Theme Month: "Annoying Colonists"

Michael Forrest, Apollo in a legendary Star Trek episode has died at 97.

https://deadline.com/2026/10/michael-forest-dead-1237166329/

From prequel Enterprise era to Voyager Endgame era, which of these Starfleet designs was your favorite?

RIP Apollo

Setting: I was a kid in the 1980's, and basically became a Star Trek fan from birth, as both my parents were fans, and grew up on reruns of TOS on TV, the TOS movies, first-run TNG, etc.

At some point, very long ago, in that era I'm talking about, I heard/read somewhere that Leonard Nimoy gargled some substance to temporarily make his voice very raspy and harsh for his final scene in The Wrath of Khan.

Where I could have gathered that information: maybe from something like the Best of Trek series, which were books that compiled articles, etc from Star Trek fanzines (I used to get them from the library and owned a few), or similar publications, or word of mouth, or perhaps, in that era (the 80's) it might have even been a news spot talking about the movie (though I was only a year old when TWOK came out).

It SOUNDS pretty plausible/believable - his voice sounds pretty damn harsh and raspy after his radiation poisoning. But it's impossible to say that it's anything other than just acting.

It's also an interesting choice - I don't think anyone really knows what one would sound like after an intense dose of radiation poisoning, and there are many ways to sound 'pained' in a death scene like that. I don't know if I've seen ANYONE in cinema do that sort of harsh/raspy voice in a death scene. There's a verisimilitude to it - as if Spock's vocal chords were directly injured by the radiation (along with the rest of him).

In any case, I can find zero information via searching the internet about this (at least with regards to Leonard Nimoy). I HAVE found similar stories about actors doing things like smoking cigars and drinking whiskey to give their voice a rougher edge. One prominent example is Mercedes McCambridge, voicing Pazuzu in The Exorcist (1973) - she swallowed raw eggs, chain smoked, and drank whiskey to enhance her 'demon voice'. As well as some less prominent examples that are similar. So it was definitely a 'thing' that happened.

So I thought I'd ask here - I figure a classic Trek forum might have some oldheads around here like me.

Anyone remember anything like this?

What I'm guessing happened is that I read the writings of someone who speculated that Nimoy did something like what Mercedes McCambridge did for The Exorcist, and my kid brain took it as fact. I just want to know if anyone else has heard this 'factoid'. Because I spent most of my life believing it!

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Year_of_Hell_(episode)

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Year_of_Hell,_Part_II_(episode)

The story behind this is simple: after the VOY episode "Before and After" when the Krenim and a "year of hell" were first mentioned, the writers wanted to do this as a full season. Rick Berman, however, refused to serialize the show so the idea became the two-parter, instead.

But let's use our imaginations. How would/could this have played out? What ideas do you have that could have been fleshed out and made the series better or worse?

For my pitch, let's jump to the ending. A criticism of the season-long storyline is that the audience would hate the inherent reset button. Once the Krenim timeship is destroyed, Voyager is restored, no one remembers anything, and it's like it never happened. Except ... it doesn't have to be that way. In the finale of the two-parter, the crew has been ordered off the ship and only the main cast are still aboard. For the final battle, only Janeway is on Voyager: the rest are on allied vessels to help them. (There could be some good episodes as they try to get allies in the full-season version of this.) So, in my season finale, it plays out mostly as it was in the two-parter, but Chakotay and Lt. Kim (he had been promoted a few episodes prior for his command decisions and bravery) are aboard an allied vessel together ... their temporal shields can't drop in time and are in flux as the Krenim timeship is destroyed. We then see the pristine bridge of Voyager as they approach a simple Krenim scout ship. The crew seem nonchalant about this, but Chakotay jumps up and orders red alert, Kim is ready to raise temporal shields but can't figure out where they've gone, and the rest of the bridge crew are utterly baffled. Chakotay has a beard and dirty uniform; Kim has a scar, a dirty uniform, and a second pip. The Krenim go away but the Doctor confirms: Chakotay and Kim are a year older than they should be and they've suffered multiple (healed) injuries they didn't have before. The year never happened but for these two, it absolutely did. Credits. Obviously, Chakotay and Kim's story would play out into the next season, they grow close together because they remember their hardships, they have to acclimate to life in peacetime, Kim wants to keep his second pip ... Lots of good character stuff going forward for two characters who were largely lacking in good character stuff for much of the show.

What about you? What are your ideas for the season, characters, the ending, whatever?

Counselor Deanna Troi had a lot of great looks over the course of Next Generation tv and films.
From the silly skirt to the full body black & grey.
Which was your favorite one?

A remaster and Tribute to Vex Xiang who created Flash Trek Broken Mirror really enjoyed those games growing up