Character Insight No. 218: Doctor Chaotica

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we review another recurring holodeck villain, this time it's Doctor Chaotica from Voyager.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp218

Although the holodeck is a piece of technology that was overused as a story-telling crutch in some iterations of Star Trek, it did give us some interesting ancillary characters who showed up on a recurring basis. Perhaps the first of these is Dr. Moriarty from TNG, but a sillier version is this Doctor Chaotica from Voyager.

Doctor Chaotica is a sworn enemy of the planet Earth in the comic book-like holodeck program Captain Proton. This is a 50's or 60's style black and white show, as portrayed on the screen.  As you might expect, this is a favorite fantasy world escape for Tom Paris and Harry Kim during the Delta Quadrant voyage. Chaotica appears in three episodes, but he is most prevalent in an episode called Bride of Chaotica.

In that episode, the Voyager ship is stuck in subspace and photonic lifeforms encounter the ship, mistaking the Captain Proton holodeck program for the real personnel aboard the ship. Doctor Chaotica kills one of the aliens, beginning a war which can only be prevented by the crew taking some prominent roles in the Captain Proton story. This includes Tom and Harry as the usual protagonists, and also Captain Janeway as Queen Arachnia, who Doctor Choatica has a serious crush on. If it sounds ridiculous, it absolutely is, but you could tell Janeway and the other characters were reveling in the chance to act a stage play while also saving Voyager from a minor crisis.

QUOTE:
Dr. Chaotica: But this is my greatest achievement...the death ray.
Janeway (as Queen Arachnia): it looks like a formidable weapon.
Dr. Chaotica: the greatest in the cosmos.

That story was also a little more believable than your average "holodeck gone mad" episode because the problems were brought on by aliens misinterpreting the technology on Voyager rather than a malfunction. Chaotica's other best appearance is in the season 7 episode Shattered, but he plays just a small role in that multiple timeframe or timeline episode. Nevertheless, it lets Janeway revisit the Queen Arachnia character once again.

Sometimes it is fun to have a silly supervillain rather than a serious conflict every single week on a Star Trek show. For that purpose, Doctor Chaotica was one of the best recurring characters, at least if you take those episodes in that frame of mind. Plus, it's also fun and understandable to want to revisit the good old days of simple comic book and television with clear bad guys and good guys, in view of the complex shades of gray real life is during Voyager's timeline as well as our own modern era.
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Character Insight No. 217: New Year's Celebrations

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we enjoy this festive holiday season by reviewing the New Year's Holiday and its role in Star Trek.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp217

Two years ago we took a look at how Star Trek covers Christmas, and it was admittedly a little thin. However, just like that holiday, Star Trek has run into New Year's on a couple occasions, showing that this holiday is still celebrated on some level in the 24th century. That's a bit strange considering space travel kind of breaks the whole reason for setting a certain time period as a year, but life does go on at Earth and other planets, which explains why this holiday tradition is still around.

The most memorable episode centering on the concept of New Year's Day was a bit of a flashback episode in season 5 of Voyager, entitled 11:59. In that episode, Janeway researches and tells the story of an ancestor Shannon O'Donnell, who she believed was an astronaut legacy in the year 2000, but it turns out that she was just a struggling failed astronaut. She ends up falling in love with a bookstore owner named Henry Janeway from a small Indiana rural town, and she convinces him to stop protesting construction of a Millennium Gate right before a deadline on, you guessed it, New Year's Eve of 2000.

That episode, which aired in 1999, was an opportunity for the show writers to throw a joke at the then-current Y2K craze with the following dialogue:

QUOTE:
O'Donnell - "everyone was convinced it was the dawn of a new era. But when the world didn't end and the flying saucers didn't land and the Y2K bug didn't turn off a single light bulb, you'd think everybody would have realized it was a number on a calendar. But, oh, no, they had to listen to all those hucksters who told them the real millennium was 2001. So this New Year's Eve will be as boring as last year."

The other time we see New Year's festivities referred to is in the Deep Space Nine season 3 episode Explorers. Dr. Bashir finds out that a former classmate who beat him out for valedictorian at Starfleet Academy doesn't recognize him because she was told that he was an Andorian at a New Year's party of a mutual friend. So punking and silly jokes while drunk is still a tradition of the holiday in the 24th century.

Although the holiday is not prominent in Star Trek lore, the tradition of reflecting on a time period and being nostalgic is certainly something that still goes on, as alluded to by the entire Voyager episode we just discussed. With 2016 being cruel on many fronts including the loss of Anton Yelchin, we can only hope for a much better 2017 to go with that fancy new Star Trek Discovery show launching soon.

Happy New Year, friends and Trek fans.
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Character Insight No. 216: Best of Dr. Phlox

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we continue the "Best Of" series for Enterprise with a profile of Dr. Phlox, the chief medical officer. [FAITH OF THE HEART]

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp216

In the season 1 episode Dear Doctor, Phlox explains his reasoning for serving as medical officer aboard Archer's Enterprise, which explains a lot of how his character acts over the entirety of the show:

[from Phlox's reply to Dr. Lucas, his Human colleague]
Dr. Phlox: You'll be pleased to hear that the crew finally seems to be growing accustomed to an alien doctor on board. I must admit, I wasn't planning to stay this long, but the opportunity to observe your species on their first deep space venture has proven irresistible.

That episode also involves interesting debates between Captain Archer and Dr. Phlox about whether to intervene in another world's medical emergency. Phlox makes the case that Neanderthals weren't helped over humans, leading to this exchange:

Captain Jonathan Archer: They've asked for our help. I am not prepared to walk away, based on a theory.
Dr. Phlox: Evolution is more than a theory. It is a fundamental scientific principle. Forgive me for saying so - but I believe your compassion for these people is affecting your judgment.
Captain Jonathan Archer: My compassion guides my judgment...Can you find a cure?
...
Dr. Phlox: [after a long pause] I already have.

Archer and Phlox also interact a lot in the season 2 episode A Night In Sickbay, when Phlox has to treat the Captain's dog Porthos. It leads to more conversations about Phlox's world and background:

Captain Jonathan Archer: Does your expertise on... sexual tension come from professional training or... firsthand experience?
Dr. Phlox: I do have three wives.
...
Captain Jonathan Archer: Sounds very complicated.
Dr. Phlox: Very. Why else be polygamous?

In the season 2 episode Vanishing Point, Dr. Phlox shows a little wariness of technology in a similar manner to some other old doctor you may remember from Star Trek:

Dr. Phlox: Transporter technology is, er, very new. I'm sure Humans were equally frightened when the automobile was introduced, or the aeroplane. New forms of transport take a while to get used to. I'm not at all surprised at your reaction; you wouldn't catch me using that apparatus.

Finally, we couldn't leave out the other obvious Dr. McCoy callback from season 3's Doctor's Orders, where Phlox must keep the ship running by himself:

Dr. Phlox: I'm a physician, not an engineer!

Dr. Phlox, much like T'Pol, provides an exterior perspective on the humans as they make their first deep space travel adventures. That allows him to bring humor and a unique perspective that is a big net positive on this iteration of Trek.

Character Insight No. 215: Best of Malcolm Reed

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we continue the "Best Of" series for Enterprise. [FAITH OF THE HEART] We continue our reviews with Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, the armory officer aboard Archer's ship.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp215


In the season 1 episode Shuttlepod One, Reed and Trip are stranded in a shuttlecraft adrift with limited time left to breath and live. We learn a lot about the background of both characters, and the usually prickly Reed explains how he was just beginning to find a family on Enterprise.

Lt. Reed: I lost nearly everyone I cared about on that ship...Never got very close to my family either, for that matter. Not that it's any business of yours. But with the crew of the Enterprise it was different. I was really starting to feel... comfortable with them. And now the only one that's left thinks I'm the bloody Angel of Death.

Trip becomes close with Reed, but Reed also has an interesting relationship with Dr. Phlox. These two don't always see eye to eye, but they are always there for good quips and jabs as shown in these clips from the season 2 episode Dead Stop. 

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: It can't be ethical to cause a patient this much pain.
Dr. Phlox: It's unethical to harm a patient; I can inflict as much pain as I like.

Dr. Phlox: The wound might heal faster if you'd allow me to apply a few more Regulan bloodworms.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: You're not putting any more of those things inside my leg. You still haven't found the last one.

Later on, in the season 3 episode Proving Ground, Reed must work alongside Andorians who save Enterprise from an anomaly when trying to track down the Xindi Weapon. He shows off his character and charm with sayings like this.

Lieutenant Talas: You don't trust me.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: No offense, but when it comes to our weapons frequencies, I wouldn't trust my own mother.
Lieutenant Talas: Is your mother considered a security risk?
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: It's... just an expression.
Lieutenant Talas: An odd one. My mother's security clearance is higher than mine.

