The Truth about Jeffrey Hunter

[JeffinOakland]

Nimoy made an interesting observation in For the Love of Spock. He notes that both Hunter and himself were introverted "internal" actors and that made it difficult to read and respond to Hunter at times. Conversely, Shatner is very external and expressive and this enabled Nimoy to react to him to build a mood and develop a scene. He and Shatner had better chemistry.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Nimoy made an interesting observation in For the Love of Spock. He notes that both Hunter and himself were introverted "internal" actors and that made it difficult to read and respond to Hunter at times. Conversely, Shatner is very external and expressive and this enabled Nimoy to react to him to build a mood and develop a scene. He and Shatner had better chemistry.

^ This. Nimoy has long said Shatner's kind of performer allowed him to move toward the Spock everyone knows; the contrast was magnetic and always interesting, and that was not present in the on-screen relationship between Nimoy & Hunter. Shatner's Kirk in creation and execution was a radical departure from Hunter & Pike, and sold the series.

I've always known Hunter's last years were terribly sad on a personal level. Professionally, his kind of studio system "star" type actor had been in the process of being phased out throughout the 1960s. With other kinds of actors (already making their splash in the 50s) such as McQueen, Cassavetes, Coburn, Poitier, et al., redefining the male leading and/or character actor, it is difficult to imagine Hunter transitioning from that slick, bright lights sort of performer, if he had lived.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Sounds weird that someone could also have been involved in his death as well! Guess we'll never know?
JB

Ted Healy (creator of the Three Stooges) also died under mysterious circumstances. Either in a brawl with some college guys, or killed by the mob, or of alcoholism related symptoms.

 

[Harvey]

Sounds weird that someone could also have been involved in his death as well! Guess we'll never know? Wonder if he was ever asked to come back and play the disfigured Pike in The Menagerie? Guess not as it would have been beneath him...
JB

Hunter was asked to film additional scenes for the "envelope." He declined. Pike's injuries were a result of Hunter's decision not to come back.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Nimoy made an interesting observation in For the Love of Spock. He notes that both Hunter and himself were introverted "internal" actors and that made it difficult to read and respond to Hunter at times. Conversely, Shatner is very external and expressive and this enabled Nimoy to react to him to build a mood and develop a scene. He and Shatner had better chemistry.

That sounds much like what he said in Shatner's film Mind Meld. Did Adam Nimoy use some of Shatner's footage or was it a different interview?

 

[johnnybear]

Hunter was asked to film additional scenes for the "envelope." He declined. Pike's injuries were a result of Hunter's decision not to come back.

Was he really asked? I'd have thought they daren't ask him anything again not even what's the time?
JB

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Was he really asked? I'd have thought they daren't ask him anything again not even what's the time?
JB

According to some sources, Herb Solow had sent out a memo with the script for "The Menagerie" two-parter, with a request for Hunter to reprise the role for the bookend segments. When it was refused, then it was devised for Pike to have been disfigured by Delta Rays.

 

[Harvey]

Was he really asked? I'd have thought they daren't ask him anything again not even what's the time?
JB

There are memos at UCLA showing he was asked.

 

[Warped9]

According to some sources, Herb Solow had sent out a memo with the script for "The Menagerie" two-parter, with a request for Hunter to reprise the role for the bookend segments. When it was refused, then it was devised for Pike to have been disfigured by Delta Rays.

That really is a shame he couldn't/wouldn't reprise the role for those few brief scenes.

 

[mb22]

I've wondered what John D.F. Black's initial pre-Roddenberry 'envelope' script for "The Cage", "From the First Day to the Last" was like. Did it have an uninjured Pike in it?

 

[Warped9]

I've wondered what John D.F. Black's initial pre-Roddenberry 'envelope' script for "The Cage", "From the First Day to the Last" was like. Did it have an uninjured Pike in it?

That would be quite interesting to see.

Still, the whole reason for Pike to return to Talos 4 is to regain something of a normal existence even if it is an illusion. His being totally incapacitated allows for Spock to enact his plan. If Pike were able to speak and make his objections known that then changes so much of the story as we know it. Unless, perhaps, you have Pike somehow enlisting Spock's help to return to Talos 4.

Hmm...


Part of whats weird with seeing Pike in his chair today is due to the advances made over the past fifty years. Today someone could be connected to a computer to allow them to speak via a computer display. If Pike can move his chair, even in a limited manner, then he should be able to communicate in a manner somewhat similar to Stephen Hawking with today's technology.

 

[johnnybear]

If he had of accepted, I wonder how it would have changed the story from what we know today? I mean I can't see Hunter as a vegetable sitting in his chair going beep for the best part of an hour! Or two weeks in actual viewing time can you?
JB

 

[mb22]

If he had of accepted, I wonder how it would have changed the story from what we know today? I mean I can't see Hunter as a vegetable sitting in his chair going beep for the best part of an hour! Or two weeks in actual viewing time can you?
JB

That's why I suspect any framing story with a returning Hunter would have substantially different.
.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Part of whats weird with seeing Pike in his chair today is due to the advances made over the past fifty years. Today someone could be connected to a computer to allow them to speak via a computer display. If Pike can move his chair, even in a limited manner, then he should be able to communicate in a manner somewhat similar to Stephen Hawking with today's technology.

Pike was suffering from the effects of Delta particle radiation. What are the full effects of that? From what was presented, Pike was so crippled by it, that he barely had the ability to use the lights to respond. He could not speak, move any part of his body, and barely had control over the movement of his eyes. Recall this dialogue:

Mendez: "And totally unable to move, Jim. His wheel chair is constructed to respond to his brain waves. Oh, he can turn it, move it forwards, or backwards slightly."
Piper: "With the flashing light, he can say yes or no."
Mendez: "But that's it, Jim. That's as much as that poor devil can do. His mind is as active as yours and mine, but it's trapped inside a useless vegetating body. He's kept alive mechanically, a battery-driven heart."

It seemed he was reduced to only being able to respond in the most rudimentary fashion of positives ("yes") and negatives ("no"), but no greater thought beyond that, despite McCoy saying his mind was as active as any normal person.

 

[Warped9]

^^ But thats the thing. If his mind is still vital and active then they should have been able to connect to it, especially by the 23rd century.

The issue is the writers couldn't see that far down the road in realistic terms. And yet this sort of thing--a brain directly connected to computer--had already been done in SF literature. The Ship Who Sang was published in the early sixties and revolved around a spaceship that was controlled by a living brain. And ironically TOS would revisit this idea two seasons later in "Spock's Brain," only there it's an entire underground complex rather than a spaceship...or communicating by computer interface.

 

[Harvey]

I've wondered what John D.F. Black's initial pre-Roddenberry 'envelope' script for "The Cage", "From the First Day to the Last" was like. Did it have an uninjured Pike in it?

Only the script for part two survives in the collection at UCLA, and my memory is a bit hazy on it. As far as I know, Black has never really talked about the script itself, just the subsequent WGA arbitration.

 

[Warped9]

Isn't Black still alive? It could be interesting if he could be asked to elaborate on his initial version of the story.

 

[JeffinOakland]

That sounds much like what he said in Shatner's film Mind Meld. Did Adam Nimoy use some of Shatner's footage or was it a different interview?

I don't recall.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Was it filmed in Nimoy's backyard?

 

[Harvey]

Isn't Black still alive? It could be interesting if he could be asked to elaborate on his initial version of the story.

He is still alive.