Starfleet Welcomes Eddie Murphy?

In 1985, no star was bigger than Eddie Murphy. Beverly Hills Cop had been a huge hit the previous year and he had his pick of any project he wanted. Having just signed a mega deal with him, Paramount Pictures was eager to start lining up projects for their newest star. It quickly came to the attention of the studio that Eddie was a huge fan of Star Trek after he had requested that copies of the 1960's television show be made available to him. Paramount had acquired the show as part of a deal to buy the neighboring Desilu Studios from Lucille Ball. While previously seen as just something the studio had to purchase to get Lucy to agree to sell her facilities to them, the show had become quite a franchise for the company. Could the studio's big star and its biggest franchise actually team up? Paramount executives certainly hoped so.

 

At the time, the studio was in pre-production on Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home, a film in which the Starfleet crew would visit contemporary San Francisco as part of their mission to take some whales to the future with them. Paramount thought this would be a perfect opportunity to put Eddie Murphy into the world of Star Trek. The script would have had Eddie Murphy play a conspiracy theorist marine biologist who would help the Starfleet crew with their mission. As a result, a more lighthearted script was produced. When it was presented to Eddie, he wasn't happy. He didn't want to play a 20th Century character; he wanted to actually be in Starfleet. Eddie had thought he would be playing a serious character in a serious Star Trek movie. Paramount didn't think the public would want to see him in a serious role and they weren't willing to risk finding out if they would. Eddie was encouraged to choose a different project and he made The Golden Child instead.

 

Meanwhile, Star Trek 4 went into production retaining its more lighthearted tone, though strangely recasting the Eddie Murphy role with Catherine Hicks. She wouldn't be a conspiracy theorist, however. The film did amazingly well; earning the best box office of the films starring the original cast. This would inspire Paramount to give the greenlight to an all new television show- Star Trek: The Next Generation.