In the season 4 episode Divergence, Reed finds himself in the brig along with a Klingon saboteur of Enterprise during a dangerous mission. He can't help but investigate the Klingon way of life to try and understand another being who is deemed prickly.

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Do you ever... question why you fight?
Marab: Soldiers don't question, they obey.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: What if your superiors are wrong?
Marab: They're imprisoned - or killed.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: That's not how we do things in Starfleet.
Marab: Which is why the Klingon Empire will defeat you.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Then how come... you're in the same brig that I'm in?

Reed provides a unique character who is an interesting mix of a throwback by-the-book solider type who is also soft spoken and shy in certain circumstances. He develops a lot thanks to integrating close relationships on the Enterprise crew, and actor Dominic Keating helps pull off one of the better character arcs in this show's run.

Character Insight No. 214: Best of T'Pol

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we return to the "Best Of" series, which will now cover the main characters of the most recent Star Trek show, Enterprise. [FAITH OF THE HEART] We begin this week with Commander T'Pol.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp214

T'Pol develops feelings for Trip and eventually mates with him in the show, but it takes a long time for this romance to actually fire successfully. In one of T'Pol's best vulnerable moments in the Season 3 episode Similitude, she confesses her feelings to Sim, a mimetic symbiote which is about to die following a short two week life.

T'Pol: I just wanted to say, how much your absence will affect the crew....and how much it will affect me.
Sim: I appreciate that. All in all, I guess I've had a pretty good life.

The bond between Trip and T'Pol begins with much humor, as shown in the Season 1 episode Unexpected and this memorable moment:

Sub-Commander T'Pol: I've run a check through the Starfleet database. You might be pleased to know that this is the first recorded incident of a Human male becoming pregnant.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Just how I always wanted to get into the history books.

Another great episode is the Season 2 Carbon Creek, where T'Pol recounts a story to Archer and Trip of her Vulcan grandmother, also played by Jolene Blalock, is stranded in 1950s America. It builds needed warmth between these top characters while also allowing T'Pol to show off her wit and dry sense of humor.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: [after the story] Do you realize you've just rewritten our history books?
Sub-Commander T'Pol: A footnote at best.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Footnote? This is like finding out Neil Armstrong wasn't the first man to walk on the moon!
Sub-Commander T'Pol: Perhaps he wasn't.

That same sense of humor comes out when Archer and Trip insist on having T'Pol join the crew for movie night and a scary movie marathon (in the episode Horizon). It gives us a chance as viewers to see how silly some of our thrills can be, when taken from an outsider's perspective, which is what T'Pol adds to the show.

Sub-Commander T'Pol: I don't understand why Humans would feel compelled to frighten themselves.
Captain Jonathan Archer: Gets the heart pumping.
Sub-Commander T'Pol: Cardiovascular activity would be more efficient.

Finally, the episode Stigma is another where the character of T'Pol is used in a brilliant way to explore in allegory form the issues facing Earth today. In this case, it is the unwarranted oppression and prosecution of a minority, in this case based on a disease, and T'Pol refuses to escape when she wants to make a point about how this is wrong.

Sub-Commander T'Pol: I have Pa'nar Syndrome. It doesn't make a difference how I contracted it.
Captain Jonathan Archer: It makes a lot of difference. You're not a member of this minority. He forced himself on you, you said it yourself.
Dr. Phlox: He's right, T'Pol, you should tell them.
Sub-Commander T'Pol: He is not right. If I used that as a defense as a way to keep from being taken off Enterprise, I'd be condoning their prejudice, and in the process indicting every member of the minority. I won't do that.

Much like the character of Spock, T'Pol is a crucial piece of character added to investigate outsider takes on human society as well as be a conduit for her own allegories. Jolene Blalock should definitely be commended as a bright spot in this Trek iteration. She can most recently be seen acting in the movies Killing Frisco and Sex Tape from 2014.

Character Insight No. 213: Lieutenant Kelowitz

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Lieutenant Kelowitz, a tactical aide serving aboard Kirk's Enterprise in TOS.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp213

Kelowitz serves in the sciences division, which entitles him to a blue shirt and the right to survive away missions. Most of his appearances are on these away missions, and he survives some really notable trips off Enterprise.

When the shuttlecraft Galileo goes missing in the episode The Galileo Seven, Kelowitz leads one of the landing parties who is searching the Taurus II planet for the shuttle. His party is ambushed by the planet's inhabitants, leading to a death and some injuries. Kelowitz survives though, as the party leader and someone now wearing the dreaded red of security.

The tactical aide is next seen in the episode Arena, where he accompanies Kirk to investigate the destruction of an observation outpost on Cestus III. Kelowitz helps Kirk force the Gorn back to their ship by executing a flanking maneuver, which leads to the eventual chase and showdown between the Gorn captain and Kirk caused by the Metrons.

QUOTE (from Arena)

Kirk: Kelowitz, head over there.

Later on, in the episode This Side of Paradise, Kelowitz is again accompanying a landing party to investigate a mystery about a colony there. He is taken over by alien spores, but is saved when the spores are destroyed by a subsonic transmitter. Despite being put in a lot of dangerous situations, Kelowitz survives and keeps on serving during the 5-year mission. 

Interestingly, these latter two roles for Kelowitz were originally written for other characters, a new one named Molton and for Crewman Dimont. However, by re-using Kelowitz and making him a recurring character, it brings more continuity to the show, making you cheer for his survival and success much more than an unknown face in the crowd. His blue uniform while serving in a tactical role is fairly unusual, but it has been explained in novels and other works to be a sign of him working as a generalist officer in many departments, with the viewer only seeing him in the tactical role of away missions.

Kelowitz was played by Grant Woods, who was an actor and stuntman after retiring from the Navy around 1960. Woods died at age 36 in a motorcycle accident, just one year after filming these appearances on Star Trek. His final work was as a regular on the Custer TV series and associated movie.

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Character Insight No. 212: Tomalak

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Commander Tomalak, a Romulan ship captain who faces off against Picard on multiple occasions in TNG.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp212

In his first appearance in the episode The Enemy, Tomalak violates the Romulan-Federation Neutral Zone in an effort to rescue the crew of a scout ship which had previously violated the same Neutral Zone and crashed on a planet. He threatens to fire on the Enterprise after Picard confronts him and his warbird, but the Romulans back down when one of the stranded crew members is returned safely to them. Indeed, this crew member helps Geordi La Forge escape the planet alive, giving both sides reason to keep the cease fire.

Like all powerful Romulans, Tomalak is of course involved in an elaborate conspiracy to trick the Federation into a trap during his next appearance in the episode The Defector. His trap involves allowing a Romulan defector Jarok to go go the Federation with fake news of a supposed Romulan build up on a planet in the Neutral Zone, to lure a Federation ship there. Picard's Enterprise is the lucky victim of this trap, but thankfully he was smart enough to have some Klingon reinforcements with him when breaking into the Neutral Zone. The Klingons force Tomalak to back down before he takes the Enterprise and its crew hostage.

QUOTE (from The Defector)

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: What shall it be, Tomalak?
Commander Tomalak: You will still not survive our assault.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: And you will not survive ours. Shall we die together?

Tomalak does not match wits with Picard again on this level, but he is an antagonist which is interesting and memorable enough to appear in a couple more episodes of the latter seasons of the show. In Future Imperfect, he is part of an elaborate hologram hoax set by a lonely abandoned boy who wants company and deceives Riker into being with him for a time. 

In the finale All Good Things, he appears in an alternate timeline and decides to let a single ship going a single Federation ship into the Neutral Zone to investigate an eruption in that Zone. Thus, even though he is left to holograms and alternate realities, this Romulan leader becomes one of the few recurring villains in this TV series. He is also a character brought up in many of the Star Trek books, for those who want more.

Just like the Sela character profiled a few weeks ago, Tomalak provides some much-needed consistency on the other side of the long Romulan-Federation tension storylines. It would've been interesting to see him make a cameo in the Nemesis movie, but I suppose an appearance in the finale episode, which was much like the scope of a feature film, was enough of a nod to the importance of this character.

Tomalak was played by Andreas Katsulas, who passed away in February of this year after being out of acting for the last 10 years. His other recurring role was as G'Kar on Babylon 5, and he also appeared in the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive.

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Character Insight No. 211: Molly O'Brien

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Molly O'Brien, a recurring child character who appeared with her parents both on TNG and DS9.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp211

Molly was born on the Enterprise-D in the fifth season episode Disaster. Quantum filaments striking the ship make various parts of the ship inaccessible to others, including Ten Forward, where of course Keiko O'Brien goes into labor. Worf ends up having to deliver the baby, leading to much hilarity and great quotes to start young Molly's life.

