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• Chief medical officers
• Enterprise (NX-01) personnel
• Time travellers
• USS Endeavour (NCC-06) personnel
• View history
• 1.2 Early life and career
• 1.3 Enterprise
• 1.4 Endeavour
• 1.5 Post- Endeavour
• 1.6 Continuing influence
• 2 Alternate timeline
• 3.1 Connections
• 3.2 Background information
• 3.3 Appearances
• 3.4 External link

Biography [ ]

Like most Denobulan males, Phlox had three wives, who in turn each had three husbands. His first wife was Vesena who bore his eldest son, Vleb . His second wife was Feezal , with whom he had a daughter, Vaneel , and who once visited him aboard Enterprise . His third wife was Nullim , who bore his youngest son, Mettus . Phlox had two other children, another son, Tullis , and another daughter. ( ENT episodes : " Dear Doctor ", " Stigma ", " Zero Hour ", ENT - Rise of the Federation novel : Live by the Code )

Early life and career [ ]

Phlox was born in the first half of the 2080s . ( ENT - Rise of the Federation novel : Live by the Code )

Phlox began his career as a doctor in 2114 . ( ENT episode : " Damage ")

He also served as chairman of immunology at his alma mater. Phlox was considered honorable. ( CCG set: ST , card: "Phlox")

Enterprise [ ]

In February of 2152 Phlox was assigned to decontaminate the quarters of Crewman Daniels , who had been revealed to be a time-traveler from the 31st century . While in Daniels' quarters, Phlox discovered a device that allowed him to travel through time at will. He decided to use the device to time travel to 2124 and rescue Xesophia , then the love of his life, before the accident in which she drowned. He speculated that if she had lived he would have married her.

The device didn't work as Phlox hoped, and he was only able to travel back ten months, shortly after Enterprise 's launch. With Daniels' assistance, Phlox was able to use the device to return to the proper time, but not before glimpsing a possible future in which Enterprise was under attack by Nausicaan pirates . ( ENT short story : " Cabin E-14 ")

Endeavour [ ]

Following the end of the Earth-Romulan War and the founding of the United Federation of Planets Phlox was assigned to the Federation starship USS Endeavour under the command of Captain T'Pol . He was one of several Enterprise officers and crew to be assigned to Endeavour . ( ENT - Rise of the Federation novel : A Choice of Futures )

By 2165 his daughter Vaneel had fallen in love with the Antaran Pehle Retab , and the couple married in mid 2165. The wedding was marred when Pehle's father Sohon Retab was murdered by Phlox' son Mettus. The murder of the elder Retab - a popular figure among the Antaran people - caused considerable tension between the Denobulan and Antaran people. The Denobulan government was considering extraditing Mettus when he was kidnapped by the True Sons of Antar , an extremist group that wanted to conduct a show trial followed by an execution.

Phlox traveled to Antar where he convinced their Central Investigation Bureau to mount a raid to stop the True Sons. Phlox saved the life of Mettus by taking a shot from the True Sons leader that was meant for him. Phlox soon recovered from his injuries and visited his son in the Antaran prison where he was being held. In that clean and relatively comfortable facility, Mettus had a great deal of time to think about what he had done. The two men finally came to terms with Mettus' crime, and with each other. ( ENT - Rise of the Federation novel : Live by the Code )

Post- Endeavour [ ]

By the 2250s , Phlox was a teacher at Starfleet Academy . In the 2260s , Phlox had left his position to do exploring, at which point he found himself filling in temporarily as doctor on Epsilon Zeta VII . He helped USS Enterprise CMO Leonard McCoy , Dr. Jabilo M'Benga , and Nurse Christine Chapel find a cure to a virus at the Epsilon Zeta 7 Outpost . ( ST comic : " Flesh and Stone ")

Continuing influence [ ]

By the mid- 23rd century , the Phlox Prize for Medicine had been named in his honor. Dr. Othello Beck received it in 2241 . ( TOS comic : " Year Four, Issue 1 ")

After the Albino had bombed the peace conference on Korvat in 2291 , Doctor Christine Chapel studied material written by Phlox to better understand the Albino and his condition. ( TLE novel : Excelsior: Forged in Fire )

In the year 2375 , Phlox' notes on a malady known as Vulcans scourge were crucial to Doctors Julian Bashir and Beverly Crusher on Federation starbase Deep Space 9 in their efforts in finding a cure for a virus created by the Dominion that targeted Vulcans . ( ST short story : " Mirror Eyes ")

By the year 2376 , a medical research facility named the Phlox Institute had been named in his honor. Katherine Pulaski served at the Phlox Institute until at least 2379 . ( SCE eBook : Progress ; TNG novel : A Time for War, A Time for Peace )

Phlox's influence was felt in the 2380s when a virus similar to the Epsilon Zeta VII one affected the Space Station Diamandis 1 . A Starfleet team's consultations with Admiral Leonard McCoy revealed the story behind the Epsilon Zeta infection and Phlox's assistance in resolving that situation, leading to the resolution of the Diamandis situation. ( ST comic : " Flesh and Stone ")

Alternate timeline [ ]

In an alternate timeline in which John Frederick Paxton destroyed Starfleet Command and ended the talks for the Coalition of Planets in 2155 , Phlox left the Enterprise in 2161 , following the Isolationist Party 's takeover of the Parliament of United Earth . He returned to his family on Denobula. He had died prior to 2264 .

By 2264 , his great-grandson Vleb was the Denobulan ambassador to the Interstellar Coalition and attended the conference on Babel that year to consider United Earth 's petition for membership. During the conference, he related one of Phlox's less-than-complimentary stories about Captain Jonathan Archer to Ambassador Nancy Hedford . ( TOS - Myriad Universes novel : A Less Perfect Union )

Appendices [ ]

Connections [ ], background information [ ].

Phlox's comic book debut

• Phlox was the first Enterprise character to have appeared in a comic when he was featured in a brief flashback to the events of the ENT episode : " Divergence " in the ST - Klingons - Blood Will Tell comic : " Against Their Nature ".
• Phlox made his second appearance in the ST comic : " Flesh and Stone ".
• The Star Trek: The Fall novel Revelation and Dust mentions a character named Delinia Phlox , although no connection to Doctor Phlox was specified.
• Phlox's full name of Phlox-tunnai-oortann was established in the writer's bible for Enterprise , however it was never used on screen.

Appearances [ ]

External link [ ].

• Phlox article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 The Chase
• 3 Preserver (race)

Why Enterprise's Dr. Phlox Is The Greatest Star Trek Character

(Welcome to Yesterday's Enterprises , a series where we explore every corner of the vast "Star Trek" universe. In this edition: a tribute to Dr. Phlox, one of the all-time-great "Trek" characters.)

For any neophytes that may be reading, the uniforms on "Star Trek" are colored to coordinate with their department. On the original series, those who are on the command track wear gold uniforms. Those in engineering or security wear red, and those involved with medicine or the sciences wear blue. For reasons that have never been adequately, canonically explained, gold and red switched functions at the start of " Star Trek: The Next Generation ." The colored uniforms not only offer a very basic visual variety to the show — how dull if every single character wore the same clothes — but also lent a vital sense of structure to "Star Trek." A Federation starship was, audiences could immediately intuit, a massively complicated place that required multiple experts in various disciplines in order to function properly. 

As such, each character would be infused with different concerns. A security officer would, for instance, be more concerned with keeping the ship safe than, say, a diplomatic command officer who would be more willing to take risks as a show of good faith. Multiple points of view, then, were baked into the very premise of the show, codifying Trek as its own kind of astral agora, a meeting place where various solutions to complex problems would be entertained. 

Always existing somewhat apart from the other departments on "Star Trek" were the Starfleet medical officers. Each "Star Trek" series to date (" Star Trek: Prodigy " notwithstanding) has featured a clear-headed, professional CMO whose job it is to look after the physical well-being of the crew. They were often present on away missions — Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) especially — but their concerns were often more immediate than the captain's mission. They only had to protect people from injury. The CMO's ethic was always more direct.

And that brings us to Dr. Phlox, one of the greatest "Star Trek" characters of all time. 

Of all the doctors on "Star Trek," Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley) from " Star Trek: Enterprise " was perhaps the best. A Denobulan — a species unseen until the premiere of "Enterprise" — Dr. Phlox was perhaps one of the happiest, most intelligent, most upbeat characters in all of "Star Trek" lore. Phlox served as the CMO aboard the original Enterprise, the very first long-range Starfleet vessel devoted to exploration and diplomacy. "Enterprise" took place about a century prior to the events of the original "Star Trek" and saw a starship crew operate in a world that had yet to invent common "Star Trek" technologies like shields, tractor beams, transporters (that were safe for living things) ... and the Prime Directive. It was very much a frontiersmanship-forward show, and there was going to be no Federation safety net for the characters to fall back on. 

The tone of "Enterprise" was very eager, but also nervous. Captain Archer ( Scott Bakula ), and the audience, could figure out "Star Trek" as it went along. Offering an emotional anchor to the proceedings was Dr. Phlox. He was on the ship as part of an inter-species exchange program, and he was eager and excited to serve. Phlox was no starry-eyed idealist, though — that was Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Instead, Phlox was an experienced professional who had long ago come to the understanding that the straightest path to growth was through travel, exposure to other cultures, and learning to better himself. In brief, Phlox already represented Starfleet ideals before they were canonically codified. He was the gentle teacher, the doting professor, the patient parent, and the enthused tourist of "Enterprise."

