been declared dead. I get it that you'd be excited and want to tell people at once. And it's not so much her face or her voice as it is the way she stands and walks and runs -- body language, as I said -- that just feels hysterical to me. Yes, it's exciting. But she's a Starfleet officer, and I expected excitement but not hysteria.

Once she's in Sickbay, she's fine; I thought she handed scenes where she worries about becoming like Chekov well.

The late William Campbell was good as a Klingon in 'Tribbles', but his acting ability in the Squire of Gothos disappointed me.

Funny, I always though the opposite. He was supposed to be effete, childish, a boor in Squire, and in this he was perfect. In Tribbles, perhaps the most overrated of the TOS episodes, he's basically a campy Snidely Whiplash.

I agree completely. I thought Campbell was totally fabulous as Trelane -- I love Enrique's line about "an intergalactic Liberace with "Q" powers" -- and I thought his petulant child was extraordinary. I thought he made a far less impressive adult Klingon; he still had too much of the Trelane about him in that role.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

For cringe worthy "other than Shatner" moments, I give it to Jimmy Doohan whenever he had to fall head over heels for a chick. Who Mourns for Adonias? and Lights of Zetar are Doohan at his worst.

Let me quote Scotty in 'Zetar'....

"You're the sanest, the smartest, the nicest woman that has ever come aboard this ship."

Hold the vomit, Spock! While Doohan delivered that like a teenager with a bad crush, I think that was the point--he's a man rarely in a serious relationship, and Kirk's captain's log indicates the reason why:

When a man of Scotty's years falls in love, the loneliness of his life is suddenly revealed to him. His whole heart once throbbed only to the ship's engines. He could talk only to the ship. Now he can see nothing but the woman.

So, I do not think it is fair to place Doohan's performance in the "overacting" category, as he was expressing his joy that for Scott, comes few times in his life.

 

[Admiral2]

The Doomsday Machine. Every time it was on screen that bombastic theme would kick in.

Overacting requires an actor.

Okay, howzabout William Windom gyrating and wide-eyed as he flew the shuttle into the weapon's mouth?

And how has nobody mentioned The Shat trying to act like an overwhelmed, emotional woman in Turnabout Intruder?

And the hot chick in "Spock's Brain" trying to speak alien baby talk. Brain and Brain! What is Brain?"

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

"You're the sanest, the smartest, the nicest woman that has ever come aboard this ship."

Also, this was the fault of the script, not overacting.

But I will say that the problem with a thread like this is that it can so easily attack the acting style common to the day (which, by the way, I find much more interesting than the high-schoolish "realism" of more modern acting).

This is a good point. And at least in Sixties shows you can make out what the characters are saying. They're not mumbling and slurring their words. If the modern "realistic" shows were truly realistic, characters would be saying "What?" after every third line.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Okay, howzabout William Windom gyrating and wide-eyed as he flew the shuttle into the weapon's mouth?

And how has nobody mentioned The Shat trying to act like an overwhelmed, emotional woman in Turnabout Intruder?

And the hot chick in "Spock's Brain" trying to speak alien baby talk. Brain and Brain! What is Brain?"

Yes, all of these. Shatner as Janice Lester was mostly just Kirk dialed up to 11.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Shatner's speech about 'risks'....Shatner's correcting Cloud William (that name!) with the American National Anthem...Shatner's onscreen Kirk double yelling "I want to live!"

To name a few off the top of my head...

 

[bbailey861]

Okay, howzabout William Windom gyrating and wide-eyed as he flew the shuttle into the weapon's mouth?

And how has nobody mentioned The Shat trying to act like an overwhelmed, emotional woman in Turnabout Intruder?

And the hot chick in "Spock's Brain" trying to speak alien baby talk. Brain and Brain! What is Brain?"

Yes, all of these. Shatner as Janice Lester was mostly just Kirk dialed up to 11.

True, and I just watched that again a few days ago.

 

[scotpens]

....Shatner's correcting Cloud William (that name!) with the American National Anthem....

It was the Preamble to the Constitution, actually. (Or were you being intentionally facetious?) Although I wouldn't have been surprised if Kirk had launched into a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

 

[Melakon]

And the hot chick in "Spock's Brain" trying to speak alien baby talk. Brain and Brain! What is Brain?"

Sometimes an actor has no choice but to deliver the lines as written and directed.

 

[Spock's Barber]

^Or...they...could...speak...in....staccato...style...like...Shatner....

 

[Marsden]

I love Shatner. I roll with the punches when he cracks the top because, for the most part, he's flat out amazing in the series. But then he gives me..."I'm happy. I'm so hap-eee!!!" in that loud stage whisper of his in Paradise Syndrome. Yikes.

Remember what the Robot Devil said:
This opera's as lousy as it is brilliant! Your lyrics lack subtlety. You can't just have your characters announce how they feel. That makes me feel angry!



And I can't think of any overacting, there was only ACTING! and it was good.

 

[JRoss]

Skip Homeier as Dr. Sevrin.

 

[EnsignTOS]

Shatner's speech about 'risks'....Shatner's correcting Cloud William (that name!) with the American National Anthem...Shatner's onscreen Kirk double yelling "I want to live!"

To name a few off the top of my head...

Oh my goodness, yes!!!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

....Shatner's correcting Cloud William (that name!) with the American National Anthem....

It was the Preamble to the Constitution, actually. (Or were you being intentionally facetious?) Although I wouldn't have been surprised if Kirk had launched into a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

lol...

Just a lapse of memory on my part...

But I do now wonder if there is Kirk singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" was left on the cutting room floor?

*cringe*

 

[EnsignTOS]

The Doomsday Machine. Every time it was on screen that bombastic theme would kick in.

Overacting requires an actor.

Okay, howzabout William Windom gyrating and wide-eyed as he flew the shuttle into the weapon's mouth?

And how has nobody mentioned The Shat trying to act like an overwhelmed, emotional woman in Turnabout Intruder?

And the hot chick in "Spock's Brain" trying to speak alien baby talk. Brain and Brain! What is Brain?"

Oh, yes. Especially the girl. But it's funny how they stare at her like for a bit afterward.

On YouTube, there's actually clips of William Shatner being interviewed by Mike Douglas and Shatner actually (dramatically!) talks about how he got into character in that episode. ("Turnabout Intruder") It's pretty cool.

 

[Melakon]

Skip Homeier as Dr. Sevrin.

That's what your science has done to me. You've infected me! Only the primitives can cleanse me. I cannot purge myself until I am among them. Only their way of living is right. I must go to them. I shall go to them and be One with them. And together we shall build a world such as this galaxy has never seen. A world. A life. A life.

 

[Spock's Barber]

^"Dr. Sevrin is insane. I have not consulted Dr. McCoy, but I have no doubt of it."