This week's special guest star is...

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Through the dint of not yet having been born, I never saw The Original series as and when it was aired, indeed didn't see it properly for another 15 or so years. I only got to watch it with the benefit of hindsight.

So for me, the big shocker still is that Joan Collins did an episode of Star Trek.

But what was it like when the show was airing, and you would scan the opening credits for that week's guest stars?

Was there ever any shock at certain names? Were you surprised at a certain movie actor slumming it on TV, excited at the flavour of the week on your fave TV show (Justin Bieber on CSI equivalent), only to be forgotten four months down the line, or indeed ignoring a no name guest star only to see him or her topping the bill a couple of years later?

 

[jayrath]

I saw it as a kid, when it was first syndicated. I remember watching "And the Children Shall Lead" and thinking. "Wow! That girl is the voice of Lucy on Charlie Brown!" (Pamelyn Ferdin.)

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Wasn't she also in some sort of William Windom series about a cartoonist as his daughter?

 

[Kelso]

I wasn't alive during the original run, but I spent most of my childhood watching old 50's/60's tv shows. When I first watched TOS in the early 90's, I specificaly remember recognizing Mr. Boma from Land of the Giants and Mr. Lurry from The Time Tunnel. I know that I also recognized Frank Gorshin, Yvonne Craig, and Julie Newmar from Batman, and Lee Meriwether from both Batman and The Time Tunnel... but I don't recall if those were 'spoiled' for me by the blurbs on the videocassette boxes. I know that I would have recognized Gorshin and Meriwether regardless. Oh, and I definitely realized that Ruk was Lurch.

Like I said, not original run.... but what fun it was being a part of the Nick-at-Nite/Columbia House/Sci Fi channel generation.

 

[A beaker full of death]

But what was it like when the show was airing, and you would scan the opening credits for that week's guest stars?

Well, someone needs to point this out...

The opening credits never list the guest stars.


.

 

[Forbin]

But what was it like when the show was airing, and you would scan the opening credits for that week's guest stars?

Well, someone needs to point this out...

The opening credits never list the guest stars.


.

Beat me to it. That just wasn't done in the 60s.

 

[Hambone]

Wasn't she also in some sort of William Windom series about a cartoonist as his daughter?

"My World and Welcome To It" featured actress Lisa Gerritsen as William Windom's daughter.

 

[Vance]

Beat me to it. That just wasn't done in the 60s.

Certain shows did it in the 1960s, but it was far more common for 'cop' shows in the following decade, like this infamous example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blHwaFzzbkQ

 

[Myko]

Considering the last few posts, and the question as worded exactly in the opening question, the answer has to be Robert Lansing in Assignment: Earth.

 

[HGN2001]

Though the opening credits didn't reveal the guest stars, we still had many clues as to who was guesting on each new episode.

First, we had the "Next Week" promos. Any recognizable guest stars would be easily spotted in those.

Second, we had an analog device known as a TV Guide. Every week, we could scan the listings to see a brief plot description and who the guest stars would be.

Joan Collins was a nobody when she guested on STAR TREK. So was Teri Garr.

There was a stable of certain TV actors who you just KNEW would ultimately make it to your favorite series. I recall very early on in the series, watching Leonard Nimoy in his out-of-this-world makeup, and thinking, "Gee. That guy I saw on TV named Mark Lenard would make a good Vulcan." Darned if I wasn't right as he showed up just weeks later as a Romulan and later as Spocks father.

I remember spotting Antoinette Bower doing the rounds on shows like THE FUGITIVE and 12 O'CLOCK HIGH and thinking that she'd be good for a guest shot on STAR TREK. And she showed up in "Catspaw."

Harry
...dredging up original STAR TREK memories, online...

 

[Nerys Myk]

Beat me to it. That just wasn't done in the 60s.

Certain shows did it in the 1960s, but it was far more common for 'cop' shows in the following decade, like this infamous example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blHwaFzzbkQ

Bonanza was one that did. Not only the name but a shot of the actor as well in a "curtain call" type setting.

I think Robert Lansing was the only Trek guest star I recognized from another show (12 O'Clock High). Of course later I would recognize them from being on Trek. Like Michael Ansara on I Dream of Jeannie as the Blue Djinn or Pam Ferdin as Enid Unger on the Odd Couple.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I didn't recognize the Trek guest stars as being from other shows. I recognized it when they appeared elsewhere, e.g. Malachi Throne on "It Takes a Thief," Robert Brown as "Primus" and "Here Comes the Brides" (Mark Lenard, too!), etc.

 

[EnsignHarper]

Joan Collins was a nobody when she guested on STAR TREK. So was Teri Garr.


I remember spotting Antoinette Bower doing the rounds on shows like THE FUGITIVE and 12 O'CLOCK HIGH and thinking that she'd be good for a guest shot on STAR TREK. And she showed up in "Catspaw."

Harry
...dredging up original STAR TREK memories, online...

Actually Joan Collins HAD been somebody by the time of Trek. She was in quite a few movies in the 50's and early 60's....but by the time of COTOF, her career had slowed significantly, and had just started making the rounds of the 'TV Guest Star Circuit'

 

[donners22]

I believe the only four people to be credited as "special guest star" or "special guest appearance" are Skip Homeier, Jeffrey Hunter, David Brian and Frank Overton.

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong...

 

[Harvey]

If the pilot episode is anything to go by (I just saw it on Netflix; haven't seen any additional episodes) Mission: Impossible also listed guest stars in the opening credits. It's curious that Star Trek differed from this, since both programs were produced at Desilu.

Was it a difference between networks (NBC vs. CBS) or the preference of the show's producers that led to one show listing guest actors in the opening credits and one show listing them in the closing credits?

 

[Forbin]

I recently finished watching all of M:I and I don't think they did that for the regular shows after the pilot. In fact I'm watching a lot of 60s shows these days (5-0, M:I, Mannix...) and listing guest stars at the end seemed to be the rule.

The one exception is Man From Uncle, which always showed pictures of the major guest stars as part of the opening titles, right at the end of them.

 

[MANT!]

I was 5 when it aired on NBC...
EVERYTHING was new, and I didn't notice the actors.....

 

[Vance]

I am saddened, yet unsurprised, that no one clicked on the link I provided. :P

 

[GSchnitzer]

But what was it like when the show was airing, and you would scan the opening credits for that week's guest stars?

Well, someone needs to point this out...

The opening credits never list the guest stars.


.

As the old saying goes "Never say 'never'...."

 

[Forbin]

Special backdoor pilot crediting!