TWITrek Character Insight No. 71: The Traveler

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 The Traveler, a recurring character on TNG.

 

The Traveler is a mysterious all-powerful being that the crew of the Enterprise encounters shortly after the initial meeting with Q. Unlike Q, The Traveler takes more of a curiosity-based and exploratory interest in humanity and other races than the Continuum, which sees humanity like we see insects on the ground. That leads The Traveler to be far less adversarial than the iconic character played by John de Lancie.

The Traveler is first seen as an undercover agent helping Starfleet propulsion expert Kosinski develop a revolutionary new method of warp drive, perhaps an early predecessor to the transwarp drive discussed at length in Voyager. Unfortunately, the transwarp theory turns out to be bogus and Wesley Crusher sees right through Kosinski to the true genius in The Traveler. He reveals the true power of his mind and explains that his abilities are based on focusing the energy of thoughts to alter time and space.

The Traveler explains his admiration of what he sees in Wesley to Captain Picard, who subsequently give shim a field commission of ensign. So we have The Traveler to blame for all those dumb Wesley episodes throughout the length of TNG. Thanks, Mr. The Traveler. <>

However, we eventually have The Traveler to thank for ridding us of the Wesley phneomenon. The Traveler helps Wesley begin to understand his innate potential of harnessing thoughts when he helps Wesley save his mother from being trapped in her own universe. A few years later, The Traveler encourages Wesley to resign his commission and be mentored on the path to becoming like The Traveler. The Traveler was intended to be revealed as Boothby, but that revelation was scrapped in the final cut of the episode Journey's End.

Just like that, Wesley exit stage right. However, his legacy as a Traveler lives on in the books for TNG.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Where No One Has Gone Before:
The Traveler: You do understand, don't you, that thought is the basis of all reality. The energy of thought, to put in your terms, is very powerful.

Actor: Eric Menyuk played The Traveler, and the role was a consolation prize for narrowly losing out on the role of Data to Brent Spiner. He retired from acting in 1998 following some minor roles in movies such as The Babysitter and The Air Up There (yes, with Kevin Bacon).

TWITrek Character Insight No. 70: Maxwell Forrest

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 Admiral Maxwell Forrest, a recurring character on Enterprise.

 

Maxwell Forrest was the officer in charge of the NX Project and made many critical decisions as humanity learned to develop better warp drive capability. For example, he was the driving force behind convincing the Vulcans that Starfleet should continue working on the warp ships following setbacks such as the NX-Alpha exploding upon reaching Warp 2. He also puts Jonathan Archer in position to lead the Enterprise.

Thanks to a pair of flashback episodes, we see Forrest as a commodore as well as his role as admiral. We see the commodore begin to walk the balance between appeasing the Vulcans and encouraging the natural human tendency to explore.

Forrest therefore found himself in position to begin laying the foundation of the future Federation by giving orders and assignments to the crew of Enterprise that advanced those goals. Archer and his crew began to mend the damaged relationship between the Andorians and Vulcans, which became two of the founding members of the Federation. Archer even started a positive dialogue with the Klingons, although they would remain an antagonist throughout Kirk's time.

Although Forrest is often at odds with Vulcan Ambassador Soval, he shows the ultimate respect by pushing Soval out of the path of a terrorist blast while taking the brunt himself. That ended up killing Forrest, one of the few major characters to die in a Star Trek series.

Forrest was named in honor of DeForest Kelley, the late TOS actor. In many ways, Forrest is one of the first admirals that the viewers understand, as his decisions and role are more fleshed out than the "badmirals" seen commonly in movies and other series. This is a nice change of pace for a top level character in Star Trek.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Broken Bow:
Admiral Maxwell Forrest: When Zefram Cochrane made his legendary warp flight ninety years ago, and drew the attention of our new friends, the Vulcans, we realized that we weren't alone in the galaxy. Today, we are about to cross a new threshold. For nearly a century, we've waded ankle-deep in the ocean of space. Now it's finally time to swim.

Actor: Vaughn Armstrong played Maxwell Forrest, and he is possibly the most prolific actor on Star Trek. In addition to the 13 characters he played in 28 episodes across four series of Star Trek, he has appeared in television classics such as Cheers, Seinfeld, Frasier, NYPD Blue, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives, and CSI.

Armstrong is also the lead singer of The Enterprise Blues Band, a folk band made up of four former Star Trek actors. Here's a sample.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 69: Ensign Vorik

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 Ensign Vorik, an engineer and recurring character in Star Trek Voyager.

 

Vorik appears in a handful of episodes spanning from the third season to the final season of the show. For the most part, Vorik is seen assisting Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres with important engineering tasks such as reconfiguring plasma injectors and building the Delta Flyer. He shows partiuclar expertise when working with tachyon matrices, but he is unable to make a transwarp conduit back to the Alpha Quadrant.

