Flare Sci-Fi Forums: The world needs to know!!!

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Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

I've discussed this a bit at other times, although it was a long time since, but now I shall recount these interesting cameo-like coincedences.
During the years I've observed certain actors from Star Trek making it into regular

movies, and time after time the same funny names have jumped up and bit my ass.

The hand that rocks the cradle, 1992: John DeLancie and Rebecca De Mornay plays Mr and Mrs Mott, the name of the barber on the Enterprise D.

The Big Hit, 1998: Avery Brooks playing "Mr Paris", and Lou Diamond Phillips (not trek-actor but) playing "Cisco".

Tomorrow by midnight, 1999: Tamara Craig Thomas, who played Haley the hologram in "Lifeline" is playing a girl named "Kira" in this flick, which is about some teenagers getting in a hostage-situation in a videostore, so not *that* scifi-related...

There are more examples that I'm sure you've heard of. Now, this thing occurs way too often to be just a joke to amuse Trek-producers, so why are they doing this? And why haven't you ever commented this when I brought it up before? I know, you're with THEM!!!
I see it now!!! Judas!! I spilled my blood in your flame-wars!! I defended your virtue in the battles of Tachy-prime, and what do I get? SCORN AND DECEIT!!!

But I'll play your game, you rogues!! As a precaution I'm mailing letters to my government with TSN's handwriting, Firs Of Two's fingerprints and licked them shut with Charles Cappses saliva!! (Cost me a pretty penny)
So if I accidentally fall in the tub or get under a bus, I'M TAKING YOU WITH MEEE!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAH!!!

No seriously, any thoguhutas?

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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

If you watch "The American President" you'll see a lot of TREK cameos.

The Presidential Secretary played a Bajoran magistrate in "Dax"

The actor who played Adm. Hanson in "BOBW" appeared as a senator (or maybe a congressman). Not quite sure.

I forget the guy's name, but the actor who played the Klingon Lawyer in the DS9 ep where Worf is on trial for shooting a Klingon transport? He played a reporter.

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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Ron Canada, I think is his name.

I did some checking. The lady who plays Martin Sheen's wife was in a DS9 ep, the above mentioned actress who played a DS9 magistrate also played an elderly woman in TNG's "Survivors", and the actor who played the French President appeared in a TNG episode. That's all I got, but that's a LOT from one flick.

[This message has been edited by JeffKardde (edited February 01, 2001).]

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Well, maybe they know eachother.

But there were no trek-names in that movie... WOW! That was a fast edit! You're right, that's many actors from trek.

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited February 01, 2001).]

Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :

Hmm..spoiler? Ah, not really. Not plot elements, just actors.

My housemates were wondering why I kept calling the "bad guy" in last night's VGR ep "Dodger" & kept calling Seven "McMurphy."

How soon they forget.

Jeff Kober, the major guest was on "China Beach." His character, Dodger, had a bit of a relationship with Dana Delany's character, Colleen McMurphy.

And who else was interested in Nurse McMurphy? Dr. Dick Richards, played by...yup. Bob Picardo.

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"You just push off....and the falling sort of happens on its own." ---Dave Titus

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

You know, I ain't watched VOY in about three years but I flipped it on for a few moments and saw Kober. Wonder if Picardo asked him to appear?

"Reflections" by the Supremes is one of the best TV show themes I've heard in a LONG time.

Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :

Ron Canada (Ch'Pok in "Rules of Engagement" [DS9]) also played Martin Benbeck in "Masterpiece Society" [TNG]

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"Lately I've noticed that everyone seems to trust me. It's really quite unnerving. I'm still trying to get used to it."
- Garak, "Empok Nor"

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Gentlemen, please! The names, look at the names!!

John DeLancie also played "Mr MacFadden in "Dave's World" in -93, well after he'd met Gates MacFadden...

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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :

Actually, it's Gates McFadden.

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"Lately I've noticed that everyone seems to trust me. It's really quite unnerving. I'm still trying to get used to it."
- Garak, "Empok Nor"

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Has anyone checked to see if these movies had casting directors who happened to also be casting directors for Trek? We already know the people who do the casting on Trek like to use the same people over and over again. I expect they'd do the same on other projects.

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My new year's resolution is the same as last year's: 1024x768.

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

You want Trek cameos? Just listen to the voices in the Gargoyles cartoon. I believe there are almost a dozen Trek actors in there somewhere. At least two have a main role (Riker as the bad guy and Deanna Troi as a cop).

