If Hunter had not died, do you think that we might have seen Captain Pike again?
If Jeffery Hunter had lived....
- Thread starter Gotham Central
- Start date
Uh We did see Pike again, in Trek09
As far as another appearance in TOS and the TOS movies? I kind of doubt it. There were rumors that Hunter's departure was a result of him being told that his career was in movies, not television...
I doubt it. He left Star Trek of his own volition.
He turned down a return in "Minagerie" - hence Pike's mutilation, to disguise the recasting.
Is this fact? Was Hunter actually asked to reprise his roll and turned it down? Or is this your opinion?
^^Hunter was actually asked to return and turned it down, hwoever Pike being mutilated was always the intention, regardless of if Hunter returned or not.
I beleive it was Hunter's wife that convinced him not to do the second pilot of Trek, seeing it as beneath him. Read it in... "Captain's Log" perhaps?
I always thought the reason Hunter didn't come back for a second pilot was because at that point he had a full schedule of movies to film?
I remember a few years back I read an interview with Hunter done around the time The Cage was being filmed. He seemed very interested in the show. But since The Cage wasn't picked up he logically chose to move on in his career and by the time Star Trek got its second chance, he was unavailable.
I remember a few years back I read an interview with Hunter done around the time The Cage was being filmed. He seemed very interested in the show. But since The Cage wasn't picked up he logically chose to move on in his career and by the time Star Trek got its second chance, he was unavailable.
Could they really have afforded Jeffery Hunter for The Menagerie? They were strapped for time and money as it was, I thought that was the reason for doing the bottle show in the first place?
I think we're getting stories crossed here.
I believe it was Where No Man Has Gone Before, the second pilot, that they wanted Hunter to return for. Despite the numerous cast shakeups after The Cage, they still intended to move forward with Captain Pike. But Hunter voluntarily declined to return. Depending on who is telling the story, it's either because his wife, acting as his agent, demanded too much money and/or that they felt the project was 'beneath him' and he needed to focus on movies.
I don't believe there was ever any intention of having him return for The Menagerie. The whole premise of the story doesn't work unless Pike is seriously disabled, and it doesn't make much sense to pay a well known actor to come and sit in a wheelchair under heavy makeup and utter a beep every now and then.
The interesting thing is that had NBC approved The Cage and gone straight to series production, Hunter would have been obligated to continue. His contract, as is standard with pilots, included his obligation to the series if it sold. But when they decided to make a second pilot, he wasn't obligated to do that.
I believe it was Where No Man Has Gone Before, the second pilot, that they wanted Hunter to return for. Despite the numerous cast shakeups after The Cage, they still intended to move forward with Captain Pike. But Hunter voluntarily declined to return. Depending on who is telling the story, it's either because his wife, acting as his agent, demanded too much money and/or that they felt the project was 'beneath him' and he needed to focus on movies.
I don't believe there was ever any intention of having him return for The Menagerie. The whole premise of the story doesn't work unless Pike is seriously disabled, and it doesn't make much sense to pay a well known actor to come and sit in a wheelchair under heavy makeup and utter a beep every now and then.
The interesting thing is that had NBC approved The Cage and gone straight to series production, Hunter would have been obligated to continue. His contract, as is standard with pilots, included his obligation to the series if it sold. But when they decided to make a second pilot, he wasn't obligated to do that.
Sam McCord
Lieutenant Commander
It wasn't his wife at all...
Jeff Hunter's father saw the pilot, and didn't want his son doing sci-fi.
Jeff Hunter's father saw the pilot, and didn't want his son doing sci-fi.
Similar threads
