Beverly Owen and Pat Priest in the series, Debbie Watson in the film.
Why did Majel stop playing Chapel in the movies?
- Thread starter Terok Nor
- Start date
I know that but by the time of the movies it didn't matter at that point that Kirk, Spock, Bones, and to a lesser degree Scotty, were the main stars. All 7 characters were part and parcel of Star Trek. Ensemble is the wrong word for what the cast actually was but all 7 were the main faces of Star Trek during the original movie era and the Abrams era.
Bones calls out to her in sickbay during ST'09
Carol says, "You're much cleverer than your reputation suggests", then says she's a friend of Chapel, followed by Kirk not remembering Chapel at all.
So it's possible Chapel simply thought Kirk was stupid and that's why she transferred. Considering her known love interests were Dr. Korby and Spock, she seems to be attracted to more intelligent men.
Yeah, the early convention period fueled the supporting actors' belief that the "Star Trek Family" or "Enterprise Family" was some equal playing field from the start, instead of realizing that they were probably on the level of a Goober, or Gladys Kravitz.
I think that The Motion Picture really cemented the notion of who fans perceived the "core cast" of Star Trek to be. Everyone who reprised his or her character in TOS, except Grace Lee Whitney, received billing in the opening credits as star or costar. Moreover, they did so ahead of Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins, the only other actors listed there, both of whom played Enterprise crew members and both of whom were killed off (or nominally missing) by the end of the film. With Kirk as Captain, killing off those additional leads completed the reset to the perceived status quo of TOS (just in time to roll end credits!).
Majel Barrett was at the bottom of that original cast list, a list whose composition had been no doubt at least partially influenced by fan expectations and desires.
Majel Barrett was at the bottom of that original cast list, a list whose composition had been no doubt at least partially influenced by fan expectations and desires.
I can testify that, on opening night in Seattle, everybody from Chekov to Scotty practically got a standing ovation when they first appeared on the screen.
Fans wanted to see the whole crew back together again.
I feel like TWOK gave Trek another chance to expand the core cast beyond the main seven, with the introductions of Saavik, David Marcus, and Carol Marcus.
Unfortunately, Saavik was doubly sabotaged both by being recast in her second appearance, and by Spock's return. Harve Bennett was pretty upfront about why Saavik was written out of TVH, as "she would've just been another pair of ears to hide." Understandable, but still unfortunate.
Similarly, David and Carol were both written out as the stories that developed for the subsequent sequels didn't really have a place for them. Bennett said that when he was breaking the story for STIII, it became obvious that David was the one to kill because "he was the one I didn't need."
It's a shame, because all three of them were filled with potential in their first appearances. I wonder if any of them would've stuck around for longer if Nicholas Meyer had chosen to return for STIII...
When you put it that way, Goober got a lot more to do on his show than Sulu or Uhura did on theirs....
It's not your intent I realize, but doesn't this rendering of the importance of the other players, inevitably give short shrift to the very noteworthy role, culturally if not as actors, that the inclusion of Nichols and Takei in the cast meant at that time in TV history, as well as forwarding the narrative of the TOS era being enlightened in its unquestioned acceptance of diversity, at least as regards Terrans??
Maurice was discussing the real-world terms under which the actors worked on the show, period.
IIRC Gene Coon stabilized the family feel when he took over and the minor crewman of the week idea went away. I liked seeing more crew have speaking roles in earlier S1, as many others here have commented. A BIT of that remained, with Kyle and MBenga, but GC thought the tv viewers needed a core to hang their hat on. No citation, but have read it variously.
I think I know what you are saying here, but I gotta take exception to you equating the rest of the main cast and main bridge crew to Goober and Gladys Kravitz! My FanHeart requires it!
Can you imagine the fun and physical comedy they could have depicted if Gladys was suddenly beamed to the Enterprise?!
If you want the original citation for the "Enterprise Family," blame Janice Lester.
"Spock, give it up! Return to the Enterprise family."
OH!
It's been suggested occasionally to of had Saavik be the traitor in TUC instead of Valeris.
What if it had been Rand? We saw her as the transporter chief in TMP so she had cross trained away from yeoman, so place her at the nav panel. The betrayal of Kirk would have been huge, and the mind meld scene even more horrific.
I'm sure Grace Lee Whitney would have jumped at such a role.
Just having her floating around the background would have made the fans happy. Of course many fans would have been happy if each of the TOS movies were three plus hours long too.
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It was quite a shock when they revealed that Valeris had been selling kevas and trillium on the side.
Duplicitous and double-dealing.
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