# Best Star Trek Acting



## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

I'm watching BBC America's Friday night Star Trek marathon and now the episode "The Doomsday Machine" which had the most brutally intense acting I've seen in sci-fi, any Trek or otherwise: William Windom as the mentally damaged Commodore Decker.  He sold his utter pain and anguish so well, it was actually difficult to watch because I felt so awful for him.  It's like Kirk said before Decker's suicide, "Matt, nobody expects you to die for an error in judgment!"  And when Decker whispers, "I've been prepared for death ever since I....I killed my crew," that's some balls-to-the-wall acting there.


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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

1960's TV actors were not 'subtle' compared to dramatic actors today and can appear melodramatic by today's standards.


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## IsaacNewton (Jul 22, 2017)

Decker. You always want to punch that dick in the face. Spock sparred with Decker very effectively. Where's you ship Decker? Oh it was destroyed along with your entire crew? Well aren't you the Capt Dunzel. 

Decker needed to die in that episode, nothing else would have been satisfying. It was good acting for sure. I would also note Ricardo Montalban as Khan.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

IsaacNewton said:


> Decker. You always want to punch that dick in the face. Spock sparred with Decker very effectively. Where's you ship Decker? Oh it was destroyed along with your entire crew? Well aren't you the Capt Dunzel.
> 
> Decker needed to die in that episode, nothing else would have been satisfying. It was good acting for sure. I would also note Ricardo Montalban as Khan.



Of course it was great acting, but I still felt pity for such a destroyed character.  He was trying to save his crew, but the planet-killer went after the third planet instead of the Constellation, as he hoped.  Decker wasn't a bad guy per se, he made a giant mistake that left him too mentally damaged to be competent.


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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> IsaacNewton said:
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> > Decker. You always want to punch that dick in the face. Spock sparred with Decker very effectively. Where's you ship Decker? Oh it was destroyed along with your entire crew? Well aren't you the Capt Dunzel.
> ...



It's called redemption.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

Now that someone mentioned Khan let me remind you of his best, raging moment in Star Trek II: "THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!!!!!!"


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## miketx (Jul 22, 2017)




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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> Now that someone mentioned Khan let me remind you of his best, raging moment in Star Trek II: "THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!!!!!!"



From the movie, not the series ... does that count?


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

Here we go...


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

Ah, now it's the whacky/funny "I, Mudd" episode, in which Spock confuses advanced androids by telling them, "Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow.  Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell BAD!"  Heheh, I admit I get a large variety of kicks out of the old Trek.  I'm a sucker for ambitious space adventure stories.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

fncceo said:


> WillMunny said:
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> > Now that someone mentioned Khan let me remind you of his best, raging moment in Star Trek II: "THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!!!!!!"
> ...



Sure, why not?  I don't have any specific rules about it.


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## miketx (Jul 22, 2017)

You ever notice the old Star Trek is one of the very few shows that correctly show explosions in space without sound?


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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> fncceo said:
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Then, "_*KHAAAAANNNN!*_"


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

miketx said:


> You ever notice the old Star Trek is one of the very few shows that correctly show explosions in space without sound?



It's had some unique, interesting, sometimes crazy explosions in it (esp. the Hollywood movies), I noticed that.  But plenty of its explosions did have some big, bombastic sounds to it.  I don't remember Star Trek explosions being particularly silent.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

Here's a sample of the acting I mean, I forgot to post it earlier:


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## miketx (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> miketx said:
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> > You ever notice the old Star Trek is one of the very few shows that correctly show explosions in space without sound?
> ...


many of the ones occurring in a vacuum were.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

Here's Star Trek's other greatest acting moment, from the last good Trek movie 20 years ago......I will make them PAY for what they have done!


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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

Best actor in the 'Star Trek' franchise ...


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## Hugo Furst (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> Here's a sample of the acting I mean, I forgot to post it earlier:



Always wondered if Margaret Hamilton was his inspiration for becoming an actor.

"She was the kindergarten teacher of five-year-old William Windom, until she threw him out for rambunctious behavior. Another of her students was Jim Backus."

