Also showing up at the Saturn Awards was Star Trek alums Scott Bakula from Enterprise and Marina Sirtis from Next Generation. Both were asked about the new JJ Abrams Star Trek films and (of course) both said they would love to be part of the new feature films. Sirits also took issue with one element of the 2009 movie. Excerpts below.
Bakula and Sirits On JJ Trek
As often happens, when veterans of Star Trek are being interviewed, they are asked what they think of the new Star Trek movies and would they like to be involved. Both Scott Bakula (Enterprise’s Capt. Archer) and Marina Sirits (TNG’s Troi) were at the Saturn Awards last night and it was Coming Soon that asked them the question on if they want to be in the next Trek, here is what they said (with a bit of jest from both):
Bakula:
"Of course! I love the new film! Are you kidding? They just have to ask. They have my number. I fax it regularly over to his (J.J. Abrams’) office. Is that wrong? Is that pandering? In uniform. Maybe that’s too much."
Sirtis
"I love the new films. I thought the kids were fantastic! Not crazy about them blowing up Vulcan. I was like, hold on a minute. Wasn’t Vulcan around when we were around? But I’m not going to argue with J.J. Would I like to be in the new films? Yes! That would be fabulous! I think that I should go over there as a counselor. They’re young, they need guidance. I can see myself putting them on the right path."
Why is it some of the previous actors (Shatner, Takei, Sirtis, et al) feel entitled to be in the new movies? They all had their time. It’s over for them!
New cast all the way!
RDR, they are kidding. Hell, anyone would love to be in a big movie. But, they’re also working the franchise, as they should, playing elder statesmen as it were.
Also… Marina can get me horizontal and counsel me anytime.
@ #1
You can’t be serious. Forget these new kids. Bring back TNG! One more film to give them a proper goodbye! #ForgetNemesis!
#2.
Scott Bakula was clearly joking, as he never takes himself seriously, but Marina Sirtis is clearly jealous. Can’t blame her, as her character wasn’t well written in three of the four TNG movies, but its over for her.
#3.
Nope. As much as I love TNG, that cast has had their day. I just want to see the new cast from now on. As much as I enjoyed Leonard Nimoy passing the torch in the last movie, I don’t even want any more TOS cameos in the sequel. Not even Shatner. How many more “passings of the torch” do we need anyway?
I could see a brief scene (which would probably get cut) of an old Archer and (MILFy) T’Pol are shown as survivors at the Vulcan colony. Say in the same scene where, assuming the Nimoy rumors are true, Spock tells NuSpock about Khan.
Any of the old cast members from any series would be welcome as far as in concerned! Why not? They had Kelly, Nimoy, Lenard, and Muldaur on TNG…why not have some of the older series actors in the new films? At least a cameo!
I mean either way…doesn’t really matter but it’s not like I’d be offended if old cast members showed up!
Good actors are good actors and can repurpose themselves into any role with just a little tuck here and there. However, I think Gates McFadden’s alterations are a little extreme. She was aging gracefully and would always be a beautiful woman, so I have to ask why she had the cosmetic surgery. She has that look about her face that many women have after the procedure… her features just don’t come together to equal the same person any more- just like what happened to Shat.
Jeffrey Combs is an excellent example of repurposing actors. Peter Weller, I am sure, will be another.
The more cameos [or outright casting] the better.
6. Don’t forget Doohan and Majel, and I’m sure there were others. I could see a scene with Picard and NuKirk… “I met an older version of you once. I could’ve sworn your eyes were brown, though…”
#6.
The problem here is that “Star Trek” is too often referencing its own past.
We didn’t see Michael Keaton or Adam West show up at any point in the “The Dark Knight” trilogy. We didn’t see Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford show up in the “Star Wars” prequels. Sean Connery hasn’t cameoed in any of the non-Connery-Bond movies.
I didn’t mind seeing cameos in Trek. Most of them were well done. But at some point, writers are going to have to move on instead of using previous actors/characters as story crutches.
