"The Three Saaviks"

[starburst]

Thats what I said, or at least intended to say.

Perhapse Nimoy didnt care for the half Vulcan half Romulan backstory, in the end the character from TWOK was much better than that from TSFS.

[Blip]

Feh. I always found Alley to be overrated myself, and the only "emotion" I gleaned from her portayal (beyond the crying at the end) was one of arrogance.

Got to admit I also thought she looked a bit frumpy in the uniform, and those eyebrows were awful, which sways my opinion somewhat. Overall though I still found Curtis' v2.0 to be more attractive and less "hammed up" in her delivery.

Still, would have liked to see Curtis return in TUC.

[Therin of Andor]

CoveZombie wrote:

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Nimoy then directed Curtis as a full Vulcan with virtually no expression of emotion what-so-ever. Which is fine, except that since Saavik the character had already been established in TWOK, it seems a bad choice to make such a drastic character change, particularly when you're already changing actresses.

Nimoy: "Colder. Say it colder."

He also forbade Curtis from watching ST II.

[Allyn Gibson]

therealsb63 wrote:

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From what I've always understood, Kirstie Alley was the first choice to play Saavik in STVI:TUC. There are two different stories on this, one is she was too involved with "Cheers" to meet the STVI production schedule and she had to decline, the other is she asked for more than what Paramount was willing to pay for her to do the movie, and the offer was withdrawn.

You've conflated two stories here.

Alley asked for more on Star Trek III than several more established cast members were asking for. Paramount passed and, to Alley's chagrin, wouldn't even negotiate a lower price with her agent.

For Star Trek VI, Cheers was the issue as the filming dates would have conflicted.

However, her unwillingness to appear in "Cause and Effect" a year later (at most half a day's work) leads me to wonder if she simply wasn't interested in a Star Trek appearance at that point in her life.

[AggieJohn]

From what i herd it wasn't Alley herself that asked for a massive increase in salary for ST III it was her agent. Nimoy was really happy with Alley and she loved being in STII. Paramont did not even counter offer for STIII. I don't know about STVI, but I could imagine after being not signed for STIII and finding out that she would have been a traitor I could see her passing, but I cant confirm that or anything.

The sadness was that they did not add the sequel addendum to her original contract. That is 101 for new stars.

[Kirby]

THERE ARE... FOUR... SAAVIKS!!!

[nightwind1]

My Name Is Legion wrote:

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I imagine that the director didn't care for Curtis in the part.

I know I sure didn't care for Curtis in the part.

[therealsb63]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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You've conflated two stories here.

Alley asked for more on Star Trek III than several more established cast members were asking for. Paramount passed and, to Alley's chagrin, wouldn't even negotiate a lower price with her agent.

For Star Trek VI, Cheers was the issue as the filming dates would have conflicted.

However, her unwillingness to appear in "Cause and Effect" a year later (at most half a day's work) leads me to wonder if she simply wasn't interested in a Star Trek appearance at that point in her life.

Thanks for the clarification...I sit corrected!

*tips hat*

[doubleohfive]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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However, her unwillingness to appear in "Cause and Effect" a year later (at most half a day's work) leads me to wonder if she simply wasn't interested in a Star Trek appearance at that point in her life.

I seem to recall (I could be wrong) that Larry Nemecek's TNG Companion indicates having Alley appear in "Cause and Effect" was aborted due mainly to scheduling conflicts with cheers also. I've heard rumors that she'd been unwilling to appear on Frasier because it was a show about a psychiatrist, and Alley, a Scientologist, was opposed to that, but I'd never heard she was uninterested/unwilling to do the TNG cameo.

[Timewalker]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Diane Carey had a proposed third Piper novel canned, too, and a sequel duology, "The Federation Mutiny".

Thank goodness. Two Piper novels were two too many.

Captain Atkin wrote:

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I like Valeris as a character more than either of the two Saaviks. For a Vulcan, she had more carisma on screen than the other two did. I also liked the hair and the hairband that the actress designed. She was more than just Saavik 2.0, in my eyes. Kim Cattrall did a good job giving Valeris her own identity.

