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I've never liked Kirstie Alley, and it's not just because of her "religious" convictions, she's just too flakey and hysterical for my taste.
Her portrayal of a Vulcan was indifferent and nonchalant, "Hey, I lost my whole command, crew and ship to the Kobayashi Maru and I don't know what went wrong, pssh." Or "We should assume the ship is hostile if it doesn't answer. Oh look, we're being attacked and people are dying everywhere, whatever."
Just because your race is trained not to be affected by emotion doesn't mean that you shouldn't acknowledge the gravity of a situation or show confidence and commitment. Those are important leadership skills and the crew needs to see them.
I thought J.G Hertzler played a better Vulcan in the one minute of "Emissary" he was in than Alley did.
I also think Mark Lenard's Sarek felt more multi-layered and deep than Spock, at least in "Voyage Home". There were so many subtle meanings and unspoken words in his short "Yes of course."-response to Spock, it's my favorite part of the movie.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
What religious convictions are those? Eat or be eaten? I actually always had a thing for Alley back when she was on Cheers. Her Vulcan portrayal was a little cold, but that could be chalked up to her being young at the time.
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Remember that in the TWOK script Saavik was half-Romulan. It was supposed to be part of the character that her attempts at self-control were a little off.
I think of the two Alley did better acting the character, but Robin Curtis looked Vulcan, where Alley looked like a human with plastic ears. It's one of the pitfalls of trying to portray Vulcans; many people, no matter how good they are at acting, just don't have the right looks. Sarek's two aides in TNG "Sarek" are a perfect example. One of them looked like a Vulcan, and one of them could act. Unfortunately, it wasn't the same one...
I'd forgotton about the Vulcan ensign in TNG "Lower decks" though. He was good.
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I actually think that, of all the Vulcans, Tim Russ gave the best performance. Even better than Spock. But I suppose that's because he had time to study up on playing a Vulcan. You could tell he worked hard on that. Kudos, Tim.
-------------------- "Brave men are vertebrates: they have their softness on the outside, and their toughness in the middle" -Lewis Carrol
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Y'know what's even worse than the Vulcans? The actors who play humans. I mean, come on, it seems like every one of them acts differently. Can't they learn from Shatner's original portrayal of a human?
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posted
The Vulcan Judge Advocate at Worf's hearing (on DS9, of course) was nicely acted and believable.
Vulcans would, of course, make excellent judges.
The worst Vulcan portrayal would have to be the admiral in Conspiracy (though you could blame the parasite in him for his non-vulcan behavior).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Bones McCoy: I actually think that, of all the Vulcans, Tim Russ gave the best performance. Even better than Spock. But I suppose that's because he had time to study up on playing a Vulcan. You could tell he worked hard on that. Kudos, Tim.
Actually I think he was chosen for the part because he is known for his ability to do deadpan. A few years before Voyager was released I happened to see the Christmas episode of "Roots" in which Russ appeared, ironically along with Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks and of course so was LeVar Burton. Anyway, I can honestly remember watching Russ's performance and around the part with his "king of France" line, thinking to myself that he'd do a good portrayal of a Vulcan.
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