Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
117,007
edits
I Am Not Spock: Difference between revisions
copyedits
(update links) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (copyedits) |
||
Line 31:
== Examples from Real Life ==
* The entire cast of the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' suffered from this:
** Most
** [[William Shatner]] has managed to escape this by now, if only by being typecast instead [[Adam Westing|as a caricature of himself]], of which Kirk is just one example among many.
** Even diehard ''[[Babylon 5]]'' fans had a hard time not thinking of Walter Koenig's [[Magnificent Bastard]], Alfred Bester, as "Evil Chekov".
** Kirk Thatcher, a associate producer on ''[[Star Trek IV: The
** The cast of the modern ''[[Star Trek]]'' series didn't do a lot better:
*** Michael Dorn simply looks ''wrong'' without his makeup, and
*** [[Patrick Stewart]] could not escape from being Picard... until he became [[X-Men (film)|Professor Xavier]].
*** Roxann Briggs-Dawson (B'Elanna Torres) looks very strange without her Klingon forehead. She has tried to avoid this by quitting acting in favor of (TV) directing. Same with Robert Duncan McNeill (a producer on ''[[Chuck]]''), [[Jonathan Frakes]], LeVar Burton...
*** 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]]'' 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.
Line 44:
** 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?"
** Then again, Doyle did try to escape the typecasting by entering politics. He ran for Congress in 2000 and lost.<ref>In California's 24th District, as a Republican. This seat is well-known to be a safe seat for Democrats, and Doyle's opponent was an incumbent--and California specifically gerrymanders its districts to favor incumbents, regardless of party.</ref>
** The late 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.
* Speaking of the late [[Alan Rickman]], he took on the role of [[Harry Potter (film)|Severus Snape]] and so thoroughly claimed it that [[J. K. Rowling]] has admitted she started to picture the character looking like him in later books. Through the end of his life, Rickman had declined interviews, realizing that reporters were only going to ask about Snape. Earlier than that, he was due to be forever remembered as "the bad guy from ''[[Die Hard]]''
** 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].
Line 61:
** Odd that he doesn't sound or look anything like the nasally, fashion-unconscious [[Extroverted Nerd|Urkel]] in real life.
* [[Tom Baker]] will forever be seen as the fourth Doctor, from the TV series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', no matter how much he wants not to (and he really, ''really'' doesn't want to). In fact, this applies to most of the actors who have played the title role, with the exception of Paul McGann and [[Christopher Eccleston]], who both played the Doctor for very short periods, and [[Peter Davison]], who had another starring role in ''[[All Creatures Great and Small]]'' at the same time, and has had a varied career since, thanks in part to taking Patrick Troughton's (Doctor #2) advice to leave the role after 3 seasons. [[David Tennant]] seemed to be purposely doing a varied amount of side roles in other works in order to avoid this, despite the fact he was essentially [[Promoted Fanboy|living out his childhood dream of playing the Doctor]] - when the show took a break of sorts in 2009 he played [[Hamlet]]. (Contrary to popular belief, the show didn't take a break so that he could play ''Hamlet'', it did so to ease the change of production teams in 2010 and Tennant simply put the massive gap to good use.)
** Tom Baker most embodies this trope of all the Doctors, simply because by his own admission he ''was'' the Doctor during the years he played him - it's fair to say there wasn't a huge amount going on in his life when he managed to get the role, so he and the character grew together over the next seven years - he used to walk around in the hat, long scarf and coat, sign autographs "Doctor Who" and so on. He understood the power of this on his younger fans - there's a famous story of him being out and about one Saturday evening, wanting to see his latest episode of DW as it aired, and upon being let into a house where the TV was on he slipped quietly into a seat to watch the programme without disturbing the children already in the room; the look on their faces at the moment where they glanced around from the screen, then back, then back to the Doctor in the next chair can be vividly imagined... He later shied away from revisiting the series for many years, but in 2009 finally took up the role again in a series of audio dramas made under license by BBC Audio, though arguably only when his fame had gone from "Formerly of Doctor Who" to "Famed Eccentric and borderline National Treasure". And then he made his cameo in the 50th Anniversary Special -- as a ''future'' incarnation of the Doctor, reusing a "favorite face".
** Subverted with Patrick Troughton(Second Doctor). He was a highly successful character actor before Doctor Who and became one almost immediately after leaving the program. He was always recognized as the Doctor for the rest of his life, and loved doing conventions, but he did more than enough stuff that he was often recognized for his other work too. A combination of being arguably the most versatile and talented actor to play the part combined with always keeping a sharp distinction between himself and all of his roles probably both helped a great deal with that.
** Jon Pertwee got a double dose of the typecasting both as the Doctor and as scarecrow [[Worzel Gummidge]], but as both were roles he thoroughly enjoyed, he seemed to be more accepting of it.
Line 70:
** [[Elisabeth Sladen]] was, is, and will forever be Sarah Jane Smith.
* The cast of ''[[Star Wars]]'' may [[Never Live It Down]]:
** [[Mark Hamill]] could be said to suffer pretty badly from this. His role as Luke Skywalker in ''[[Star Wars]]'', while famous, wrecked his acting career in Hollywood, although he's done well in Broadway, theater and
** Carrie Fisher also suffers from this. "Hey, Princess Leia wrote a book!" She once said that she didn't sleep around in her 20s because she didn't want guys running around saying, "Hey! I banged Princess Leia!" You can't call wher a "victim" of it, though, since her fame as Leia almost certainly helped launch her successful writing career.
** Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) is another ''[[Star Wars]]'' victim, although you'd have thought being entirely invisible ''and'' altering his normal speaking voice would have saved him. In an interview for the biggest ''[[Star Wars]]'' fanzine, Daniels says that he doesn't get recognized too often, just often enough that "It's very pleasant and joyful and rather sweet, but I also have my privacy." He also notes that there was a time, somewhere in the late nineties, when he'd wanted to just stop doing the character, but he changed his mind; overall, "Threepio has been very kind to me all these years." Aww.
| |||