But also something of a goofball.

Just excited to be here

In the episode "A Night in Sickbay" (October 16, 2002), Captain Archer had to stay up through the wee hours concerned that his beloved Beagle Porthos was mysteriously sick. In his night sojourn, he spent a lot of time with Dr. Phlox and learned a lot about the way his CMO approached medicine. The captain found that Dr. Phlox had found curatives everywhere, including in the organs and excretions of the many exotic, alien animals he kept in sickbay. Also, thanks to his species' hibernation cycle — he sleeps for about a week at a time, then stays awake for months — Phlox was able to stay up with Archer, happy to psychoanalyze his fretting captain. Phlox possesses multiple degrees in medicine and psychiatry. 

Even as he was performing surgery on a dog or asking about Archer's mother, Phlox radiated a strange, infectious jollity. Phlox perhaps reflected the excitement most Trekkies themselves would have, should they suddenly be transported into the imaginary world of "Star Trek." 

Additionally, "Star Trek" doesn't necessarily have the best track record when it comes to progressive notions of sex and sexuality. Many early episodes of the 1966 series were staggeringly sexist, and Gene Roddenberry's notions of "free love for Gene" were too often part of the shows he created. In that tradition, " Enterprise " was typically a pretty lascivious show. It featured multiple scenes of crewmates having to strip to their underwear and slather each other with medicinal salve every time they returned from an away mission. The salve scenes were clearly part of a (pathetic) effort to boost ratings with oily skin.

Phlox's sexuality

Phlox, standing counter to the show's own occasional bouts of adolescent lasciviousness, lived in a blissful polycule arrangement with multiple wives and husbands. When one of his wives visits the Enterprise, she flirts heavily with Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), the ship's engineer. At first, Tucker is taken aback, but is made uncomfortable when Dr. Phlox explains that his marriage is quite open. He has three wives and his wife has two additional husbands including him. Each one of her husbands also has three wives, and so on. When Tucker points out that it sounds complicated, Phlox smiles and says "Very." While the makers of "Enterprise" are nervously tittering about stripping the cast naked, Phlox is busy being happily polyamorous. 

That's not to say that Phlox is not a character with complexity and principles. According to the way he practices medicine, the will of the patient takes precedence over his ability to heal. When asked to violate a patient's wishes, Phlox refuses. Captain Archer points out that he must first do no harm, to which the Denobulan comes back with "Hippocrates was a human." He aids people according to their wishes, and is concerned with the people in front of him. He is moral and insular and capable. 

And, of course, all credit to Billinglsey for infusing Dr. Phlox with all of his most appealing qualities. Billingsley is an astonishingly good actor who played well with whoever he shared the screen with, immediately forming chemistry and a rapport. He gave the character his sense of awe, but also his maturity. 

And what else does "Star Trek" pivot on than awe and maturity?

• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Feb 5, 2003

T'Pol is diagnosed with a possibly fatal neurological disease as a result of a mind meld. Meanwhile, one of Phlox's wives visits Enterprise and becomes very interested in Trip. T'Pol is diagnosed with a possibly fatal neurological disease as a result of a mind meld. Meanwhile, one of Phlox's wives visits Enterprise and becomes very interested in Trip. T'Pol is diagnosed with a possibly fatal neurological disease as a result of a mind meld. Meanwhile, one of Phlox's wives visits Enterprise and becomes very interested in Trip.

• David Livingston
• Gene Roddenberry
• Rick Berman
• Brannon Braga
• Scott Bakula
• John Billingsley
• Jolene Blalock
• 10 User reviews
• 4 Critic reviews

• Capt. Jonathan Archer

• Sub-Cmdr. T'Pol

• Lt. Malcolm Reed

• Ensign Travis Mayweather

• Ensign Hoshi Sato

• Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

• (as Jeffrey Hayenga)

• Vulcan Doctor
• Vulcan Official
• (uncredited)

• Ensign Billy

• Engineer Alex
• Vulcan Medical Technician
• Enterprise Sciences Crewman

• Brannon Braga (showrunner)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia This is the first appearance of Denobulans other than Phlox on the series.
• Goofs In Fusion (2002) it was implied that the ancient Vulcan technique of the mind meld had only been recently rediscovered by a small group, and that the general population - including T'Pol - had never even heard of it. Just a year later in "Stigma," it is revealed that the mind meld has already been well known for some time, as the subject of an ongoing society-wide controversy.

Sub-Commander T'Pol : I have Pa'nar Syndrome. It doesn't make a difference how I contracted it.

Captain Jonathan Archer : It makes a lot of difference. You're not a member of this minority. He forced himself on you, you said it yourself.

Dr. Phlox : He's right, T'Pol, you should tell them.

Sub-Commander T'Pol : He is not right. If I used that as a defense as a way to keep from being taken off Enterprise, I'd be condoning their prejudice, and in the process indicting every member of the minority. I won't do that.

• Connections Referenced in Star Trek: Enterprise: Kir'Shara (2004)
• Soundtracks Where My Heart Will Take Me Written by Diane Warren Performed by Russell Watson Episode: {all episodes}

User reviews 10

• planktonrules
• Mar 27, 2015
• How can a biological/physical illness (namely, Pa'nar Syndrome) be transmitted through mental telepathy?
• February 5, 2003 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Network Television
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 43 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Star Trek Enterprise: 3 great Dr. Phlox moments

By chad porto | may 20, 2021.

It’s Star Trek: Enterprise’s John Billingsley birthday, so let’s look at his turn as Dr. Phlox.

It’s John Billingsley’s birthday so we decided to take a look at Dr. Phlox and three of his best moments during his tenure on Star Trek: Enterprise . During Billingsley’s time on the show, he turned Phlox into one of the more unique and grounded characters. His portrayal of Phlox was far more nuanced than some of the previous doctors, with him at odds on occasion with his captain, Jonathan Archer.

There were of course the hilarity that ensued with his culture and how it bounced off the rest of the crew. Trip Tucker’s face, when Phlox is encouraging Trip to sleep with Phlox’s wife, was great, but only because of how bemused Phlox was when suggesting such a thing. Then of course there were the events of Dear Doctor, a controversial episode but one that still delivers that Star Trek magic.

The list below is just three of the best moments, as they’re many and we have only so much time in a given day.

Three of the best Dr. Phlox moments on Star Trek: Enterprise

Dr. phlox and captain archer bond over porthos’ recovery (a night in sick bay).

A Night in Sick Bay is one of my personal episodes, and it’s partly because of the Phlox and Archer-odd ball pairing, and partly because Porthos gets so much screen time. It was an excellent episode of a man trying to understand his alien comrades and teach them about the bond that a man can have with a dog. Plus they went full slapstick when a bunch of bats got out and that was just the frosting on an already great episode.

Dr. Phlox handles the tribble population correctly (The Breach)

An underappreciated pairing in the show was Phlox and Hoshi Sato. The two were always a fun pairing but maybe no more interesting than when Phlox introduced Hoshi to the tribble. As long-time fans know, the tribbles are gerbils on steroids. They mate all the time and can quickly take over a ship in hours. Phlox explains them to Hoshi in mid-stride, telling her that the creatures are kept in check on their homeworld because of the reptiles that reside there. Hoshi seems intrigued and then Phlox throws the tribble into a cage to be eaten. Most of Phlox’s best moments are because of the reactions he gets people to have.

Dr. Phlox reminds T’Pol about her mission (Broken Bow Part 1)

One of the big early arcs on the show was T’Pol wrestling with her bias and prejudices towards the human crew, and how it makes her look to her Vulcan brothers and sisters. Something that Phlox himself has noticed. He reminds her of a Vulcan saying, “Infinite diversity, infinite combinations.” Having reminded T’Pol of this, he points out what the ship’s mission is to seek “infinite diversity”, and suggests that a cultural exchange between her crewmates and her Vulcan brethren would be a furthering of the ship’s mission.

It’s a quiet scene that did a lot to set up her character growth throughout the series.

dark. Next. Producers considered setting Enterprise in Mirror Universe

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Interview: John Billingsley On Dr. Phlox’s Sex Life, ‘Enterprise’ Getting Dark, And Life After Star Trek

| May 21, 2020 | By: Anthony Pascale 26 comments so far

After spending four years as Dr. Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise , John Billingsley has kept active, appearing in dozens of television shows. He will next be seen in the second season of the Amazon Prime series Homecoming . TrekMovie checked in with the veteran character actor to talk about his time working on Enterprise and life after Star Trek.

WARNING: Interview contains adult language.

So often I am watching TV, some random show, and I go, “Hey, there’s John Billingsley!”

You have encapsulated my career brilliantly. Random! Random and arbitrary appearances on oddball shows of limited value.

You seem to be constantly working, and you had an active career as a character actor before Star Trek: Enterprise . Many actors who have starred in Star Trek have found it hard to get work afterward. Did you see your time on Trek as a help or a hindrance with casting agents and producers?