I've seen Robert 'The Doc' Picardo in a lot of movies and some series. I liked him in Gremlins 2 In some of the older stuff he actually has hair.

Nicole deBoer was great in 'Cube'.

John DeLancie played in one of the latest Andromeda episodes.

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"That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote would come up with a better plan than that!"
- Crighton, Farscape.

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

You don't get it. Of course Trek actors are in other movies, that's no biggie.
But when they use the names of trek-related stuff, like DeLancie playing Mott, and Brooks playing Paris, with another guy called cisco. THAT'S strange.

I could tell you all the movies Patrick Stewart has played in, that's easy, but did you know he played a part in the original "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", with Alec Guiness, and they made an episode out of that? But with "tenor" and "doctor".
This is thought-through stuff, and I wonder who's pulling the threads... I'm sorry if I malplaced the word "cameo", I just wanted you to understand, is all.

Think about it. What could make such a new and unexperienced (relatively) actress like Tamara Craig Thomas get permission to use the name "Kira" in one of her "straight-to-video"-flicks?

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Ok, guys, now I'm scared.

"The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" and "The Big Hit" both have the same name under "Original Music" in IMDB:
Graeme Revell.

But nothing in common under "Casting" or "Script Writing", although the different names COULD work under the same companies... I mean, despite the WGA, which they both come from.

Not that this HAS to mean anything, Graeme's done the music for a LOT of famous movies, (well to us anyway) one of the most recent being the Dune: Miniseries... Titan A.E, Pitch Black. And both The Crow I & II.

Maybe we'll remember this day... *Twilight Zone music*

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited February 01, 2001).]

Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :

*gasps* You know about the thoguhutas?!

The amazing thing about "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" is that Patrick Stewart, while not exactly unknown at the time, got to play what was a virtual cameo as Russian spymaster Karla. Then, when they filmed the sequel, "Smiley's People," his role was much larger, enabling him to make the most of it and removing the need for the producers to re-cast if they'd just used anyone originally.

They repeated "TTSS" over Christmas on BBC2. Brilliant, I was glued to it (they don't make them like that anymore). That, plus the Depardieu "Count of Monte Cristo" which was shown just before. One thing my Dad told me, that was NOT Bihar Jail in the scene with Karla (he never speaks, BTW, doesn't say a word; the guy can act!) - he had to visit the place himself on several occasions in the 1970s.

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"Businesses used to be like Christianity; if you were faithful and obedient, you could obtain bliss in the afterlife of retirement. Now it's more of a reincarnation model. If the worker learns enough in his current job, he can progress to a higher level of employment elsewhere."

- Dogbert

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

I saw the first four parts of TTSS before I had to go back to Sweden. Now that's quality-TV. But isn't anyone at all interested in these strange events I've been ranting about?

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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

Okay, I understand it now.

I was surpised when I saw Robert Picardo play a doctor in at least two other movies/series other than Star Trek.

Patrick Steward played Captain Ahab (ref: First Contact)

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"That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote would come up with a better plan than that!"
- Crighton, Farscape.

Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :

Well, look: there are thousands of actors in Hollywood. And yet the same faces keep cropping up. It's annoying, expecially when there must be thousands of non-American actors living there, and yet shows like Frasier use Italian-Americans, who couldn't do a British accent to save their lives, to play British characters, and we keep seeing everyone in Starfleet - hell, the whole fucking universe in fact - having American accents.

Simple fact is, once you start to get work, you quite often keep working. "He did an episode of Picket Fences!" agents cry down the phone. I love looking up minor actors on the IMDB and seeing how much (or, usually, how little) they've actually done. For instance: everyone, it seems, has at one time or another done an episode of The Outer Limits. Go figure.

It makes you think. All these actors and actresses, sometimes with names or faces you recognise, yet they maybe get two TV guest spots in one year. . . what do they do the rest of the time? Consider Melanie Shatner, someone I saw in some movie last night, in which she amazingly got third billing. But look at her overall career. Not much, is it? And she's done better than most. Try it. Make a note of some guest actor from any show (especially if they're female - you might get lucky and find they've done a Red Shoe Diaries or something!) and ask yourself "why would anyone want to do this?"

- Dogbert

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

I don't leave fingerprints.

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"My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Well not where I'd expect to find them, anyway. Had to go pre-t-t-y deep...

So to summarize, I'm highlighting trek-actors in other productions than Trek, taking with them names FROM Trek. A very unusual procedure, not what I'd expect to see. I don't think it even was Avery Brooks request to get a name after a crewmember in his neighbour-series.
*KennethStarrspeak* It does NOT make sense!!

And Doc Zimmerman's girlie-hologram! Why WOULD she want to be called Kira in her next project? "Well it would be fun..." NO! Not fun, weird! Girl, you didn't even work with the DS9-crew!!
There must be something more...

Come on, surely you must've thought about this when YOU saw "The Big Hit", guys? Besides, it was a pretty good action-flick.

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

You know, Kira happens to be a real name. Just sayin'.

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I will shout until they know what I mean.
--
Neutral Milk Hotel
****
Read three (three!) chapters of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Then, go insane!

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

So is Cisco. But I think that wasn't a coincedence...

Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :

Why shouldn't it be? The vast majority of productions using Trek actors don't feature Trek names. . . you seriously believe that, upon seeing there was a Trek sctor cast in a role, they would deliberately change the script? Or even more bizarrely, that upon seeing a Trek name in a script, they would go all out to cast a Trek actor? Come on!

- Dogbert

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Now you're getting in to it. And I hear you! Why WOULD they name her character Kira because she happened to have been in Trek for an instant? It makes no sense. Or does it?

So what about the rest of the examples, then? I'm just trying to present this to you guys as best I can...
Don't you think I thought it a coincedence when I first noticed?
But then I thought, why don't I run this past my amigos at the forums, for all I knew you could've had a list of stuff like what I encountered...

Vogon Poet: Your first post about typecasting/overusing the same actors over and over, was that aimed at this thread or just at the statement about Picardo being typecasted? I'm not being sarcastic, but where you going anywhere with it?
Could the patterns you describe in the movie business have anything to do with the overall discussion? Just try and break it down a bit.

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited February 02, 2001).]

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Can I just add another haven for Trek actors (its probably because of the high standard of actors that actually make it through the auditions) "The Practice"!

I was watching one episode the other day - and there were no less than 3 "major" Trek actors in the episode... it was the episode where the defendant attacks Helen Gambol...

"Enabrin Tain" was that crazy old judge
"Henry Starling" was the necrophilac professional witness/doctor.
"Morn" was the crazy defendant/drug guy who jumped up and attacked Helen.

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"This is cooling, faster than I can..." Tori Amos "Cooling"

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Yes, also Armin Shimmerman (Quark) played a judge several times.

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

I also saw him play a lawyer just a few day's ago. And I don't know if his re-occuring role as headmaster of Buffy's school is already mentioned...

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"That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote would come up with a better plan than that!"
- Crighton, Farscape.

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

He used to be a recurring character, Pascal, on the old "Beauty and the Beast" TV show.

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"My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q

Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :

Er, what? I didn't say anything about Picardo!

- Dogbert

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Sorry, that was Altair.

Posted by Gaseous Anomaly (Member # 114) on :

That was MORN!? Andrew, are you sure?

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"Sack me!? I MADE the BBC!!"

Posted by Curry Monster (Member # 12) on :

Our pal Kurn was a bad guy in 'the rock'. Rene Auberjonois was a bad guy in police academy 4 (or was it 5?).

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Re: Russia in WWII

"Hey, we butchered Poles! Thats OK."
- DT.

Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :

Gee, why would Star Trek actors wanna be in any other movies or shows.....
But the point of a Trek actor using a popular Trek name in another show is interesting....

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"One's ethics are determined by what we do when no one is looking" Nugget
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Star Trek: Legacy
Read them, rate them, got money, film them

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Posted by Teelie (Member # 280) on :

Rene Aubjornois (whatever) (Odo) was a priest in The Patriot, but I can't remember his name for anything.

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Gas... YES! It was him! Its CRAZY isn't it

When I originally saw the episode I saw "Mark Alan Shepherd" and thought... NAH it couldn't be him... Then He appeared in Voyager as the father of whats-iz-name the older borg kid - and then I saw the Practice episode again - its definately him!

Andrew

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"This is cooling, faster than I can..." Tori Amos "Cooling"

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

These were great tips, but I think the only way we'll be able to find out more is if we mail some of those contacts of yours at Paramount or something, get some official COMMENTS. Is anyone willing to do that? The "Trek-actors with Trek-names in other films"-thing.

Or, if you royal guys up there won't dare disgrace yourselves, give me their email-adress.

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Here lies a toppled god,
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram