THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING THE ORKAN MAN......

When Robin Williams committed suicide a month ago, a lot of attention was paid to his film work and stand-up comedy, but his true contribution to the Arts may not have reached the heights had it not been for his breakout role as Mork from Ork on 'Mork And Mindy'.

And yet the special tribute to him by Billy Crystal on the Emmy Awards telecast didn't even show a picture of him as the lovable alien.  Let's face it - for many people around the world, Mork will always be the character they first think of when remembering Robin Williams.

Over the decades plenty of TV characters have been given a chance to return so that we could once more have the chance to see them in action:

• Alan Brady in an episode of 'Mad About You'
• The citizens of Hooterville in the TV movie "Return To Green Acres"
• Cinnamon Carter in an episode of 'Diagnosis Murder'
• Jim Rockford in about eight 'Rockford Files' TV movies
• The castaways of 'Gilligan's Island' in several TV movies
• Barnaby Jones showed up in the Cineverse in the recast "The Beverly Hillbillies"
• Veterans of 'Star Trek' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' also found new life in the Cineverse
• Bret Maverick got one last chance to play a hand in "Maverick"
• And of course previous incarnations of the Doctor will always be showing up in 'Doctor Who'

But we could never have that same trip down memory lane for Mork.

With the birth of their half-alien son Mearth, 'Mork And Mindy' established that Orkan biology operates differently from that of the humans of Earth.  Orkans age backwards physically - they look old at birth and then get younger looking as they get older.

Here's how Robin Williams basically looked in real life leading up to his death:

But some thirty plus years since 'Mork And Mindy', Mork should look like this:

(That's Robin Williams as a boy, by the way.....)

If 'Mork And Mindy' had ever returned, any participation by Williams would have only occurred in flashback to his time as a boy on Ork.  And a present day Mork would have to be recast with a far younger actor; preferably one who looked like he was in his teens.

The same would have to be true of their son Mearth.  He would have to be played by someone In their thirties I'm thinking.....

I could see a running gag or full plotline for a TV movie in which Mindy gets in trouble for having "relations" with a young boy.......

We'll just have to be content with our memories of Mork as he once was.  And remember Robin Williams with the same fondness instead of dwelling on his personal darkness.

Good night and may God bless.  Nanoo nanoo!

(I had originally written this basic post a few days after his death, but stupidly erased it when transferring it to my Blogger dashboard.  Lazy bleep that I am, I just couldn't work up the enthusiasm to do it all over again.  But a character like Mork deserved to be saluted.)