Kevin's Watch

After what should prove to be 3 very successful X-men films, has Patrick Stewart had more success in film as Professor X or as Captain Picard?

Personally its kind of hard for me to gauge. Stewart has been Picard to me since 1987 but the Star Trek film franchise featuring the STNG cast hasn't faired all the well. Now with the popularity of the X-men films I wonder if Stewart is now becoming more widely thought of as the good Professor than the slowly fading image of Picard. I'm sure die hard Star Trek fans would cry NAY! Where most everyone else may have the opposite view.

No. xmen is just somethin he does on the side, will always be *sigh*
Jean-Luc!

the traitor Jean Luc Picard died when Locutus was born.....

besides, Professor X does more good for more deserving people

If I'm to be completely honest Stewart will always be Picard to me. Unless I'm actually watching an X-men film of course.

Well obviously to me he'll always be Picard - but in terms of casting, I think he makes a fantastic Professor X. It's difficult to think of anyone else in that role, but it is possible that anyone could have played Picard.

He is a Shakespearean stage actor who dabbles in movies now and then.

Gurney Halleck

Can't he be both? Wait, no he can't, because Jean-Luc is such a freaking cool name.

Captain Picard. But then I have to confess I have never seen any of the X-Men movies.

Loremaster wrote:Gurney Halleck

Good point!

Loremaster wrote:Gurney Halleck

That's what I thought when I saw Stewart in TNG. Hey, it's Gurney!

dlbpharmd wrote:Well obviously to me he'll always be Picard - but in terms of casting, I think he makes a fantastic Professor X. It's difficult to think of anyone else in that role, but it is possible that anyone could have played Picard.

Good point. After seeing Stewart as Xavier, I can't imagine anyone else in that role either. Just as I can't imagine anyone else but Ian McKellan as Gandalf now. (As Magneto, though, I know at least one person who thought McKellan was miscast for that role. )

By default I think of Stewart as Picard, but as TOM pointed out, the Next Gen Trek movies have not been received all that well (either commercially or critically). Personally, I thought they were all mediocre (at best). Meanwhile, the X-Men movies were very profitable and very well regarded. I haven't seen X2, but the near-universal praise it has received speaks for it. Maybe it boils down to whether you want to remember Stewart as a movie icon or as a television icon. At the movies, he rules as Xavier. On the tube, he rules as Picard. (No, wait, Kirk still rules. Er, never mind.)

I voted for Picard, but clearly all the buzz these days is over the next X-Men movie, while ST:TNG is dead as a big screen franchise. I hope for Stewart's sake that he steers clear of any offers to play Picard again. (But I guess if the paycheque is big enough...) Now if the third X-Men film turns out a stinker (which is certainly possible, given that Bryan Singer is no longer at the helm) then we'll be revisiting this topic...

I look at Stewart as Xavier not as a stroke of casting genius,but as a no-brainer.I had said more that once that if an X-Men movie was ever made Patrick Stewart would have to play Xavier,and he had been fantasy cast for years by X-Men fans in that role.Magneto,the role that actually required thought was horribly miscast.I actuall have no trouble thinking of Stewart as owning both roles,as a joke they should have him tell Cyclops to "make it so" .

Well some actors manage to spring from one memorable role to another. Patrick Stewart is one of those people. He did a masterful job as the Erotic Cake Salesman on Saturday Night Live. Then there is Jonathan Frakes who after Star Trek is so well known for his role in....er.....um.. hang on, well how about Marina Sirtis? After leaving Troi behind she went on to...um....well how about Michael Dorn Worf was just a stepping stone to...er....uh.....Gates McFadden dropped Dr. Crusher and....wait a second...I saw her in one of those Jack Ryan films.... but back to Patrick Stewart, outside of Dune I think the first time I saw him was as a Doctor or Psychiatrist that at one point gets possessed in the film Lifeforce.

Well at least William Shatner has a pretty nifty gig with Boston Legal and a pitchman for Priceline.

Leondegrance in Excalibur!

danlo wrote:Leondegrance in Excalibur!

HA! yes! you rock danlo.

aTOMiC wrote: Well at least William Shatner has a pretty nifty gig with Boston Legal and a pitchman for Priceline.

Don't forget that he had a successful run on TV in the '80s as T.J. Hooker. (Oh, wait, I only watched that show to get a glimpse of Heather Locklear...)

And his TEK Wars books were pretty good as was the short lived series based on them.

the Leftenant in the Plague Dogs movie.

...he was in I, Claudius too....saw it on PBS......with HAIR!

The Esmer wrote:...he was in I, Claudius too....saw it on PBS......with HAIR!

Wig, no doubt. He started losing his hair in his 20s.