Saturday, June 2, 2018

Character Insight No. 286: Helena Rozhenko

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we cover Helena Rozhenko, a recurring character from TNG.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp286

Helena Rozhenko is married to Sergey Rozhenko and these human characters serve as foster patents to Worf.  They had their own son as well Nikolai, and these boys grew up as brothers while the Rozhenkos lived on a farming colony named Gault and then on Earth.

As many foster parents do, Helena adapted to her foster child, including learning how to cook many Klingon dishes for Worf.  Their many years together provided a bond that is exactly like biological parents, and we see this in the couple of appearances of Worf's parents on the show.  

The first of these is the episode Family, which was the episode where the Enterprise crew recovers from the events of the Borg incident in Best of Both Worlds.  Helena and Sergey visit Worf on the Enterprise and help support him after he had recently accepted a discommendation.  The complicated process of understanding the mix of his Klingon and human backgrounds is on full display.  Combined with the similar stories presented for Wesley Crusher and Captain Picard in this episode, we better understand both who these characters currently are as they cope with trauma, and where they come from.

QUOTE (from Family)

We also see the Rozhenkos later as they take in their grandson Alexander following the death of his mother K'Ehleyr, as Worf does not think he can provide a proper home and family for Alexander.  Of course they end up returning Alexander to Worf in the episode New Ground because Alexander fails to adjust to the human way of life.  Despite this, Alexander's grandparents remain involved and supportive as he makes his way through childhood and eventually to the Klingon Defense Force.

One interesting production anecdote is that the outfits designed for Helena and Sergey were carefully made to give the impression that these humans were strong emotionally and physically so as to survive raising a Klingon child.  Of course, the outfits were but one aspect of the family, which added depth to the already interesting character of Worf.

Helena Rozhenko was played by Georgia Brown.  Brown's acting career stemmed back to the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s through the TNG episode New Ground, as she passed away less than a year after this Star Trek performance due to complications from surgery.  She is known for her roles in the 1971 movie The Raging Moon, as well as a notable guest appearance on the TV show Cheers.

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