Gimme That Star Trek Recasting

Corey Moosa joins Siskoid on the final episode of the season to discuss a growing phenomenon in live action Trek - Recasting! What makes a good recasting and what are some of the better ones we've gotten in movies and TV? And indeed, which failed in our opinion? Warning: Spoilers abound for Strange New Worlds' first season!

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Credits:
"Star Trek Theme" by Alexander Courage, with the Irredeemable Shagg on vocals. End theme: "Deep Space Nine Theme" by Dennis McCarthy.

Bonus clip from: Star Trek Strange New Worlds' "Strange New Worlds", starring Jess Bush and Anson Mount.

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6 responses to “Gimme That Star Trek Recasting

  1. Great discussion guys! I thought Paul Wesley did okay as Kirk. He was a bit slim looking, but I thought he brought a bit of that more reserved, bookish Kirk from the first few episodes of TOS Season 1. And if Kirk WASN’T in command of the Enterprise, maybe that swagger was indeed missing. Although he did have Kirk’s reliance on bluffs going well for him. I’m sorry if a director’s insistence hampered Wesley’s first shot at the character, because I know my opinon is probably in the minority.

    I get what you mean about Ethan Peck’s annunciations, Siskoid. He does seem to have a bit of a minor mumble or lisp, maybe? Nothing against the actor, but on top of his precise wording, Nimoy had that VOICE. Quinto doesn’t have it either, and I think part of it is neither actor probably smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day, as Nimoy apparently did.

    Truth be told, and no offense to Corey, but while I like Quinto as Spock, I never bought him in the role as much as I did Pine as Kirk. And since Kirk is still my favorite Trek character, that’s saying something. I know Nimoy gave Quinto the Vulcan salute of approval, so what do I know? I think maybe it’s the rather emotional direction they took Spock in that somewhat hurts me connecting one iteration of the character to another. I think the T’Pring angle and the attraction to Chapel are better ways to go to explore Spock’s romantic feelings.

    Speaking of Chapel, it’s hard to not like this new version of the character better. TOS Chapel’s only real chance to shine outside of pining for Spock was in “What Are Little Girls Made Of” and that fiance-bot was never mentioned again. Kind of makes you wonder how this Chapel ended up engaged to that guy to begin with. Maybe something we’ll see down the road in SNW?

    And yes, yes, YES to you Siskoid, and what you said about Pine’s Kirk in Beyond. I think that movie did a wonderful job of merging the two iterations together. You can almost forget the asinine way Pine-Kirk got command of the Enterprise. It’s easier than in the Mirror Universe when you just have to assassinate your superior officer! I still like Trek ’09 despite this. Into Darkness…well, even Corey doesn’t like it, and he was in it!

    1. Listening to the podcast now and really enjoying it. I like Jess Bush’s Chapel so much that I’m willing to say the TOS Chapel is merely one of Korby’s androids and the real Chapel is roaming the universe living her best life and getting into hijinks with Ortegas.

      But that said I read some of SNW continuity into TOS scenes. Now Chapel’s look in Amok Time isn’t “Who’s she?” But “Her again? I thought we were done with this crap years ago!”. Her “Have you ever been engaged?” rhetorical question in “What Are Girls Made Of” is actually a more pointed “Don’t give me that. You were engaged in a long distance relationship — you know how these things work.”

  2. I forgot to comment on Anson Mount’s Pike! Well, it goes without saying he’s great! A wonderful lead, and an inspiring character, with just enough flaws to make his charm that much more endearing. Is he a bit more Kirk-like than Hunter’s Pike? Yes. It’s often been theorized Star Trek would have never worked and had the longevity it did with Hunter’s brooding Pike. Was Pike going to lighten up Post-Cage? Maybe, maybe not. But if he hadn’t, and Shatner’s natural charisma and charm wasn’t there, would anyone care about Trek today? Even Nimoy said he didn’t know what to do with Spock with such an intense captain in Pike. Interesting things to ponder. But it’s no wonder Mount’s Pike is more Kirk-ish, despite the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head. The series just wouldn’t be as fun otherwise.

    Does this hamper Paul Wesley’s ability to play Kirk, at least a bit? Possibly, if he doesn’t want to look like he’s mimicing Mount, who’s channling a bit of Shatner’s Kirk. The writers seemed like they were going to lean into the hoary trope about Kirk that he was somewhat trigger-happy and bloodthirsty. Sure, compared to Picard, maybe he is, but it was a much wilder frontier in Kirk’s time. I’m glad they pulled back and showed that Kirk pushing for aggression when needed was ultimately justified.

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  3. Great discussion! But wasn’t the Pike recasting the first recasting? I don’t know who replaced Jeffrey Hunter, but he beeped like nobody’s business!

  4. Really enjoyed this episode. Finally listened today. I think you are right that we are going to see more re-casting in the future, but I had not considered recasting TNG crew. But after watching Sir Patrick look really old on Picard, it probably is time, if we want to see these characters again. I would rather see a Titan series instead of a Stargazer series. I thought the Titan books had a cool concept that it was the most diverse ship in Starfleet from the perspective of having more races on it than any other starship. Now it would get expensive to have some of the races, like the water breathing ones, etc., but you could do a lot with that concept.
    Anyway thanks for the great episode.

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