Best Actor for Role of Commander Cain

[pudge]

I reckon we can rule out any major hollywood actors. This is television, A listers avoid acting on television as it as seen as a lesser entity. If they are to make guest appearances it's on shows which are big hits and not limited like scifi. With that said, this new Galactica is different from the rest and with a bigger second season budget could attract some know b listers.

Anyway there are plenty or washed up actors out there in need of work and hungry for a part like this. Moore will get the best out of someone whose been out of the limelight for awhile. Beau Bridges, Dirk Benedict and so forth are more of a possibility.

[LeeAdama]

Avery Brooks is an excellent sugeeston - he was by far the best Captain in Star Trek history (In my opinion!) and has the chops to play a cocky but strong and intelligent leader

We could always go the other way and portray Cain as a younger, cocky commander, and the Pegasus is his first major command and he's just loving playing war with the toasters - I'd like to see someone like Ron Livingstone (Band of Brothers) in this role

Would we get Sheba I wonder (after all, we 'lost' Athena)? That would over-balance the 'lead' pilots 3 to 1 in favour of females

[dafydd]

Dirk Benedict is the obvious choice but if we're not limited by availability, A-list status, $$ etc i would have to say:

Ben Browder as Cain (i'm surprised no-one's suggested this already!!)

Fred Dryer from 80s cop show "Hunter" (kind of an Ed Harris-lite) as Cain (old enough to have been in the original Cylon War)

oh and Scarlett Johanssen/Rachel Bilson from the OC as Sheba - i know, as if... but they'd both look damn fine in a flight suit.

[Crashdown]

kingfish said:

David Schwimmer from Friends. ;D

You know, I'm assuming you meant this as a joke, but I don't think that the idea is entirely without merit. Bear with me before the flames start flying, this may take some explaining but we'll get there. Picture the Pegasus as a ship who's taken some severe losses, half of her senior command crew has gone, leaving her in the charge of some ambitious young officer similar to Capt. Herbert Sobel from Band of Brothers, who's fed up of being kicked around by the Cylons and wants the chance to finally prove himself.

I don't think it's the best option by a loooooooooooong shot, just a random idea I had.

Maybe one of the Baldwins? Don't expect me to differentiate between them, I have no idea which is which anymore. But there's at least a couple who are fairly decent, versatile actors and not really doing that much these days.

Of the suggestions listed so far, I do kinda like Avery Brooks, R. Lee Ermey and James Cromwell. For some reason, I feel that Cromwell would have to wear small glasses for the part though- sorry, slightly random

[dafydd]

although i agree wholeheartedly with the above comments about david schwimmer, there is just something very "jason alexander guesting on star trek" about the whole idea.

[Crashdown]

It's part of the curse of Friends, I think. None of those 6 are ever going to completely escape those roles. Although that may be because for at least some of them, those are the only roles they seem to be able to play. Before I go too far off topic, I'll try to reign this back in, but you just know if Matthew Perry were playing Commander Cain, then we'd be looking at a very sarcastic Commander who gurned a lot and made lots of unecessary hand gestures, no matter how the part was actually written

[dafydd]

something like this then?

ADAMA: Cain is a fool...a mad man...I'm sorry we ever ran into him.

Matthew Perry as CAIN: (looks around in dis-belief) Dude...I'm RIGHT here!

[Alowisney]

I'd like to see Malcolm McDowell as Cain. I think he could pull off whatever they asked of him.

[Buzzvang]

LeeAdama said:

We could always go the other way and portray Cain as a younger, cocky commander, and the Pegasus is his first major command and he's just loving playing war with the toasters - I'd like to see someone like Ron Livingstone (Band of Brothers) in this role

Ron Livingston was good as Nixon in BoB, but I don't know if I could see him as Cain without thinking of, "Watch out for your cornhole, Peter-man"

[Kronos]

Terrance Stamp (General Zod) of Superman fame or Nick Nolte (He certainly can play an overpowering crazy type like Cain.)

[pudge]

Malcolm Mcdowell and Terence Stamp sound like good candidates for the role of Cain, although I think Mr. Stamp would be a little averse to starring on television.

I would hate if the character of Cain is presented like some kind of villain. Anytime on Star Trek we see a captain of another starship appear in an episode he always starts out being the good guy and ends up being the bad guy or he isn't as good a commander as Picar, Sisko, Kirk ...... and gets himself and his crew killed. Since Moore is writing a series which is the antithesis of Star Trek I think it would be fun if Cain will be more of a charismatic leader than Adama and will win the hearts of the Galactica crew. It would also be cool if the Pegasus was in pristine condition without a scratch even after defeating quite a few basestars. It would be nice to see the pegasus stay for a while longer, the friction between Cain, Adama and Roselyn should be stretched to the max.

[pudge]

How about Cain lending his support to the pragmatic Zarek perhaps? Now that would definitely stir things up in a second season.

[Crashdown]

Kronos said:

Terrance Stamp (General Zod) of Superman fame or Nick Nolte (He certainly can play an overpowering crazy type like Cain.)

I'm liking the thought of NIck Nolte. I mean I know it's terrible of me just to base it on roles actors have previously played rather than give them credit for their full versatility, but if he was similar to his role in The Thin Red line, I could see that working nicely.

As a small side note, I was thinking before that it could maybe be an okay idea if Lee was stationed aboard the Pegasus, thus providing a split loyalty thing, but then I kinda remembered it's been done to death in Trek. It seemed like every time that there was a problem with another Starfleet officer, one of Picard's crew had served with him, including a particularly painful moment with O'Brien and the captain of some ship that was hunting Cardassians in The Wounded singing together.

[SeanGalt]

Actually, Terrance Stamp may not be averse to TV- he is doing voice-over work on Smallville these days (Jor-El.)

My Commander Cain vote goes to Clint Eastwood.

[OoohFrac]

I'm sticking by my opinion that if there is a Battlestar Pegasus, the survivors ought to build it themselves. Put a FTL drive on a dry-dock and play out the drama of protecting a vulnerable vessel under construction.

That said... if there is a Commander Cain, I'd vote for Avery Brooks if Brooks is willing and available, or Keith David (played King in Platoon, Kirby in Dead Presidents, among 93 listed IMDB credits) if Brooks isn't available. He's similar in voice and presence to Avery Brooks.