# Spotting Star Trek actors in other programs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, star-trek-paramount
**Created:** [August 29, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982 "2017-08-29T00:49:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/141 "2017-08-30T19:07:31Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> Yvonne Craig in **Whom Gods Destroy**.
… And Malachi Throne, as noted above.
---
### Author:  [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/142 "2017-08-30T19:23:17Z")
This is sort of the opposite, but I’ve been rewatching _Voyager_ and both partners of HHM from _Better Call Saul_ have shown up - Michael McKean (Charles McGill) as the Clown in S02E23 “The Thaw” and Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlim) as a Taresian in S03E20 “Favorite Son”.
John DeLancie voices an evil Protoss (Alarak) in Starcraft II.
Couple of big names in Transformers… Leonard Nimoy voiced Galvatron in the '86 animated movie and Sentinel Prime in _Dark of the Moon_; George Takei voiced Yoketron in _Transformers: Animated_ and Alpha Trion in _Transformers: Prime_
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/143 "2017-08-30T19:36:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I’m not familiar with the seasons. I was watching it on METV, but it was filling up the drive.
Seasons 1 and 2 were great. By the time they got into Season 3, I could tell in the first thirty seconds what the setup and “twist” were going to be. Season four was half-hour episodes padded to full hours. By the fifth season, I think they just didn’t care any more.
The cycle of reruns began again just the other night. The change in quality is pretty dramatic.
---
### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/144 "2017-08-30T19:40:05Z")
Serling himself confessed that it was getting harder and harder to write new stories, and that he found himself basically reworking his older stories–a problem that formed the basis of the “Night Gallery” vignette “Midnight Never Ends.”
---
### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/145 "2017-08-30T19:49:05Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> It’d be interesting to do a _ **Star Trek** _–_ **Batman** _ crossover study. Right offhand, I can think of Frank Gorshin, Sherry Jackson, Nancy Kovacs (The Mad Hatter’s moll), and Julie Newmar (the original Catwoman).
Roger C. Carmel comes to mind.
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/146 "2017-08-30T19:53:23Z")
John Daly (“Mr Flint” in “Requiem for Methuselah”) was a East European bad guy in a first-season episode of _ **Mission: Impossible** _. This was one in which Dan Briggs “had to” impersonate him “because of his bone structure.” In truth, this was done to limit Steven Hill’s scenes since he, as an Orthodox Jew, refused to work on weekends (_ **M:I** _, like _ **Star Trek** _, was notorious for going over schedule and over budget). At one point, Briggs-in-disguise almost slipped up by not using a cigarette holder, as Daly’s character did.
Hill’s refusal to work after sundown on Fridays was also the reason he was replaced with Peter Graves after the first season of _ **M:I** _.
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/147 "2017-08-30T20:05:31Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#):
>
> Couple of big names in Transformers… Leonard Nimoy voiced Galvatron in the '86 animated movie and Sentinel Prime in _Dark of the Moon_; George Takei voiced Yoketron in _Transformers: Animated_ and Alpha Trion in _Transformers: Prime_
I guess Takei needed the money, but Nimoy? :dubious:
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/148 "2017-08-30T20:17:04Z")
Just remembered: Michael Forest (“Apollo” in “Who Mourns for Adonais?”) was an alien invader in “Black Leather Jackets” on _ **Twilight Zone** _ the other night. He was pretty damned scary in that, too!
---
### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/149 "2017-08-30T21:19:11Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#):
>
> …Michael McKean…
Another _Trek_/_L&O_ crossover; good catch.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/150 "2017-08-30T21:21:58Z")
Bakula, too, because _of course he did._
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/151 "2017-08-31T00:25:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> Yvonne Craig in **Whom Gods Destroy**.
Steve Ihnat (“Garth of Izar” in that episode) and Jason Evers (“Rael” in “Wink of an Eye”) were in an especially memorable episode of _ **Mission: Impossible** _ (along with Ed Asner). Evers was a US double agent; Ihnat was an enemy assassin with an eidetic memory. Phelps’s plan was to trick Ihnat into thinking Evers had been set up by the Americans, thereby confirming his creds as a Communist agent. It almost didn’t work, and Evers came to within a hair of being liquidated.
