yes they did
with movie budgets too

but tos had a 190,000 dollars budget give or take per episode

tng had 1,3 to 4 million per episode as the seasons went on

ds 9 had about the same

babylon 5 got 900,000 per episode

I was watching the tng episode cause and effect.

I think it's because he has certain mannerisms that are easy to parody and overexagerate. I always liked his acting in Star Trek fine, and I think he is a good actor in general (I recommend Andersonvile Trial for those who are not convinced).

I heard that Shatner's acting is that of acting in a Broadway stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvRBDQqSmY

It is indeed exaggerately theatrical. In the litteral sense, it's old-school theater play. It kinda works for dramatic tv series of that era (it is supported by the editing itself : shatner talks and moves around like a very self-conscious "epic hero", but camera angles such as dramatic down-top views at his appearance show that it is a collective intention), but it has aged even more than the rest of the series, now that tv/cinema has found its own "grammar", a more natural-like acting enabled by the "proximity" of the camera.

There has been a progressive de-theatralization of acting, in audio-visual medias (that style is now mostly present in parodies, and not just star trek based ones). And I am actually nostalgic of a certain amount of theatricality that has been lost. But Shatner may have been pushing it farther than anyone else, and may be actually overdoing it a bit.

For some reason I sort of bought his acting.

I kinda like the flair for the dramatic. I wonder what it would be like if Shatner stared in a Fantasy setting than Sci Fi.

Well, his style would be particularly fitting in old medieval or cloak and dagger movies/series, for instance. Where that style was particularly common (so much that it feels weird when it's discared for more natural attitude).

I really regret not being able to illustrate it with french references here, but actors like Jean Marais or Belmondo are typical of that genre, movies like Dujardin's "OSS117" or the older "Le Magnifique" ("The man from acapulco") are good exemples of parodies of that style, and the eries "Kaamelott" plays a lot on its subversion - with medieval heroes acting too casual. All these things are completely worth being checked out, if available somewhere with subtitles...

I think it worked fine for Star Trek, and works fine to this day. Patrick Stewart often remarked that doing Star Trek was not all that unlike doing Shakespeare on stage, as it has it has it's own hightened language.

I just watched the Drumhead.

I felt like giving the most patriotical salute to Picard!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjJN08uqt70

Star Trek at it's best, not much to add. One of the best and my fabourite episodes in all the series.

well it does help that tng had one of the very best actors ever to play the captain
stewart is in a class few others can even touch let alone compete ( christopher lee was one of them morgan freeman micheal gough and anthony hopkins are a few others i can think of )

I'd add Peter O'Toole and Stewart's best friend Ian McKellen, and maybe, only maybe Gary Oldman, John Hurt and Brian Cox.

Honestly, I thought Avery Brooks was a much better actor in Star Trek terms. Stewart was great and certainly had his moments but he lacked the different emotions that Sisko gave off.
Shatner can be hammy but when he really puts in the effort he does a wonderful job. You just need to watch Wrath of Khan of Star Trek VI as an example. He's fantastic in those films.

For me he never came close to Stewart. Not to say he was bad, and he had great moments, but on the whole he's just not in Stewart's league. I'd say Brooks would be third on my list if I was to rank the Trek captain actors, after Stewart and Shatner (though Sisko would only fourth if I went by characters - I liked Archer more).

Sisko does look badass though. My impression of him is that he is a fusion of Kirk and Picard.