Entertainment
The Tragedy That Gave Us Star Trek’s Greatest Guest Star
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
One of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation is “The Most Toys,” in which Data gets kidnapped by a collector obsessed with owning the rarest items in the galaxy. That collector is played by Saul Rubinek, who arguably gives one of the best guest performances in the entirety of this beloved franchise. However, it’s a performance rooted in tragedy because Rubinek only got the role because the actor originally performing his part nearly died!
In “The Most Toys,” Rubinek plays Kivas Fajo, an amoral collector who kidnaps Data, making the advanced android his most prized possession. When the episode came out, however, many fans were confused by the appearance of Star Trek’s latest villain. That’s because David Rappaport was originally cast in this role, and Paramount had already distributed promotional photographs of him as a very different-looking Fajo.
The Toys Are Back In Town
Why, though, did Star Trek: The Next Generation have to replace Rappaport in the first place? “The Most Toys” director Timothy Bond is quoted in Captain’s Log: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages that “[T]here was a story going around that they had found him in his car with a tube running from the exhaust.” This created a major liability for the network, and the stress of filming might have contributed to a potential act of self-harm, so the director ended up replacing Rappaport with Saul Rubinek.
Sadly, David Rappaport continued to sink further and further into depression after he was ejected from the role. Only two months later, he was found dead in a Los Angeles park from what was apparently a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was a tragic end to a troubled life, creating a permanent stain on one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Hailing Frequencies Open
Fortunately, Timothy Bond was able to quickly find a replacement for Rappaport, and he was able to refilm all scenes featuring the deceased actor’s character with equal speed. How, though, was he able to recast the important role of Kivas Fajo so quickly? As it turns out, everything started with a phone call from an old friend!
At just the right time, Bond received a phone call from Saul Rubinek, an old schoolmate who was passing through town to film Bonfires of the Vanities, a movie that would later flop. As luck would have it, the actor was a huge fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he asked Bond if he might be able to swing by and visit the sets. Knowing that he had to recast the crucial role of Kivas Fajo, Bond responded with a question of his own: “How much do you want to see these sets?”
A Fanboy’s Dream Come True
The director formally offered the role to Rubinek, and the actor happily accepted the opportunity to become part of the show he loved so much. If he hadn’t been a fanboy, he might have otherwise declined the offer. As Bond (quoted in Captain’s Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) noted, “He never does guest spots on television, but I persuaded him to do it.”
The recasting worked well for a number of reasons, including the fact that Rubinek is much taller than David Rappaport. This helped him look more physically intimidating onscreen, which is always an important quality for a villain. That quality is so important that Bond came up with a crazy idea back when Rappaport had the part: to shrink all the Kivas Fajo sets down so they had four-foot ceilings, essentially forcing everyone who visited the short actor’s character to bow down before him!
Firing Rappaport meant that the producers didn’t have to do anything so drastic, and Bond remains eternally grateful that they hadn’t already made any changes to the sets. Rubinek went on to do an amazing job as Kivas Fajo, one that effectively straddled the line between menacing and charming. However, what most fans don’t know is that we would not have gotten Rubinket (the greatest guest star in Star Trek: The Next Generation history) if not for the tragic mental illness and eventual death of David Rappaport, a gifted performer who was ultimately unable to overcome his personal demons.