Cast the Characters of Trek Literature

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Haval_Runa, Apr 10, 2006.

  1. captcalhoun

    captcalhoun Admiral Admiral

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    nah, Chiklis from the Shield should play Kebron.

    Brikar's the species, FYI
     
  2. JeremyW

    JeremyW Commander Red Shirt

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    Well, I've read many of these new titles, and I'm fascinated by how many different interpretations people come up with for the various characters...I'll go and list my preferences

    Admiral Akaar: Powers Boothe
    Min Zife: Greg Itzin
    Koll Azernal: Peter MacNicol OR Larry Hagman
    Elias Vaughn: John Forsythe
    Nan Bacco: Linda Gray
    Miranda Kadohata: Reiko Aylesworth was the first person that came to mind when I read this. She just seems to have the attitude, and after recently re-watching '24: Day Four', she seems to fit Kadohata's mold, especially as she's seen in Before Dishonor
    Leybenzon: Kiefer Sutherland
    Phuong: Tzi Ma
    Asarem Wadeen: Jayne Atkinson
    Darrah Mace: Steve Carrell
    Christine Vale: Kim Raver
    Lagan Serra: Sarah Clarke
    T'Latrek of Vulcan: In her prime days, Victoria Principal
     
  3. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Really? I don't see that at all.
     
  4. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'd say reverse Itzin and MacNicol. Azernal always stuck me as being much tougher, and Zife as being much more timid. MacNicol is able to do that timidity very well while mixing it with a sense of real responsibility, while Itzin can do menace very well.

    Though, really, I'd prefer to see Bruce McGill. ;)
     
  5. KRAD

    KRAD Keith R.A. DeCandido Admiral

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    Oooh, interesting. I like that choice a lot....


    Interesting, though Ian McShane will always be Koll Azernal to me....


    :eek: Uh, speaking as the character's creator, I have to give this a hell, no. Sorry, but that just doesn't work for me at all....


    Interesting. My personal best choice is Stephanie Jacobsen, but I can see Ayelsworth, no problem.


    Can he do a Russian accent? :lol: He's not really the body type I pictured, honestly...


    Too pale. Asarem has consistently been described as dark-skinned.


    I actually like both these choices. (You also really like 24 don'tcha? :) )


    Ooh, not bad. My personal choice for her is Dame Judi Dench, but Principal is an interesting choice....
     
  6. JeremyW

    JeremyW Commander Red Shirt

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    Wow...I never expected my whole list to be dissected like that LOL. Kinda weird. To address the first question of why Steve Carrell? After watching him in The Office and more recently Dan In Real Life, I find that I enjoy Carrell much better in the more serious role. Mace I found to be serious, with that bit of him to make him more personable, and beyond the stoic law enforcement type. The growth of Carrell in Dan In Real Life made me think that with even further development, he could take on a role like Mace. And besides, it'd be kinda funny to see him take on a young Ro Laren. But yeah, if you're basing Carrell off just stuff like The 40 Year Old Virgin or Evan Almighty, then you're right. It doesn't fit.

    As for Linda Gray...this was a risk, and a big one to be sure. Keith, I totally concur that Nan Bacco is far from a delusional drunk who takes forever to realize her husband's a jerk and leaves him just to somehow always wanting to be with him. However, this is kind of what drew me to think of Linda Gray...the portrayal of Sue Ellen Ewing in the two television movies J.R Returns and more importantly The War Of The Ewings shifted a lot. After all the years of crap and abuse, Sue Ellen did come into her own. I preferred her portrayal in 2 hours than I did in all the season of Dallas she was in, well, except towards the end. Sue Ellen had power, and she controlled the situation, and didn't tolerate crap. Watching her rip Bobby apart over his reluctance to take Ewing Oil by the horns was classic. But then again, that's just me.

    Victoria Principal in her prime as T'Latrek...I won't lie...I watched Dallas after its run on television (at least, most of it)...I was a teenager and saw it on re-runs and started to watch, because I liked big stories that continued week after week (I was also madly in love with Deep Space Nine at this point too). Pam Ewing...in her later seasons, I loved her. I loved how Principal played the part, and loved how she looked. (in her day, she was hot!) Make her a Vulcan, give her Pam's confidence coupled with Vulcan stoicism, and boom! You got T'Latrek...but now, I couldn't see Principal in the part. Remember her in her cameo on Family Guy???