I firmly believe that part of the beauty of Trek is in the sharing, the overlap! Who says who had their time? Let the stories decide. If a great story calls on actors from other series, then bring them all in! I thought it was awesome when Janeway made a cameo In Nemesis, (not to mention Geordi as captain in Voyager, et al.) and frankly, all of the actors from other series stepping in on the others. Just because we have a new series doesn’t mean we should ever discount the previous ones.
After all – space, time, and thought are one, right?
#1 @RedDeadRyan
You should look up the definition of facetious, dude. Sounds to me like Sirtis and Bakula were playing that card to the extreme.
Shaka, when the walls fell
They could do a cameo with Bakula as Admiral Archer near the end of the movie where he sees Scotty and asks “Have you seen my dog lately?” or “Where’s my dog?”. Then Scotty stammers a bit and says “Umm well Admiral…” then Archer says “I thought so” and walks away. Scotty then gives a big sigh of relief and looks at the little black eyed munchin from the first movie, who is looking at him and he says “What are you looking at?” and walks off.
Two of the least interesting characters in the history of Trek. Why on earth would they put an appearance in?
@9. Ah but Warwick Davis aka Wicket, did have a cameo in Phantom Menace. Adam West has given his voice to a number of animated Batman productions over the years (most recently as Batman’s father on Batman: The Brave and the Bold). Just sayin :)
Bakula may have been joking here, but he (and Blalock) are the ones I could well envision in one of the new Star Trek films. As a Vulcan T’Pol wouldn’t have aged much anyway, and Bakula as an old Admiral Archer would really be a great addition. I’m not talking about real supporting roles, but I’d love to see these two again. Their characters are probably still around.
Of course they were not being too serious–they know the reahlity-i am right in the middle on this debate and both sides make sense…..cameos when done right, do help us fans see a sense of continuence–admittedly soap opera like…i also like the inside jokes–info for fans like us to catch–i also think the new guys deserve to chart their own path–cameos n in jokes do nothing to harm the new movie for fans of the new movies only as they are not familiar with the old characters or understand the jokes like the tribble in the cage with scotty or the adm. archer mention…or even a pretty big moment for us fans when spock prime tells nukirk i have been n always shall be your friend..robert orci n alex were genius in their script adding these tidbits for us fans..the kobe maraschi test kirk took 3 times etc….enriches the story for us without slowing down anything…..i hope for more in the next sequel…as to which characters are the best to use…very subjective—i liked bakula as archer every season got better….always had a soft spot for marina—i admit her character not the best written -she was at her best when more vulnerable—she did have good chemistry with jonathon frakes and with majel as her mom….agree she was eye candy admittedly very beautiful but she was in a thankless role but not her fault–like wesley..blame the writers not the actors,…imho..
Still feel they should use Sirtis as the voice of the Enterprise’s computer in the next film
15 – Warwick Davis was hardly a cameo, more like a “blink and you miss it”.
They were both joking. Anyone who thinks Sirtis was being serious needs a humour transplant.
would be wonderful, if they mentioned them, just very short, and I mean T´pol and archer , just like with archer´s dog…..
Sirtis, well. they should had make a trek-movie with them again, a decent one….
and even a DECENT one with archer and co., with focus on the romulan-war, just told in the year 2171, with them being older…..
Whether they were kidding or not — and yes, I got the “humor” — my point was to those who were saying things like “Go away! You’ve had your day!”.
I don’t really agree with that position, therefore I had to post a reaction to it…
Yes, I am sure they were joking and realize their chances are probably slim to none of appearing in a new Trek film…
However, I love the idea of Marina doing the voice of the computer!! THAT, they should do!!
One way to make a new movie really really boring would be the have Troi in it, she always has been boring and trait, damn she even ruins Titan for me, Riker would be so much more interesting if Troi just died.
