I’m not saying George Takei was in the same league as Pacino and Deniro…but how much can any actor really do with such limited role? For the most part, all he did was sit in a chair on the bridge for over 70 episodes! I think Nichols, Koenig and Takei were all very good in their supporting roles, but I agree they would not have been good choices in lead roles..

But you have to remember that almost everyone in TOS was typecast to some degree after the series ended. Even Doohan, who was very talented in my opinion, was hopelessly typecast after Trek ended and found it difficult to find work.

Shatner’s and Nimoy also struggled to some extent after the show ended, and their acting resumes in the 1970’s were unimpressive. It wasn’t until ST: TMP was released that their fortunes dramatically changed. After that film made tons of money, they were both in great demand and the rest is history…..

But in the end, they ALL became famous and earned some mighty big paydays from the TOS movies. So I’m not going to feel one bit sorry for any supporting cast member from TOS that didn’t go on to bigger and better things….

Mike :o

Sorry, but I must disagree with the comment that George Takei did an “admirable job” (comment #15). He was adequate. If he was a good actor, someone would have noticed it, just like they noticed Nimoy as Spock or Brent Spiner as Data. Brent Spiner went from smaller parts to a HUGE presence because he was an excellent actor (and maybe because the fan mail came pouring in…). If George had been that good, they would have written more stories around him. Hollywood is like that when it comes to money. They’re not fools — they ride the winning horse. The reason Shatner and Nimoy got more lines is because they were cast in the lead parts (duh) and did an excellent job (which makes one wonder why the show was cancelled). Speaking of which, I believe the show got cancelled because the writers failed the actors, not vice versa.

Anyway, if Takei was that good an actor, believe me, he would have gotten their attention. He just couldn’t pull it off (in my opinion). I’ve seen him in interviews and it’s clear that he is a legend in his own mind. (Sorry, George, but come on…). I’m sorry he feels that way, but he is just not that good at acting.

Or Wesley. It’s easy to forget that not everyone subscribes to SuicideGirls, where Wil Wheaton writes regular editorials. His retrospectives on ST are fantastic, and he’s a gifted and insightful guy.

DS9 was the only series with no “wasted” characters. They found distinctive arcs and beats for all of them. By the fourth season they practically wrote themselves. Ron Moore said that was a conscious decision; shame VOY and ENT didn’t learn from it.

I can imagine that both Takei and Koenig were more than a bit disappointed with most of the TOS episodes they read, because their speaking parts were so few and mostly insignificant. Saying “phasers locked” or “shields down to 30%” was not exactly great dialouge and required almost no acting ability. But they did an admirable jobs with the small roles they played. Both of these men had talent and could act competently. It’s just too bad they never had much of an opportunity to show it.

I think one of the reasons I like DS9 so much is that the it’s truly an ensemble cast of equals. Each character is fully developed over the course of seven seasons and you have a sense that you really got to know each of them to some degree. In my opinion, you really can’t say that about the cast of TOS. Only the characters of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty were fully developed.

Mike :o

#1, word. Some years previous a short-lived revival of “The Twilight Zone” had aired an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s famous short story “The Star,” but in fact the conclusion of “The Inner Light” was everything that episode should have been, and its Hugo award was well-deserved.