Friday, July 6, 2018

Character Insight No. 290: Ensign Wright

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we cover Ensign Wright, a crew member and recurring character from TNG.

Wright is a background character who is seen in multiple roles on board Picard's Enterprise, specifically as a nurse and also as a flight controller or general bridge crew.  When serving on the bridge as a flight controller, he wears a red uniform and an ensign pip.  Meanwhile, when serving in sickbay as a nurse, he wears the sciences blue uniform and is seen without the rank insignia.  He's kind of a predecessor to Tom Paris, in this dual role regard.

All of his initial appearances were as a nurse, and he serves in the first two seasons of the show as an active support for both Beverly Crusher and Katherine Pulaski, Darrell's favorite doctor.  We see Wright help treat Doctor Paul Manheim when the ship rescues him in the episode We'll Always Have Paris, and we also see him revive several cryogenically preserved humans in the episode The Neutral Zone.

QUOTE - from We'll Always Have Paris

The highlight of his medical career definitely comes when Dr. Pulaski chews him out for all her problems, including the biobeds not working and having 35 emergency calls staggered across 12 decks during the Iconian program contagion of the Enterprise.  As she storms off, ensign Wright shakes his head and walks away.  Just another day in the life serving under Dr. Pulaski.

The next year he moves into the red uniform and command division roles on the bridge.  He has his bridge console explode in the episode Evolution but he avoids being harmed in this incident.  He also mans the conn in other episodes, serving alongside the main crew members on the alpha shift.

Ensign Wright is not a critical background character by any stretch, but he does show that role changes and career development can happen while serving on a deep space exploration vessel.  Wright probably swore off medicine after serving with Dr. Pulaski a year, and we can all understand that.  

Ensign Wright was played by David Eum, who was uncredited in these appearances.  He played some other background characters in the early seasons of the show, but this is his only known acting credit of note.  

-----

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


No comments:

Post a Comment