Break out the LDS and crank up the whale song! This week marks the 30th anniversary of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Over the weekend, one of the film’s writers revealed Eddie Murphy was supposed to have a minor role in the film, but his character was eventually replaced by the sassy marine biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, co-writer Steve Meerson (who drafted the screenplay along with Peter Krikes before turning it over to Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer ) mentioned the story included a role for the Beverly Hills Cop star, which didn’t make it into the final film.
"It was always the same story that got approved, but the original draft included a part for Eddie Murphy," Meerson, who drafted the screenplay along with Peter Krikes before turning it over to Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer, told THR. "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."
According to THR, early drafts of the screenplay saw Murphy playing a Berkeley astrophysicist, presumably in the twentieth century. Meerson and Krikes’ preliminary versions of The Voyage Home did not include the character of Dr. Taylor (Catherine Hicks), the pizza-loving, bra-hating scientist who slaps her “son of a bitch” boss in the face before hitching a ride to the 24th century. It’s not clear exactly why, but “the Murphy deal fell through and Gillian Taylor was worked into the script to replace him.”
Though The Voyage Home is now remembered among the best of the Star Trek films, the writing process was particularly chaotic. Meerson and Krikes had to fight to get their names in the credits after Bennett and Meyer’s rewrites, eventually going to arbitration with the Writers Guild of America.
"Everybody goes to arbitration if there are more than a few writers on a particular piece — but the rules at that point in time were for a producer to get credit as a writer, they have to write in excess of 60 percent of the script," Meerson told THR. "Harve Bennett was a producer. He was coupled with Nick Meyer to try to get around that rule, and at the end of the day, Peter and I got first position screenplay credit, because the guild I believe was hip to the fact that things weren't exactly kosher."
Do you think you would have enjoyed a Murphy cameo in The Voyage Home, or are you happy his appearance got left out of the final version of the film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
