There were a couple of interesting panels at Phoenix Comicon that focused on specific Star Trek episodes. Writer Morgan Gendel did a panel all about the TNG episode "The Inner Light" and actress Sherry Jackson did a panel where she focused her talk on playing Andrea the android in the Star Trek episode "Are Little Girls Made Of." Highlights, plus full audio and pictures below.
Gendel On "The Inner Light" and the idea for a sequel
TV screenwriter and producer Morgan Gendel wrote four (2 each for Star Trek: TNG and DS9), but his well-attended and entertaining panel was focused on "The Inner Light," which is often regarded as one of the best TNG episodes. Gendel went through the inception of his idea, pitching it to Michael Piller and more.
Morgan Gendel at Phoenix Comicon 2011 talks about TNG’s "The Inner Light"
Highlights:
- Idea from inner light was inspired by Gendel seeing a Fuji blimp, leading to idea of how a future floating advertisement might beam ads right into peoples brains
- Picard’s "Ressikin Flute" was initially rejected by Michael Pilller until Gendel brought in an example and played a tune he wrote to show how it could work
- Gendel later pitched the idea for sequel called "The Outer Light" which would have envisioned that the real Eline had been launched in a sleeper ship and would be discovered by Picard, but the idea was rejected
- Gendel is considering turning this idea into graphic novel
- Says pitch for TNG episode "Starship Mine" was easy, just saying "It’s Die Hard on the Enterprise"
Listen to the full audio (courtesy VTWproductions).
[audio:http://media.blubrry.com/alphageekradio/media.vtwproductions.com/archive/conventions/2011phxcc/vtw-agr-05-27-11-12.mp3]
Gendel says he had to lobby hard to get Ressikan Flute into "The Inner Light"
Sherry Jackson On Being Android & Creative Use Of Shatner’s Toupee Tape
Sherry Jackson played the Android Andrea in the original Star Trek episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of." For her panel the actress started off talking about her long career in film and television, and then went into discussing her eventful week on Star Trek, dishing out some interesting little titdbits.
Sherry Jackson at Phoenix Comicon 2011
Highlights:
- Since there was no model on how how she should play an android so she took method acting approach
- Describes Shatner as "New York kind of actor trying his best to do his best work," Nimoy as "to himself and shy," Majel Barrett "very nice and sweet"
- Was told not to joke with Leonard Nimoy about his ears as he was sensitive to this
- Shatner was complaining about having to shave his chest to play the Kirk Clone, because Roddenberry felt that Kirk would not a hairy chest
- Says that she got a big role in the film Gun when she was spotted by director Blake Edwards wearing her revealing Star Trek costume at the Paramount commissary
- Jackson says they had to ensure there was no "side cleavage" from her dress so they "used the same double-sided tape as they used for Shatner’s toupee"
Listen to audio.
[audio:http://img.trekmovie.com/audio/phxcc-jackson.mp3]
Strategically placed tape kept Sherry Jackson’s costume in place for "What Are Little Girls Made Of"
More Phoenix Comicon to come
There is more to report including the TrekMovie.com Trek fan panel, plus panels from George Takei, Robbie McNeill and Leonard Nimoy.
Shatner’s toupee tape kept her boobs as snug as a bug in a rug!
Shatner wears a piece!? My god, whatever next! ;-P
A lot of knob twiddling going on in that last picture.
Hey, listen, if that tape could hold the Shat’s hair tight while he wrestled a Gorn, it MUST be strong!
bodaloodoodoo — boodaloodoo
Anyways, that’s the sound I remember hearing when they were turning those nobs : )
Please feel free to improve upon this.
Sherry still looks great.
I always laughed at the ice planet episodes where the women wear the least clothing compared to the men! You’d think they’d be bundled up equally, but nooooooo!!! Makes so much sense! :-p
Thanks Anthony. Great stuff. I always wandered if they ever had a wardrobe malfunction on the set and how did that thing stay on Sherry Jackson. Sherry Jackson is one of the top babes in the Original Series.
Shhh- don’t mention Shatners toupee tape. He’s still in denial that he wears a toupee.
I believe that was the Shatner 3000 model he wore in the sixties.
