Replaceable/Irreplaceable Actors and the Characters they played

[Jedi_Master]

Replaceable/Irreplaceable Actors

What actors who played a character in Star Trek were irreplaceable?
In other words, in your mind you cannot imagine any other actor playing the character they portrayed.

What actors who played a character in Star Trek were replaceable?
In other words - in your mind - another actor could have played the role and there would have been no timeline warping, life shattering change.

For example:
Leonard Nimoy - irreplaceable
Walter Koenig - replaceable

Kate Mulgrew - irreplaceable
Garrett Wang - replaceable

 

[Silvercrest]

Leonard Nimoy - irreplaceable

But ... but .....

 

[Jedi_Master]

Leonard Nimoy - irreplaceable

But ... but .....

Even J.J. didn't dare replace him.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Patrick Stewart is irreplaceable.
Anthony Montgomery could've been replace by a plank of wood and it would've fulfilled the same purpose.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Chris Pine is James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto is Spock. If they could be recast successfully, anyone in Trek can.


Oh yeah, and Benedict Cumberbatch is Khan

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Chris Pine is James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto is Spock. If they could be recast successfully, anyone in Trek can.

I think anyone can be recast effectively in a different timeline, like those two were. But not everyone could be replaced within the same timeline. First irreplaceable one to come to mind is Patrick Stewart as Picard.

 

[Melakon]

They're all replaceable, that's why there are auditions. At some point, on some day, someone in power decided they were right for the job. Had it been another day, the decision might have been different.

 

[mendelin]

John de Lancie as Q is irreplaceable IMO.
The Q-wonder was always in his eyes, inside him. Other Q-actors were not so convincing, they look like common people.

Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys is perfect (even irreplaceable) actress. Again, her eyes with wild passion and power of child in resistance.

I'm a big fan of Rene Auberjonois as Odo. I think, he could be replaceable by other actor with the same ability to express feelings only through eyes and minimum face gestures (Odo's mask is too heavy). But I doubt, there is the other Rene Auberjonois

 

[TheSubCommander]

Chris Pine is James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto is Spock. If they could be recast successfully, anyone in Trek can.

I think anyone can be recast effectively in a different timeline, like those two were. But not everyone could be replaced within the same timeline. First irreplaceable one to come to mind is Patrick Stewart as Picard.

Patrick Stewart is replaceable, if they chose a younger, Stargazer 1st officer/Captain Picard.


And people making blanket statements that Chris Pine and Zach Quinto successfully recast and ARE their respective characters are only speaking for themselves.

I like both actors fine and I'm not putting them down. But sorry, 2 movies are not enough to make me erase from my mind the 3 seasons of TOS, one season of TAS, and 7 Trek movies with Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. To me THEY own those roles, Pine and Quinto are just renting them for a while.

 

[Green Shirt]

Anthony Montgomery could've been replace by a plank of wood and it would've fulfilled the same purpose.

What did wood ever do to you?

 

[brandnewfan]

IRREPLACEABLE
(The actors in this list were perfect for their roles and a better actor probably couldn't have been found.)

The Original Series

Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonien Singh

The Next Generation
Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
Brent Spiner as Data
John de Lancie as Q

Deep Space Nine
Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko
Andrew Robinson as Garak
Rene Auberjonois as Odo
Armin Shimerman as Quark
Marc Alaimo as Dukat
Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami
Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun
Salome Jens as the Female Changeling

Voyager
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway (I'm not a fan of the character, but Kate was probably the best possible portrayal of Janeway)


REPLACEABLE
(Just to clarify, not all of the actors on this list are bad, IMO, it's just that their roles probably could've been handled well, or in some cases better, by someone else.)

