Monday, August 11, 2008

And Friday... Partial

Friday, August 8

The first guest this day before my birthday was Malcolm McDowell. What a guy. Just – what a guy. What a guy, what a guy, what a guy. He has an amazing presence, plus what he said about my question was just – perfection.

See, when they filmed Generations, Soran shot Kirk in the back. Wait, you say, didn't Kirk fall off a bridge? Well, yes, he did. See, people were upset by the whole shot-in-the-back thing, so they decided to reshoot so that Kirk fell off a bridge instead, because someone thought we'd like that better. Yeah-huh.

So, anyway, my question for Malcolm: “Originally, you shot Kirk in the back and he died.”

He was all, “Uh-huh.”

“And they changed it so he fell off a bridge.”

“Uh huh.”

I was waiting for a reaction, so I said, “So you went from being a murderer to manslaughter.”

“Who let her in here?!?!?!” he yelled.

When the laughter died down (go me!) I said, “How did you feel about that?”

“Well,” he said, “I thought it was pathetic.”

Booya. I got high-fived as I walked back to my seat.

He's not a Trekkie. He's actually a fan of 2001. I knew there had to be at least one out there. He says it took Sci-Fi from Flash Gordon to 2001. Never mind that Star Trek was in the middle of that. Lousy thing to say at a convention.

There was a lot of talk about Heroes, which he didn't want to do but his son was so excited that he did it anyway, and by the way, his character is not so wounded as we were led to believe.

There were lots of Clockwork Orange questions, which I've never read or seen but really should, but anyway his most challenging role was something called The Monster of Rostoff, in which he played a pedophile cannibal serial killer. Good grief.

He's a good villain.

A little side note – he made Time After Time with Nick Meyer (in which he did not play the villain) and met his wife on that film. Good deal. And if you don't know who Nick Meyer is, you suck.

Someone also asked him probably my favorite question, which you could tell he was unprepared for because he never really got it. “What would you do in Soran's place?” As in, if you had to kill 230 Million people to get your dead wife and children back, would you.

Jeepers.


Susie Plakson isn't my favorite, but she passes the time and she's tall. Really tall. Extremely tall. She's been launching a musical career, which is neat. And she's older than you'd think, is all I'll say there.

One amusing thing – did you know she was Selar? Selar and K'Eyhlar and SheQ and one of the Andorians. She beat Jeff Combs.

Anyway, she audidtioned for a doctor on Star Trek got it, and then they called her in to be measured for her ears. And that's how she learned she'd be playing a Vulcan.


I won't pretend I'm not bitter about Enterprise because that would be a lie, but Jolene Blalock, guys. Amazing.

I've always seen T'Pol as a big problem, not because of the character or actor but because she's so obviously there for the sex appeal. That said, she's so funny, so charming, and so much a fan that it just kills you.

She's been a fan her whole life.

I actually feel pity for her now – because she was the fan in the show that failed. Not that that was her fault, but what a horrible thing to have happen.

There were a lot of questions dealing with the Vulcan restraint. Leonard Nimoy has said often that he really felt repressed as Spock, that the character took a while to take off on the weekend and then he had to be back at work. She never consulted with Nimoy (“God, I wish.”), but she had a very different experience. Nimoy had to remain stoic all the time. Jolene, well...

“I was the one leaving hershey bars in Connor's toilet....and then I'd get outside and go, [crap]!, I forgot the saran wrap!”

Yeah.

She didn't feel it like Nimoy, I think, but she did have dreams about doing Hamlet in her living room in T'Pol's catsuit, and yes, she did say catsuit.

There was one that became a running thing: “If you were in the desert, would you want Archer or Trip with you?”

Trip.

Yay! My shipper heart beats faster. She indicated that she was in favor of that particular ship, too, so good on her. I mean, she certainly seemed enthusiastic.

She wasn't a big fan of the Xindi arc – maybe if it had been more about Enterprise than the Xindi, that would be different. But it wasn't. Manny made the show better, she said. No argument here. He took the shows and took risks and they “started to bend and mold and shift.”

Yes, they did. And the most telling statement:

“Berman had a formula from TNG and it carried over to the next incarnations...first two seasons he just would not bend, would not budge.”

Which is what I've been saying for years.

She would be open to being in the new movies – T'Pol should still be alive then.

I can't say I'd object.

“My biggest influence is James Cagney...everything I do is in homage to Jimmy Cagney.”
-Malcolm McDowell

“There's nothing wrong with doing six scenes and having the world hate you.”
-Malcolm McDowell, on playing villains

“If I was gay, I probably would have married him.”
-Malcolm McDowell on Colin Firth

“Only through science fiction do you pose the question, 'what if-?'... only the sci-fi genre divides the lines between us.”
-Jolene Blalock

“Berman had a formula from TNG and it carried over to the next incarnations...first two seasons he just would not bend, would not budge.”
-Jolene Blalock

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