QUOTE:

Worf: You may now give birth. 

For the remainder of the O'Briens' time on Picard's Enterprise, Molly is simply seen in stories primarily involving other characters. For example, her crying as a baby when taken hostage with other crew members unnerves some criminals in one appearance, and she is used to show the importance of a mother-daughter bond when Keiko is transformed into a 12-year old in another episode. 

Like all other child characters, Molly leads to some awkward episodes after her family moves aboard the Deep Space Nine station. One of these included Rumpelstiltskin coming to life and wreaking havoc on the station in the episode If Wishes Were Horses. Another weird episode entitled Time's Orphan involves Molly falling through an energy vortex that transports her back in time 300 years to when a planet was uninhabited. When Miles reactivates the portal, his calculations are ten years off and they have to deal with a feral, wild 18-year old version of their daughter. While a strange episode, this was a good character piece evaluating what it takes to let go of a daughter, although the 8-year old Molly is returned to the parents by convenient writing in the end of the episode.

In the years on Deep Space Nine, Molly is seen most as a character who gives more depth to Miles O'Brien. Her phases of childhood included one where she wanted nothing to do with her father, and Miles has to deal with that like all parents do. Likewise, she spends two six-month stints with her mother on botany expeditions, which allows the show writers to use Miles and Molly's limited time together as a character investigation of families living apart and maximizing every moment together when opportunity arises. 

QUOTE (Hard Times):

Molly O'Brien: Daddy's home, Daddy's home! 
Chief Miles Edward O'Brien: That's right - Daddy's home. 

Molly is possibly the least annoying of the regular child recurring characters, thanks to not being overused or the center of too many silly stories. Indeed, her ability to reveal some of the most poignant nuances of parenthood is a huge net positive to the character of Miles O'Brien and the shows in general.

Molly O'Brien is played by Hana Hatae in most appearances. She has recently begun acting again as a young adult, appearing in upcoming movies The Circuit and 5th Passenger.

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Character Insight No. 210: Grand Nagus Zek

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Grand Nagus Zek, a recurring Ferengi character on Deep Space Nine.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp210


Zek is first seen in an episode where he tests his son Krax to find out if he is worthy of taking over as Grand Nagus, AKA the leader of the Ferengi Alliance. To do this, he announces Quark will be his successor right before faking his own death. Krax did not pass the test, and as such, Zek decides to remain in his position for a while longer.

Also as a result, Zek becomes a recurring character in view of the importance of the Ferengi in the landscape of the Deep Space Nine show. For example, he takes an active role in trying to open negotiations for trade and cooperation with the Dominion, as war does not favor profit for the Ferengi in their current state. Zek often appoints Quark to speak on his behalf or to do his bidding in dealing with Benjamin Sisko and the Federation's initial dealings with the Dominion.

QUOTE (from Rules of Acquisition)
Major Kira: The Ferengi reputation speaks for itself. 
Zek: A reputation for honesty and decency and reliability. You always know what to expect when you do business with the Ferengi. 
Major Kira: Which is why, if you're smart, you don't do business with the Ferengi. 

Although Zek initially starts as a symbol of the ruthless business and rules that Ferengi must follow, he softens his stance as his time around DS9 continues. The first softening comes thanks to the Bajoran prophets, who reverted Zek to a state where Ferengi were not as profit-driven when they found his greed to be offensive. After establishing the Ferengi Benevolent Association and rewriting many of the society rules to promote charitable giving, Quark convinces the Prophets to return him to his normal ways. These changes were only temporary, but they may have had an effect on his future.

That future included a romantic involvement with Quark's mother Ishka, and then a softening of the rigid rules regarding women in Ferengi society. This leads to some incredibly silly scenes and episodes, but it also leads to the eventual surprise that Ishka's other son Rom as Grand Nagus. Unlike Quark, Rom appears to be cut from the same progressive mold that Zek became in his later years, foretelling an interesting future for the Ferengi Alliance.

Zek is played by Wallace Shawn. He still acts today, although his most famous roles are as the dinosaur Rex in the Toy Story movies and Vizzini in The Princess Bride.

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Character Insight No. 209: Ensign Kellogg

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Ensign Kellogg, a recurring character who appears throughout the latter seasons of TNG.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp209

Kellogg is a security and tactical officer aboard Picard's Enterprise ships. We see her beginning in the fourth season of the TV show in bridge duty shifts on the bridge at tactical when Data or Worf are not working at that station. She also appears as a regular face in the crowd in the background of many crew scenes, as with other highly regular recurring characters.

In this latter role, she is seen fraternizing with Commander Riker, attending lectures by Data and Captain Picard, and drinking with crew mates in Ten Forward. While on duty, she is seen in all types of circumstances from landing parties, to guard duty, to being seen in the turbo lifts and the transporter rooms. When Worf gives her an assignment during a security meeting in the episode The Drumhead, her name is finally set for the first time.

QUOTE (from The Drumhead)
Worf: Ensign Kellogg, I want a list of all relatives, known associates, and especially old school friends.
Kellogg: (Nods) Aye sir. 

As the seasons progress, her role as a security guard becomes more pronounced. She is with Worf when investigating Deanna Troi's mental attackers in the episode Violations and then helps arrest the criminal. She guards Gul Lemec while Edward Jellico is in command of the ship temporarily. She also has the privilege of guarding notable other recurring characters like Thomas Riker and Klingon Chancellor Gowron.

Kellogg also continues to be seen in the first two TNG movies, on the bridge in Generations and on the Bozeman site with Zefram Cochrane in First Contact. She actually apprehends Cochrane when he tries to run away during the repairs of the Phoenix, thereby saving the future by making sure he does the warp flight at the right time to get noticed by our favorite stuffy neighbors, the Vulcans. It's a fitting last role for a regular background face of this crew.

Kellogg is played by regular background actor Cameron Oppenheimer, also known as just Cameron. She also was a body double for the Dr. Crusher character when she was not acting as an alien. She only acted in the early 90s, making appearances in films like Samurai Cop and Coneheads.

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Character Insight No. 208: Lieutenant DeSalle

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Vincent DeSalle, a lieutenant jack of all trades who appears on several episodes of TOS.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp208

DeSalle is first seen as a command division navigator in the episode The Squire of Gothos. He specifically joined a landing party which is looking for Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Sulu, and he comes into conflict with Trelane in this process. The most notable scene is where he is temporarily paralyzed when he tries to stun Trelane, and instead, Trelane uses the phaser to experiment with disintegrating some of his trophies.

Desalle appears again in a landing party in the episode This Side of Paradise, where many of the crew fall under the influence of Omicron spores. The Frenchman mutinies, but like all French revolutions, it ended quickly, specifically thanks to a subsonic transmitter.

The next time we see DeSalle at the beginning of season 2, he is placed in command of the Enterprise when the remainder of the command chain was off the ship in the episode Catspaw. He has to lead an effort to try and get through an alien barrier to send help to the crew off the ship, but he does not succeed before the alien Korob removes the barrier himself.

QUOTE (from Catspaw)
DeSalle: Mr. Chekov, recalibrate your sensors. If you need help...
Chekov: I can do it, sir. I'm not that green.

DeSalle: We know they're down there. I want them found!

Interestingly, he has a different color uniform and a different role as assistant chief engineer in the sciences division in this second appearance. This shift occurred because Gene Coon wanted there to be a backup chief whenever Scotty has to take over the bridge as part of the chain of command, so this episode was to introduce DeSalle as a recurring character in this role. Perhaps the shift in role would be typical as crews continue to develop on a long multi-year mission.

However, this was another of Coon's writing plans that went to waste as none of the scripts involving such circumstances with Scotty in charge ended up requiring communication between the bridge and main engineering. Thus, DeSalle is never seen again, in this role or otherwise.

Desalle is played by Michael Barrier. He acted throughout the 1960s, but Star Trek was one of his final roles. He can also be seen in 60's TV classics Mission Impossible, Bonanza, and the movie Angel in my Pocket.

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Character Insight No. 207: Joseph Carey

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Lieutenant Joseph Carey, an engineer who is a recurring character on Voyager.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp207


Joe Carey is an assistant chief engineer on board Voyager during the 7-year stranding of that ship in the Delta Quadrant. He becomes chief engineer briefly when his boss is killed in the events of the pilot Caretaker, but he ends up serving under the recently-added Maquis crew member B'Elanna Torres after a short stint with him in charge thereafter. Her engineering prowess forced him to become a staff member rather than the boss once again.

