Character Insight No. 98: Ru'Afo

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 Ru'Afo from Insurrection, who comes in at number 11 on our best Trek movie villains countdown.
 
 
(When forehead of the week becomes facelift of the week)

Ahdar Ru'Afo leads the nomadic race called the Son'a during a conflict with the Ba'Ku over a homeworld including fountain-of-youth type properties. Although not revealed until late in the movie, Ru'Afo and his people were also Ba'Ku who happened to be exiled about a century earlier based on trying to take over with a new leadership regime in a coup.

Ru'Afo, like many of the Son'a, was obsessed with capturing back the youthful appearance he lost when leaving his home planet and the metaphasic rings surrounding it. These included some brutal medical procedures which included facelift equipment that apparently is lethal when used to an extreme on other races...just ask Admiral Dougherty, who came in much lower on this list of villains.

Eventually Ra'Afo decides the best way to gain back his youth is to steal the metaphasic particles from the planet, and he constructs a detailed plot with Admiral Dougherty to get that job done. Unfortunately for him, Dougherty turns on him and then the Federation's flagship brings the full force of Picard kickass down on Ru'Afo and his silly particle collector.

(Quote of the Week)
Captain Picard: Ru'afo, we're getting too old for this.
Ad'har Ru'afo: After today, that won't be a problem... for either of us.

On the bright side, only Ru'Afo goes down in flames as his followers do find a way to be reintegrated into Ba'Ku society in a happy ending. These people should've known Ru'Afo was crazy when he built up military forces to take over two peaceful races before coming back home to try and do the same.

Ru'Afo was written and acted as a relatively one-dimensional character, and his revenge-driven plot role is highly uninteresting compared to many of the great Star Trek villains. Thus, like Nero he misses out on the top 10 but he does at least come close to the really good Star Trek villains coming up soon on this list. 

F. Murray Abraham plays Ru'Afo. He has a long distinguished acting career including roles in Scarface, the Grand Budapest Hotel, and Last Action Hero. He has recently been a regular on The Good Wife TV show.

Until next time, live long and prosper...

Character Insight No. 97: Sybok

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 Sybok from The Final Frontier, who comes in at number 12 on our best Trek movie villains countdown.
 
 
(How could you not trust a face like that?)

Sybok is the son of Sarek and a Vulcan priestess, making him a half brother to Spock. He is a revolutionary in Vulcan culture, seeking experience and knowledge which were forbidden under that culture. Not surprisingly, that allows Sybok to be taken in by the God of Sha Ka Ree, a powerful entity which serves as the true top villain in this film.

Sybok actually follows a somewhat similar path as Spock of the Abrams timeline, in that he embraces his emotional side in an attempt to find better self-knowledge. He was banished for trying to recruit others to follow him in this manner, while Spock chooses his own path through Starfleet Academy, a move perhaps dictated by emotion from his human side rather than pure logic of his Vulcan blood.

Returning to Sybok, he provided a type of therapy to people by asking them to share their pain and then helping them overcome old regrets from long-buried trauma.

(Quote of the Week)
"Share your pain. Share your pain with me - and gain strength from the sharing."

These people typically then would become loyal followers to Sybok, which allowed him to amass an army which called itself the Galactic Army of Light. This group helped him kidnap three ambassadors in an effort to get a starship.

"What does God need with a starship?"

Although he does succeed in getting Spock's ship the Enterprise to the center of the galaxy, he doesn't realize he has been duped by the malevolent entity acting as the God of Sha Ka Ree until it is too late to do anything but sacrifice himself to stop the God. So unlike most villains, Sybok may end up redeemed in the end by saving Kirk, Bones, his brother, and the Enterprise.

The role was initially written for Sean Connery, and it would have been interesting to see the differences he would have brought to the role, even under William Shatner's directorship. Sybok ends up relatively low on this list because he turns out to be good, or merely misguided, in the end, which is not very villainous. Furthermore, kidnapping some ambassadors and trying to steal a starship in a search for a higher power is more understandable than some of the atrocities other trek villains have performed over the years.

With James bond not available, Laurence Luckinbill plays Sybok. Luckinbill has not acted regularly since the early 1990's, making Sybok one of his last roles. He also appears on Murder She Wrote, Law and Order, and the movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise.

Until next time, live long and prosper...

Character Insight No. 96: Jack Crusher

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 Jack Crusher from TNG.
 
 
(Ahh, the holodeck...)


