#Trek recurring characters

[dustykneed]

Picture this; Bones holding Joanna, rocking her to sleep and the part in Beautiful Boy where it’s like “The monster's gone, He's on the run, And your daddy's here” is playing. :,)

Fatherhood gives you certain... skills. Coincidentally, this is also how Jim finds out that Bones sings.

:'))

[writergeekrhw]

I was wondering for DS9 in particular, how did it work when the writer's room realised it would be great to have a recurring character in a particular episode? I am thinking about the logistics of knowing ahead of time that the actor for this character would actually be available to film it. For example Civil Defense (unsure if you worked on it, but it's what got me thinking about it) uses Dukat but it doesn't seem to be a plot that was written just to have a Dukat episode - but rather that Dukat was a fun addition to an already conceived plot idea.

In such a case, how did you know that Marc Alaimo would be available for the episode? Is there a negotiation with the recurring actor while the episode is being written? Did each season have a pre-negotiated number of X appearances by Marc Alaimo and you could decide where to use him? Or does a Marc Alaimo appearance actually come first and an episode gets written around him? (obviously the same could be asked for any other recurring actor)

Would appreciate any insight into how this process worked because it seems complicated to me.

We had season deals with our recurring actors, so we'd guarentee them, say 8 of 26 and that gave them a better rate and guaranteed work, in exchange for which we'd get a higher level of priority for them over, say, a guest spot on another show.

When we wanted to use someone like Marc, we'd give casting a heads-up well in advance, like when we were breaking the story, and say, "Hey, we need Marc for episode 8, can you book them?" and they'd do so. If there was an issue (and I don't ever remember one), we'd work it out by scheduling their days around the conflict, or we'd shift the episode. But since we had them on recurring contracts, I don't think this ever happened.

On their part, I think if they got offered another gig, they'd check with us and make sure we didn't need them for the days they were working.

In a few extreme examples, we were even able to do this with regular cast, notably when Armin was doing his BUFFY side hustle or when Colm was off doing a movie.

Showbiz!

[sweetandglovelyart]

I didn’t have time to draw something for Halloween, so here’s this old drawing I did a while ago of Meta Knight as Captain Picard/Locutus of Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation that I feel somewhat fits the Halloween theme. I call him Locutus of Borb.

[youngpettyqueen]

I love this argument that Julian and Garak are having about Earth vs Cardassia political styles and I especially love that Garak is like. shocked at how impassioned he is about this topic

[suh01]

the guy who played kivas fajo played that role so perfectly

[enthusiastic-nimrod]

Some old characters I felt like experimenting with! Originally they were intended to be put into a more classic historical/fantasy setting (something I consider a bit of a comfort zone, but I was having trouble figuring out their styles and was encouraged to try putting them into scifi.

Now I love the idea of them being scifi characters. and have a lot of fun concepts for them existing in a sort of retro futurism world, but I am Not Great at scifi fashion so I'm back to square one!

[handlewithcharacter]

The way I’ve only gone through four stages of grief in the last twenty hours because I’m stuck on bargaining in that I have become 100% convinced that Ro Laren is still alive...

[wellijustfinnihedoneofthebooks]

Pel shouldve fucked quarks mom, for feminism

[aquamonstra]

UNDERRATED CHARACTER ALERT .

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

LIEUTENANT CHAPMAN

HE IS SO PRECIOUS AND SWEET AND CUTE AND SO KIND AND UNDERSTANDING TO SEVEN AND IS GENUINELY INTERESTED IN HER

AND THAT'S THE ONLY EPISODE HE'S IN.

A FUCKING CRIME. 😭😭😭😭😭

[libraflyter]

Ugh, and to me most of these issues are tied up with Doylist behind the scenes nonsense that makes us have to bend over backwards to try to build a meaningful narrative in-universe.