I didn’t know he wore one that far back.
And wow, she still looks all right. She was smokin’ back in the day.
Who plays Andrea in Trek 12? I say Kim Kardashian.
#10. Hmmm That could work. She still looks good today.
I, for one, LIKE Mr.Shatner’s hair.
Sherry is looking good!!!!
We must find the secret to Shatner’s Toupee Tape.
I love Sherry Jackson. And I love Shatner.
That was some lucky toupee tape there.
Sherry Jackson will be signing autographs and taking photos in Las Vegas June11, 12-2pm at A Collector’s Menagerie. The owners are great people and have had some really cool signing parties lately,including the actors who portrayed Stonn, young Ponn-Far Spock and Icheb the Borg teen. Oh, and the Doctor, too.(Robert Picardo, not THE Doctor) Any SciFi fan in Vegas that weekend should stop by to see Sherry and check out all the cool stuff they have in store.
A Collector’s Menagerie
7240 W. Lake Mead Blvd #2
Las Vegas, NV 89128
12 & 15 – Nice to read positive comments here rather than snipes.
The Outer Light sounds kinda boring actually. I don’t consider The Inner Light to be my favourite TNG episode, however it is the best piece of music in Trek by a long shot.
Shat had a rug on during TOS? I did not know….really. He need to Connery up and take it off sometime.
Inner LIght was a great example of what TNG could have been if they’d focused on telling stories instead of giving everyone camera time (a-plot, b-plot) and trying to explain everything with technobabble for 1/3 of every episode.
I’m no TNG fan, but I really loved the Inner Light episode. Excellent stuff. But glad there was no sequel to it.
For those surprised about Shatner wearing a toupee during TOS…….yeah, many years a go a hair technician friend I know described the kind Shat used on TOS…..apparently it was a very delicate French lace toupee. Very credible looking for the front part. State of the art for it’s time. So expensive that Shat had it written in to his Star Trek contract that Paramount provide them as a perk for him, on top of his salary. I think he had two on the go, one being cleaned and ready while he was wearing the other one. I guess that’s why, after the series was cancelled, and Shat had to pay out of his own pocket for hair, he was wearing some pretty cheap looking “rugs” through the early 70’s.
Shatner’s Toupee… this should not be mentioned, I think! …LOL
… Sherry Jackson was very beautiful when young… this costume used by her in that episode of TOS shown in the photo above was very bold … definitely!
:-) :-)
#22 – Harry Ballz … really? … LOL
He looks better now … hair implants … perhaps!
:-) :-)
I’ve always thought that photo of Jackson and Ted Cassidy as Andrea and Ruk perfectly captured Star Trek: a cool alien robot, a sexy woman, and a bunch of giant, candy-colored control knobs. Don’t try to tell me Trek was about the triumph of the human spirit or somesuch twaddle! :-D
As for Shat’s toupee, if you carefully watch the long fight scene with Finnegan in “Shore Leave,” you’ll see it flip up briefly. But otherwise, it was an amazingly well-crafted bit of film magic. I was shocked when I first learned he wore a rug.
Scott B. out.
The secret’s out!
I always figured the Shat didn’t start wearing a piece until after TOS. His hairline looked pretty natural in TOS. So maybe it was a small rug for the very top (bald spot), and not the actual front hairline? Thoughts?
I think William Shatner should include his toupee in his will. It would be the perfect HAIR-loom!
His TOS wig was spot on….unfortunately, the same can’t be said of his wigs he wore in the seventies and eighties. In TWOK, just before he screams “KKHHAAANNN!!!!”, his wig looked like it was going to fly off!
Hairy chest? Bald head? TRANSPLANTS! That explains the curliness in later years!
#10 – We would want maybe, you know, an actual *actress* and not somebody who got famous for a sex tape for STAR TREK???
Plus someone with less plastic in their body than an actual android.
@ 27 Obsidian
28 RDR
I agree. During the TOS, his hair looked fine. I would have never guessed that William Shatner wore a toupee. The only thing I could guess was that maybe his hairline was receding. He may have wore it for a bald spot in the back.
