Jaxtraw wrote:
> Snake wrote:
>> "GeneK"
genek_hates_spammers.com> wrote in message
>> news:x9adnQPCSsYtmvfYnZ2dnUVZ_t-dnZ2d@comcast.com...>>> "EvilBill"
gmail.com> wrote...>>>> Elvis Gump wrote:
>>>>> Please it's only a notch or two above an Ed Wood production!
>>>>>
>>>> Ed Wood wasn't an amateur fan film-maker, though ;) They have to go
>>>> with what they can get.
>>> I tend to judge fanfilms by looser standards than the official
>>> releases. Even though they've managed to attract the participation
>>> of some original Trek talent, the bottom line is that these are
>>> amateurs playing in really big, elaborate Trek sim games, except
>>> that the objective is not to play Kirk, Spock, etc., but to play at
>>> being Shatner, Roddenberry and Jeffries. The standard for
>>> comparison is not an official Trek movie or episode, but the
>>> fan art displayed at cons and the videos people post of themselves
>>> dressed as Klingons at the old Universal Studios tour.
>>>
>>> Even with their obvious faults, I'd still rather watch one of the
>>> New Voyages webisodes than Nemesis or a rerun from Voyager
>>> or Enterprise.
>> With all respect to everyone, I think you are missing the point of New
>> Voyages. The point, if you read the early synopsis of the theory,
>> was NOT to impersonate Shatner's characterization of Kirk, Nimoy's
>> characterization of Spock, Kelley's characterization of McCoy, nor
>> *anyone* else involved in TOS. The /point/ of the New Voyages cast
>> is the belief that Kirk, Spock, McCoy and crew are the equivalent of
>> "King Lear" - eternal characters where each actor playing the role
>> will, and can, re-interpret the precise said characterization yet
>> still get, and give, the "essence" of the role.
>>
>> Every complaint here is about Crawley's Kirk not being like
>> Shatner's, John Kelley's McCoy not being like DeForest Kelley's,
>> Root's Scotty not being like Doohan's...
>>
>> THAT'S THE POINT.
>
> With all due respect, I think it's you that's missing the point in this
> case. Elvis isn't saying Cawley's a shitty Shatner, he's saying he's a
> shitty actor.
Yes that's what Elvis is saying! What Elvis is saying they aren't even
shitty actors but amateurs acting shittily. (did I just coin an new
obscenity?) What Elvis is saying is that no bucks, no Buck Rogers. Yeah
what Elvis is saying is - he hasn't had enough coffee this morning.
> That and the strange thing that the NV site stresses "diferent actors with
> different interpretations" yet Cawley seems at least to me to be clearly
> attempting a Shatner impression, or at least an impression of a narrow
> subset of Shatner, which over the 3 episodes he seems to have distilled down
> to the wrinkled nose thing. The best actor by quite a margin of the regular
> cast is De Salle guy.
Yeah, but then you are being generous because mostly who the hell
remembers what the LaSalle guy did in TOS anyway? I barely remember any
of them save for that other over-acting ham that played Riley or
whatever his name was. If only the crazy chick had actually poisoned him
dead...
But all the NV 'actors' are doing riffs of the original actors. How can
they hope not too? Did the Scotty guy justify not shaving the mustache
because who knows when Scotty grew it between the series and movies? See
what I mean?
You can go lalalanotlistening all you want but you can't make me pretend
that these guys are 'reintepreting' TOS.
You think that Abrams guy could get away with casting a taller 'Kirk'
than his 'Spock' for their reboot? Which I'm sure will also suck hard
because they are going to basically make the same mistake as this show.
They can't help but do so.
The re-imagination of BSG works because they tossed 80%% of the original
series ideas and had a cast that barely resembled in any way the cheese
of the original. They got away with it because the original wasn't that
much part of the cultural zeitgeist. But you wait, tinkering with TOS is
going to be a guaranteed dud just like last years "Superman Returns" was.
> Being harsh here- Cawley is a poor impressionist,
> anorexic Spock is miscast, and "McCoy" can't act at all, although it has to
> be said he's slightly improving over time. Mind you, the insertion of that
> ridiculous "I'm a doctor, not a..." line didn't help much either.
I can't even remember now what it is that damnit he ain't but I know I
was already ill from the guy's butchering McCoy before that. All you
have to do is remember these guys are someplace in NY state right? Are
you telling me in such a populated area that hell there aren't actors
that would audition for this thing and work for free all the way from
NYC? Surely the pool of actors could be cast wider.
> The thing about casting is that in order to do it right, harsh choices have
> to be made, which professional actors are well aware of. Casting is the very
> antithesis of Equal Opportunities. An amateur production that doesn't apply
> that will never aspire to professional quality, which NV is trying to do.
>
> The horribly flat, enervated direction doesn't help either, mind.
>
>
> Ian
This would be hard to pull off even if they had professionals. Look at
the awful "Roddenberry on Patrol" that guy from Voyager did. I was
stunned by how it wasn't even funny. It was obviously a riff on the far
superior and vastly funnier "Lucas in Love" parody of "Shakespeare in
Love" but even with all the so-called professionals it still sucked and
sucked hard.
What they really need to do though is try to tell stories that are worth
telling and that have something relevant to say, not just hey lets build
some sets and go through the motions for the thrill of playing dress up.
--
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have
others."
-- Groucho Marx