I don't like Kim Cattrall as an actress, I don't like her voice, and her dumb hairstyle and hairband made her look like a Vulcan with a fat face.

SO THERE.

Not even Sarek, a full Vulcan, was as emotionless as a cardboard box, which is basically how Robin Curtis played Saavik. For me, Saavik is Kirstie Alley or nobody.

[CoveTom]

doubleohAHHHHHH!!!!! wrote:

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I've heard rumors that she'd been unwilling to appear on Frasier because it was a show about a psychiatrist, and Alley, a Scientologist, was opposed to that, but I'd never heard she was uninterested/unwilling to do the TNG cameo.

But Frasier was a character from Cheers, and he was a psychiatrist there too. She didn't seem opposed to working on that show.

[AggieJohn]

Timewalker wrote:

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Thank goodness. Two Piper novels were two too many.

I don't like Kim Cattrall as an actress, I don't like her voice, and her dumb hairstyle and hairband made her look like a Vulcan with a fat face.

SO THERE.

Not even Sarek, a full Vulcan, was as emotionless as a cardboard box, which is basically how Robin Curtis played Saavik. For me, Saavik is Kirstie Alley or nobody.

Totally agree with Saavik. Alley is Saavik.

I normally agree with you about Kim Cattrall. I have pretty much hate everything she has ever done but I actually did like her as Valeris. Maybe because STVI required someone that is normally super annoying to play a cold emotionless vulcan.

[Therin of Andor]

AggieJohn wrote:

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From what i herd it wasn't Alley herself that asked for a massive increase in salary for ST III it was her agent.

It's always the agent. But... Paramount deliberately offered less money for ST III than ST II, giving the excuse that "sequels usually made less money". The agent rightly made a large, silly counter offer, fully expecting Paramount to drop it to something similar or larger to her ST II salary, as would be common practice. But... contractually, Paramount only had to make "an offer" and they were now totally clear of Alley's original contract. Meanwhile, Alley was offered a starring role in a stage play ("The Glass Menagerie", IIRC) and, at this time in her career, the female lead in a play was better for her CV than a sequel to her first professional (supporting) movie role in showbiz.

Nimoy was really happy with Alley and she loved being in STII.

But... Shatner was not. In my interview with Paul Winfield, conducted before ST II had been released - and long before anyone knew about the ABC TV version (with that alternate Kirk/Saavik flirtation scene) - I can tell you that he said, of Shatner and Alley: (paraphrasing) "I can tell you that their off-screen relationship was quite the opposite of what you see on screen."

The sadness was that they did not add the sequel addendum to her original contract. That is 101 for new stars.

The contract had the standard clause. The studio had to make an offer on a sequel. They could force her back to a sequel by simply paying a sensible market price for eighth banana in an ensemble cast. Paramount played her agent for a sucker, I strongly suspect, because Director Nimoy had already decided to recast. And to reconceive the character while he was at it.

Timewalker wrote:

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I don't like Kim Cattrall as an actress, I don't like her voice, and her dumb hairstyle and hairband made her look like a Vulcan with a fat face... For me, Saavik is Kirstie Alley or nobody.

Hehehehe. Had Alley done ST VI or "Cause and Effect", you might have still gotten a Vulcan with a fat face.

Alley says that, when she played Saavik in ST II, she was the thinnest she'd ever been in her adult life and that was because of the fatal car accident that claimed one of her parents' lives between final auditions.

[FreddyE]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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He watched the work print in the Paramount theatrette from his wheelchair with his carer/chauffeur, Ernie Over, and was essentially taken straight to hospital. He never came home.
."

Actually...I think he more heard the movie, instead of seeing it. His eyesight must have been pretty bad...its in the biography somewhere.
If I remember the biography right, he was at the hospital for having trouble breathing. He died on a hospital floor, in his wifes arms.

[Therin of Andor]

FreddyE wrote:

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He died on a hospital floor, in his wifes arms.

There is probably some dramatic license there. GR had been confined to a wheelchair and Ernie Over barely left his side in those final months. Not sure why GR would suddenly end up on a hospital floor?