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[Dalek]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...ge-home-writer-eddie-murphys-lost-role-950551

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home saw Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and their shipmates travel back to 1986 on a mission to retrieve two humpback whales and bring them forward in time to the 23rd century to save the Earth from an alien probe.

When the film debuted on Nov. 26, 1986, The Voyage Home became a crossover hit, pleasing Trek fans and general audiences alike. It would stand as the top-grossing Trek film ever until J.J. Abrams' big-budget 2009 film, and it is considered the most charming (and by far, the funniest) Trek movie.

The humorous and environmentally conscious screenplay was penned by the young writing partners Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes — who caught the attention of Paramount and the Star Trek brain trust with a script for Fox called The Long Way Home, which had some of the charm and fun the pair would bring to the franchise.

"They knew they wanted to make a movie that would make a statement about the environment. They knew that they wanted it to include whales. They had a notion that time travel might enter into it. But it's basically all they had," Meerson tells Heat Vision of his and Krikes' early meetings on the project with director Nimoy, producer Harve Bennett and the rest of the team.

The duo wrote somewhere between seven and 10 outlines, with the final one getting approval. It included a role for Eddie Murphy that never would materialize.

"It was always the same story that got approved, but the original draft included a part for Eddie Murphy," says Meerson. "Eddie was on the lot at Paramount at the time and arguably was the biggest star in the world. They had told us he was a huge Star Trek fan."

Murphy was going to play an astrophysicist at Berkeley, and the original story did not include Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), the marine biologist and love interest to Kirk. Eventually the Murphy deal fell through and Gillian Taylor was worked into the script to replace him.

"At the beginning of the process, it was actually a lot of fun. As the process progressed, it became less fun, because it became more political. And I don't say that with any bitterness. It's just the way things work in all businesses," says Meerson. "We began to feel like at a certain point that this was going to be taken away from us, which in fact, it was."

Over the years, the writing of The Voyage Home has become the stuff of Trek legend. As is common in big franchise films, the script was eventually passed to another writer. Star Trek icon (and Wrath of Khan director) Nicholas Meyer was tapped to perform a rewrite, along with Bennett.

According to stories tossed around the internet, the original script was virtually unrecognizable from what was seen onscreen once Meyer reworked it. (Meyer recalled it this way on this week's episode of IGN's Transporter Room 3 podcast: "I was asked to write Star Trek IV very much at the last minute. They had a script, based on a story by Harve Bennett and Leonard Nimoy. And they didn't like the script. They threw out the script.")

Meerson is hesitant to dredge up the past, but says there were not significant changes between the original work and what ended up onscreen.

"From what I've read online and what I know we did, the process of 'Treking it up' — I don't think there were very substantial changes from what we had handed them," he says. "For us, we just derived a great sense of satisfaction. We always had a lot of pride in our work and this other stuff is kind of irrelevant. It's just interesting the way things go. It just got very political, and that's okay."

 

[Frozenprince]

So much of Eddie's movie career reads like missed opportunities.

 

[chrisPjelly]

So Eddie Murphy was going to be Kirk's love interest?

 

[Slayven]

So much of Eddie's movie career reads like missed opportunities.

Ernie Hudson should have followed him around and been there to pick up the scraps

 

[Sanjuro]

Star Trek IV: Quest for Superman III

 

[Manmademan]

So much of Eddie's movie career reads like missed opportunities.

I imagine that's true for a lot of big actors.

But all things considered Murphy has had an absolutely amazing, ridiculously profitable career even WITH the bombs (pluto nash) sprinkled in here and there.

finding another comedian with a career as long lived as he has with the heights that he hit that still has some pull takes some work.

 

[Frozenprince]

Ernie Hudson should have followed him around and been there to pick up the scraps

Yeah but at least he has that sweet, sweet Ghostbusters money.

 

[Slayven]

Yeah but at least he has that sweet, sweet Ghostbusters money.

They broke him off something? I imagine the other 3 would be like "Nah"

 

[NYR]

Kathy Griffin was a Howard Stern last week and was mentioning during a photo shoot for Sherk, Eddie told her he was depressed and had trouble getting out of his house and work was his only way to not be alone. It was really sad, might make sense why you only see him in a few movies nowadays.

 

[Manmademan]

They broke him off something? I imagine the other 3 would be like "Nah"

ernie got cut out of a lot of shit back in the day. I remember thinking "why isn't the black ghostbuster there" when playing the NES game.

 

[Frozenprince]

From what I remember, Ernie's contract for Ghostbusters cuts him a % of all brand royalties.

Plus he can make a decent living on the con circuit nowadays, dude looks good at 70.

 

[Choppasmith]

So Eddie Murphy was going to be Kirk's love interest?

Well Star Trek is all about being progressive.

Spoiler

I seriously laughed hard reading that

 

[Fuchsdh]

So Eddie Murphy was going to be Kirk's love interest?

Not really, but then again Catherine Hicks' character isn't really a classic love interest for Shatner either. She flirts with him, kisses him, and then when she gets to the future says "yeah... I'm gonna' go do this, see ya." It works so well partially because it's the opposite of what you expect.

Not really sure I believe Meerson and Krikes' assertion that their script remained unmolested. The "present-day" scenes are unmistakably Nicholas Meyer's handiwork, he essentially ripped off his own (excellent) Time After Time to do it. He's gone so far as to say he never read the original script. There's multitudes of sources that talk about Meyer and Bennett's scriptwriting, and I've seen nothing that spends much time on M&K's original drafts. I guess the only way to prove it would be if people still have copies of the earlier and later drafts though.

And Eddie Murphy admitted skipping Star Trek IV to make The Golden Child was a big mistake.

 

[jstripes]

Kathy Griffin was a Howard Stern last week and was mentioning during a photo shoot for Sherk, Eddie told her he was depressed and had trouble getting out of his house and work was his only way to not be alone. It was really sad, might make sense why you only see him in a few movies nowadays.

Depression doesn't care who you are or how much money you have.

 

[Dalek]

Yeah I heard that interview on Howard too. Felt bad for Eddie.

 

[Slayven]

From what I remember, Ernie's contract for Ghostbusters cuts him a % of all brand royalties.

Plus he can make a decent living on the con circuit nowadays, dude looks good at 70.

Damn that is a good break for him. Yeah that Con circuit is no joke, if Xander from Buffy can still eat good from it, Ern should be able to eat like a king.

Dude is 70? Damn Black don't crack

 

[Slayven]

Side note I like the Voyage home because it is the perfect showcase for showing Kirk as a creepy has been.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

One of my favorite Trek films, maybe my favorite. I had no idea about any drama when it came to writing the film. Fascinating.

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

... Eddie Murphy admitted skipping Star Trek IV to make The Golden Child was a big mistake.

I loved the fucking Golden Child

A rewatch would probably be horrendous, ha

 

[Armoured Priest]

I loved the fucking Golden Child

A rewatch would probably be horrendous, ha

Yeah, i like that movie, too.

Still probably would have been better off doing Star Trek, though.

 

[MC Safety]

Eddie Murphy is great, but he probably wouldn't have added anything to Star Trek.

See: Superman III or whichever one had Richard Pryor.

 

[lightskintwin]

I loved the fucking Golden Child

A rewatch would probably be horrendous, ha

I rewatched Golden Child recently. Still love it. It's not a great film by any means but it still has that 80's charm and nostalgia, Asian representation along with recognizing and depicting Tibet in film, and best of all Tywin Lannister in his prime hamming it up as the villain.

 

[BouncyFrag]

I would have loved to see some Spock/Eddie Murphy interaction such as in this wonderful little scene: