RSWR #6

THE STAR WARS / STAR TREK CONNECTIONS

This week is truly a moment in history. No, not the US Presidential inauguration; we're talking about the collision of two major sci-fi universes. A Star Trek legend is guest-starring in this week's The Clone Wars episode, "Defenders of Peace." George Takei of Hikaru Sulu fame is voicing a Neimoidian officer, General Lok Durd. Though some fans like to imagine a competition between both venerable franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek have on occasion pulled from the same pool of acting talent. Here's a sample of cross-overs that have occurred in the past:

William Shatner: Okay, the legendary Captain Kirk has not appeared in any Star Wars materials, but he did memorably serenade George Lucas at 2005 AFI Lifetime Tribute and was carried away by dancing stormtroopers. That's gotta count for something.

Brock Peters: The actor most well known for his role in To Kill a Mocking Bird had several notable Star Trek appearances, as Admiral Cartwright in the classic Trek movies and the elder Joseph Sisko in Deep Space Nine. Star Wars fans may recognize his voice as Darth Vader in the National Public Radio dramatizations.

Malachi Throne: Another extremely distinctive voice in sci-fi, Throne played Commodore Jose Mendez in "The Menagerie" episodes of the original series, and Romulan Senator Pardek in TNG. It's his voice that narrates the very first Star Wars trailer that announces "somewhere in space... this may all happening right now."

Michael Bell: Kids who grew up in the '80s will remember Michael Bell's voice from a slew of cartoons, where he most famously played Duke in G.I.JOE. Bell was in the first TNG episode as Groppler Zorn and later played a Bajoran resistance fighter on DS9. In Star Wars, he is the voice of Commander Willard, who greets Princess Leia upon her arrival at the Yavin base.

Carel Struycken: Carel Struycken has made a career of playing outlandishly tall characters; you may remember him as Lurch in the new Addams Family movies. He played Mr. Homn, Lwaxana Troi's aide in TNG, and the evil Marauder King Terak in the second Ewoks live action TV Movie.

Fionnula Flanagan: She has played multiple roles in Trek, including Data's "mother" in TNG, a former lover of Dax's in DS9, and a Vulcan diplomat on Enterprise. In the first Ewoks TV movie, she played Catarine Towani, young Cindel's mom.

Ethan Phillips: Best known for his role as Neelix, the alien cook on Voyager, Phillips has provided voices to numerous Star Wars video games, iuncluding Force Commander, Galactic Battlegrounds and Knights of the Old Republic.

David Warner: Another unmistakable voice, Warner is best remembered as the Master Control Program in Tron. He has several major Trek roles, including Chancellor Gorkon in The Undiscovered Country and Gul adred in TNG. He supplied his voice to an Imperial general in Star Wars video game, Force Commander.

Clive Revill: Revill was the voice of the original Emperor who appeared in the theatrical version of The Empire Strikes Back. He played Sir Guy of Gisborne, enemy of Robin Hood, in the fanciful TNG episode, "Qpid."

Raphael Sbarge: He played the recurring character of former Maquis crewman Michael Jonas on Star Trek: Voyager, as well as Carth Onasi, one of the main leads in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Felix Silla: A little person performer with plenty of sci-fi credits (he was Twiki on Buck Rogers!), Silla was both a alosian in the very first Trek pilot, and also a stunt Ewok in Return of the Jedi.

Brian George: You may know him as Babu Bhatt on Sienfeld, this versatile character actor played Julian Bashir's father on DS9 and Anatarian ambassador O'Zaal in Voyager. In The Clone Wars, he plays the Toydarian monarch King Katuunko.

Jason Wingreen: Who would have thought Archie Bunker's bartender, Harry Snowden, would have such sci-fi cred? In addition to playing Dr. Linke in the original series episode "The Empath," he was the original voice of Boba Fett in the theatrical edition of The Empire Strikes Back.