Margaret Hamilton - Biography - IMDb


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

fncceo said:


> Best actor in the 'Star Trek' franchise ...



Heheh, I always wanted a pet tribble.  I found their purr to be soothing even over the TV speakers.  So clearly, I have no Klingon blood in me (sorry to disappoint).


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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> fncceo said:
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> > Best actor in the 'Star Trek' franchise ...
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I attended the first large scale 'Star Trek' convention on the West Coast -- Equicon '73 at the International Hotel LAX.  David Gerrold had a booth selling Tribble props from the show at $20 (Nearly $200 today). 

By the end of the Con I was broke and re-sold my Tribble for bus fare home.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

fncceo said:


> WillMunny said:
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That's amazing that the tribble props kept increasing in value.  I guess that means the Tribble episode was something that really grew on society in general over time.  I'm sure the DS9 time-travel episode "Trials & Tribbleations" in the 90s must have given tribbles an extra burst as well.


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## fncceo (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> fncceo said:
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I didn't mean to imply that the value of the Tribble prop increased ten-fold in value.  They weren't particularly collectable, not in mint condition, no packaging (obviously) and no way to certify authenticity.  I was merely pointing out that $20 was a lot of money for a kid in 1973.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

fncceo said:


> WillMunny said:
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I know (I was born in '73 so I'm not an expert of the time).  I'm just saying that after years of Star Trek reruns and the Star DS9 tribute, society in general is probably more familiar with Star Trek's tribbles nowadays than when it first aired in the '60s.  That was my point.


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## WillMunny (Jul 22, 2017)

In the spirit of this thread, I present another gargantuan acting moment, between Patrick Stewart and Mark Lenard (Spock's dad).


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## MarkClaude (Jul 22, 2017)

WillMunny said:


> I'm watching BBC America's Friday night Star Trek marathon and now the episode "The Doomsday Machine" which had the most brutally intense acting I've seen in sci-fi, any Trek or otherwise: William Windom as the mentally damaged Commodore Decker.  He sold his utter pain and anguish so well, it was actually difficult to watch because I felt so awful for him.  It's like Kirk said before Decker's suicide, "Matt, nobody expects you to die for an error in judgment!"  And when Decker whispers, "I've been prepared for death ever since I....I killed my crew," that's some balls-to-the-wall acting there.


Nothing touches Kahn.


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## WillMunny (Jul 23, 2017)

MarkClaude said:


> WillMunny said:
> 
> 
> > I'm watching BBC America's Friday night Star Trek marathon and now the episode "The Doomsday Machine" which had the most brutally intense acting I've seen in sci-fi, any Trek or otherwise: William Windom as the mentally damaged Commodore Decker.  He sold his utter pain and anguish so well, it was actually difficult to watch because I felt so awful for him.  It's like Kirk said before Decker's suicide, "Matt, nobody expects you to die for an error in judgment!"  And when Decker whispers, "I've been prepared for death ever since I....I killed my crew," that's some balls-to-the-wall acting there.
> ...



I'll drink to that, sir.  Not many Trek characters have the on-screen charisma power of Khan.  And please remember........."THIS IS CETI ALPHA 5!!!"


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## WillMunny (Jul 23, 2017)

Deep Space 9's greatest performance, which has a certain Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling vibe to it.


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## fncceo (Jul 23, 2017)

Honourable Mention ...


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## miketx (Jul 23, 2017)

Anything after the original series was all pc bullshit.


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## WillMunny (Jul 24, 2017)

miketx said:


> Anything after the original series was all pc bullshit.



I admit the original series was much ballsier in its general nature.  But the newer ones did have some interesting, ambitious story ideas, in spite of their regular flickers of PC.  As I always admit, I'm a sucker for a big space adventure.


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## WillMunny (Jul 29, 2017)

I would be remiss in my USMB duties of pointing out greatest Star Trek acting if I forgot this TNG scene between two larger-than-life Shakespearen Brits, David Warner and Patrick Stewart.


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