Scott Bakula... worst acting job ever in Trek?

[CaptainHawk1]

Throughout the year I watch all of Trek in chronological order and I'm up to the first season of ENT, which to be quite honest, the more I watch, the more I appreciate it than when it first aired. However, throughout this adventure (I think I'm up to disc 5), I've come to a very sad conclusion that I never thought that I'd have to admit: Scott Bakula put on the worst performance of any regular cast member in the history of Trek when he was on ENT.

I'm very sorry, but it's true and please understand where I'm coming from as I'm not a basher and I actually like Scott Bakula as an actor a lot. My favorite show of all time is Quantum Leap and I still think to this day that Bakula's performance on that show was one of the best in the history of TV. I also do like ENT. It's never been my favorite Trek and like I said, the more I watch it, the more I enjoy it but F*** me if Bakula's performance wasn't completely wooden, lazy and uninspired. I seems like he's constantly reading off of cue cards or teleprompters. There's no passion and I don't recall that changing over the course of the four seasons.

I'm beginning to understand why Connor Trineer was so popular on that show. His performances were fantastic.

So I'm just wondering if it's just me or have other fans noticed this as well. BTW, some objectivity would be nice. I don't need gushers throwing tomatoes at me or bashers just posting to trash ENT.

-Shawn

 

[commodore64]

I thought he was really good and came to like Archer as a character very much, especially during season 3. Bakula, Blalock and Billingsley were -- in my opinion -- the best actors in Enterprise with probably Billingsley as the best. I say this as someone who had watched maybe three QL episodes before ENT and was unhappy the prequel to TOS didn't include Pike or April.

I can say: Archer is my second favorite Star Trek character after Mr. Spock.

Blalock matured a lot as an actress and during season 2, I thought she'd managed to capture a "warm Vulcan," who was still Vulcan. It's a shame what happened to her character.

I think Connor is incredibly overrated. His performance was good, but not great.

 

[JiNX-01]

Are you kidding?!
I can think of MUCH.WORSE.ACTORS!

Wil Wheaton: Gag!
Marina Sirtis: Ick! (Tho' I will say she is much better in the dramas I've seen her in post-TNG.)
Jonathan Frakes: Good director. Sucky actor.
Majel Barrett Roddenberry: Ruined episodes for me in three series!)
Nana Visitor: It took me for-freaking-EVER to warm up to her.
Jennifer Lien: She couldn't emote worth a damn and I was glad to see her replaced by an actress who wasn't an "act"ress!

 

[JNG]

I have to (somewhat) agree with OP. I am a big fan of Scott Bakula and I thought he was wonderfully charming, natural and versatile on Quantum Leap. When I heard he was going to be the captain of a new Trek series, I was really and truly jazzed.

However, his performance never felt right to me. Probably "forced" is the best word to describe it. It just didn't gel. While I don't think he had the best material to work with, I must conclude he ultimately wasn't right for Trek. In response to this, I might get a screed about "BERMAN AND BRAGA MADE EVERYONE ACT LIKE ROBOTS AND THEY SUX IT IS THEIR FAULT," etc. All I know is I have seen some actors make the Trek-style dialogue shine. Levar Burton always seemed incredibly genuine to me, even when talking about routing one thing through another thing and so forth. It can be done.

 

[CheapTrick]

The only episode that rubbed me the wrong way was the mirror universe episodes. Maybe it was an acting choice, but it came off as horribly stilted...

They still stand as my favorite eps of Enterprise, though.

(Mirror, Mirror is my alltime fave of TOS)

 

[gblews]

Throughout the year I watch all of Trek in chronological order and I'm up to the first season of ENT, which to be quite honest, the more I watch, the more I appreciate it than when it first aired. However, throughout this adventure (I think I'm up to disc 5), I've come to a very sad conclusion that I never thought that I'd have to admit: Scott Bakula put on the worst performance of any regular cast member in the history of Trek when he was on ENT.

Not the worst performance of any regular character but the worst performance of any of the actors who played captains. Actually, Scott and Kate Mulgrew vie for worst captain performance depending on the episode. That's funny too because I think they have some similar acting "bugs" that hurt their performances.

I do blame Berman and Braga, though, for casting Scott in a role for which he wasn't suited. Captain characters in Trek need to be able to project onscreen an "aura" of personal strength, charisma, a sense of being strong enough to convince the audience the character is in control. Scott didn't seem to have any of this naturally and his meager acting skills apparently prevented him from successfully faking it. In terms of being able to project charisma and strength, think Shatner, Brooks, Stewart, and Ed Olmos, all actors who have an abundance of either or both (or the acting skills to fake it).

