Guest Roles for Nimoy and Vernon

This week we had Scott Bakula on Chuck, in a nice turn as Chuck's father (and making jokes in the NBC bumper promo about how things all looked familiar) – though they did, just to be cute, have to make him say "Oh boy!", his catch-phrase from Quantum Leap. That was after Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer appeared on the same show.

And coming soon we've got more Trek/BSG bigs on tap, with both Captain Spock and the Twelfth Cylon appearing on separate programs.

Leonard Nimoy's appearance in the season 1 finale of Fringe (Tuesday, May 12 on Fox) is a big deal – not only because of Nimoy's caliber, but because the character he will be playing, William Bell, has been built up since the pilot as a pivotal figure, and his past and present role has the subject of much speculation both within the series and among fans. Bell was the former lab partner of Walter Bishop (John Noble) in the heady days of their bizarre experiments, but his history has not yet been revealed.

Not at all coincidentally, Nimoy's stint as Bell on Fringe, co-created by J.J. Abrams, comes mere days after Nimoy reprises his role as Spock in the feature film Star Trek, which was directed by Abrams. The film's release date in May 8.

Meanwhile, CSI – the original one, that is – is doing a "sci fi" episode ("A Space Oddity," Thursday, April 16 on CBS). Normally on straight dramas this might mean a parade of geeks, costumes, and the other outward trappings of fandom; but the feel of the episode is more like a lush tribute to a (fictional) classic series secretly loved by both Hodges (Wallace Langham) and Wendy (Liz Vassey). It seems the two run into each other at a convention for the series, only to end up investigating the death of one of the show's beloved actors.

CSI went to some trouble to bring in known sci-fi talent both in front of and behind the cameras. The teleplay is by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, former staff writers on Battlestar Galactica, and sometime Battlestar director Michael Nanking was brought in to direct the episode.

Kate Vernon guest stars as Dr. Penelope Russell. Also guesting is Twilight and Joan of Arcadia star Michael Welch, and Ronald D. Moore is slated to appear as himself (hopefully in a more riveting cameo than his magazine-reading stint upstaging James Callis at the end of the Battlestar finale).

Here's a clip (not featuring Vernon), in which the round bridge and the hairstyle stolen from "Catspaw" make it obvious they were going for classic Star Trek. It becomes even more obvious in this preview, which even uses the Star Trek font. Were they worried about lawsuits? Ah, but CBS owns Star Trek now, so perhaps not.

It's kind of cute either way, and Weddle has mentioned that there would be "other surprise cameos for sci-fi fans."

Note: This entry has been updated to correct the date of Nimoy's appearance on Fringe.