Which would be an improvement over the kids in ATCSL.
What guest stars would you have liked to see on TOS?
- Thread starter CrazyMatt
- Start date
What has Kurt Russell ever done to you?
I like "Miri". "And the Children Can Lead", not so much. Kurt could have improved both.
One from the actual writer: a few years down the line, it occurred to David Gerrold that he could have written Cyrano Jones as a 'barmy old cat lady'; an elderly character who loves tribbles, thinks everyone should have a tribble, and doesn't see that you can have too much of a good thing. And if he had written the character like that, the perfect casting would have been Boris Karloff.
In the same vein, the silent film legend Harold Lloyd was a massive Trek fan in his last years. He'd retired 20 years earlier, but if the production team had heard about that and sounded him out for a cameo, I bet he'd have done it in a shot (elderly but revered admiral maybe? Like the Admiral Quinn character in TNG season one).
Some names from Inside Star Trek's reprints of the Spock Replacement Casting Memoes: Edward Mulhare, Michael Rennie, Dvid Carradine, Curt Lowens... presumably the producers thought they might just be available within Trek's budget with a bit of luck.
Various actors who hadn't quite made it big, or were just coming off TV series and might have been available, or had appeared in Twilight Zone or Outer Limits a little earlier: Jack Nicholson, Charles Bronson (Klingon? A more brutal one), Jean Marsh (alternate choice for Edith Keeler maybe?), David McCallum, Darren McGavin (maybe already a bit too big, but his wife did Trek...)...
Oh, and if Phase II had gone ahead as a TV series, it would have been during Ian McShane's first stint in Hollywood, when he guested on Fantastic Journey and the like. He'd have been a shoo-in for the Byronic lead guest spot in Lord Bobby's Obsession.
In the same vein, the silent film legend Harold Lloyd was a massive Trek fan in his last years. He'd retired 20 years earlier, but if the production team had heard about that and sounded him out for a cameo, I bet he'd have done it in a shot (elderly but revered admiral maybe? Like the Admiral Quinn character in TNG season one).
Some names from Inside Star Trek's reprints of the Spock Replacement Casting Memoes: Edward Mulhare, Michael Rennie, Dvid Carradine, Curt Lowens... presumably the producers thought they might just be available within Trek's budget with a bit of luck.
Various actors who hadn't quite made it big, or were just coming off TV series and might have been available, or had appeared in Twilight Zone or Outer Limits a little earlier: Jack Nicholson, Charles Bronson (Klingon? A more brutal one), Jean Marsh (alternate choice for Edith Keeler maybe?), David McCallum, Darren McGavin (maybe already a bit too big, but his wife did Trek...)...
Oh, and if Phase II had gone ahead as a TV series, it would have been during Ian McShane's first stint in Hollywood, when he guested on Fantastic Journey and the like. He'd have been a shoo-in for the Byronic lead guest spot in Lord Bobby's Obsession.
Bill Bixby! My favorite Vulcan? "Dr. McCoy, don't make me illogical...you wouldn't like me when I'm illogical."
Which would be an improvement over the kids in ATCSL.
By the time Trek was shooting Season One, Russell was already the last of Uncle Walt's 'discoveries', and working full time at Disney.
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He did Mission: Impossible. I'm sure he would have done Star Trek for the right role.
How about Simon Oakland and Ed Asner as alternative casting for Okmyx and Krako in "A Piece of the Action?" The older Asner would've made an interesting TNG-era Klingon, perhaps -- think Hudson from Gargoyles.
Oh, man, that would have been great!
Richard Nixon pops in and says: "Spock it to me!"
No. Just. No. I love Jean Marsh as Rose in the original Upstairs, Downstairs, but she would absolutely not have been right for Edith Keeler.
Honestly, I feel Joan Collins was an odd choice for Edith. Her dialogue and persona suggest more of a scrappy, down-to-earth working-class type.
I think Michael Rennie would have been a class act for TOS. Just recently I've watched a couple of first season Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea episodes. I can't help thinking it would have been cool to see Richard Basehart guest on TOS (despite the possible conflicting schedules) and also Canadian actor Lloyd Bochner as a heavy (he often played a heavy). He'd have made a great pain-in-the-ass Federation official.
Martin Landau should have definitely had a guest appearance. I don't care who, he would have done great as anyone. It's kind of baffling that it never happened, given the Desilu thing and that many guest stars on both TOS and M:I were rotated heavily. Oh well.
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