---
### Author:  [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/152 "2017-08-31T07:08:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I guess Takei needed the money, but Nimoy? :dubious:
I can’t speak for his 1986 role (though that movie had a lot of famous folks - Orson Welles and Robert Stack among them) but Nimoy’s wife is Michael Bay’s cousin, so that might explain the 2013 movie. Though apparently Nimoy had wanted to do another Transformers role anyways (and had been considered for the second film).
---
### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/153 "2017-08-31T10:37:46Z")
John de Lancie (Q) was in the movie _Reign Over Me_, starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle, and also was in a short-lived series called _Legend_ which starred Richard Dean Anderson.
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/154 "2017-08-31T10:45:01Z")
Clint Howard (“Balok” in “The Corbomite Maneuver”) was the bald USAF radar operator in the _ **Austin Powers** _ movies.
“Sir, it looks like a giant—”
“_Willie!_”
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/155 "2017-08-31T11:06:01Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Lee Meriwether (“Losira” in “That Which Survives”) turned up as a perky suburban housewife in an episode of _ **Leave It to Beaver** _. I used to love watching her in _ **Time Tunnel** _ when I was in sixth grade.
Whit Bissel (“Mr Lurry” in “The Trouble with Tribbles”) was also in _ **Time Tunnel** _, of course (as “General Kirk” :dubious: ).
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/156 "2017-08-31T11:10:14Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> …And she was the drugged Englishwoman who was substituted for Cinnamon Carter in the “human trafficking” episode of the original _ **Mission: Impossible** _.
Joseph Ruskin (“Galt” in “Gamesters of Triskelion”) was in this episode as well, playing an evil Arab slave master.
Alfred Ryder (“Dr Crater” in “The Man Trap”) was an evil Communist spymaster in “The Diplomat” on _ **M:I** _.
I see at IMDb that Harry Basch (“Brown the Android” in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”) was in “The Diplomat” as well!
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/157 "2017-08-31T12:07:39Z")
One of the more interesting ones for me is Robert Picardo, “Doctor” on _Voyager_, who was very visible in lots of films, but who I never noticed until his Star Trek role (I never watched _[China Beach_, so I didn’t originally know about his other regular “Doctor” role as the redundant Dr. Dick Richard)
He’s the Hit Man “The Cowboy” in **InnerSpace** and the theater owner in **Matinee** and the voice of Johnnycab in the original **Total Recall** (and I think they based the appearance of the Cab Driver on him, too).
You wouldn’t recognize him, though, in his part in the film **Legend**. I knew about it from reading credits, but he was unrecognizable under a ton of makeup as “Meg Mucklebones”
He’s also unrecognizable as Wak and Neek’s father (and as Starkiller, although I still didn’t recognize him) in **Explorers** , but I admit I didn’t know that until I looked it up on iMDB
---
### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/158 "2017-08-31T12:35:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> One of the more interesting ones for me is Robert Picardo, “Doctor” on _Voyager_, who was very visible in lots of films, but who I never noticed until his Star Trek role (I never watched _[China Beach_, so I didn’t originally know about his other regular “Doctor” role as the redundant Dr. Dick Richard)
I never watched _China Beach_ either, but I knew him from his other prominent TV role in that period–the dickish Coach Cutlip on _The Wonder Years_.
---
### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/159 "2017-08-31T12:51:05Z")
Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley) pops up all over the place. He’s one of those lucky character actors who is always working.
---
### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/160 "2017-08-31T13:42:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> One of the more interesting ones for me is Robert Picardo, “Doctor” on _Voyager_, who was very visible in lots of films, but who I never noticed until his Star Trek role (I never watched _[China Beach_, so I didn’t originally know about his other regular “Doctor” role as the redundant Dr. Dick Richard)
>
> He’s the Hit Man “The Cowboy” in **InnerSpace** and the theater owner in **Matinee** and the voice of Johnnycab in the original **Total Recall** (and I think they based the appearance of the Cab Driver on him, too).
>
> You wouldn’t recognize him, though, in his part in the film **Legend**. I knew about it from reading credits, but he was unrecognizable under a ton of makeup as “Meg Mucklebones”
>
> He’s also unrecognizable as Wak and Neek’s father (and as Starkiller, although I still didn’t recognize him) in **Explorers** , but I admit I didn’t know that until I looked it up on iMDB
Not a prominent role, but he appeared in two episodes of _Home Improvement_ as Tim “The Tool Man’s” neighbor. His other neighbor, not Wilson.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982.md?page=7)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982.md?page=9)