His most notable appearances, and most of them overall, come in this first season of the show. He ends up part of the conspiracy to trade Federation literature for a folded-space transporter technology in the episode Prime Factors, and he is falsely accused and framed by Seska for delivering Starfleet technology to the original Voyager antagonist the Kazon in the episode State of Flux.

QUOTE (upon Torres being named chief engineer in Parallax)
Torres: I hope I can depend on you.
Carey: I can assure you. You'll never get less than my best.

His appearances then become mostly those in alternate timelines, to reflect his time when he was on screen near the beginning of Voyager's journey. He does re-appear near the end of the show, and he is killed during a hostage situation in the episode Friendship One. We learn in this episode that although he does not have the engineering prowess of Torres, he can build a mean ship in a bottle model, which he was almost finished with over the 7 year journey. Hey, everybody needs hobbies.

Joseph Carey is played by Josh Clark. He appeared as an unnamed tactical officer on one TNG episode a few years before his stint on Voyager. Clark remains active today in acting with tons of TV roles on well known shows, including an upcoming role as a Sheriff on Westworld, the HBO series.

Character Insight No. 206: Commander Williams

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Commander Williams, a recurring character on Enterprise who works with Admiral Maxwell Forrest.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp206

Commander Marcus Williams shows up once per season during the run of the Enterprise show, with the first of these being in the pilot Broken Bow. Williams agrees with Captain Archer about objecting to the Vulcans subverting Admiral Forrest and Starfleet from making their own independent decisions regarding a Klingon that crash landed on Earth.

Williams also takes the same side as Forrest and Archer when Vulcan Ambassador Soval accuses Archer of disobeying orders and kidnapping Subcommander T'Pol. More than anything, he is a strong advocate for Starfleet and the men on the leading edge like Captain Archer.

QUOTE
Admiral Leonard: He's a Kling-ot.
Tos: A Kling-on.
Archer: Where'd he come from?
Commander Williams: Oklahoma.

Williams is next seen placing a bet with an archaeologist named Drake as to whether a crashed spaceship exists in the Arctic Circle, with the stakes being a bottle of scotch. Drake finds the debris field but his team ends up assimilated by the alien survivors. Williams and Admiral Forrest end up sending Captain Archer on a pursuit of Drake's vessel, which had been taken over by the aforementioned aliens. On the bright side, Williams got to keep his scotch.

Williams was named after the original series actor William Shatner. The novel that confirms his first name Marcus also implies that his daughter has a romantic relationship with a Samuel Kirk, who happens to be the great-great grandfather of James T. Kirk. Thus, this character is the ancestor of the character whose actor Williams is named after, in a weird twist of fiction fate.

Commander Williams is played by Jim Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick appeared in small roles in movies like Armageddon and in many popular soap operas like All My Children. He continues to act today with upcoming movies called Soulmates and The Deposition.

Character Insight No. 205: Vedek Bareil Antos

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Bareil ("buh-RILE") Antos, a Bajoran spiritual leader who recurs in multiple episodes of Deep Space Nine.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp205


Bareil is a prominent figure in the religious community following the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. Indeed, his fame and popularity was sufficient to make him the leading candidate to take over as kai after Opaka. But his life took a different turn.

In his early life, Bareil grew up under the harsh Cardassian rule like all other Bajorans. He follows the path of a monk in our own society, acting as a gardener in tune with nature at a monastery before devoting his life to the Prophets and becoming the Vedek he serves as during his appearances on DS9.

In his first two appearances, Bareil shows up on DS9 to act a peace mediator following a school bombing and survives an assassination attempt by his primary rival for the role of Kai, Vedek Winn, and then he exposes a plot to overthrow the Bajoran government with the help of Major Kira and Jadzia Dax. He saves Kira's life in this latter mission, clearly becoming a close friend of the DS9 crew as well as the runaway favorite to win the role of Kai. He also becomes romantically involved with Kira, a romance that lasted for the next season or so of the show.

INSERT QUOTE
Bareil - "The Prophets teach us patience"
Sisko - "It appears they also teach you politics."
From the episode In the Hands of the Prophets

However, the show runners realized that having the Kai be so friendly with Deep Space 9 would limit the storytelling that could effectively happen, and as such, another story originally written about a new Bajoran character was reassigned to Bareil in the episode The Collaborator. Bareil is falsely accused of collaborating with the Cardassians to kill some Bajorans, but this was actually a decision by prior Kai Opaka to save many more Bajoran lives. To protect her memory and honor, Bareil takes the blame and thus drops out of the election, leading to Kai Winn, a fun and deep future antagonist to the DS9 crew.

Despite being a rival to Winn, he becomes the new Kai's close adviser and helped her negotiate the Bajoran-Cardassian peace treaty. Near the end of this five month process, he is injured in a plasma explosion and his treatment plans were altered to keep him awake and useful as an adviser in the final steps of treaty negotiation. This leads to irreversible brain damage, and he passes away. We only ever see Bareil again in a mirror image form in the season 6 episode Resurrection, thereby bringing back an old character in a different way much like Sela, who we profiled last week.

Bareil was played by Philip Anglim, and this was his final regular acting role. He also showed up in some obscure 80s movies like The Elephant Man and Haunted Summer. He currently maintains a cattle farm, revisiting his original passion for veterinary sciences.

Character Insight No. 204: Sela

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Commander Sela, a Romulan/human hybrid officer who brought back original TNG actress Denise Crosby in a recurring role.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp204

Sela is the product of a union between Tasha Yar from an alternate timeline and a Romulan General. This Tasha Yar existed thanks to the Enterprise-C going through a temporal rift during a battle with Romulans and creating an alternative timeline where Yar was not dead in the episode Yesterday's Enterprise. When Yar realizes she dies for senseless reasons in the prime timeline, she request leave to join the Enterprise-C crew and go back in time to help them fight the Romulans.

The Enterprise-C is destroyed again, but some of the crew including Yar are taken prisoner. One Romulan General takes a liking to Yar and makes her his consort, and she gives birth to Sela a year later. When Yar tries to escape with Sela a few years later, she is caught and executed. Sela then becomes a military specialist who happens to become a major player in plots to disrupt the Klingon-Federation alliance.

She appears in multiple episodes dealing with these Romulan plots, including The Mind's Eye and the two-part episodes Redemption and Unification. Her plot to supply insurgent Klingons the Duras sisters to overthrow the current Klingon Empire leadership was foiled by Picard's crew, and Picard again foiled her attempt to attack Vulcan with an invasion force in a plot against Spock.

Although the Romulans would eventually turn a clone of Picard against the Federation in a similar movie callback to the Sela character, the captain sees right through his former security chief's daughter and her plots. Just like with the Borg, this character was an interesting antagonist bringing together some of the most important and best episodes of the series, but one which Picard and his crew were especially well-positioned to stop.

The character concept of Sela was created by Denise Crosby, who enjoyed filming Yesterday's Enterprise so much that she wanted a reason to come back on as another recurring character. Little did she know that she would become one of the more memorable villains of the TNG show, and also the only blonde Romulan ever seen on screen in Star Trek. Guess that hair color is the dominant gene in cross-race relations. If you enjoy Sela, she is an often-used villain in the Star Trek books as well.

Sela was played by Denise Crosby, who obviously played Tasha Yar in Season 1 of TNG. Crosby continues to act today, with recent appearances in Castle, Ray Donovan, and The Walking Dead.

Character Insight No. 203: Trek Tabletop Board Games, Part 2

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we continue our summer game convention follow up look at Star Trek board games, with so many new titles greeting us on the 50th Anniversary.

AKA, this segment goes Collectibles, part 2. (INSERT: "war and cheeks/more antiques for your collection").

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp203

So many Star Trek board games have come out this year for the anniversary and in recent years that we had to split this segment. Check out last week for space conquest and competitive-focused games, but this week we review some cooperative/exploration-focused games.

Ever since the TNG VCR interactive board game in the 1990s with a very angry Klingon, cooperative games have been a staple of Star Trek's collection. But designers have come a long way from those early designs.

Last time we discussed the Wizkids series of games, and a couple years ago this company brought out Star Trek Expeditions as a cooperative planet-exploring game. Once again, Heroclix-type miniatures for the crew mates and for two competing ships make for an easy to keep-track of set of stats and a good depth of game. There's also a good bit of replay possibilities with Expeditions as well.

Last year Mayfair Games brought out a dice-based game called Star Trek Five Year Mission. You can use the original TOS crew or the TNG crew to roll dice to try and finish various types of blue, yellow, and red alert quest cards. Although relatively luck-based thanks to so much dice rolling, this game thematically fits Trek well and is easy for more casual gamers to pick up and play with more experienced teammates.

Another re-skin of an old game called Castle Panic came out for Star Trek this year, and it is called Star Trek Panic, made by USAopoly. Like all Panic games, the players must defend the Enterprise home base from constant attacks from all sides while also trying to collect cards to complete missions. Like Five Year Mission, this is an inexpensive and very approachable game, even though it is just a 50th anniversary re-skin.

The newest game released for the 50th Anniversary had a preview release at Star Trek Las Vegas and GenCon this month, and it is Star Trek Ascendancy from Gale Force 9. This company has made great games capturing the spirit of Firefly and Spartacus, and this is perhaps the most accurate game for capturing the spirit of Star Trek with surprising space exploration, building cultures by expansion, and small doses of conflict. It is a 4X game which has a ton of rules and takes a long time to play, but this may be as close as you get to a holy grail of Star Trek games. For those willing to spend the extra money and time on a long complex game, you will not be disappointed.

Summarizing, this week's recommendations are Five Year Mission for more casual gamers, and Star Trek Ascendancy for the best experience you can have in a Star Trek board game, in my opinion. Let's hope these designers continue to make this hobby live long and prosper for all Trek fans.

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Please send future segment suggestions to @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter.  Thank you!

Character Insight No. 202: Trek Tabletop Board Games, Part 1

Welcome back to Character Insight! Having just come back from the summer game conventions, it's a good time to look at another place where character and stories of Trek are explored in a fun way: board games! 

Also, to get us in the right mood for a collectibles discussion: (INSERT: "war and cheeks/more antiques for your collection").  Now let's get started!

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp202

As mentioned a couple weeks ago, the 50th anniversary of Star Trek has brought some great content to Trek fans, but one area we did not talk about was a boom in Tabletop Board Games. I split this discussion into two types of games for brevity: space conquest and competitive-focused games this week, for the Klingon minded among us, and cooperative/exploration-focused games next week, for the Federation minded.

There are many popular games which often get updated or re-skinned with a theme from TV shows or other similar IP's. Star Trek is no exception, with Star Trek Catan a couple years ago updating the tabletop game classic Settlers of Catan.

This year, a similar re-skin was done for Risk, in a 50th Anniversary Star Trek edition. Much like Catan, you can play this version of Risk just like the old classic everyone knows, just using a space map and ships based on the five TV shows and captains of the series.  However, there are also some optional advanced rules which add random events, individual captain and crew powers, and quests to complete to achieve victory rather than plain world domination.

Another fun competitive card game from the past few years is Tribbles, where players compete to try and stick the opponent with higher and higher numbers of Tribbles. This game is easy to learn and silly in theme, which will fit casual gamers well.

Finally, Wizkids has brought out a series of Star Trek games over the past few years, including a game in 2016 called Frontiers. This is actually a redone version of a highly complex game called Mage Knight, but it uses miniatures and an expanding board to represent exploration of a hostile sector of space on the other side of a wormhole. Although there are a couple cooperative game scenarios, this game is more about combat and thus loses the Federation spirit a bit.

If miniature-based board game combat duals are your preference, an earlier game in the Wizkids series called Fleet Captains did this much better with Heroclix-type ships with variable stats on a click dial. Of the combat-oriented games, I recommend Fleet Captains over all others, although the 50th Anniversary Risk is fun for lighter gamers.

Regardless, there's plenty of new and recent games to keep Trekkies busy, and we will return next week to look at those cooperative and exploration-based titles.

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Contact me with segment suggestions @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter! Thanks!

Character Insight No. 201: Angela Martine

Welcome back to Character Insight! After celebrating anniversaries last week, let's take a look at a wedding, and specifically a memorable recurring character from TOS involved in such a wedding, Angela Martine.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp201

A notable scene from the episode Balance of Terror shows Captain Kirk performing one of the most fun duties a starship Captain gets to do: officiate weddings on board. This wedding was between an enlisted phaser gun crewmember Angela Martine and another crew member and phaser specialist Robert Tomlinson. I guess when you spend your time working on phaser banks all day, the romance just fires up. Interestingly, Angela genuflects before the altar, which indicates a Catholic background.

Of course, in typical TV fashion, the poor bride and groom-to-be were interrupted by a distress call received from an outpost along the Romulan Neutral Zone. During the mission, the Enterprise has to chase and fight with a Romulan Bird-of-Prey which had attacked the outpost. Working on phasers is dangerous business, and Robert died during the battle thanks to inhaling a lethal quantity of phaser coolant. So much for anniversaries!

Kirk: It doesn't make any sense. You both know that there has to be a reason.
Angela: <<long pause>>  I'm all right.

The next year, we again see Angela Martine, this time as part of the first landing party to go on the Shore Leave planet in the episode Shore Leave. She joins a science officer Esteban Rodriguez in conducting a specimen survey. This, much like her wedding day, did not go well. After completing the survey and starting to enjoy themselves, a tiger traps them and threatens them. Having escaped from the tiger, the pair then gets strafed by a Japanese Zero, a World War II aircraft.

Angela is presumed dead in the attack so Rodriguez leaves her to go back to the ship. Instead, she is taken below the planet's surface to be healed, and she re-appears near the end of the episode during the Caretaker's explanation of the planet's function. Poor Angela can't even get a relaxing shore leave on screen without having something bad happen, so maybe she should turn her gold tunic in for a red shirt.

The character of Angela was also to appear in Space Seed, but this scene was left on the cutting room floor. Thus, we only see this ensign on a couple occasions.

Angela Martine was played by Barbara Baldavin. Baldavin acted in various TV roles from 1964 through 1980, and then she had more renown as a casting assistant on the 80's series Trapper John, M.D., and Dynasty. She's still married to the original casting director from Star Trek TOS, Joseph D'Agosta.

Character Insight No. 200: An Ode to Anniversaries

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we celebrate This Week in Trek's 250th episode, this segments' 200th installment, and Star Trek's 50th anniversary with a look at anniversary celebrations in and around Trek.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp200

Although Star Trek did not become a huge franchise phenomenon until well after the Original Series, which aired from 1966 to 1969, the owners of the franchise and the creators of the new content have always taken the opportunity to celebrate big milestones of time from that original stardate. That has meant great presents for fans of the franchise on these occasions.

For the 25th Anniversary in 1991, we received a fitting sendoff for the original crew in the movie The Undiscovered Country, while also revisiting the best recurring antagonist of that crew, the Klingons.  A commemorative video game also came out on all platforms that year.

The 30th Anniversary was perhaps even better, with another iconic recurring character The Borg featured in what was the best TNG movie, First Contact. The current TV shows at the time also joined the celebration with DS9 airing Trials and Tribblelations, and Voyager airing Flashback with George Takei and Grace Lee Whitney.

Now, in year 50, we had the movies deliver another great one with Star Trek Beyond, which many believe to be the best of the Abrams cast reboots thus far. But perhaps in the biggest gift of all, a new television show Star Trek Discovery will finally air after over 11 years of no new TV Star Trek. That gap was approaching the only other significant content gap in the TV franchise history, that being the 13 year gap between the end of The Animated Series in 1974 and the pilot of TNG in 1987.

Regardless of how the new show turns out, at least new content is being tried. If nothing else, Trek knows how to celebrate its anniversaries.  This is also true within the show itself, where anniversaries are brought up on a few occasions.

We see happy individual anniversaries like Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres on their second anniversary of a first date in the episode Warhead, and sad individual anniversaries like when Ben Sisko struggles with the fourth anniversary of his wife's death in the episode Second Sight. If you think 50 years is a big deal, you should check out the celebrations for a couple's 300th wedding anniversary on Risa in the Enterprise episode Two Days and Two Nights, or the 315th anniversary celebration of First Contact Day on one of the final Voyager episodes, Homestead.

Neelix: In honor of the 315th Anniversary of his ancestor's arrival on Earth, I've asked Mr. Tuvok to recite the first words spoken to humans by a Vulcan.
Tuvok: Very well...Live long and prosper.

Even in the 24th Century, anniversaries are a vitally important way to honor history and milestones of time. Congrats to Mike and Darrell on episode 250, and in the immortal words of Leonard Nimoy, may all of us and our Star Trek content: "live long and prosper."

Character Insight No. 199: "Movie Insight" film review of Star Trek Beyond

Fair warning, this has spoilers below the break!

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp199


Star Trek Beyond added a new writing team and a new director Justin Lin after Into Darkness came off as a little stale for the new crew, and these changes proved to be well worth it. There are great visuals without the crutch of lens flares, most notably the incredible scenes on the Yorktown station, and the soundtrack is once again fantastic, just like with the previous two movies. The slower character scenes, particularly those with Spock and Bones together, and those with Scotty and Jaylah, were outstanding as well, albeit with the same high amount of callback lines, references and cheesy humor as before.

