Marc Alaimo - the only actor to NAIL his performance in Emissary?

[Navaros]

I just re-watched Emissary and I noticed that of all the DS9 actors and actresses, Marc Alaimo is the only one who nailed his peformance and hit it out of the park right off the bat in Emissary.

Everyone else had problems with their voice & rhythm and that sort of thing, and most/worst of all, didn't seem 100% sure of themselves, hence their performances suffered from believability problems. If I try comparing any performance in Emissary to a performance from the very same actor/actress later on in the series, Alaimo's is the only one that didn't improve drastically because it was always 100% ideal right off the bat.

Even almost-always solid peformers like Colm Meaney didn't nail his performance in Emissary, which is surprising to me because he played O'Brien on TNG for years prior.

I've always had major respect for Marc Alaimo's amazing acting but after realizing these things I'm now bumping up that respect even higher.

 

[VDCNI]

Well he had played essentially the same character before in TNG and unlike the others he didn't have the pressure of being a lead character in such a big series - he may have had been pretty confident he would be coming back but still the success of the series hardly depended on him. A lot easier to deliver a performance when you don't have all that praying on your mind.

Colm may have played O'Brien before but there is a big difference between being a recurring character to suddenly being one of the stars.

 

[indranee]

Marc Alaimo is a great actor.

 

[robtclements]

Marc also gets a lot of help from director David Carson. His first appearance in the office doorway is a classic villain's shot; & this combo of script, direction & experienced performance was hard to beat

I've watched Emissary more times than i care to count; & one thing that keeps striking me is how well the show was made. The introduction of KIRA Nerys as antagonist/2nd lead looks off-the-cuff but is very subtly done, from first reference to the Chief's brilliantly incongrous question, Have you served with any Bajoran women? Even the soundtrack plays a part here - while the ears are listening to Sisko & the Chief, they're hearing KIRA arguing in the background. The art is always to conceal the art; & Carson & the writing team consealed their considerable art magnificently

 

[Thor Damar]

Marc Alaimo is a great actor.

100% agreed on this. (mind you, I've never seen a Cardassian that wasn't portrayed brilliantly by the actor who played them).

I would disagree ever so slightly with VDCNI in that the character(s) that Marc Alaimo played in TNG were completely different from Dukat. If you watch Gul Macet in TNGs the wounded and compere his attitude, characterization and motives to Gul Dukat you'll see a very different Cardie.

 

[Trevacious]

This is simply what he does.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Marc Alaimo is a great actor.

100% agreed on this. (mind you, I've never seen a Cardassian that wasn't portrayed brilliantly by the actor who played them).

I would disagree ever so slightly with VDCNI in that the character(s) that Marc Alaimo played in TNG were completely different from Dukat. If you watch Gul Macet in TNGs the wounded and compere his attitude, characterization and motives to Gul Dukat you'll see a very different Cardie.

Hell, even his voice and physical mannerisms are entirely different. Macet's more...a traditional, good soldier in the old-school way. It's said of these kinds of old-school warriors that even though they understand sacrifice and are ready to do it if necessary, they are sometimes the last people who actually want to go to war.

Macet didn't declaim his words, either. He actually listened to people. His physical mannerisms were much more restrained. And he actually seemed to have some awareness of his temper and that there were times he should NOT go off on someone. (The fact that he actually removed himself from the bridge after seeing those ships get shot up due to Picard's inexcusable don't-care-ness...I DON'T think Dukat had anything approaching that level of self-control.)

Also, one random question. Was Mr. Alaimo wearing contacts when he played Macet? It looks like it to me, anyway...

 

[indranee]

Alaimo played Dukat as an a-hole, through and through.

then he turned around and made us cry a bit for him in Indiscretion and Return to Grace and Sacrifice of Angels.

that takes talent.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Marc Alamo's Gul Dukat is a great character because in every direction his character went it made you believe him.

Sort of a creepy charisma Dukat had even though we knew we couldn't trust him, or not supposed to trust him.

When he was helping the Detopa Counsel escape and fought the Klingons, it fooled everyone into thinking he was sort of a good guy.

