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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