Early Season 1 Crew

canadaboy_32 · November 6 2009, 05:07 AM

Is it just me or in the earlier episodes of the first season, did the writers try and introduce as many of the nameless extras as possible?

I know this was probably scaled back due to costs, but it was a great idea while it lasted!

Pauln6 · November 6 2009, 04:40 PM

There were a fair few characters who appeared in multiple episodes early on.

Christopher · November 6 2009, 05:02 PM

The original conception of TOS was much more of an ensemble series than it later became, and there was a conscious effort made to give it a flavor of everyday realism, to reject the fanciful portrayals of the future seen in other shows and films and present the Enterprise crew simply as working stiffs who happened to work in space. So yeah, there was something of an effort to establish a consistent ensemble of supporting characters. (Though sometimes it was a little uneven, for instance, having Eddie Paskey addressed as "Ryan" in one episode before they settled on "Leslie.")

Green Shirt · November 6 2009, 06:50 PM

He was also referred to as "Connors".

Neutral Zone · November 6 2009, 09:25 PM

Even though there were many new faces in the early days of TOS, there was quickly established a core group - Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, Chapel and Rand. I'm sure there are others but I think that these made up the basis of the TOS crew throughout with the exception of Cheov who came a little later.

Joel_Kirk · November 6 2009, 09:30 PM

Green Shirt wrote:

He was also referred to as "Connors".

Mr. Ryan Leslie Conners...?

Hmm...R.L. Conners...

Captain Robert April · November 7 2009, 12:53 AM

He's referred to as "Mr. Leslie" and "Lt. Leslie" fairly often, so the last name is pretty definitely Leslie (named after one of Shatner's daughters; the good captain felt that whatever scene they were doing at the time required Kirk to refer to the lieutenant by name, and apparently nobody remembered him being named, so he suggested Leslie).

tap364 · November 7 2009, 01:04 AM

I would have liked to see a few more recurring characters like O'Reilly and Kirks friend from the gym in Charlie X(can't remember his name).
Possibly an officers club to have more down-time interaction(Like 10 fwd). I guess the rec room filled that bill, although we saw very little of it.

-Troy

Christopher · November 7 2009, 05:43 AM

That's Kevin Riley, not O'Reilly. And Kirk's sparring partner was Sam, I think.

Myko · November 7 2009, 10:58 AM

Early season 1 got this completely right with tons of crewmembers running around in the corridors and walking the halls. The place was almost overcrowded enough to give Gideon a run for their money. Unfortunately with the budget cuts for season 2 and 3 the Enterprise turned into a ghost ship.

Sycho Nosk · November 7 2009, 11:17 AM

very interisting

Captain Robert April · November 7 2009, 08:20 PM

Christopher wrote:

That's Kevin Riley, not O'Reilly. And Kirk's sparring partner was Sam, I think.

I think part of the confusion comes from a combination of the one bit in "The Naked Time" when Spock asks where Sulu is and Riley's response is a jaunty "Have no fear, O'Riley's here!" and, of course, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

Christopher · November 7 2009, 08:29 PM

Well, before that there was Radar O'Reilly. I've seen Kevin Riley's name misspelled a lot over the decades. I think there's even a professionally published novel (an old one) which misspells his name as Reilly.

Captain Robert April · November 7 2009, 08:36 PM

Forgot all about Radar.

Misspelling Riley as "Reilly" is forgivable, sticking the O in there, not so much.

GhostFaceSaint · November 7 2009, 08:52 PM

O'Riley was a fun character, too bad he didn't make it past the first season.

tap364 · November 7 2009, 10:02 PM

Captain Robert April wrote:

Christopher wrote:

That's Kevin Riley, not O'Reilly. And Kirk's sparring partner was Sam, I think.

I think part of the confusion comes from a combination of the one bit in "The Naked Time" when Spock asks where Sulu is and Riley's response is a jaunty "Have no fear, O'Riley's here!" and, of course, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

That's the exact scene I was thinking of when I wrote that!
And I will admit I've seen more of Bill O'Reilly lately then Kevin RILEY...

I will try to avoid such transgressions in the future.

-Troy

Phoenicianknight · November 8 2009, 01:10 AM

O' Rilley?

Captain Robert April · November 8 2009, 03:37 AM

GhostFaceSaint wrote:

O'Riley was a fun character, too bad he didn't make it past the first season.

In the very next post, no less....

T'Girl · November 8 2009, 09:29 AM

So did Eddie Paskey portray three different characters? Or did Lt. Ryan marry a Betazed female and take on the family name of Leslie?

Christopher · November 8 2009, 03:50 PM

Eddie Paskey played plenty of different background characters. He was an Ekosian guard in "Patterns of Force," and he even drove the truck that killed Edith Keeler!

Funny story: In the Mission: Impossible episode "The Ransom," Paskey played a member of the IMF team for the mission that week... and his role in the mission was to take the place of an unconscious criminal so his police guard wouldn't know the team had taken him. That's right -- Paskey's character's whole purpose on the mission was to be a stand-in! He didn't even have a line of dialogue. And since the character was never named onscreen, I like to think that the IMF team recruited the real Eddie Paskey to do what he did best.