It’s funny, the public perception of an actor’s career so rarely lines up with what the actor himself perceives it to be like. From my point of view, I felt like I was in dry dock for about a year after Star Trek ended. My sense memory is there was some thumb twiddling after the show. It was not because of what can happen if you have been on a TV show, particularly a genre show, where you get typecast. Much of it was because we were on UPN and a low-rated show, so in the eyes of the community, I just disappeared for a number of years. It’s funny, because the casting community itself is kind of balkanized. There are casting directors that really keep their finger on the pulse of everything and there are some who are somewhat more narrow. And if you are not on a show on a particular network, or not on a prestige drama or not doing film, they aren’t really paying attention. So, I kind of fell between the cracks and I did have to work to reintroduce myself.

While you were on Star Trek, you did do some outside work, like a fun episode of Stargate . Did you keep doing outside work to stay in the eye of casting directors, and did doing outside work create any issues with Trek producers?

No, they were always very gracious to me. I didn’t pursue it as much after the first year or two, in part because they started to utilize me more and in part because I didn’t want to push the envelope past uncomfortability. But I did do it during the first couple of years, because when you are cast you never know how much of an ensemble show it is going to be. It became apparent fairly early on that the triangular relationship between the Captain, T’Pol, and Trip was really going to drive the show more. So, it seems there was more space for me to go away and do other things. I don’t think I was aggressive and sought them, because I didn’t want them to think I wasn’t happy on the show. Things kind of came to me and asked if it was alright and they were gracious enough to say yes.

Your next stop on the television dial is on the Amazon show Homecoming . You’re in the season two premiere which drops on Friday. Can you tell us about that role?

I am only in the first episode, but it is a nice part. I did have a lot of time with Janelle Monae, who is this season’s lead. In terms of what I can tell you about it if you have seen the movie Out of Time , it is a part that is redolent of my Out of Time role. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but it was fun. I probably had as much fun doing that single episode as I have had on a set in many years. One, because of the lovely people, and two, because every now and again you really click into what they want, and they know you have clicked in and they give you a lot of freedom. I felt I had a lot of freedom with that part to let it be what I wanted to be. And the writing was lovely.

John Billingsley in Homecoming

You have done so many parts and I can only assume some from the CSIs and NCISs start to blend together. Are there any other recent roles you have clicked for you?

The life of an itinerant character actor frequently, and particularly on television, you are really asked to play to certain aspects of a formula. Especially if you are cast in a secondary or tertiary role. So, it is rare to have a part where you really feel like there is a wide range of color and certain ambiguity to the way it is written that allows you to shade it interesting fashions.

I don’t mean this to be a knock on network television, but as you say the CSIs, the NCISs, you are the red herring, in which case your role is to be vaguely guilty-looking, basically, but you are not the real killer. Or you are the real villain or murderer, in which case you are charming but slimy underneath. Or the corpse, in which case your role is to die pretty damn quick. Not a hell of a lot to do with that.

The moments when you feel like, “This is fun, this is juicy,” they can be few and far in between. It is a reason I spend so much of my time doing social work, to be honest with you. I really like to act, but the opportunities to do cool, great, fun stuff are somewhat fleeting.

Last week I interviewed Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating and you joked with us on Twitter that they saw you as the paterfamilias of the show. But in all seriousness, you and Scott were the more experienced actors on the show, so did you find yourself sharing some of your Hollywood wisdom with some of the younger actors?

Well, Dominic is only a couple of years younger, and I don’t think anyone is going to share any wisdom with Dominic! [laughs] I love him to death, but that is not in his nature. I was friendly with everybody. I liked everybody very much. To the extent that my personality is maybe breezier than some others, I might have been inclined to say, “You know, calm down, relax, let it go.” Sometimes that is welcomed, sometimes that is not welcomed. Beyond that I don’t know if I can genuinely lay claim to playing the paterfamilias role. Scott is a different animal, because as one, the star of the show, and two, as a sort of quarterback figure, he has the capacity to embody and command respect in certain ways.

Speaking of telling people to calm down. Dominic is now able to talk about that time on set when he lost it wearing the EVA suit. As someone who had to spend hours every day putting on and wearing makeup under hot lights, did you have any sympathy for him?

Yes and no. Those spacesuits were fucking awful. When I had to wear one, I was in a spacesuit and in makeup and I am no athlete, so for me those were hellacious days. I loathed them. So I had sympathy. That director was sometimes inclined to say, “Let me just take one more shot, let’s put the camera down here, I think it would be cool if you looked up your nostrils.” In a spacesuit! I don’t think you need one more fucking shot! So I understood where Dominic was coming from. What I particularly loved is the sound department did capture that screed and I confess I would bring guests to the sound booth and would say, “Before you work with Dominic, I just want you to listen to this.” [laughs] That was mean of me. But I would always say I was kidding, and he was a sweetheart, but it just makes me laugh. I wish I bootlegged it to play at conventions. No one can swear like Dominic.

We learned a lot about Phlox and the Denobulans over the years, do you feel satisfied with the work, and the character arc?

I don’t know if I could say I had much of an arc. I really liked the character, because it is closer to my temperament and worldview and outlook than almost any other part I have played. I really appreciated what a gift it was to be able to play the guy. He is such a positive person. It is not like he is naïve. He is nobody’s fool. He had that rare ability to keep things in perspective even under the worst of circumstances. He had a sense of the cosmic significance of things. I thought that was lovely.

In terms of what actually happened to him over the arc of time, I don’t think he went through a tremendous amount of variation. There was no real sense of growth based on circumstance, as happens in some shows.

They did keep throwing new things that we learn about Denobulans and Phlox. Were you happy with taking those things on, like having multiple wives…

I did like that! I was trying very hard to suggest he had a polyamorous relationship with the boys as well as the girls. I do tell people I was the first gay character on Star Trek, whether you were aware of it or not. [laughs] The only one I took exception to with Phlox was the story that posited that they had a long race war with another culture and Dr. Phlox was in the Denobulan infantry. I could never really wrap my brain around that. That didn’t feel quite right.

It’s hard when you are asked to play an alien and there had never been a Denobulan before, you have no idea what a Denobulan is. I only had a couple of small scenes in the pilot script with the doctor, so it is not a lot to pin a characterization on out of the gate. I had envisioned that the Denobulans were the last of a monastic order and there were very few left because they had chosen to die off by not propagating. So, when it turned out they were the biggest fuck bunnies in Star Trek history and came from a planet of a gajillion, so where the fuck were they all these years?

You say you and Phlox share a lot. Do you feel that the writers picked up on your breezier vibe and worked that into the character?

You never really know, do you? The optimism and the guy’s general esprit was there on the page before they hired me. But I guess what you want to think as an actor is you ground it in certain ways that allow the writers to feel they can be more playful with you without it becoming silly. If there were anything I would look back on and feel by and large pretty good at, is that I carried a good amount of the comedy of the show without ever slipping into making him a less than human figure that you cared less about.

John Billingsley showing off one of Phlox’s special abilities on Star Trek: Enterprise

You were a big part of helping to keep the show lighthearted. As the show transformed in the post 9/11 era it went to some dark places…

I wasn’t crazy about that. I have such mixed feelings about season three. I think Manny Coto is a marvelous writer and I really appreciate a lot of what he had to say. I also think he wrote a couple of episodes that are—and I say this as a progressive—that I think were very astute and right on. He also had come from 24 and there were a number of episodes that I felt were essentially the moral posture that morality is a luxury in times of war and is a disposable property. There are times with that old cliché of a ticking time bomb if you have to throw the guy out of the airlock, by god that is what you are going to do because civilization, blah, blah, blah.

In the first season an arc began developing involving Phlox and Crewman Cutler. Sadly, Kelly Waymire passed away. First, what was it like working with Kelly, and do you know where that storyline might have been headed?

I know that they really liked her and am pretty sure they would have wanted to have her back. She was also on the cusp of taking off. She had a really nice arc on Six Feet Under at roughly the same time. So you don’t know if they would even have been able to bring her back. If they had her return, I have no idea if they would have played up the potential romantic angle between us. That would have been marvelous. That would have been great. I so liked working with her. When she passed away there were a lot of folks in my orbit that were devastated by it. Such a lovely person, it was very sad.

They did start pairing you up more with Linda Park’s Hoshi. That wasn’t romantic, but you developed a nice bond. Were there actors on the show where you worked to develop that kind of chemistry with?

I enjoyed working with everybody for different reasons. Each of those characters had their own interesting stories and Phlox’s relationships with each was different. Getting back to what we were talking about earlier, if I had a paterfamilias role to play on the show, it was in relation to Linda’s character. Hoshi early on was more scared and a fish out of water. And Phlox’s role with her was to say, “Chill babe, you got this.” And that was one of the things that marked our relationship over the arc of the seasons, even if they didn’t play that up a ton in later episodes.

I enjoyed working with everyone. There is one particular episode—“A Night in Sickbay”—and I understand why some didn’t like it because it might have tipped over a line and made that captain seem a little silly. But for me it was my favorite episode for being able to spend concentrated time with Scott, who I just love as a guy. And it was a fun episode because there was a lot of color in it, in terms of the different things we got to play. There was an Odd Couple kind of thing. There was the honest pathos of how painful it was for Scott to feel he was losing his beloved pet and my own incredulity that this can be such an issue to him. I really enjoyed that episode and I was sorry that Scott didn’t have the chance to work more together like that.

John Billingsley and Scott Bakula in “A Night in Sickbay”

You recently had a chance to reunite with Brannon Braga. What can you tell us about that project?

