Spoilers What Happened To The Actors In Trek's 2024?

[Alexander Corrino]

Okay, bear with me because this is kinda headache-y and timey-wimey (I think this is the word? I've never watched Dr Who... forgive me).

The premise: As discussed elsewhere here on the board (I didn't want to hijack that thread and this is mostly specifically about PIC), the Star Trek timeline does not seem to be the same as our timeline although it seems to be close enough in many regards. However, Star Trek as a franchise obviously never existed in PIC's 2024 (or any other past encounters, so for this argument it probably doesn't matter if we're going back in the Confederation timeline or the Prime timeline, neither seems to have Star Trek as a franchise in it).

But... what happened to the Trek actors? I mean I can only speak for Sir Patrick from here on since he is my "area of expertise", but this goes for the others as well. I mean surely they exist in the Star Trek timeline (why wouldn't they?), they just never were cast in Star Trek because it never existed. And since Sir Patrick was never cast as Jean-Luc Picard because TNG never existed, his Hollywood fame probably never happened and he remained an "unknown British Shakespearean actor". HOWEVER. Even before TNG he traveled to the US and did some stuff on Broadway. Or around the world, really, he WAS a member of the world-famous Royal Shakespeare Company, after all. And he did do "Dune", while not really a commercial success, SOME people surely knew him from that one. Or even "I, Claudius" and all. He wasn't completely obscure.

So my question is... now that the FBI has grabbed Jean-Luc for appearing out of nowhere on a street AND they have pictures of him at that gala and all... why is no one noticing that he looks like the British actor Patrick Stewart (I doubt he's a sir in that timeline)? I mean...??? If Sir Patrick exists in that timeline... shouldn't they notice? Facial recognition databases, internet, etc? If they put in Jean-Luc's face into any of those the match should come up? Or did the Borg Queen manipulate things when they established the fake gala personalities? How?

Still tho if the FBI hadn't gotten to him (I guess the jury is still out on whether that guy who's interrogating him is really an FBI agent and not some kind of time cop), Jean-Luc moved around freely in LA for quite a bit, why did no one walk up to him like "aren't you that guy from Dune?" (I get that this probably makes sense because I know that people in LA are used to celebrities walking around and he's most likely not THAT big a celebrity there without the Hollywood fame of TNG, but still, there's usually ALWAYS that ONE person who just can't let a celeb be, no matter what. Or who will tweet pictures. If Twitter exists in that timeline, that is.)

Also, am I the only one who would have gotten a kick out of a scene where 2024 Sir Patrick is in LA as well and he and Jean-Luc bump into each other? Like "wait a minute... what the... who the hell are YOU???"

Like I said, all this goes for the other PIC actors who are running around in LA as well. I mean Jurati is now literally on a rampage through the city. Surely some paparazzi would be like "why is the actress Alison Pill rampaging through our city in a red dress, THIS IS GONNA MAKE HEADLINES I'M GONNA TAKE PICS"? So, you get what I'm asking I guess. What's the angle here? Am I supposed to believe that none of the Trek actors ever existed in the Trek timeline and therefore the characters don't have any counterparts? Is that the conclusion?

I know I have a way too vivid imagination and I should stick to fan fic writing but honestly I'm curious as to what the explanation for this is, maybe I've missed something?

Sorry if I caused anyone a headache.

 

[Cyrus]

Of course the Star Trek universe is different than ours, otherwise the characters could see themselves on reruns of very old TV series.

This reminds me of “The visit to a strange planet” short story published a long time ago. The premise is similar to TOS “Mirror Mirror” episode. Kirk, Spock and McCoy while using the transporter end up in our universe and on the transporter set while Star Trek TV series is being filmed. Everyone thinks they are actors and hilarity ensues. Of course there was a sequel that was even funnier and told the other part of the story with Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley ending up on the real Enterprise.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

This reminds me of “The visit to a strange planet” short story published a long time ago. The premise is similar to TOS “Mirror Mirror” episode. Kirk, Spock snd McCoy while using the transporter end up in our universe and on the transporter set while Star Trek TV series is being filmed. Everyone thinks they are actors and hilarity ensues. Of course there was a sequel that was even funnier and told the other part of the story with Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley ending up on the real Enterprise.

