According to the The Los Angeles Times, Olmos recalled that showrunners had called him and offered to give him the lead role of the captain of the Enterprise. Thus, Brent Spiner and his full head of hair were cast in Menyuk's place. She’s currently performing in a play in San Diego. Of course, when you're famous or at least well-connected, you might be able to achieve this dream. Personal life He was married to Lillian Weinberg. Then, Patrick Stewart was cast as Capt. Reggie Jackson as Geordi. Though the role was reportedly written for him, Williams had to pass because he had already promised to star as Peter Pan in Hook. |  Imagine if another set of actors had been cast as the crew of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the midst of what sounds a lot like a fan gushing about his favorite show was this admission — Hanks really, really wanted to be on an episode of Star Trek. Somewhere out there is a memo for possible actors for TNG, and what struck me the most interesting was that Reggie Jackson (the baseball player) was a finalist for Geordi. People naturally use analogies to understand new concepts; it’s easier to understand new phenomena in terms of something you already know. Jackson had started an acting career in the 1980s after retiring from baseball, and had made guest appearances on sitcoms before hand. As ScreenRant reports, Data was originally going to be bald. So, why didn't he apparently push harder for the role of La Forge? Then again, a slight change could have made all the difference for the nascent show. As Combs himself told 1428 Elm, he grew up as a fan of the original Star Trek series, though his dad often told young Combs to turn it off. It certainly would have meant more work for Chao, since, as ScreenRant reports, Keiko O'Brien didn't appear until season four of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Reggie Jackson as Geordi. Chances are pretty good that, at some point in your film and television-watching career, you've come across his face once or twice. STAR TREK/Casting It could have been so different. In the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data is very often a fan favorite. Picard, as played by Kotto, would have been the first Black lead on Star Trek. From the archives of Paramount we have a memo—written in April of 1987 to the studio’s Head of Network TV—detailing the acting talent then being considered for various roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation , a programme that would begin to grace the small screen just five months later. Yet, he wasn't interested. The hyper-intelligent, ultra-capable android gets away from his admittedly creepy look (come on, white skin with yellow eyes and slicked-back hair isn't exactly soothing) by constantly striving towards finding his version of humanity. Image: Topps Recently a couple of old baseball stars named Gibson and Jackson -- National Leaguer pitcher and American League hitter -- have been pushing a book that they've published, bantering about who would have got the best of whom and comparing the game that they knew with the game they see today. Even half-hearted fans of the sci-fi franchise can probably guess that Hanks still hasn't made it in the world of Star Trek, though. As Patrick Stewart told Entertainment Weekly in 1994, Tom Hanks himself ran into the British actor, who was then well known for playing Capt. Alas, he never entered the Star Trek universe, though he did have a pretty delicious candy bar named after him. He did look cool in a pair of shades. Kirby, Nov 30, 2020 #5 Eric Menyuk may not exactly be a household name, but Star Trek fans likely know that he would eventually appear in TNG as the "Traveler," the mysterious and reality-transcending alien who eventually did us all a solid and spirited Wesley Crusher away from our reality. Sirtis, who had only been in the United States for five months, read for the role in auditions, with Denise Crosby reading as counselor Deanna Troi. Picard tells Riker that “Commander Worf’s head looks like a fanny.” ... Brian suggests baseball-player Reggie Jackson and actor Sidney Poitier. It all worked out in the end, with Vulture even calling TNG the "platonic ideal of the Star Trek ethos." Yes, really, according to the 1987 casting memo circulated at Paramount in the lead-up to Star Trek: The Next Generation (via Trek Movie). This is a list of notable events, premieres, releases, series cancellations and endings and other business ventures for Nickelodeon in the year 1985. He's not returning to the baseball diamond, but fans will be able to see the Hall of Famer on Sunday as the MLB is set to air a 90-minute documentary on his career, according to MLB.com. Before he was Blade, to may have made his mark in the Enterprise's engineering section as yet another contender for the role of chief engineer Geordi La Forge, according to the 1987 casting memo (via Trek Movie). O’Brien was a botanist and the head of plant science on the USS Enterprise-D, and also was a school teacher for kids living in the space station Deep Space 9.Keiko is an example of a very strong-willed (although some may say stubborn) character. Edward James Olmos is one of those actors that you just can't escape. Names not on the list, Brent Spiner wasn't even a thought for Data, neither was Marina Sirtis for Troi, and Wil Wheaton wasn't in line for Wesley Crusher either. Reggie Jackson Aug 1 Walter Koenig, Chekov of Star Trek, suffers a heart attack Aug 1 England wins the women's cricket World Cup for the first time since the inaugural event in 1973 with a 67 run victory over New Zealand at Lord's Instead, according to The Next Generation Companion, the character that would eventually become Yar was then named "Macha Hernandez." Except, when Sirtis made it to the final group, the character wasn't named Tasha at all. With that in mind, Combs was able to establish himself in the series. But, what if Spiner never made it past the auditions. IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. Still, it would have been interesting to see Jackson star in a long-term series, rather than one-off appearances in films and shows like The Naked Gun, Richie Rich, Diff'rent Strokes, and The Love Boat, as IMDb reports. Denise Crosby, who ultimately won the role, was not even on the list for the part, she was being considered for Troi. Chao would have also been the only Asian-American member of the main cast. Yet, even the smallest casting decision could have changed everything. A leaked memo from 1987 lists some of the actors … He went on to audition for Deep Space Nine. After Crosby decided she wanted to leave the show, her character was abruptly killed off in the first season. For the role of "Beverly," Cheryl McFadden is the favorite. Image: Topps As he told The Big Issue, "I think I made some wrong decisions in my life, man. She got the role once LeVar Burton, the episode's director, learned of her love for the franchise. "Science fiction wasn't really where I wanted to be," Olmos said, though he would eventually return to the genre with his role as Adm. William Adama on 2003's Battlestar Galactica. Yes, really, according to the 1987 casting memo circulated at Paramount in the lead-up to Star Trek: The Next Generation (via Trek Movie). Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise. That struck me as extremely weird. Though he did not make it past that process and into the regular cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Combs made such an impression that he was bound to return as a guest not just in the subsequent series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but in two more series and a Star Trek video game for a total of nine characters. Star Trek fans may know Rosalind Chao best for her turn as Keiko O'Brien, botanist and wife of engineering chief and perpetually downtrodden Starfleet enlisted officer Miles O'Brien. Actors Who Were Almost Cast In Star Trek: The Next Generation. La Forge was planned to be revealed as the product of alien experimentation. Yes, even America's Dad is, by all accounts, a pretty dedicated Trekkie. The episode then breaks into a wild montage of classic X-Files moments, only with Reggie added in, usually via fancy computer effects, reminiscent of when the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine interacted with the cast of the original series in the episode, 'Trials and Tribble-Ations.' And, with respects paid to Burton's interpretation of the character, is it possible that Snipes' La Forge would have been pretty cool? True, the role of La Forge was clearly undecided at this point, as it had a few more contenders than that of any of the other characters listed in the memo. Sirtis waited while showrunners dithered on the exact casting, with her nearly leaving the country before they told her she had finally secured the role of Troi. He was married to Lillian Weinberg. Geordi. True, the role of La Forge was clearly undecided at this point, as it had a few more … List of guest stars who were on The Love Boat! Well done Geordi, there is hope for the future and I always thought Star Trek The Next Generation was a great prediction of this generation right now as we Skype call people on the big screen and ask our computer for answers while entering things into our tablets and tricorders/Iphones. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart, now consistently ranks as the top Star Trek captain in fan polls like the one conducted by SyFy that had over 50,000 respondents. As fans likely already know, Frakes was the one who was ultimately cast as Riker. Hanks told Stewart that he even watches the credits of every episode and, in Stewart's words, "knows the name of every Trek character, past, present, and I think future." The 'Star Trek' actor may have just won National Selfie Day. Per Smithsonian Magazine, she has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo on Star Trek: The Next Generation's season six episode, "Second Chances." Here are all of the episodes referenced in that crazy scene. It must be hard to cast actors for nearly any show. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy. With Hanks out of the picture, James Cromwell of Babe fame stepped in as Cochrane, the flawed inventor of the warp drive. Though she wasn't included anywhere on the 1987 casting memo reported on by Trek Movie, British-American actress Marina Sirtis was amongst the group of people who tried out for the role of security chief Tasha Yar. Futurism reports that Hanks nearly secured the role of starship pioneer Zephram Cochrane in the film Star Trek: First Contact, which featured the TNG crew. Robert Englund, the American actor who's now best known for his turn as Freddy Keruger in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series, really was in the running to become Data. Due to a birth defect, he was born blind. On his third audition, he caught the eye of one episode director — Jonathan Frakes. Geordi La Forge - … Things did not move quickly, however, or at least not from the actors' perspective. In the course of the … Jeffrey Combs was one of the group who auditioned for the role of Cmdr. ... Reggie Jackson for 'Geordi' and Mark Lindsay Chapman for 'Data'. Data is a Soong-type android in the 24th century who served as second officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Enterprise-E and eventually captained the latter vessel. After a long career in public service in which he saved, It might be darn near impossible to imagine anyone else telling his Number One to "Make it so" on the bridge of the, Letters Of Note have uncovered an old memo from the archives at Paramount, written on April 13th 1987 to the studio's Head of Network Television - detailing the actors being considered for the various roles in. This wasn't too long after Olmos' turn in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction classic, Blade Runner. He died on April 30, 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA. How would the role of Jean-Luc Picard have been different with Olmos in the captain's chair? Jackson asked Campos on a date, and discovered many similarities, including the ability to speak Spanish, and being raised in a single parent home (Campos's father was killed in the Korean War). He later came to regret the move. If he had actually gone for the role, this would have been a truly groundbreaking step for Star Trek and much of primetime TV, even in the 1980s and 1990s. Surely, that was doubly hard for the folks who were casting the lead roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. So much of a character's reception hinges on an actor, leading to a lot of fuss at the outset of a show as you try to balance the needs of the series, the requests from showrunners, and more, all while imagining how future fans will interpret the casting. According to Screen Rant, he's played nine characters, including a recurring role as a series of villainous clones on Deep Space Nine. Geordi La Forge was born on February 16, 2335 in Mogadishu, Somalia to parents Captain Silva La Forge and noted exozoologist Commander Edward M. La Forge. "I like to think that if only Patrick Stewart had hair, I could have been Data," he said. ** The Reggie Jackson listed in that letter as a potential Geordi actor is indeed the legendary baseball player, and not another actor who used that name. As Yahoo News pointed out, by the time Jackson was in the running for a role on Star Trek: TNG, he was also in the middle of baseball season. He competed with Abdul-Jabbar … It's not clear why Englund didn't make the cut. This presented a visual problem, apparently, as producers realized that it may have looked strange to have two nearly bald characters. The counselor would have been a more detached character with, one assumes, a pretty logical way of addressing the ship personnel's various problems. Jean-Luc Picard. Michael O’Gorman Gregg Marx Jonathan Frakes Ben Murphy. And other central characters, from the android Data to ship's counselor Deanna Troi, once were going to be played by completely different people. At least, as ScreenRant reports, Englund took part in the auditions for that character. Reggie Jackson (Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images for PGD Global) Reggie Jackson, a Hall of Fame baseball player who spent 21 years in MLB, took part in an athlete-centric episode of Celebrity Jeopardy! According to Trek Movie, Menyuk was apparently the front runner to play Data. The coach contacted Campos's uncle, a wealthy benefactor of the school, and he warned the couple that their bei… Star Trek: 10 Actors Who Were Nearly Cast In Iconic Roles. During his freshman year at Arizona State, he met Jennie Campos, a Mexican-American. in November 1998. Farrell retired in 2002 after marrying actor Brian Baker. Then again, being a vocal superfan is no guarantee that you'll land a spot. What if, instead, Data was played by none other than Freddy Kreuger? Baseball star Reggie Jackson had been auditioned to play the role of Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge before he regularly appeared on TV and film screens. For the mirror universe counterpart, see Data (mirror). Showrunners liked both of them, but creator Gene Roddenberry decided that the two actors should switch roles. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. "I might as well not have gone because it didn't matter," he said, but that's not quite the case. Berman went on to executive produce the TNG features and to executive produce and co-create Deep Space Nine, … Of course, this may be influenced by his later work in the Blade film series as a super-cool, leather-clad vampire hunter, complete with practically iconic sunglasses. Since Crosby was going to play the security chief after Roddenberry's decision, the character was changed from the Latina "Macha Hernandez" to "Tasha Yar," a blonde with Ukranian heritage, as The Next Generation Companion reports. LeVar Burton Reggie Jackson Tim Russ Wesley Snipes Victor Love Chip McCallister Clarence Gilyard Jr. Then again, maybe audiences needed a Geordi La Forge the way LeVar Burton played him — as a loveable, competent nerd whose foibles (like creating a creepy holodeck mimic of a fellow engineer in "Booby Trap" and "Galaxy's Child") made for interesting, if occasionally cringy, television. LeVar Burton, who actually got the role, later confirmed via Twitter that Snipes really was in consideration. Before he began regularly appearing on TV and movie screens, baseball great Reggie Jackson was set to audition for the role of engineering chief Geordi La Forge. Stewart very nearly missed the chance to join the Star Trek team, for one. Jackson clearly was interested in some sort of role in front of the camera, then. Thanks to his work on Battlestar, he probably would have brought plenty of gravitas to the role, though one imagines that he may not have been as much of a philosopher king-type as Picard was when he was interpreted by Patrick Stewart. It's a compelling, deeply affecting character arc that's made all the stronger by actor Brent Spiner's interpretation of the simultaneously hopeful and emotionless android. Btig LLC, an institutional broker dealer specializing in trading and related brokerage services, has announced that it will hold its star-studded 2011 Commissions for Charity day on Wednesday, April 27. Actors Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and Michael Dorn reprise their Star Trek roles. Yep, the New York Yankees legend and Mr. October himself was a favorite to play Geordi! While people were no doubt enthusiastic about Stewart's acting pedigree, it was clear that he, too, had precious little hair left on top of his head. I should have done that but I walked away.". The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Yep, the New York Yankees legend and Mr. October himself was a favorite to play Geordi! Not only that, but the name Reggie Jackson is mysteriously attached to the same role. While it's hard to speculate how, exactly, Chao would have changed the role, there's a chance that she would have stuck around longer than Denise Crosby, who was ultimately selected to play the part of Yar. Itzin later appeared in five different guest roles on various Star Trek series, but is best known as the disgraced President Charles Logan on 24.