Who do you think was the worst actor among the TNG cast?
- Thread starter The Rock
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Most of the problems with Crusher weren't Wheaton's fault -- it was the writers' fault. When he was given a good script, like The First Duty and Final Mission, he was excellent.
I thought everyone in the main cast were great. I could probably pick out a few poor guest actors. Wasn't ever a fan of the kid who played Alexander. The quality of a child actor is a bell curve, with babies/infants being "good" because they don't have to do anything, and the older a child actor is the better they tend to be. But between like ages 5 and 15, it's a crapshoot.
I thought everyone in the main cast were great. I could probably pick out a few poor guest actors. Wasn't ever a fan of the kid who played Alexander. The quality of a child actor is a bell curve, with babies/infants being "good" because they don't have to do anything, and the older a child actor is the better they tend to be. But between like ages 5 and 15, it's a crapshoot.
To me, it was like he was trying too hard in those episodes. IMO his acting reminded me of one of those amateur community theater actors. Just barely passable.
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TNG had a superb cast, the best cast in modern Trek in my opinion. Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby had less of a range than the other actors. Still, I think their characters are less annoying than Marina Sirtis's accent.
Off the top of my head? Whathisface as Mark Jameson, the screaming kid in Suddenly Human, The Exocomp lady, Aquiel, Ardra, that weasel from The Price, & those annoying little girls in Imaginary Friend
Ding ding ding! You win! LOL
Yeah he was the worst. Probably just a consequence of his age and the scripts that involved him.
He was 10 or 11 when he first appeared in TNG.
There were and are far, far better child actors out there around that age.
Sorry Brian
To be fair, really good actors at that age are rare though.He was 10 or 11 when he first appeared in TNG.
There were and are far, far better child actors out there around that age.
Sorry Brian
Maybe the question should be something like "who was the least good", somehow the topic title says there were many bad actors involved.
TNG had me from "hello." The cast was brilliant and wonderful. It was never a situation, for me, where it was like, "... what a suck-off actor!" with any of them. Sir Patrick Stewart, for example. We ALL know what an amazing talent the Man is.
Yet ... especially, in the earliest seasons ... his ADR, or looping, or voiceovers, or whatever the balls it's supposed to be called, was absolutely atrocious. There seems to be no reason for it, other than ... maybe ... I don't know ... I can only imagine it's very awkward talking in sync to a moving picture. It might even be nearly impossible getting used to.
With all of the cast, it was kind of like that, where you've got someone who's known to be talented and, yet, would seemingly have problems, here or there. Maybe it was with delivering technobabble, or whatever it was. But they all made me fall in love with this show ...
Yet ... especially, in the earliest seasons ... his ADR, or looping, or voiceovers, or whatever the balls it's supposed to be called, was absolutely atrocious. There seems to be no reason for it, other than ... maybe ... I don't know ... I can only imagine it's very awkward talking in sync to a moving picture. It might even be nearly impossible getting used to.
With all of the cast, it was kind of like that, where you've got someone who's known to be talented and, yet, would seemingly have problems, here or there. Maybe it was with delivering technobabble, or whatever it was. But they all made me fall in love with this show ...
I thought LeVar Burton was terrible. Synthetic laugh, just overall fakey seeming performances. In short, poor acting.
"Lean years" implies not working. Does an actor need to only appear in works that will go down in history? I think not.
For me, it's less abouthtem being good actors and more about them seeming natural.
It Implies meager amounts of work, with marginal success at best. 1 bit part in a Blake Edwards comedy, that led to 1 disappointing Stephen King horror flick, that kicked off a decline into a handful of B movies, 1-off guest spots on TV shows, & a half season of a failed TV series, during the reign of TNG. She worked, but it was thin, (lean) in comparison to the success she was clearly aiming for when she left the show, is all I was saying. She kept coming back, because it was the most notoriety she was getting then... & even kind of now too
Denise Crosby's return as Sela was completely ruined in Redemption by her revelation that Yar had died - or, rather, had been executed. Because everything else about Sela, aside from her wig and makeup, was standard, uninspired fare. Yar's continued existence would've proved invaluable to enriching the character of Sela and developing her storylines.
Instead, having Denise come back as her didn't matter, because the material was weak, the motivations were weak and the potential growth was weak. Sela's mother being alive and involved, some way, would've changed all of that. Had this happened and if Denise were given a real opportunity to stand out, this might've even helped highlight her career. Enough to, say, get her out of pedestrian productions and allow her to make her mark.
Instead, having Denise come back as her didn't matter, because the material was weak, the motivations were weak and the potential growth was weak. Sela's mother being alive and involved, some way, would've changed all of that. Had this happened and if Denise were given a real opportunity to stand out, this might've even helped highlight her career. Enough to, say, get her out of pedestrian productions and allow her to make her mark.
First of all, it was a bit stupid to kill of Yar in the first place.
OK, if they hadn't, then we wouldn't have had the excellent episode "Skin Of Evil" and the writers didn't know at that time that Crosby would regret her decision to leave. Still, I think it would have been great if Yar had remained in the series.
But the Sela plot was so silly. This whole thing with that alternate universe story with Yar being captured by Romulans and then having a daugher who would be a Romulan agent gives me a severe headache.
What they should have done instead was to have Crosby play Ishara Yar in "Legacy" and have her as a recurring character. In that way, Crosby would have had a possibility to work with the TNG cast during the seasons of the series.
That would've made more sense. I may not be a fan of Crosby, but it could've worked much better for her & the show if they'd just written her off like they did Crusher. If they had done it before the season was over, it wouldn't have been too jarring to have both missing at the start of season 2, either. Hell, just give her a promotion. Lt. Commander Yar getting offered an XO job somewhere would've been pretty nice, & then you just bring her back into it if you want. She still could've even been in Yesterday's Enterprise, & All Good Things... The same way Wheaton showed up on Parallels. To make her canon fodder was pretty weak
The sad truth is that everything they did wrong with Crosby, they got right with Michelle Forbes. She went away for a while too & they brought her back & it was pretty damn good. She also got a much more believable tough female role, & everything about the part just played better, even though she had much less screen time
They were all pretty bad in the beginning. The only one that had any real acting chops was Stewart, and he was bad in the beginning, too. The cast grew into their roles, but none were really any good except Stewart. The writing really limited what they could do, and it wasn't much.
TBH, to start? apart for a very small number of exceptions, they were tv, soap, & miniseries actors, & for the most part, minor, insignificant or unknown ones. It's hard to say that you're getting the cream of the crop from that tier, but I think they all found a niche to make their roles work, even Crosby to a degree, who I've been railing on. Hell, the only ones I'd ever heard of were Burton from Roots, & Wheaton from Stand By Me. In retrospect, I had seen Stewart in Dune & Spiner in Night Court, but it took me a short time to place them from there.
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