And Marina’s comment “I was like, hold on a minute. Wasn’t Vulcan around when we were around?” looks woman it’s a parallel universe get over it and get over yourself, worming your way in would push me away and others I know, popping in at the end of Enterprise took away any meaning the show had for its own crew to spotlight you.
Still think Sirtis could do the computer voice.
It’d be fitting, since her ‘mom’ (the late Majel Barrett) did so in the previous film (which was nice, by the way). They can mention the computer was refit when they were at Earth….
@ 13-
Would love to see that scene.
# 23
She didn’t WRITE the series’ finale of Enterprise, OK? Lighten up….
And a lot of people had issues with imploding Vulcan. I’m not one of them, but I can see where many others would have issue with it; no need to assume it’s the actress trying to ‘worm her way’ into the new franchise…
I didn’t have a problem with them blowing up Vulcan in the new timeline so much as I had a real problem with blowing up Romulus in the TOS/TNG timeline. I thought that was selfish, especially since JJ and co. will never revisit the original timeline again and some other creative entity might. The only reason to blow up Romulus was to provide Nero with motivation for taking revenge on Spock. They could have given him a much simpler thing to be angry about. My two cents.
I’m way more interested in that gian pr0n-stache Bakula is sporting there in the pic then in what they say…
@28. He can come round and fix my boiler any time.
27. Riker’s Mailbox: ‘I thought that was selfish, especially since JJ and co. will never revisit the original timeline again and some other creative entity might.’
‘Selfish’ would have been Spock and the Narada crew being the sole survivors of the annihilation of the entire ‘Prime’ universe (although there’s nothing actually on screen to say that didn’t happen!) I can’t see what’s wrong with shaking things up a bit.
Frankly, TNG and its cohorts ought to have indulged in some mass slaughter a bit more often (not counting Homeward where the Enterprise crew indulge in ‘negligent genocide!’)
I’ve no desire to see the old cast of any of the shows back now: the new series needs to be its own entity.
That said, an animated tale of Spock Prime and Kirk Prime on the Vulcan refugee colony would be a fun production to see! ;)
not true,
We know that by flying into the ´´wormhole´´ spock saved HIS universe, not destroyed , and I believe that.
Hopefully someone will ´´go back ´´ to the Prime-universe someday, would´t mind it, even though I like the new Universe, but still……………
There should be a scene in one of the sequels where Nyota Uhura visits her grandmother, played, of course, by Nichelle Nichols.
That would be fun to see.
I just read orci´s statement, that both Universe´s does exist side by side, but we all know that, but the best web-page for info is Memory-alpha :-)
It was already an Idea, but rejected but JJA & Co., but, would had been great yes:-)
Just saw Gates… MAN does she look scary. Way too much work! She was so beautiful! Now she looks like Joan Rivers.
Yeah, its kind of strange that they now are the old ones, just like Shatner and co.
those in the middle are ds9 and voy, the youngest are (still) Bakula & Co, and the juniors are pine and co.
kind of strange………………….right??
27. Riker’s Mailbox — Doing any less would have not had the same “epic” level and feel. JJ doesn’t work in mediocrity and never will. JJ wants huge, epic level quest and character. Could they have done it without getting rid of Romulus? Yes… But it would not have had the same resonance… Say it was just Nero’s family that had been killed… Would have been much more shallow and selfish. Doing it the way they did gave Nero both the epic level psychopathic rage as well as the heroin for his now gone peoplesort of thing. Not only for selfish reasons but also for his people. Imagine what Kirk would do if Earth were destroyed. All bets would be off and if someone was even remotely responsible and he had the ability he would be on a terrible war path just like Nero. To hell with regs and orders Earth is gone.
I like the idea of admiral Archer on a screen giving orders like Janeway in Nemesis.
