People who were almost in Trek

[retroenzo]

So the myth goes that Eddie Murphy was almost in Star Trek IV but in the end that didn't happen for whatever reason.

Were there any other "almost" appearances in Trek from other actors/personalities at the time?

(Also how close was Eddie Murphy to actually being in Star Trek IV?)

 

[The Hanuk Kai]

Famously, Genevieve Bujold.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Tom Hanks as Zefram Cochrane in ST:FC
(Hanks is a huge Trekkie and really wanted to do the film, but it conflicted with his work on That Thing You Do!)

Sean Connery as Sybok in ST V

Martin Sheen as Luther Sloan on DS9

Robin Williams as Berlinghoff Rasmussen on TNG

James Earl Jones as Benjamin Sisko on DS9

As for Eddie Murphy: AFAIK, he is also a Trek fan but ultimately chose to do The Golden Child over ST IV.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Robin Williams was offered a role in TNG but had to pass because he was filming Hook.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Also, Malcolm McDowell (Soran from ST: Generations) once said he would do an episode of DS9 if his nephew (Alexander Siddig) directed. I don't know why that didn't work out.

 

[Unionized Elf]

Tom Hanks as Zefram Cochrane in ST:FC
(Hanks is a huge Trekkie and really wanted to do the film, but it conflicted with his work on That Thing You Do!)

Actually, several years ago when Tom Hanks was on Regis and Kelly, he completely denied that story and was surprised when they pointed it out to him on several websites.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Really? Damn. I wanted to believe that.

 

[Green Shirt]

Would John Drew Barrymore have saved The Alternative Factor?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I doubt it.

 

[Green Shirt]

^ I doubt it.

How about at least helped?

 

[Smoked Salmon]

Lloyd Bridges as Captain Kirk.

 

[Tenacity]

As one (of the few) Trek fans who likes Alternate Factor, I don't think Barrymore would have been an improvement over Brown.

First I've never found Barrymore to be all that great an actor.

In the scenes where Brown was the "good" Lazaras, he was calm and composed and did a good acting job, the "bad" Lazaras being played maniac was as I understand it the director's choice. If Barrymore were to of followed the director's instruction, we likely would have gotten the same Lazaras.

 

[jamestyler]

Martin Sheen as Luther Sloan on DS9

I'd never heard of that one before (or possibly I have and just forgot )! That'd have been quite an interesting take considering the two actors have rather different vibes to them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The problem with "The Alternative Factor" is that it's impossible to tell which Lazarus is which! The Lazaruses (Lazari?) switch from one to the other several times (such as when they're on the Enterprise), but they both acted exactly the same. The good Lazarus doesn't actually act good until we see him in the antimatter universe at the end.

 

[Khan 2.0]

in addition to Hanks, Connery, Murphy also :

Edward James Olmos – III (Kruge)
Brando -GEN (Soran)
Arnie – INS (Ruafo)
Jude law – NEM (Shinzon)
Russel Crowe – XI (Nero)
Benico Del Toro – STID (Khan)

think VI mustve been the only trek movie where they mustve actually got their first choice of a big name actor (aside from Montalban/Khan of course..oh and probably Weller/Marcus and Elba/Krall) .and the second (or 3rd or 4th etc) choices they got for Shinzon/Khan 2.0 turned out bigger names than the original picks..

 

[donners22]

From the DS9 companion re: Vic Fontaine:

By now we had met with Robert Goulet and had tried to get Steve Lawrence, and Tom Jones, and Jerry Vale

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ James Darren was better than any of those.

 

[F. King Daniel]

William Shatner was almost in an episode of Enterprise for Trek's 700th episode. The plans were for him to either be a time-displaced Mirror!Kirk, who in the act of attempting to return to his universe using the Enterprise transporter ends up creating it; or the Enterprise's hapless chef, whose uncanny resemblance to the famous Captain Kirk would lead to Crewman Daniels training him to "be" Kirk at a famous and vital moment in history which the real Kirk was inexplicably absent for.

 

[urbandefault]

(Also how close was Eddie Murphy to actually being in Star Trek IV?)

About as close as he was to actually being a pop singer.

 

[Spot261]

donald trump had his cameo cut apparently