    Larry Hagman as Koll Azernal... Azernal in some regards for me totally reaked of J.R Ewing... his handling of the whole Tezwa affair even as saying what he did to Quafina (which is one of the best quotes I've ever read)...it just seeped of the things J.R would say to everybody and everyone who dared to screw around with him, especially if they screwed up big time. I'll address Peter MacNicol later, but to contrast, Koll Azernal could also in my mind be played by Hagman's Dallas nemesis, Ken Kercheval, who most would remember as Cliff Barnes. Sure, Cliff's character was the typical, "oh look at me, I'm so unfortunate" shallow thinking character, but in some instances, Cliff had great moments. Those great moments involved when he got as down and dirty as J.R and came out on top. Seeing the look on J.R's face when Cliff told him that he had acquired Ewing Oil was priceless, and also seeing the look on Cliff's face when he finally won. Azernal was smart, sneaky, pompous and had a huge ego. I found his big failing though was as much as he was smart, there were other people that were as smart as him, if not smarter, running around and planning for every possible contingency. It was like stratagema...Data played a defensive game, and ultimately won it 'cause Kolrami backed out. I see Azernal as much as the same.

    As for the cast of 24-Redux in Trek Lit, Powers Boothe seemed like one of the most logical choices for Akaar considering his dominant presence. It kind of makes me sad that he was never cast before Season Six because it would have been nice to see how well he would have reacted to Lynne Kresge (played by Michelle Forbes). Then, we could have had a remake of Unity at District in Season 2.

    I dunno if the Kief can do Russian, but maybe not so much the body, but the face. When I read Q&A, and more importantly to validate my choice, Before Dishonor, I can totally see Sutherland get in Picard's face. For me, it was almost like watching Jack Bauer rip into his superiors at CTU, or specifically, ripping into James Heller at the end of Day Six. There was passion behind what Leybenzon did, and his passion was justified, even if his methods weren't. He wouldn't apologize, and neither would Jack. And in essence, Bauer's an extension of Sutherland. I also saw him in The Sentinel and loved it.... as he calls his character there, "the antithesis of Jack Bauer". Just another dynamic to our new Enterprise tactical officer. If not Kiefer, then of course, you can always go with Rick Schroder (no, not as his Silver Spoons dynamic) but with his Doyle approach, or his NYPD Blue approach....I'm leaning towards Doyle more. Hey, he's LDS and I gotta have at least one of them in the mix. LOL (that's just me...dismiss that last part at your leisure)

    Well, as for Jayne Atkinson....we can always try and make her darker. So long as you don't put Regina King in there, then I'm happy. I wasn't a huge Sandra Palmer fan during Day Six, and I couldn't stand her in The Unit. I don't know if this would work better, but Marisol Nichols (Nadia Yassir) could also be a more suitable choice...I should go back and see just how 'dark' Asarem's described as...boy did I miss that one.

    I liked Kim Raver a lot in Day Five...especially when she was at CTU and hadn't had much interaction with Jack yet...(so before the sentox nerve gas neutralizes CTU for at least an hour). She was getting her hands dirty, she was in Lynn McGill's face, mobilizing Chloe and Edgar...Audrey had a lot going for her. Even towards the end of the season where she and Jack worked to bring in Logan together, and Audrey working to circumvent Miles Papazian and Karen Hayes....to me, that personifies Christine Vale's character...Vale gets results and can mix it up with the best of them.

    As for Sarah Clarke...Serra's role was short but important. I saw Sarah Clarke (or Sarah Berkeley as we should refer to her) in this role because she is very present in the scenes she's in. She commands attention, and can work with the other actors in the scene. Serra, although a relative newcomer to Federation politics, considering Bajor's admittance into the Federation was only a few years old at this point, Serra knew what was going on, and was no slouch. Clarke was no slouch in any role I've seen her in, especially that of Nina Myers. However, Clarke has a better role suited for her: Counselor T'Lana. Remember how straight-face Nina was when she told Jack about Teri, and how she totally screwed with Tony's head after being brought into CTU, and just how she was a general b**** to everybody... T'Lana strikes me that way. And yet, it's all a mask to cover her own dark past. Clarke plays great dark characters.

