Can you cast guest actors for 1970's ST phase 2?

[Bixby]

With respects to the other 'what if?' casting thread in this section, I got to thinking about Gene Roddenberry's aborted second Star Trek series from the mid-70's. The one originally called Phase II that would have aired in September 1978 with Lieutenant Ilya, Will Decker and Xon the boring Vulcan.

Let's try to imagine what interesting up-and-coming tv actors, past-their-prime movie stars, or competing series leads from the mid-70's would have been Roddenberry and the casting director's ideal choices to appear as random characters on the newer Star Trek.

But remember, former TV actors such as John Travolta, Farrah Fawcett and Mark Hamill are ineligeable: Travolta bolted from Kotter in spring '77, Fawcett from Charlie's Angels in '77, and Hamill in '75.

(1) George Peppard: 'Hannibal' was in-between series during this time (Banacek and The A-Team) and would have made a great Matt Decker-type of character...

(2) Tim O'Connor : just one year away from signing on Buck Rogers as Dr. Huer

(3) Michael Gray: He played teen heartthrob Billy Batson on the SHAZAM saturday morning show

(4) Martin E. Brooks or Richard Anderson: Oscar Goldman & Dr Rudy wells from the Six Million Dollar man...

(5) Maren Jansen as Athena from the original Battlestar Galactica. Not a great actress, but a scorchin' hottie that would have been aces in a Bill Theiss outfit!!

(6) Gregory Sierra and Abe Vigoda from Barney Miller (who knows , they could have brought along James Gregory for a second kick at the can )

(7) Bill Bixby: just before fate took him down the road to immortality...

(8) John Vernon, canadian actor and the original TV Iron Man!! (ok, also Dean Wormer)

(9) Patrick McNee, a few years away from the Avengers, the same year he appeared on Galactica...

(10) Robert Englund : still a few years before V and Freddy, he was doing shows like Nancy Drew at this time...

(11) John Schuck: just coming off the trainwreck that was Holmes & Yo-Yo, have him play the same Klingon from ST 6?

(12) Dick Gauthier: had done a sitcom with Larry Hagman a few years prior, but less than a decade away from the iconic role of Serpentor!!

(13) David McCallum: Ilya of Man from UNCLE, and a couple of years after his series the Invisible Man...

(14) Darren McGavin : was exiled to crap movies unfortunately after the astounding Kolchak the Night Stalker series, a guest shot here would have been awesome!..

(15) Peter Graves: Mr. Phelps!!

(16) Jodie Foster: did a lot of tv series before 1976's TAXI DRIVER but could have done a guest shot (yes, I know I'm breaking my own rules)

(17) Roddy McDowall: nuff said...

(18) Tom Selleck: Was a semi-regular on the Rockford Files at the time (don't remember if he had the 'stache, though)

(19) James Earl Jones: despite Star Wars, he would still do a bit of television, witness Roots: the Next Generation in '79

(20) Richard Roundtree: it's Shaft, 'nuff said!

(21) Carl Weathers (Apollo from Rocky) The Six Million Dollar Man was lucky to get him, he would have played a totally intimidating Klingon (if we follow the later ST series who primarily cast black actors in Klingon roles)

(22) Ken Howard, the coach from my favorite show of 1979, White Shadow...

 

[KirksStuntMan]

I think it would have been interesting to bring all of the child actors/actresses from "And The Children Shall Lead" and cast them as Enterprise crew members. After all, they were orphans and what better place to guide them to adulthood than the Star Fleet. The episode was a real stinker, but the kids were pretty good in it.

 

[Christopher]

I think it would have been interesting to bring all of the child actors/actresses from "And The Children Shall Lead" and cast them as Enterprise crew members.

Something like that actually did happen. Two of the child actors from that episode, Pamelyn Ferdin and Brian Tochi, co-starred in the 1977 Saturday morning series Space Academy, produced by Filmation Associates, the same studio that made Star Trek: The Animated Series. They played superpowered cadets at an academy for a somewhat Starfleet-esque organization in the distant future.

 

[plynch]

I know. She was my first love. Voice of Lucy in Charlie Brown Christmas, too. Jonathan Harris was on it as their mentor, and his other space show (LiS) was the one GR said CBS had him pitch so they could spy on him. Six degrees of Trekseparation.

Getting back to ST Phase II. I'm picturing the look of Buck Rogers and Space Academy and 1999. I'm glad we didn't have it. We have 79 glorious Sixties eps.

Trying to recall the guests who shuttled back and forth between Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Sid Caesar? CHARRO!! Paul Williams. Don Knotts. Sonny Bono. I'm rethinking my aversion now. Hmm. A la Kor, "It would have been glorious."

 

[KirksStuntMan]

Two of the child actors from that episode, Pamelyn Ferdin and Brian Tochi, co-starred in the 1977 Saturday morning series Space Academy...