However, if the producers had not put Scott in the position of having to do something for which he wasn't equipped, if they had just written Archer more like Scott's real personality (like in QL), I believe he, the show, and the fans, would have been a lot better off.

(BTW, if its your honest opinion, no need to apologize for it.)

 

[Captain X]

One only needs to look to Star Trek: Insurrection to see worse acting.

I absolutely hate Archer as portrayed on screen, but I can find no fault on Scott Bakula's part, unless of course the rumors are true about him demanding the vast majority of the screen time. In any case, his portrayal on screen had more to do with writers and producers having no clue just who they wanted Jonathan Archer to be, or what real leadership is for that matter.

 

[miriel68]

Well, I've heard complains about Bakula's acting in Enterprise again and again and I feel always rather baffled by them. I can understand his portrayal of Archer can be not to everyone's liking. Also, even if Enterprise is my favourite ST serie I'm not blind to its weaknesses. However, acting - generally, I'm not talking only about Bakula - seems to me one of the strongest points of the serie, and all characters, even minors, come as "true" to me, especially while re-watching some episodes. In comparison, I find acting very unconvincing in some other series. Without offence, I always find Shatner really 'wooden' (we are watching TOS with my daughter now) and I've not much positive opinion about the other TOS characters - with the exception of Spock. Their style of acting just seem terribly out-of-date to me. In the TNG there are Picard and Data, but other characters, Jonathan Frakes? My daughter calls him mr beautiful biscuit...
I've seen Enterprise before watching (and falling in love with) Quantum Leap, therefore I did not know what to expect from Bakula. I was charmed by the subtlety of his performance and gradually won to his portrayal of Archer, even if it took several episodes to happen. I really appreciate, for example, his ability to use small changes of voice to convey his sentiments and feelings: to give some example, his distress in Shockwave part I or in Damage. Also his body language: he never forgets, for example, to move more rigidly, after he has been hit or wounded (and this is very rare in action movies: most heros usually just stand up after a fighting as if nothing happened, very James Bond fashion )
So, as I said, while I do understand criticism about "captain Archer" I rather fail to see what it is exactly in Bakula's acting which should justify such negative opinion. May be some concrete examples of his "wooden, lazy and uninspired" perfomance could help to understand it.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

So, as I said, while I do understand criticism about "captain Archer" I rather fail to see what it is exactly in Bakula's acting which should justify such negative opinion. May be some concrete examples of his "wooden, lazy and uninspired" perfomance could help to understand it.

I'm not going to quote every line of dialogue up to the episode Acquisition however I will point out that Bakula is constantly giving a speech or a lecture as opposed to engaging in dialogue. Dear Doctor immediately comes to mind especially when gives the speech to Phlox about "the directive" that they don't have yet. I don't think there's a scene in Broken Bow that he doesn't sound like he's reading an instruction manual on how to hook up stereo equipment.

To be quite honest, I don't have a negative opinion about the character except that he didn't seem to have common sense a lot and kind of jumped into dangerous situations a lot without deferring to a position of caution to unknown sitauations and I don't have a negative opinion of Scott Bakula, I have a negative opinion of his performance.

-Shawn

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

...unless of course the rumors are true about...

< unsubstantiated crap snipped >

Making hit-and-run inflammatory statements--about a rumor--without even posting relevant links from reliable sources is pointless, and adds nothing to the discussion.

 

[Brian]

I agree with you, CaptainHawk1.

I was so excited to learn that Scott was going to be the lead actor in the new series, but then I found myself completely underwhelmed by his performance. And he never fully redeemed himself in the series, IMO.

What really bugged me was how he always seemed to pause in the wrong places in his lines, as if he was being fed them by someone and had to wait for a prompt. And he gave them all the vocal inflection of a read-through, with no sense of context.

Though I doubt I'd call it "worst ever", just... disappointing.

 

[Jayson]

It was pretty bad while he was doing captain like things. He was much better in casual type of situations such as hanging out with Trip. "Enterprise" does have the worst actor in Trek that was a series regular though and that would be Travis Mayweather. The guy never did anything for the most part and when he did get a chance to do something you realized why he was prevented from doing stuff in the first place.

Jason

 

[commodore64]

So, as I said, while I do understand criticism about "captain Archer" I rather fail to see what it is exactly in Bakula's acting which should justify such negative opinion. May be some concrete examples of his "wooden, lazy and uninspired" perfomance could help to understand it.

I'm not going to quote every line of dialogue up to the episode Acquisition however I will point out that Bakula is constantly giving a speech or a lecture as opposed to engaging in dialogue. Dear Doctor immediately comes to mind especially when gives the speech to Phlox about "the directive" that they don't have yet. I don't think there's a scene in Broken Bow that he doesn't sound like he's reading an instruction manual on how to hook up stereo equipment.

