Entertainment
Star Trek Creator Had To Fight To Cast Series’ Most Memorable Actor
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Here’s a question that you might get phasered for asking at a Star Trek convention: who do you think the most memorable character of The Original Series is? Many would say Spock, the alien who captivated audiences from the very beginning. Honestly, though, I think he’s more (as the character might say) “fascinating” than memorable. Others would say Captain Kirk, who effectively became the face of the franchise. It may be splitting hairs, but to me, that makes him more iconic than memorable. Personally, I think the most memorable TOS character is Dr. McCoy, who served as the irascible, emotional counterpart to Spock’s logic-loving Vulcan.
McCoy was great because he was always the ultimate audience surrogate. When Kirk and Spock would debate things in intellectual abstracts, the good doctor character would (with his southern drawl) bring everything back down to Earth. McCoy was so memorable, of course, because he was played to perfection by the late, great DeForest Kelley. He is so natural in this role that you might think he was Gene Roddenberry’s first choice. As it turns out, he was! But Roddenberry lost fights with two different directors across two pilot episodes, which is why Kelley was actually the third man to play chief medical officer aboard the starship Enterprise.
The Doctor Is In
When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, DeForest Kelley was his first choice to play the show’s doctor. He wanted to cast him in the show’s first pilot episode, “The Cage.” However, Roddenberry had less power back in those days, and he occasionally let director Robert Butler boss him around. At Butler’s suggestion, Roddenberry cast John Hoyt for the role of the doctor in the pilot episode. In a way, this worked out: NBC rejected the first Star Trek pilot but ordered another one, and the only cast member who returned for the second was Leonard Nimoy. Had DeForest Kelley gotten the role back then, he may very well have been recast later on.
Later, Gene Roddenberry was working on Trek’s second pilot episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” He was still keen to have Kelley play the chief medical officer on the Enterprise, especially after the man starred in Police Story, one of Roddenberry’s failed pilots. Unfortunately, the past repeated itself. The director for the second pilot, James Goldstone, strong-armed Roddenberry into casting Paul Fix instead. NBC liked “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and greenlit the series. To this day, newcomers to Star Trek are baffled at Dr. McCoy’s absence from this episode.
His Memory Will Live On Forever
Finally getting the green light for his ambitious sci-fi show was obviously good news for Gene Roddenberry. Once NBC picked up his series, Roddenberry had a lot more control of just about everything, including casting. He was finally able to put DeForest Kelley into the show, and Dr. McCoy made his debut in “The Corbomite Maneuver.” Star Trek would come to define the veteran actor’s entire career, and he made the jump with the rest of The Original Series characters into feature films. Later, he appeared in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, effectively passing the franchise baton to an entirely new crew of intrepid space explorers.
The quality and intensity of Kelley’s performance in Star Trek left an indelible mark on pop culture. Many years later, Karl Urban did his best Kelley impression when playing Dr. McCoy in the Kelvinverse films. Now, Punisher actor Thomas Jane is about to play the feisty doctor on the final season of Strange New Worlds. Together, these actors have done more than carry on the legacy of sci-fi’s greatest franchise. They have also carried on the legacy of DeForest Kelley, a wonderfully talented performer and the most memorable actor in Star Trek history.
Entertainment
Does Toy Story 5 have a credits scene?
Thirty years after the original made us try to catch our toys in action, Toy Story 5 is here. And as a Pixar film, there’s always one question on audience minds at the end of the film: Is there a secret scene during or after the credits?
Hidden credits scenes have become synonymous with the Disney studio, from the staged blooper reels of Monsters Inc. to the not-so-perfect dentist escape at the end of Finding Nemo. Elio has one. Inside Out 2 has one. While Toy Story‘s first film doesn’t have an end-credits scene, Toy Story 2, 3 and 4 do.
And sure enough, there’s fun in the credits of Toy Story 5.
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We won’t spoil what happens in the scenes, but just know you should definitely stay for the credits for three reasons:
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There’s a mid-credits scene that’s high drama.
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There’s a post-credits scene that’s a sweet time.
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Thousands of people worked on this film. It’s nice to stay for the credits.
It’s not the only Easter egg you’ll find in Toy Story 5 either.
Toy Story 5 opens in cinemas on June 19.
Entertainment
Extremely R-Rated 2000s Thriller Makes Lord of the Flies Look Like Gilligan's Island
By Robert Scucci
| Updated
Whenever I plan a romantic getaway with the Missus, I have a very short list of win conditions. If the bar has an arcade, I’m playing Time Crisis II for an hour. If the hotel doesn’t have a continental breakfast schedule that allows me to sleep in, I’m eating the free soap. And if we’re going to renew our vows or do anything super cute like that, we can’t do it in the remote wilderness where feral teenagers with the home-field advantage think killing is a game. I’ve watched too many movies like Willow Creek (2013), Significant Other (2022), and 2008’s Eden Lake. At least in Backcountry (2014), all they had to run from was a bear, because in Eden Lake, the kids are far more terrifying.
