Worst Acting Performance

[Psi Cop]

One of the few things that disappointed me about B5 was the quality of acting by some of the minor or one time characters. I guess they only had the money to pay the main cast!

Who do you think was the worst?

For me it was Elaine Thomas who played Lianna Kemmer in Survivors. Even Jerry Doyle was struggling not to laugh at her performance as he tried to deliver his own lines. A real shocker that makes wood look animate!:guffaw:

 

[JonFrain]

Jinxo comes to mind as does Major Krantz and the second Draal who seemed to ham it up big time.

Mary Kay Adams and the guy that played Lt. Keffer were horrid.

Russ Tamblyn as Captain Jack Maynard was very disappointing.

Tracy Scoggins is my least favorite regular by far though.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

Absolutely positively the telepath girl from "Legacies." Just terrible. Allegedly just hitting puberty, the actress was like 20 or more, and utterly unbelievable as a confused kid. And her attempts to act kid-like were cringingly awful

 

[Ubik]

Gregory Martin as Col. Ari Ben Zayn in ‘Eyes’.

His performance is about as nuanced as a hammer to the cranium!

 

[Springer]

Gregory Martin as Col. Ari Ben Zayn in ‘Eyes’.

His performance is about as nuanced as a hammer to the cranium!

Wasn't he the guy who was having a break down in the middle of filming or something? At least we had Jeffrey Combs in the same episode to balance things out.

The actor who played the Earth Alliance agent who came to the station looking for the former President's doctor in Hunter, Prey put in an awful performance.

 

[Ubik]

Gregory Martin as Col. Ari Ben Zayn in ‘Eyes’.

His performance is about as nuanced as a hammer to the cranium!

Wasn't he the guy who was having a break down in the middle of filming or something? At least we had Jeffrey Combs in the same episode to balance things out.

If I recall correctly, he was going through a bit of a rough divorce. So he was ANGRY... ALL THE TIME!

 

[KoshN]

Gregory Martin as Col. Ari Ben Zayn in ‘Eyes’.

His performance is about as nuanced as a hammer to the cranium!

Wasn't he the guy who was having a break down in the middle of filming or something? At least we had Jeffrey Combs in the same episode to balance things out.

If I recall correctly, he was going through a bit of a rough divorce. So he was ANGRY... ALL THE TIME!

So was his character, so if that was true, IT FIT.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

I'd also have to say David Warner in "Grail" just kinda' sleepwalking his way through it. And honestly I thought Mack and Bo from "A View from the Gallery" were stagey as hell.

Ok, what do you think is the worst scene or performance by a member of the principle cast? Meaning no disrespect. Everyone has a bad day. But still...

 

[Springer]

I'd also have to say David Warner in "Grail" just kinda' sleepwalking his way through it. And honestly I thought Mack and Bo from "A View from the Gallery" were stagey as hell.

Ok, what do you think is the worst scene or performance by a member of the principle cast? Meaning no disrespect. Everyone has a bad day. But still...

Yeah, David Warner seemed to spend much of Grail looking bored - but even a bored David Warner is still better than a lot of other actors.

As for principle cast... that scene with Pat Tallman in Between the Darkness and the Light, where she embarks on what is meant to be a humorous rant and she performs it hideously badly. A similar scene, with Claudia and Zathras in Conflicts of Interest, Claudia really overplayed it and it just comes across as staged and hammy.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

I'd also have to say David Warner in "Grail" just kinda' sleepwalking his way through it. And honestly I thought Mack and Bo from "A View from the Gallery" were stagey as hell.

Ok, what do you think is the worst scene or performance by a member of the principle cast? Meaning no disrespect. Everyone has a bad day. But still...

Yeah, David Warner seemed to spend much of Grail looking bored - but even a bored David Warner is still better than a lot of other actors.

As for principle cast... that scene with Pat Tallman in Between the Darkness and the Light, where she embarks on what is meant to be a humorous rant and she performs it hideously badly. A similar scene, with Claudia and Zathras in Conflicts of Interest, Claudia really overplayed it and it just comes across as staged and hammy.

I'd agree with that.
I think O'Hare's worst moment was when he was pretending to be a thug conning a nightclub owner.
I think Boxleitner's worst moment was when he was in the cafeteria sitting my himself randomly laughing as though he's having a brilliant idea, but it's just cringingly fake.
I think Lochley's worst performance was with the bat in "River of Souls."

 

[Ubik]

Wasn't he the guy who was having a break down in the middle of filming or something? At least we had Jeffrey Combs in the same episode to balance things out.

If I recall correctly, he was going through a bit of a rough divorce. So he was ANGRY... ALL THE TIME!

So was his character, so if that was true, IT FIT.