[Laughs] Well, you will never see it on screen. It was a movie for Hulu called The Book of Blood , which is based on a Clive Barker work. I am not a huge horror fan and don’t usually want to do horror movies. But it was shot in Nova Scotia and I had never been and since it was around Thanksgiving, I could turn it into a vacation. And Brannon was directing. It was a guy who had crossed the mob and the vengeance they took was to have me tied up and eaten alive by rats. It was actually a really good five-page scene. Very tense and fraught. I gather that they had to do some significant rewrites and couldn’t figure out how to keep that, so they had to scrap it. But it was so much fun to work with Brannon as a director, which I never got to do on Star Trek, and hang out with him a little bit. It was a real treat. Brannon and Rick were around during the Enterprise years. There were episodes that I wasn’t in all that much, so I never really got to be as chummy with them as I think some of the other fellows did. Getting to know Brannon better has been quite meaningful to me. He is such a sweet man.

You did an episode of The Orville ; did you have much time with him then?

No, he was off doing Cosmos when I was there. You know I was told that Seth MacFarlane does a killer Dr. Phlox impersonation. I asked him to do it for me, but he never would. I want to hear it! Nobody does a Dr. Phlox.

Another great thing about working on The Orville is I got to work with Molly Hagen, who is a wonderful actress, and Bob Picardo, who is such a love. One of the great joys of Star Trek is that it is one big family. Down the years I have got know a lot of the actors from the other shows. Bob and I got to be such good friends and it is always great fun to hang out with him.

Bob is famous hounding the writers with ideas. Did you do any of that?

No, not really. Well a little bit, in part because I had heard from Bob about that. And as the doctor, I felt I guess it was my job to go a little. I had a couple of friends of mine who were writers and we went in to pitch some ideas with them and they really elaborated on some ideas and I think we got through one or two sentences in for each pitch and Brannon would shake is head and say, “Nope, done it, nope, done it.” [Laughs] So I found that experience discouraging enough to not go back. I did have a hibernation idea and they did put Phlox into hibernation. I don’t think I pitched it directly, but maybe it got back to them through the office watercooler. The other idea was after I had lost some weight in season three and at the time, I was suddenly skinnier. I pitched the idea to have Dr. Phlox have a tapeworm that actually had to be pulled out of his ass and it was so long they put it out an airlock and then it wrapped itself around the ship and we were caught in Dr. Phlox’s tapeworm.

I can’t imagine why they didn’t do that!

I don’t know either! My other idea was they should pick up a Denobulan ship in distress and everyone on the ship look exactly like me. But they are all real slobs. They leave their empty dishes lying around. They scatter clothes everyone. So, the whole ship goes to shit, like a giant pigpen of Phlox lookalikes behaving badly. But they didn’t like that either. So, I said, “Fuck it!” Picardo was pitching opera and fancy pants stuff. I just went for gutter humor.

Do you have anything booked once the world goes back to normal?

Fingers crossed. I had just been cast in a pilot for a CBS sitcom called Jury Duty . It was a recurring role as a defense attorney and a fairly hapless defense attorney in a trial. The show is primarily about the people on the jury. It’s kind of like a workplace comedy. It is a very funny script. Right before we were about to go into production, we all got shut down. CBS couldn’t pick up the show without having a pilot, so everything has been pushed until 2021 when we will hopefully shoot the pilot and it gets picked up for a series.

If you got a call to do work this year when the lockdown ends, do you feel comfortable going to a set?

Let’s say come August, which from what I am hearing is the earliest anything is going to come back if we are where we are right now with no vaccine, and social distancing and masks are still the order of the day. If Hollywood starts calling on August 1 will I go back? I honestly don’t know. I wish I could say. Probably it would have a lot to do with how they explain what their policies are. I think that is what they are going to have to do before they can convince a lot of people to come back.

You talked about how social work has become such a big part of your life, as the president of the board of the Hollywood Food Coalition . How has the group responded to the COVID?

What this all has revealed is how fractured our social safety net is and how fractured our food delivery systems are. Oddly, because a lot of people are perceiving the ongoing threat, there has been a tremendous outpouring of charitable support. So, we have been able to hire. We have been able to increase the amount of food we can rescue. We are serving as many as 350 people a night. We are sharing the food we rescue with 20 other organizations. We are sitting down with a lot of other community organizations and non-profits and talking about how we can collectively help build better structures in our community to help people in need down the years. So, bizarrely, in a time of great crisis and bleakness, it is boom time for what I am doing in my life. I am working harder than I have ever worked. It is a little terrifying. I am an actor for god’s sake. How I got to be this, the president of the board of a social service organization is kind of a staggering story. And my wife is now the co-head of food procurement and logistics.

John Billingsley working at the Hollywood Food Coalition

Go to hofoco.org to find out how you can support the organization with donations or volunteering in the Southern California area.

Keep up with all the interviews at TrekMovie.com .

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If CBSAA were to revive ANY Trek show and keep it looking similar to the original, it would be a new season of Enterprise. Set it 10 years after “Demons” (when Trip is still alive, 5 years prior to TATV). Make it a 6 episode miniseries! Low budget, doesn’t need huge FX.

Now is the time!

Not enough interest, unfortunately – it would never happen

You’re absolutely right. But, I think if the studio wanted to REALLY throw an olive branch to fans, and do something smaller, with a lower budget, it would be this. You don’t need $10M episodes. You could make a 4-6-episode mini series for $10M.

I think it’s worth doing, but I am also a realist, and know they won’t.

I’d love an Enterprise revival although I think you might be a little out on your timeline. Season 1 of Enterprise was set in 2151 and the Federation was formed in 2161 so at best Demons was about 5 years prior to TATV. I’m inclined to Agree with Arathorn that it’s unlikely to happen but you never know. Obviously the Romulan war would be an exciting time to depict in a Star Trek series and it’s generally presumed the the NX-01 would have played a big role in it. I just think there’s too much baggage and not enough interest in an Enterprise revival outside of us hardcore fans. I think the most realistic route might be to do a project with a new ship and crew set during the Romulan war. Enterprise could appear in it and perhaps some of the more high profile characters could star in such a series alongside a new cast. Obviously we know that Archer remained in command of the Enterprise until the birth of the Federation but then we also knew that Pike was in command of the 1701 until he handed the reigns to Kirk. That didn’t exactly stop him skippering Discovery for a full season. I’d prefer a straight up season 5 but if that was to prove unrealistic then I think something like this could provide adequate closure for Enterprise whilst potentially providing a springboard for a new cast of characters to explore the earliest days of the Federation.

Enterprise is the most underrated Star Trek show ever. It’s not great but it is interesting. I was watching it on Netflix at one part. The interview was thoughtful and informative.

I enjoy the fact that Enterprise stayed lighthearted in the post 9/11 era. We could use some of that now in the COVID-19 era.

He was on The Orville, wow! The Orville is the adoptive little brother of Star Trek.

Yeah. His character had a vendetta against Robert Picardo’s character. It was fun seeing the two of them together.

That was badass! Phlox vs. the EMH

Agreed, Ninja. And am I the only one who prefers seasons 1 & 2 to season 3 & 4?

I’ll grant you that there were some great moments in S1.

The Xindi arc in S2 never caught my interest and I’ve never been able to make myself watch it through.

Our kids have finally got into watching Enterprise, and I have found a lot to like in seasons 3 & 4.

That said, the ends justify the means moral bankruptcy that popped up from S2 on was what put me off the most about the series. I’m glad Billingsley cited it and named it.

To me, it wasn’t Trek values and was far more off-putting than many of the dark moments in either Discovery or Picard. As a parent, I’m frankly glad that our kids were hitting their teens before they decided Enterprise was interesting to them. They’re at a better age to discuss the moral dilemmas.

I also like how he mentioned the triumvirate and how the other characters were not given the same ensemble cast scope as in the other three 90s series. My sense is that TPTB of the day felt that pulling back to a triumvirate would be a way to recapture the TOS dynamic that some old fans were still harking for.

That triumvirate didn’t really work for me. The Tripp-T’Pol dynamic was riveting, but Scott Baluka was never a captain that I could have faith in. He seemed to be all about himself as an actor, still stuck in the mostly one-man-show of Quantum Leap. That may be unfair, but he never came across as a chef d’ensemble, and because of that, he wasn’t credible as a leader on-screen.

I like Season 4, but I preferred the look at early exploration in S1. The crew that had never met an alien before, seeing the wonder of just setting foot on a planet that wasn’t Earth. The trio of Archer/T’Pol/Trip worked really well before the romance, and by then it was a true ensemble, so it I didn’t mind that story either. At least it was organic, unlike the Seven/Chakotay thing. Puke.

Season 4 was good, but just felt like a continuation of the kinds of stories you saw on TNG and VOY. The best episode of S4 is “Daedalus.”

As much as people fawn over the Mirror 2-parter, I was underwhelmed, and Bakula can’t play a good villain. The best aspect of that episode is the nice touch that it’s a self contained story set in that universe. I liked that a lot.

The triumvirate never really did it for me, either. I don’t think any Trek show should even try to recapture the magic of Kirk-Spock-McCoy. It’s just a losing batter. I don’t think it is something they can intentionally duplicate. It just happened on its own.

However, I really liked the season 3 Xindi arc. I thought it raised the level of the show. I didn’t see it as an ends justifies the means sort of thing. I saw it as someone being forced to confront some really tough situations. Something that TNG would have never touched. DS9 did with the Pale Moonlight. It’s a great story element and I think we should see more of it in Trek.