Although Voyager explores many Vulcan story lines that focus on Commander Tuvok, Vorik gets his day in the sun in the third season episode Blood Fever. Vorik experiences a pon farr and chooses Torres to be his mate. However, his physical contact with her gives her the same neurochmeical imbalance, and this culminates in an always-entertaining Klingon on Vulcan combat.

This is one of a couple of episodes where it looks like Vorik may become a love interest for Torres. However, despite his nice actions such as reserving a table for two with her favorite view at a luau held by Neelix, she is meant to be with Tom Paris. Thus, Vorik remains a friendly engineer and bit character rather than a more major role.

Every show needs some background regulars like Vorik, especially when the crew is limited and cannot be changed out as in Voyager. It was nice for the writers to give another Vulcan some face time, especially after the absolute dearth of Vulcans in Deep Space Nine. This was a good recurring character for Voyager.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Demon:
Ensign Vorik: Indeed. According to my calculations, environmental systems will cease to function in two hours.
B'Elanna Torres: You say that like you're giving me the weather report.
Ensign Vorik: I agree the situation is dire, but losing our cool will not help matters.
B'Elanna Torres: "Losing our cool"? Where did you pick up that expression?
Ensign Vorik: Mr. Paris.
B'Elanna Torres: [pats his arm] Well, there's hope for you yet.  
Actor: Alexander Enberg played Vorrik, and he also played a similar small role as Ensign Taurik in the TNG episode Lower Decks. Outside Star Trek, Enberg has appeared in the movies Junior and America's Sweethearts.

Character Insight No. 68: The Bajoran Wormhole

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 yet another inanimate object with plenty of character, the Bajoran Wormhole from Deep Space 9.
 


The Bajoran Wormhole is the only known stable artifical wormhole in the Star Trek galaxy. This wormhole was created by the Prophets, a powerful set of beings that the Bajoran people come to worship. The Prophets themselves give this wormhole more than enough character to sustain multiple stories during the Deep Space 9 series.

The Bajoran Wormhole connects the Bajor system in the Alpha Quadrant to the Idran system in the Gamma Quadrant. That connection allows the incursion of the Dominion into the Alpha Quadrant in one of the better story arcs of this series.

Indeed, the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole and how to open it by Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax changed their posting on DS9 from a quiet outpost on the edge of Federation space into a hotbed of activity. The activity was not all bad, as exploration and trade boomed thanks to the new connection to a whole new zone full of different foreheads of the week. In my opinion, that saved this show by giving it an injection of exploring the Final Frontier, a must-have feature of any Star Trek.
In one memorable moment, the wormhole was temporarily destroyed by Dukat acting on behalf of the Pah-wraiths as he tried to force the Prophets out. However, the Celestial Temple of the Prophets proves to have at least nine lives as Sisko and company find yet another Bajoran Orb to rekindle the wormhole again.

In lieu of a notable quote, here is the great sound effect associated with the wormhole opening: 
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Actor: The visual effects that make up the Bajoran Wormhole were created by Rhythm & Hues, an early CGI pioneer. That effect took 14 weeks to complete, but turned into the signature digital effect of its time. That company continued to work on television and movie blockbusters all the way until making the Academy Award-winning visual effects for The Life of Pi in 2012. The company was broken up this year.

Thanks to @chefrevelry on Twitter for the unique suggestion!

Character Insight No. 67: Dr. Katherine Pulaski

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 Dr. Katherine Pulaski from TNG.

  

Katherine Pulaski serves as chief medical officer on Captain Picard's Enterprise during the writer's strike shortened season 2, while Beverly Crusher was temporarily serving as the head of Starfleet Medical. Pulaski came with plenty of experience, having served as CMO aboard other ships like the USS Repulse before coming aboard Enterprise. 

Although Pulaski has the rank of commander, she is not considered a bridge officer or a command officer. Nevertheless, she does make her presence felt in many ways during her short stint on the show. This includes performing emergency cardiac replacement surgery on Picard to keep him alive. 

In fact, Pulaski proves to be a groundbreaking expert both in the fields of surgery and research on viral infections. Pulaski also performed successful implantations of ocular implants, but Geordi La Forge refused such implants until well after Pulaski had left the ship. 

Pulaski brings back a dose of old world sensibility like a new Dr. McCoy, hating transporters and believing in traditional remedies like chicken soup. Her character parallels to McCoy include a relationship with Data that mirrors the Spock-McCoy tensions of TOS.

Pulaski is a seasoned veteran at poker, which helps her fit right in with the bridge crew on Picard's Enterprise. Pulaski wears a skant variation of the Starfleet uniform because the actress considered the normal TNG one piece suit to be uncomfortable and unflattering to a middle-aged woman's body.