    As for Peter MacNicol as Azernal...Tom Lennox was a dork. Tom Lennox was smart, knew the rules of the game, assumed he knew better than the President (and sometimes, did), and knew how to manipulate all those around him. Come on...Karen Hayes was no slouch, and Lennox totally screwed around with her in the first part of D6...another reason why MacNicol's portrayal of Lennox would suit him well as Azernal.
    But for all the 24 fans out there, I'm sure someone's screaming, "Where's Chloe?" Mary-Lynn Rajskub is not forgotten, but her role's not as memorable in my mind (at least, not what I can think of). Recently, I can see Mary-Lynn as Sara Nave from Resistance. Just Sara's whole demeanor and countenance made me scream in my head, "It's Chloe O'Brian!". And the fact that she can pilot and shoot...well, Chloe's a jack of all trades...just don't send her out on field assignments.

    And yes, Keith....I am a 24 die-hard fan! It's unfortunate I'm going to miss the Season 7 Prequel and Seasons 7 and 8.

    But now I come to an end of my musings.
     
  7. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    I'll just say that I've always pictured Gregory Itzin as President Min Zife, and my personal preference for Koll Azernal is Ian McShane.

    It also should come as no surprise that I agree with KRAD about Stephanie Jacobsen as Miranda Kadohata (since I suggested her to him), and I still can't help but picture Katee Sackhoff as Vale...although Hilary Swank runs a close second.

    And for Leonard James Akaar? I've been picturing a white-haired Ralf Moeller
     
  8. fleetcaptain

    fleetcaptain Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Actually someone over on photomanipulation trek did a pic of Hilary Swank as Vale and she looked like her in a way. I have to agree about Stephanie Jacobsen as well as Miranda Kadohata, mostly because she alway has the British accent in the first place.
     
  9. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

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    Actually, Stephanie Jacobsen's accent is Australian, but I imagine she could approximate a London-esque (aka "Port Shangri-La") accent with a bit of coaching... :)
     
  10. JeremyW

    JeremyW Commander Red Shirt

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    Holy flip! I didn't realize I even knew WHO McShane was until I went to the hyperlink. He was Don Lockwood! Heck, I loved that character! And I always thought he was the perfect one to play the part. (I should probably confess again that I'm a huge Dallas geek too.)

    Yeah, I can totally see McShane in the part as well....wow...4 actors to play one character...I suppose that's where healthy discussion comes in. If a character is that well written and multi-faceted, why not? But, I can say if they 'ever' did cast him as Azernal, I wouldn't complain.
     
  11. flandry84

    flandry84 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    In my mind,President Bacco resembles Rita Moreno.
     
  12. BrotherBenny

    BrotherBenny Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think that Dame Judi Dench is the one to play Bacco. Her time as "M" in Bond shows how well she could play the role.
     
  13. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    FYI, Stephanie Jacobson is going to be costarring with Colm Meany in the American version of Life on Mars.
     
  14. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ironic. A supposedly American show, yet so few of the cast appear to actually *be* Americans. :lol:
     
  15. fleetcaptain

    fleetcaptain Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I didn't know that. Sounds interesting. Hope it stays on the air unlike some shows lately.
     
  16. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    :guffaw:I didn't even notice that before. I just hope it's good, because I've always liked Colm Meany, and Stephanie Chaves-Jacobson (as she's credited in LoM) was pretty cool in BSG: Razor.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^^Isn't that how she was credited in Razor too?
     
  18. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I actually just checked the box for it earlier this morning, and she was credited as Stephanie Jacobson in Razor.
     
  19. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know why they don't just import the original British version of the show.
     
  20. Trent Roman

    Trent Roman Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Actually, this is one of very few cases where I think there's a legitimate case for making an American remake of a British show (unlike, say, the attempt at an American 'Red Dwarf'). This show is essentially about the culture shock between time periods, and since American and Britain had/have different cultures (particularly in the Los Angeles region, which is where the new show will be set), the American version--if done well--won't just be a retread but should have all new vistas to explore usign the same premise. What I don't get is why the American show is sticking with the early seventies timeframe as the British counterpart - it seems to me that placing it in the mid-sixties, contemporaneous with the civil rights and counterculture movements, would have a lot more dramatic potential.

    As for the actors - they actually tried to get the British leads to come over and do the American version of the show, but they were busy with other projects. So the original idea called for an even more international cast.

    Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman