# Why are the captains on star trek such hyperbolic overactors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913 "2014-08-06T01:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/1 "2014-08-06T01:32:57Z")
No offense, but seriously. Normal people don’t talk like 60s Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko. I haven’t seen enterprise so I have no idea. Its all very overaccentuated and full of halting speech and overly dramatic emotions. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/2 "2014-08-06T01:37:29Z")
Starfleet Academy was no picnic, you’d be like that too. Shatner does everything like Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/3 "2014-08-06T01:38:31Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > No offense, but seriously. Normal people don’t talk like 60s Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko. I haven’t seen enterprise so I have no idea. Its all very overaccentuated and full of halting speech and overly dramatic emotions. Those are normal speech patterns for the 23rd and 24th Centuries. This is due to the way the Lithuanian language evolved. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/4 "2014-08-06T01:41:42Z")
Everyone channels Shatner. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/5 "2014-08-06T01:44:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Those are normal speech patterns for the 23rd and 24th Centuries. This is due to the way the Lithuanian language evolved. > > 😉 Only the captains do it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/6 "2014-08-06T01:51:25Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Only the captains do it. Navajo was revived as a language in the 22nd Century. Based on Starfleet entry tests, career paths are determined and only Command students are taught Lithuanian. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/7 "2014-08-06T01:53:54Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > Starfleet Academy was no picnic, you’d be like that too. Unless they were doing [Picnic,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic_%28play%29) which would screw Shatner 'cuz it should be done Method. ---
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/8 "2014-08-06T01:54:54Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > No offense, but seriously. Normal people don’t talk like 60s Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko. I haven’t seen enterprise so I have no idea. Its all very overaccentuated and full of halting speech and overly dramatic emotions. Well it is space opera. 😃 I’ll give you Kirk and Janeway, but I can’t agree on Patrick Stewart’s Picard or Avery Brooks’ Sisko. Perhaps occasionally there’s some overacting, but I don’t find it typical of either performer. The writing gets stilted, and the melodrama gets a bit thick at times _Trek_-wide, but I think both men did admirably with their respective roles, and the infrequent hamming was situational and seemed done more for fun than to serve as a character trait (Sisko in the mirror universe for example). Scott Bakula as Archer in _Enterprise_ seemed fairly well subdued, even low-key, but I haven’t seen the series’ full run so my estimation is not fully informed. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/9 "2014-08-06T02:08:47Z")
Well the show is built around stressful situations. It wouldn’t be much of a show if it was like… Riker: Captain the waste transporters are down Piccard: Again?! Riker: I’m afraid so Piccard: Very well, issue order to the crew to begin the use of toilets Riker: Ayeaye sir Piccard: Oh, and Will… Riker: Yes sir? Piccard: Please have a private talk with Mr. Warf. We do not need a repeat of the last incident. I trust I need say no more… Riker: I will instruct him to flush repeatedly during the process. Piccard: Eccellent. The maintenance crew nearly mutinied after cleaning up after… Riker: Understood Sir. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/10 "2014-08-06T02:13:39Z")
> [@orangeapples](#): > > Well it is space opera. 😃 > > I’ll give you Kirk and Janeway, but I can’t agree on Patrick Stewart’s Picard or Avery Brooks’ Sisko. Perhaps occasionally there’s some overacting, but I don’t find it typical of either performer. The writing gets stilted, and the melodrama gets a bit thick at times _Trek_-wide, but I think both men did admirably with their respective roles, and the infrequent hamming was situational and seemed done more for fun than to serve as a character trait (Sisko in the mirror universe for example). > > Scott Bakula as Archer in _Enterprise_ seemed fairly well subdued, even low-key, but I haven’t seen the series’ full run so my estimation is not fully informed. I rewatching the DS9 episode In the Pale Moonlight. I disagree about the lack of overacting. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/11 "2014-08-06T02:22:16Z")
Ironically, I remember in the early episodes of the original series, Spock was the most hyperbolic of them all. Sisko, is one of my favorite captains but he really did lay it on thick towards the end of the series. That part wherein he wanted to rehash “black were repressed” seemed out of place for ST canon. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/12 "2014-08-06T02:27:39Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Sisko, is one of my favorite captains but he really did lay it on thick towards the end of the series. That part wherein he wanted to rehash “black were repressed” seemed out of place for ST canon. I could understand him objecting to the Vic Fontaine thing (I hated it, myself) since it represents a rosy sanitized view of an era that in reality had an ugly racist undercurrent (sometimes more of an _over_current) - something widely overlooked by people in the 1990s much like the characters in the 24th century, but that whole “suddenly we’re all science fiction writers in the early fifties” thing… WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/13 "2014-08-06T04:28:26Z")
