What if Patrick Stewart had done a Bujold?

[Marsden]

I don't know if I'd want him to be Picard, but Yaphet Kotto would have been great as a starship captain.

And Christopher Lee would have been a great addition, maybe a guest star admiral. Could you imagine him as the admiral in The Drumhead. That would be spooky.

 

[MacLeod]

It could be a generational thing.

Roots was in the '70s, and that's where I recognized Burton from. I never saw Reading Rainbow.

Patrick Stewart came to my attention when I saw I, Claudius. I later saw him in Dune and Lady Jane. He was in other movies pre-TNG, but I didn't see those. So I knew he could do a variety of roles (Roman historical drama, science fiction, Tudor historical drama). I think he was also in Excalibur, but I didn't see that (that would be Arthurian fantasy).

As for the other names on that list... Stephen Macht is familiar to me as he played a villain on General Hospital (Trevor Lansing), and Roy Thinnes, who played Sloan Carpenter on One Life to Live (I didn't like his character either, for several reasons). I don't think either of them would have made a good candidate for the role of TNG's captain.

Roy Thinnes might be better known to fans of the Sci-Fi genre from the 60's TV show "The Invaders"