What I really want to see is the nu-verse by the time it gets to TNG era etc. I am operating on Sound of Thunder type mindset here where the further away from history being altered the more drastic the effects. I would love to see next gen era stuff (non next gen cast except cameos) in the nu-verse. I am liking the idea of the universe just going down hill and becoming a very dark and warlike place. Example – The peace loving UFP president is ousted for a more militaristic one after the Vulcan Incident and of course the citizens of the federation are more on edge and it was Romulans who did it so relations with Romulus are even more strained. With the military regime in office and tensions strained we are set up for another far more terrible Romulan war (that never happened in prime universe) Kirk and co are of course in the fray. Now as far as the nu-verse by the time next gen era roles around… Well whos to say that starfleet even one that war? Perhaps the federation is now much smaller and challened on every front. What if the more peace loving members are gone or were conquered by the Romulans… As a writer I would love to delve into the future of the JJ Verse because the options are wide open… and thats what he intended.
Excuse the types please I just got off a 22 hour flight ;)
Ahhh… In another life I might have called you friend….
I think we safely assume we’ll never see Admiral Archer…
Secretly hopes to be proven wrong ;)
40. EDIT – I think we can
It wouldn’t really make sense for Counselor Troi to be in the new movie, but they should Definetly bring back an elderly Admiral Archer. Or bring back T’pol on the Vulcan colony that the original Spock was setting up.
or not.
I will say the idea of Sirtis doing the voice of the computer on the nuTrek is a fantastic one. It think that would be a nice nod to the prime folks, without it drowning in “shtick” like another cameo from a prime universe character would.
As far as Archer goes, love the actor and the character, but I think it would really be pointless at this juncture. On a certain level, I feel like it would come off us pandering to us. And let’s face it, part of what JJ-Trek so amazing was that limited (.. but tastefully done) pandering.
TYPO:
**”…come off _AS_ pandering to us.”***
They got asked the question, for Pete’s sake. How does that make either of them entitled? Actors want to work.
That said, I pray nightly for no cameos from TOS, TNG, TAS, or any other show (Friends, Oprah, Jersey Shore). Especially not Enterprise — the beagle bit was forced enough.
Interesting to read what one prays about…
Personally, I thought that mentioning Admiral Archer’s prized beagle getting lost in one of young Scotty’s transporter experiments was a nice touch.
(The kea seems to have flown off – maybe she’ll return, maybe not)
31. trekkie77: ‘not true,
We know that by flying into the ´´wormhole´´ spock saved HIS universe, not destroyed , and I believe that.’
There’s nothing on screen to say that: to a layman the impression given is that Spock and the Narada fell back in time and changed history.
Bob Orci and co, along with some licensees, have used MWI to placate a minority of fans who can’t cope, psychologically, with the idea that Trek got rebooted, but most of the viewing audience won’t care a hoot, so there was no need address it in the film.
I see the ST09 film as being set in a Fringe-style alt-universe (hence why I don’t want to see any ENT characters in the film) but someone else might see it as a divergent timeline.
End of the day, none of it’s that big a deal: we get o make up our own minds.
You know, I never liked the blowing up of Vulcan, from a storytelling and creative point of view. But that shot of Vulcan imploding and the enterprise emerging into the silence? Amazing work. But they could’ve achieved the same thing with Nero blowing up another planet where a peace conference was being held (an opportunity to use those awesome custom test of TOS villains) which of course Sarek and his wife would be delegates. Instead they changed literal physical parts of the Spock character (which logically wasn’t physically affected by the disruption, like Kirk) such as Pon Farr. Where do salmon go if they can’t swim back to their origin? That’s one of those little things I wish Commodore Orci could’ve talked Admiral Abrams into doing “for the fans” who are still the ones keeping the lights on. I wish the crew names of the ones who immediately got replaced (Dr. Purée, Hannity, Olsen, and the dude with lungworms) were named after some of the crew from “The Cage.” I’ve always wondered if the original canon crew and the TOS crew sortof integrated before Kirk took command, or if the entire crew changed except Spock.