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| Bill Blackburn as Lt. Hadley on STAR TREK |
BILL BLACKBURN is no stranger to the STAR TREK universe. In the original series during that iconic five year mission, he was always right next to Sulu at the main controls of the Enterprise bridge.
And although Blackburn's stalwart Lt. Hadley hardly speaks a word, you can depend on his omnipresent expression to remain calm, cool and calculated no matter what interstellar problems arise.
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| The alien that could be Lt. Hadley |
A few years later, the STAR TREK ANIMATED SERIES provided us another sidekick for Sulu, and the alien co-pilot looks very famillar...
Look at the shoulders (or lack of)... The slightly bent posture... The face-shape... The eyes...
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| The Hadley-Alien taking commands by Captain Kirk |
Could this be the same Lt. Hadley turned into an animated alien? Was this intentional when they made the cartoon... to base the animated character from the real one?
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| Bill Blackburn as Lt. Hadley with George Takei's Helmsman Sulu |
Since Hadley was a mainstay on the Bridge during the original series, whoever drew the cartoons might have had a picture of George Takei's Sulu with his constant sidekick beside him...
Now it's up for you to decide...
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| The Alien and Lt. Hadley |
Could be. Lt. Hadley in season 2 and several episodes of season 3 was not beside Sulu (as navigator), but next to Chekov (replacing a needing rest Sulu?) as helmsmen (George Takei was off doing a movie and couldn't get back in time to shoot several episodes in season 2.) I'm surprised there is no Wikipedia biography or page for Billy Blackburn -- there is one for Eddie Paskey who played Lt. Leslie who was actually in a couple of episodes less than Blackburn. I also think it's fascinating that Billy Blackburn during the run of the show was praised for his ability to get the correct facial reactions to what is going on around him, and I can see why seeing various different episodes, especially season 2's By Any Other Name in which he does a great, "Oh, I'm about to be screwed or at least neutralized, look, as I realize that I'm about to face the same fate that just befell Uhuru and Chekov.", just as the Kelvan woman named Drea neutralizes Lt. Hadley, Lt. Leslie and an unnamed Yeoman to their basic dry chemical essences as dry cuboctahedra white blocks. Billy Blackburn also played several other characters during the run of the original 1960's Star Trek, including a stand-in for Dr. McCoy and the White Rabbit that McCoy sees on the Shore Leave planet in Season 1.
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