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Spock almost a woman
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:14 pm
by Lighthawk
Though the "Star Trek" has been rebooted with a new sheen, make no mistake: Leonard Nimoy is Mr. Spock. But here's a twist: had things turned out the way series creator Gene Roddenberry intended them, the role would have been perhaps been cast as Ms. Spock.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Nichelle Nichols revealed that she was the original Vulcan of Roddenberry's eye.
"They gave me a three-page script to read from that had three characters named Bones, Kirk and somebody called Spock, and they asked me if I would read for the role of Spock. When I looked at this great text, I said to myself, 'I'll take any one of these roles,' but I found the Spock character to be very interesting, and I asked them to tell me what she [Spock] was like."
As io9 points out, there was a female character, much like Spock, named Number One in an early iteration of the script; it was later cut and Spock was added, seemingly in its place.
Eventually, of course, Nichols would end up winning the role of Lieutenant Uhura, leading to what is largely considered the first interracial kiss on television, with William Shatner's Captain Kirk.
As for Spock, Nimoy said he got a call from his agent saying that Roddenberry, who produced a show he had already been on, wanted him for a role in another show he was working. He sent in an episode of "Dr. Kildare," in which, as he told Emmytvlegends.org, "he played a very quiet, shy guy who befriended a blind girl and quoted poetry to her, a very sensitive, nice character," which was the absolute opposite of what he had done on Roddenberry's show.
Then came a meeting in a studio with Roddenberry, and the rest is history. In the most recent iteration of the franchise, director JJ Abrams' films, Zachary Quinto plays Spock, to devastating effect, but after three seasons of orignal show, seven film starring roles and various other cameos, Nimoy will forever be the one true Spock.
Source
A rather interesting "what might have been" there. Wonder how such a change would have affected the interactions between the main three if they had dared to go that route.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:16 pm
by kostmayer
Lighthawk wrote:A rather interesting "what might have been" there. Wonder how such a change would have affected the interactions between the main three if they had dared to go that route.
Would have made Spock and Uhuru's relationship in Star Trek more interesting.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:47 pm
by Tyyr
And by interesting we mean hot.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:24 pm
by alexmann
I had heard this but I thought it was just a rumour.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 3:11 am
by Teaos
I don't think a female would have fit in that three person dynamic very well.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 11:09 am
by alexmann
Oh, I'm not so sure. A female could have made it interesting.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:27 am
by McAvoy
In the context of the 60's? Yeah veeerrrrry interesting if it wasn't cut after a episode or two.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:51 am
by mwhittington
The feel of the series would be completely different if Spock were a female character. Kirk, Bones, and Spock are three guys who've been through thick and thin together. As a result, their friendship is strengthened to the point of brotherhood. I'm not saying that Kirk and Bones wouldn't have felt a sisterly connection if Spock were a woman. But we might have seen something more akin to romance bloom on screen instead.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:03 pm
by Mikey
Well, one-sided, anyway. Not to say that it wouldn't have worked - there certainly was a tension of unrequited feelings between Pike and his Number One - but it would have rendered impossible the dynamic that Roddenberry engendered between Kirk, Bones, and Spock. There would have been more typical drama between them, perhaps, but not the practical model of id-ego-superego that the three men had.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:05 pm
by Graham Kennedy
I actually think it would be really interesting to have a really close working relationship / friendship between a man and a woman and not include any sexual or romantic subtext at all. After all, where is it written that such attraction is inevitable? And it would make a nice change of pace from the "will-they-won't-they" pairings we see all the time.
Very much doubt that would have flown back in the 60s though.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:33 pm
by Mikey
I agree it would've been nice to see something like that, but I doubt it would've happened that way given what we saw in the pilot.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:58 am
by Graham Kennedy
Yes, they sure did run with the whole "all the girls are gagging for the captain" meme with that one.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:46 am
by Mikey
GrahamKennedy wrote:Yes, they sure did run with the whole "all the girls are gagging for the captain" meme with that one.
Yeap. Then later, with the "nurse is gagging for the single most inaccesible male on the ship" one.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:06 pm
by alexmann
And the comms officer in the newish film.
Re: Spock almost a woman
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 5:39 pm
by Mikey
alexmann wrote:And the comms officer in the newish film.
Do you mean Uhura? Long before that, she was involved in one of the most groundbreaking kisses in media history - Uhura and Kirk shared the first interracial kiss in TV history.