Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members/archive1


 * The following is an archived discussion of a featured list nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured list candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The list was promoted by 10:02, 25 March 2013 (UTC).

List of Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members

 * Nominator(s): Miyagawa (talk) 15:15, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

I've worked this one up based on the FL List of Grey's Anatomy cast members article. The information in the tables themselves are based on one of the annexes in the Nemecek general reference, which included a list of all guest characters in the show. This article includes any actors who appeared in the same role more than once - I have plans on a separate article of guest stars which includes those actors who appeared only once. Miyagawa (talk) 15:15, 3 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Support on prose. Single image, fair use, looks acceptable. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 14:27, 5 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Support Looks good all around. You have a couple of redirects that don't look intentional- Georgia Brown, Jonathan del Arco, Executive Producer, Paramount Studios, but nothing major. Also, consider archiving your online references with web.archive.org or webcitation.com, so that changes in the websites don't leave your statements unsupported. -- Pres N  19:31, 8 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Fixed the redirects. Miyagawa (talk) 20:12, 8 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Comment . Generally looks good. A few comments on the lead... It would be interesting to discuss Patrick Stewart's casting as the captain; this received considerable discussion, as I recall. Would it be possible to discuss briefly a few more of the major recurring actors (I'm thinking mainly of Majel Barrett, John de Lancie, Colm Meaney, Whoopi Goldberg, who are probably more strongly associated with the series than Diana Muldaur)? Is it worth mentioning that some actors reprised their roles on DS9? In the lists, what is the ordering? The main cast could be credits order, though I thought McFadden went earlier, but I'm foxed on much of the recurring cast. Could the tables be made sortable, at least on the first two columns (though a case could be made for being able to sort on seasons too). Are all the red-linked actors notable? Espresso Addict (talk) 23:20, 11 March 2013 (UTC)
 * It shouldn't be too hard to add more information, certainly the Stewart casting is interesting as Roddenberry wanted someone else originally but the other producers brought him around. Frakes was originally the second choice for Riker, but the first choice bombed in casting sessions, and so he got the job instead. I haven't got a great deal on Colm Meaney, and all of my John de Lancie casting information is already in the Encounter at Farpoint article. The Whoopi Goldberg one is good though because she literally asked for a part, so they wrote her one. I can certainly add a paragraph about the other major casting points. I've added sorting to the tables although I thought I'd best explain the order - basically the first appearance/majority is the initial order, so in this case, Gates McFadden fell down the list because she didn't appear in the second season. Otherwise, Denise Crosby moves much further up the list as does Wil Wheaton and the initial listing looks a bit messy. The second table's sort needs some explanation, as I've sorted some parts differently. So for instance Colm Meaney's character column sorts to "O'Brien, Miles" despite it having "Conn Ensign" listed first - as the role of O'Brien was the primary one. Also, Ro Laren is sorted to "Ro Laren" and not "Laren, Ro" as "Ro" is the family name (hence the episode title "Ensign Ro". I'll leave a note here when I've added the other casting information. Miyagawa (talk) 11:30, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I don't know anything more about de Lancie's casting, though there might possibly be something in Roddenbury's authorised biography Star Trek Creator by David Alexander (which reportedly discusses that Q was named for a fan called Janet Quarton). Memory Alpha says he worked with Spiner on The Twilight Zone immediately before TNG, which might be worth following up. Thanks for the sorting. It's probably better to custom sort to get Starring > Recurring > Guest > —. I take your point on the default position of McFadden, but then for consistency shouldn't the default order of the recurring/guest characters also be sorted on total number of appearances (eg Meaney should probably be second after Barrett)? I agree that the most logical route is to sort characters on family name of the most prominent part they played, so perhaps Suzie Plakson should sort under K'Ehleyr? (And weren't all of Meaney's appearances as O'Brien, even if the character wasn't named until later?) And on the O'Brien family, shouldn't Keiko be given her maiden name of Ishikawa too, as she appeared before her marriage? Espresso Addict (talk) 16:10, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I'll go through and get the Starring/Recurring/Guest sorting out correctly. I was wondering about Plakson as it was two appearences versus one. I'd say to leave Keiko as O'Brien rather than her maiden name as she's better known as that (and her wiki entry is under that too). As for Miles, well it's been a point of discussion ever since they did it, but I go with the view that he probably played at least two distinct characters due to the ranks. In "Encounter at Farpoint" he was an Ensign in the command branch, and then in "Lonely Among Us" he was a security officer in the security/operations branch. Then in series 2 he started appearing as a Transporter Chief (a non officer rank). O'Brien never mentioned on screen being an officer, and I'm sure in some DS9 episodes he made a point out of not being an officer. So while the two appearences in the first season could have technically been one character, O'Brien is a different character alltogether - although he was named "Transporter Chief" for the first half dozen or so appearences in the second season, but it's now taken as that actually being the O'Brien character. The wiki articles for the two season one episodes used to have him listed as O'Brien in them, but this was an error which I've since fixed as the official sources don't list him as being O'Brien until half way into the second season but also state that it was the earlier transporter chief being named. John de Lancie must have done an interview with StarTrek.com at some point, so I'll have a look there. I'm getting quite good at using archive.org to get all the removed information out of that site (having managed to pull production reports for several Enterprise episodes out of the archives). Actually, I've got a new source since I expanded Farpoint, so it might have information on de Lancie's audition process in there. I'll have a look tonight. Miyagawa (talk) 16:59, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Keiko O'Brien née Ishikawa, perhaps? I think it's slightly important as she's portrayed as from a Japanese culture and it speaks to the international look of the casting. I'd never heard the fannish handwaving over O'Brien's rank before, but you might be right; he definitely makes a point of not being an officer more than once in DS9. In any case, going by what he's credited as is probably safest. Another thing (sorry to keep coming back!), why do the main cast not get rank, while the minors do? And is it inconsistent to list Federation rank and exclude titles such as Dr/Prof (eg Keiko, Leah Brahms & probably many others)? Espresso Addict (talk) 17:20, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Added the ranks as I know of them, and modified the Keiko listing to include her maiden name. Not sure if she actually was a Doctor in her field. I know she was a botanist, but I'm not sure if she was ever referred to as Dr. Ishikawa or Dr. O'Brien. Also ran through all the names to add those that had direct links and found a bunch I'd missed, which are now added. Miyagawa (talk) 19:14, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Oh, and the starring/recurring/guest should now sort in the correct order. Thank goodness for find and replace functions! Miyagawa (talk) 19:15, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Keiko's referred to as a professor in a DS9 episode, though I fear I can't remember which. Memory Alpha has her as a professor (under categories) but doesn't seem to cite which episode this is referenced to. Espresso Addict (talk) 20:00, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * An episode is good enough for me. Updated to Professor on the list. Miyagawa (talk) 20:07, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Ok, I've now expanded the article to include casting information for the main cast where there were some interesting points, and highlighted the major recurring cast members. Miyagawa (talk) 22:54, 13 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Support. Good work, thanks. Espresso Addict (talk) 23:19, 13 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Support. Excellent work. --Carioca (talk) 20:44, 16 March 2013 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.