In honor of the passing of Paul Winfield, I thought I’d start a thread for people’s opinions on what they think were great performances in Star Trek, either episodes of the various TV shows or movies. I don’t want this to be a “Well this was a classic Kirk moment” or a “This was a classic Data moment.” I want it to be about performances which could be transplanted into another non-Trek story and work just as well.
Ricardo Montalban’s performance of Khan in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan could easily have been that of any power mad villain. There’s a subtlty and grace to his moves in the film which convey his character’s emotions better than the script could.
I don’t know the name of the episode, but in one of the early episodes of DS9, there was an actor who portrayed a man thought to be a Cardassian war criminal. Yeah, it was a scenery chewing performance, but what a performance! You could tell that the actor enjoyed the role, despite having to wear loads of what must be uncomfortable make up.
Those are the two that come most prominantly to my mind. I’m sure folks will have others they’d like to share.
FYI, I believe you refer to Harris Yulin of “Duet,” an ep greatly praised in ST circles, tho’ some grumble that it was a ripoff of “The Man in the Glass Booth.” Some of them are just grumps, though.
That is a good call. I think the moments where Patrick Stewart got to play Jean-Luc Picard as a vulnerable man and not just a captain could be very touching. I’m thinking in particular of the scene in Family with his brother, and the scene early in Generations where he learns about the fire.
Not that I’m not partial to some of the kickass moments as well, but I think those pertain more to the question. Those two scenes aren’t only accessible to Star Trek fans.
Yup, that’s him. Of course, there’s folks who claim that one of the TOS episodes was a rip-off of Run Silent, Run Deep, but that’s because they fail to understand the concept of homage.
Picard obsessed about revenge in First Contact. The scene where he talks about the Borg advancing and Starfleet falling back and ends with him saying “the line is drawn here!” or something along those lines gives me chills.
Sisko’s obsession with Eddington was another great performance. Here was a man that was so consumed with anger that he literally killed a planet to get to the man who had betrayed him. Loved it.
Garak. The whole character. Simply amazing.
The realization of the Enterprise’s crew in ST:VI that they’ve outlived their usefullness and that the current time belongs to a different generation coupled with the fact that some realized how prejudiced they were and how unfair it was to think of all Klingons as brutes. This is why ST:VI is my favorite Trek movie.
Chekov in ST:IV. I’ve always loved Chekov and I loved the whole “nuclear wessels” and interrogation scene on board the “Enterprise”.
The Original Series episode where Kirk is accused of letting a crewman, with whom Kirk had had a troubled relationship, die through his inaction. Kirk’s lawyer, Samuel T. Cogley, is played by the great character actor Elisha Cook, Jr. This guy took what could have been a fairly ordinary role and made it electric:
[slight paraphase as I can’t remember the exact speech]
“My client’s accuser is a machine. And if you don’t cross-examine it, you have brought us down to the level of the machine! I beg you, your honor, to grant my request. And more, gentlemen, in the name of a humanity fading in the shadow of the machine, I demand it. I demand it!”
Wow. Still gives me chills.
“The Cage”
As much as I loved DeForest Kelly, God rest his soul, as Dr. McCoy, John Hoyt as the doctor in the original pilot did a great job, too.
“Sometimes a man will tell something to his bartender, that he would never tell his doctor…we both get the same two kinds of customers – the living, and the dying.”
In that case, I’d like to nominate Weyoun, from DS9, as played by Jeffrey Combs. He’s definitely one of the best sleazy villains I’ve seen in a long time: talking down to his subordinates and sucking up to his superiors like there’s no tomorrow. IMHO, it’s a fantastically nuanced performance, definitely the best I’ve seen on Trek.
Jeffrey Combs is awesome. In addition to playing Weyoun, he also played Brunt (FCA!) and a bunch of other miscellaneous parts in various Trek shows.
I think my favorite character of all is Quark. They could have written him as a one-dimensional ne’er-do-well, but instead he’s often surprisingly inciteful and at times even noble.
[spoiler]…Kira, who’s been completely locking horns with the guy (who’s really a clerk named Marritza) during interrogation about his war crimes, figures out that he’s not the late war criminal (A Colonel named Darhe’el), but is just posing as him, and goes down to his holding cell to get him to admit who he really is. And he screams back:
“Don’t you know who I am? I’m your nemesis! I’m your nightmare! I’m the butcher of Galatepp![…]It’s Marritza who’s dead! Marritza, who was good for nothing but cowering under his bed and wheeping like a woman! Who would, every night, cover his ears…”
And right at this point, his boisterious, almost laughing “tirade” quickly breaks down into tortured sobbing.
“…because he couldn’t bear the screaming of the Bajorans! I’d cover my ears every night, so I couldn’t barely hear those horrible screams… you have no idea what it’s like to be a coward. Seeing these horrors, and doing nothing. Marritza’s dead, he deserves to be dead.”
Yow. Powerful stuff. You really have to see it…it’s too bad DS9 isn’t rerun anymore. I’d kill to have a recording of that.
[/spoiler]
Also, I’d have to add Picards monologue in “Sarek,” when he’s experiencing all of Sarek’s pent-up emotions. Double yow.
I don’t recall the title of this episode of ST:TNG, but I’ve always enjoyed John de Lancie’s performance as Q in the one where he’s stripped of his powers and asks to be sent to the Enterprise. Nice mix of emotions ranging from fear and shame about his powerless status as a mere human to petulance, as when Q observes that it’s hard to get along with others when one is omnipotent.
From TOS, William Windom as Commodore Matthew Decker in “The Doomsday Machine.” I’m always particularly struck by the sobbing agony in his voice when he tells Kirk & Co. what happened to his crew:
Well, you can’t beat the Cardies for some good drama.
In this spirit I want to nominate both Patrick Stewart and whoever played the Cardassian in Chain of Command. That’s my favourite TNG episode, I think.
I second Garak, as well, but I think Marc Alaimo is a pretty good nuanced (well, until he went bonkers) villain as Gul Dukat. Then I always fancied him a little, so maybe I’m biased.
The guy that played older Jake Sisko in The Visitor
There’s a moment in DS9 where Odo first finds out that Kira’s dating Vedek Bariel. He has feelings for her, but hasn’t told her yet. She’s been single for a little bit, and he’s working up the courage to tell her, and then she drop this little bombshell on him, not realizing how it would make him feel. And Odo gives this little look… It’s amazing… Despite a half-inch of rubber on his face, Rene Aubourjonois shows us exactly what Odo is feeling. Hurt, but he has to keep it from her, he has to act happy for her. I dunno, maybe I’ve just felt that same feeling before, but somehow that little moment got me.
Jeffrey Combs is the actor with the most alien guest appearances of all the Series. In addition to Weyoun and Brunt, he’s also currently playing Shran, the Andorian on ENT, and has had bit pieces as about a dozen other aliens in DS9, VOY, and ENT.