A bear will eat your face because it thinks you’re invading its territory, calm down, and move on with its life. To the best of its knowledge, the bear was just defending itself and had no other choice. The teenagers in Eden Lake will set you on fire after they’ve already killed you so they can film it and show everybody what they’ve done for bragging rights.
Both are horrible outcomes, but at least with the bear, you die with dignity.
I Mean, They Were Asking For It
As much as I want to yell at Jenny Greengrass (Kelly Reilly) and Steve Taylor (Michael Fassbender) for taking the stupidest vacation they could possibly take, I have to remind myself that they’re characters living in this movie, which hopefully means they aren’t aware that their situation is a big old trope. I’m willing to forgive them and say they don’t deserve anything that happens to them in Eden Lake, and I’m willing to suspend disbelief because it’s a tried-and-true setup. We have to get them into the woods, or there’s no movie.
So they go to the woods, even though they both seem like inexperienced campers who probably should have rented an RV and parked it at a national park, and do the usual stuff: swimming, smoochies, fumbling with the tent when the sun’s already setting. The usual stuff happens here, and I’m still not really impressed because we’ve seen it all before.
Then we’re introduced to Brett (Jack O’Connell) and the gang of teenagers who are about to make the couple’s life a living hell. These kids are so awful that they make the events of Lord of the Flies look like Gilligan’s Island by comparison. It starts with loud music and a rowdy dog, but before you know it, Jenny and Steve’s car is stolen, their food is trashed, and their camp is destroyed. Not wanting to take matters into their own hands beyond retrieving their belongings and getting the hell out of dodge, they try to leave, but Brett and his goons continue terrorizing them while Paige (Finn Atkins), the only female in the group, films whatever happens on her cell phone.
Kids Will Be Kids
My kids aren’t quite teenagers yet, and hopefully I’m raising them well, because the teenagers in Eden Lake are the stuff of nightmares. Brett is clearly the alpha of the pack, and his menace is strong enough to make everybody bend to his will. It doesn’t matter if he wants them to vandalize property or slit somebody’s throat, they’ll do it if he pushes hard enough. Even more terrifying, anybody who disobeys him faces fatal consequences. When the group is at its most united, Jenny and Steve are no match for them because their only moral code is simple: there will be no consequences for their actions.
Rational adults, even the ones who want to camp in the remote wilderness despite their inexperience, are simply no match for unchecked teenagers who clearly don’t have any meaningful authority figures in their lives. They’re fully formed little humans, but they’ve grown up in conditions that nurtured their more animalistic impulses far more than their human ones. There’s no reasoning with that kind of terror, and Eden Lake leans into this social hierarchy without shame as Jenny and Steve fight for their lives, Steve wondering when he’s supposed to get down on one knee and pull out the engagement ring he’s been hiding.
Eden Lake is far from an easy watch, but it’s a shockingly effective thriller once things start heating up. It’s worth its weight in unease alone thanks to Jenny Greengrass handling herself like a boss and Jack O’Connell channeling some truly psychopathic energy to bring his character to life. If you think you can handle the suspense, which culminates in one of the most upsetting endings this kind of movie could have, Eden Lake is currently streaming free on Tubi.
Entertainment
Toy Story 5 has a perfect blink-and-youll-miss-it Easter egg
Toy Story 5 is careening into cinemas with its foot to the floor, like a Pizza Planet employee behind on their deliveries. And if you’re concentrating, you’ll spy a very fast Easter egg that’s become a staple in Pixar movies.
With Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the gang back for the fifth adventure in the franchise, I had my eyes peeled for any throwback moments. And while there aren’t many, one is clear as day — though it’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-fast.
Without spoiling the storyline, you can spot the reference in the third act of the film. A group of characters is travelling along a rural road when a vehicle approaches, causing them all to freeze in their signature Toy Story way. It absolutely fangs it past them.
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That vehicle? It’s a Pizza Planet truck. Unmistakeable in its yellow-and-white body and characteristic urgency, this is the vehicle of choice for the forever flustered delivery worker from the franchise’s space-themed restaurant and arcade. Pizza Planet appeared all the way back in Toy Story, when Woody tried to trick Buzz into flying home to Star Command.
The Pizza Planet truck has become a bit of a cameo classic in most Pixar films from Turning Red to Onward — of course, there are Reddit threads — and appearing in every Toy Story film (even as a tattoo in Toy Story 4). Those pizzas have got to be ice cold by now.
Toy Story 5 opens in cinemas on June 19.
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Does Toy Story 5 have a credits scene?
