Wht is the the worst of all 726 hours of Star Trek? Dagger Of The Mind, Spock’s Brain, And The Children Shall Lead, Turnabout Intruder, Tin Man, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.

Though, don’t they only pick non-plus actors because they are very cheap on the wages. If the Series fails no big deal, if it succeeds, your production company is still well ahead?

I mean who really was Terry Farrell, Alexander Siddig or Chase Masterson before DS9? Take Andrew Robinson, he was a significant star. I.e. The bad guy in a Dirty Harry movie, played in a couple of TV movies, then became a bit character, before he landing DS9.

(In actually, there is a background of many Star Trek actors who knew or had worked with other cast members in non-Star Trek roles. It not how good you are, it is who you know!)

The producers selected less talented actors to play more average people?

LOL. No, sorry.

Just casting problems.

That’s the genius of DS9, in that an open spaceport would be expected to have a diversity of peoples with different abilities and qualities. The actors mimic that well, IMO, that is why they were selected. I agree very much with the rest of your appraisal.

Interesting to hear about this early tension with Avery Brooks. He’s a very solid actor, but both he and the writers took a while to find Sisko’s voice. He was unique among the Trek captains in starting out lost and broken; Brooks’s low-key performance worked fine for that, but Sisko had to regain his confidence before Brooks could really sink his teeth into the role. It’s odd to watch Commander Sisko now, when it was as Captain Sisko that he came into his own.

That said, he’s no Patrick Stewart — who is? The comparison is apt, because Picard became Stewart more than the other way around. Brooks isn’t that kind of passionate, theatrical actor, and when he tried to be, he tended to overdo it a bit. When Sisko is hanging out with Jake or trading dark words and veiled threats with Dukat, I forget I’m watching an actor. When he throws Garak across a room and yells at him, I remember.

One of these days I’ve gotta see some Spenser For Hire. If Brooks was “magnificent” as Hawk, it must be worth checking out.

It kind of fit the character’s backstory; he was a lost man trying to find his way again. When I watch the show now, that’s how I imagine things and his acting doesn’t bother me nearly as bad. It actually seems in character.

When he shaved the head and grew the goatee (and got the extra pip), Sisko was born. This was the Sisko that eventually rocketed to the top of my favorite Captain’s list, or at least tied him with Kirk.

I really liked him as Hawk. I was kind of too young for Spencer for Hire, just barely (I’d seen a few episodes) but I watched the short-lived A Man Called Hawk spinoff and really enjoyed it. I liked the character so much that I used Hawk as an NPC in a Top Secret RPG I used to GM. (Yeah I know that’s really lame; I was a kid.)

As Sisko at first he seemed like a shell of that other actor. It was weird. I had been so pumped about the casting choice, and I felt really cheated.

I think he’s right, the main cast of DS9 was the most uneven. I really liked Visitor even though in S1 her character was the least likeable (and Brooks eventually). And I liked all of the others too, but they were just good, not necessarily fantastic. That show was much more about the writing. And the guest acting, oh man. The regulars may not have been the best, but their stable of recurring characters was unbelievable, amazing, phenomenal acting talent. Better than the regular cast of ANY Trek show before OR since.

I’m not one who enjoys comparisons, but Avery Brooks was a knockout in the later seasons of DS9. “In the Pale Moonlight” and “Far Beyond the Stars” are excellent examples of that. His early years may not have been on the same level as Patrick Stewart, but when he came into his own . . . he was brilliant.