Speculative: TOS Era Actors who would have worked well on Star Trek
- Thread starter Scott Kellogg
- Start date
Yeah, Robby certainly doesn't look "StarFleet issue"...other than its smooth contours. Alien artifact, that's immediately what came to my mind when Scott suggested an appearance.
Yes, exactly. The determining factor in whether or not they would've used him was money. It is naive in the extreme to think that any decision in television is based purely on abstract aesthetics or creativity. Money is always a factor, frequently the deciding factor.
I'm not saying they could've afforded Robby. I'm saying that their reasons for not using him probably had more to do with cost than aesthetics.
Well, sure. I thought that was a given. Every robot or android we saw in TOS was of alien or non-Starfleet origin, so why would we imagine Robby would be used any differently?
I got the impression that Trek_G*d assumed Scott, I and others were advocating Robby as 'Fleet hardware. So I just wanted to clarify, "no, that's not what I meant."
Sure, I get that. I'm just surprised it needed to be clarified.
Perhaps the Aesthetic style of Star Trek TOS deserves it's own thread.
Personally, I love the Aesthetic style.
But, if I were to have a complaint about it, it would be that the aesthetic style almost never really changes.
A Starfleet vessel looks like a Romulan one, that looks like a Klingon one...
Then in later series, the Aesthetic style changes, but the problem doesn't.
A TNG Starfleet ship looks like a TNG Romulan one, that looks like a TNG Klingon one...
You know the old adage: When all you have is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails.
When all you have are surface greeblies, all your ships start to look like Battlestar Galactica!
Personally, I love the Aesthetic style.
But, if I were to have a complaint about it, it would be that the aesthetic style almost never really changes.
A Starfleet vessel looks like a Romulan one, that looks like a Klingon one...
Then in later series, the Aesthetic style changes, but the problem doesn't.
A TNG Starfleet ship looks like a TNG Romulan one, that looks like a TNG Klingon one...
You know the old adage: When all you have is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails.
When all you have are surface greeblies, all your ships start to look like Battlestar Galactica!
Which again comes down to time and budget. They could only do so much to redress the corridor sets, and they tended to assemble alien control rooms from stock computer props, so they all looked the same.
True enough, the budgetary problems are a given with interiors, but I was referring to the ship's exteriors.
I love Matt Jeffries designs, and wouldn't change them. But they all look like work from the same pen.
The same way all ships in "Lost in Space" look like "Lost in Space" ships,
Star Trek TOS ships look like Star Trek TOS ships.
(From an Aesthetic point of view, on the interiors, it might have been better if Gene Roddenberry and Irwin Allen exchanged prop libraries for an episode or two... This of course would be utterly impractical.)
Even Jeffries Leif Erickson looks like it belongs in Star Trek TOS.
I love Matt Jeffries designs, and wouldn't change them. But they all look like work from the same pen.
The same way all ships in "Lost in Space" look like "Lost in Space" ships,
Star Trek TOS ships look like Star Trek TOS ships.
(From an Aesthetic point of view, on the interiors, it might have been better if Gene Roddenberry and Irwin Allen exchanged prop libraries for an episode or two... This of course would be utterly impractical.)
Even Jeffries Leif Erickson looks like it belongs in Star Trek TOS.
No one said they did not like Robby. That's far removed from arguing that Robby would not work with the TOS aesthetic.
No, I did not assume you were applying Robby in that way. I'm talking about all of TOS.
Agreed.
True, and the same applies to interiors, hand props, etc. TOS had a very unique look among sci-fi on TV.
Even Jeffries Leif Erickson looks like it belongs in Star Trek TOS.
Exactly. a very distinctive design that does not say Jupiter 2, Space Pod, or the Flying Sub.
