An Alternate Trek

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Lindseyman

This occurred to me when posting in LSCatalina's thread "No Star Trek". WI Gene Roddenberry couldn't get any US channel interested in Star Trek but on a visit to the UK persuaded the Beeb to make it?

"These are the voyages of the Star Ship Ark Royal, its five year mission to explore......"

I don't think that the captain would be called James T Kirk, or Christopher Pike but may well have still been Robert April whom a lot of Trek fiction (ok Dianne Carey) has coming from Coventry.

Who would be casted?
 

NoOneFamous

Lindseyman said:
This occurred to me when posting in LSCatalina's thread "No Star Trek". WI Gene Roddenberry couldn't get any US channel interested in Star Trek but on a visit to the UK persuaded the Beeb to make it?

"These are the voyages of the Star Ship Ark Royal, its five year mission to explore......"

I don't think that the captain would be called James T Kirk, or Christopher Pike but may well have still been Robert April whom a lot of Trek fiction (ok Dianne Carey) has coming from Coventry.

Who would be casted?
Click to expand...

John Pertwee as Captain Sir Douglas Drake?
 
Michel Van

Michel Van

zert said:
Could we see Laurence Olivier as the Captain or Doctor?
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Doctor …Who ? ;)

I can imagine that Gene Roddenberry end up in WW2 as B-17 Pilot in England, instead of Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.
and decide to stay in England and become script writher, become Producer at BBC or ITV


Instead the doctor and his Tardis, the adventure of Star Ship Ark Royal ? (design by Ridley Scott !)
 

Lindseyman

Michel Van said:
Instead the doctor and his Tardis, the adventure of Star Ship Ark Royal ? (design by Ridley Scott !)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately that is all too possible. Assuming that it would be about 65 when the Beeb gave this the green light then that would be when William Hartnell's health issues would be causing concern. So a British Trek might well cause Dr Who to finish with a short fourth Hartnell series (instead of OTLs first Troughton series) in 1966, possibly including a prequel/crossover story to introduce Star Trek with Trek starting in January 67 and Saturday teatimes would never be the same again!
 

MattII

Lindseyman said:
"These are the voyages of the Star Ship Ark Royal, its five year mission to explore......"
Click to expand...
'Ark Royal' is, a bit of a mouthful with that space in it (you have to sound 'Ark' and 'Royal' separately, or it will sound like arkroyl), so what about 'Endeavour'?
 

Some Bloke

MattII said:
'Ark Royal' is, a bit of a mouthful with that space in it (you have to sound 'Ark' and 'Royal' separately, or it will sound like arkroyl), so what about 'Endeavour'?
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Seeing as it's the name of a real ship, go with it. And I think Robert April as Captain would be a good nod to the original series.

Hmm, casting.

Seeing as it's a British show, I'd imagine the Uhura analogue would be Asian (that's South Asian to our cousins across the pond).
 

sonofpegasus

Some Bloke said:
Seeing as it's the name of a real ship, go with it. And I think Robert April as Captain would be a good nod to the original series.

Hmm, casting.

Seeing as it's a British show, I'd imagine the Uhura analogue would be Asian (that's South Asian to our cousins across the pond).
Click to expand...

Actualy, in 1965/66 more likely to be Afro-Jamaican.
 

ColeMercury

There's no reason to suppose the captain's name wouldn't still be changed to Christopher Pike, as (IIRC) it happened before Jeffrey Hunter was cast.

About casting: there wouldn't be an Uhura. Uhura wasn't invented until after "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Here's the cast list as it appears in Roddenberry's original pitch:
-- Captain Robert April (name probably changed to Christopher Pike)
-- "Number One" (knowing Roddenberry he'd still want Majel Barrett to play her, but if not her, then perhaps someone like Jean Marsh)
-- Spock (a very different character at this stage, with his main characteristic being "catlike curiosity")
-- Doctor Philip Boyce (a man, probably in his early fifties although that's flexible)
-- Navigator Jose Ortegas (young man in his twenties, who bickers with Boyce in a sort of idealism-vs-cynicism clash. In "The Cage" he became the blond white-bread Navigator Tyler, but if you want a character of colour he's probably your best bet.)
-- Yeoman J.M. Colt (young woman in her twenties, basically the sexy damsel-in-distress. Several Doctor Who companions could fit the bill.)
 