Ironically, this may be a better homage to The Wrath of Khan than the plagiarized version presented in Into Darkness was. The villain turns evil and against the Federation based both on his nature as a soldier and as a result of being stranded without rescue, which sounds a lot like Khan's original story arc! But it's a believable villain, and while the clues are there throughout the movie, it's not written as obviously as things like the "Magic Blood" in the previous movie. Plus Idris Elba continued the trend of great villain actor performances set by Cumberbatch 3 years ago, particularly when he got to finally act outside the rubber suit of the Krull character.

The movie is not without some minor faults. The story is painfully slow at the beginning, which may turn some non-Trekkies off after the fast action of the last two movies. The hand and gun fight scenes fall very flat compared to the space battle scenes. The Enterprise is abused to death once again as a cheap way to build tension, but perhaps this is a fitting homage to the original third Star Trek movie, where Kirk flirted with being an admiral and the Enterprise-A was born.

My only other complaint is that the story felt a little generic in some spots, with evil powerful villain trying to obtain a Tesseract-like object and then use it to destroy the world, forcing our heroes to go pursue that Tesseract...I'm picking Guardians of the Galaxy terms for a reason. It's enjoyable as a different story for a Star Trek movie, but it's somewhat stale as a modern science fiction or superhero movie plot.

Where Beyond moves to the next level, however, is the "big philosophical and life questions" which the crew tackles around all the action scenes. This was Roddenberry-style science fiction at its finest, making you think as much as be in awe. By moving the crew three years ahead into a deep space mission, this story was able to stand alone with its own big questions about unity and motivations/purpose in life, while moving away from the crutch of Earth or other known worlds.

Plus, the tributes to Nimoy, Yelchin, and the original crew from the 25th anniversary milestone were outstanding. Hits you right in the feels.

I think this movie is and will remain a top 5 Trek movie, maybe Top 3 based on your preferences.

I count myself incredibly blessed to be able to enjoy well made Star Trek and Star Wars in the theater with my 7 year old daughter, as those franchises didn't put out much great movie content during my own childhood. Seeing the magic through her eyes and making the next generation of Trek fans is an outstanding way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this IP.

Character Insight No. 198: Lojur

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, with all the hub-bub about the upcoming movie and the character of Sulu, we will profile another recurring character from a previous movie who showed up on Sulu's Excelsior in the prime timeline. This character is the helmsman Lojur.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp198



Lojur is one of the handful of characters we have covered on this segment which became recurring characters thanks to Voyager revisiting the Excelsior and Sulu's command in the Tuvok-focused episode Flashback. Although Lojur is not one of the main characters in either this episode or the movie The Undiscovered Country, he does provide consistency between these two, lending authenticity to this part of the backstory created for Tuvok's character in the Voyager show.

Lojur is a Lieutenant Commander who appears to have Eastern European descent, but the novelization of The Undiscovered Country established this character as a Halkan. He appears again in the novelization of the next movie Generations, but his appearance description in the books as a Halkan is more consistent with how that race appeared in Journey to Babel rather than his appearances on screen. It's what happens when the canon and the non-canon collide on smaller characters.

Knowing that Sulu probably insisted on the highest-quality helmsmen in view of his own background, one would figure that Lojur's assignment to the Excelsior went well . The Lieutenant Commander certainly plays a significant role in the battle with General Chang at the end of the movie appearance, and it was a good excuse to trot out those awesome movie uniforms again.

Speaking of inconsistencies in character, the same actor Boris Lee Krutonog plays Lojur in both appearances, but his accent is much more pronounced in the second Voyager appearance as shown here:

Sulu: Helm, set a course for the Klingon homeworld. Take us through the nebula.
Lojur: Aye sir.
---
Lojur: She is not answering the helm
Sulu: Use thrusters! Turn her into the wave!
Lojur: Aye Sir.

Krutonog is best known for another appearance as a helmsman on a ship around this time, specifically the helmsman on the Russian ship in the 1990 movie The Hunt for Red October. Another Star Trek actor crossover from that movie was Gates McFadden, AKA Dr. Crusher. He's also appeared more recently in the TV shows 24 and Dog The Bounty Hunter, the latter of which he was an executive producer on.

It will be interesting to see if the trope of one-off characters from movies appearing in TV shows continues at any point for the newer Abrams movies. I think it would be fun to see more on a character like Carol Marcus as played by Alice Eve, but it seems unlikely for the roads to cross again thanks to the movies becoming more action-oriented than character-oriented. As for those movies, stay tuned next week for episode 199, which will be this segment's second-ever movie review!

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 197: Koloth

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Koloth, a Klingon recurring character who spans episodes in The Original Series, TAS, and Deep Space Nine.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp197

Koloth was a legendary warrior and military leader of the Klingon Empire who serves over many decades, which allows him to appear in multiple Star Trek series. His first appearance was as Captain of the battle cruiser IKS Gr'oth in the TOS episode The Trouble with Tribbles. Koloth demands an apology for the brawl that breaks out between his crew and the the Enterprise crew, but all he ends up with in the end is a ship full of Tribbles.

Ironically, this first appearance of a Klingon foil to Captain Kirk and played by William Campbell was supposed to happen much sooner according to the producer of the first two seasons Gene Coon. However, Campbell's work as Trelane in season 1 was so memorable it pushed his debut off until the Tribbles episode. The rest of this plan was dashed when the production staff changed for season three and had different plans.

Koloth also shows up in Trials and Tribble-ations, the DS9 homage to the original tribbles episode. His most notable episodes are those in Deep Space Nine which deal with the blood oath Koloth made with fellow warriors Kor and Kang. A band of depredators left by the Albino are stopped by this trio of warriors, and the Albino escapes while vowing to exact revenge on the three Klingons. The Albino does just that, infecting three children with a genetic virus that kills them.

Along with Curzon Dax, these three warriors make a blood oath to hunt down the Albino and avenge their sons' deaths. Despite having to wait years and needing to work with Jadzia Dax instead of Curzon, these Klingons overcome traps set for them and Kang kills the Albino after a long duel. Although Kang and Koloth die in this effort, at least their deaths are honorable in completing the Blood Oath.

Odo: How did you get in here?
Koloth: I am Koloth.
Odo: That doesn't answer my question.
Koloth: Yes, it does....what are the charges against this man?
Odo: There are no charges, he's today's guest of honor.
Koloth: You must be a brave man to attempt humor...

Although Koloth did not get to return as a regular foil for Captain Kirk after all, he does re-appear in TAS to battle with the Enterprise in another tribble-related episode. William Campbell did not voice the character in this appearance though, as James Doohan once again lent his voices for this project. Campbell's work did make this a great recurring villain, despite not getting to see the vision of 10 or 13 episodes in TOS like the original plan for this character.

Who knows, perhaps this character will return in an Abramsverse movie. That would make for an interesting call back, if they choose to do it. When not playing Koloth, William Campbell had roles in many 50s and 60s movies like Cannonball and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. His final acting days came in 1996 but he did not pass away until a few years ago at age 87 in 2011.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 195: Kiaphet Amman'sor

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Kiaphet Amman'sor, one of the Xindi Council members seen multiple times on Enterprise.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp195

One of the interesting things about seeing the Xindi Council in Season 3 of Enterprise was the diversity of species leading this civilization. Amman'sor is one of the Xindi-Aquatics, which means the character is full CGI and is often seen in a fishtank. Instead of being silly, it adds a unique and interesting touch to the principle villains of this series.

Amman'sor serves on the Council as a representative and member of the wealthy Ibix Dynasty, and she serves as the primary voice for peace on the Council. For example, she initially opposes building any weapon against Earth, and she also encourages the Xindi to ignore the Enterprise when the ship first enters the Delphic Expanse. After finally agreeing to some form of weapon to defend her home world, she still leads opposition to development of a bio-weapon.

Yet eventually even this strong proponent of peace and non-involvement joins the rest of the Council in supporting action against the humans. If not for Captain Archer's arguments and willingness to share information in a biometric hologram to the Council, Amman'sor may never have played the critical role she does by delaying launch of the super weapon.

That of course leads to the Reptilians and Insectoids stealing the weapon, and a temporary alliance of convenience between the Aquatic Xindi and Captain Archer's crew. In the end, Kiaphet Amman'sor becomes one of the biggest reasons that the humans survive long enough to found the Federation. Even with only six total appearances, this character's importance cannot be ignored.

Kiaphet - "indistinguishable screeching"
Hoshi (translating) - "Irrelevant. We are here to discuss the human's claims."

No official credit is given for the voicing of this computer-generated character, as best we can tell.