LMAO! I wrote a fic about Sir Patrick ending up in Jean-Luc's place on the Enterprise and Jean-Luc ending up in Sir Patrick's place on Earth quite a few years ago (plus hilarity ensuing), too... this seems to be a common trope, then? What a missed opportunity right here for PIC...

 

[Quinton]

I tend to assume any fictional universe that is set in a close approximation of our own will lack the existence of the actors who depict characters therein. There's no Avery Brooks, either!

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I tend to assume any fictional universe that is set in a close approximation of our own will lack the existence of the actors who depict characters therein. There's no Avery Brooks, either!

But... but... a universe without Sir Patrick??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Nerys Myk]

They probably think Picard is Ben Kingsley.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I tend to assume any fictional universe that is set in a close approximation of our own will lack the existence of the actors who depict characters therein. There's no Avery Brooks, either!

"Teh Sisko" exists across all time and space! Just like the TARIDS matrix.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

They probably think Picard is Ben Kingsley.

Hmm good point

 

[Captrek]

Of course the Star Trek universe is different than ours, otherwise the characters could see themselves on reruns of very old TV series.

This reminds me of “The visit to a strange planet” short story published a long time ago. The premise is similar to TOS “Mirror Mirror” episode. Kirk, Spock and McCoy while using the transporter end up in our universe and on the transporter set while Star Trek TV series is being filmed. Everyone thinks they are actors and hilarity ensues. Of course there was a sequel that was even funnier and told the other part of the story with Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley ending up on the real Enterprise.

Great story. Galaxy Quest totally ripped them off.

 

[Mudd]

Nah, if GQ "ripped off" anything it was Three Amigos.

It is the story of three silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes by the suffering people of a small Mexican village. The actors must find a way to live up to their reputation and stop a malevolent bandit.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Nah, if GQ "ripped off" anything it was Three Amigos.

Heh, I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Captrek]

Nah, if GQ "ripped off" anything it was Three Amigos.

Three Amigos was also after the Star Trek story in question.

 

[Mudd]

Three Amigos was also after the Star Trek story in question.

Doesn't matter - any influence of one on the other is vanishingly unlikely.

The premises are not even the same. A little of the humor or business might run parallel - those two, and a million other stories of impersonation and mistaken identity.

I don't doubt, though, that somewhere there's a fanfic writer convinced that "Hollywood ripped me off!"

 

[Alexander Corrino]

Wasn’t Fifty Shades Of Gray based on a Twilight fan fic? (Why did I have to type this… lol.) This sort of thing does happen. Whether that’s a good thing or not in the case I just mentioned is entirely up for debate tho.

Seriously tho I’ve had moments of “HEY I WROTE THAT FIRST IN MY FIC” with Trek, too. It’s not unreasonable to think that screenwriters sometimes come up with similar ideas fan fic writers do. We are all writers at the end of the day. And the trope of “actor trapped in life of character and vice versa” is one that has been around for a loooong while although it’s not exactly what I was suggesting in my original post. I was wondering if they BOTH exist in the SAME timeframe (PIC’s) and why no one is getting confused when they’re running around in LA doing weird stuff. It seems tho that the answer is they DON’T exist in the same timeframe and now I’m sad because this means the Trek universe doesn’t have Sir Patrick in it.

 

[SJGardner]

But... but... a universe without Sir Patrick??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well, Sir Patrick apparently does exist in the Star Trek universe (see the entry for Qpid). He's probably most well known for playing Professor Xavier there.

I've always loved a nice celebrity paradox myself because it's a fun concept, but if I absolutely need to explain the character not being recognized as an actor, I usually resolve it with the idea that they don't actually look alike, only the viewers perceive them as such. Though I'd find it especially funny if someone did recognize them as actors, only completely different ones. Like someone walking up to Picard and asking for Sir Ben Kingsley's autograph.

