What If? Erin Gray had played Janeway

[Searider Falcon]

OldManDax said:
Candice Bergen, Meredith Baxter or Kate Jackson - i'd have taken any of them in the Janeway role.

Erin Gray? Not so much.

Btw, Kate Mulgrew WAS Janeway.

Kate Jackson! Seriously?! She was considered?! Or were you just throwing her name out as someone who wasn't considered but that you could've believed in the role?

I usually can't imagine anyone else other than Mulgrew as Janeway (and I adore her and wouldn't want to trade her for anyone else), but wow, Kate Jackson could've been really good as Janeway. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I used to fangirl her just as much as I do Mulgrew nowadays, but her Janeway I can envision.

And how funny would that have been if Scarecrow and Mrs. King both went on to be space captains!

 

[RaulMacca]

Mulgrew was a great captain for me, she put in numerous great performances it was the scripts that were at times dodgy.

 

[Aragorn]

david g said:
God, I cant imagine VOY being nearly as breakthrough or dramatic with an actress like Gray in the role. Mulgrew's performances in DEADLOCK, YOH, and ENGAME, among so many others, are so powerful that I doubt any other performer could rival them.

 

[Kirby]

I doubt whoever the actors would have been would have mattered much. The material they had to work with wasn't the best.
On a side note, when I saw the thread title, I mentally pictured Erin Moran instead of Erin Gray and came up with Joanie Janeway. That would've been weird.

 

[Aragorn]

Joanie Janeway definitely would've called for a T'Baio character.

 

[scotthm]

david g said:
Mulgrew's performances in DEADLOCK, YOH, and ENGAME, among so many others, are so powerful that I doubt any other performer could rival them.

While my respect for Mulgrew's acting is greater than my respect for Janeway's character, she is hardly peerless.

---------------

 

[Malcom]

OldManDax said:
Candice Bergen, Meredith Baxter or Kate Jackson - i'd have taken any of them in the Janeway role.

Erin Gray? Not so much.

Btw, Kate Mulgrew WAS Janeway.

I've always been sorry Candace Bergen never got the chance in one of the movies. She would have been great.

 

[23skidoo]

I would have preferred seeing Erin Gray in the role. I just couldn't get over having Mrs. Columbo as the captain of a starship and while that might not sound fair, Mulgrew never managed to move away from that image during the run of the series, at least not for me.

I met Erin Gray 10 years ago and she expressed real regret at, in her opinion, messing up the audition. I don't know if she would have been chosen in any event because remember that Mulgrew wasn't the first choice anyway, TPTB wanted Bujold who turned out to be totally wrong for the part. (Obviously they were aiming for a female Patrick Stewart.)

All that said, just as I couldn't get away from Mulgrew's Mrs. Columbo image, I imagine many viewers would have had trouble removing Erin Gray from either Wilma Deering or the role she played on Silver Spoons. Or Bujold from her years of playing princesses and the like. There are those who could never remove Avery Brooks from Hawk and there's a reason why Captain Archer was nicknamed Captain Quantum by the fanbase.

Patrick Stewart, OTOH, wasn't very well known in America beyond a few supporting roles in films like Dune. So when he came in he was a clean slate. The result being he's the only captain other than Shatner to become anything close to iconic. That's why I really hope when they cast the new Kirk that he's an unknown, or at least a near-unknown as is the case with the new Spock.

Cheers!

Alex

 

[Malcom]

Erin Gray just came across as too young for the role, to me.

I would have skewed older. Perhaps, much older, with someone like Candace Bergen or Patty Duke, both of whom have a real presence.

 

[exodus]

Malcom said:
Erin Gray just came across as too young for the role, to me.

I would have skewed older. Perhaps, much older, with someone like Candace Bergen or Patty Duke, both of whom have a real presence.

You'd need to put on 4 Seven of Nine's on the show to get me to watch any Trek with them in it. They'd be great as tough Janeway but they fall short being emotional, loving Janeway. It looks like it hurts Patty sometimes just to crack a smile. Candace strikes me as someone that would see doing Trek as beneath her. I can even see her rolling her eyes at being asked.

 

[Malcom]

exodus said:

Malcom said:
Erin Gray just came across as too young for the role, to me.

I would have skewed older. Perhaps, much older, with someone like Candace Bergen or Patty Duke, both of whom have a real presence.

You'd need to put on 4 Seven of Nine's on the show to get me to watch any Trek with them in it. They'd be great as tough Janeway but they fall short being emotional, loving Janeway. It looks like it hurts Patty sometimes just to crack a smile. Candace strikes me as someone that would see doing Trek as beneath her. I can even see her rolling her eyes at being asked.

