I was about to post in Phoenix Ireland's great thread about improving TNG
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=80805
(one thing) and I felt maybe this should have it's own discussion.
What Roddenbery originally wanted for TNG.
Leslie Crusher instead of Wesley Crusher.
Can you imagine if Welsey was a hot girl? With no offence to Wil Weaton (and I don't mind Wes myself, in fact I do like him as a character) sometimes I wonder to what heights TNG would have achieved with a smart l'il acting Ensign vixen on the bridge!!
It certainly would have put a new spin on Beverly and Riker's relationship!!
And for the most part, you can imagine the plots and their devices being exactly the same. Leslie gets space drunk and builds a repulsor beam. Leslie is abducted by the residents of Aldea. Leslie falls in love with a male shapeshifter. Leslie saves Picard from death during a shuttle accident. Leslie serves as cheif tactical officer in an alternate reality. You get the idea.
Case in point, Justice, S1: "We're from starfleet. We don't lie." Imagine that line with Ashley Judd arching her back and sticking out her forward mounted buzzard collectors in a coy, sexy murmur. For some reason even that cringe-inducing bit of dialog seems perfectly acceptable.
No, nix Ashley. Let's see Scarlett Johnansen in the role. Oh, wait. She would have been way to young to take the role, wouldn't she? Is Alley Sheedy too old? Molly Ringwald? I guess the Brat Pack is too obvious.
Here's the challenge: It's 1987 and you have to cast a rising female star in the role of Acting Ensign Leslie Crusher.
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=80805
(one thing) and I felt maybe this should have it's own discussion.
What Roddenbery originally wanted for TNG.
Leslie Crusher instead of Wesley Crusher.
Can you imagine if Welsey was a hot girl? With no offence to Wil Weaton (and I don't mind Wes myself, in fact I do like him as a character) sometimes I wonder to what heights TNG would have achieved with a smart l'il acting Ensign vixen on the bridge!!
It certainly would have put a new spin on Beverly and Riker's relationship!!

And for the most part, you can imagine the plots and their devices being exactly the same. Leslie gets space drunk and builds a repulsor beam. Leslie is abducted by the residents of Aldea. Leslie falls in love with a male shapeshifter. Leslie saves Picard from death during a shuttle accident. Leslie serves as cheif tactical officer in an alternate reality. You get the idea.
Case in point, Justice, S1: "We're from starfleet. We don't lie." Imagine that line with Ashley Judd arching her back and sticking out her forward mounted buzzard collectors in a coy, sexy murmur. For some reason even that cringe-inducing bit of dialog seems perfectly acceptable.
No, nix Ashley. Let's see Scarlett Johnansen in the role. Oh, wait. She would have been way to young to take the role, wouldn't she? Is Alley Sheedy too old? Molly Ringwald? I guess the Brat Pack is too obvious.
Here's the challenge: It's 1987 and you have to cast a rising female star in the role of Acting Ensign Leslie Crusher.