for once some actors who watched star trek

[Phily B]

I'm sure a few of them grew up watching a few episodes of TNG for sure.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm sure a few of them grew up watching a few episodes of TNG for sure.

Nah, those punks eat, sleep and breath Star Wars. The conversations I've had at work with the 30 and younger set usually revealed a limited exposure to Star Trek.

Made me feel sad and old.

 

[Broccoli]

Wasn't Alexander Sidding a big, big Star Trek fan who was trying to get onto TNG in a guest role?

 

[Nick Ryder]

I think I heard that somewhere.

But its refreshing to see young actors going "Star Trek? Oh yah I loved that show." instead of "Meh, I'm more of a Star Wars fan." now what would have made me laugh my ass off is if they went "I was too young to get into Trek when it was on TV (all of a few years ago lol) I'm more of a Battlestar and Stargate man m'self."

 

[VOODOOXI]

I couldn't care less if they liked the series or not before they became involved in the franchise.

 

[CaptainStoner]

Some of the actors didn't watch any Trek prior to their being cast, but I don't see any snooty implications. Doesn't Frakes then say he watched every episode of TOS before TNG began, and gained a real appreciation thereof?
Patrick Stewart I recall tells a story of having a fond memory of a TOS watching ritual with a friend.
LeVar Burton was a fan prior, and as we all probably know, so was Wil Wheaton.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I always got the feeling that this was pushed upon them by Berman. GR wanted to distance TNG from TOS so it's likely that he was looking at actors who may not have been gushing uber fans for a specific reason.

I've wondered if Berman or some other suit had the actors downplay any existing fan experience with trek in "non fan base" interviews in some inane way of marketing the "new show" as open for new people, not already familiar with the franchise.

Sigh. More irrational Berman-bashing? OK, let's retort:

This is completely false. Firstly, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn and Wil Wheaton were HUGE fans of Trek, and made that clearly known throughout early interviews. Frakes hadn't watched it, but his then-fiance-later-wife Genie Francis was a huge fan and got him to watch them all before starting TNG. He then loved it!

As some one else said, you won't get a bigger champion of all things Trek - or a nicer guy in general - than Jon Frakes.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Also, when Rick Berman told GR that he'd not seen TOS, didn't GR say, "Good!"? - because he was hoping to bring in some perspectives that were not coloured by too much knowledge of TOS. So he deliberately stayed ignorant of TOS, but was still given a solid grounding in what GR had set up as ground rules for the future of 24th century humanity.

So several people working on early TNG were coming at the scripts as fans of TOS (Fontana, Gerrold, Justman, Duane) and others brought totally different perspectives.

 

[startrekrcks]

But was any of the actors besides Karl Urban at all interested in Trek before signing onto Trek XI.

 

[I am not Spock]

Orci and Kurtzman are fans, apparently. It seems apart from them, and Urban, that everyone involved in XI was new to the franchise.

Oh, wait a minute! I think Pegg is a fan as well.

 

[Bones2]

I'm not sure whether it's relevant, in terms of how we view the actors themselves. You're either a fan of Trek, or you're not. You've either watched it before, or you haven't. Though I am quite interesting in how the actors view Trek when they're in it and after they've worked on it. Whether they follow it and consider themselves fans then.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm not sure whether it's relevant, in terms of how we view the actors themselves. You're either a fan of Trek, or you're not. You've either watched it before, or you haven't.

Not to mention that any actor actively pursuing an acting career is not at home watching television. They're at voice classes, getting into costume for a performance in a play, learning a script for the next day's auditions, or waiting on tables in a restaurant.