Shatner underacts several times in Trek. Particularly in the early episodes. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/14 "2014-08-06T05:21:19Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Well the show is built around stressful situations. > It wouldn’t be much of a show if it was like… > > Riker: Captain the waste transporters are down > Piccard: Again?! > Riker: I’m afraid so > Piccard: Very well, issue order to the crew to begin the use of toilets > Riker: Ayeaye sir > Piccard: Oh, and Will… > Riker: Yes sir? > Piccard: Please have a private talk with Mr. Warf. We do not need a repeat of the last incident. I trust I need say no more… > Riker: I will instruct him to flush repeatedly during the process. > Piccard: Eccellent. The maintenance crew nearly mutinied after cleaning up after… > Riker: Understood Sir. “Klingons DO NOT wipe after using the head!” ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/15 "2014-08-06T06:41:58Z")
I think melodramatic would be a better word than hyperbolic. Ultimately these shows are thinly disguised soap operas relying on the “talents” of veteran TV show writers. The Star Trek episodes that stand out the most are the ones written by professional science fiction writers. I still think Star Trek TOS was the greatest TV show ever produced. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/16 "2014-08-06T07:15:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Klingons DO NOT wipe after using the head!” David Gerrold noted that Klingons don’t have a head. They held it in during the entire mission, which was why they were so mean. That was TOS, of course - maybe the secret to the Federation Klingon alliance was that the Klingons finally installed plumbing. In any case, no matter how bad Captains are, Commodores are worse. Watch the Doomsday Machine, and see William Windom as Commodore Decker give Shatner ham lessons. It is like a master class in over-acting. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/17 "2014-08-06T09:22:49Z")
> [@orangeapples](#): > > Scott Bakula as Archer in _Enterprise_ seemed fairly well subdued, even low-key, but I haven’t seen the series’ full run so my estimation is not fully informed. Really? I always felt that whenever he opened his mouth he acted like he was quoting from the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/18 "2014-08-06T09:26:13Z")
Were not the actors, mostly Shakespearean or stage ones anyway. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/19 "2014-08-06T11:29:13Z")
I’ll give you Shatner, Mulgrew and Brooks (the latter particularly toward the end), but totally disagree about Stewart. Having a British accent doesn’t mean overacting. Mind you, I loved DS9 and Sisko, and I don’t mind Brooks’s intensity at all. Sisko _had_ to be intense, considering the guy had as much or more shit to deal with, as in an actual multi-year _war_ (as well as his wife’s death and the death of his BFF) than any of the other captains. Shatner had his moments, and it’s kinda hard to judge TOS by today’s standards. The show was more stagey then, not afraid to be a bit camp or Message Television as needed. He seemed to be having fun, and took the show as seriously as it needed to–and as silly as it could be, at times. Mulgrew… I don’t know what the hell went wrong there, because when she was on an actual soap opera (_Ryan’s Hope_ back in the ‘70s she wasn’t nearly as plastic–in fact, she was really good. I think it says something about the clusterfuck that was VOY that Mulgrew has proved herself way more nuanced and believable on _Orange is the New Black_ playing a freakin’ Russian prisoner with pink hair who runs the contraband trade than she ever was as Janeway. (And for that matter, as Red, she ran the prison kitchen better than Janeway ever ran her ship!) But Stewart is undoubtedly the best actor and I don’t think the other three would disagree. (Oh wait, there’s a fourth captain, I hear? Wouldn’t know. :D) The only times Picard went haywire was when it was pretty well warranted, as in the infamous Cardassian torture “There are four lights!” two-parter (OMG, I can’t believe I forgot the episode name… started with a “C” didn’t it?), “Family” where he was PTSDing over Locutus post-“Best of Both Worlds,” when the character was suffering from the brain ailment in the excellent “All Good Things…,” and his Borg obsession (really, a continuation of the PTSD from BoBW–lovely continuity there) in _Star Trek: First Contact._ Oh, there was that trippy moment in the episode where he went goofy as a result of the time dilation and made a smiley face in the particle cloud… damn, I don’t remember the name of that episode either! I’m getting old. But again, Picard was supposed to be OTT due to the oddities they were experiencing. No, I’ll not hear any bitching about Sir Patrick. He was the best thing to happen to Trek, if you ask me–he gave the series far more gravitas than it ever would have had with a lesser actor at the helm. His masterful skills seemed to encourage the writers/producers to reach higher, take greater risks, and push the limit of what a _Trek_ character would normally experience (e.g. debilitating torture, heartbreaking old age), mainly because they knew whatever they threw at him, Stewart would hit it out of the ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913/20 "2014-08-06T11:30:33Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Klingons DO NOT wipe after using the head!” Klingons are a proud people. Such a thing would be beneath them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-captains-on-star-trek-such-hyperbolic-overactors/694913.md?page=2)