TLDR: it’s mostly low level Hollywood misogyny

- the recasting means no strong throughline in performance. The third Ziyal had the most episodes but was a) aware she was replaceable and b) working off an inconsistent character base

- Ziyal existed almost entirely as a tool for other characters’ arcs; she therefore became whatever was needed by each writer instead of being treated like a distinct character with her own motivations. Of course, it’s male character arcs she is primarily a prop for. As demonstrated, this leads to inconsistencies and a refusal to engage with narrative possibilities focused on Ziyal’s back story.

- I remain convinced the Garak/Ziyal romance was to de-gay Garak … as written by men who thought a 30 year+ age gap makes a beautiful love story. Fun fact: Memory Alpha has Ziyal as the same age as Nog and two years older than Jake, making her 21 when she dies. Ron Moore thought this was perfectly plausible because alien make-up and recasting third Ziyal with an actress only 20 years younger than Robinson vs 30.

- Memory Alpha also quotes Behr admitting they fridged Ziyal, making sure her last few episodes be at her absolute sweetest so she could die tragically to further Garak’s arc. (Which of course gets ignored in s7 when they needed Garak and Kira to work with Damar without bringing up that murder thing all the time.)

I love that the ds9 tumblr meta discourse is working hard to treat Ziyal right. I hate that the reason we have to is that 90s tv (and even today too often) don’t generally treat female characters as deserving thoughtful writing for the regulars, let alone the recurring.

Controversially, I think it was a logical and potentially even fairly interesting writing choice to give Ziyal romantic feelings for Garak, and it’s also totally believable that he didn’t have the emotional intelligence/wherewithal (or willingness to isolate himself even further) to reject her outright. I do get why it bothers people, and obviously the meta context is really unpleasant!

…but then I think about what Ziyal’s situation is. ‘I got rescued from a Breen camp as a young adult, and now I’m alone on this space station where almost everyone low-key hates people who look like me. Also, my dad who I just met sucks SO bad, but I am very traumatised and deeply alone and have been for a very long time so I want some kind of relationship with him. There’s one Cardassian here. He’s a screaming queen who is also my father’s arch nemesis, making him simultaneously the most dangerous and safest target for my sexual desires’. Like?? Yeah girl!! I’m sorry about all that but honestly, makes sense!!

Meanwhile, Garak is kind of a fucking loser (affectionate) whose Obsidian Order training did NOT prepare him for dealing kindly with a misguided young woman’s advances, but who absolutely would love to do anything at all to get under Dukat’s skin.

[mylittleredgirl]

i have a theory about why deep space nine feels different than other star treks. i mean, of course there are lots of big obvious differences: the initial premise ("we're not going anywhere, people are coming to us"), to the big recurring cast, and the eventual sprawling war arc ("mods are asleep, post serial storytelling"). you can come at this from a lot of angles.

but to me, on a week by week basis, what makes it feel so different is that they don't have a bridge.

ops is initially the bridge set equivalent, but in practice, it functions more like an open office plan than a unified command and control center. sisko doesn't even have a designated place to stand, let alone a command chair. bashir visits to gossip. odo, quark, and jake rarely have a reason to be there. they have even less reason to be on the defiant, so gaining a bridge set doesn't fully resolve the absence of bridge scenes.

(for comparison, there is only one episode of tng with no scenes on the bridge!)

the lack of weekly bridge scenes means the main cast are essentially never all in the same room at the same time working together toward a common goal. in fact, the only time i can remember right now where all of those things are true is the baseball episode in season seven. (even if you don’t include jake, how often does this happen? i can think of the briefing room scene in “facets”… and???)

this changes the structure of the show on a weekly basis, because they have to rely more heavily on a/b/c stories to get everyone on camera.

voyager had a similar problem to solve in the early seasons, using sickbay b-plots to give the doctor and kes some airtime, but it's not as consistently notable to me as it is in deep space nine, because sickbay is often a natural part of the main plot.

neelix and kes are civilians, but they are still working members of the crew. and while both tng and voyager have plenty of recreational activities, the characters put down their violins and holodeck programs and go to work when the a-plot happens.

i think this is why deep space nine feels so lived-in. the famous tonal whiplash of the a/b plots and the "now for a single scene at the bar to see quark and odo" is this constant evidence that people are still gambling and dating and growing up and sometimes not even noticing the big story of the week.