As Spock would say, "Fascinating!" I always liked Pamelyn Ferdin. IMO, she was a much better child actress than Jody Foster, but she decided on a different career far away from the Hollywood scene. Now she's a nurse and married to a physician.

 

[plynch]

Two of the child actors from that episode, Pamelyn Ferdin and Brian Tochi, co-starred in the 1977 Saturday morning series Space Academy...

As Spock would say, "Fascinating!" I always liked Pamelyn Ferdin. IMO, she was a much better child actress than Jody Foster, but she decided on a different career far away from the Hollywood scene. Now she's a nurse and married to a physician.

He's not good enough for her. Nobody could be.

 

[plynch]

Gadzooks. http://www.pamelynferdin.com/

and EDIT: I stand corrected, she was Lucy later, in A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Nothing matters besides Space Academy. Made it worth getting up on a Saturday morning.

 

[T'Bonz]

Good grief. Every time I heard her voice, I cringed. That nasal accent.

 

[KirksStuntMan]

Good grief. Every time I heard her voice, I cringed. That nasal accent.

Pamelyn just called: she won't be sending you a Christmas card this year.

 

[T'Bonz]

She's probably in jail for hitting someone who yelled at a kitten anyhow.

 

[KirksStuntMan]

She's probably in jail for hitting someone who yelled at a kitten anyhow.

Oh, now she's really mad. Expect to find a burning bag of dog shit on your front porch.

 

[carl6lke]

Speaking of dog shit...

Bye, spammer.
http://www.game-apps.co

 

[KirksStuntMan]

^ Time for your medication. Take 2 and call your doctor in the morning. Adios.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

...
(5) Maren Jansen as Athena from the original Battlestar Galactica. Not a great actress, but a scorchin' hottie that would have been aces in a Bill Theiss outfit!!
...

I like the idea of Maren Jensen in Phase II, but given she was suffering from the Epsein-Barr virus after Battlestar Galactica, I don't know if she would be willing to do it.

Not long after the Original Series ended, Jensen was struck with the Epstein-Barr virus, fighting the disease throughout the 1980s. She recovered, but apparently has left the world of show business.

Here is the link to the above quote.

I would have liked to have seen Jeff Goldblum cast in Phase II. He had a cameo in "Annie Hall" in 1977 and he was in the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" released in 1978, but he was also in an episode of the "Starsky and Hutch" tv series in 1977 and co-starred in the tv series "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe" in 1980.

I would also recommend McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers for a guest starring role on Phase II. Both had left the "M*A*S*H" tv series in 1975.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[Uxi]

I think we would have seen Ricardo Montalbán and the return of Khan Noonien Singh. Probably in far a less epic way.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

I think we would have seen Ricardo Montalbán and the return of Khan Noonien Singh. Probably in far a less epic way.

You may be right about that.

I would have liked to have seen Gary Lockwood come back as Gary Mitchell in Phase II. He could also play his twin brother who is a Star Fleet Medical Doctor. The Enterprise could be taking Dr. Mitchell to Delta Vega to recover his brother's body for a burial on Earth. Although Dr. Mitchell revives his brother using nano technology (or something else, like Fabrini medicine possibly combined with transporter technology) in order to try to cure his brother of the God-like super power caused by the Galactic Barrier. Instead, Gary gives his twin brother those God-like powers and Kirk and his senior officers have to figure out a way to neutralize both of them.

It's just a thought, Gary Lockwood could have played a new guest starring character on Phase II instead Gary Mitchell.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[Christopher]

^The concept of nanotechnology wasn't really around in the 1970s. Richard Feynman proposed the basic idea in 1959, and the term was coined in 1974, but the idea didn't really get seriously explored or popularized until the mid-'80s.

 

[WRStone]

Les Tremayne, "Mentor" over on SHAZAM!

Not many people know how varied Tremayne's career was. He'd've been great as an Admiral in Phase II.

Hell, while I'm at it, Walker Edmiston -- also a very seasoned actor who played "Enik" on Land of the Lost.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

^The concept of nanotechnology wasn't really around in the 1970s. Richard Feynman proposed the basic idea in 1959, and the term was coined in 1974, but the idea didn't really get seriously explored or popularized until the mid-'80s.

Christopher,

Thank you, I agree. That is why I had an alternative method in parentheses, the Fabrini medicine and transporter used to revive Gary Mitchell. It was just something I came up with after reading member Uxi post about Khan returning to Phase II. It was just a random thought, for fun.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[Uxi]

Eh, I got your point. Quibbling over the exact name of the latest fad in sci-fi doesn't really matter. We've seen Electricity, Atomics aka Radiation, in that role before. The nano-fad seems to be fading, actually. Maybe Phase II could have been a precursor to it, instead of relatively late in the game like Voyager.