Cast the Characters of Trek Literature

[Christopher]

^It's a fantasy casting thread. We can imagine whoever we want.

Besides, even if it weren't, you don't have to like Star Trek to work on it. Nicholas Meyer never cared for ST, but he still directed two ST movies and co-wrote another one. Pay an actor enough and he'll do ST as a job no matter what he thinks of it as entertainment.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

you don't have to like Star Trek to work on it. Nicholas Meyer never cared for ST, but he still directed two ST movies and co-wrote another one. Pay an actor enough and he'll do ST as a job no matter what he thinks of it as entertainment.

Perhaps. But I'd rather have actors in it who want to be there. They'd be more likely to give better performances if they're enjoying it. I mean, they don't have to be full-out Trekkies, but it'd be rather hard to do a good job at something you hate...

 

[DevilEyes]

you don't have to like Star Trek to work on it. Nicholas Meyer never cared for ST, but he still directed two ST movies and co-wrote another one. Pay an actor enough and he'll do ST as a job no matter what he thinks of it as entertainment.

Perhaps. But I'd rather have actors in it who want to be there. They'd be more likely to give better performances if they're enjoying it. I mean, they don't have to be full-out Trekkies, but it'd be rather hard to do a good job at something you hate...

But it doesn't really matter, because this is more of a "who do you imagine in your head while you read/write" thread, than a "who would you cast if it went into production". Look at some of the previous pages, some authors have "cast" people who have been long dead, or younger versions of actors who are now too old to play those characters.

Now here's something I thought about while reading Seeds of Dissent: in an imaginary situation where the Myriad Universes/Mirror Universe literature were actually filmed, normally you'd expect the same actors to play alternate versions of their characters - and it often makes me think "wow, this would really be a great opportunity for X to play something different"... but would that even be possible for any of the 24th humans in that novella, without the use of CGI? Characters like Princeps Bashir, Optio O'Brien and Jake Sisko in this alternate universe are products of 300 years of genetic engineering and selective breeding. For one thing, it's made clear that the humans of that era are much taller, bigger and stronger than the alien races or the humans of 21st century - now the actors are already tall, particularly Cirroc Lofton, and I guess this could be solved with things like camera angles, shoes, standing on boxes, stuffed costumes... But there are likely to be a number of other differences as well, e.g. it was mentioned that Bashir has blue eyes. Now that of course wouldn't be a problem with contacts... but it still stands to reason that these people would look very different from their canon counterparts. And then there's also the remark that they don't just look stronger, but "denser"... I don't even know what that is supposed to look like.

 

[captcalhoun]

NFL linebackers or Rugby props

 

[Captaindemotion]

you don't have to like Star Trek to work on it. Nicholas Meyer never cared for ST, but he still directed two ST movies and co-wrote another one. Pay an actor enough and he'll do ST as a job no matter what he thinks of it as entertainment.

Perhaps. But I'd rather have actors in it who want to be there. They'd be more likely to give better performances if they're enjoying it. I mean, they don't have to be full-out Trekkies, but it'd be rather hard to do a good job at something you hate...

IIRC, neither Patrick Stewart nor Avery Brooks were fans of Trek before being cast. Stewart apparently used to tease one of his RSC co-stars who had appeared in Dr Who.

Plus from any interviews I've seen with Tudyk, he seems to have a rather dry and sarcastic sense of humour (on one of the Firefly commentaries, he describes Gina Torres as 'homely'), so I wouldn't put too much stock in the 'for pussies' jibe.

 

[Christopher]

IIRC, neither Patrick Stewart nor Avery Brooks were fans of Trek before being cast. Stewart apparently used to tease one of his RSC co-stars who had appeared in Dr Who.

That was Lalla Ward, who played Ophelia in a 1980 BBC production of Hamlet opposite Stewart as Claudius and Derek Jacobi as Hamlet. She was starring as Romana in Doctor Who at the time, and Stewart teased her for slumming in a sci-fi show. I reviewed it on my blog recently. Ironically, Ward was one of multiple performers in that production who either had done Doctor Who already (Geoffrey Bateman, Emrys James, and Stuart Fell, along with composer Dudley Simpson) or would do it in the future (Geoffrey Beevers, Jacobi, and Claire Bloom).

And you're right about Tudyk -- he was probably joking.

 

[captcalhoun]

i wouldn't call Gina 'homely'... but i wouldn't call her attractive either. one thing that ruined the Jasmin arc on Angel for me was that i couldn't go with the idea that everyone loved Jasmin because she was so beautiful when she was played by an actress i didnt find even slightly attractive. for me it killed my immersion in the story.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Nicholas Meyer never cared for ST

Bloody hell...

Plus from any interviews I've seen with Tudyk, he seems to have a rather dry and sarcastic sense of humour

Quite. So did everybody else on that show. No wonder I couldn't stand it.

so I wouldn't put too much stock in the 'for pussies' jibe.

I like to think I've developed 'taking things too seriously' into an art form.

