‘Solo’ Is Just the Latest Sci-Fi Event to Put a ‘Cheers’ Star in Space

The next time you roll your eyes at one of Cliff’s “little-known facts,” remember that he’s a decorated veteran of the war against the Empire! Before John Ratzenberger donned a mailman uniform, he suited up as Rebel officer Major Bren Derlin stationed on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. And while Ratzenberger may not do anything as exciting as pilot a snowspeeder, he does have a (briefly) prominent role: he’s the guy that tells Leia that they have to close the shield doors, locking Han and Luke out in the cold! And in true Star Wars fashion, his Cliff accent is overdubbed with a rando British guy. But you can hear Ratzenberger’s real voice in his next scene, when he tells all the Rebel pilots to get a move on after Leia’s rousing battle speech. Thank god he survived the Imperial assault on Echo Base and made it back to Boston in time to start a career as a mailman!

Where to stream The Empire Strikes Back

You won’t find much of hot mess Rebecca Howe in Kirstie Alley’s performance as the Vulcan Starfleet officer Saavik in the blockbuster Star Trek sequel. Saavik started off as a cadet under Spock’s mentorship and earned a spot on the Enterprise as a navigator. Her clashes with Captain Kirk were nothing like the one’s Rebecca would later have with the equally dashing Sam Malone; for one thing, the Vulcan and captain never once agreed to conceive a baby together while remaining just friends. Wrath of Khan was actually Alley’s very first film appearance, and it’s only the second credit on her IMDb page!

While the character Saavik returned for the next two Star Trek films, Alley gave up the role when she was offered less money for the sequels. Things would work out for her, as she’d get a lead role in Cheers and her own feature film franchise with Look Who’s Talking.

Where to stream Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

By the time Season 9 of Cheers rolled around, Bebe Neuwirth had gone from playing scene-stealing psychoanalytical ice queen Lilith Sternin in a few episodes every season to series regular status, often in scenes paired with Lilith’s husband Frasier Crane. And that’s right when Neuwirth decided to pull double duty and do a guest spot on Star Trek: The Next Generation! That was probably easy to do, since Cheers and Star Trek: TNG were practically neighbors on the Paramount lot.

In the Season 4 episode “First Contact” (not to be confused with the 1996 Star Trek movie), Neuwirth plays a Malcorian nurse named Lanel–one with the singular mission to bone an alien. She offers to help the human Commander Riker escape from his cell if he’ll fulfill her wish… and he does! Lilith and Lanel may be of different species, but they have one thing in common: they are into tall dudes with beards and hairy chests.

Stream Star Trek: The Next Generation's "First Contact" on Netflix

Just a year after his on-screen wife played a frisky alien nurse, Kelsey Grammer hopped over to the Star Trek stages on the Paramount lot for a quick appearance in the all-time classic Next Gen episode “Cause and Effect.” This is a classic Groundhog Day story setup (it actually predates that movie by a year, but whatevs). Grammer plays Morgan Bateson, captain of the U.S.S. Bozeman–a ship that encountered a temporal anomaly, got stuck in a causality loop, and finally landed 90 years into the future (a.k.a. the Next Generation era).

Fun fact: this scene was supposed to have not one, but two Cheers actors in it! Star Trek approached Kirstie Alley to reprise her role as Saavik for a non-speaking cameo, positioned next to Grammer’s captain on the Bozeman bridge. Depending on which Wiki you read, the cameo either didn’t happen because of scheduling conflicts or Next Gen not being able to pay Alley what she asked for the cameo. This was probably for the better, tough, since the Bozeman actually disappeared from the Star Trek timeline before Wrath of Khan, so a Saavik cameo would have been a major continuity error!

Stream Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Cause and Effect" on Netflix

Poor Norm. Cliff and Rebecca got roles in the two best sequels of all time, and Frasier and Lilith got guest spots on the beloved Next Gen. Norm? Norm gets Space Truckers, a late ’90s sci-fi comedy with UPN-level special effects and direct-to-VHS ambition. I’ll be honest: I haven’t seen this movie, because you can only buy it on Amazon and I really don’t want to permanently add this to my library. The film stars Dennis Hopper as a space trucker named John Canyon and is set in either 2196 or 2145, depending on which trailer you watch. George Wendt plays Canyon’s boss, a character that gets sucked out into space (pictured above).

Okay, that’s it: I’m starting a campaign right now to get Wendt on Star Trek: Discovery or one of the million Star Wars movies in development. He deserves to have at least as much sci-fi dignity as Major Bren Derlin!

Where to stream Space Truckers

The latest Cheers cast member to be shot into space is good ol’ Woody Boyd. A few light years removed from playing a bright-eyed and dim-witted farmboy-turned-bartender, Woody Harrelson stars in Solo: A Star Wars Story as a scoundrel of the highest order, Tobias Beckett. Obviously we can’t say much about Beckett just yet, as Solo is brand new and we’re keeping this spoiler-free, but it’s safe to say that there’s not much of the boyish Boyd in Beckett. This does make Harrelson the sixth Cheers star to leave Earth, thus continuing my absolute favorite trend of shooting Cheers cast members into space.