Doohan et al "Show Stars" of Trek?

Gadfly wrote 8 years ago: 1

It came up in another thread, but are Doohan, Takei, Nichols, and Koenig "show stars" on original Star Trek.

For:

They're mainly considered main stars of the show.

The movies "promoted" them to major players in the series.

The movies mean that a lot of people think of them as show stars.

Against:

They're listed in the end credits instead of the opening credits like Shatner and Nimoy (and 2+ Season Kelley).

They are sometimes listed after "real" guest stars.

They have a smaller font.

Even among themselves they're not listed at the same level/font size.

They act like recurring guest stars, like recurring guest stars acted on other shows. For instance, there are several characters on Yancy Derringer who were just as prominent as Chekov or Uhura on Trek. But... they're not show stars at TVMaze or anywhere else.

What about Chapel and Rand? They played pretty significant roles sometime in the show, they appeared in at least some of the movies, and Majel Barrett appeared in about as many episodes as Koenig did. They were often billed at the same place in the end credits, in the same font size, often on the same screen. Why is Chekov currently a show star but Chapel isn't?

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The indecision means that we have odd listings like this one:

http://www.tvmaze.com/people/48070/james-doohan

So... Doohan is a show star for 26 episodes, but a guest star for 4 episodes? (as of this writing) Say what? The last edits were 9/2016, so it's not like the person making the changes hasn't had time to finish the last few. Having Doohan as both seems... rather confusing.

Thoughts?

JuanArango wrote 8 years ago: 1

My thoughts are that only the ones listed as main stars should be added to cast, all others should remain guest cast. What happened in the movies is in my opinion totally irrelevant to the series :)

tnt wrote 8 years ago: 1

I'm with Juan on it. It wouldn't be the first time when TVmaze at odds with other popular sources. So why this case should be any different? We have a policy, we follow it, even if the result will contradict with any other unofficial source out there.

Gadfly wrote 8 years ago: 1

Just as a clarification, the opening credits say "Starring William Shatner." "Also Starring Leonard Nimoy" "And DeForest Kelley." I wouldn't dispute that they are Show Stars.

At least the season 2 closing credits (for "The Trouble With Tribbles") say "Co-starring" and list two screens of two one-shot stars each. And then list Featuring, which include Doohan and Nichols, and two "guest stars" on the same screen. (0:10 mark). And then Koenig and four other guest stars on the next screen (0;13 mark).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXPW5QV4Ymw

In the third season, they're just kind of lumped together without a specific role name.

My thoughts are that if Doohan et. al are listed after the main one-shot stars (who are listed as co-stars), and lumped in with other one-shot under Featuring, they wouldn't be Show Stars.

Gadfly wrote 8 years ago: 1

I mention the movies to reference the "public opinion." It looks like whoever edited Trek in '16 to make DTNK show stars thought that way. I'm fine with ignoring it and going with the official crediting, but I suspect we'll get at least one complaint once the edit limit is hit. If it hasn't already hit the limit.

JuanArango wrote 8 years ago: 1

Gadfly wrote:
Just as a clarification, the opening credits say "Starring William Shatner." "Also Starring Leonard Nimoy" "And DeForest Kelley." I wouldn't dispute that they are Show Stars.
At least the season 2 closing credits (for "The Trouble With Tribbles") say "Co-starring" and list two screens of two one-shot stars each. And then list Featuring, which include Doohan and Nichols, and two "guest stars" on the same screen. (0:10 mark). And then Koenig and four other guest stars on the next screen (0;13 mark).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXPW5QV4Ymw
In the third season, they're just kind of lumped together without a specific role name.
My thoughts are that if Doohan et. al are listed after the main one-shot stars (who are listed as co-stars), and lumped in with other one-shot under Featuring, they wouldn't be Show Stars.

We seem to agree if I understand you correctly :)