Xindi arc was when the show went downhill. I laugh when I hear people say that it improved the show. When I hear someone say it impressed them it tells me all I need to know!

Still to this day some of the worst writing in Trek, worse than the animated series, which you can say at least was written with kids in mind… Xindi arc was pedestrian and amateurish, overly forced melodrama. The season is made tolerable only by by some of the actors involved, but suffered when you discovered the cast could not sell pain and anguish inflicted by bugs and fish.

It’s almost as hard for me to get through as Season 1 or 2 of TNG.

Season 4 isn’t great, but the writing is much better, and with the multi-episode arcs it’s easier to write off weaker stories, and focus on the stronger ones.

@TPol’s beard I agree with what you say 100%

Big disagreement. Season three was when the show started turning around. It is also a good example of how Trek can do an effective story arc. Certainly Secret Hideout hasn’t shown they know how to do it. I think they should take a step back and learn from the Xinidi arc. That Xindi arc did not bite off more than they could chew. There were not 6 different story elements that didn’t get tied up in the end. They had time to make stand alones up front that still moved the show along. You didn’t like it but saying something like “When I hear someone say it impressed them it tells me all I need to know!” is just being arrogant and doesn’t reflect well upon the writer. I mean, I think Secret Hideout has done most of the worst Trek we have ever seen but I don’t judge the people who DO like it like that… Good grief. Get a grip.

You seem a little confused because the xindi arc is definitely in season 3.

I was so excited when Bakula was announced as captain for the series. What a disappointment. His portrayal of Archer was a drag on the entire show. Broody, self-doubting, no confidence “Everyman”:

https://moviechat.org/tt0244365/Star-Trek-Enterprise/58c7b526f9fcca09a0d4f504/Why-this-show-failed?page=3

And the constantly irritated, ticked off Vulcans really threw the show off kilter.

Now Pike?! Yes!! STAR TREK PIKE NOW!!

When something is underrated, the suggestion is that it’s actually better then it seems. Enterprise isn’t. Had they stuck to the narrative of the first few episodes, that could have been an interesting show. Instead, they tried, and failed, to turn it into TNG by the first third of the season. If you were ever wondering what an emotionally and ethically constipated Picard would have looked like, look no further then Captain Archer. And this guy was the central figure in forming the UFP?

Big disagreement. The first two seasons were more like TNG. It wasn’t until the 3rd that they moved away from those TNG similarities. They found their own footing with the Xindi arc and with what they did in season 4. Archer had zero in common with Picard apart from commanding a ship named Enterprise.

Well, now I wish that they had let him write an episode.

Yeah. F**k bunnies. Not sure how that would have worked on broadcast TV, but no one was watching UPN by then, anyway.

It would be sure great to bring this character back in trek. Or any Denobulan in general. When Enterprise was canceled, we never heard from the Denobulans again. What happened to them? Where are they? I thought that was one of the more interesting species that they did come up with.

And Billingsley comes up as a smart and sincere guy.

He should pitch the ship of Denobulan slobs story as a Short Trek. You can kind of understand why they passed on it during the time but with stories such as ‘The Trouble with Edward’ existing now, I can’t see why not!

The slob Denobulans sounds like a chance to do a light episode that might be on par with TTWT. I actually like the idea. And it would be nice to see one in these new Trek shows somewhere.

Enterprise had it’s moments, like most shows do, but there’s just to much wrong with it overall to try and salvage anything. There isn’t anything there that I need to see more of. Sorry.

He was the best actor and best character in Enterprise. Hands down.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS, PEOPLE!!

I love Billingsley, great guy!

Screen Rant

The shift interview: john billingsley on his new sci-fi movie & experience with star trek.

Screen Rant interviews John Billingsley about his new sci-fi film The Shift and whether he thinks Dr. Phlox from Enterprise could return to Star Trek.

• John Billingsley stars in the new sci-fi movie, The Shift, alongside Kristoffer Polaha and Neal McDonough.
• In The Shift, Billingsley plays Russo, the owner of a theater in an alternate universe, where a portal allows Kevin to see into other universes.
• Billingsley discusses his role in The Shift, fan perception of Star Trek: Enterprise, and his involvement in charitable causes.

John Billingsley is best known to Star Trek: Enterprise fans as Dr. Phlox, and he stars in the new sci-fi movie, The Shift . A multiversal adaptation of The Book of Job, The Shift stars Kristoffer Polaha and Neal McDonough, who plays a Devil-like figure called The Benefactor.

In The Shift, John Billingsley plays Russo , who owns a theater in the totalitarian alternate universe that Kevin (Polaha) is banished to by The Benefactor. Russo's theater contains a portal that lets Kevin see into other universes, and he uses it to find Molly, his wife from his world whom Kevin strives to reunite with.

Star Trek: Enterprise Cast & Character Guide

Screen Rant had the pleasure to chat in-depth with John Billingsley about The Shift, how f an perception of Star Trek: Enterprise has changed , if Dr. Phlox can return to Star Trek on Paramount+, and the two charitable causes Billingsley is part of, the Hollywood Food Coalition and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

John Billingsley Talks The Shift & Star Trek

Screen Rant: We're gonna talk a little bit about Star Trek, but we're really here to talk about your new movie, The Shift.

John Billingsley: My new movie. I like the sound of that.

I really enjoyed it. At first, I wasn't sure about an adaptation about the Book of Job, but I thought was really well done.

John Billingsley: I think this is always the challenge when you've got a complicated twisty sci-fi movie, that when all is said and done, and you start showing it to people, the focus groups get pulled between 'doesn't make sense' and 'needs to be faster.' I think they decided that they had to worry more about propulsion sometimes than clarity. So there are bits and pieces that I recall from the script that had to go that might have made it a little easier to follow portions of it. But that's the trade-off, I think. I mean, you can't watch a Christopher Nolan movie half the time [without going] 'Wait, what? What's happening?' So I had two reactions as I was watching it: I thought the performances were terrific. And I loved the guy who played the lead. I thought he did a marvelous job. And I was also like, 'What?' I'm not clear what happened and I read the script. What's going on there? Like, why is there that guy who's crossing the bridge and everybody's lined up, and he gets shot in the back? What was that about? So some of the cuts, I think, might have clarified that.

Kristoffer Polaha is really charismatic. I saw him in A Biltmore Christmas , the movie he did with Jonathan Frakes for Hallmark with Robert Picardo. That was really fun. And I thought he and Neal McDonough were great together.

John Billingsley: I did, too. And I thought [Elizabeth Tabish], who played his wife, was wonderful. And I really think what made the movie work is that you have to believe that this is one of those love affairs for the ages and that they're meant to be together. And in the small amount of screen time they have to establish the intensity of that bond, I thought they did a really lovely job. They kept a sense of humor about it, it was playful, it was warm. You really believe this is a guy who would devote his entire life to try and figure out how to get back to his wife.

Absolutely. So what drew you into singing onto The Shift?

John Billingsley: Well, much as I wish that I was the kind of actor who would just be fielding offers right, left and center, that ain't my reality. So one, it was an offer, which doesn't come around all that much. Two, they were willing to pay me a not insubstantial amount of money. It fit my schedule, and I liked the part, and I liked the script. I'm an atheist. As soon as I heard it was a movie that was religiously inflected, I thought, well, this may not be for me. But I, like you, thought as a retelling of the Book of Job story, it didn't lean so heavily on the theological to make it unpersuasive to an audience such as myself. And I thought the sci-fi hook was really arresting, I love the idea that there is a universe full of alternate yous. And then you can find a way to watch them and kind of see what the other yous are up to. I thought that the idea that I could kind of open that window into a universe was kind of intriguing.

I liked your whole movie theater set, and reminded me a little bit of A Clockwork Orange, but not torture to watch that screen and see other universes.

John Billingsley: It's cool, yeah. Some of those bits got chopped a little bit. So I'm not quite sure the setup was entirely clear, what [the theater] is. There was a reference, for instance, that I know didn't make it into the movie, that my character is beginning to get the idea that this is all a setup, that the devil wants people to come in and see the alternate versions of themselves in this dark, miserable, sh*tty world so that we all will only think that life is only dark, sh*tty and miserable. I missed that beat in the storytelling.

The theater itself, which I think is a really cool story, is an old Masonic Temple in Birmingham, Alabama, and one that was devoted to serving the needs of the African-American community. So it was where Martin Luther King met when he and the Freedom Riders were planning on how to handle some of the Birmingham-centric civil rights actions. In the basement, you can find the pool table where Martin Luther King played pool while he was relaxing in between meetings. That was fabulous. Just the nature of being in an old historical building like that with all those associations was very cool. I also got bronchitis so that was a drawback. It was as dusty a set as you'll ever meet.

Oh man. Well, that is very, very cool, except for the bronchitis. Were you given any backstory about your character, Russo? Who he might be in other universes? Or did you make it up yourself?

John Billingsley: That's an interesting question that I never thought of. Who is he in other universes? He seems to me like the heroin dealer who doesn't take heroin. I don't get the impression that he is particularly comfortable looking into that portal. I don't think he wants to see. I think his attitude towards other people is, 'I'll supply it, but a pox on it.' And in that sense, I think one of the great tragedies of this guy's life, and probably the tragedy of this world, is that there are a lot of people who are stuck in a role that they desperately wish they did not have to be stuck in anymore. In my own backstory, he and his wife had a lovely movie theater back in the day, and they showed revivals, and it was great. And then after she died, and after the catastrophe occurs on this world, he's left doing this, which he hates, but he has no way out.

