Koenig figured it out..LONG AGO

[Captain Robert April]

Jimmy also did a lot of voice work for the series, so he was involved in more episodes than Scotty was.

As for Koenig's status, this is by his own admission, in a British documentary, "Star Trek: After They Were Famous" (available on YouTube, in about five or six parts).

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Since we are going down Star Trek memory lane. I remember reading that Walter Koenig found out about the Star Trek Animated Series while attending a Star Trek Convention from the fans. He called Gene Roddenberry to confirm there was going to be a cartoon series and why he was not in it. Gene apologized for not notifying him and said they could not afford to add him/Chekov to the cast. However, he offered Walter the opportunity to write 2 scripts for the series.

Also Leonard Nimoy went to bat for George Takei and Nichelle Nichols, threating not to partiticipate in the cartoon series unless they (George and Nichelle) were also hired to voice their characters.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[EEE]

If you want to get picky about Doohan, he even says he only got a 12 ep deal the first year

That would probably be the source of my sketchy memory of 11-13 episode contracts (and it makes sense they would all bargain for more in subsequent seasons) ...but most, if not all were definitely not "day players."

Since we are going down Star Trek memory lane. I remember reading that Walter Koenig...

How do you know Best, um, er, Koenig didn't plant that memory in your head? *grin* The more I read about Walter, the more impressed I am. However, I'd love to know if he had any stories (or even memories) about working with Shecky Greene.

 

[Vonstadt]

I have always liked Koenig, I loved Chekpv as a child watching STar Trek cause I always tried to see myself in him as the younger officer. I always felt he represented the 'me' part of the show when watching it.

I enjoyed the goofy Moon movie he made with Bruce Campell later on in the 80's (which is great late night movie watching when your brain is mostly alseep!..I mean silent firefights on the lunar surface with Apollo era gear...loved it! )

Bester was just fantastic, dark, evil and fantatic. By playing Bester Walter proved he was more than a one shot wonder. He brought that character to life and a level of menance that made you hate him yet, couldn't wait for his next appearance.

 

[gomtuu20]

Nichols was in fact a day player. The suits objected to having a black female officer on the bridge. Roddy was doinking her and wanted to get her on the show, so instead of making her a regular, he just had her come in as a day player each day. She talked about this in her autobiography. I'm not sure about the rest of the supporting cast. Perhaps they could have gotten more screen time if they were willing to do what Nichelle was willing to do.........

 

[Captain Robert April]

George might've...

 

[Nebusj]

Nichols was in fact a day player. The suits objected to having a black female officer on the bridge.

They were so worried about this the suits were sending Star Trek reminder memos to cast black actors, including in roles where the skin color of the character is irrelevant to the plot, and never expressed objections to Herb Solow.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I have always liked Koenig, I loved Chekpv as a child watching STar Trek cause I always tried to see myself in him as the younger officer. I always felt he represented the 'me' part of the show when watching it.

I enjoyed the goofy Moon movie he made with Bruce Campell later on in the 80's (which is great late night movie watching when your brain is mostly alseep!..I mean silent firefights on the lunar surface with Apollo era gear...loved it! )

Bester was just fantastic, dark, evil and fantatic. By playing Bester Walter proved he was more than a one shot wonder. He brought that character to life and a level of menance that made you hate him yet, couldn't wait for his next appearance.

Koenig has been a favorite of mine too...he is a realist, where as the other lower-decks folks are just whiners who have made careers out of just whining all the time...

Rob

 

[Vance]

Nichols was in fact a day player. The suits objected to having a black female officer on the bridge. Roddy was doinking her and wanted to get her on the show,

They didn't care that she was black. They cared that she was screwing the chief producer for her job, and everyone and their mother knew it. One reason NBC hated Star Trek so much was Roddenberry's sexual hijinks, and they were more than happy to show him the door after the second season.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Nichols was in fact a day player. The suits objected to having a black female officer on the bridge. Roddy was doinking her and wanted to get her on the show,

They didn't care that she was black. They cared that she was screwing the chief producer for her job, and everyone and their mother knew it. One reason NBC hated Star Trek so much was Roddenberry's sexual hijinks, and they were more than happy to show him the door after the second season.

Which, according to the Solow/Justman Inside Star Trek, was also the reason the suits rejected the Number One character because they knew that M. Leigh Hudac (or Majel Barrett) was Roddenberry's mistress. It wasn't the part but the actress they objected to.

 

[Lord Garth]

Mad Men reminds me of these hijinks.

 

[Dayton3]

I've heard this about television series but I don't know if any of it is true.

On a series with a number of cast members, many of the "supporting actors" tend to look toward the lead actor to "take care of them". That is they expect the lead actor or actress to kind of act as a spokesperson for the rest in dealings with producers, writers and directors.


I read once that Bob Denver stood up for his castmates on Gilligans Island. Insisting that the change be made in the opening credits from "and the rest" to "the professor and Mary Ann" so that Johnson and Wells could be included.

I get the feeling that many in the Star Trek cast resented Shatner's focus on his own career and ignoring theirs.

 

[Dayton3]

Ironically, Koenig got the role of Bester on Babylon-5 quite by accident.

His original role would've been as "Knight One" in the episode "A Sky Full of Stars".

The character was severely brain damaged in that episode and never returned.

Thanks to Koenig's heartattack, he got the recurring role of Bester