The Cage cast

[ZapBrannigan]

Very rare to hear anyone speak ill of Majel Barrett. Despite any issues with her relationship with Roddenberry, by most accounts she was an extremely nice person.

That doesn't mean she had the charisma and talent to carry a TV series, which is what lead actors have to do.

 

[Bad Atom]

^^^I don't take it as being out and out "ill" -- it comes across more as "gossipy" to me. YMMV

Sir Rhosis

True. Amazing that's there's still new gossip to be found after all these years though.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Since we are on the subject of the "The Cage cast" I was reading actor Malachi Throne's biography at the imdb website today and found this (here is the link):

He had memorable appearances as "Falseface" on the Batman TV series and provided the voice of "The Keeper" for "The Cage", the pilot episode of the "Star Trek" (1966) series. He turned down an offer to be a regular cast member on that show, rejecting the part of Dr. McCoy as he did not want to play third fiddle to William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Producer Gene Roddenberry, who had offered him the role of "Bones" McCoy, was not offended by Throne turning him down, and cast him as "Commodore Mendez" in the two-part episode "The Menagerie", which included most of the original pilot, although by then The Keeper's voice had been re-dubbed by another actor. He also later played "Senator Pardac" in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" two-part episode "Unification," appearing with Leonard Nimoy, whose Mr. Spock was the role he had coveted a generation before.

I never knew GR offered the role of Dr. McCoy to Throne or that Throne had coveted the Mr. Spock role in TOS. Does anyone know the source for this?


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[ZapBrannigan]

I never knew GR offered the role of Dr. McCoy to Throne or that Throne had coveted the Mr. Spock role in TOS. Does anyone know the source for this?

It's in Throne's STARLOG interview (Issue 190, May 1993).

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

I never knew GR offered the role of Dr. McCoy to Throne or that Throne had coveted the Mr. Spock role in TOS. Does anyone know the source for this?

It's in Throne's STARLOG interview (Issue 190, May 1993).

Thanks ZapBrannigan. Are there any other sources that can corroborate this, besides Malachi Throne? Herb Solow, Bob Justman, Gene Roddenberry, Leonard Nimoy, etc?


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[Christopher]

although by then The Keeper's voice had been re-dubbed by another actor.

This is a common misconception. Actually it's still Throne's voice, just electronically raised in pitch, as discussed here:

http://www.startrekhistory.com/cagepage.html

 

[ZapBrannigan]

although by then The Keeper's voice had been re-dubbed by another actor.

This is a common misconception. Actually it's still Throne's voice, just electronically raised in pitch, as discussed here:

http://www.startrekhistory.com/cagepage.html

Thanks. I used to think it was re-done by Vic Perrin (the Halkan spokesman in "Mirror, Mirror").

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, a lot of people used to think that, and you can still find that claim out there.

 

[Mysterion]

Malachai Throne as McCoy would have been interesting. I've been watching him in episodes of It Takes A Thief. He shows a lot of personality playing the character of Noah Bain that I think would have worked really well if he'd been McCoy in TOS.

 

[mb22]

^Yeah, a lot of people used to think that, and you can still find that claim out there.

It's also been discussed on this board before. It was first made in the first edition of The Star Trek Compendium (but not the following editions).