Oh, that's interesting. Has there been any talk of a sequel? Would you sign on for another?

John Billingsley: I'd happily do another. No, there has not been any talk of a sequel. You could certainly see the nature of the idea that there are a gajillion opportunities for any one person to bop around in time and space, certainly as a jumping-off point. I, personally, wouldn't be as keen on putting poor Kris through the wringer again. Job Again! Job 2! That seems unfair to poor Job.

Well, it happens a lot to movie heroes. Bruce Willis got attacked by terrorists multiple times on Christmas.

John Billingsley: And that's why I could never go back and watch Die Hard 2. It's like, hasn't he suffered enough? His feet haven't healed, for God's sake.

I'd love to talk a little bit about Enterprise . I still prefer to call it Enterprise .

John Billingsley: I used to call it The Show That Killed the Franchise. But fortunately, the franchise revitalized itself. And now it's found a new home in the streaming world so people aren't quite as catty about it as they were when it was originally on the air. We were not a popular show during the day.

I really did enjoy the show. I was one of those people who was on board since the beginning. I mean, I felt like the show could have been grittier.

John Billingsley: Exactly. Yeah, I'll tell you a story because that was my feeling too. As for what the setup was, I think, and so many voices in the television industry kind of pour into your ear - 'We want this, we want that', 'We don't want this, we don't want that' - there was an early episode -- I thought the premise of we're scared... nobody wants to use a transporter is great. I love that idea. I wish we'd gone farther with it. There was an episode early on when I would kind of have a little ear to the ground to kind of find out what the scripts were because I wasn't always used, and I wanted to cherry-pick and go find other gigs if I was gonna be off for a week. So I read the first draft of an episode and a crewman... They don't like to use a transporter, but they did this once. A crewman comes back in his head is where his ass should be. It's like, I love that. So by the time it gets to the final script, the one we ended up shooting, he's beamed back [and] there's a twig sticking out of his ear. Oh dear. The doctor will just cut that off. And I thought that crystallized what I thought the mistake was of the show, to your point, that it didn't really trust the terror of this journey. I leeched people. I loved the fact that my character was somebody who actually was just short of being a witch doctor. Bubble Bubble, toil and trouble. And then relatively soon it was the usual hypo spray. You have cancer? You're cured! Which I thought was one of the things that I wish the show had kind of been able to steer away from.

Yeah, I did feel like they leaned very, very heavily into the old, comforting formula, and tried to make it very close to TNG as possible. And it really hurt the original premise, which is that this was a rugged frontier ship. And you were out there all alone. And you really shouldn't have made it back.

John Billingsley: Exactly. I know. I had exactly the same feeling. I think, in a way, now the challenge has been met, and successfully. In a streaming world, you have a lot more latitude than you did on network television. And there are multiple iterations of Trek. So the individual shows can take certain risks that maybe we couldn't. As the only show [at the time] representing Star Trek, there were too many people who were basically on some level saying 'You can't go too far away from the formula.' I mean, I always liked Robert Altman movies. To me, I would have loved it if it had been like overlapping dialogue. If there had been a sense of, I mean, in a clusterf*ck situation, when everybody's scared, to me, the idea is suddenly the hierarchy and the protocol gets overwritten by people... I wanted more [arguing, people talking over each other] too.

Enterprise is clean. It was a clean show, as Star Trek always is clean. The episodes that are great on Star Trek, to me, still always do something really wonderful. They figure out how to present a conundrum that is usually rooted in ethics and science, and explore it from a variety of different viewpoints while making sure that you have a fast-moving story with some tension. When we pulled that off, we were good. When we didn't quite, when episodes felt like there wasn't really a hook. I thought we were sometimes fairly flat.

As you said, for a lot of years, Enterprise was known as The Show That Killed the Franchise. But now, people have come around to it. A lot of fans in the last few years are now on board with Enterprise . You are now fondly remembered legacy characters.

John Billingsley: How about that? I know. And I think, in part, that's because we didn't kill the franchise. So some of the disaffection that attached was, "Oh, look, we handed you the keys to dad's car and your crumpled the fender." Now that people have a way of looking back at it with nostalgia, it's another in a long line of Star Trek shows. It has its strengths and its weaknesses, but there's not as much perfervid energy attached. I remember early on, this was after 9/11 when we premiered. And obviously, that was, both pro and con, a seminal influence on the development of our show. But there were people picketing at the Paramount lot a couple of weeks after 9/11. And I drove up thinking, 'Oh, dear, what] does Paramount have to do with 9/11? What it was going on?' And turned out they were picking about the theme song. 'We hate the Enterprise theme song! We hate the Enterprise theme song!' One, it made me really appreciate how passionate fans can be. And two, I thought, 'Oh, there are things about this show that are not well received.' And still to this day, people are most likely to say they hated the theme song and they hated the finale. I like the theme song, I'm with them on the finale.

I personally cover Enterprise at Screen Rant , and I'm always advocating I'm always advocating for you guys to come back into the new shows. Are you waiting for a call to return as Dr. Phlox?

John Billingsley: I think I'd be the only person still living. Plus, even if they decide Dr. Phlox isn't around, Dr. Phlox's son, Phil Phlox. I've been signing my name Phil Phlox for years in hopes that that will eventually become canon. I'd be delighted to come back. In fact, on the picket line, I was having some conversations with some of the writers on Strange New Worlds. And I can't remember whether or not I've spoken to Terry [Matalas] about this, but I was definitely saying, "Yeah, Dr. Phlox is still out there." I'll put the old rubber head on.

Parenthetically, one of the things that I've been doing for the last few years, because I do a lot of charity work, I volunteer for an organization called the Hollywood Food Coalition. We do something called TrekTalks every year, on January 13, which is a digital fundraising telethon. We have eight hours of panels with different guests. And it has been a great way for me to get to meet and know, some of the folks in these new iterations of Star Trek, and such wonderful, talented actors on these shows. The franchise is in good hands right now.

Let's get more into the Hollywood Food Coalition, which is such an important cause.

John Billingsley: The Hollywood Food Coalition is an organization that I'm extremely connected to. I was the board president for a number of years and helped to grow it from a small soup kitchen to a now-$6-million organization that also shares and rescues 3 million pounds of food a year with multiple constituencies. A lot of what we try and do, not only in helping people who are indigent in Los Angeles, is recognize food deserts and what systemic solutions are that allow more food and more resources to travel broadly across a lot of different areas of need. I could go on and on about this organization. It's very dear to my heart. We've been doing this for a long time. Not only do we serve a hot multicourse meal every day to all comers, but the food we rescue we share with existing small not-for-profits to buttress and augment their meal programs. So it really is about coalition building, which is something very dear to my heart. And what I also love about Star Trek, why I do an event, TrekTalks, that is geared to bring Star Trek celebrities together. And why I'm also working with various scientists in the scientific community to try and bridge the gulf between the sci-fi fans, the scientists, and celebrities so that we can all kind of work together more effectively to raise money and awareness. It's such a great community.

You're also part of Team Trek at PanCan , fighting pancreatic cancer. I talked to Jonathan Frakes about PanCAn this year, and I talked to Armin Shimerman. I'm planning to walk with you guys in April. I'd love to hear your perspective on PanCan.

John Billingsley: Well, my mother died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 70, in 1990. And from diagnosis to death, two months. This was a time when there was not a lot of awareness, which is what, in my opinion, the real virtue of this push is. If you catch it early enough, if you are cognizant that there are certain symptoms, particularly if you've had any kind of history of pancreatic cancer in your family that might be indicative, and you get to the doctor, the survival rate has increased fairly dramatically in large part because of the efforts of this organization. People now get to the doctor faster and doctors know what to look for faster. My mother, when she went to the doctor, she was complaining of various issues including back pain and stomach issues for months. By the time she got to the doctor, as far as he was concerned, pancreatic cancer, kiss of death, see you later.

So the nature of what this wonderful organization has fought to do is to raise awareness amongst the potential patients, amongst the medical community, while also supporting medical research that is allowing for the kinds of treatments and medical interventions that were not feasible when my mother was alive. Jonathan's brother died of pancreatic cancer. [Armin Shimerman's wife] Kitty [Swink] is a pancreatic cancer survivor of 20 years. And then recently, Juan Carlos Coto, whose brother Manny Coto was a writer and showrunner for Enterprise. Manny passed away recently to pancreatic cancer after, I believe, a two-year battle. And now he's part of TeamTrek as well. We walk in the spring. PurpleStride is the walk, which takes place in 60 cities around the country. Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is the website. If you go there, and you follow the links to PurpleStride, you will find TeamTrek I am on raising money to help support the organization. I'm so proud to be part of it.

About The Shift

After a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger called The Benefactor who has otherworldly powers, a man gets banished to a parallel Earth where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.

The Shift is currently playing in select theaters.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, detailing the voyages of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Enterprise was the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise overall, and the final series before a twelve-year hiatus until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. The series stars Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, with an ensemble cast that includes John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, and Connor Trinneer.