Of course during TWOK it became obvious. That’s a rug. It could be worse. It doesn’t look as bad as Donald Trump’s hair. .
24.
Dee, nah, he currently wears a “top of the line” weave. they’ve come a long way with those things where you can see through to what looks like scalp underneath. Very natural looking if you do it right. The really good ones need replacing every few weeks. No worries, I think the Shat can afford it!
@ 25….I don’t think I’ve ever watched an episode of anything THAT closely!! :-)
Ms. Jackson’s costume….*sigh*
They knew how to be sexy in the Sixties.
The Inner Light is one of the greatest of all Trek episodes.I’m glad they passed on a sequel.Leave well enough alone.
Aha! So it was tape, not glue, that held her costume in place. I wonder how many adolescent boys wished that there had been nothing at all.
I can just imagine this scene…
Sherry (to Leonard): Hello, Mr. Elf Ears!
Leonard: *sniff*
And about the toupee: has anyone ever heard the story about when Robin Curtis set out on a mission to find the seam between Shatner’s real hair and his wig during the filming of Star Trek 3? It was hilarious…
35.
Probably explains why Robin Curtis is out of show business and working as a realtor today. True.
The ones who can’t act end up telling “behind the scene” stories in an attempt to make themselves seem more interesting. Sad.
36. Harry
Robin Curtis was a real comedown after Kirstie Alley. No talent and not so hot in the looks dept., either!
Loved your opening post and the interesting explanation in #22. Man, you have connections!
37.
Thanks, Anthony!
It’s interesting what secrets some people try to keep under their hat! :>)
Sherry Jackson’s android always turned me on. She was probably the most attractive female on the set of TOS. I know what episode I’LL be watching next. =)
@37 I thought Robin Curtis was more attractive than Kirstie Alley, but that’s just me. I can’t decide who I think was better in the role, though. They both had their ups and downs. Curtis seemed a bit more ‘human’, but I don’t think I could have believed her tears as much as Alley’s when they launch Spock off in his pod.
#27 – I refer to the 1996 book “Inside Star Trek”, by Justman and Solow, for this one – Shatner did wear a toupee while “TOS” was in production. There were two, in fact – one was worn for filming while the other was being cleaned. Over the course of the series, several toupees went missing. They didn’t accuse the Shat of pilfering, but the toups were custom made, so it stands to reason…It was never said in the book just where Shatner was balding, though.
Shatner did do some stuff in the early 1970’s sans hairpiece, but I guess when the comb-over got to be too obvious, he went back to the hairpiece.
And, the film title is spelled “Gunn”, not “Gun”. It was a 1967 movie, based on the TV series “Peter Gunn”. That show had one of the coolest themes ever, composed by the great Henry Mancini. It was so cool it was used in the (also very cool) 1980 “Blues Brothers” movie.
Morgan Gendel went from one classic show (“Next Gen”) to another (“Law & Order”.) He wrote eight episodes, including the superb “Aftershock.” (That’s the episode where the “L&O” gang witness an execution, and most of them suffer crises in the aftermath.) Sometimes, the person who made up the titles for the series had trouble spelling his name correctly.
Wow. I wasn’t aware Shatner has a toupe at that younger age.
http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/
contains all you’d ever want to know about Mr. Shatner’s toupees. The blog contains links to hi-res images from TOS that clearly show the incriminating evidence.
Remember, TOS was designed to be seen on a 19″ color TV. Otherwise, the producers would have done a better job of hiding the rug lines and also the faces of the stunt doubles.
# 32 – Harry Ballz…
LOL… Thanks for clearing that up! :-) :-)
# 44 – Gary…
Thanks for that link… very interesting! … I do not know how I had not seen it before… LOL
:-) :-)
Would LOVE to have seen “The Outer Light”. Might have been very interesting…
I have known that the Shat has had a rug on his head for a long time. At one time an actor named Jackson Davies, known for his role as RCMP officer in old CBC series The Beachcomber, made bit fun of the Shat about his toupee by calling it a rug in front of him and the Shat walked away and never spoke to Mr. Davies again.
There are much more beautiful women in TOS than other Star Trek series!
Joan Collins once referred to Shatner as “follicly challenged”.