MonsooN

MonsooN

ColeMercury said:
There's no reason to suppose the captain's name wouldn't still be changed to Christopher Pike, as (IIRC) it happened before Jeffrey Hunter was cast.

About casting: there wouldn't be an Uhura. Uhura wasn't invented until after "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Here's the cast list as it appears in Roddenberry's original pitch:
-- Captain Robert April (name probably changed to Christopher Pike)
-- "Number One" (knowing Roddenberry he'd still want Majel Barrett to play her, but if not her, then perhaps someone like Jean Marsh)
-- Spock (a very different character at this stage, with his main characteristic being "catlike curiosity")
-- Doctor Philip Boyce (a man, probably in his early fifties although that's flexible)
-- Navigator Jose Ortegas (young man in his twenties, who bickers with Boyce in a sort of idealism-vs-cynicism clash. In "The Cage" he became the blond white-bread Navigator Tyler, but if you want a character of colour he's probably your best bet.)
-- Yeoman J.M. Colt (young woman in her twenties, basically the sexy damsel-in-distress. Several Doctor Who companions could fit the bill.)
Click to expand...

That all sounds awful! I'm quite glad this never got made!
 
Michel Van

Michel Van

ColeMercury said:
There's no reason to suppose the captain's name wouldn't still be changed to Christopher Pike, as (IIRC) it happened before Jeffrey Hunter was cast.

About casting: there wouldn't be an Uhura. Uhura wasn't invented until after "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Here's the cast list as it appears in Roddenberry's original pitch:
-- Captain Robert April (name probably changed to Christopher Pike)
-- "Number One" (knowing Roddenberry he'd still want Majel Barrett to play her, but if not her, then perhaps someone like Jean Marsh)
-- Spock (a very different character at this stage, with his main characteristic being "catlike curiosity")
-- Doctor Philip Boyce (a man, probably in his early fifties although that's flexible)
-- Navigator Jose Ortegas (young man in his twenties, who bickers with Boyce in a sort of idealism-vs-cynicism clash. In "The Cage" he became the blond white-bread Navigator Tyler, but if you want a character of colour he's probably your best bet.)
-- Yeoman J.M. Colt (young woman in her twenties, basically the sexy damsel-in-distress. Several Doctor Who companions could fit the bill.)
Click to expand...

A little bit boring this list

so What if Gene Roddenberry take actors from commonwealth ?
who play commonwealth Crew of the HMSS Ark Royal
like James Doohan a Canadian actor as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott,

On Spock, he was original planed as Martian it depends was Roddenberry and the British Makeup artist can make.
Some examples of BBC work shop in 1960s for Doctor Who
Pst....it%27s_Bennett.jpg

AridiansDalekSlaves.jpg

1460128_10153504179750608_1771582389_n.jpg

those oversize Moth is my favorite alien design for a english "Spock"
 
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ColeMercury

Michel Van said:
On Spock, he was original planed as Martian it depends was Roddenberry and the British Makeup artist can make.
Some examples of BBC work shop in 1960s for Doctor Who

those oversize Moth is my favorite alien design for a english "Spock"
Click to expand...

There's still the problem of a limited budget that prompted Star Trek's use of humanlike aliens in the first place. More so, in British television as opposed to American. Remember that Spock's got to appear in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.
 

High Plains Drifter

1965. Rejected by Hollywood, Roddenberry goes across the Pond to see if there is any interest at the BBC for his "space western" script.

One night, at a pub, he runs into none other than the Danger Man himself, Patrick McGoohan. After several pints, a confession by McGoohan that he longs to do something other than a spy show, and a long night's conversation between the writer and the actor about the Final Frontier, a dynamic team is born.