Sisko, even Kira was beginning to get fooled.

Then he joined the Dominion and his character somehow still remained consistant and stable. Everyone just hated him again.

Some people do have problems with the Pah wraith thing (can't blame them) but Dukat's character was just an all around classic.

 

[Captain Fine]

Dukat is definitely a character you love to hate. I love how he seriously believes the Bajorans should build statues in his honor for "protecting them like they were his own children".

 

[arasam22]

Marc Alaimo is a great actor.

100% agreed on this. (mind you, I've never seen a Cardassian that wasn't portrayed brilliantly by the actor who played them).

I would disagree ever so slightly with VDCNI in that the character(s) that Marc Alaimo played in TNG were completely different from Dukat. If you watch Gul Macet in TNGs the wounded and compere his attitude, characterization and motives to Gul Dukat you'll see a very different Cardie.

agreed... but it was still hard for me to trust him. i watched wounded for the first time the other day when it was on scifi (after having watched all of DS9 in the past couple of months), and i instinctively didn't trust him (that voice!). :P i was like... he seems nice (for a cardie :P), but HE'S BEEN BRAINWASHED BY THE PAH WRAITHS--er... wait... lol

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Funny...because I watched that episode again a few months ago and unlike my reaction when I first saw it--it wasn't Macet I had problems with. It was Picard. Damn, I got SOOOOO mad at him! Warp 4?? Cardassians are dying, man--WTF?! And then that arrogant comment at the end (Oh, you're a CARDASSIAN--you can't understand LOYALTY!) which was A) racist and B) he was flat-out WRONG on anyway...GRRRRRR. Seriously, the amount of self-control Macet had in the face of that was MOST admirable indeed.

 

[arasam22]

... i actually don't remember that episode that well as i was playing FreeCell at the time... i just remember i kept hearing alaimo's voice, so i automatically didn't trust macet. had nothing to do with the episode. :P

 

[Thor Damar]

^ yeah, but Picard has a British accent which makes him even more untrustworthy than Macet

 

[Anwar]

Heaven forbid the reaction if Picard had a FRENCH accent in TNG...

 

[Thor Damar]

^ Merde!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Heaven forbid the reaction if Picard had a FRENCH accent in TNG...

No kidding!

But yeah, I got royally mad at Picard in that episode.

 

[Anwar]

But then again, it's easier to get mad in retrospect. At the time the Cardies were a Species-of-the-week and not the more beloved Trek races (and despite what some say, TNG made them 3-D before DS9 did. TNG knew how to write good aliens when it did) and Macet wouldn't have the prestige back then of being tied to Dukat (via appearance and actor).

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

But then again, it's easier to get mad in retrospect. At the time the Cardies were a Species-of-the-week and not the more beloved Trek races (and despite what some say, TNG made them 3-D before DS9 did. TNG knew how to write good aliens when it did) and Macet wouldn't have the prestige back then of being tied to Dukat (via appearance and actor).

Oh, I totally agree about the 3-D part. You literally had 3 very diverse personalities between Macet, Daro, and Telle--and that's part of what made them immediately compelling. They were more than just one-trick ponies. Well, Telle was what would later become the stereotype, but the existence of Macet and especially Daro made sure the precedent was set right away that these guys were going to be multifaceted.

But even with their being a species-of-the-week...I STILL think what Picard says and does in that episode is infuriating. WARP FOUR when you KNOW the Cardassians are going to be destroyed by the Phoenix? That's some serious lollygagging! He should've punched it to Warp Nine if he really gave a damn.

And acting like Macet doesn't understand loyalty? Oh, please. Macet understood better than Picard OR O'Brien. You can be loyal to who someone once was, but once they step over that line, you CANNOT protect them or you give endorsement to what they are now.

 

[Anwar]

He punched it to warp nine after the Phoenix destroyed the warship and transport, because before that he didn't think Maxwell would go that far (he figured he was just going to disable them or something).

As for that lecture he gave Macet, he was more than a little PO'ed that the nice thoughtful fellow who'd been trying to avert war was actually a lying SOB who was trying to play Picard the entire time. So it was kind of justified for him to act like that.