On Tue, 6 May 2008 bc_gisele wrote:
>What d'oh? Take Scott Bakula in Star Trek Enterprise. He never
>got better. I've seen him in other things but in Enterprise, he
>was wooden from day one to the last day of the series.
For me, Bakula is a bad example because he always seemed wooden. Very
watchable, but wooden nonetheless. He's fortunate in that he seems to
get cast in roles that are inherently Bakula-like; Jonathan Archer, Alex
Michaels. His finest hour is still probably Quantum Leap, but he was
playing a character who spent most of his time pretending to be other
people which probably worked in his favour. Every week was "getting
accustomed to his role".
But for top quality mahogany acting you can't beat Michael O'Hare. I
used to think his performance in Babylon 5 was a combination of
first-season unfamiliarity coupled with the traumatic back-story of his
character, but then I saw him in a few daytime made-for-TV movies and
those excuses went straight out of the window.
>go. It depends on the actor. Patrick Stewart's a good actor but
>in TNG he was very stiff in the early seasons.
What comes across a lot in early TNG is that, although his character is
French, Stewart was clearly trying to act American.
> Ditto for Avery
>Brooks in DS9.
A friend of mine could never watch DS9 because she found Brooks'
performance "too thespian". I actually liked it for exactly the same
reason; almost every actor hammed it up to some extent or another but
those performances worked for the scope and feel of that particular
show. It was always a bit theatrical. If Shakespeare had written Star
Trek, he would have written for DS9.
> All kinds of examples. It's probably the case
>with Evangeline Lilly as well. Her acting has improved; she's
>adjusted to the role.
LOST is such an unusual show that it's a wonder many of the cast cope at
all. While the quality of the writing and production is generally
top-notch, the odd behaviour of the characters necessary to keep the
mystery going must grate a bit. Until quite recently almost nobody asked
sensible questions of anybody else, and even now characters ask
questions and seem perfectly happy with vague non-answers. Normal people
would be punching each other out left, right and centre in frustration
under those cir***stances.
Add in the deliberate withholding of back-story by the writers, and
continuity of character on LOST must be one of the hardest acting jobs
around. I wonder how many of the cast have read scripts with character
back-story and wondered how much better a job they could have made of an
earlier scene if only they'd known?
Under these cir***stances it's hard to say whether Ms. Lilly's acting
has improved, or whether the actions and motivations necessary for the
more recent (dare I say mundane?) domestic scenes are just easier for
her to get a handle on than layer upon layer of Island- and
flashback-based duplicity.
--
Kev
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