Captain Sisko in First Contact

[NKemp3]

That's because series Picard and movie Picard are in fact two separate people.

Ha-ha! So true, so true.

 

[R. Star]

That's because series Picard and movie Picard are in fact two separate people.

What makes you think series Sisko and movie Sisko wouldn't also be two different people?

Because they wouldn't have to change Sisko's style to be an action hero captain. He's already punched more people than all other Starfleet captains combined.

 

[Dream]

That's because series Picard and movie Picard are in fact two separate people.

Action Picard already existed on the show. Remember Starship Mine?

 

[CoveTom]

What makes you think series Sisko and movie Sisko wouldn't also be two different people?

Because DS9 was still in production when FC was made. To change Sisko's basic characterization for the movie would be impossible without also changing it on the TV series. TNG was off the air, though, so the writers felt free to do major changes with the TNG characters. Unfortunately.

 

[Mr_Homn]

That's because series Picard and movie Picard are in fact two separate people.

Action Picard already existed on the show. Remember Starship Mine?

He didn't say anything about "Action Picard".. He showed his action chops several times in the series when it was necessary, so that's not even the issue.

The issue is that Picard in the series is a thoughtful, reserved, intelligent person who respects all life and respects the chain of command, yet Movie Picard is a dumb, overly emotional, aggressive, bloodthirsty, dune buggying idiot who wont hesitate to ignore his orders if it suits him.

 

[R. Star]

^ Pretty much.

I never got why everyone cited Starship Mine as Picard's ultimate action hero sequence. Pft, even in that episode he wasn't beating the bad guys with brute force and badassery, he was out smarting them with clever diversions and traps. Die Hard? Pft.. more like Home Alone.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

who wont hesitate to ignore his orders if it suits him.

So you would have preferred he let the Borg assimilate earth.

 

[NKemp3]

That's because series Picard and movie Picard are in fact two separate people.

Action Picard already existed on the show. Remember Starship Mine?

He didn't say anything about "Action Picard".. He showed his action chops several times in the series when it was necessary, so that's not even the issue.

The issue is that Picard in the series is a thoughtful, reserved, intelligent person who respects all life and respects the chain of command, yet Movie Picard is a dumb, overly emotional, aggressive, bloodthirsty, dune buggying idiot who wont hesitate to ignore his orders if it suits him.

Amen. Stewart and the writers came to the conclusion that Picard needed to be more action driven and proactive. They felt for the big screen he needed to be more like Kirk. IMO it didn't work.

 

[Mr_Homn]

who wont hesitate to ignore his orders if it suits him.

So you would have preferred he let the Borg assimilate earth.

I was thinking more about the time he started an insurrection so he could get laid.... oh i mean because it was the "right" thing to do...

Even though he made the exact opposite decision in Journeys End...

(yeah yeah the planet was stimulating his hormones... weak ass excuse.)

^ Pretty much.

I never got why everyone cited Starship Mine as Picard's ultimate action hero sequence. Pft, even in that episode he wasn't beating the bad guys with brute force and badassery, he was out smarting them with clever diversions and traps. Die Hard? Pft.. more like Home Alone.

Very true and a good analogy. It is way more Home Alone than Die Hard.

 

[Dream]

who wont hesitate to ignore his orders if it suits him.

So you would have preferred he let the Borg assimilate earth.

I was thinking more the time he started an insurrection so he could get laid.... oh i mean because it was the "right" thing to do...

Even though he made the exact opposite decision in Journeys End... yeah yeah the planet was stimulating his hormones... weak ass excuse.

Insurrection was such a stupid movie. Also Beverly was right there! Why romance that other annoying chick of the week?

 

[NKemp3]

So you would have preferred he let the Borg assimilate earth.

I was thinking more the time he started an insurrection so he could get laid.... oh i mean because it was the "right" thing to do...

Even though he made the exact opposite decision in Journeys End... yeah yeah the planet was stimulating his hormones... weak ass excuse.

Insurrection was such a stupid movie. Also Beverly was right there! Why romance that other annoying chick of the week?

The same reason why they had Lily/Alfrie Woodard deliver all the big speeches to Picard in First Contact instead of Beverly: In the minds of TPTB Gates wasn't good enough to be in too many scenes with the Great Patrick Stewart. At least that's how it came across to me. And that's unfortunate.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Colm Meaney is not that big a movie star, and we're talking about little more than a cameo appearance.

Wanna bet? It's my understanding that his price for a movie contract had gone up beyond the salary levels of some of his TNG colleagues, which would make order of billing a problem. Remember that Whoopi Golding accepted "no billing" on "Generations" only so that she didn't displace her friend Patrick Stewart in the opening credits of his first starring role in a US motion picture.

Meaney seems a good guy and one who was always willing to do what the producers asked of him, such as appearing in the TNG finale. I can't imagine he would have held them up for some huge some of money for a day or two's work on the movie.

If an actor accepts lower-than-status pay on a project it can affect future and current negotiations on other projects. Being "a good guy" means nothing to agents and producers. Whoopi did a "good guy" act, but she wields a lot of star power in Hollywood.

I think the real area the film is lacking, as was hinted at upthread, though, is in the absence of Guinan.

Again, the problem with Whoopi is her availability. They would have had to work very hard to secure her for "First Contact", since she would have to be crucial to its script.

For many TNG eps, Whoopi would tell the production team when she had a window of opportunity, and they'd often rewrite a Troi scene to accommodate her. Only a few Guinan episodes were conceived as Guinan episodes.

And Whoop Goldberg has indicated that she would have been willing to do the film and, in fact, was confused at how they could exclude Guinan from that particular story.

What happens if they wrote the whole script and then she was unavailable? Delays cost money. Soran could have been recast, the Klingon sisters could have become new characters, the Borg Queen could have been recast, but not Guinan. So they went with a similar character/foil and an actress who was also a rising star, Alfre Woodard. She already had two Primetime Emmys and was runnerup for a Film Critics Association award at the time.

And, as I indicated before, as an Academy Award-winning lead actress, Whoopi's agent would have fought for top billing in "First Contact" for anything beyond a cameo.