I Am Not Spock: Difference between revisions

*** LeVar Burton has [[Zig Zagged Trope|zig-zagged around this trope]], since he's also famous for starring in ''[[Roots]]'' and hosting ''[[Reading Rainbow]]''. In fact, when TNG first premiered, ''he'' was the biggest name in the cast (in the United States; in Britain, veteran Shakespearean actor Stewart was better known). He at least accepted his role fairly well and inserted his character into an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'' he was directing ("Timeless"), rather than having a stand-in. It made the audience more sympathetic to both sides of the dilemma, since the man our heroes were on the run from was... another hero.

*** Those who don't think of Will Riker when they see Jonathon Frakes probably think of [[Gargoyles|David Xanatos]] when they hear him.

** This has suffered Robert Picardo from ''Star Trek Voyager''; it's hard to see his character from ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' as anything but the EMH in a different uniform.

* On the note of sci-fi shows, the cast of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' has accepted this has happened to all of them... with quite a bit of grace and alacrity. It helps that to a man they ''all'' love the show and understand the affection the fans have for the show (and them); to quote Jerry Doyle, "if I'm typecast as a space cop, well, that's fine, because I got to play space cop on one of the best shows ever. What, should I prefer poverty?"

** Andreas Katsulas, who played G'kar, did manage to avoid this trap... by already being incredibly famous on stage in his home country of Greece. He came to America, did a Narn (and [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|a Romulan]] and [[The Fugitive (film)|a man with one hand]]) for a few years, then went right back to being famous in his home country (he was right up there with his castmates in not caring about typecasting either way because he adored the G'kar character, though).

** Bruce Boxleitner was already well-known for a variety of roles (and has continued to work steadily since). [[Mira Furlan]] is probably now better remembered as the Frenchwoman from ''[[Lost]]'', and like Katsulas was (and still is) tremendously well-respected in her native country (in this case, Croatia). She does gently remind interviewers that, yes, she has played characters not named Delenn or Danielle Rousseau, but like her castmates welcomes the adoration Delenn receives from fans and remains fond of the character and the show. Bill Mumy, however, will ''always'' remain [[Lost in Space|Will Robinson]] for most people.

** Everybody began thinking of [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Marvin the Paranoid Android]] as "The Snape" after [[Alan Rickman]] provided his voice.

** Nearly all the actors to play Hogwarts students, helped no doubt by the fact that prior to being cast in the series, all of them were either unknowns or had simply never acted before. So when [[Daniel Radcliffe]] did ''[[Equus]]'', we had to put up with endless groan-inducing "Harry Potter shows his wand" jokes. The only exception is [[Robert Pattinson]], though only because he is instead Spocked as [[Twilight (novel)|Edward Cullen]]. Parodied in ''[[Get Him to The Greek]]'', in which [[Tom Felton]] had a cameo appearance as himself with Jonah Hill's character attempting to impress him by making lame ''Harry Potter'' jokes. Felton walked away in annoyance after a few seconds of this. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9-8IjgM8so here].

* David Duchovny as Fox Mulder from ''[[The X-Files]]''.

** Gillian Anderson, who lived in England as a child, moved back after the ''X-Files'' finished its run precisely to avoid this. She's managed it quite well so far.

** Although he ''has'' tried to distance himself from the character (including a UPN show, ''Grown Ups'', that crashed and burned after one season), he doesn't resent the fact that he will forever be known as "Steve Urkel" and always speaks fondly about the role, which allowed him far more creative freedom than many of his more recent appearances.

** In the movie ''[[Big Fat Liar]]'', his [[Adam Westing]] includes screaming at someone: