TWITrek Character Insight No. 75: Carol Marcus

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
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Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we continue with the Abrams timeline with a look at Dr. Carol Marcus.




Carol Marcus shows up in the Abrams timeline in the same setting as when she does in the prime timeline: in a movie about Khan. However, this time the crew is much younger and Carol Marcus is just meeting and flirting with Captain Kirk for the first time instead of being a previous lover and mother of the Captain's child. Her character was included in an initial draft of Star Trek 09, but it was cut early in refining the alternating character development scenes for Kirk and Spock.

Marcus smuggles herself aboard by forging orders for a new science officer when Spock is reassigned as first officer once again by Admiral Marcus. She serves an important role for this particular mission regarding advanced weaponry and torpedoes, as this is her specialty in applied physics. Of course, her most important contribution is being Admiral Marcus's daughter, which stops him from destroying the Enterprise when Khan is aboard.

In addition to serving these important roles, Marcus serves as more eye candy to give Uhura a break from being the only major female role. She gives Kirk a love interest, which will make for nice balance with the Spock-Uhura relationship if future movies are made about the five-year mission. She also provides the trademark horror scream for the movie trailers and the grossest moment of Into Darkness:



Our quote of the week comes from Into Darkness:
Carol: My father gave me access to every program he oversaw, when I heard he was developing these prototype torpedoes. And when I went to confront him about it, he wouldn't even to see me. That's when I discovered that torpedoes had disappeared from all official records.
Kirk: And then he gave them to me.
Carol: You're much clever than your reputation suggests, Captain Kirk.

Carol Marcus adds much needed diversity to the cast going forward, and a great English accent to join Scotty's European roots. She could be annoying with her high self-confidence bordering on being conceited, but that will likely also allow her to match wits with the womanizing Kirk of this timeline. She looks like a net positive add to the ensemble.

Actor: Alice Eve played Carol Marcus. She can also be seen in Men in Black 3, and in a starring role in She's Out of My League.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 74: Sulu

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
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Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we finally return to review characters from the Abrams timeline with a look at Hikaru Sulu.




Similar to the prime timeline, Sulu serves as helmsman aboard the Enterprise under Captain Pike and then Captain Kirk. Sulu is a Lieutenant on track for command, which allows him to fill in at the conn when the captain and first officer are away on other duties.

Indeed, the most notable scene Sulu receives in a very limited role during Into Darkness is when Sulu gets a taste of the command chair. While Kirk and Spock go to the surface of Kronos to hunt down John Harrison, Sulu hails Harrison and gives him a memorable ultimatum. That's our quote of the week from Into Darkness:

"Attention: John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced long-range torpedoes currently locked on to your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. If you test me, you will fail."

Sulu earns admiration for this from Dr. McCoy, and expresses his interest in command to Captain Kirk later in the movie. That means this timeline's Sulu is also likely headed where the prime timeline Sulu did, perhaps even to command of the same ship Excelsior.

Sulu actually plays a much bigger role in Star Trek 09, as his forgetfulness in leaving the inertial dampers on delays the Enterprise long enough to miss the destruction of the fleet interception Nero's ship. Sulu later space jumps through the atmosphere of Vulcan to land on the Narada drill and disable it with Captain Kirk, using his fencing skills. This scene seemed to be the inspiration for the real life Space Jump in 2012. Just more evidence of Star Trek making science fiction into science fact.



As mentioned during my review of Into Darkness, it is really disappointing to see Sulu's character development take a big back seat in the second movie. This is one of the lower-tier characters that could really carry more scenes if they let him in future movies.

Actor: John Cho plays Sulu in this timeline, and he is best known for his starring role in the Harold and Kumar movies as well as a bit role in the American Pie movies. In fact, he established the popularity of this term: <>

TWITrek Character Insight No. 73: Naomi Wildman

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
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Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Naomi Wildman, yet another recurring child character, this time from Voyager.
 


One of the fun and distinct aspects of Voyager was the long-term relationships, as the ship looked like it would become a generational ship on the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. Naomi Wildman was one of two children born on the voyage, but she was conceived before Voyager was lost. Thus, her mother Ensign Samantha Wildman was aboard, while her father Greskrendtregk was left back at Deep Space Nine.

Naomi was born while Voyager was duplicated in a spatial scission phenomenon, and one of the two ships was badly damaged while trying to stablilize the ships. On the disabled ship, Naomi died due to a correctable condition caused by a fetal transport, the 24th century C-section. Thus, Harry Kim carries the alive Naomi from the undamaged Voyager before that ship sacrifices itself to save the damaged version (thankfully leaving us with just one of everyone).

Wildman grew very quickly thanks to her Ktarian heritage and genes from her father. That allows her to serve the same role as Alexander in TNG and Nog in DS9, the little kid we see grow up before our eyes. At least we get an explanation this time about the ridiculous fast growth. Naomi becomes close friends with Seven of Nine after the Borg crew member joins Voyager.

Naomi also serves as Captain's Assistant once she grows up enough to hold some responsibilities. This is mostly a hospitality role, but that becomes important when other children come aboard such as the Vaadwaur and Borg in later seasons. Although sometimes annoying, Naomi serves an important role to give the crew ongoing mentoring relations with children and a sense of time to the journey back home.

Our notable quote this week comes from the episode Shattered:
Naomi: "I thought the point was to finish the puzzle."
Icheb: "And learn something about genetics."
Naomi: "If you really want to help, find me a green piece that looks like Tuvok's ear!"  
Actor: Four different actresses played Naomi, with most of the 19 appearances by Brooke Stephens as a young child and Scarlett Pomers as an older child. Stephens only appears once else in the show ER, while Pomers starred as Reba Mcentire's youngest daughter on the show Reba.



Until next time, live long and prosper...

TWITrek Character Insight No. 72: Rom

This is the latest installment in a series of "Character Insight" articles regarding the rich history of characters in the Star Trek universe.  An audio version will appear on the This Week in Trek podcast, available for direct download here.
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Welcome back to Character Insight!  This week, we profile Rom, Quark's brother on Deep Space Nine.
 


Rom serves as a waiter in Quark's bar for several years, and this process teaches him that he will likely always be a failure as a businessman. However, Rom does succeed in being a father to Nog and is a mechanical genius, which leads him to be an engineer in the Bajoran Militia.

Quark is not the first Ferengi to swindle and take advantage of Rom, as his childhood and later marriage to Nog's mother Prinadora also were littered with Rom losing all his money. Of course, this process still leaves Rom with Nog, which becomes the most important thing that keeps him moving on to become a better Ferengi.

Despite the constant fights and swindling from Quark, Rom's brother is his most treasured ally when adventures put Rom's life in danger. Quark saves Rom on multiple occasions, showing his true feelings for his brother.

Rom's tolerance of his family allows him to be named successor as the new Grand Nagus of Feringinar, as his mother is the companion of the prior Grand Nagus and serves an important role in getting him promoted to that high role following his service with the Bajoran Militia. Just like his son in Starfleet, Rom would end up making a huge difference, leading the charge in a Ferengi Alliance undergoing massive social policy changes.

Rom's best genius idea likely came during the Dominion War, when his idea for self-replicating mines effectively locked off the Bajoran Wormhole from Dominion incursion for quite some time. Even when the Dominion briefly takes over Deep Space Nine, Rom finds usefulness on the station while being a spy for the Federation. He reminds us of Barclay, an unappreciated genius who finally comes of age after a number of irritating episodes.

Our notable quote this week comes from the episode The Emporer's New Cloak:
Rom: I told you, cloaking the cloaking device was a good idea.
Quark: Brilliant. But couldn't you have done something about its weight?
Rom: Uuh... nope. But if it makes you feel any better, the cloaking device on the Defiant is a lot heavier.
Quark: Tell it to my hernia.  
Actor: Max Grodenchik played Rom, and he played minor roles on other shows such as TNG, Six Feet Under, and CSI, and in the movie Apollo 13.



Until next time, live long and prosper...