Sunday, December 11, 2011

16497--Have You Met Me?

It's December 11, so of course I had to notice and care that today is Terri Garr's birthday.  Why?  Do I know her?  No, I've never met Ms. Garr, don't stalk her, don't have a crush on her, etcetera etcetera...so why do I care?  Because she did a killer guest spot in a "Star Trek" episode, naturally.

This is what we, those of us who are fans of that sort of entertainment (nerds, geeks, etc.), do.  It's the same reason Kirstie Alley and Carrie Fisher will have a rabid niche fan base for as long as they like regardless of whatever other career moves they make or how much they age or weight they gain because they gave us entertainment as sexy alien women once upon a time.  Granted, Terri Garr didn't play an alien, but she had a featured role by association so...close enough.  We're an accepting bunch and I'm sure anytime any of the ladies need an ego boost they need only choose to drop in at a sci-fi convention to get it.

For those of you who don't know, Ms. Garr played Roberta Lincoln in the 1968 "Star Trek" episode titled "Assignment: Earth".  It also co-starred Robert Lansing as Gary Seven, a human agent working for advanced aliens to help human civilization.  They were apparently trying to sneak what Hollywood calls a backdoor pilot (introducing a new series by smuggling its pilot in as an episode of an existing series, which is a bit more heavy-handed than just introducing characters and then spinning them off into a new show of their own).  I always found it a very enjoyable episode, one of the best of the series, but it still looks like they were mimicking Doctor Who. 

Gary Seven had a powerful, though stationary, transport system (it didn't have to be too mobile or go through time as that wasn't the premise of the proposed adventures and would've been too obvious a lift) controlled by a supercomputer and his primary high-tech multi-tool was a sonic probe called a servo.  He was mysteriously knowledgeable, had an enigmatic background, alluded to affiliation with a higher authority and had a cute sidekick to question him a lot and get into trouble with clueless curiosity while actually being quite bright.  That's where Terri Garr came into the mix.  If you haven't seen it, you should go watch it.  You'll like it.  If you have seen it, go watch it again, anyway.  It's a trip watching Kirk and Spock do something a little unusual and, literally, down-to-Earth.  I always have such fun with their comic turns, but I guess that's sort of the point, isn't it?

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