Fair point, but Martin is SO over the top that it borders on comedy. Ever seen ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’? His performance would have been right at home there. Sorry, I just can’t get past the over-acting, he’s awful in this episode.

 

[Springer]

If I recall correctly, he was going through a bit of a rough divorce. So he was ANGRY... ALL THE TIME!

So was his character, so if that was true, IT FIT.

Fair point, but Martin is SO over the top that it borders on comedy. Ever seen ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’? His performance would have been right at home there. Sorry, I just can’t get past the over-acting, he’s awful in this episode.

It did make him entertaining to watch though, even if for all the wrong reasons!

Looking at his imdb and wikipedia page, he has had shall we say an 'interesting' career - apparently he was an astrologer at one point (!), and has acted opposite Richard Burton. And he is the son of The Beatles producer George Martin.

 

[KoshN]

If I recall correctly, he was going through a bit of a rough divorce. So he was ANGRY... ALL THE TIME!

So was his character, so if that was true, IT FIT.

Fair point, but Martin is SO over the top that it borders on comedy. Ever seen ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’? His performance would have been right at home there. Sorry, I just can’t get past the over-acting, he’s awful in this episode.

No, I viewed his performance as that of a man who's held a grudge for so long that when it came to him being able to GET his revenge, he was extremely stressed and then cracked. I have no problem witb his performance.

 

[kaluno]

i very much enjoy the actress playing lyta's bad acting. sometimes she'll "Punch ..Every.. Word..In..A ..Sentence!!!" when she's supposed to be angry or what not and it's super soapy and comical. suits the character though in a weird round-about meta kinda way.

 

[Mororless]

To me Martin's performance as Ben Zayn's doesn't give the impression of "bad acting" so much as "misdirected" acting. Some of the guest performances(especially the minor roles) you got the sense that was really all the actor was capable of but Martin's Ben Zayn to me felt like something going really over the top because that's what he thought what was wanted for the role, maybe what he was told?

I do think its notable in season 1 that the show really doesn't have the kind of unified tone we see develop latter, especially in terms of actors performances. I notice as well that both Eyes and Babylon Squared with the only slightly less over the top Major Krantz were directed by Jim Johnston. He did a lot of good work in the series as well of course but at this stage seemed to favour making "outsider" Earthforce officers rather too cartoonish.

Worst performance ever on B5 for me would be from another Jim Johnston episode, the thuggish guy with the iron bar who challenges Sinclair in By Any Means Necessary.

 

[Wulf]

CC's mating dance makes me die a little on the inside. Though I'm willing to admit that I may have more of a problem with the scene than the acting.

Nearly any scene in the entire series when they were going for a laugh instead of a smile.

Penn and Teller, and every reaction to them.

 

[Springer]

I've just re-watched Racing Mars. Cap'n Jack and Number Two must rank up there amongst the worst actors.

Interesting observation about the Jim Johnston episodes. I'll have to go back and watch some and keep an eye out for this style of direction. Though if I recall his last episode was Point of No Return – I remember him complaining about Majel Barret Roddenberry's acting in that. There was plenty of opportunity for over the top Earthforce characters in that, but we had the excellently creepy Vaughn Armstrong as the Nightwatch guy. Even the Earthforce generals that talked to Sheridan were fairly considered.

 

[Mororless]

I've just re-watched Racing Mars. Cap'n Jack and Number Two must rank up there amongst the worst actors.

Interesting observation about the Jim Johnston episodes. I'll have to go back and watch some and keep an eye out for this style of direction. Though if I recall his last episode was Point of No Return – I remember him complaining about Majel Barret Roddenberry's acting in that. There was plenty of opportunity for over the top Earthforce characters in that, but we had the excellently creepy Vaughn Armstrong as the Nightwatch guy. Even the Earthforce generals that talked to Sheridan were fairly considered.

My feeling is that it was more a case of the directors and maybe even JMS himself(although I would guess his control might have been less than it was latter after the shows success) not really having as firm a grasp of what the tone of the show was going to be. You put the Ben Zayn character in an 80's Arnie action film for example and the acting would be totally fine. As you say he really nailed it with Vaughn Armstrong in a similar kind of role in the 3rd season when those problems seemed to largely be behind the show.

Strange that he had a problem with Roddenberry as I felt she was one of a long list of actors(including Vaughn Armstrong) who was better on B5 than they ever were on Trek, very commanding performance that even puts Jurasik in the shade a bit.

 

[freshair3]

Personally, I never really liked Byron. (ooh! my first post!) How did he get his hair to look so great in Down Below?

 

[Wulf]

With this being your first post, I'm going to remember you as Fres Hair 3.

How did he get his hair to look so great in Down Below?

Well, that's a remarkably personal question. Usually when you're grooming "down below" you go for an all or nothing approach. I'm not sure which way he went.