David Rappaport in "The Most Toys"

[yousirname]

Best find someone who called it that, then. I called the desire to see the last and unused scenes shot by a depressed actor before he killed himself 'slightly icky'.

 

[Dream]

I always found the interest in David Rappaport by Trek fans to be bizarre when he didn't even appear in an episode.

 

[SchwEnt]

Rappaport was awesome. Time Bandits is one of my all time faves and he's a big reason why. I would have liked to see him again, especially as a bad guy in this eps. Seeing him as sleazy Fajo would have been something.

But I wonder, would they really show Data gunning down a midget in cold blood?

 

[Maxwell Everett]

So, sorry if I'm missing it but did he complete all his scenes and they chose not to use them, or was it only partially completed when he died and therefore they had to reshoot the Fajo portions?

Not completely clear. What we konw:

-Episode was filmed in March. According to the TNG Companion, "a few days" into filming, Rappaport attempted suicide (the attempt was not successful).

-After this ATTEMPT, the TNG crew recast and reshot whatever scenes had already been made with Rappaport (it's not clear whether this was every Fajo scene, or only some. Each episode took, if I recall, about 6 days to shoot, so a "few days" could have been as much as 50% through filming, though not all these scenes may have been with Fajo in).

-Rappaport later successfully killed himself at beginning of May.

We can actually pin things down a little bit more. We know that Rappaport had attempted suicide by inhaling automobile exhaust on Sunday March 4th, 1990. The TNG Companion actually specifies that he completed two days of filming. Assuming his work on the episode began along with everyone else, that means the first day of filming was Thursday March 1st.

A typical TNG episode filmed for seven days (sometimes they shot an episode in six days, but that wasn't the norm). Each day of the week the call time for the actors and crew is later and later due to minimum turnaround, so filming on Friday probably started in the early afternoon and went into Saturday morning. That's probably where the "few days" (i.e. three) mentioned on Memory Alpha comes from.

Given this, I'd say he completed roughly a third of his role by the time he was replaced. Could still be wrong though... as you say, without knowing what scenes were shot when, we can't know how much of his specific role was completed. Hopefully the segment on the S3 set will tell us.

 

[Maxwell Everett]

I always found the interest in David Rappaport by Trek fans to be bizarre when he didn't even appear in an episode.

I think his tragic story is why there is interest. Also, almost no one's seen this footage before now... and how many other actors have been cast in a Star Trek role, filmed for a short time, then were replaced for whatever reason, and then died before the episode/film came out, the footage vaulted and forgotten? I think he's the only one. Am I right?

 

[Dale Sams]

I have no prob with the conclusion of that episode, but Kivas is putting a lot of faith in Data's not wanting to destroy any one-of-a-kind artifacts*. (My fanwank as to why the idea isn't even brought up). Data also could have taken Kivas head off by throwing a vase at it.

Edit: I'm watching the ep now. The scene where Geordi is in the Ready Room and saying "It doesn't make sense."....wtf is Riker sitting on? A high chair? His butt is at Picard's face-level. Who sits in a chair two feet higher than every other chair in the room?

 

[Dale Sams]

I always found the interest in David Rappaport by Trek fans to be bizarre when he didn't even appear in an episode.

I think his tragic story is why there is interest. Also, almost no one's seen this footage before now... and how many other actors have been cast in a Star Trek role, filmed for a short time, then were replaced for whatever reason, and then died before the episode/film came out, the footage vaulted and forgotten? I think he's the only one. Am I right?

Was Barrymore filmed at all before he was replaced on The Alternative Factor? Then there's Genvieve Bujold. Neither was a death, but similar circumstances.

 

[Maxwell Everett]

I always found the interest in David Rappaport by Trek fans to be bizarre when he didn't even appear in an episode.

I think his tragic story is why there is interest. Also, almost no one's seen this footage before now... and how many other actors have been cast in a Star Trek role, filmed for a short time, then were replaced for whatever reason, and then died before the episode/film came out, the footage vaulted and forgotten? I think he's the only one. Am I right?

Was Barrymore filmed at all before he was replaced on The Alternative Factor? Then there's Genvieve Bujold. Neither was a death, but similar circumstances.

Thanks. Forgot about those two. According to MemoryAlpha, Barrymore failed to show up for work on the first day of filming.

 

[Avon]

if you want to see the footage to see how he acted the role, etc that doesn't seem particularly morbid. he was good in time bandits and its an interesting glimpse into what could have been. it's not slightly icky, but it is tragic.

 

[diankra]

So, sorry if I'm missing it but did he complete all his scenes and they chose not to use them, or was it only partially completed when he died and therefore they had to reshoot the Fajo portions?

Not completely clear. What we konw:

-Episode was filmed in March. According to the TNG Companion, "a few days" into filming, Rappaport attempted suicide (the attempt was not successful).