The Original Series
William Shatner as James T. Kirk
Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura
George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov

The Next Generation
Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker
LeVar Burton as Geordi LaForge
Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar
Michael Dorn as Worf
Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher
Diana Muldaur as Katherine Pulaski
Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

Deep Space Nine
Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys
Alexander Siddig as Julian Bashir
Terry Farrell as Jadzia Dax
Nicole de Boer as Ezri Dax
Michael Dorn as Worf
Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien
Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko

Voyager
Robert Beltran as Chakotay
Tim Russ as Tuvok
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Jennifer Lien as Kes
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
Robert Picardo as The Doctor

Enterprise
Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Connor Trinneer as Trip Tucker
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
John Billingsley as Phlox

 

[plynch]

IRREPLACEABLE
(The actors in this list were perfect for their roles and a better actor probably couldn't have been found.)

Aha, a definition, thank you. I'd add that, if replaced, the character as we know him or her would be thought of substantially differently.

Star Trek: They were thinking of replacing Nimoy, b/c of salary demands, with Mark Lenard. With the same lines, would he have made Spock a different person? I am doubtful, and I LOVE Nimoy. I'd actually go with Kelley first, his delivery was so energetic and idiosyncratic. Someone other . . . than . . . Shatner . . . reallychangesthatcharacter . . . if delivering the same lines. I'd say Koenig, as playful as he was, was pretty distinctive, unlike Takei and Nichols. Another actor delivering Scotty's lines in an accent . . . I think it's still Scotty. And I LOVE Doohan too. This is a good question.

TNG: Stewart. He's unique. After that, none IMHO.

DS9: Brooks, again, such a unique actor. Auberjonois. Colm Meaney just radiated humanity. Re-cast him and I think most actors aren't as sympathetic. Shimerman. Andrew Robinson. Oh, and Mark Allen Shepard, OF COURSE!

VOY: I know it became the Doctor and Seven show, but for good reason: I nominate Picardo and Ryan and that's it. And I like many of their characters.

ENT: Change them ALL and maybe I'd watch it zzzzz.....

 

[HIjol]

Mark Leonard...utterly irreplaceable

"Enterprise"....utterly replaceable

And, my Dark Horse perplexity...could anyone but Wil Wheaton have done Wesley better?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Anybody could act like Shatner acting like Kirk. So you could replace Kirk, but you couldn't have Kirk without Shatner.

ETA: Ironically, the one person who was most replaceable in TOS--Chekov--got the worst replacement in nuTrek.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Like Mel said, they're all replaceable.

James Bond is replaceable. Superman is replaceable. Sherlock Holmes is replaceable. Rick Blaine is replaceable. (Dare I give Hollywood any ideas.) And, yes, I know it's cliché but even Hamlet was replaced.

Suggesting any Star Trek character is somehow above any of those is kind of silly.

 

[mos6507]

I do think in general people have been bludgeoned to death with so many reboots that we're more apt to accept replacements than ever before. Loyalty to any one portrayal is an endangered species.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Replaceable/Irreplaceable Actors

What actors who played a character in Star Trek were irreplaceable?
In other words, in your mind you cannot imagine any other actor playing the character they portrayed.

What actors who played a character in Star Trek were replaceable?
In other words - in your mind - another actor could have played the role and there would have been no timeline warping, life shattering change.

For example:
Leonard Nimoy - irreplaceable
Walter Koenig - replaceable

Kate Mulgrew - irreplaceable
Garrett Wang - replaceable

Your second options were the first that came to mind.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Like Mel said, they're all replaceable.

James Bond is replaceable. Superman is replaceable. Sherlock Holmes is replaceable. Rick Blaine is replaceable. (Dare I give Hollywood any ideas.) And, yes, I know it's cliché but even Hamlet was replaced.

Suggesting any Star Trek character is somehow above any of those is kind of silly.

It's just for fun

 

[PicardAnyCard]

Giselle Bundchen was replaceable.

 

[2takesfrakes]

It would've been great to have seen Ben Sisco played by James Earle Jones, whom I believe was seriously considered, actually. I also believe the writing would've improved from the very beginning, having an actor of his callibur onboard.