Well, realistically, they should. Vehicle designs are dictated by practical necessity. There are only so many variations on the design of a watercraft or an aircraft or a wheeled vehicle. So why should spacecraft be any different? Yes, alien species might have different engineering approaches in a lot of ways, but they'd still be bound by the same universal laws of physics. There might be room for a few variant models of propulsion, like how a fixed-wing plane, helicopter, and dirigible all look different, but only so many variants would be physically feasible. So I prefer Matt Jefferies's design philosophy that every spacecraft feature must arise from practical engineering considerations over the modern approach of just giving ships random weird shapes. There should be convergent evolution.
There's also the fact that the Romulan Bird-of-Prey (a Wah Chang design rather than a Jefferies one) was scripted in "Balance of Terror" to be "some modified version of a starship main saucer," implicitly based on copied or stolen Starfleet designs, so its resemblance to the Enterprise was intentional. Although the use of the same design in ENT: "Minefield," establishing that the Romulans already used it before they encountered humanity, makes that untenable.
You know, I think that it essentially comes down to who's designing the prop.
From the 1979 movie on, the TOS/TAS look that I'm describing goes away. All the designs go from smooth, lovely shapes, to cluttered up, rather messy looking designs with lots and lots of hull detail that obscures the outlines.
The movie era Enterprise, the Klingons, the TNG and later designs, and even the Prequel Star Trek: Enterprise designs get the hull clutter that TOS/TAS just doesn't have.
Add enough greblies on the hull, and you've got Battlestar Galactica.
PS. Thanks for the link about the office equipment used in "The Cage"
Oddly, enough, a while back, I went looking for an interesting looking interface console
and ended up using that one for inspiration.
From the 1979 movie on, the TOS/TAS look that I'm describing goes away. All the designs go from smooth, lovely shapes, to cluttered up, rather messy looking designs with lots and lots of hull detail that obscures the outlines.
The movie era Enterprise, the Klingons, the TNG and later designs, and even the Prequel Star Trek: Enterprise designs get the hull clutter that TOS/TAS just doesn't have.
Add enough greblies on the hull, and you've got Battlestar Galactica.
PS. Thanks for the link about the office equipment used in "The Cage"
Oddly, enough, a while back, I went looking for an interesting looking interface console
and ended up using that one for inspiration.
Scott Kellogg said:
Add enough greblies on the hull, and you've got Battlestar Galactica.
Hey hey, don't disrespect the TOS Galactica.
I think the Galactica was about the coolest looking ship ever what with the honkin' big engines, the two outriggers and the front end reminding me of a shark.
Anyway, on topic,
This actress was in later Trek but I once saw a picture of her from the '60s and thought she was very attractive and would've made a cool Romulan or Vulcan in TOS, Salone Jens.
On a not so serious tack, Walter Brennan or Slim Pickens as Starfleet admirals would've been a hoot.
My ears are twitching because a certain name keeps getting bandied about but I certainly love the way Ann Francis says it.
Robbie
Add enough greblies on the hull, and you've got Battlestar Galactica.
Hey hey, don't disrespect the TOS Galactica.
I think the Galactica was about the coolest looking ship ever what with the honkin' big engines, the two outriggers and the front end reminding me of a shark.
Anyway, on topic,
This actress was in later Trek but I once saw a picture of her from the '60s and thought she was very attractive and would've made a cool Romulan or Vulcan in TOS, Salone Jens.
On a not so serious tack, Walter Brennan or Slim Pickens as Starfleet admirals would've been a hoot.
My ears are twitching because a certain name keeps getting bandied about but I certainly love the way Ann Francis says it.
Robbie
Good one, I hadn't though of her. She was really good in Seconds.
Brennan did play an admiral in Task Force (1949), patterned on Marc Mitscher I believe.
I think it looks cool too, but way too much kitbashing on the surface of the ship.
Those two big engines? They're covered with model tank chassis parts!
I think it looks cool too, but way too much kitbashing on the surface of the ship.
Those two big engines? They're covered with model tank chassis parts!
Well, I guess I'm not so critical about the kitbashing. It's been a long time since I've seen it but it seems you can blame 2001's Discovery for starting the tradition of excessive bashing of kits. I remember the engines on that ship having a whole lot of stuff blued onto them.
Robert
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