Somehow the death of Star Trek actors, just watching their still extant episodes, and knowing they are gone, makes me very sad. Is this normal? In particular I am thinking of Doohan & DeForest. Why do I care so much for these actors as opposed to the other celebrities and big shots in the Obits page? Or other TV actors?
I’m not a freak and don’t wear the costumes to school/work, I just appreciate the series as good entertainment, and do not take Klingon grammar lessons. But even though he apparently was 85, Doohan’s earthly disappearance seems harshest.
I wonder how the other crew thinks, especially the big man & the ears, seeing their former co-stars slowly fall off one by one, and much much younger actors play them.
By the way, what was the episode in the original series where they are stranded on this planet that has this castle, and they find this strange dude with an original michelangelo painting and he has a never-known but authentic Schubert piano composition lying around as well?
For me, deaths that make me sad include Lux Interior and Joe Strummer. I never had the pleasure to see The Cramps live, but I did see Strummer a couple of times when he was playing with The Pogues. See, I listened to The Cramps and The Clash when I was young. It’s just sad that these guys, who were so vibrant back in the day, got old and dead.
I fully anticipate taking Leonard Nimoy’s death very hard - I know he’s just a guy, who was just doing a job, but he was SPOCK! He was in town a few weekends ago for our local comic-con, and we paid a lot of money and stood in lines for very, very long times to have our picture taken with him - I’ve never done that before.
I know I’m going to be hit really hard when Shatner and Nimoy shuffle off this mortal coil. A world without the two of them doesn’t seem like much of a world at all.
And I think Doohan’s and DeForrest’s deaths hit you hard because Scotty and Bones were genuinely good, admirable men, who always did the best they could, and who even got to save the day more than once. True that’s conflating the actor with the character, but for thousands of people, their deaths really did mean the deaths of Montgomery Scott and Dr. McCoy. And that’s a sad thing.
I’m going to take George Takei’s death hard. I don’t give a crap about TOS but Takei is the fucking man. When I say I’m going to take it hard I mean it’s going to have an emotional impact. I don’t anticipate crying or anything, but still, it’ll be weird.
It’s sad the original Trek actors never put aside their differences. I’ve heard Doohan died a very angry and bitter man. I’ve only heard good things about DeForest Kelly. He was a true Southern gentleman and very well liked.
I grew up watching Trek. The actors deaths closes the book on any possible reunion. I feel much the same way about TNG. It’s a shame they are wasting these years without any more movies. I guess someday they’ll do another, but by then the cast will be pretty old. If something happens to Patrick Stewart, then that ends any hope of a new movie. Trek wouldn’t be the same without Picard.
I’d watch more TNG movies. I’d rather see a new series though that includes the occasional TNG/DS9/VOY characters.
I didn’t care for TOS, but I liked the movies and loved the cameos of the old characters in the newer shows and movies. That’s impossible to do with the last casts if the current movies stay in the alt universe.