The Xindi-Aquatics presented a lot of challenges and puzzles for the show runners on how to present such characters, but they figured it out nicely. The appearance is based loosely on Earth's aquatic creatures with some logical changes like hands in order to indicate they evolved to the next level of intelligence. Not only was this a chance to show off what the team could do in CGI, it was also an interesting take on what could be the future of a planet like Earth, if multiple types of species all become intelligent. Just the type of science fiction high-level concepts that we love in Star Trek.

If CGI is used to make characters in the new series, there's a lot of positives that hopefully will be repeated from Xindi Aquatics like Kiaphet Amman'sor. It would be interesting to see if an aquatic or similar unique character could be pulled off well at some point in that new series.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 196: Best of Anton Yelchin (Abramsverse Chekov), in memoriam

[[NOTE - This segment is numbered out of order of appearance on the TWIT show because it was inserted before the Kiaphet Ammansor segment 195 thanks to the untimely death of this actor]]
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Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we honor the memory of Anton Yelchin, who tragically died this week at the age of 27, by looking at some of his best work as Chekov in the Abramsverse as well as his other acting work.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp196

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born in 1989 in Leningrad, USSR. His parents were successful professional figure skaters and his grandfather played professional soccer, but he found his passion at a young age in acting after his family emigrated to the U.S.  This earned him a first appearance at age 10 as a guest actor on the TV show ER, followed closely by one of his best roles as Bobby Garfield, the 11-year old child who centers in the movie Hearts of Atlantis alongside Anthony Hopkins. Here's one clip from his award-winning performance as a child actor:

Yelchin - There's got to me more to it than that.
Hopkins - Yeah there is.
Yelchin - So what's the real job then?
Hopkins - Look out...for low men.

After a few years of mostly television roles, Yelchin got his next and probably biggest break by winning the role of Chekov in the Star Trek reboot of 2009.  Less than 20 years old at the time, his youth and exuberance stood out in multiple places despite being just one of a large ensemble cast:

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy: Wait a minute, kid. How old are you?
Pavel Chekov: Seventeen, sir.
Leonard 'Bones' McCoy: Oh... oh, good, he's seventeen.
Spock: Doctor...Mr. Chekov is correct.

Aside from Star Trek, the most critical acclaim for Yelchin likely came in 2011 when he starred alongside Felicity Jones as the romantic leads in the movie Like Crazy.  This Sundance Film Festival favorite also saw Yelchin be tempted by another character played by Jennifer Lawrence before she started her rise to super stardom in X-Men and The Hunger Games, but he ends up back with Jones's character in the end.

Yelchin - Yeah I'll see you in half an hour.
Jones - Yeah I'll see you in half an hour.
Yelchin - I'll see you in a couple days. I'll get there for you.

Since 2011, Yelchin has appeared in other roles such as the title character of Odd Thomas, a movie based on a good Dean Koontz book series; as Chekov in Star Trek Into Darkness and the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, as well as some animated features. Although I have a soft spot for his portrayal of Odd Thomas, here's another favorite quote from Into Darkness in the role we all were becoming most accustomed to for Yechin:

Kirk: Mr. Chekov, you've been shadowing Mr. Scott, you are familiar with the engineering systems of this ship?
Chekov: Affirmative, sir.
Kirk: Good. You're my new Chief. Go put on a red shirt.
Chekov: Aye sir.

His remaining works other than Beyond include movies titled Rememory, We Don't Belong Here, Porto, and Thoroughbred. Unlike many of the current ensemble crew, Yelchin came into this Chekov role as largely unknown as an adult actor. However, he stood out and made the role his own, and he will be sorely missed if this crew continues on after this third Abramsverse movie.

In a year where so many stars are passing away, it just figures Star Trek would lose one. What's most unfortunate is that it's one of the youngest stars, who leaves us before his prime and even before the original Chekov actor Walter Koenig, despite being more than 50 years younger than Koenig. In mourning this loss, Koenig says it best when he gives condolences to the parents, as he also lost a son in a tragic accident years ago.

Rest in peace Anton Yelchin. And grim reaper, please take a vacation for the rest of the year.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 194: Crewman Garvey

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Crewman Garvey, a prolific background character who served as a security and tactical officer on The Next Generation.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp194

Ironically for a character who shows up on nearly 70 episodes over five years, Garvey's first appearance is in the season 3 episode Yesterday's Enterprise in the alternate timeline shown in that episode. However, Garvey does appear in two roles which he becomes regular at in the real timeline: manning the tactical station at the bridge and being a security guard.

In that after capacity, Garvey is a quiet face in the crowd on many important away missions. For example, he witnesses the killing and resurrection of Lieutenant Worf in the episode Transfigurations. He also helped contribute to the mission that saved Commander Riker, Dr. Crusher, and Data from Melona IV following the destruction of the planet by the Crystalline Entity. In other words, he faces down some big events and threats while serving aboard Picard's Enterprise. 

His only speaking line came in the episode The Game, where he is ordered by Captain Picard to go find Wesley Crusher:

Garvey - "On our way."

Background actor Joe Bauman, who played Garvey, wasn't even who delivered that line as it was some other uncredited voice actor! Go figure! He doesn't actually find Wesley either, just a phaser on deck 6. 

In his other major security role, he guards quarters of people confined to quarters like the Ferengi Par Lenor and Qom as well as the Borg Hugh, and others who are arrested or detained at times like Data and Walter Pierce in Season 7. Around this same time, he also appears just as frequently at the tactical station or other aft stations of the bridge, especially with Worf not always available to man the post.

Garvey's final appearance was likely a reward for his long service on the TV show, as his character re-appears on the first TNG movie Generations. This was another regular face in the crowd, which is necessary when making seven seasons on a single ship like these series, even if it doesn't add much to the show or its characters. 

The character was named in the show scripts after the baseball player Steve Garvey, who played for the LA Dodgers. Joe Bauman does not appear to have many other notable acting credits. His daughter Ryan is following in his footsteps as an actress, and his mother was a famous stage actress based in Cincinnati Ohio a few decades ago, ironically the home now of yours truly. From one Cincinnati guy to another, cheers Joe Bauman for your contributions to Trek.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 193: Gul Evek

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Gul Evek, a Cardassian leader who shows up in all three TV series set in the 24th Century.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp193

Evek is a character who shows up a couple of times in Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation. His appearances range from those where he is the usual imperious and hostile Cardassian to others where he has moments of understanding with the Federation.

Speaking of those moments of gray, Evek has more of those when dealing with Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew. In the episode Journey's End, Evek shows up early to try and expedite the transfer of a Federation colony to Cardassian control in the Demilitarized Zone, and that causes a skirmish. However, he decides to withdraw troops rather than escalate the situation, and he reveals his reasoning to Picard in a moment of true honesty:

Evek - "I lost two of three sons in the war, Captain. I don't want to lose the last one."

However, every Cardassian leader has to eventually become a thorn in the side, whether it's for Picard or Commander Sisko. When the Maquis become more aggressive in their attacks, Evek blames Captain Picard and Starlet for not doing enough to control the Maquis and slow the number of skirmishes in the DMZ. He also eventually goes so far as to plant photon torpedoes on a runabout and arrest Miles O'Brien as part of a plot to discredit the Federation efforts in the region.

In another less serious scene between O'Brien and Evek in the episode Playing God, the Gul describes how to solve a vole infestation aboard the Deep Space Nine station. Unfortunately, his help is basically a recommendation to withdraw from Bajor and the region. So helpful!

Evek - "You've got the station, you've got the voles. By the way, their mating season begins in about six weeks."

O'Brien - "Thanks for your help"

Evek does hold an interesting distinction by appearing in the Voyager pilot Caretaker: he's one of only four total characters to appear in these three different series. The others are Q, Morn, and Quark. Much like Admiral Nechayev, the role of Evek was redone in multiple episodes across multiple shows because it served the purpose of establishing continuity with the Maquis storylines while also rewarding the actor Richard Poe who took really well to the part. 

Speaking of Poe, he enjoyed the variations and depth in approach the Cardassian would take to reach his goals of defending his people. He enjoyed the balance between being a strict constructionist of rules and also having some humanity in him, and that showed in the complexities of character he added in these few appearances. Evek continued to show up as a central character in several Maquis related novels and comics.

Richard Poe has also done some voice acting work for video games as well as many other TV shows including different iterations of Law and Order, and most recently, on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 192: Best of James T. Kirk

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we finish up the "Best Of" series for The Original Series characters with a look at Captain James T. Kirk. Here are some of his most memorable quotes and appearances.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp192


Captain Kirk has plenty of strong character moments, but perhaps none quite as strong as when he falls in love with Edith Keeler before accepting that she must die in order to reverse changes in the timeline caused by Dr. McCoy after they travel through the Guardian of Forever in the episode The City on the Edge of Forever:

Capt. Kirk: Spock... I believe... I'm in love with Edith Keeler.
Spock: Jim, Edith Keeler must die.

