John Larroquette: ST III

[Aragorn]

All this talk about EJO, I am now curious how ELO would do in a Star Trek film.

Would EJO's height have something to do with why they wouldn't cast him?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

One interesting tidbit is that Night Court debuted about six months before STIII was released. Larroquette won an Emmy the next year for his role as Dan Fielding, but when STIII came out I don't think the public was as keyed to recognize Larroquette under makeup as they were Lloyd, who had been successful on Taxi. However, even in retrospect, Maltz doesn't come off at all like Dan Fielding, at least to me, so I think that's a testament to Larroquette actually playing his part (not that Lloyd wasn't playing his, though).

The other thing is that Christopher Lloyd has a very distinct voice. Even under all that Klingon makeup, you can easily tell from the voice that it is Lloyd.

I personally don't think John Larroquette's voice is nearly as distinctive, and he used very different intonations as Dan Fielding than he did as Maltz. So I think that's one additional reason the general public may not have recognized him as easily as Lloyd.

Lloyd certainly used his trademark voice for Kruge, no question about it. And I also agree that Larroquette was using a different voice than he used for Dan Fielding. Voice is just as important as the visual appearance, isn't it?

However, I'm going to plead ignorance on whether Lloyd could have used a different voice. He's always used that trademark voice in anything I've ever seen him in, but I don't know what he's fully capable of when it comes to voice work.

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I like Maltz, by the way.

It's too bad we didn't get to see Lloyd's clowning around between takes-- "Bring me some chocolate, Maltz!"

GROAN!!!

 

[trevanian]

All this talk about EJO, I am now curious how ELO would do in a Star Trek film.

Would EJO's height have something to do with why they wouldn't cast him?

I don't think so, as the studio's suggestion of Terence Stamp is even smaller and slighter, I believ.

 

[trevanian]

It was Nimoy who wanted Olmos, but Bennett overrode him with Lloyd (this is mentioned in the Okuda text-commmentary on the DVD).

And Lloyd is extremely menacing in the role, with screen-presence to burn, IMO.

Can't find the reference, but Jurgen Prochnow (pre-DUNE, post-THE KEEP and DAS BOOT) was also supposed to be a shoo-in at some point.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I like Maltz, by the way.

It's too bad we didn't get to see Lloyd's clowning around between takes-- "Bring me some chocolate, Maltz!"

What...does...the...yellow...alert...mean?

 

[urbandefault]

The other thing is that Christopher Lloyd has a very distinct voice. Even under all that Klingon makeup, you can easily tell from the voice that it is Lloyd.

Admiral Kirk, you don't want to give me the Genesis Device...

That is perhaps the worst impressionist I've ever seen.

Judging by a five minute bit from a show early in his career (30-some years ago)? Another show from that time period is where I first saw the man, and came to admire his work.

Maurice LaMarche is an accomplished voice actor. You might know him better as The Brain, any number of characters on Animaniacs and Histeria, not to mention Morbo, Calculon, and Kif Kroker (among others) from Futurama, or more recently the Voice of Lexus.

He also originated "Talk Like William Shatner Day."

 

[austen_pierce]

The thing which strikes me the most on reflection about Kruge is how the script seems to write the character as being sort of righteous -- he goes around talking about Starfleet developing secret weapons, about how the Klingons are going to save galactic peace from this new Federation threat called Genesis, etc -- which seems to suggest that the intention was for there to be this kind of ambiguity, perhaps a suggestion that maybe he is actually right and that he's got the best intentions of the galaxy in mind (taking into account of course that he's making an assumption that the top secret Genesis Project is some kind of a weapon). Of course, then we get Lloyd's performance, dripping as it is with exaggerated menace, and scenes like the one where he orders for a hostage to be killed to show he means business. You never really forget that he's the villain of the piece, contrary it seems to some of his dialogue.

Definitely a path not [properly] taken.

And I would have LOVED to see EJO's portrayal of Kruge.

 

[Captrek]

I always saw Kruge as a Klingon in the tradition of Kor, Koloth and Kang: an antagonist with an understandable perspective, as opposed to a caricature of evil.

Definitely a contrast to post-TOS films. There is no way to sympathize with Soran, the Borg Queen, Ru'afo, Shinzon, Nero or Marcus. This is especially disappointing in the case of Shinzon, who, given the concept, certainly could have been a somewhat sympathetic character, but the film never gives him a fair shake.

 

[austen_pierce]

I always saw Kruge as a Klingon in the tradition of Kor, Koloth and Kang: an antagonist with an understandable perspective, as opposed to a caricature of evil.

Definitely a contrast to post-TOS films. There is no way to sympathize with Soran, the Borg Queen, Ru'afo, Shinzon, Nero or Marcus. This is especially disappointing in the case of Shinzon, who, given the concept, certainly could have been a somewhat sympathetic character, but the film never gives him a fair shake.

I find Nero very easy to to sympathize with. He'd lost his family. That will mess you up in the worst way.

Shinzon is the polar opposite. What he should have been and what he was... yeah they just didn't connect. At all.