Unusual casting = Ipecac completely oblivious

Since I can’t watch the Daily Show this month, I‘ve taken to flipping around the TV late at night before going to bed.  A couple of channels show Star Trek: The Next Generation so last night I checked to see which episode was on.

The episode turned out to the GREAT season five offering, Unification I, in which Ambassador Spock is thought to have defected to Romulus.  Picard and Data must travel to Romulus to bring him back while in an (apparently) unrelated storyline, the Enterprise investigates the recovery of some badly damaged ship parts.  This is something of a “historic” episode in that it features three actors from the original series and aired soon after Gene Roddenberry’s death and only a month before the last original cast movie.  In addition to Leonard Nimoy, who appears only in the last few seconds, Malachi Throne plays a Romulan Senator, and Mark Lenard guest stars as Spock’s terminally ill father, Sarek, who has a powerful scene with Picard on Vulcan and who dies by the end of the episode.  The story is filled with mystery, intrigue and some really nice character and acting moments.

During the last half of the episode, Picard and Data are hitching a ride on a cloaked Klingon ship in order to get to Romulus undetected.  I remarked last night how the episode is so good that even the small role of the Klingon captain, K’Vada, is quirky and interesting.  While one of my two superpowers is being able to identify actors in whatever role they play, I didn’t recognize the captain, though he seemed vaguely familiar.  (Admittedly, identifying actors in full Klingon makeup and garb is no easy feat.)  So this morning I looked up the episode at IMDB and was thoroughly embarrassed, both by not recognizing him and by not ever realizing he had a role on TNG.

The actor?  Fabulous character actor, Stephen Root.  Among his memorable roles: eccentric billionaire Jimmy James in NewsRadio, Bill Dauterive in King of the Hill, Bubbles in Finding Nemo, Gordon in Dodgeball, many roles in Coen Brothers films, and Milton in Office Space.  I had no idea he had played a role on TNG.  I am humiliated.

As for Star Trek, as great as Unification I is, Unification II is a terrible mess.  The plot falls apart, characters act stupidly, and the Romulans are shown to be criminally inept.  Sigh.  I won’t be watching that tonight.