The best Saavik: Kirstie Alley vs. Robin Curtis

Well that was dropped so I don't know. I'm pretty sure she'd have had a right conniption

I'm gonna go over some of my trek notes/mags/vids from 1982-84 this weekend. I really don't remember Nimoy being put under the spotlight as to WHY he had Curtis play Saavik so "cold". At that time, I remember thinking it was sort of the directorial reaction to Alley's refusal to accept the remuneration she was offered for the film.

 

I think father-child sexual relations would still be taboo due to the nature of the influence the former can hold over the latter, much as we have taboos against therapist-patient, guard-inmate and teacher-student relations.

 

Given that the Vulcans kill each other over chicks during pon farr...

 

Not to mention it's "icky" but we live in changing times so it's just a matter of time before it's consider another "alternative lifestyle." Look at McKenzie Phillips. Of course if you have anything against consensual incest you would be branded a "bigot" which seems to be the catch word for "not going with the flow" these days.

But I'm getting off topic here.

Last word, Curtis made the better Saavik for reasons already stated. I still dont see how some can say Alley, but to each his own I guess.

 

Kirstie Alley was the only Saavik. Who cares about the character after ST-TWOK? No one much.

 

True. Nimoy should have just made Curtis another Vulcan character all together. When different people play the same character , it just doesn't work out well.

...and Alley should not have been such a greedy bitch, otherwise she would have been remembered as more than just that stupid character she played in Cheers.

Suzanne Somers did the same thing with Three's Company...and YEAH, her career really flourished after leaving the series. [/sarcasm]

Thighmaster anyone?

I think some of these actresses think a little too much of themselves and get burnt in the end for it.

 

That's an uninformed opinion.

Given the behavior of a number of the cast during ST TWOK, it was perfectly reasonable to pass on a sequel unless she was going to paid a huge sum for the aggravation. As it is, she went on to have a considerably more successful career than most of the folks who made life unpleasant for her.

 

See:

Alley's wiki page is pretty bare (that is to say her movie credits are for so-so films)...not much of a career if you ask me. She's more of a celebrity than an actress..and the two are not the same.

 

Calling a stranger about whom you know little a "greedy bitch" is uninformed, to put it politely.

Suggesting that there's something intrinsically unreasonable about setting a high asking price for a job one doesn't want is similarly unreasonable.

Based on Cheers alone (a extremely successful television series), Alley has had more of a career in the last twenty-odd years than most of the original cast of Star Trek.

 

We differ in opinion. That's fine, but this thread is not about the individual actresses or their careers. It's about the one role in question here. So I return to the original topic without deviating.

I appreciate your thoughts on the matter though.

 

Not true.

 

It's true enough. What's Curtis up to, these days?

 

She sells real-estate.

-wiki

 

Kirsty Alley

 

This thread needs a poll.

 

Hm. Ponn Farr, Porn Star. Ponn Farr. Porn Star.

Hmmm.

 

Exactly, only extreme Trekkie tunnel vision makes her role as Saavik a bigger accomplishment than starring in a monster hit like Cheers. She also had her own sitcom, Veronica's Closet, which ran for a couple of years. Not a bad career at all.

I still wish she could have played Saavik in the sequels, though, including Star Trek VI. Having the original Saavik turn out to be the traitor would have been incredibly dramatic.

 

Doesn't matter. She was still the better Saavik. At least I thought so.

 

I guess it better not, eh?

Nope.

Meyer clearly preferred the woman he cast in the part, as opposed to the replacement brought in when she declined to return, as well.

 

Because who portrayed the character with greater professional skill (i.e. acting ability) has no baring on which depiction of Saavik was better? It's impossible to say how Curtis would have played Saavik without Nimoy's input, we don't have to wonder the same about Alley because we saw it, she had a different director. Her performance was full of the nuance that was lacking in Curtis's.

But we can conjecture, Nimoy wasn't there for Curtis's subsequent acting jobs, and based upon her later performances, her professional acting career went basically no where. Alley didn't build her career around TWOK, it was just one job among many, the year she turned down TSFS she did three other movies and a TV pilot, the movie Blind Date was great (and not just because Alley is naked in it).

It's probable that Curtis's portrayal of Saavik would have been poor regardless of who was directing her.