To be quite honest, I don't have a negative opinion about the character except that he didn't seem to have common sense a lot and kind of jumped into dangerous situations a lot without deferring to a position of caution to unknown sitauations and I don't have a negative opinion of Scott Bakula, I have a negative opinion of his performance.

-Shawn

Hmmm. Everything mentioned above is about the character though?

 

[angie]

Not to mention nothing was ever done by the producers or directors to change Archer---blame them and the writers for his "speechifying" scenes not Bakula for doing the job he was given.

 

[Captain X]

...unless of course the rumors are true about...

< unsubstantiated crap snipped >

Making hit-and-run inflammatory statements--about a rumor--without even posting relevant links from reliable sources is pointless, and adds nothing to the discussion.

It wasn't a hit and run inflammatory statement, it was a small part of my opinion about Scott Bakula, namely the part where I can't find any fault with him, unless stated qualification is met, in which case I wouldn't like him very much.

 

[DarKush]

In seasons one and two he seemed stiff and constipated. He got better in season 3. He also did okay in season 4, but to be honest, characterization/acting took a back seat to the plots in season 4, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Archer always seemed to work for me when he was snapping on people. Other than that, Bakula's performance came across as too starchy or dopey.

In QL, he was way more passionate and funny. I was hoping he would bring some of that passion, that joy for life that Beckett seemed to exude at times, to the role of Archer, but for the most part, I don't think Bakula did.

I don't think Bakula was the worst ever Trek actor, however he was definitely the most unconvincing lead.

 

[steveman]

Of Bakula's performance, my sentiments basically boil down to this: While the quality of the material he had to work with was poor, his delivery of that material left me equally underwhelmed.

I really have to admit.... I think he was a terrible lead.

Thankfully the show had such talented actors as John Billingsley and Connor Trinneer. I'll always look back fondly on their performances.

 

[KayArr]

I LOVED Quantum Leap, loved it. Sam Beckett would have made a heck of a Captain...

I would tend to blame the writers more than Bakula. Archer was an ass. Sometimes inspired, and sometimes just mean and pissy as hell.

But...Bakula was miscast. He just doesn't seem "Star Trek-y"--sorry, can't be more specific. I agree with the comment about the weird pauses. Also--his voice was just the wrong timbre somehow--Mulgrew had a more commanding tone of voice than Bakula did. It's funny--but voices matter quite a bit, and it's not the actors' fault, most of the time--who casts them? Avery Brooks--with his voice, I just couldn't buy him as a Captain. NCIS--there's no way I can every buy Mark Harmon as a marine--ever. Gibbs is o.k. on the show--but he's my least favorite character.

Enterprise is my favorite of the five Treks--love it despite its Captain. But I decided that I wasn't watching for the Captain. I liked the ship and sets and uniforms. I liked the prequel feel. I liked the stories. I loved Trip, T'pol, Malcolm, Phlox, and Hoshi. In the end, I didn't need to love the Captain.

Bakula just didn't seem to suit Star Trek. It's funny...but really, he's the only major cast member on any of the five shows that I'd say that about. Weird, weird, weird. Maybe I'd just seen too much Quantum Leap.

 

[KayArr]

But I'm hemming and hawing...

Archer was a badly written character. You know--I can't imagine following him anywhere dangerous. I can't think of anything that Archer ever did that would inspire personal loyalty. Heck, you might argue that he's such ass, it makes the admiration of Trip and T'pol make that pair look a little foolish.

Kirk and Janeway were inspiring leaders. I'm not sure Picard was inspiring exactly, but he was the Rock of Gibraltor. Even with DS9 as my least favorite series, Sisko as my least favorite Captain, and even though I think Brooks was miscast...I'd still pick him over Archer any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Just not crazy about Archer, or Bakula playing Archer.

Would Archer have worked with another actor? Would Bakula have worked with a better writtten character? I have no idea about either question. It was just all a little ...off.

 

[Longinus]

But I'm hemming and hawing...

Archer was a badly written character. You know--I can't imagine following him anywhere dangerous. I can't think of anything that Archer ever did that would inspire personal loyalty. Heck, you might argue that he's such ass, it makes the admiration of Trip and T'pol make that pair look a little foolish.

My sentiments exactly. Even though I think that this is more of the writers fault than Bakula's, he was a miscast nevertheless.

And captain is very important part of the show. And Archer being such a lousy captain is big part of me not liking ST:Enterprise much. You really cannot get exited about adventures of a guy you really do not even like.