One of Kirk's greatest assets is figuring his way out of impossible situations, like in the episode The Corbomite Maneuver, where Kirk makes up the existence of a destructive material to regain control of the ship from Balok. Even in tough situations, he can find time for a funny quip:

Capt. Kirk: When I get my hands on the headquarters genius that assigned me a female yeoman...
Dr. McCoy: What's the matter, Jim, don't you trust yourself?
Capt. Kirk: [Kirk suppresses a smile] I've already got a female to worry about. Her name's the Enterprise.

Another example of Kirk making things up on the fly came in the episode A Piece of the Action. This time, the Captain must invent rules for a card game on the fly while dealing with Kalo on a planet crafting itself after 1920s America and gangsters:

Capt. Kirk: The name of the game is called, uh... fizzbin.
Kalo: Fizzbin?
Capt. Kirk: Fizzbin. It's, uh... not too difficult.
Kalo: Mm-hmm.
Capt. Kirk: Each player gets six cards, except for the dealer, er, the player on the dealer's right, who, er, gets seven.
Kalo: On the right?
Capt. Kirk: Yes. The second card is turned up, except on Tuesday.

Sounds simpler than some board games I've played. Captain Kirk is a bit like James Bond, in that he has countless scenes wooing women and countless scenes of bravado, highlighted by the Gorn fight in Arena and the Spock fight in Amok Time. However, he's so brash that he's also willing to take on an alleged God with this challenge from the otherwise forgettable movie The Final Frontier:

Kirk: What does God need with a starship?
McCoy: Jim, what are you doing?
Kirk: I'm asking a question.
"God": Who is this creature?
Kirk: Who am I? Don't you know? Aren't you God?
Sybok: He has his doubts.
"God": You doubt me?
Kirk: I seek proof.
McCoy: Jim! You don't ask the Almighty for his ID!

Much like Spock and McCoy, Captain Kirk is such a vital central piece to what made The Original Series work well. It's impossible to cull his contribution down to a few clips, so we may revisit more great moments like we have multiple times with Spock already. Until next time, boldly go like Gene Roddenberry's original vision to celebrate 50 years of Trek.

Character Insight No. 191: Crossovers and the New Series

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we discuss crossover characters appearing in different Star Trek series, with an eye on the next series coming up this winter.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp191

Crossovers of regular characters from series to series or between movies and television has been a staple of Star Trek. For example, the premiere episodes of every series after TOS have included one or more former characters, including Dr. McCoy in TNG, Captain Picard in DS9, Quark and Morn in Voyager, and Zefram Cochrane in Enterprise. These crossovers provide a familiar tie to the overall story line and continuity of the show, as well as sometimes providing interesting interactions between famous crew members not normally seen together.

Other crossovers include episodes of TNG with Scotty and Spock, and an episode of Voyager with Sulu. Geordi La Forge also shows up on Voyager, along with Q and Reginald Barclay. Perhaps the most lambasted of the crossovers is the most recent one, which is Riker and Troi in the finale of Enterprise.

Although not officially crossovers in the normal sense, Worf and the O'Briens also became staples in two different series: TNG and DS9. This type of long-term crossover seems less likely in an anthology series, but perhaps it could happen based on season-by-season shifts of story line and crews.  As mentioned last week, it would be great to see Sulu in the new series, even if a new actor other than George Takei would be a better fit for playing the role.

That leads to a first question for Mike and Darrell and the listeners: if a TOS character is to show up in the new anthology series as a crossover, do you care if it is a new actor, such as those actors in the current movies like John Cho, etc.? Would that cross the streams too much?

I suspect that crossovers will remain a part of the new series, especially if done in anthology format. Just like seeing Spock, Scotty, Picard, and Quark interact with characters in newer series, this will provide just enough fan service to keep long time fans more interested while tying things together across the shows as well.

Do you want to see crossovers continue, and if so, who would be your pick for the first couple crossovers? I'd personally love to see more of Uhura, Ben Sisko, and B'Elanna Torres.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 190: Best of Hikaru Sulu

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we continue the "Best Of" series for The Original Series characters with a look at Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu. Here are some of his most memorable quotes and appearances.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp190

Sulu is a helmsman and astroscientist on the original Enterprise's five year mission. He has many passions including fencing, and he gets to show this off when the crew goes a little crazy in the episode A Naked Time:

Sulu: Stand, no farther. No escape for you. You'll either leave this war bloodied, or with my blood on your swords.

Sulu is often caught in much less lighthearted situations, as when he leads a stranded away mission crew on a frigid planet in the episode The Enemy Within. However, one of Sulu's unique character traits is on full display here, as he can be witty to help make it through the toughest of situations.

Sulu: Can you give us a status report, Captain? Temperature's still dropping. Now 41 degrees below zero.
Captain James T. Kirk: We've located the trouble. It shouldn't be much longer.
Sulu: Do you think you might be able to find a long rope somewhere and lower us down a pot of hot coffee?
.....
Sulu: I think we ought to give room service another call. That coffee's taking too long.

Sulu often did not have much in the way of substantive plot points and dialogue, but when he did, we often saw a moral compass which was valuable to have in the chain of command, as shown in this quote from Turnabout Intruder.

Sulu: The captain really must be going mad if he thinks he can get away with an execution.
Chekov: Keptin Kirk wouldn't order an execution even if he were going mad. That cannot be the keptin.
Sulu: What difference does it make WHO he is? Are we gonna allow an execution to take place?
Chekov: If security backs him up, how will we fight him?
Sulu: I'll fight them every way and ANY way I can.

Like the other secondary main characters, Sulu found more good character development in the movies and in subsequent series. His appearance as the Excelsior's captain on the Voyager episode Flashback, while mostly about Tuvok, had some great Sulu truisms and beliefs.

Captain Hikaru Sulu: You'll find that more happens on the bridge of a starship than just carrying out orders and observing regulations. There is a sense of loyalty to the men and women you serve with - a sense of family...Let the regulations be damned.

That scene highlights what would've been a good era to see more of, Captain Sulu at the helm of the Excelsior. Although The Undiscovered Country and Sulu's brief stint in the command chair during Into Darkness were good glimpses of this, that would be a season of a new anthology show I'd sign up for in a heartbeat. What do Mike and Darrell think on this?

Sulu was a good character for adding both diversity and a healthy bit of lightheartedness to the show. Plus, actor George Takei has been a treasure to have as an ambassador of the series as well. If you want more of his best, check out his extensive Twitter and Facebook posts over the past few years.

Character Insight No. 189: Best of Montgomery Scott

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we continue the "Best Of" series for The Original Series characters with a look at Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. Here are some of his most memorable quotes and appearances.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp189


While Scotty is of course known for his engineering prowess, he is also high on the chain of command for the Enterprise. We see his diplomacy style when in charge of the ship in the episode A Taste of Armageddon:

Scott: The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.

While Scotty earns a reputation for his engineering, one of his low moments as a character was found in Spock's Brain, where the flat dialogue indicates he can see engineering prowess in others based solely on gender (ah, the 60's):

Scott: Those women could never have set up anything as complex as this has to be – that takes engineering genius but there's no sign of engineering genius in any of those women.

It does get better for Scotty though, as even when he gets into trouble by starting a bar fight to defend the honor of the Enterprise in The Trouble With Tribbles, he turns it into a positive by being happy to review his beloved technical manuals some more.

Capt. Kirk: Another technical journal, Scotty?
Scott: Aye.
Capt. Kirk: Don't you ever relax?
Scott: I am relaxing.

One of Scotty's most interesting character pieces is Wolf in the Fold, in which Scotty is essential put on trial for murder, and his character is at issue. At one point, he loses all faith in the process of justice on Argelius II:

Scott: Captain, you mean my neck is gonna have to depend on some spooky mumbo-jumbo?

Just like other TOS characters, we also get to see Scotty develop further in the movies as well as in an appearance on The Next Generation. However, my favorite late Scotty scene is a funny one from The Voyage Home, in which Scotty expresses his distaste for the backwards non-voice recognition computers of the era:

Scotty: Computer! Computer?
[He's handed a mouse, and he speaks into it]
Scotty: Hello, computer.
Dr. Nichols: Just use the keyboard.
Scotty: Keyboard. How quaint.

Scotty adds yet another interesting dose of diversity and uniqueness to the cast of the original show, and he of course will always be remembered for the meme or phrase "Beam me up, Scotty." That's more than most characters have accomplished, and as such, Montgomery Scott and James Doohan made one of the best characters in Star Trek lore. Doohan would also go on to voice many of the side roles in The Animated Series as well.