Was Lt. Boma going to be a rucurring character?

[TREK_GOD_1]

Draculasaurus wrote:

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Lt. Boma from The Galileo Seven was a really strong character compared to most single appearance crewmen.
I noticed that Lt. DeSalle, who did become a recurring face, was added in the very next episode.
The production had also just lost Grace Lee Whitney.
Is it possible that they were looking for a new familiar face in Lt. Boma?

As others pointed out, his hostile attitude toward Spock meant he was not going to be a regular (see: Balance of Terror's Lt. Stiles).

Furthermore, Marshall shot the pilot for Land of the Giants in 1967 (with the series finally airing in the fall of '68), so he--like many actors shooting pilots--probably hoped LOTG would go to series, as his was a lead role--the important note about that is such a role very rare for African American males on 1960s TV up to that time, aside from Cosby on I Spy and Robert Hooks on the original N.Y.P.D. By 1968, he was well into production on LOTG and a semi-regular on Julia, so his schedule was pretty busy (aside from a few one-shot guest appearances elsewhere), even if the Boma character was considered for a role upgrade.

[Christopher]

TREK_GOD_1 wrote:

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Furthermore, Marshall shot the pilot for Land of the Giants in 1967 (with the series finally airing in the fall of '68), so he--like many actors shooting pilots--probably hoped LOTG would go to series, as his was a lead role--the important note about that is such a role very rare for African American males on 1960s TV up to that time, aside from Cosby on I Spy and Robert Hooks on the original N.Y.P.D.

Don't forget Greg Morris on Mission: Impossible, which premiered in 1966.

(Although I've never even heard of N.Y.P.D.)

[TREK_GOD_1]

^ That's right! Thanks for the reminder!

[Melakon]

Another example is Lloyd Haynes, who was communications officer in the "Where No Man has Gone Before" second pilot, and later had a starring role in Room 222.

[Christopher]

^And Clarence Williams III on The Mod Squad starting in '68. There was actually a big push to add diversity to TV casts in the late '60s due to demographic studies showing the buying power of African-American television viewers.

[Melakon]

And these groundbreaking actors were usually described as "the black guy" at the time.

Or more impolitely, "the token black guy".

[diankra]

Christopher wrote:

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^And Clarence Williams III on The Mod Squad starting in '68. There was actually a big push to add diversity to TV casts in the late '60s due to demographic studies showing the buying power of African-American television viewers.

Which is one of those cases where the Roddenberry legend is slightly undermined by reality: I'm sure he was a pioneer in wanting to have racial diversity in the Star Trek cast, but he didn't have to fight the network to do it: he was pushing at an open door (so long as they were the support cast, obviously. Black captain, woman captain? Come back in 20 years time, dreamer).

[Christopher]

Melakon wrote:

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And these groundbreaking actors were usually described as "the black guy" at the time.

Or more impolitely, "the token black guy".

I don't think that's fair. Many of them were far more than tokens. Heck, of all the main-cast black characters in '60s TV, I'd say Uhura was the most tokenish, because she never had a focus episode and rarely emerged from the background. Cosby's Alexander Scott in I Spy was a completely equal lead to Robert Culp and was always treated with dignity; he was the intellectual while Culp was the athlete. (Ironically, the 2002 feature version with Eddie Murphy playing Culp's character -- and changing him from a tennis pro to a boxer -- was far more racially stereotyped than the '60s original.) Barney Collier in Mission: Impossible was far from a token; he was a brilliant engineer who was often the linchpin of the team, growing only more important as the series went on, and he had his share of episodes where he was the featured character. Don Marshall's character on Land of the Giants was also a nicely non-tokenish role, treated no differently than the other male leads.

[Melakon]

I'm not saying that's how I thought of them, but I remember seeing that term applied to them in magazines. Though memory is hazy enough those might not have been magazines from that time period.

For me, Barney Collier was the man!

[Christopher]

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if there were people who thought of them that way, but from watching the actual shows, it's pretty clear the writers and producers didn't see them that way.

[Hambone]

It was originally thought that Boma could have been a recurring character. He would have been seen scrubbing the latrine is Spock's quarters and ironing his uniforms.

Don't get lippy with the first officer, mister.

[TREK_GOD_1]

diankra wrote:

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Which is one of those cases where the Roddenberry legend is slightly undermined by reality: I'm sure he was a pioneer in wanting to have racial diversity in the Star Trek cast, but he didn't have to fight the network to do it: he was pushing at an open door (so long as they were the support cast, obviously.

...which is why I posted "up to that time" regarding Hooks from NYPD and Cosby on I Spy--they were cast as part of the series leads, which was historic, both predating Clarence Williams III on The Mod Squad (1968) or Haynes on Room 222 (1969). As African American males, Cosby, Hooks (and Morris on Mission Impossible) already broke ground, which is why its easy to imagine Don Marshall jumping at the chance to play an important, leadiing role on Land of the Giants, instead of what would have been an occasional guest spot on ST, and certainly not a character in a position of any sort of authority.

[MarsWeeps]

TOSalltheway wrote:

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I was a huge fan of Mr. Boma. he was portrayed as a confident and competent officer who had an antogantistic side and not afraid to stand up to a superior officer.

Confident and competent? He obviously could not hold up under pressure and his behavior bordered on insubordination. I'm guessing he was transferred to a waste management ship shortly after this episode.