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In the Background: Notable Trekkie Cameos

Flicky compiles a short list of celebrity Trekkies’ cameo appearances.

By Flicky Mon 09 Feb, 2015 9:00 PM - Last Updated: Sun 03 Apr, 2016 11:27 PM
Flicky compiles a short list of celebrity Trekkies’ cameo appearances.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

After the adventures of Kirk and his crew, plenty of actors, scientists, and other public figures found themselves to be fans of Star Trek. While many of them eventually guest starred in numerous episodes throughout TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise, some were happy with having a simple background appearance or portraying minor characters.

attachment.php?attachmentid=4045&stc=1 DR. MAE JEMISON

The first African American woman in space, Dr. Jemison has been a big fan of Star Trek since her childhood. When a friend told LeVar Burton that Dr. Jemison was a fan, he asked her to make an appearance in TNG, to which Jemison could only reply, “Yeah!” Jemison portrayed transporter officer Lt. Palmer in “Second Chances,” the first episode of the show that Burton directed.

In the 2014 interview above with NOVA, Jemison said “It was a very cool experience… as a little girl I watched Star Trek. I knew that looking at Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura, someone was connecting my idea of space, and now I got to come back around and help to verify that yes, this happens.

attachment.php?attachmentid=4045&stc=1 PROFESSOR STEPHEN HAWKING

Professor Hawking, a notorious sci-fi fan, is the only person to portray himself in the history of Star Trek. At the release party for the home video version of Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”, Leonard Nimoy learned that Hawking wanted to make an appearance on TNG. Nimoy made the necessary arrangements, and Hawking’s appearance was in “Descent, Part 1", where he is found playing poker with Data, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.

Famously, on a tour of the set during filming, Hawking stopped next to the warp core, paused, and said “I’m working on that.” During a later visit to the set, Hawking stopped next to Brent Spiner and asked where his money was for winning the poker hand. Hawking also visited the set of the DS9 episode “The House of Quark”, where he met Armin Shimerman. Shimerman later said that meeting Hawking was one of the high points in his life. This is not Hawking’s only sci-fi cameo, as he’s also portrayed himself in Futurama. Hawking has also made appearances in The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons.

attachment.php?attachmentid=4045&stc=1 RANDY PAUSCH

An esteemed lecturer and co-founder of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, Pausch was a devoted Trekkie. Director JJ Abrams invited Pausch to the set of Star Trek (2009), and offered to give him a cameo appearance as part of the USS Kelvin’s bridge crew. Pausch accepted and appears in the film’s opening, wearing his own custom-made uniform and speaking the line “Captain, we have visual!” Pausch received a $217.06 paycheck for his appearance, and donated it to charity. In the morning of June 25, 2008, Pausch died of pancreatic cancer at age 47.

attachment.php?attachmentid=4045&stc=1 KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN

Then only a Prince of Jordan, Abdullah made an uncredited appearance in the Voyager episode “Investigations” as an unnamed Lieutenant science officer (with classic Trek pointed sideburns). The cameo was arranged as a surprise for him by his US foreign advisor. Abdullah was not given any lines for the scene, as he wasn’t a member of the Screen Actors Guild. The 34 year-old prince said “I would have been thrilled to visit the set but this is too much.” Jeri Taylor, Executive Producer of Voyager, said of Abdullah: “take away the title and the trappings, and at the core you have a Star Trek fan.”

After the shooting of his scene, he was swamped with well-wishers, including Robert Picardo, who secretly passed him an autographed photo of him as The Doctor. Abdullah invited Picardo and Neelix actor Ethan Phillips to visit Jordan, and Phillips later took up that offer during the hiatus between shooting of season two and three of Voyager. Abdullah threw a party for the cast after shooting. As a King, Abdullah is a major investor in the Red Sea Astrarium, a theme park in Jordan that contains a “Star Trek Experience” and is expected to open in 2017.

attachment.php?attachmentid=4045&stc=1 SETH MacFARLANE

In case you couldn’t tell by the countless references peppered through Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane is a huge fan of Star Trek. MacFarlane has portrayed engineer Ensign Rivers in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, “The Forgotten” and “Affliction”. MacFarlane’s interest in Star Trek began after his father told stories of himself and his college friends watching The Original Series. MacFarlane wasn’t initially receptive to TNG, but later grew to love it, and incorporates parts of the series into his writing and references in Family Guy. MacFarlane has also appeared in Star Trek documentary Trek Nation, and was recently invited to join the cast of fan-film Star Trek: Axanar, along with scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson.


WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CAMEO IN STAR TREK?
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

WRITTEN BY FLICKY
EDITED BY McCLINTOCK - UFP.CLINT@HACARI.COM
12 Comments
Tue 10 Feb, 2015 2:26 AM
Very nice article Flicky!
Tue 10 Feb, 2015 3:53 AM
Cool, I only knew of a few of these so it was fun learning about the rest. Well done!
Tue 10 Feb, 2015 7:49 AM
His majesty ( King Abdullah II) also appeared on TNG I might add, tho I don't remember which specific episode(s) it was... Anyways it was quite informative XD
Tue 10 Feb, 2015 2:22 PM
Nope, it was just that one appearance in Voyager, though another in TNG would have been really cool!
Tue 10 Feb, 2015 4:38 PM
Good work Flicky!
Wed 11 Feb, 2015 10:07 PM
Tom Morello, guitar play of Rage Against the Machine has a cameo appearance in VOY: "Good Shepard". NASA astronaut Mike Fincke briefly appears in ENT: "Demons", I think.
Thu 12 Feb, 2015 2:11 AM
This was so cool to read. Thank you, Flicky, for researching this and posting it. Too bad Neil Armstrong didn't have an appearance.
Thu 12 Feb, 2015 3:46 AM
At least he got plenty of mentions throughout Enterprise, Hevelin. Smile
Thu 12 Feb, 2015 6:06 PM
This was so cool to read. Thank you, Flicky, for researching this and posting it. Too bad Neil Armstrong didn't have an appearance.
Neil Armstrong having an appearance would be extremely awesome.

RIP Neil Armstrong
Fri 13 Feb, 2015 4:13 PM
Crazy that to get lines, you have to be in the Screen Actors Guild, an odd system, is it not somewhat limiting for some surprise guests?
Sun 15 Feb, 2015 4:57 AM
My Fav. ever was Famke Jenson, which they used as the model for Jadzia after the original makeup looked awful. The rest of my favs: Teri Hatcher, Ashley Judd, Kristanna Loken, Nikki Cox, Ron Perlman, Dwayne Johnson
Sat 28 Feb, 2015 3:30 AM
My favorite would have to be Christopher Lloyd as Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.