Talk: Nick Locarno

Ultimate Fate?[]

Locarno possibly joins the Maquis? which is what Thomas Paris did after accident in which 3 cadets were killed and he was expelled from SF Academy. – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.53.145.210.

Hard to say, especially since we've only seen one episode with Locarno ;) - Enzo Aquarius 22:36, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Tom Paris wasn't expelled from the Academy. He was drummed out of the service at some planetary base.

Lets avoid speculating about Locarno. We report on concrete facts from episodes. We arent allowed to write our own endings for stories here, you know... -- Captain M.K.B. 22:41, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

To be honest, I think it's a missed chance that Locarno isn't just Tom Paris itself, it'd be a nice continuity... But well, what can you do.

--Gemberkoekje 21:06, January 5, 2010 (UTC)

I agree that it is feasible, and even still justifiable as canon, that Locarno and Paris are the same person. Tom's father is a famous Starfleet admiral, which would have given him a reason to enroll under a pseudonym. He also demonstrated a propensity to twist the truth when it served him as Locarno, so it's possible that he tweaked his own back story to make him appear more redeemable. Mal7798 (talk) 22:11, February 17, 2013 (UTC)

That's still speculation, even if it makes sense. The incident that got Paris in trouble was clearly not the same incident that got Locarno in trouble, anyway. 31dot (talk) 22:57, February 17, 2013 (UTC)

Paying Royalties - Tom Paris[]

I believe this part of the article should be removed. I have been researching this claim for over a year now. I have never found any evidence anywhere of this claim that they created Tom Paris to avoid paying royalties to the original writer.

Honestly, it doesn't even make much sense. Why would a show not own all rights to a character created by their writer? Why would they have to pay royalties to a show they own?

This claim apparently first appeared with this edit. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Nicholas_Locarno?diff=99928&oldid=98871

No evidence has ever been provided for this claim. It appears to have simply been made up. I would like this page to be as accurate as possible. Jrt05 (talk) 14:21, July 15, 2017 (UTC)

To the paying royalties bit, the copyright law in the US was changed sometime during the time when season 3 of Voyager was airing. There is documented evidence (TNG Companion perhaps?) of the original creators of the Traveler being paid minor royalties when their character recurred in later episodes of TNG. -- sulfur (talk) 14:39, July 15, 2017 (UTC)

I don't have it in front of me but I second what Sulfur has written; it was a consideration. 31dot (talk) 19:36, July 15, 2017 (UTC)

Sulfer mentioned about TNG, but is there any evidence this is what happened with Tom Paris? I honestly have asked this for years, and nobody knows, or can say where they learned this. If it happened, i'm happy to keep it in. However, it just feels like an old internet rumor that nobody knows where it came from. Jrt05 (talk) 19:43, July 15, 2017 (UTC)

The rules about writers receiving payments for characters appearing in sequels and spinoffs are part of the Writers Guild of America Theatrical and Television Basic Agreement [1] (scroll down to the bottom). --NetSpiker (talk) 02:46, July 16, 2017 (UTC)

Specifically: "CHARACTER "SPIN OFF" PAYMENTS (ARTICLE 15.B.14.h.(1)): Character "Spin off" payments equal to the above sequel payments are payable to the writer who introduces a new character in a serial, episodic, anthology or one time show if such character becomes the central character in a new serial or episodic series." --Alan del Beccio (talk) 02:50, July 16, 2017 (UTC)

I understand now that they would pay royalties if they used the same character. However, my question is, did they specifically did they want to cast Locarno in Voyager, and decide against it because of royalties. I watched Memorable Missions on Season 5 of TNG, and this is what Robert McNeill said about it.

"I did the Next Generation, I did an episode of that. And I did a character that was very similar to Paris. Rick Berman told me that when they were creating this show (voyager) they were talking about casting this part -- I was in New York doing a play when they were casting -- and Rick said you know, they were talking about casting and they said,

"Yeah, we should get a type like Robert McNeill who did, you know, in The Next Generation. It's kind of like what Robert McNeill did in there. Sort of like that, but not exactly."

And so they audition and they audition. And then finally, one day somebody said "You know, we just can't find anybody for this part. Why don't we bring in Robert McNeill? Since we keep using his performance in Next Generation and that character in Next Generation is like the type, why don't we call Robert McNeill?" So they did."

To me, this sounds like they were looking to use Locarno as a Template for Paris, but not use the same actor/character. They didn't even think to interview McNeill until later.

I know this is a small point, but it is a point I've been interested in. Jrt05 (talk) 03:15, July 16, 2017 (UTC)

Come on people, try to read the original post more carefully. The question isn't if they would indeed have had to have paid royalties, but if we know that that was one of the factors in this particular decision. And that's a valid concern. -- Capricorn (talk) 21:07, July 17, 2017 (UTC)

Redux[]

I have moved a number of comments from the "The First Duty" page to here, as they were getting away from being about that episode.

I have kept only the comments with citations. None of these state that the decision was due to royalties in this particular decision, and one has Shankar explicitly denying it (assuming the audio commentary note is accurate - I don't have the 5th season Blu-Ray to verify).–Cleanse ^(talk) 06:50, May 31, 2020 (UTC)

I removed the comment that Cleanse left behind, because the text did not accurately summarize the audio commentary. The text implied that Naren Shankar was dismissing the idea that he and Ronald D Moore would be owed royalties, but the actual audio has no such indication that he thinks it's untrue. In fact, listening to the audio made me believe that it's absolutely plausible that royalties were the sole reason Tom Paris wasn't Locarno. Kevinrmccoy (talk) 01:03, 25 May 2021 (UTC)

Yet to be created pages[]

m ("Dead" links = yet to be created pages "Accident" needs a page to be created? Dazzlernator (talk) 01:18, 18 November 2023 (UTC)

There are 60 pages linked to Accident (links), so evidently yes. –Gvsualan (talk) 01:34, 18 November 2023 (UTC)