Sign in to follow this  
Mike

Mr Leslie

Recommended Posts

521A.png

 

I've been rewatching my original series DVDs lately..I'm deep into season one..Such great shows..Course I've seen all these episodes so many many times..Now when I watch I try to see things I hadn't noticed before. I have always had a thing for secondary officers and wished we had a few episodes dedicated to them.. What were the missions like from their point of view? Those ordinary crewmen are necessary for the operation of a starship..There's more to the crew than just the Captain and First Officer..

 

As I've been rewatching these great shows, I've been paying close attention to the characters in the background of the scenes..And I'm amazed at how often Mr Leslie is there in these first season episodes. Seems like he's in every show. The above photo is from 'Squire of Gothos'. A rare chance for Mr leslie to be in the center of the shot..and in the Captain's Chair too! Red Shirts RULE!!!

 

The next time you watch the original series, check out the background characters..I think you'll find them quite interesting and chances are Mr Leslie is there..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah and he even dies in "Obsession" and comes back to life in the next episode or something. :laugh: I love to watch out for Mr. Leslie whenever I watch TOS. He's a very interesting character with lots of jobs/assignments.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mr. Leslie worked everything from Security to Navigation. A man of many talents. Especially his talent for coming back from the dead...... :laugh:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Someone who appeared more than Mr. Leslie is Billy Blackburn who played Lt. Hadley.

 

post-1043-1223224588.jpg

 

I've been watching the remastered TOS series and one of the special features is called "Billy Blackburn remembers". He filmed a lot of stuff behind the scenes and it is just facinating to watch.

I never realized how few times Sulu and Chekov actually sat by each other at the con. Upon re-watching TOS, I've noticed that many times it was either Sulu and Lt. Hadley or Chekov and Lt. Hadley. Also, besides playing Lt. Hadley, Billy was in many scenes as a background character. He was one of the people of Vaal, one of the warriors in "Friday's Child" and he also was one of the androids in "I, Mudd". Its a lot of fun to try to identify him because he made some kind of appearence in almost every episode.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The actor who played Lt. Leslie, Eddie Paskey, is actually a member of startrekfans.net. When we used to have "celebrity chats" he was one of the early participants, and he even visited the chat room from time to time after that (although not recently).

 

But look at his intense facial expression in the pic that SpaceTigger posted. It looks like he was trying to force a fart just so he could say "I farted in Kirk's chair."

Edited by Lt. Van Roy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow that's too cool, it seems like until TNG the second officer hasn't received enough recognition, I mean everyone knows the Data was Jean-Luc's

second officer more so than Mr. Leslie being Jim Kirk's..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Scotty was the 2nd Officer. Leslie was occasionally the Duty Officer, which pretty much means he is there to answer the phones when Kirk and Spock are elsewhere on the ship.

 

In the military, Duty Officer is rotated among all the senior officers. It does not mean you are in command, it means you handle routine things while those in command are elsewhere (asleep, eating, etc.).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From Wikipedia:

 

Paskey first appeared on Star Trek as a "crewman" on the second pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and was first identifed by name in "Mudd's Women" in an early scene where Doctor McCoy refers to him as "Connors." In subsequent episodes, he was cast regularly as a crewman, but also appeared as a security officer, a helmsman, an engineer station officer, even an alien, all to create a sense of continuity on Star Trek during the series' run. Paskey had scripted lines in four episodes and was credited in two. His character, Mr. Leslie, appeared in more episodes than principal characters Sulu or Chekov. William Shatner gave the character the name "Leslie", after Shatner's eldest daughter.

 

Paskey credits the longevity of his character to his sense of caution. Since he was on the set most of the time and knew the script well, he made sure that he was always elsewhere when an episode called for someone to die. When his character does die in the episode "Obsession," Paskey explains his mysterious return in the next episode by describing a lost scene, where Dr. McCoy administered a miracle potion that saves Leslie's life, that ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

In "This Side of Paradise" his is the only character to mutiny openly against his superior, Captain Kirk, and even disobeys orders again in "And the Children Shall Lead," although under an alien influence. In "The City on the Edge of Forever," Paskey was the driver of the truck in the scene where character Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) is struck down and killed.

 

Paskey also appeared occasionally as a stand-in for Shatner in certain long scenes. He was the hand-double for James Doohan, who was missing a finger, in "Wolf in the Fold" and "That Which Survives." He appeared in most of the episodes from the first two seasons of the original series. A bad back and cluster headaches from an old injury, which worsened from the set lighting, led to his leaving the show in the third season.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
From Wikipedia:

 

In "The City on the Edge of Forever," Paskey was the driver of the truck in the scene where character Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) is struck down and killed.

 

Hey, you don't suppose somehow Lt. Leslie found another Guardian and went back himself, do you?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
From Wikipedia:

 

In "The City on the Edge of Forever," Paskey was the driver of the truck in the scene where character Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) is struck down and killed.

 

Hey, you don't suppose somehow Lt. Leslie found another Guardian and went back himself, do you?

In which case it would be obvious that he was aiming the truck at Kirk....... :laugh:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm into re-watching the third season of TOS now and I'm amazed to see Leslie in the background..I'm very curious as to how many episodes he was actually in. Seems like quite alot.. He seemed to go away for some of the second season but here he is back in the 3rd..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this