Jack Crusher is the former husband of Dr. Beverly Crusher, and the father of Wesley. He is one of the only characters along with Moriarty to show up in multiple episodes, yet only as a flashback, vision, or hologram rather than a living character.

Crusher served aboard the Stargazer with Captain Picard during his first command, and they served together for a number of years. When faced with a life-or-death choice during an away mission, Picard has to deal with letting his trusted friend die as a result of an accident, and this dynamic between Picard and Dr. Crusher continues throughout the TNG series.

Jack Crusher's first appearance is as a hologram recording he creates for Wesley right after his son's birth. Beverly delivers this to Wesley on his 18th birthday, and Wesley receives a rare chance to interact with his father briefly thanks to this recording. Jack also appears as a corpse in a flashback forced upon Dr. Crusher by an alien, on the day which Picard brought his body back from the fatal accident on the Stargazer.

A little later, Jack appears in a vision quest that Wesley undertakes on a Native American world, and this vision tells Wesley he must now blaze his own trail after following his father's footsteps for most of his life. Thus, Wesley feels like he can move on later as a Traveler rather than continue down the Starfleet path.


(Quote of the Week)
Jack Crusher: You've reached the end, Wesley.
Wesley Crusher: The end of what?
Jack Crusher: This journey - one you started a long time ago. When I left you and your mother.
Wesley Crusher: You mean when you died.
Jack Crusher: You set out on a journey that wasn't your own. Now it's time to find a path that is truly yours. Don't follow me any further.

One of the more memorable anecdotes about Jack is that he proposes to Beverly with a gag gift, a book entitled How To Advance Your Career Through Marriage. One can only figure the same proposal would work on Will and Thomas Riker!

On screen, Picard never acts on his deep feelings for Beverly because he feels like that would disrespect the memory of his close friend Jack. However, in the novel series these two characters do eventually make a couple following the departure of Riker and Troi for the USS Titan, and it makes for a good complex set of relationship stories.

Doug Wert plays Crusher, and he has a long acting career highlighted by being a pretty face on some big soap operas, including One Life to Live, As The World Turns, and The Young and the Restless.

Thanks to Sunshine for the suggestion! Follow her at @SFCaptSunshine and let's have more good suggestions!

Until next time, live long and prosper...

Character Insight No. 95: Martia

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 the Trek movie villains series with Martia from The Undiscovered Country.
 
 
(Certainly the best appearance provided by this shapeshifter)


Martia comes in at number 13 on the list of top Trek villains.

Martia was a Chameloid imprisoned at Rura Penthe when Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy are sent there as a part of a ploy to frame and then kill the Starfleet officers. Martia, much like Lieutenant Valeris who appeared previously on this list, was a small player who joined the bigger conspiracy at the front lines to try and encourage war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

In this role, Martia accepted a full pardon for helping Kirk and Bones escape from the penal colony, in order to give the guards a reason to kill the officers. However, it ends poorly for Martia as the commandant of Rura Penthe shoots her before trying to kill Kirk and McCoy. Thus, this shapeshifter gets exactly what she deserves, and the Han Solo-esque smuggler does not last long in this film.


(Quote of the Week)
Martia: They'll respect you now.
Captain James T. Kirk: That's a comfort. I was lucky that thing had knees.
Martia: That was not his knee.
[Kirk looks at Martia in surprise]
Martia: Not everyone keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain.

That being said, this relatively small performance is memorable enough to make this list because the use of a changling who actually morphed on screen via CGI was very new technology in 1991.  Unlike previous uses in Willow and Terminator 2, two innovative shots included moving the camera during the morph and also morphing a character during a speaking line. Although the effect looks slightly dated now, the technology was amazing to watch at the time, making for another memorable villain.  Just like the Terminator...

In addition to cloning Kirk's appearance, Martia shows up in three forms. Her primary form is as a tall attractive woman wearing furs looking like she walked straight out of Vogue, which is fitting considering former Vogue model Iman was cast in the role. That role was also originally considered for Sigourney Weaver, which would have been an interesting change.

Martia also shows up as the Brute, a hulking man-creature played by Tom Morga, and a small human girl, played by Katie Johnston. Iman payed constant attention to the mannerisms of Tom and Katie and incorporated their habits into her role to make the character more believable. Excellent acting gesture in a fairly undeveloped role before Odo made it commonplace in Trek.

In addition to this role, Iman also appeared in Miami Vice and the Cosby Show. She stopped acting in 1999, but she has produced two recent fashion television shows.

Until next time, live long and prosper...