 Our notable quote this week comes from Up The Long Ladder:
Lieutenant Worf: I am fine.
Doctor Pulaski: You're not fine, you fainted.
Lieutenant Worf: I did not faint. Klingons do not faint.
Doctor Pulaski: Excuse me, I'll rephrase: this Klingon suffered a dramatic drop in blood pressure; his blood glucose level dropped. There was deficient blood flow resulting from circulatory failure. In other words, he curled up his toes and lay unconscious on the floor.
Lieutenant Worf: Doctor, there is no need to insult me.  
  
Actor: Diana Muldaur played Pulaski. Muldaur is best known for her role on TNG and on L.A. Law as well, and she was the first woman to serve as president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She insisted on being a guest star credit in the show opening, perhaps knowing that she would not permanently stay in this role for the show.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 66: Christine Chapel

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 Christine Chapel from TOS.

 

Christine Chapel serves as head nurse aboard the Enterprise, and she regularly serves as Dr. McCoy's right hand when medical emergencies occur on the five-year mission. Chapel appears in 25 episodes, making her character straddle the role between a main character and a regular recurring character.

Chapel surrenders a promising career in biomedical research to be in Starfleet, and her reasoning stems from hope in finding her lost fiance, Dr. Roger Korby. The Enterprise finds Dr. Korby transplanted into an android replica, but his madness forces the crew to destroy him. Having nothing left to search for, Chapel decides to stay aboard and continue exploring deep space.

In addition to serving as head nurse, Chapel proves adept at being an inventive lab assistant in the field. She helps develop a theragen derivative to solve effects of passing through Tholian space, and she also successfully synthesized an agent for counteracting effects of Scalosian water. That makes Chapel a key character in numerous episodes rather than a bit character.

Following up on the discovery of Dr. Korby, Chapel turns her love interest to Spock. Chapel becomes so infatuated with Spock that it becomes well-known and sort of a running joke, especially as Spock always rebuffs her advances. The only successes in romance between these two come as a result of telekinetics in Plato's Stepchildren and a brief stint with love potion crystals from Harry Mudd.

Chapel rises in the ranks from an ensign in TOS to a lieutenant in The Animated Series, and finally, a full fledged Doctor and commander in the movies. She was to serve as chief medical officer on board the Enterprise before McCoy rejoins the crew in the first movie.

 Our notable quote this week comes from The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky:
Nurse Christine Chapel: I am a nurse first, Dr. McCoy, and a member of the crew of the Enterprise second.
Dr. McCoy: You're excused! You may return to your quarters.
Nurse Christine Chapel: No, I'm sorry, Doctor! I have called the Captain, and I'll wait until he comes!
 
Actor: Majel Barrett played Christine Chapel, and this role was added to the show because Barrett was pressuring Gene Roddenberry to stay on the show after being fired following the pilot. Barrett was having an affair with Roddenberry at the time, so he made it happen. She also starred later as Lwaxana Troi in TNG and was the computer voice for much of Star Trek's history.

TWITrek Character Insight No. 65: Travis Mayweather

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 Travis Mayweather, the helmsman in the Enterprise series.

 

Travis Mayweather has the distinction of being a main cast member profiled behind other greats in Enterprise including Porthos and Engineer Alex, both of which were non-speaking roles! However, Mayweather does not get many lines either, and his stunted character development is one of the valid criticisms of this latest Star Trek series.

Mayweather grew up a space boomer, which is a person who grows up living in space. In Travis's case, he was a talented helmsman because he learned how to fly almost anything during his youth aboard starships. His youth was filled with space shenanigans like turning off gravity plating to jump on a bed with his friend Nora. His family runs a freighter ship called Horizon, and his relations with that family are strained when he leaves the Horizon to join Starfleet.

His talents as a helmsman were put to the test in some highlight moments of the series, including traversing a Romulan minefield and surviving the Delphic Expanse to enter Xindi space. Mayweather's love of adventure and climbing sports also leads him into important away missions, such as the one where he and Malcolm Reed become the first humans to walk on a comet. He also rescued some Denobulan geologists from caverns by knowing the art of spelunking better than others on the Enterprise crew.

Mayweather, much like Harry Kim who we profiled last week, went undeveloped as a character and unpromoted throughout the run of the series. He remains an ensign from the day he boards Enterprise to the day he leaves 10 years later. The character was initially named Joe Mayweather and was a lieutenant, but this was changed when Anthony Montgomery was cast for the role.

The best episodes featuring Mayweather include Horizon, Minefield, and Terra Prime

 Our notable quote this week comes from Horizon:
Ensign Travis Mayweather: Starfleet really ought to think about putting families on starships.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: You must be joking.
Ensign Travis Mayweather: No one would ever get homesick.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Yes... Well, they'd better post a psychologist on board, because I'd need one if my parents were roaming the corridors.
 
Actor: Anthony Montgomery played Travis Mayweather. Montgomery has played mostly in television roles, although his movie career highlights include films like Why Am I Doing This? and Leprechaun in the Hood (again, not kidding).