I see your point, but did the captain of Voyager necessarily have to be "emotional," and "loving?" These two would have been more Picard-like. The kind of hardasses you'd send after a rogue ship. Like you, I like the warm, fuzzy aspects to Janeway, but other characterizations would have worked.

I do think Bergen would have done it at some point in her career, though. Roles like a starship captain are really hard for women to find.

 

[Caprica_Six]

I find it hard to picture anyone but Mulgrew in the role.

 

[OldManDax]

Rina said:

OldManDax said:
Candice Bergen, Meredith Baxter or Kate Jackson - i'd have taken any of them in the Janeway role.

Erin Gray? Not so much.

Btw, Kate Mulgrew WAS Janeway.

Kate Jackson! Seriously?! She was considered?! Or were you just throwing her name out as someone who wasn't considered but that you could've believed in the role?

I usually can't imagine anyone else other than Mulgrew as Janeway (and I adore her and wouldn't want to trade her for anyone else), but wow, Kate Jackson could've been really good as Janeway. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I used to fangirl her just as much as I do Mulgrew nowadays, but her Janeway I can envision.

And how funny would that have been if Scarecrow and Mrs. King both went on to be space captains!

Sorry, I didn't respond earlier to you; just saw your post for the first time this evening.

I'm pretty sure I remember Jackson's name being among those mentioned as a possibility for the Janeway, the actress one of the most recognizable and accessible of the experienced TV actresses, who also had a good combination of authority/gravitas and physical attractiveness.

Personally I would have loved if Sabrina Duncan, unofficial leader of the Charlie's Angels, would have gotten into the Captain's chair. And she had enough of the "must listen" quality to her voice to at least pull off the visceral requirtements of being in the big chair.

But yeah, it would've been interesting if both Scarecrow & Mrs. King got to "be" space captains.

 

[OldManDax]

Malcom said:

OldManDax said:
Candice Bergen, Meredith Baxter or Kate Jackson - i'd have taken any of them in the Janeway role.

Erin Gray? Not so much.

Btw, Kate Mulgrew WAS Janeway.

I've always been sorry Candace Bergen never got the chance in one of the movies. She would have been great.

As Janeway?

 

[exodus]

Malcom said:

exodus said:

Malcom said:
Erin Gray just came across as too young for the role, to me.

I would have skewed older. Perhaps, much older, with someone like Candace Bergen or Patty Duke, both of whom have a real presence.

You'd need to put on 4 Seven of Nine's on the show to get me to watch any Trek with them in it. They'd be great as tough Janeway but they fall short being emotional, loving Janeway. It looks like it hurts Patty sometimes just to crack a smile. Candace strikes me as someone that would see doing Trek as beneath her. I can even see her rolling her eyes at being asked.

I see your point, but did the captain of Voyager necessarily have to be "emotional," and "loving?" These two would have been more Picard-like. The kind of hardasses you'd send after a rogue ship. Like you, I like the warm, fuzzy aspects to Janeway, but other characterizations would have worked.

I do think Bergen would have done it at some point in her career, though. Roles like a starship captain are really hard for women to find.

Maybe "emotional" and "loving" were the wrong choice of words. I guess "compassionate" was the word that I was looking for. Like how Mulgrew played Janeway with Kim or Seven. Bergen always seems condesending when she plays compassionate, I just find her and Duke come off cold.

Joan Allen on the other hand could have been great in the role., as would have Linsey Wagner who was considered for the part.

 

[hawk200]

Erin Gray as Janeway.I think that she would have come across as to lady like for the part.I think that they picked the best one for the job,but we will never know,for sure.It is fun to speculate.

H200

 

[lonewriter]

I doubt Weaver wold have been interested in TV and I'm not sure if Linda Hamilton would have done it either (she only did B&B for 2 seasons) but she would have done a much better job at it than either Mulgrew or Grey in my opinion.

 

[TGTheodore]

Janeway would have had some kind of short uniform to show off Gray's legs.

--Ted

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Sec31Mike said:
VOY would have had a nice ratings bump by going with a well known actress for the role.

Erin Gray isn't a "well-known actress" except among some old skiffy fans. She played a blank character on an unsuccessful TV revival of "Buck Rogers" almost thirty years ago, and a supporting role on a sitcom.

Mulgrew probably came into "Voyager" with a much bigger following simply from having done daytime soaps than Gray's ever had.

 

[exodus]

^^How many people on this board remember Ryan's Hope compared too Buck Rodgers?