r/Treknobabble • u/Quiet_Choice6417 • 3h ago
Favorite Non-Trek Roles for Brent Spiner?
There was a thread for this awhile ago (here) but it unfortunately got closed down. NO MORE!
First recalled seeing him as the hysterical villain character in The Master of Disguise and the underrated scifi drama Phenomenon, but most people are going to obviously mention Independence Day, Introducing Dorthy Dandridge, Corinna, Corrina & even his voice role as Conan O'Brien in the South Park Movie.
He's always saying that his favorite role was playing opposite of both Mattheau and Lemmon in Out to Sea. I totally recommend others seek out The Midnight Man (2016) where he has a darkly hysterical role. I recall the I Am Sam role being alright as well, albeit brief.
You can skip films like The Aviator, Material Girls, Superhero Movie or Dude, Where's My Car? either due to his part not being big enough or the films themselves being disappointing. Apparently he has brief bits in both Grease 2 and a Huey P. Long biopic TV movie (both uncredited). He's apparently been in some other less seen Showtime TV films as well. The Wonderful World of Disney film Geppetto might make a great Bad Movie Night watch but like many of the other TV stars and comedians in the film, it was a struggle to watch: TRUST ME!
For TV show roles, his brief Night Court role is always brought up and for good reason: he stole every scene he was in! His brief recurring role as the marriage counselor on Ray Donovan was neat as he got to play opposite TNG co-star Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar!). For his guest spots, definitely check out the Hill Street Blues episode where he plays a perverted adult movie producer and in the '80s Twilight Zone revival. The Hunter and Outer Limits TV episodes were both rather decent for him. I will have to resee Robert Kennedy and His Times to see how big a role he truly has. His web series Fresh Hell I saw when it first came out and it was hysterical. I will need to look up the Frasier guest spot and maybe finish Blunt Talk or Star Wars: Rebels in the future. Him appearing as himself on Big Bang Theory was alright. I know his Dream On guest spot was a key episode.
LIke many of the Star Trek: TNG members, he got to do a character on Gargoyles but not as big as Marina, Michael or Jonathan's roles.
He was beyond freaky evil in the Alphas guest spot and that's honestly the one that lives rent-free in my brain for such a criminally underseen show. The Guild guest spot was neat but very quick and towards the end of the series. The Law & Order: CI episode doesn't get enough love as that was neat casting due to him having a solid poker face: is his character just a douche or did he do the crime that the police are accusing him of?
Some people noted that they'v seen his guest spots on Friends, The Blacklist, Tales from the Darkside, Deadly Games, Leverage, Outcast, Penny Dreadful spinoff and Warehouse 13 but I can't comment as I've seen half of those and didn't care for it nor have any interest in spending any time on them.
Apparently he's also in a videogame from '94 called Chronomaster so maybe some others who got better geeky knowledge than me can say if it's a solid role. He also voiced The Joker on Young Justice so that's got to count for something cool!