Stigma (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Story and script
• 3.2 Sets and props
• 3.3 Continuity
• 3.4 Reception
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Guest stars
• 4.3 Co-star
• 4.4 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.5.1 Unreferenced material
• 4.6 External links

Summary [ ]

In sickbay , T'Pol has just undergone an examination and learns that a disease she has lived with is worsening. Doctor Phlox sees the upcoming medical conference hosted by the Interspecies Medical Exchange as an opportunity to talk to some Vulcan physicians, whom he hopes may have more research on the disease. T'Pol wishes to keep it secret, as it will result in her being recalled from Enterprise , but Phlox promises to be discreet. He also says there's no choice, as she may very well die.

Act One [ ]

Dekendi III

The Enterprise arrives at Dekendi III . One of Phlox's wives, Feezal , comes on board to install a neutron microscope , and begins flirting heavily with Trip Tucker . Tucker is uneasy that a colleague's wife is making overt sexual innuendo toward him.

At the conference, Phlox meets Doctors Oratt , Strom , and Yuris . He explains that a colleague on his home planet is hoping to get more information about Pa'nar Syndrome , as it is similar to a disease at home. Oratt explains they are hesitant, as those who suffer from Pa'nar Syndrome are stigmatized in Vulcan society. They leave to consider his request.

Captain Archer and T'Pol, at a meal, are interrupted by a communication that a Vulcan transport wishes to dock and speak to Phlox and T'Pol. They soon make it clear they are skeptical of Phlox's interest in the disease, as they found out a Vulcan is serving on Enterprise . Through the thinly-veiled skepticism on the Vulcans' end and the innocence on Phlox' and T'Pol's end, the Vulcans hand T'Pol a PADD with the names of Vulcans who mind-meld. She only recognizes that they are Vulcan names and hands it back.

When the Vulcans return to their ship, they use T'Pol's DNA left on the device to confirm she has the disease.

Act Two [ ]

Tucker and Feezal continue to work on the microscope in sickbay, this time with Phlox on the other side of the room. Tucker is visibly uncomfortable, but interested in the microscope's capabilities. Phlox is called to the ready room , where Archer reveals that the physicians informed him of T'Pol's condition and threaten to reveal her status to the High Command and have her recalled. T'Pol is forced to explain to Archer that she has contracted Pa'nar Syndrome from her less-than-voluntary mind meld with Tolaris the previous year. Phlox believes he can manage her condition, but he needs more information. The physicians also rescinded Phlox's invitation to the conference. Captain Archer is disappointed that Phlox and T'Pol hid information from him regarding her potentially deadly condition, but is more outraged that the Vulcans would destroy an officer's career due to a disease or how the officer expresses intimacy with others.

The Vulcan physicians remain unaffected by Captain Archer's pleas for assistance and understanding, despite the fact that T'Pol is not a part of the sub-population and only received the meld. However, Dr. Yuris, the youngest doctor in the Vulcan delegation, covertly contacts T'Pol and asks her to meet him on the surface. She goes to tell Archer she's meeting him and heads to the surface alone.

There, Yuris gives her the research that Phlox had requested, and adds that there is too much intolerance these days. T'Pol asks why he is jeopardizing his career and he reveals that he himself is a mind-melder.

Act Three [ ]

Yuris says he is not infected himself – he tells her only a very small minority of melders have the illness. T'Pol tells Yuris that she became infected during a violation, and the physician suggests T'Pol tell the others this, that they will sympathize with her if they believe she contracted the disease through no fault of her own.

Back on the ship, Tucker continues trying to avoid Phlox's wife while she continues to pursue him. He eats with Sato for a while talking about the upcoming showing of a movie, whereas Sato would rather visit the planet. He sees Feezal getting food and wants Sato to stay for a few minutes. Feezal starts rubbing his leg discretely and flirting. Sato leaves, and Tucker then notes she's married. She isn't fazed, so Tucker politely leaves. Tucker asks Reed for advice, but Reed just suggests Tucker try to avoid her. He warns Tucker that Phlox has a real temper when he's angry, as observed when he's feeding his animals, and strongly disagrees with Tucker's suggestion that Phlox be informed.

Phlox reviews the research from Yuris, and tells T'Pol it's not a cure, but it will help his own research. Since he is more motivated than the Vulcan Medical Council in this case, he has hopes that he can find a treatment. The captain enters sickbay and tells them both that the senior doctor in the Vulcan delegation is a ranking member of the Vulcan Medical Council, and he has decided to recall T'Pol and take her back to Vulcan with them. The High Command will be informed of the situation when they reach home. Archer and Phlox urge T'Pol to tell them she was forced into the mind meld. She says it doesn't matter how she got the illness; if she uses the coercion as a defense, she would condone the prejudice and indict everyone in the minority.

Archer goes back down to the planet and confronts Dr. Oratt. Archer says T'Pol is entitled to a hearing under Vulcan protocols, and Oratt reluctantly agrees to hold one the next day.

Act Four [ ]

In sickbay, Phlox is treating Travis Mayweather for a sports injury when Tucker comes in and asks to speak to him privately. Tucker explains that Mrs. Phlox has been expressing an attraction to him. Phlox is delighted, making Tucker very confused. Tucker says he was brought up not to fool around with another man's wife, and Phlox says that it's Tucker's loss.

Archer tells T'Pol about the hearing. She is reluctant to participate, but Archer says this is her opportunity to defend the minority, and the unjust treatment they have been receiving from Vulcan authorities. She says she won't reveal the assault, and Archer assures he will respect her conditions. At the hearing, it's established that it's the method T'Pol contacted the disease which is the reason she is being recalled. Archer makes it clear what the implication is: that any Vulcan, no matter the distinguished record, can have one mind-meld and lose it all. T'Pol notes that it isn't a choice for the minority – they are born with the ability. Strom chimes in that she was foolish enough to be drawn in. Archer points out the hypocrisy: every Vulcan he's ever met told him Humans were narrow-minded and prejudiced, but now the Vulcans are showing even more prejudice. T'Pol directly confronts them by saying she is being recalled because their culture decided to oppress a minority that doesn't conform to their idea of "acceptable behavior." Strom doesn't see a need to continue the hearing, but then Yuris comes to her defense, and reveals he is a member of the minority. He declares there's nothing "abhorrent" about the way they live their lives. Shocked, but not swayed, the other two doctors get up to end the hearing. But then, Yuris reveals T'Pol's secret: T'Pol was assaulted. T'Pol refuses to confirm this, and Archer stands by her.

" My beloved, I certainly hope it's not another four years until I see you again. "

In sickbay, the Phloxes examine the new microscope and talk as Tucker stands by awkwardly, eventually leaving. The Phloxes laugh at the Human's inability to respond to her advances.

In Archer's ready room, he tells T'Pol that Yuris has been suspended and T'Pol says that was to be expected. Archer says one good thing did come out of this – the delegation believed Yuris that T'Pol was infected as the result of an assault. She will not be recalled. T'Pol asks for Archer's permission to contact the High Command and speak on Yuris' behalf. He agrees, and she says she hopes this incident will encourage others to speak out.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" You can bet they're not coming up for coffee and donuts. "

" This is a bitch. " " Excuse me? " " Oh, not you. Uh, heh, the – the microscope. "

" The accusation against T'Pol stands. It's not open for debate. " " Where I come from everything's open for debate. And if I read these protocols correctly, so is the accusation you made against my science officer. " " You're wasting your time. " " It's mine to waste. "

" Is it definitive? " " Unmistakably. She's suffering from the syndrome. "

" I wanted to see both of you. It's been a while since I was embarrassed by a Vulcan dignitary. "

" We don't condone the intimate acts that these people engage in. They defy everything our society stands for. "

" We're orbiting an alien world, and most of the crew are free to go down and visit. Why would anyone want to stay aboard and watch a movie? " " Are you kidding? They're showing The Black Cat . Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. " " It sounds like you're the one picking the movies. " " Me?! " " Who else would choose an obscure horror film? Why not something a little more, I don't know, romantic? "

" Maybe I should tell the doc. " " Tell him what? That his wife is trying to seduce you? Not a good idea! "

" You Humans are too volatile, too irrational, too narrow-minded. That's what I heard for years, from every Vulcan I met. But we don't hold a candle to you when it comes to narrow-minded. We got rid of bigotry nearly a century ago. We're not afraid of diversity. We don't persecute it, we embrace it. If you call yourselves enlightened, you have to accept people who are different than you are. "

" I wasn't exactly pulling your leg, was I, commander? "

" Well, I've got to get back to my warp engine. The plasma's runnin' a little hot." " I know how it feels. "

" Don't you find her attractive? " " Uh, sure. I mean no , she's your wife! " " What does that have to do with it? " " …she's your wife ! "

Background information [ ]

Story and script [ ].

