Jack Lord as Captain Kirk

[Nerys Myk]

Jim Kirk and Jim West are basically the same character if he'd lived in different centuries. Kirk is more intellectual and (relatively) more respectful to women, but that's a function of growing up in more enlightened times.

In my "personal canon" Jim West is an ancestor of Jim Kirk. Kirk's mom is Winona West.

 

[Push The Button]

Jim Kirk and Jim West are basically the same character if he'd lived in different centuries. Kirk is more intellectual and (relatively) more respectful to women, but that's a function of growing up in more enlightened times.

It gets even weirder, IMDB lists his full name as James T West.

Which would make Artemus Gordon his Spock, I suppose.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Jim Kirk and Jim West are basically the same character if he'd lived in different centuries.

Too bad. I would have like to seen Kirk and West in a fight. Kirk's legendary drop kick versus West's famous judo chops.

 

[urbandefault]

Robert Conrad could have been an awesome Kirk.

William Conrad would have been a massive Kirk.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Robert Conrad could have been an awesome Kirk.

William Conrad would have been a massive Kirk.

I'm sending you a bottle of Saurian Brandy, vintage 2215, for that post. Cheers!

 

[Timewalker]

Honestly, I think Jack Lord must have believed his last name. He'd had a one-season series (Stoney Burke) by the time Roddenberry approached him, so must have already been full of himself.

He changed his last name to Lord from Ryan (or so I read many years ago, in a magazine).

 

[Gassy Man]

Robert Conrad could have been an awesome Kirk.

He would have been great, had the same sort of mix of good looks, athletic ability, intensity and charm as Shatner.

And in that universe, Shatner would have been Jim West, of course..

Shatner's short-lived Barbary Coast was essentially a redux of The Wild Wild West, though he played more of the Ross Martin character.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Honestly, I think Jack Lord must have believed his last name. He'd had a one-season series (Stoney Burke) by the time Roddenberry approached him, so must have already been full of himself.

He changed his last name to Lord from Ryan (or so I read many years ago, in a magazine).

Indeed. Some of the Hawaii 5-0 production crew nicknamed him "The Lord" because of his domineering nature.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Robert Conrad could have been an awesome Kirk.

William Conrad would have been a massive Kirk.

Would that be a Cannon violation?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Robert Conrad could have been an awesome Kirk.

William Conrad would have been a massive Kirk.

Would that be a Cannon violation?

Seems jake to me.

 

[VR518]

He changed his last name to Lord from Ryan (or so I read many years ago, in a magazine).

He changed his name from Ryan to Lord because Actor's Equity already had an actor named Jack Ryan registered. They could not have two actors with the same name, so Jack chose Lord because it was a family name and a short name. Lord was the last name of one of his grandparents or great-grandparents. He said this in a magazine article sometime in the seventies.

 

[johnnybear]

Indeed. Some of the Hawaii 5-0 production crew nicknamed him "The Lord" because of his domineering nature.

Yeah I never knew that he was such a hated figure on that show and that he picked on poor old Danno played by James McArthur! No wonder McArthur left the series some time later maybe it took a Falconetti type of actor like William Smith to keep Lord on his toes?
JB

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Robert Conrad could have been an awesome Kirk.

I've always thought Robert Culp would've made a good Captain April/Winter/Pike/Kirk.

As for Lord as Kirk, pass. I don't think I would've been captivated with STAR TREK if it weren't for Shatner as Kirk.

 

[CrazyMatt]

I would assume that if they hired Jack Lord as Captain Kirk for the second pilot, they would have retooled Spock differently to suit a dynamic. They were revanping Spock from The Cage who was not the cold (mostly) emotionless Vulcan we would come to know. So Nimoy would have had to come up with something else to balance Lord. The difference would probably have changed the role of Dr McCoy as well.

But I would have loved it when Kirk (Lord) turned to Nimoy and said, "Book 'em Spocko, murder one."

Actually, when I think of Jack Lord, I think of his great performance as Felix Leiter in "Dr. No." He was the best actor to play that recurring role throughout the Bond films, with only Bernie Casey coming close to matching Lord in "Never Say Never Again."

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Hawaii 5-0, for the first few years, was one of the best shows on television and really groundbreaking, not just because of its diverse cast (though still focusing mainly on the Haole characters), but because it really pushed the envelope in style and concept.

Hmm. Somebody who wrote an early ST nonfiction book (David Gerrold, I think) was at one point employed as a typist for Hawaii Five-0, and had a very different opinion of the series.

Be that as it may, in 1957, long before McGarrett, a young Jack Lord starred in the movie that redefined the whole "museum orientation film" concept, and (with VistaVision from camera to release print, and a Bernard Herrmann score) set an impossibly high bar, Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot. (When it was restored a few years ago, though, the new release prints were struck in 70mm anamorphic.)

 

[diankra]

This was no real broadcast order, the show was syndicated worldwide and stations ran them in whatever order they chose. For example, in NY, the premiere was followed the next week by "Dragon's Doman," the penultimate episode of the season.

No, I'm going by production order, the order on the video releases. Specifically, I was talking about "War Games," which showed Koenig firing first, followed by "The Last Enemy," where he does the same, but agrees with Bergman who says "shoot first and ask questions afterward, that's not really your style, is it John?" Granted, the "War Games" scenario was an illusion, but apparently what Koenig was very much about to do until he got a glimpse of the possible repercussions of that choice.

Man, I know too much about that show...

Well, after War Games 'Shoot first' wouldn't be Koenig's style. But there must have been a lot of unseen incidents proving that in between for Victor's comment to make sense.

 

[johnnybear]

I've always thought Robert Culp would've made a good Captain April/Winter/Pike/Kirk.

As for Lord as Kirk, pass. I don't think I would've been captivated with STAR TREK if it weren't for Shatner as Kirk.

Robert Culp was up for Commander Koenig in Space 1999 but put himself right out of the job after a meeting with Gerry Anderson in which he went on about what a fantastic actor he was and also did Gerry know what a superb director he was as well and he'd want script approval and he wanted this and that...
JB

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Robert Culp was up for Commander Koenig in Space 1999 but put himself right out of the job after a meeting with Gerry Anderson in which he went on about what a fantastic actor he was and also did Gerry know what a superb director he was as well and he'd want script approval and he wanted this and that...
JB

Well, to be fair to Culp, he did write and direct several episodes of I SPY, earning an Emmy nomination for one of his scripts.

Culp wrote one of my favorite episodes, "The Loser," guest starring Eartha Kitt as a heroin addicted jazz signer. The episode doesn't even focus on Culp's own character, but rather focuses more on his co-star's character.

See here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/15465

So I can see Culp pitching how much he could do on the show beyond acting because that's what he did on his former show, I SPY.

And reading some of the behind-the-scenes stories, Martin Landau also fought for script approval and fought many of the scripts, especially in the second season.

 

[johnnybear]

Martin Landau wrote many scathing letters to Fred Freiberger about how he had destroyed the show in the second year and said he wouldn't put the effort in anymore because none was required any more!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Thanks for the link, Ryan but I'm in the UK and Hulu doesn't work here!
JB