Why didn't Q appear in any of the TNG films?

[RyanKCR]

Christopher wrote:

---

A story where the primary threat is to a guest star rather than the leads? Might fly in the series, but not a movie.

Unless that threat to the guest star has even greater repercussions to the leads.

[Broccoli]

Christopher wrote:

---

I don't know why you'd think that. Scripts get rewritten constantly and to excess in the feature film business. Script drafts are considered as disposable as tissue paper.

Exactly. And the way the TNG movies were done, the writer pretty much stayed with the project the entire way through doing rewrites (at least, according to Michael Piller).

Plus, if they were worried about actor availability, they probably would have signed DeLancie after a first or second draft was completed.

Christopher wrote:

---

A story where the primary threat is to a guest star rather than the leads? Might fly in the series, but not a movie.

For Q to work in a film would be to place him in a role not too different than what his role was in "Encounter at Farpoint", "Q Who", or "All Good Things" where he wasn't the star or central antagonist, but rather there to propel the characters on whatever else is going on. Just my two cents.

[Python Trek]

Christopher wrote:

---

Good grief, you're right -- not that Q should've been in a movie, but that he essentially is Mr. Mxyzptlk in every major respect. Wow, as if I didn't already think he was a silly enough concept...

I find sarcasm to be sexy. What's your phone number?

[Christopher]

I wasn't being the least bit sarcastic. Q is Mxy. I never quite realized just how identical they are.

[Python Trek]

Christopher wrote:

---

I wasn't being the least bit sarcastic. Q is Mxy. I never quite realized just how identical they are.

Ooops! Sorry! I'm so used to snark on the 'net, that I can't even spot sincerity anymore.

[Therin of Andor]

BriGuy wrote:

---

Then how do you explain when a project gets initiated specifically with one actor in mind?

Please name some.

Roles in certain TV shows and movies are written with an actor in mind

I said earlier, I wasn't discussing TV shows. The regulars already have contracts, and sometimes clauses to cover potential spin-offs. I was talking about major motion pictures. Studios do not usually commission a major motion picture to revolve around one particular actor in the guest-starring role.

entire TV shows and movies are birthed to be "vehicles" for a particular actor.

And often that actor's production team has commissioned the script. Or the actor has an outstanding contract for an unproduced movie to be made starring him/her.

Sometimes they don't get them and abandon or go to someone else, but things are created with one person in mind.

Would most ST fans be satisfied with a ST movie script written expressly for John de Lancie as Q, but with Q being played by a new actor.

No.

[Christopher]

Therin of Andor wrote:

---

I said earlier, I wasn't discussing TV shows. The regulars already have contracts, and sometimes clauses to cover potential spin-offs. I was talking about major motion pictures. Studios do not usually commission a major motion picture to revolve around one particular actor in the guest-starring role.

It's worth pointing out that the actors playing the majore characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and the like -- are being signed to contracts for as many as nine films in advance. That's meant to guarantee their availability to do cameos in films about other heroes or crossovers like The Avengers, as well as the movies that are about them. Marvel has to get an advance commitment from them to appear in as many movies as they might be needed for, because such things can't be done on a case-by-case basis. Film actors' schedules are too unpredictable unless you get them under contract well in advance.

And often that actor's production team has commissioned the script. Or the actor has an outstanding contract for an unproduced movie to be made starring him/her.

That's right. The deal with the actor comes first, then the project is developed. You'd have to be an idiot to plan a project around a given actor's availability before you were sure the actor would be available.

[xortex]

Yea, De Lancie would have to put aside his other multi-million dollar feature deals to star in an Trek movie.

[BriGuy]

Therin of Andor wrote:

---

Please name some.

I said earlier, I wasn't discussing TV shows. The regulars already have contracts, and sometimes clauses to cover potential spin-offs. I was talking about major motion pictures. Studios do not usually commission a major motion picture to revolve around one particular actor in the guest-starring role.

And often that actor's production team has commissioned the script. Or the actor has an outstanding contract for an unproduced movie to be made starring him/her.

Would most ST fans be satisfied with a ST movie script written expressly for John de Lancie as Q, but with Q being played by a new actor.

No.

This isn't an enjoyable discussion anymore.

You're intransigent and have a counter-argument for everything and anything anyone says.

I won't even bother getting into how you misinterpreted and misconstrued much of what I said. Just isn't worth it.

[xortex]

Boy, talk about making Q more evil. You haven't seen his evil side yet.

There's something about a million dollar check that'll clear your schedual and make you amendable to just about anything. Just ask my ex girlfriend.

[Therin of Andor]

BriGuy wrote:

---

You're intransigent and have a counter-argument for everything and anything anyone says.

And that makes this thread different to many other threads on TrekBBS how?

Of course we can all come up with counter arguments. We are discussing a hypothetical situation. As I said, I have been in several convention audiences when the OP's question was asked of John de Lancie and also of Paramount representatives, and my comments have incorporated the answers they gave at the time.

Sure, we can all think of ways around the situation. There are exceptions to every rule, and Hollywood is good at breaking its own rules. Sometimes there are no rules. But... for perhaps many, many reasons, no Q movie happened.

xortex wrote:

---

Yea, De Lancie would have to put aside his other multi-million dollar feature deals to star in an Trek movie.

IIRC, de Lancie has many irons in the fire. He is a busy man. He is/was involved with many showbiz things, such as producing Alien Voices, writing, teaching: activities that don't necessarily put him in front of a camera. Putting them all aside for a week for the filming of a single ST episode is one thing. Putting them aside for three months for a ST movie is another. Yes, he would need to consider if the ST movie offer was worth his while to do.

Christopher wrote:

---

You'd have to be an idiot to plan a project around a given actor's availability before you were sure the actor would be available.

Yep, and that clause in the previous contract is where the participation negotiations begin. The regular ST actors' contracts contained those clauses. The guest star and day-players don't have those in-built clauses. Without such a clause, negotiations can be trickier. So a spec movie written around Jonathan Frakes (and the USS Titan) has less chance of being stymied by pay deals than a spec TNG movie written around John de Lancie. The studio would weigh up the financial risks of commissioning a ST movie script without Stewart and Spiner against the risk of a whole-cast TNG movie featuring Q that the crucial guest actor might turn down until he sees a script.

The extraordinary success of the first X-Men movie made a sequel a no-brainer. The rising stars of Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Ian McKellen meant that, although contractually set-up for two sequels each, the timing of their participation in more X-Men films, between other bigger, more career-fulfilling projects, was tricky. And delays cost $$$$. And that they'd be expecting their roles to be meaty enough to challenge them.

Scott Bakula's five-year ST contract allowed for his participation in two Paramount movies, not necessarily ST. Paramount doesn't have to act on that clause, but it's there to enable the negotiation process to begin.

[plynch]

Christopher wrote:

---

Besides, Q might've been a difficult character for mainstream audiences to take seriously. "Okay, so there's this goofy magic guy who pops in and snaps his fingers and makes anything happen? What is this, the Great Gazoo? I thought this was a space movie, not I Dream of Jeannie!"

And they'd be right.