• The episode's strong undertones regarding HIV and sexual orientation are not coincidental. This was Star Trek: Enterprise 's contribution to Viacom's HIV awareness campaign of early 2003 . [1]
• Rick Berman commented, " They didn't actually say that they'd like us to come up with a story line. They invited us to a presentation that they had, which was quite impressive, that they asked all the producers on the lot to attend – which Brannon and I did. This episode depicts the Vulcan physicians as unwilling to supply research, medicine or preventative efforts in order to stop the spread of this disease simply because they don't condone the behavior of this Vulcan subset. Many in today's society believe that it is this kind of intolerance and ignorance that allows the HIV/AIDS epidemic to spread. In this case, the people are genetically capable of performing mind-melds. This is all something that would be different in the age of Kirk or Picard, but in our century there is definitely a stigma against people who go against normal mores and policies and attempt this very emotional and intimate act of mind-meld. " [2] (X)
• Brannon Braga remarked, " We're not here to provide answers to questions. We're here to provoke thought about an issue. This episode stands on its own. Even if you don't draw the analogy, it's still an interesting episode, because it deals in general with prejudice. The metaphor will be clear to a lot of people. " [3] (X)

Sets and props [ ]

• One of the written languages seen on Dekendi III is a reuse of the Vidiian written language from Star Trek: Voyager . Another language, seen on some of the banners in the Conference Center was the Andorian language developed for the Star Trek RPG supplement Among the Clans from Last Unicorn Games . (A different Andorian written language would later be introduced in Enterprise .)
• The Dekendi ship that carried one of Phlox's wives was previously seen as a Ferengi vessel in " Acquisition ".

Vulcan PADD

• The Vulcan PADD is a reuse of the Bajoran PADD, and the scanner is a modified modern-day computer scanner.

Continuity [ ]

• T'Pol's illness is not cured for another two seasons until season 4 's " Kir'Shara ".
• This episode marks the first appearance of Denobulans other than Phlox on the series.
• This episode is very similar to TNG : " The Outcast " where Soren , a member of an androgynous race (the J'naii ) is revealed to have been born with female attributes – a quality treated as an aberration and criminal perversion in J'naii society. Soren is put on trial for her crimes and makes a very similar diatribe to that of Dr. Yuris .

Reception [ ]

• Some critics, such as John Ruch (of the Boston Herald ) in an article, felt that the episode was too vague in dealing with prejudice based on sexual orientation. [4] (X)
• In a 2011 interview, Brannon Braga commented that he thought this episode was "very strong." Concerning the way the episode depicts the taboo aspect of Vulcan mind melds, Braga stated, " To me, that's an interesting exploration of Star Trek and also tells us something about people who are ostracized. " [5]

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
• John Billingsley as Phlox
• Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
• Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
• Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
• Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
• Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest stars [ ]

• Melinda Page Hamilton as Feezal
• Michael Ensign as Oratt
• Bob Morrisey as Strom
• Jeffrey Hayenga as Yuris

Co-star [ ]

• Lee Spencer as Vulcan Doctor

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Antony Acker as Vulcan official
• Patrick Barnitt ( unknown )
• Solomon Burke, Jr. as Billy
• Ken Gruz as Vulcan medical technician
• Roy Joaquin as science division crewman
• Boris Karloff as Boris Karloff (playing Frankenstein's monster )
• Mark Major as Vulcan official
• Louis Ortiz as Vulcan medical technician
• Monica Parrett as operations division crewman
• Lidia Sabljic as command division crewman
• Unknown actor as Vulcan official

References [ ]

ability ; accent ; accusation ; accused ; activation sequence ; aperture ring ; atom ; bigotry ; bit ; blackberry cobbler ; Black Cat, The ; Bogga ; career ; Chef ; coffee ; communications officer ; condenser lens ; Coridanite ; Council of Physicians ; data chip ; Dekendi III ; Denobula ; Denobulan language ; double standard ; doughnut ; emotion ; endocrine system ; ethical misconduct ; exercise bike ; fargan ; flattery ; Forlisa ; grammar ; Groznik ; gyrosphere ; hearing ; imaging filament ; immune system ; impatient ; Interspecies Medical Exchange ; Kessil ; Klaban ; Lugosi, Bela ; medical care ; medical instrument ; medical officer ; melder ; melon ; memory ; midbrain ; monkey-in-the-middle ; morality ; neurolytic enzyme ; neutron ; neutron microscope ; nucleotide ; Pa'nar Syndrome ; paranoia ; pathologist ; persecution ; plomeek soup ; prejudice ; pride ; protein ; province ; psychiatric analyst ; quantum filter ; quantum optics ; reflectometer ; rose ; science officer ; sexual advances ; sharing ; stigma ; subculture ; synaptic pathway ; synopsis ; Teerza Prime ; telepathy ; territory ; thought ; thymic sclerosis ; Tolaris ; transitive verb ; Vahklas ; Vesna ; Vulcans ; Vulcan (planet) ; Vulcan High Command ; mind meld ; Vulcan database ; Vulcan Science Directorate ; Vulcan shuttle ( unnamed transport ); wish list

Unreferenced material [ ]

lacrosse ; Sao Paulo

External links [ ]

• "Stigma" at StarTrek.com
• " Stigma " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Stigma " at Wikipedia

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published May 20, 2017

6 Things You Should Know About John Billingsley

John Billingsley is one of those veteran character actors who can -- and does -- turn up in anything at any time. He's at nearly 150 film and television credits already, and he's not slowing down. Billingsley spent four years in the Star Trek universe, portraying Dr. Phlox on Enterprise . As he celebrates his birthday today, StarTrek.com turns the spotlight on him with 6 Things You Should Know About John Billingsley ...

Given Billingsley's tremendous film and television output, along with his status as a voracious reader and activist, perhaps it should surprise no one that he was born in Media, Pennsylvania. Yes, Media; that's a real place. According to Wikipedia, "the borough of Media is the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania and is located 13 miles west of Philadelphia. Media was incorporated in 1850 at the same time that it was named the county seat."

"Dear Doctor"

“ Dear Doctor ” was the first Phlox-heavy Enterprise episode, and in a 2013 interview with StarTrek.com , Billingsley explained that he appreciated the fact that a Phlox hour followed the Trek tradition of tackling an issue with a lot of gray area. “I definitely agree that, just for me personally, aesthetically speaking, the episodes over the arc of four years that I thought had the most impact and held the most interest for me were the ones that actually did deal with issues,” he said. “The cloning episode (“ Similitude ”) in the third season was particularly good. There was an episode (“ Cogenitor ”) in which Trip interferes with a couple’s decision to use their quasi-servant as a person to breed for them. That was one that got people’s panties in a twist a little bit, and those are the kinds that are interesting. So I’m glad that ‘Dear Doctor’ was one that provoked some folks. It was dark. It creeped people out: an entire race of people is going to be doomed to extinction. I rather liked the darkness of Enterprise when it chose to be dark. I always wondered, ‘Gee, what would Enterprise have been like if were a cable show?’ The fans might have rebelled. It might not have been what they wanted, but to me it would have been interesting.”

That Enterprise Finale

What did Billingsley really think about the controversial final episode of Enterprise ? "There are obviously mixed feelings among the fans about the legacies of Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, but they were largely responsible for shepherding the franchise through many, many years of shows that people loved and kept watching," Billingsley replied when asked that question in a 2010 StarTrek.com interview. "So they deserve a lot of credit. I think for them, the idea that they were going to be saying goodbye to Star Trek had a tremendous emotional weight. So they felt, and I can understand this, that they wanted to write the last episode of Enterprise. Having said that, the last season had so much of (writer and executive producer) Manny Coto’s fingerprints on it that I think one of the things fans felt was a tonal and almost spiritual disconnect between the nature of the scripts throughout the fourth season and the final script. It was as if suddenly somebody from another cosmos dropped in and wrote the script, above and beyond the fact that the Enterprise ’s story was swallowed up by the framing device. I think people had just gotten used to Manny’s voice. I missed it in the final episode. Frankly, it should have been a two-parter. Our storyline needed to wind up… I’m all over the map on this one because I have a lot of different feelings about it. My problem with the final episode, ultimately, was that by jumping ahead however many years we jumped ahead, it was as if anything we did in the third and fourth seasons had no real weight. It seemed like the third and fourth seasons were being dismissed, which I’m sure was not the intention, but that was one of the things that bothered me."

Billingsley and... Chekhov

Back in 2010, StarTrek.com conducted an interview with Billingsley in which we used questions provided by you, the fans. One fan asked, In your career so far, what are your favorite roles, aside from Phlox? He answered, "I had a long stage career, and probably the best thing I’ve ever done or the thing I’ve enjoyed the most was working on Chekhov, particularly a production of The Seagull I did with a woman named Robin Smith. She was a teacher and a colleague of mine at a school I worked at, and she directed that production of The Seagull . It was a marvelous opportunity for me. I played Treplyov, who is a troubled young wannabe poet with mother issues and is at the heart of The Seagull . On the other end of the spectrum, I loved my episodes of Cold Case . I played a horrible, psychotic killer for a couple of episodes. And I loved working with Denzel Washington in Out of Time . Carl Franklin, who I’d done another film with, was very open to letting me improvise a bit, which was nice, since it was a comedy. And Denzel, when the cameras were rolling, was very open and accommodating to my improvisational riffs. So those are the ones that pop into my head."

Billingsley has long been married to Bonita Friedericy. The actress is most recognized for her role as Gen. Beckman on Chuck. Star Trek fans will recall that she guest starred on Enterprise as Rooney, the scientist assimilated by the Borg, in the episode, " Regeneration. "

So far in 2017, Billingsley has been seen co-starring with Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried in the film The Last Word , and guesting on such series as Man Seeking Woman and Code Black . He'll return to the small screen soon with guest shots on the Twin Peaks revival and in season three of Stitchers .

Please join StarTrek.com in wishing Billingsley a Happy Birthday!

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