Star Trek: The Original Series/Characters: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

== Crew members of the ''Enterprise'' ==

=== Captain James T. Kirk ([[William Shatner]]) ===

[[File:tos_kirk_4513.jpg|frame]]

* [[A Father to His Men]]

* [[Acting for Two]]: In three episodes (Id!Kirk, Android!Kirk, and Mirror!Kirk) and in [[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|the sixth movie]].

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: It's not quite to the level of [[Walking Shirtless Scene]], but Kirk appears shirtless a lot in the original TV show. Mostly famously, it's caused by [[Clothing Damage]] during action sequences, but he also tends to just lounge around his quarters without a shirt and such.

* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: Spock's opponent of choice in chess games.

 

=== Commander Spock ([[Leonard Nimoy]]) ===

[[File:tos_spock_9076.jpg|frame]]

* [[Always Save the Girl|Always Save Jim Kirk]]

* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Betrothed by his family as a child. His intended bride has other ideas, and doesn't mind sacrificing Kirk for them...

* [[Token Non-Human]]

* [[The Unpronounceable]]: His real name supposedly can't be pronounced by humans.

* [[Verbal Tic]]: His endless permutations of the word "logic", and his unfailing ability to fit them into sentences, border on this.

 

=== Doctor (Lieutenant Commander) Leonard "Bones" McCoy ([[DeForest Kelley]]) ===

[[File:tos_mccoy_3729.jpg|frame]]

* [[Actor Shared Background]]: Both DeForest Kelley and Bones are natives of Georgia and have Irish sounding names.

* [[Badass]]

* [[The Watson]]

* [[What Could Have Been]]: An episode exploring his [[Backstory]] was planned and shelved at least twice. One of the main points (that he joined Starfleet as an established MD after a nasty divorce) finally saw the light of day in the [[Star Trek (film)|2009 movie]].

 

=== Lieutenant Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott ([[James Doohan]]) ===

[[File:tos_scotty_2892.jpg|frame]]

* [[Badass]]: Most people on a ship about to nova would panic, especially if they were right next to the about to explode engine core, except for Scotty, who considered that all the more reason to remain to get things fixed.

** [[Handicapped Badass]]: Scotty wasn't canonically, but his actor, who lost half a finger, was. Doohan went to great pains to conceal this on camera, but he couldn't conceal his hands 24/7, giving Scotty the unstated appearance of this trope.

* [[Mr. Fixit]]

* [[Scotty Time]] ([[Trope Namer]])

 

=== Lieutenant Nyota Uhura ([[Nichelle Nichols]]) ===

[[File:tos_uhura_6588.jpg|frame]]

* [[Action Girl]]: In "Mirror, Mirror."

* [[Bridge Bunny]]

** Also appears to show an interest in Spock in a few episodes. [[Older Than They Think|Yes, long before the prequel]].

* [[Twofer Token Minority]]

 

=== Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu ([[George Takei]]) ===

[[File:tos_sulu_6960.jpg|frame]]

* [[Absentee Actor]]: Missing for much of the second season because [[George Takei]] was filming ''The Green Berets''.

* [[Badass]]

** Sulu has a daughter named Demora Sulu in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]'', which would ''seem'' to confirm it, [[Has Two Daddies|unless...]]

*** 2016's ''[[Star Trek Beyond]]'' has confirmed that Sulu (the reboot instance of him at least) both is gay ''and'' has a daughter. With the same scene.

 

=== Ensign Pavel Chekov ([[Walter Koenig]]) ===

[[File:tos_chekhov_1941.jpg|frame]]

* [[Ambiguously Jewish]]: An idea with some popularity in the [[Fandom]], partially since [[Walter Koenig|Koenig]] (and [[Anton Yelchin]], who played him in the [[Star Trek (film)|2009 reboot]]) are Jewish.

* [[Chekov's Gun]]: Often seen with Chekov, especially on landing-party duty. Like [[Chekhov's Gun]], if it makes an appearance, it will most likely be used by the end of the episode or movie.

*** This is further compounded by the fact that he expended ''all'' the toilet paper.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: Was originally planned to be a British character. Apparently Roddenberry changed it after having a letter from the Soviet Union which praised the show's message but [[Cold War|criticized the lack of a prominent Russian character]].

 

=== Head Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett) ===

[[File:tos_chapel_70.jpg|frame]]

* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

* [[Hospital Hottie]]

* [[No Name Given|No Rank Given]]: In the series, Chapel was always addressed by her position rather than her rank. She is formally promoted to Lieutenant [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|later on in the five-year mission]], and by the time of the [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|first movie]], has an MD under her belt, and is prepared to assume the role of Chief Medical Officer. We can therefore assume that, especially given her position as ''Head'' Nurse, she was a junior officer (probably a mustanged Ensign, given her backstory).

* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: Majel Barrett was the girlfriend and eventual wife of Gene Roddenberry, which may explain why we saw Nurse Chapel so much.

 

=== Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) ===

[[File:tos_rand_1807.jpg|frame]]

* [[Beehive Hairdo]]

* [[Bridge Bunny]]: The [[Trope Codifier]].

* [[Satellite Character]]: Has no significant interaction with any character other than Kirk.

* [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]]: With Kirk.

 

=== Lieutenant Kyle (John Winston) ===

[[File:tos_kyle_5637.jpg|frame]]

* [[The Cameo]]: He's a bridge officer on the ''Reliant'' in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]''.

* [[Mauve Shirt]]: Because he was the only recurring [[Red Shirt]] not played by an extra, he usually had much more dialogue than other [[Red Shirt|redshirts]], a consistent name and position on the ship, and was allowed to play an active role in the [[Plot]] (see "The Doomsday Machine" or "Mirror, Mirror" for examples).

* [[Only One Name]]

* [[Teleporters and Transporters]]: Contrary to [[Common Knowledge|popular belief]], he was the Transporter Chief, not Scotty. Like other [[Red Shirt|redshirts]], he was occasionally seen on the bridge, though usually he was explicitly pinch-hitting for someone else (as in "Who Mourns For Adonais?" when Spock has taken command and Chekov is in the landing party, and Kyle mans the science station).

 

=== Kevin Thomas Riley (Bruce Hyde) ===

[[File:tos_riley_3136.jpg|frame]]

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Actor Bruce Hyde was cast as a crewman with a significant part in "The Conscience of the King" without anyone realizing he had also played ''uber''-[[Oireland|Irishman]] Riley in "The Naked Time". When [[Hey, It's That Guy!|the producers finally realized this]], the script was hastily re-written so that Hyde played the same character in both episodes.

* [[Dreadful Musician]]: "[[Most Annoying Sound|Iiiiii'll taaaaake you hooome again, Kathleeeeeen....]]"

* [[Oireland]]: Got his "Irish" up when under the influence of the mind virus in "The Naked Time."

* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: The reason Riley never returned after "The Conscience of the King", despite being very popular with fans, was that the actor left to become a hippie. Yes, really. Remember, this ''was'' 1967.

 

== Others ==

=== Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) ===

[[File:tos_mudd_4090.gif|frame]]

* [[Affably Evil]]

* [[The Aggressive Drug Dealer]]: "Mudd's Women".

* [[Recurrer]]: He holds the distinction of being the ''only'' non-Starfleet character in the entire series to appear in more than one episode.

* [[Trickster]]

 

== The ''Enterprise'' ==

[[File:USS Enterprise.jpg|thumb|200px]]

* [[Cool Starship]]