To be fair, there are quite a few stories with actors not being recognized out in the wild, like a reporter wondering why passersby didn't notice Marilyn Monroe walking down the street as he interviewed her (she asked "you want to see her?", then began strolling in her trademark form and fans immediately started flocking) or a police officer describing Mel Gibson visibly "turning off the charm" as he was pulled over for DUI and becoming downright unrecognizable, so I guess that with the different clothing and mannerisms of the characters, I could also believe it as that oft-described case of the person being vaguely familiar but you couldn't quite place where you've seen them before. Might require some mental gymnastics, but I'm never one to complain about that.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I caught a Honeymooners episode in the background awhile back that had the actors playing their usual roles as well as themselves, freely intermingling with each other. For example, Ralph Kramden ran into Art Carney, the actor, in a hotel lobby; Carney exited the scene and Ed Norton entered, and Ralph was telling Ed about how he saw Art Carney. The actors were treated as being completely distinguishable from the characters, though perhaps a light nod or two may have been dropped regarding resemblances.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

Well, Sir Patrick apparently does exist in the Star Trek universe (see the entry for Qpid). He's probably most well known for playing Professor Xavier there.

I've always loved a nice celebrity paradox myself because it's a fun concept, but if I absolutely need to explain the character not being recognized as an actor, I usually resolve it with the idea that they don't actually look alike, only the viewers perceive them as such. Though I'd find it especially funny if someone did recognize them as actors, only completely different ones. Like someone walking up to Picard and asking for Sir Ben Kingsley's autograph.

To be fair, there are quite a few stories with actors not being recognized out in the wild, like a reporter wondering why passersby didn't notice Marilyn Monroe walking down the street as he interviewed her (she asked "you want to see her?", then began strolling in her trademark form and fans immediately started flocking) or a police officer describing Mel Gibson visibly "turning off the charm" as he was pulled over for DUI and becoming downright unrecognizable, so I guess that with the different clothing and mannerisms of the characters, I could also believe it as that oft-described case of the person being vaguely familiar but you couldn't quite place where you've seen them before. Might require some mental gymnastics, but I'm never one to complain about that.

Yes, I know about that entry - it's yet another reason why I wondered at first that no one seems to at least assume that Jean-Luc is actually the actor Patrick Stewart once they put his face into their database - which they obviously did or they wouldn't have found the images from the gala. Although I THEN remembered that this might be explained because in PIC's case they went back in time from the Confederation timeline, and maybe that Enterprise-D ready room looked different and had skulls instead of Shakespeare books and who knows what was in those books anyway, maybe they're different, lol. (That's why I didn't mention this specific case.)

And I'd love a scene where a fan walks up to Sir Patrick and thinks he's Ben Kingsley... Sir Patrick has had this happening to him so many times in his life that it would be hilarious if he paid tribute to it like this. But I'd also love a moment that's set up like the one in that X Files episode "Triangle" where Scully and Past!Scully walk through each other and both stop for a second and look back like "what was that, what just happened???"

I'm not so sure Sir Patrick is well-known as Charles Xavier in the Trek universe tho... since his TNG Hollywood fame never happened there was probably no one who thought of casting a somewhat "obscure" actor from the UK as Professor X. I mean the other way around things are complicated already - Trek exists in the X Men universe (that TOS scene on that TV in Days Of Future Past it was, I think), that one really is its own conundrum, what with no one saying "hey Professor, you look like Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek, how come" (I know there's a Trek X Men novel and also comics - but alas, non-canon.)

Okay, I've thoroughly confused myself now

 

[F. King Daniel]

This thread reminded me of this amazing photo from the filming of BBC's Sherlock

 

[Alexander Corrino]

This thread reminded me of this amazing photo from the filming BBC's Sherlock

SEE? That's the kind of thing I'm talking about! Jean-Luc running into an LA theater poster that advertises a play and has Sir Patrick on it or something and him being thoroughly confused like "why am I on this poster???". Or, at the end of the season, shortly before they go back to their time, Jean-Luc walks past a good old newspaper (without seeing it) whose headline says "Unknown British Shakespearean actor arrested for involvement in mysterious incidents all over Los Angeles" (lol, poor Sir Patrick)

THAT's the stuff I want to see!

 

[Gov Kodos]

SEE? That's the kind of thing I'm talking about! Jean-Luc running into an LA theater poster that advertises a play and has Sir Patrick on it or something and him being thoroughly confused like "why am I on this poster???". Or, at the end of the season, shortly before they go back to their time, Jean-Luc walks past a good old newspaper (without seeing it) whose headline says "Unknown British Shakespearean actor arrested for involvement in mysterious incidents all over Los Angeles" (lol, poor Sir Patrick)

THAT's the stuff I want to see!

Picard's ancestor, gotta be.

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