Characters you would like to see featured?
- Thread starter GalaxyClass1701
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I had to check Memory Beta, but...
"In the mirror universe, the Galactic Commonwealth was an organization founded in the year 2378 that replaced the Terran Rebellion following the establishment of the Tripartite Armistice with the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and the end of decades of enslavement."
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Commonwealth
Yes, I know that. The flaw in the analogy is that Peter David was a returning writer who was trying to continue what he'd done before and wasn't allowed to. In the case of TNG, the miniseries was written by Mike Carlin, the monthly comic by Michael Jan Friedman. Since the author was new, it doesn't necessarily follow that he would've been trying to resurrect characters from his predecessor's run.
Besides, if you actually read the stories, the characters are profoundly different. The Bickleys were defined as angry, abrasive characters, not only constantly bickering with each other, but having a contentious attitude in general; Mr. Bickley even verged on insubordination on the bridge in issue 4 (the last appearance he and his wife made). McRobb, by contrast, was defined by his meekness and insecurity, his fear that he wasn't good enough -- the opposite of Bickley's arrogance. And his wife was quite loving and supportive, as you can see in the dialogue in the panels reproduced above. Marcos drew her as angry in a few panels, but she was only upset at McRobb for being down on himself when she admired him so much (and Marcos's art was very exaggerated and melodramatic in general). The characters couldn't be more diametrically opposite.
The initial story outline would've come from Friedman, not Carlin, so there's no reason to believe it's analogous to the situation in the TOS comic. Besides, the only rewriting/redrawing in the TOS comic was in issue 1 of Volume 2; by issue 2, they had everything sorted out. In issue 1 of the TNG monthly, Ingrid McRobb doesn't even appear; it's all about James McRobb and his insecurity, and he's drawn consistently as a meek, nervous, easily frightened guy. His expressions and body language in issue 1 don't even remotely resemble Bickley's constant anger. Ingrid doesn't appear until issue 2, and her body language in the scene is mostly supportive and loving with only a few panels of angry poses that fit the context of the discussion, while James's body language is still consistently meek and hangdog.
So there's just no logic to the idea that the characters were meant to be the Bickleys and had their dialogue rewritten. The art doesn't suggest that, the change in writers doesn't suggest that, and the timing is all wrong. You're just reading way too much into Pablo Marcos's limited range as a character designer.
Guinan is one of the main characters in Indistinguishable From Magic, as is Berlinghoff Rasmussen, who somebody else mentioned in the thread - and both are last seen setting off on new paths/adventures.
Pel is in the Seven Deadly Sins story Reservoir Ferengi, and seems to be starting a potentially interesting new life there as well!
Sigh. Okay. If you insist. I'm just relating what I thought at the time of publication, and judging from Richard Arnold's public dislike of the bickering Bickleys, as related to us at an Australian Star Trek convention during DC's enforced licensing hiatus. I see plenty of logic in such a situation.
I do recall the other last minute decree over that first embattled script: Pulaski suddenly had to replace Dr Crusher, right on deadline - and after the proposed storyline had already been approved. Then RA was scathing over the bright yellow colour chosen for Pulaski's hair inside that first issue (the cover was more acceptable), and he tried to get that changed too. He also insisted on having Chekov added to the cover of TOS Series II #1. (The cover artist had not originally featured him.)
We could try asking Robert Greenberger and MJF if they recall whether the Bickleys were originally going to be retained from the Carlin-written mini-series. It may well have been, "We tried adding a married couple to the mini-series, but the Star Trek Office hated the bickering and the half-capes." (I'm having deja vu; I may have already asked them once, but I don't recall if they said yes or no.)
I'd love to know if they were ever meant to be the same. My brain's already blamed it on some unknown bit of time travel leading to an unlikely Claudia/Jenny from Primeval scenario with the Bickleys/McRobbs.
I've sent a message to Robert Greenberger and Michael Jan Friedman. Hopefully they will recall the thought processes of that time.
Australians attending annual east coast ST conventions in the late 80s and early 90s got a lot of feedback about TNG and DS9 episodes, and behind-the-scenes stuff about the licensed novels, comics, RPGs and toys via Richard Arnold (ST Archivist), who was an annual supplementary guest (and available for chats the entire weekend, not just his one-hour on stage). RA brought with him his unique observations from the other side of the often-controversial licensing program (biased towards the Star Trek Office view, of course), but often filling in gaps in events the fans didn't learn about from the comics' lettercols, or little asides in "Starlog", or Peter David's "But I Digress..." column, or Richard's own column in "The Communicator".
I know a lot of the authors dislike/disbelieve RA, and his spin on what was going on at the time, but he was definitely a person of influence on the tie-ins for several crucial years. Hard to believe, in 2012, I'd still be trying to remember those many conversations with him in the late 80s/early 90s.
And really, the Bickleys were not a hugely popular idea in the first place. There were letters both in favor of and against them in the lettercols, but they did seem to be controversial. And I think it's telling that their capes had disappeared by their third appearance in issue 4, and the characters themselves disappeared for the last two issues. If anything, that suggests to me that the creators had already given up on them as a bad idea before the miniseries even ended. So I doubt anyone would've wanted to resurrect them.
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Thanks! I hope we get a nice, definitive answer one way or the other.Therin of Andor said:
Speedy replies from both Bob and MJF! When MJF got the ST:TNG assignment, he "set out to add some original characters to the cast. The McRobbs -- unrelated to the Bickleys -- were the only ones who made it past the outline stage, and even they didn't survive beyond the first several issues."
Once RA had departed, of course, MJF was able to bring James back for a guest role, as we mentioned. (As did TOS revisit RJ Blaise.)
Bob added that the Mike Carlin-created Bickleys (resembling old time radio's "The Bickersons") were mainly there so he could give someone some personality while they were producing the mini-series, long before the creative team at DC saw a minute of TNG footage.
Christopher was right then, they're totally unrelated. Thanks very much for finding out!
They had personality, all right! Even among all the other bizarro happenings and characterizations in DC's first TNG series.
I, too, long for this day.
I want a sitcom featuring Tom, B'Lanna, Meral, and Tom's amphibious children. If the ratings aren't good, they can introduce Harry Kim as a Steve Urkel character. "Did I do thaaaaaaaaaat???"
How about Dr. Pulaski? I know she was (briefly) in A Time For War, A Time For Peace. But that was so long ago.
she was in "Progress" a follow-up to "Pen Pals" unless my memory's shot.
Defintely Robert April and the first crew of the 1701, Would love a series about the launch of the first 12 Constitution class starships, and anything about that time period!
I kinda wonder if we'll ever see Arla Rees again. It'd be interesting to see her reaction to all the changes on Bajor. Did she stay a monk? Eventually rejoin Starfleet?
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Arla_Rees
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Arla_Rees
It's from Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions by David Mack:
The Galactic Commonwealth is the Mirror Universe's equivalent to the Federation -- a sovereign state, founded on the principles of democracy, liberty, equality, and justice for all, and dedicated to exploration and peaceful coexistence with its neighbors. It's established by the Terran Rebellion and Memory Omega after they successfully free the former worlds of the Terran Empire from the alliance of the Klingon Empire and Cardassian Union. Its capital planet is Deneva, and its legislature is the the Commonwealth Assembly.
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