On 29 September, 1967, Star Trek, produced by ITC, first airs over ATV Midlands. The cast of the show includes:

The Captain - Patrick McGoohan.
The Gruff Doctor - Leo McKern.
The Female First Officer - Sian Phillips.
The Chief Engineer - George Baker.
The Alien Helmsman - Ian McKellen.
The Russian Navigator - Derek Jacobi.
The Communications Officer - Jacqueline Pearce.
The Unrequited Nurse - Margaret Tyzack.
The Lovely Yeoman - Caroline John.
 

MattII

ColeMercury said:
There's still the problem of a limited budget that prompted Star Trek's use of humanlike aliens in the first place. More so, in British television as opposed to American. Remember that Spock's got to appear in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.
Click to expand...
And? Forehead wrinkles are in some ways harder than costumes, since you've got to make them blend into the actor's head, whereas suits cover the whole body. You've also got to remember that you have to remake forehead wrinkles every episode, whereas suits you make once, then maybe patch up a little now and then, which means that even if the suit costs you the same as 6 sets of forehead wrinkles, by the seventh episode featuring them, you have more suits that forehead wrinkles in play.
 

Lindseyman

This cast list is slightly tongue in cheek but I do like the cast list above as well!
Captain Christopher Pike: Ian Hendry
Exec Commander James Kirk:Francis Matthews
Helm Lieutenant Elizabeth Tydder:Glenda Jackson
Navigator Lieutenent Terry Collier:James Bolam
Communications lieutenant Nyota Uhura:Esther Anderson
Security Lieutenant Commander Alaister Stewart:Nicholas Courtney
Science Officer Lieutenant Spock:Robert Powell
Chief Engineering Officer Montgomery Scott:Stanley Baxter
Doctor Phillip Boyce:Gerald Harper
 
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zert

High Plains Drifter said:
1965. Rejected by Hollywood, Roddenberry goes across the Pond to see if there is any interest at the BBC for his "space western" script.

One night, at a pub, he runs into none other than the Danger Man himself, Patrick McGoohan. After several pints, a confession by McGoohan that he longs to do something other than a spy show, and a long night's conversation between the writer and the actor about the Final Frontier, a dynamic team is born.

On 29 September, 1967, Star Trek, produced by ITC, first airs over ATV Midlands. The cast of the show includes:

The Captain - Patrick McGoohan.
The Gruff Doctor - Leo McKern.
The Female First Officer - Sian Phillips.
The Chief Engineer - George Baker.
The Alien Helmsman - Ian McKellen.
The Russian Navigator - Derek Jacobi.
The Communications Officer - Jacqueline Pearce.
The Unrequited Nurse - Margaret Tyzack.
The Lovely Yeoman - Caroline John.
Click to expand...


An all star cast and one that I would not mind seeing on a AH TV. :cool:
 

Lindseyman

zert said:
An all star cast and one that I would not mind seeing on a AH TV. :cool:
Click to expand...
I agree but I know what will happen it will be pitched against Dr Who on a Saturday teatime and one of them will pass into obscurity unless a strictly/xfacor compromise is reached. with Dr Who at 530pm and Star Trek at 6pm, or perhaps both a bit later to allow the football crowds to get home. Remember no home recording devices or Sky+ at that time!
 

katchen

Banned
Yes!
I could easily see it working. And going for a lot more than 4 seasons. And yes, it could even work if it starts out as an Australian show ABC and gets picked up by BBC A number of Aussie shows have made it big in the UK. Any Aussies want to work it out that way who might be cast as whom?
And OZ has some very interesting "alien" locations that would be good for filming that nobody from any place else would have ever seen. Everything from the Blue Mountains to Wollemi Pine country to wilderness coasts to grasslands and that's just around Sydney.
And yes, you could get a very interesting bunch of kangaroo-like aliens. The only movie I ever heard about that being tried was on "Tank Girl". And some of the quirkiest plots on TV. Aussies are known for that.
 
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