 

[Sci]

i wouldn't call Gina 'homely'... but i wouldn't call her attractive either. one thing that ruined the Jasmin arc on Angel for me was that i couldn't go with the idea that everyone loved Jasmin because she was so beautiful when she was played by an actress i didnt find even slightly attractive. for me it killed my immersion in the story.

I mean, you do realize that they didn't love her because she was beautiful, they loved her because they were under a spell and beauty was one of their justifications, right?

 

[captcalhoun]

i know they were under her spell but it still kinda didn't work for me that she was supposedly so beautiful and to me, she wasn't.

 

[Captaindemotion]

[
I like to think I've developed 'taking things too seriously' into an art form.

You and about 99.9% of people on the internet!

 

[F. King Daniel]

How about Bill Mumy as SCE's 110/Soloman, made small by Special and Expensive Lord of the Rings Techniques (TM)

 

[Christopher]

^The Bynars in "11001001" were played by diminutive women with their voices electronically lowered.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^Then Bill shall be the manliest Bynar of them all!

 

[Enterprise1981]

My photomanip of Hugh Laurie as the EMH-Mark III for my fan fic. Could also be of Counselor Cambridge in the Voyager relaunch books.

 

[Zatoichi]

I'm just starting Kevin Ryan's "Errand of Vengeance" series, which follows Klingon agent 'Jon Anderson' aboard the Enterprise. A lot of the characters in the novels are minor ones from TOS, but as far as I know, Anderson never showed up on screen. How do you guys envision him?

 

[Epsilon IX]

Here are some of my choices. With some of them I was unsure who I would definitely cast, so I've come with some multiple examples.

Enterprise-E (TNG Re-launch)

Picard: Patrick Stewart
Worf: Michael Dorn
Geordi: LeVar Burton
Dr Crusher: Gates McFadden
Kadohata: Stephanie Jacobsen
Diana Elfiki: Sarah Shahi
T'Ryssa Chen: Charlene Choi
Jasminder Choudhury: Janina Gavankar
T'Lana: Natalie Portman or Keira Knightley
Vincenzo Ferranga: Danny Nucci

Titan
Riker: Jonathan Frakes
Troi: Marina Sirtis
Tuvok: Tim Russ
Vale: Hillary Swank
Ra-Havreii: Still thinking
Ree: Andy Serkis
Jaza: Still thinking
Pazlar: Daphne Ashbrook
Lavena: Still thinking

Aventine
Ezri Dax: Nicole deBoer
Sam Bowers: Roger Cross or Peter Mensah
Lonnoc Kedair: Lena Headey
Oliana Mirren: Estee Chandler
Gruhn Helkara: Still thinking
Michaela Leishmann: Still thinking

Columbia NX-02
Hernandez: Ada Maris
Fletcher: Lucy Lawless
El-Rashad: Riz Ahmed
Valerian: Karen Gillen

Voice of Inyx: Laurence Fishburn
Voice of Sedin: Alice Krige

Voyager Relaunch
Afsarah Eden: Babara Eve Harris
Batiste: Willem Dafoe
Cambridge: Hugh Laurie
Conlon: Jaime Ray Newman

 

[Christopher]

Diana Elfiki: Sarah Shahi

Not familiar with her, but going by pictures, she seems about the right type. And she does have a fair amout of acting experience.

T'Ryssa Chen: Charlene Choi

Again, I had to look her up, but this is a very good suggestion. She's very close to my mental image of Trys, except she's a bit softer and more innocent-looking. And from the video clips, she seems to have the necessary animation and charm. The one catch is, would she be fluent enough in English to have the kind of comic timing and delivery Trys would need? Though if it's just a suggestion for a face readers could imagine while reading, I can endorse this one. In particular, this photo shows her with just about the right hairstyle and a fitting expression. I wouldn't mind seeing a photoshop of that with pointed eyebrows, maybe slightly more Vulcan complexion, and a Starfleet science lieutenant's uniform.

T'Lana: Natalie Portman or Keira Knightley

Interesting thought. I guess they fit the description.

Valerian: Karen Gillen

I think Karen Gillan may be a bit young for the part.

 

[JD]

Diana Elfiki: Sarah Shahi

Not familiar with her, but going by pictures, she seems about the right type. And she does have a fair amout of acting experience.

Sarah Shahi on Life (a great show that had to short a life)
EDIT:
I didn't do the ears since hers are covered, and I was having trouble with the eyebrows. Sorry. I can do a Sarah Shahi one earlier, and I already did a Ree pic, Amanda Tapping as Vale, and Bruce Boxleitner as Vaugh. I'm pretty sure I posted the Vale and Vaughn ones, but I'll post them again if anyone wants to see them.

 

[Enterprise1981]

EDIT:
I didn't do the ears since hers are covered, and I was having trouble with the eyebrows.

With what women are doing to their eyebrows these days and Trys embracing her human roots, I wouldn't be surprised if they were human looking.