Who would've replaced Scotty in Generations if Doohan had said no?

[tim0122]

Scotty and Chekov replaced Spock and McCoy in Generations. If Koenig had turned down the role, Uhura or Sulu could've replaced him without too much trouble. But I find Scotty more difficult. If you can't get Spock to do the technical stuff in Generations, Scotty is your next good fit and, in some ways, works better than Spock. But I find it hard to see Uhura, Sulu, or Chekov coming up with the technical plan in his place if Doohan has also turned down the movie.

What do you think would've been a good fix if they couldn't have gotten Doohan either? Give it to a random Enterprise B crewperson? Have Kirk do it? Something else? Have the writers shared a back-up plan themselves?

 

[Sketcher]

Saavik?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think if they'd been unable to secure anyone other than Shatner for the film, the scene would have been rewritten to beef up the roles of the B bridge crew.

That said, I think Koenig, Doohan, and Nichols were all "gettable" when Kelley had to turn it down due to insurance issues and Nimoy bowed out. The only one I think was not "gettable" was Takei because "Sulu is a captain now." But the other three of the gang of four, the studio had a paycheck for two weeks' work, so some combo of them would have shown up, imho.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Rand

 

[Firebird]

Whomever was cheap to hire for the week.

 

[flandry84]

Put in a Vulcan (obviously competent) as Harrimans chief engineer.

 

[Greg Cox]

Have Chekov do the science stuff, since he occasionally manned the science station in Spock's absence.

Then give Sulu or Uhura Chekov's part.

 

[CoveTom]

I would have preferred to see Uhura there instead of Scotty to be honest, since she is the only TOS cast member to never get any love in Berman era Trek. Scotty had already had a return in TNG. Chekov and Uhura had worked together in TVH; team them together again.

 

[tim0122]

I would have preferred to see Uhura there instead of Scotty to be honest, since she is the only TOS cast member to never get any love in Berman era Trek. Scotty had already had a return in TNG. Chekov and Uhura had worked together in TVH; team them together again.

I'm all for more Uhura love.

 

[Tomalak]

Didn't Nichelle turn down a cameo in Flashback?

 

[Bynar0110]

Chapel

 

[FredH]

Heck, bring in a new just-this-movie character (Robert LaForge, engineer and great-grandfather of Geordi!). They did much the same with Demora, whom I honestly would have liked to see again.

 

[CoveTom]

Didn't Nichelle turn down a cameo in Flashback?

Yes. It was just supposed to be an appearance on the viewscreen and she thought the part was too small. Honestly, Scotty and Chekov were rather superfluous too. For that matter, you could remove Kirk too and not change much. It was not a well thought out attempt to bring the two crews together in a film.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yes. It was just supposed to be an appearance on the viewscreen and she thought the part was too small. Honestly, Scotty and Chekov were rather superfluous too. For that matter, you could remove Kirk too and not change much. It was not a well thought out attempt to bring the two crews together in a film.

Which goes back to the big issue Nimoy had with the script he was presented: There was no substantial part for Spock. It was just a cameo with a dozen lines so Paramount could say he was in the movie.

 

[Set Harth]

Yes. It was just supposed to be an appearance on the viewscreen and she thought the part was too small. Honestly, Scotty and Chekov were rather superfluous too. For that matter, you could remove Kirk too and not change much. It was not a well thought out attempt to bring the two crews together in a film.

Flashback, not Generations.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Which goes back to the big issue Nimoy had with the script he was presented: There was no substantial part for Spock. It was just a cameo with a dozen lines so Paramount could say he was in the movie.

I would love to see Nimoy's script notes on Generations. The parts are there, and with some script doctoring it could have been improved and fixed.

There really isn't anything more substantial that can be done with Spock in the prologue, so maybe leaving it for whoever of the Gang of Four was available is the way to go, but Spock's alive in the 24th-century, and there's some Romulan business that goes nowhere, which could lead to an opening for Ambassador Spock.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, as I recall, Nimoy suggested that it could be interesting to pick up on 24th Century Spock undercover on Romulus, but Rick Berman basically said that they didn't have time to do that extensive of a rewrite. Nimoy said, "Well, I wish you'd come to me sooner, then," and passed on the movie.

I can't really remember exactly why Generations was produced in such as rush. As I recall, Ron Moore and Brannon Braga were writing it at the same time as the TNG finale "All Good Things" and it started shooting only two weeks after they shot the series finale. Maybe it was already booked in theaters by that point?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I can't really remember exactly why Generations was produced in such as rush. As I recall, Ron Moore and Brannon Braga were writing it at the same time as the TNG finale "All Good Things" and it started shooting only two weeks after they shot the series finale. Maybe it was already booked in theaters by that point?

Generations was written during the break between seasons six and seven, with Braga and Moore doing rewrites during season seven around their television script commitments. There was about an eighteen month production process, with a year between initial story meetings with the two writing teams (Hurley and the Moore/Braga gestalt) to filming. I think Berman didn't understand that in film the director is a creative partner, not a hired gun, and if he were serious about Nimoy directing he should have sent Nimoy the script much earlier than he did. (Or he wanted the cred of having approached Nimoy but was never serious about it.) Then Berman hires David Carson to be that hired gun, and Carson's crew takes him aside and tells him, "This is film, this is your set, this is how you should do things," much to Berman's chagrin.

As for the rush, I believe the studio wanted a film in theaters in November-December 1994. That would be three years from The Undiscovered Country and it was time. Nothing more meaningful than that.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Generations was written during the break between seasons six and seven, with Braga and Moore doing rewrites during season seven around their television script commitments. There was about an eighteen month production process, with a year between initial story meetings with the two writing teams (Hurley and the Moore/Braga gestalt) to filming.

Hmm. Well, maybe I'm thinking of them doing rewrites during the finale, then. I have a vague memory of Moore and Braga discussing in some interview at the time about how they were getting mixed up if they were working on a script for the show or the movie. Maybe I'm thinking of "Descent"? Moore has a teleplay credit on that one...

I know I read something like that in Cinefantastique or Sci-Fi Universe back in the day.

 

[Tomalak]

The rush was because they had to strike the sets and rebuild them for Voyager, which needed to start production in late summer ‘94 for the January ‘95 launch of UPN.

Yes, in hindsight they should have engaged Nimoy well beforehand. But it was always clear that Berman just wanted his name attached for publicity.