-After this ATTEMPT, the TNG crew recast and reshot whatever scenes had already been made with Rappaport (it's not clear whether this was every Fajo scene, or only some. Each episode took, if I recall, about 6 days to shoot, so a "few days" could have been as much as 50% through filming, though not all these scenes may have been with Fajo in).

-Rappaport later successfully killed himself at beginning of May.

We can actually pin things down a little bit more. We know that Rappaport had attempted suicide by inhaling automobile exhaust on Sunday March 4th, 1990. The TNG Companion actually specifies that he completed two days of filming. Assuming his work on the episode began along with everyone else, that means the first day of filming was Thursday March 1st.

A typical TNG episode filmed for seven days (sometimes they shot an episode in six days, but that wasn't the norm). Each day of the week the call time for the actors and crew is later and later due to minimum turnaround, so filming on Friday probably started in the early afternoon and went into Saturday morning. That's probably where the "few days" (i.e. three) mentioned on Memory Alpha comes from.

Given this, I'd say he completed roughly a third of his role by the time he was replaced. Could still be wrong though... as you say, without knowing what scenes were shot when, we can't know how much of his specific role was completed. Hopefully the segment on the S3 set will tell us.

If TNG was anything like Doctor Who, and assuming there were no other scheduling complications, they'd usually shoot the scenes on new sets or with guest actors at the start of the shoot (again, assuming those sets were available), and then shoot the scenes on the regular/standing sets at the end of the week (as those could be rescheduled for later if things went disastrously wrong).
So as Rappaport's scenes were largely (if not all - haven't seen the episode recently enough to be sure) on his character's ship, not the Enterprise, two or days of shooting might be closer to two thirds or more of more of his scenes.

 

[Doug Otte]

Was Barrymore filmed at all before he was replaced on The Alternative Factor? Then there's Genvieve Bujold. Neither was a death, but similar circumstances.

Max already answered about Barrymore; Bujold's footage can be seen as an extra on the Season 1 Voyager DVD. I never bought it, but I borrowed it from a coworker just to see her.

She's a very good actress, but she did seem out of place in a leadership role. Mulgrew was a better choice.

 

[jimbotron]

It's an awful story. He attempts suicide in March. Presumably he gets some sort of help, or maybe not. In either case, he then legally purchases a gun around April 17th (according to IMDb), and kills himself with it 15 days later.

As far as I know, background checks in CA are supposed to catch things like suicide attempts, but I don't know what the process was in 1990. Either way, he was granted a weapon that he should not have been allowed to receive. Was he even a US citizen?

 

[Worf'sParmach]

It's an awful story. He attempts suicide in March. Presumably he gets some sort of help, or maybe not. In either case, he then legally purchases a gun around April 17th (according to IMDb), and kills himself with it 15 days later.

As far as I know, background checks in CA are supposed to catch things like suicide attempts, but I don't know what the process was in 1990. Either way, he was granted a weapon that he should not have been allowed to receive. Was he even a US citizen?

Today, information is so instant, they could just do a quick database search and see that he wasn't ok. Back then, did they even have the waiting period for firearms? The information on his attempted suicide probably wasn't in his "file" so soon after the attempt was made.

 

[jimbotron]

Speaking of actors missing out on roles, I forget how far into planning Robin Williams was to playing Rasmussen in A Matter of Time. That would have been great. Frewer was more than good enough though.

 

[jimbotron]

Rappaport footage confirmed:

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/03/tng-s3-blus-david-rappaport-the-most-toys-footage-will-be-included/

This is yet another example of the love these guys have for the material. They want the fans to have the very best experience, and I applaud them.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Y'know, I'm not sure I want to see that. It seems a bit macabre.

Surely it's no worse than say, The Crow or Gladiator?

THE CROW is macabre, yes.

 

[Gary7]

I thought he was terrific in Time Bandits. Looked like he really had a lot of potential. It was so saddening to hear of his suicide. But wow, I had no idea David Rappaport would've been Fajo... It's great they're including the footage on the Blu-ray discs. Looking forward to seeing it!

 

[Mr_Homn]

Now that the 3rd season is out on blu ray, what does everyone think of Rappaport's performance as Fajo? Does it mesh well with the rest of the episode? I've heard he is more "sinister"... How so? I haven't seen it yet, but I'd love to hear the first impressions of those who have seen it.

 

[Borjis]

Now that the 3rd season is out on blu ray, what does everyone think of Rappaport's performance as Fajo? Does it mesh well with the rest of the episode? I've heard he is more "sinister"... How so? I haven't seen it yet, but I'd love to hear the first impressions of those who have seen it.

It would have been a great episode, from what I've seen.

Something about him being a little person, makes him more intimidating/sinister than Saul R. portraying the character, though he did a fine job.

I met Saul at work a year ago during some WH13 work, he's kind of a grumpy guy in person...at least that day he was.

 

[Jonesy]

It's kind of unfair to completely judge David, but I wasn't that impressed with what I did see of his footage.

I think that Saul did a fine job, also given the fact that he had basically no time to prepare for the role at all.