Pike's mustache/giving characters a new look

[F. King Daniel]

Am I imagining things again, or was there a novel where Captain Pike had a mustache on the front cover?

I also liked seeing Hippie Sulu on "The Entropy Effect", and Chuck Norris Bashir on the cover of "Zero Sum Game". Does anyone else think giving estabished characters a new look on book covers is a really cool way to get casual readers' attention?

 

[The Dominion]

My word, I've never seen Hippy Sulu before.

 

[Christopher]

Am I imagining things again, or was there a novel where Captain Pike had a mustache on the front cover?

Not that I recall. Pike was drawn with a mustache in DC's Star Trek (Vol. 2) Annual 4. He also appeared with full beard (in illusory form) in Vol. 2 #61. But Pike wasn't on the cover of either one.

 

[JD]

My word, I've never seen Hippy Sulu before.

The original The Entropy Effect cover.

 

[Sho]

Lol!

 

[Paper Moon]

Am I imagining things again, or was there a novel where Captain Pike had a mustache on the front cover?

I also liked seeing Hippie Sulu on "The Entropy Effect", and Chuck Norris Bashir on the cover of "Zero Sum Game". Does anyone else think giving estabished characters a new look on book covers is a really cool way to get casual readers' attention?

Well, I'm not a casual reader, but I can say that, as a committed reader (that doesn't quite sound right...), I actually thought it was pretty cool to see that Bashir had aged on the cover. And been promoted. It tied nicely into the beginning of the story with Bashir feeling, well, old.

Did they take Siddig's face from a shot in Syriana or something like that for that picture? How would they go about getting the rights for that?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Am I imagining things again, or was there a novel where Captain Pike had a mustache on the front cover?

Not that I recall. Pike was drawn with a mustache in DC's Star Trek (Vol. 2) Annual 4. He also appeared with full beard (in illusory form) in Vol. 2 #61. But Pike wasn't on the cover of either one.

In that case, I'm probably misremembering from a panel in the comic.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Am I imagining things again, or was there a novel where Captain Pike had a mustache on the front cover?

As Christopher mentioned, that was in an Annual from DC Comics. It was done because DC didn't have the likeness rights to Jeffrey Hunter, and the mustache made Pike as drawn look less like Hunter.

I also liked seeing Hippie Sulu on "The Entropy Effect", and Chuck Norris Bashir on the cover of "Zero Sum Game".

I didn't know, until Ian McLean mentioned it a few years ago, that the man with the mustache on the cover of Entropy Effect was Sulu. I had always assumed it was meant to be Georges Mordreaux. The things one learns online!

 

[Christopher]

Did they take Siddig's face from a shot in Syriana or something like that for that picture? How would they go about getting the rights for that?

After searching for images of Siddig in Syriana, it looks like the beard he had about that time, but the hair is from his DS9 days. I'd say it's a composite, the hair from a DS9-era image mixed with the face from some publicity photo from the early to mid-2000s, before his beard went gray.

 

[Captaindemotion]

My word, I've never seen Hippy Sulu before.

The original The Entropy Effect cover.

Su (Manch)lu

 

[Therin of Andor]

Am I imagining things again, or was there a novel where Captain Pike had a mustache on the front cover?

The contract for DC Comics first series of ST comics did not allow for likenesses of many supporting characters to be used. Therefore, Styles (ST III) was usually drawn without his mustache, Garth of Izar was given a shaved head, Tongo Rad was given a weird little tuft of hair, etc. IIRC, the first guest character who did resemble the original actor was a flashback to Edith Keeler, but generally DC had to instruct artists to use their creative license for characters who had been in TOS.

Even recently, likeness sign-off have proven tricky for Pocket Books. The final instalment of the "Errand of Fury" trilogy cover had to be altered when a depiction of an actor who played an Organian in TOS could not be approved through his estate. So the artist simply put an Organian glow over his image:
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sacrifices_of_War

I didn't know, until Ian McLean mentioned it a few years ago, that the man with the mustache on the cover of Entropy Effect was Sulu. I had always assumed it was meant to be Georges Mordreaux. The things one learns online!

* bows *

That's also why the Simon & Schuster Audioworks box for "The Entropy Effect" uses the cover of "Triangle" (just Kirk/Spock) - because Vonda McInytre trimmed out her entire Sulu subplot to make the story fit onto a 90 min tape.

Did they take Siddig's face from a shot in Syriana or something like that for that picture? How would they go about getting the rights for that?

Special approval lawyers who work at Pocket and CBS.

Similarly, the "Carol Marcus" shot of a young Bibi Besche for "Inception" came from one of her earlier projects. I seem to recall someone posting the images side by side.

 

[Christopher]

Similarly, the "Carol Marcus" shot of a young Bibi Besche for "Inception" came from one of her earlier projects. I seem to recall someone posting the images side by side.

Specifically, it was the cover image from a 1972 issue of The Washington Post's weekly TV listings insert, with a publicity photo of Besch from her stint as a cast member on the TV soap opera Love is a Many Splendored Thing.

 

[od0_ital]

I support the altered looks for characters, so long as they make sense, like Bashir's bearded appearance did on the Typhon Pact cover.

 

[Dantheman]

I read somewhere that when Bela Okmyx appeared on the cover of the DC Star Trek comic, they based his likeness on DC editor Julius Schwartz, since they couldn't get the rights to the original actor's likeness.

 

[Christopher]

I read somewhere that when Bela Okmyx appeared on the cover of the DC Star Trek comic, they based his likeness on DC editor Julius Schwartz, since they couldn't get the rights to the original actor's likeness.

I think that's someone jumping to a conclusion. To me, it looks like they drew an older, bald version of Anthony Caruso, the original actor -- which happens to bear some resemblance to Julie Schwartz. The version of Bela on the cover is smaller and less detailed than the ones inside the issue proper (and colored differently, with gray hair instead of brown), so it would be more easily confused with Schwartz.