… and he shall appear.

In tonight’s episode of ENTERPRISE, a comedy number featuring the NX-01 being boarded by Ferengi pyrates aided by (help me, Batman!) knockout gas, one of the crafty interstellar, er, “traders” was played by…

None other than Clint Howard, ladies and gentlemen, mentioned just ONE DAY AGO on this broadcast! At that time, I was referring primarily to his previous immortal role in the alll-time classic ROCK AND ROLL HGH SCHOOL but also by way of his appearance in the Classic Trek episode “The Corbomite Maneuver” as “Commander of the First Federation flagship Fesarius”. He was all of seven at the time.

It says here that he was born on April 20, 1959; if we accept the data, that’s FORTY-THREE years between episodes (unless I’m missing an appearance, a distinct possibility) and a whopping EIGHTY-SIX percent of his life to date – very possibly a new record for coming full circle as a guest actor on Trek.

You can also see him in the role here as well as in some other choice roles. As Balok, he ends the episode with the unforgettable words “This… is tranya. I hope you savor it as do I”, and pours everyone a little cup of orange juice.

Ladies and gentlemen, CLINT HOWARD!!! (applause)

(beat)

(beat)

wait a minute… “The Clint Howard Variety Show”? What the hell is going on here?

My eagle-eyed wife spotted a link from the previously cited as somewhat scary The Andy Griffith Show Watcher’s Club. The link further demonstrates the debauched interconnectedness of TV land. Mayberry was used as a set in the original Star Trek series episdoes “Miri” and “The City on the Edge of Forever”. A devoted member of TAGSWC has assembled a website which has to be the oddest Trek-related site I’ve ever seen:

Mayberry in Star Trek

The thing I particularly love about this site is the abandoned, devastated cityscape seen in “Miri”, considered as a plot point in the Andy Griffith story line. What happened here? Did everyone move to Central City? Was it a riot or plague? Maybe it was a huge race riot, such as Rosewood or Tulsa in 1921.

None can tell – but it seems clear, Mayberry didn’t make it to the future.

Hmm… mentioning Rosewood and Tulsa in the context of a Trek-related posting reminds me – gotta do a bit on race in Star Trek sometime. Aaron McGruder’s always hilarious daily strip “The Boondocks” recently cited Levar Burton’s Geordi LaForge as a “most embarrassing black person”. Aaron’s observations echo those of my pal Dave Dushe.

Dave pointed out to me that Worf and Geordi, the only series regulars of African ancestry in TNG, are symbolically emasculated as a defining characteristic of their beings. As I said, it bears some musing.

I woke up one morning thinking I’d had dinner with my pals Greg and Stacy. They just got back from three weeks in France and we were to see them shortly. Greg was kind of showing off, ordering in (very fluent) French, in the dream. Then somehow we all started discussing the recently broadcast 2-hour “NewsRadio” reunion special. Such a show has not ever existed, to my knowledge.

It turns out that Maura Tierney, so excellent as Lisa on the actual show, was unavailable for the reunion production, and so instead, a role which in this conversation was characterized as “Dave’s girlfriend” was played by an actress who had previously portrayed Austin Powers’ girlfriend, and yet was neither Heather Graham or Elizabeth Hurley. I assume that this actress must be the actress portraying the International Man of Mystery’s paramour in the upcoming Austin Powers movie.

When I explained this to my wife after awakening, she exclaimed, “She’s a dwarf!”

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Consider this: the Dick Van Dyke show and the Andy Griffith show were shot at about the same time and shared, I believe, a producer in the person of Danny Thomas. The Griffith show featured child actor Ron Howard, of course. The van Dyke show, in addition to the well-known castmembers, featured a child character, the son of the Petries, named Richie.

Additionally, the writers for the show based much of the mise-en-scene of the show on their experiences working as writers on Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows”. Among the writers and performers was Carl Reiner (Alan Brady). Carl’s son Rob would later go on to fame as “Meatball” on “All in the Family” and as a skillful director of films about late childhood, adolescence, and of course, Spinal Tap.

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