While the 1991 sci-fi political thriller “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” was still in development at Paramount, Savic, the half-Vulcan, half-Romulan officer, was the first to play a substantial role. Savick, Trekkies will tell you, first appeared in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and was played by Kirstie Alley in one of her first acting roles. Savick is introduced as Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) protégé and reveals a lot of confusion about the emotional lives of the men he is supposed to work with. Savick returned for “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” in 1984, but Ally was replaced by actress Robin Curtis, who played a sterner, more emotionless style. Curtis makes a brief appearance at the beginning of “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”
Savick was originally going to appear in “Star Trek VI,” but “Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry objected to his role in the film's plot; The writers had Savik betray the Enterprise crew, which helped establish a Cold War. Roddenberry wanted to be more respectable than her. Additionally, Robin Curtis has left the franchise and a third actress is slated to play the role. Nicholas Meyer wants Allie to come back, but by then she's already gone to “Cheers.”
Kim Cattrall had originally auditioned for Savick for “Star Trek II,” but she was no longer interested and declined to be the third actress to play the same role. Instead, Ganado: A new Vulcan character was invented for Valeris. Valeris was Spock's new protégé, but new enough to have her own murky motivations.
Cattrall, speaking to Starlock magazine in 1992 (written by the website Trekkie Feminist), noted that “Star Trek” hasn't always treated its female characters well. He almost turned down the role entirely.
Cattrall wanted a better role
While “Star Trek” is so progressive in many ways (it represents a future without countries and beyond concepts like war and capitalism), Gene Roddenberry hasn't always treated women well. The female crew members of the USS Enterprise infamously wore miniskirts and stockings. In a detail happily ignored by Trekkies, there was even an episode of the original series that stated that women were not allowed to be starship captains. Cattrell only remembered the miniskirts and initially rejected “Star Trek.” She recalled:
“No, I don't think so. “I’m beyond doing those types of roles.” I felt like the way women were portrayed in those movies was like furniture on legs, real bitches or basically extras, and you never felt anything for them.”
Cattrell watched “Star Trek II” through “Star Trek IV” and didn't think much about how Savage had changed. Most of the major plot points were handled by William Shatner or another member of the main cast. Cattrall realized that Savick only had one important thing to do in the third film, and yet it wasn't much. She continued:
“I think Savick is a sympathetic character… but he doesn't really do much, except in 'Star Trek III' helping young Spock make the transition to adulthood and his seven years of sex. [cycle]. So, I don't really have a clear idea of what the girls on 'Star Trek' are like except Uhura, and she's basically a switchboard operator. Good, but I wanted more than that. And I thought, 'I'm not going to act unless SD films give more importance to my character.'
The solution was to get rid of the Savick story and find Valeris. And, to Cattrall's relief, the filmmakers listened to her input on the character and helped Valerice take off. In fact, the hairstyle was Cattrell's idea, adding the suffix “Eris” to her name.
Catrel should give Valeris his name and haircut.
Cattrall loved the look he created for the character, which looked futuristic and retro at the same time. He says he likes to use ear pads and often uses them at home at the end of the day. It's terrible, he said, to make phone calls with them, because they hang up and stay glued to the phone. Yes, the rumors are true: during one night of filming, Cottrell snuck onto the Enterprise Bridge set, wearing nothing but his ears, and had a friend photograph him. However, Leonard Nimoy found the photos and tore them up, not wanting them to leak to the public, calling the cattrall and “Star Trek” scandals.
Cattrall also noted that Valeris is a more dynamic and interesting character than Savage. The latter is a passive figure in his eyes. Valeris, for his part, had much clearer objectives. The actress said about Valerie:
“She's more dimensional than a cute girl with her hair tied back, funny ears, and a sexy top. She is very limited. She has more abstract desires and desires and is ambitious. With other keys, it was very difficult to tell. What they liked: They were very lazy. Nothing Different opinion about Lieutenant Valeris. She has a role in his life, she wants to look good and fit in, sometimes too much. But I felt that she was too limited, while both keys were missing. “They're just carbon copies of Spock.”
Some might say this is a fair estimate. Cattrall was fantastic in the role and was a welcome addition to “Star Trek.” Fun Facts: Cattrall clearly filmed Tony Myalam's “Split Second” right after filming “Star Trek VI,” because he still has the same wild hairstyle.
