Replace Nimoy in TSFS?

[Tenacity]

Provided they could have done so with a quality actor, could you have accepted a "new Spock" at the end of TSFS?

And would that of been the perfect opportunity to do so if it was going to be done at all?

In TSFS, Spock is aging at a accelerated rate that by the later scenes in the movie delivers us back to having Leonard Nimoy as Spock. However earlier in the movie we see a different actor as Spock. Please bear in mind that I'm not suggesting that that actor becomes Spock from that point forward.

Leonard Nimoy was on record as wanting to discontinue playing the character.

The scenario I am suggesting is that Spock doesn't age back to the approximate age he was when he died, but instead he "stops" at a earlier point, result in a Spock who would be about mid-thirties - early forties.

Obviously he wouldn't look like Nimoy.

The experience of being exposed to the Genesis effect and having his Kantra "re-fusioned" into his consciousness could be used to explain the new actor's take on the Spock character.

Any thoughts?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

No. There was no point in doing that movie if Nimoy wasn't returning to the role. If he hadn't chosen to come back, they would've done something else.

 

[mos6507]

It would have worked had they decided to have Spock have a lasting relationship with Saavik after pon farr.

 

[F. King Daniel]

They had ample opportunity and intent to phase out the character and replace him with Xon in Phase II (where I presume Sonak's demise in TMP is something of a nail in the coffin of that idea) and then Saavik rather than recast.

 

[Dukhat]

It would have been a huge cop-out to the audience to have another actor play Spock, especially in the convoluted way you describe. He’s Spock, not Doctor Who.

 

[BillJ]

Leonard Nimoy was on record as wanting to discontinue playing the character.

He apparently was, until the wrap party where he said he couldn't wait to come back. The whole reason we got The Search for Spock was because of Nimoy's change of heart.

 

[Christopher]

It would have been a huge cop-out to the audience to have another actor play Spock, especially in the convoluted way you describe. He’s Spock, not Doctor Who.

Oh, lots of series have recast actors. Soap operas often use plastic surgery to explain recastings. Some science fiction series use shapeshifting or body-swapping to explain it. Then again, many series just recast without any explanation at all. Heck, we got a new Saavik without explanation in the very movie we're talking about. So if they had needed to recast Spock, this would've been as valid a way to do it as any.

Although I think the OP's timing is off. Nimoy wanting to quit was why he was killed off in the second movie. The reason the third movie was about bringing him back was because he'd already changed his mind and decided he didn't want to quit after all.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I don't see the audience accepting a recast Spock, especially if the new actor was interacting with the rest of the original cast. Saavik is a different case since she had only one movie behind her, not nearly 20 years' worth of history.

 

[Christopher]

Well, people said the audience would never accept a bald French guy as a Star Trek captain because they were too attached to Kirk, but it turns out they did. You never know what'll work until you try it. It would've depended on the quality of the new actor. People usually end up accepting things that are actually good.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Provided they could have done so with a quality actor, could you have accepted a "new Spock" at the end of TSFS?

And would that of been the perfect opportunity to do so if it was going to be done at all?

In TSFS, Spock is aging at a accelerated rate that by the later scenes in the movie delivers us back to having Leonard Nimoy as Spock. However earlier in the movie we see a different actor as Spock. Please bear in mind that I'm not suggesting that that actor becomes Spock from that point forward.

Leonard Nimoy was on record as wanting to discontinue playing the character.

The scenario I am suggesting is that Spock doesn't age back to the approximate age he was when he died, but instead he "stops" at a earlier point, result in a Spock who would be about mid-thirties - early forties.

Obviously he wouldn't look like Nimoy.

The experience of being exposed to the Genesis effect and having his Kantra "re-fusioned" into his consciousness could be used to explain the new actor's take on the Spock character.

Any thoughts?

No, I can't. Nimoy is Spock to me.

 

[mos6507]

No, I can't. Nimoy is Spock to me.

What about this guy and his subtle acting?

 

[STEPhon IT]

LMAO!!!

mos6507, you know what I meant.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I, for one, love Zach Quinto as Spock. And he's playing Spock in the pilot and early season 1.

 

[Timo]

I don't see the audience accepting a recast Spock, especially if the new actor was interacting with the rest of the original cast.

The audiences didn't have much trouble accepting that new actor for Scotty in ST:TMP...

(Oh, wait, it was the same guy all along. But one certainly couldn't tell just by watching the movie.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[suarezguy]

It really wouldn't make sense to bring Spock back but with a new actor while the rest of the cast was the same as the television series, especially with there likely not being too many more movies either way.

 

[Christopher]

It really wouldn't make sense to bring Spock back but with a new actor while the rest of the cast was the same as the television series, especially with there likely not being too many more movies either way.

Actors have their own individual lives and careers, their own individual reasons for staying with a series or moving on, so it doesn't make sense to assume they can all be treated as a uniform bloc. There are dozens of cases in TV and movie history where one actor in a series has left and been recast while others have stayed -- Dick York in Bewitched being perhaps the most iconic example, the daughter in Roseanne being another famous one (because they went back and forth between two actresses and made jokes about it in the show). There are also the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, which changed the Batman actor while keeping the Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon actors. The Iron Man movies recast War Machine. The Thor movies recast Fandral. And so on. There's an abundance of well-known examples.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The audiences didn't have much trouble accepting that new actor for Scotty in ST:TMP...

(Oh, wait, it was the same guy all along. But one certainly couldn't tell just by watching the movie.)

Heh. I actually thought that Scotty had been recast when I first saw TMP in 1979. The extra weight and mustache were enough to throw me.

To be fair, I was only seven at the time.

Actors have their own individual lives and careers, their own individual reasons for staying with a series or moving on, so it doesn't make sense to assume they can all be treated as a uniform bloc. There are dozens of cases in TV and movie history where one actor in a series has left and been recast while others have stayed -- Dick York in Bewitched being perhaps the most iconic example, the daughter in Roseanne being another famous one (because they went back and forth between two actresses and made jokes about it in the show). There are also the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, which changed the Batman actor while keeping the Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon actors. The Iron Man movies recast War Machine. The Thor movies recast Fandral. And so on. There's an abundance of well-known examples.

I'm not even sure what you're debating here, Christopher. Was anyone saying that no character had ever been recast in a major franchise? No. All we're saying is that it's unlikely that they'd choose to bring back the Spock character in 1984 unless Nimoy returned to the role. If Nimoy didn't want to come back, more likely than not they'd just choose to move on and introduce another character to replace him, or make greater use of Saavik, who was half introduced as a potential replacement for Spock in TWOK.

 

[Maurice]

What was it Sarek said about Tellarites arguing?

 

[Therin of Andor]

They had ample opportunity and intent to phase out the character and replace him with Xon in Phase II (where I presume Sonak's demise in TMP is something of a nail in the coffin of that idea)...

No, even in the "Phase II" script for "In Thy Image" featuring Xon, there is still a Vulcan who dies in the accident: ie. Ronak, not Sonak.

According to directional signage on the wall of Starfleet HQ, and sold in the "It's a Wrap!" auctions, Xon has an office nearby.

 

[F. King Daniel]

No, even in the "Phase II" script for "In Thy Image" featuring Xon, there is still a Vulcan who dies in the accident: ie. Ronak, not Sonak.

According to directional signage on the wall of Starfleet HQ, and sold in the "It's a Wrap!" auctions, Xon has an office nearby.

I stand corrected!