Kirstie Alley: ' She isnt Saavik, I am.'
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Kirstie Alley
Soupful — 11 years ago(August 28, 2014 05:56 AM)
Kirstie Alley: " She isnt Saavik, I am." December 1985.
The young actress recalls the requirements for her "Masquerade," her recruitment into "Runaway," and the reasons behind her retirement from "Star Trek."
For Kirstie Alley watching "The Search for Spock" was an enjoyable but unnerving experience. Each time the action switched to the action on the Genesis planet the actress was forced to make an uncomfortable realisation. Of the half-Romulan, half-Vulcan Enterprise officer who rescues and protects the regenerating Spock, Alley says "She wasnt me".
Kirstie Alley has since parlayed her motion picture debut as Lt.Saavik in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" into a lucrative acting career.
But that career didn't include reprising the hybrid lieutenant in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Not that she didn't want to do so.
Alley say she would have loved a second chance to tie her hair into a Starfleet bun and regale audiences with her grasp of Vulcan logic but Paramount Pictures wasn't willing to foot the bill.
"They offered me less money then they did for Star Trek II. So I figured they weren't very interested in me for Saavik" she says.
But that wasn't the only reason. Alley had co-starred in Masquerade a TV series pilot shortly after Star Trek II(which the actress disclosed in STARLOG #59). ABC picked it up and that commitment coupled with Paramounts offer, "which came in very, very low" meant the Enterprise would be leaving without Alley onboard.
Actress robin Curtis (STARLOG #83) got the part - and Alley's sympathy.
"I thought she was at5b4 a real disadvantage playing a role someone else established, especially with Star Trek, which has an enormous following" she says. "I think she did a fine job. I have no problem with what she did except that, when I saw the film, I said "She isn't Saavik, I am".
While Robin Curtis explored strange new world's, Alley explored strange new levels of tedium in "Masquerade". She had the thankless role of a CIA agent-cum-European tourbus hostess who help the tourists that the U.S government has drafted as spies complete their dangerous missions. Actor Rod (Time Machine)
Taylor portrayed her boss while Greg (BJ and the Bear) Evigan played Alley's male counterpart.
"I felt stuck in a role that had no place to go once I started on the series" says Alley.
"the show was written for the guest stars and the three of us allged leads were basically there for exposition and to lead the guest stars around so they could do the acting not an ideal situation. It wasn't a real challenge.
"We were told when we accepted the pilot thaqt there would be interesting stories written for us. Well, the love stories were written for the guest stars, the tragedies for the guest stars, the adventures for the guest stars. We said, "Get on the bus' and "Get off the bus' in 80,000 different ways."
When "Masquerade" was mercifully cancelled after hal111cf a season few months, Alley didn't mourn at all though it had been a big improvement over her first post-Star Trek II job the starring role in a mindless thriller titled "Blind Date."
TO BE CONTINUED
"Nothing is as it seems, nothing is just one thing and nothing is ever just over there" -
coppertopkid-723-633836 — 11 years ago(October 09, 2014 02:14 AM)
what a shame. she was perfect as Saavik, what a striking beauty. her character was so woefully underwritten. She should have been Kirk's main love interest and deserved way more screen time. reality sucks however. RIP to one of my great fictional crushes, Kirstie Alley's Saavik.
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indranee19 — 11 years ago(March 08, 2015 05:09 PM)
Ew. Not just Kirk's love interest! Please. NO.
She deserved a role far more than that! IMO, Saavik should have been written up, up and UP. She should have been a HUGE presence in the rest of the TOS movies AND a presence in the ensuing Trek TV series including TNG and DS9.
Paramount's blindness to real talent has been proven many times since this fiasco.
Fear not for the future; weep not for the past Percy Bysshe Shelley -
mikeflw1 — 10 years ago(January 01, 2016 01:08 PM)
Well,
even in the movie BLIND DATE (not the one with Bruce Willis of course), she was not so much like the young woman she was as 'Saavik'.
With 'Hollywood' being what it was (and pretty much still is), I'm guessing the pay offer for the second role was based on the risk that she would have needed a new, larger, uniform (and I don't mean taller). The original Saavik was very thin as I remember
If you have any doubt, just check out the Star Wars fan base reaction to actress Carrie Fisher in the new FORCE AWAKENS movie. Even though she "was pressured into losing 35 pounds" to be in the movie,
many
fan comments have been, shall we say, "harsh" about her appearance. She reacted on Twitter, and was a bit "harsh" herself in her response to what she has called "body shaming"
I suspect a lot of the fans naively expected 'the Carrie Fisher' who was in the 'Princess white robes and bun hairdo' or the 'slave girl' costume, and not the woman who is actually about 40 years older now.
'nuff said -
— 3 years ago(December 06, 2022 04:21 AM)and
Taylor Dayne
MAKES me think of her in THIS video!!…
RiP
.
She STARTED her ACTING career as the SECOND Handmaiden on '
The Old and the Beautiful
(
1978
)' and was a contestant on '
Password PLUS
' in which she WON $800!!!
“Call a SPADE, a SPADE; and a TRANNY, a TRANNY, or an IT!!!”.
"THAT'S SOME BAD
SHIT
,
HARRY
!".