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Whats up with the acting?

I

Ingram

Member
I've just started season 4 after a fairly long break from finishing season 3 and I'm noticing a lot of terrible acting by a lot of the cast. I've never noticed it before when watching seasons 1-3. This is basicially my first time seeing S4 and eventually S5. But I hope it get's better. I don't think any of the cast can deal with grief very well at the moment. Maybe I'm just being too critical :p
 
Pretty much the first 3-4 episodes. I'm now up to disc 3 and it's all back to how I expected the acting to be.

But for the first few eps I felt Delenn's grief was not acted very well. And the Doctor was not up to scratch too during all of this. And Vir seemed a little off. Enough to make me stop believing they were the characters anyway.

But as I said, all is good now that I'm well into the series :)
 
Hmm, I thought Mira Furlan did a good job in those episodes. And Vir lost a lot of weight between seasons, and isn't so bumbling, so maybe what you are seeing is that the character is growing and changing, and not bad acting. I thought Stephen Furst was particularly good in The Long Night. And Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas are outstanding in those episodes! And then theres the delightful over-the-topness of the Emperor... ok, I'm gushing now. But to answer you're question, I didn't notice anything wrong with the main cast.

Though some of the extras aren't that great, like the woman that Sheridan helps through the crowd in Falling... she was terrible!
 
The extras in Babylon 5 were part of its charm. I love the over the top looks or sneers that certain characters get.

As for S4's acting, I think the change in pace for the first four ep's of season Four, from slow plot withdrawl to breakneck revelation may have affected the cast. They also had to cope with a lot more exposition dialogue, something that is never easy on a sci-fi show.
 
The acting in the first 6 eps of season 4 is just spectacular in my opinion! These are some of the best eps of the series, and everyone does an excellent job from Bruce to Andreas to Wortham Krimmer and Wayne Alexander. ;)
 
Sorry to be blunt Ingram, but I think you need to learn some manners.

No one here has a problem with anyone holding a different opinion than theirs and, after all, that is all you are expressing, and opinion. Personally I agree with the others that the performances in early season 4 were on a par with anything else produced in the 5 season run.

That is not because I am a fanboy, but because that is my opinion of what I saw on screen. I happen to think that some of the acting in season 1 was ... patchy ... at best, but that is my opinion. Others here don't share that, but that doesn't give me the right to dismiss their opinion.

Your response says "I am right and the fact that you don't agree with me makes you a fanboy who isn't capable of making an objective judgement about it."

You may have said it tongue in cheek without meaning it to be taken seriously, but after only 6 posts on the board there is no way we can judge that, and I certainly take offence at the implication that I am a small-minded fanboy incapable of making a sensible judgement for myself over the quality of acting in the show.
 
I didn't find it offensive. Actually I smiled when I read it, especially as my own post above probably came across a little 'fanboyish'!.
 
Touchy aren't you? I did say it tongue in cheek. Afterall am I not posting here as well?
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No, not touchy at all ... just annoyed by the implication that someone can't hold a contrary opinion to yours without being branded a "fanboy", with all the baggage that the term carries with it.

The problem with tongue-in-cheek remarks on web discussion boards is that there is nothing to go on but the written word. If you have been around long enough for other posters to know your style it is generally not an issue, but when you are new it isn't so straightforward.

My response, now I read it back, was stronger than I intended, and for that I apologise ... but can I (politely) suggest that you brush up your knowledge of nettiquette.

And, welcome to the board, BTW. :D
 
I felt the :p was a fairly obvious flag to indicate my comment was a tongue in cheek remark. I don't think I need to brush up on my knowledge of nettiquette considering I have been a member of roughly 15+ forums for years. I own my own forum and moderate on a PC gaming magazines official forums.

With that cleared up. Thankyou for welcoming me. Now I shall go back to watching Thirdspace and keeping a keen eye out for more poor acting!

To add to this though I finished watching the Gathering earlier. That Takanmishi whatever chic was terrible. I did not spot a single expression of emotion in the entire movie. She was basicially just reading lines. The most hollow character I have ever watched and I've watched a lot! The Doctor Ben dude was also simular but at least he managed to get some decent lines happening. I can see why both of them didn't make the series.
 
I felt the :p was a fairly obvious flag to indicate my comment was a tongue in cheek remark. I don't think I need to brush up on my knowledge of nettiquette considering I have been a member of roughly 15+ forums for years. I own my own forum and moderate on a PC gaming magazines official forums.
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In which case you must also know that that same emoticon is used as a 'sticking out your tongue' symbol and as a 'Bronx cheer'. The combination of that and the 'fanboy' comment was...unfortunate.

Jan
 
The acting in the first 6 eps of season 4 is just spectacular in my opinion! These are some of the best eps of the series, and everyone does an excellent job from Bruce to Andreas to Wortham Krimmer and Wayne Alexander.
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I agree, I love those six episodes with The Hour of the Wolf and Into the Fire being just slightly lower in my book than the middle four (but just by the difference between A and A+). Throw in the last three eps of season three (all A+'s in my book), and the entire season 3 to 4 transition is my favorite "clump" of episodes in the entire series.

The acting, overall, is pretty acceptable to me, and sometimes outstanding, especially from Katsulas as G'Kar and Jurasik as Londo. If there's any acting that is weaker than standard, I'd say it would have to be during the crying scenes.

Crying is probably one of the harder things for an actor to do. Some can do it well (Robin Wright Penn), and some can't (Matt Damon). There is one time, I think in Hour of the Wolf, that Ivanova is doing a little crying, and it doesn't quite come off right. Even when an actor cries convincingly, it can still be slightly annoying. When Delenn cries, as she does a little in her argument with Sheridan in Z'ha'dum, her voice quivers in a way that bugs me just a little.

I can also see how some may not like Wortham Krimmer's acting as the Centauri Emperor, because it is *way* over the top. Oddly enough, I like it. It's consistently over the top and over the top in a good way. He's crazy, so you shouldn't expect him to be even keel. The heirarchy for the throne must have been pretty sucky for them to have to fill Turhan's place with his nephew, and surely Cartagia's insanity was noticeable before taking the thrown. Man, were they desperate. Nonetheless, great character, cool name, impressive performance.

And, Wayne Alexander as Lorien... Perfect.
 
That Takanmishi whatever chic was terrible. I did not spot a single expression of emotion in the entire movie. She was basicially just reading lines. The most hollow character I have ever watched and I've watched a lot! The Doctor Ben dude was also simular but at least he managed to get some decent lines happening. I can see why both of them didn't make the series.
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Also that there was a whole year between when The Gathering was produced and when the series itself went into production causing options on contracts to expire didn't help.

I personally like Takashima and wish she had stayed since she would have been gone by the end of season two anyway. It would have been more poinient had the original plan worked out so she could shoot Garibaldi in the back instead of his second in command and then eventually get revealed to contain the Control artificially created personality that jms used to take Talia out of the picture. You know, it wasn't until recently that I actually finally noticed Laurel Takashima's name show up on the handprint door unlocker outside of Dell Varner's quarters in The Gathering.
 
Well, my general opinion of the acting in B5 is that a couple / few of the actors, while well cast for their roles, don't have quite the acting range that some of the others do. (What do you expect? They're not all going to have exactly the same ability.) *Occassionally* that becomes noticable in some particular scene or other.

However, I *certainly* do not count Mira among that group. I always found the threee alien ambassadors collectively to be the strongest actors in the group, with the broadest range and greatest depth. (At least in terms of what is demonstrated in B5.)

One man's opinion, for what little that's worth.
 
Well, my general opinion of the acting in B5 is that a couple / few of the actors, while well cast for their roles, don't have quite the acting range that some of the others do. (What do you expect? They're not all going to have exactly the same ability.) *Occassionally* that becomes noticable in some particular scene or other.

However, I *certainly* do not count Mira among that group. I always found the threee alien ambassadors collectively to be the strongest actors in the group, with the broadest range and greatest depth. (At least in terms of what is demonstrated in B5.)

One man's opinion, for what little that's worth.
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I think Vir Cotto/Stephen Furst had some great moments in S4, including early on, when he goes to tell Ivanova what he knows of what happened at Z'ha'dum.
 
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