[mnemonicpneumaticknife]

I'm saying the names of recurring characters out loud when they show up on Star Trek now. 13/12 experience, do recommend.

I also imagine a live studio audience making noise. Different mixes of cheers, booing, woo~!, hooting, and hollering depending on the character.

[raindrops-on-concrete]

tbh I just love Star Trek Discovery so much for their casual representation of queer people. it's really difficult to watch anything with my family that includes same sex couples, let alone trans characters without them questioning the characters integrity or complaining how there "always has to be some kind of lgbtq character in every show these days". but Star Trek Disvovery has a gay couple and a nonbinary person in the main cast, a lesbian and a trans man in the recurring cast and various queer people in guest appearances, and my family loves Discovery and they've accepted each of these characters just like that, never once commented on the usage of they/them pronouns or Stamets and Culber being a same-sex couple.

Each one of these characters are fully fleshed out and their queerness is both an important aspect of their character while also being completely irrelevant to their role in the crew. The representation is beautifully casual: Stamets and Culber are in a relationship and that's just that, Reno has a dead wife and that's just that, Adira asks Stamets to use they/them pronouns for them and everyone just uses they/them pronouns for Adira from then on, Gray is just a boy. And apart from Gray, the queer people in the main and recurring cast are all human as well.

In the future of Star Trek queer people can just exist and it's so normalized that it's also easy to accept for an audience

[youngpettyqueen]

dont mistake me I really loved s3 of Enterprise, and so far im enjoying s4, but the character writing has taken such a hard hit

what I mean by that is that if you aren't Archer, T'Pol, or Trip, youre basically fucked. pretty much all the focus shifted to those three, with very few exceptions. Phlox occasionally gets some focus, and Malcolm might get a few crumbs, but Travis? Hoshi? they barely exist. theyre supposed to be main characters, and at this point it feels like theyre not even side characters. Shran has gotten more attention in s4 than Travis and Hoshi have gotten

im so close to the end of the series that I know it won't change, which is disappointing. I feel that other Treks have done a much better job keeping things feeling somewhat balanced, with bigger casts. im still enjoying myself with this series, and im hoping I continue to enjoy myself, but this is a big gripe I have with s3 and s4 specifically

[vintagetvstars]

Brad Dourif Vs. LeVar Burton

Propaganda

Brad Dourif - (Deadwood (season 1), Star Trek: Voyager, Wild Palms) - fantastic character actor and notorious scene-stealer who's consistently the most memorable part of anything he appears in. if you need a scrungly hot intense weirdo for something, this is your #1 go-to guy. he was a main character on deadwood as the cantankerous yet lovable doc cochran, had recurring parts of substance on star trek: voyager, wild palms, and ponderosa, and a memorable guest star of many other shows, from murder she wrote to babylon 5, as well as acting in many tv movies. he’s played like a million priests for some reason (mainly evil or conflicted ones including at least one vampire priest), if you're into that. anyway you really gotta see this guy in action for the full effect, because his true je ne sais quoi lies in the way he delivers lines, gesticulates, and moves.

LeVar Burton - (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roots) - as well as his wonderful performance as geordi laforge in next generation, levar burton had his breakout role starring as kunta kinte in the 1977 miniseries roots which set records for television viewership (its finale was estimated to have been watched by 130 million+ viewers, more than half the U.S. population at the time). he also directed numerous episodes of tng, ds9 (including the one where rom unionizes quark's), voyager and enterprise, and promoted literacy with his beloved pbs show reading rainbow, which he hosted for 23 years!

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Additional propaganda below the cut

Brad Dourif:

LeVar Burton: