Hicks Picks 10

Written & Compiled by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

Get two or more “Star Trek” fans in a room together and odds are they’ll disagree on just about everything.

But one thing that most “Trek” fans can agree on is that the original series’ second season episode “The Doomsday Machine” is one of the best hours created in the entire 40 plus year run of the franchise. The episode is regularly listed in the top ten by fans and critics as a great example of “Trek” at its best.

The episode combined a great script by legendary sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon with a memorable score (though it was recycled numerous times after its initial use) and outstanding performances by all the actors involved (yes, even Shatner).

One of the most memorable aspects of “The Doomsday Machine” is the incredible performance by William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker. But while the performance is well-regarded by the fan community, Windom recently revealed to “Star Trek Magazine” that he was never a fan of the show and that he got the part because of his reputation for playing such roles.

“I used to be known in those days as ‘Willie the Weeper,’” Windom said proudly. “Whenever they needed someone to break down on a show confessing a murder or infidelity, anything where something happened to this guy and we watch him disintegrate on camera, they would say, ‘Get Windom – bring in Willie the Weeper!”

“Of course, Decker falls apart telling Captain Kirk and company what happened to his ship and crew, how he lost everything because of the planet eater!”

Of course this ability to break down on cue was both a blessing and a curse to Windom who by his own confession was never nor ever will be a fan of Star Trek, though he has not nor never will begrudge those who are fans.

“I was not a fan of Star Trek when I did it and I never got that way,” he confesses. “I am a fan of [William] Shatner now, only after he turned funny about five years ago, but I wasn’t a fan of anybody involved with the thing! Not the storyline or any part of it.”

When talking about the challenge of taking on a role on Star Trek. Windom saw the series as more of an over the top melodramatic fairytale.

“It seemed kind of silly, with the planet eater and spaceships. It’s like doing a cartoon, so I acted accordingly! It was mildly amusing, but certainly nothing to drive my imagination! The whole thing was a take – off on Moby Dick. I was playing ‘Captain Ahab in Outer Space’ but I didn’t think about it that way until years after I did it, when I read it in an article!”

While to viewers it appeared that the Crew of the USS Enterprise were all friends on screen. Windom revealed that during his time on set he felt very ill at ease because he got a distinctly unhappy vibe from the actors.

“When I did the show Shatner was at war with Nimoy! Shatner was not funny then. Not when I saw him – Shatner was quite business like. I felt it was an unhappy set. I like to clown around, so when I get on a set where actors don’t clown around, I get a little suspicious. That put me off right away.”

The on-set fueding by Shatner and Nimoy has been documented in several of the kiss and tell books that hit the bookstores for the series’ 30th anniversary.

SCI FI’s upcoming “Flash Gordon” series will use the popular theme from the 80’s movies–to promote the series.

Several teasers for the upcoming SCI FI Channel series have hit the airwaves and they include the popular theme song by the famous rock group Queen. But when the series begins airing in August, don’t expect the theme to be part of the show.

“[We're] looking at updating the Queen song just a bit,” SCI FI VP Mark Stern said. “So it’s definitely the Queen song we all know and love, with a little something extra. Because it is about communicating the fact that it’s not the ’70s Sam Jones movie with people in spandex and everything we love about that movie. The show is not that campy. But how do you not use that music? It’s so wonderful. So we’re trying to have a little of both, to have our cake and eat it, in that regard. But I don’t believe the music is actually going to be in the series itself.”

The series is aware of the long history of the character and will pay homage to it, Stern says. However, the series won’t go for the camp factor that other incarnations have.

“If you’re going to do something from the ’30s or ’70s, even, it’s going to have that kind of very stiff or campy vibe,” Stern said. “And I think there’s been a real conscious effort also to stay away from camp here, to make it fun, to make it grand, to make it relatable and yet not take itself too seriously, but not just be frivolous either.”

One departure from the source material is a new character called Baylin (Karen Cliché), a bounty hunter from the planet Mongo. She finds herself trapped on Earth and becomes a comrade of Flash (Eric Johnson); his former girlfriend, Dale Arden (Gina Holden); and scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov (Jody Rasciot), who are able to travel back and forth through a portal between the two worlds.

“I think that there’s an amazing chemistry, actually, between this group,” Stern said. “What’s great about what Peter’s done is to kind of add Baylin into this mix of this couple that have kind of been estranged now, but there’s still chemistry. And now you’ve got this kind of sexy alien in the middle of it, and when hasn’t that happened before? And so they’re trying to figure out that whole dynamic now. And then you’ve got Jody, who’s just this great energy in the middle of all that.”

The villain of the show will still be the dictator Ming (not called “the Merciless” in this version), played by John Ralston. He still rules over Mongo with an iron fist, but he’ll have a contemporary spin as well.

The show will take Ming “into more of a kind of Saddam Hussein, dictator type of character and play with some of those themes of control over the masses and propaganda,” Stern said. “And he’s not just this dictator in the old-school sense.”

What does that mean? Stern added: “I think a kind of dictator for the modern age is a little more savvy and is a little more about getting the P.R., and he’s really more concerned about putting the right face on everything while he’s torturing and killing people.”

Warner Brothers has released a preview for the upcoming “Babylon Five” direct-to-home theater release, “The Lost Tales.”

The film stars Bruce Boxleitner reprising his role as John Sheridan and Tracy Scroggins returns as Colonel Elizabeth Lochley. There is some great archival footage of Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar) and Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin.

YouTube features a really cool preview.