Why did they replace Saavik in Star Trek?

Why didn t Kirstie Alley play Saavik?

We might not have realized it at the time, but the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation season had an odd sort of feeling to it, and it wasn t until years later that we saw why. The problem was that we really wanted to know why Kirk and Spock were so into each other, or why it was that Scotty and Uhura had started making out, but really, what we all were dying to know was, why didn t Kirstie Alley play Saavik? As a child, I was fascinated by this question, and even as an adult, my mind still wanders back to that question. The truth is that Kirstie Alley, or at least her character, Saavik, was just a little too perfect to be in Star Trek: The Next Generation. After all, when they wrote Saavik in the episode The Naked Now they said they created android who would have no emotion. This meant that she had to be a blank slate, which really just isn t possible. She has to have some sort of emotion, some sort of thought process, because otherwise she wouldn t be an interesting character. The problem was, their reasoning for writing Saavik with no emotion was that they thought it would make her more believable, because when androgynous, emotionless Vulcan woman tells Kirk I think you re a very attractive man, it does sound rather unnatural. So when we find out that she's a clone, well, of course she s a clone. Then they create the problem of how could she have sex with Kirk, given that there were just a handful of episodes where we got to see the naked Saavik.

The truth is that when they wrote Saavik in the episode The Naked Now they said they created android who would have no emotion.

Why does Kirk call her Mr Saavik?

It is such a small thing, but I loved it!

I'll be completely honest - I don't know how a new Star Trek series can make me love Kirk and Spock less. I love these characters more than I ever have before.

And I'll say it again - James Spader does an excellent job as the emotionless, brilliant, and completely human Vulcan. I had a few moments of wondering what it was going to be like with the character of Uhura, and then I decided that I didn't really care. Sure - I'd love to hear how the new series handles Uhura/Kirk and the other woman he dates, but it doesn't really matter to me. The writing and acting just seem to put me more at ease with Kirk and Spock and the rest of the crew. It's hard to put your finger on what it is about the writing and the actors' performances that I found so compelling. It's just the whole story that has me hooked. Maybe it's the way the new cast members interact with the original actors. Maybe it's the way they make Kirk human. I don't know - maybe it's just because I watched Star Trek: Insurrection.

The new characters, especially Mr. Scott, seemed very realistic, and they did a good job of representing the Enterprise crew. I also appreciated how quickly the Enterprise gets from one episode to the next, and how quickly the crew is on their way to their new destination. From the beginning of the first episode to the end, there were only three or four days in between.

We get to know Scotty a little better here than in previous episodes.

Did Saavik and Spock mate?

What's your opinion on this?

Was there a chance for sexual contact between Saavik and Spock? What did you think of the scenes between them in TMP, especially during the first five minutes? What do you think happened in "The Omega Glory"? What a good episode. And yet what annoying episode. I'm actually quite surprised I love the episode so much, it didn't occur to me that the last part of the film is my favorite part. This is where I'd normally start in on how much better a movie this would've been if they'd spent more time on the human ship. It just seems to be an extended cut of an already good one.

To the question itself. First of all, I don't think they ever had sex. Spock was not the man Saavik had lost her virginity to. If anything, at the end of TOS, she was still a virgin. After all, she says, "I have always wanted to meet a Vulcan in the truest sense, and now that my wish has come true I am beginning to realize what I wish I had known from the very beginning. I love you. There have been many times in my life when I wanted someone or something so much I couldn't express my need. Now, we finally understand one another. We are two lonely hearts who have met at last." They meet each other again at the climax of "Mirror, Mirror", when Saavik sees the Vulcan's future self talking to Kirk. There's clearly no spark between them. I think it only really makes sense if she realizes she loves him, and he realizes that she loves him too. So, if there is no mating between the two, then why is Kirk surprised at the end of TMP, when Spock is still a virgin (assuming the script actually said that)? She's only his teacher (after all) so what does she mean by, "You will have much in common.

The film works well enough on it's own. A movie needs more meat in the first five minutes to really show up. In the movie version, it goes straight into Saavik's backstory and tells us Spock really doesn't go home every night as he does in some stories.

There are several problems with "TMP". The first is that, IMO, it takes place in the future.

Why did they replace Saavik in Star Trek?

How come no one really questioned that?

Why didn't the studio say, "Well we don't have a female captain so we'll have to replace Saavik"? Isn't that the way it is done? The producers and writers of Star Trek knew that they were writing for an audience of women. It was written into the show's very premise. Thus, they wrote a woman into the Star Trek universe as a part of the cast/crew.

While it would be nice if women got their due as actors on TV, that simply isn't the case. That's why it is important that the writers understand that there are things that will need to be addressed when creating and executing a female role. This was the case with Captain Janeway, for example.

In many ways, women are portrayed differently in television than they are in the movies. The studios are generally willing to go along with female leads because they know women can connect with them. And when they do, the stories about women end up being very interesting.

Star Trek also understood this concept, but as a show with a male lead, Star Trek did not necessarily have to worry about that. One thing I can't remember that was so much of a question was why TOS had two main female leads. TNG had one of those as well.

As for Capt. Janeway, while it does feel like "someone else" was there, I do think they were aware of what the fans thought of her, and made her seem a bit more human. I think she's supposed to be a bit cold, but that's not why she wasn't popular.

TNG was definitely popular, but people just weren't used to seeing a woman in a leading role on TV. In fact, there were some complaints that you actually changed the roles of Uhura and Guinan, because they felt that was a bit odd.

It was not uncommon for the first female lead to be a bit bland, and that tended to continue throughout the series, especially after Voyager. When I saw TOS, I remember watching it and thinking "what is going on here?" and not understanding the "why". To this day I still don't know why Spock did not "save" Kirk from being beamed back aboard the USS Enterprise.