t'pol from star trek enterprise

What Happened To Jolene Blalock After Playing T'Pol On Star Trek: Enterprise?

Easily one of the most prominent Vulcans next to Spock and Tuvok in the "Star Trek" franchise , T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) proved an essential member of Earth's first warp five expedition into space as told on "Star Trek: Enterprise." For the actor behind the complicated Vulcan High Council sub-commander, the role would prove her big break. An international model who appeared in both Playboy and Maxim, Blalock had landed a handful of guest appearances on shows like "Veronica's Closet" and "JAG," but the stoic Vulcan T'Pol was her first major role. It would also turn out to be her only major role, with the actor taking only a small number of TV and film roles until seemingly stepping completely out of the limelight after 2017.

But don't worry about Blalock. She's been plenty busy living her best life with her husband of more than two decades, Michael Rapino — the Live Nation Entertainment CEO with a net worth of at least $410 million. A mother of three, Blalock helped create the Rapino Foundation (which is now known as "R3VOLVE HAITI") with her husband to help address global systemic poverty. But with all that charity work on her plate, devoted T'Pol fans would still love to see Blalock find time to revisit the stars.

Jolene Blalock is a sci-fi fan

Jolene Blalock's post-"Trek" acting career may be a bit sparse, but considering she's been raising a family and running a charity organization and had no financial pressure to work, the roles she has taken are a sign that she's doing it for the pure love of the job. Blalock was more than happy to ditch the modeling industry when the profession turned out disappointing. As the actor explained in a 2002 interview with The Sun, "I'm jaded by my experiences in the modeling industry. You're never skinny or perfect enough and it was difficult mentally making the transition to acting."

But for her, getting a leading role in the sci-fi genre was a bonus. A lifelong sci-fi and fantasy fan, Blalock recounted her childhood days watching "Star Wars" and the original "Star Trek" series to Trek Today  in 2010. To the actor, science fiction is all about exploring what humanity is capable of. As she told Trek Today, "It makes us think outside of ourselves, it presents the question what if, what if we could jump the timeline, what if we could meet another intelligent species, what if we could colonize on another planet. It deals with very big ideas." 

Blalock's screen appearances would include a few more sci-fi and fantasy franchises. During her run on "Enterprise," she appeared on two episodes of "Stargate: SG-1," and after the end of "Enterprise," she had roles in "Legend of the Seeker" and "Starship Troopers 3: Marauders."

Blalock could bring T'Pol back

In the late 2000s, Jolene Blalock also showed up in procedural shows like "House" and "CSI: Miami." She had a small role in the 2014 comedy "Sex Tape," starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel. Her last acting role was in a 2017 TV movie called "A Man for Every Month." But many fans are holding out hope that her break from acting is only temporary.

In 2021, she walked the red carpet at Paramount+'s Star Trek Day, celebrating the 55th anniversary of the franchise, meaning she still may have some interest in being connected to "Star Trek," even though it appears she didn't participate in any panels. Given the natural 200-year longevity of Vulcans — not to mention the infinitely diverse sci-fi possibilities — T'Pol could potentially make an appearance in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," as she was canonically born in 2088 or 2089 and "Strange New Worlds" is set in 2259.

Star Trek: Enterprise's Most Contentious Scene Involved T'Pol, Trip, And A Lot Of Goo

Oh no, not the decontamination chamber. 

When "Star Trek: Enterprise" debuted in 2001, there was a conscious effort by the showrunners to work in as much brazen sex appeal as they could. Noticeably, the casting directors hired Jolene Blalock, who had worked as a professional model, to play the Vulcan First Officer T'Pol, and the costume designers were careful to outfit her in skin-tight body suits. She was clearly meant to replicate Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) from "Star Trek: Voyager."

"Enterprise" was set about a century prior to the original "Star Trek," and some of the more popular "Trek" tech hadn't been invented yet. As such, when a team of officers returned from an away mission, they had to spend a long span in a decontamination chamber. In later other "Trek" shows, the transporters took care of contaminants and idle spores an away mission might have accumulated. On "Enterprise," officers had to enter a blue-lit chamber, strip down to their skivvies(!), and spend a long time massaging some kind of antibacterial gel on each other. Several scenes throughout "Enterprise" luxuriated in the cast members' bodies as they got nearly naked and rubbed each other down. It was thuddingly prurient. 

Later in the series, the decontamination scenes would evolve into something even more lascivious. T'Pol and chief engineer "Trip" Tucker (Connor Trinneer) would be ordered to meet in her quarters for Starfleet-mandated naked massages. Both the massages and the decontaminations sound like they were conceived for porno movies. 

In the oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, the "Enterprise" showrunners talked about the embarrassing sweatiness of the above scenes, and how they weren't very proud of them.

Chris Black admits things got 'a little lurid'

Writer and producer Chris Black noted the above-mentioned parallel to Seven of Nine from "Voyager." Seven of Nine, Trekkies can tell you, was brought into "Voyager" at the end of its third season when ratings were flagging. Jeri Ryan wore a skintight costume, which included built-in high heels and a corset . It was a transparent need to add sex appeal to "Voyager." Black seems to recall that a similar effort was made right from the jump for "Enterprise," notably through the casting of Jolene Blalock and those gooey decontamination scenes. Black said: 

"There was an effort to make the show sexier. Obviously, every show has that character. 'Voyager' had Seven of Nine and Jolene was Jolene. This striking actress in a tight outfit. There was a component of that show that was supposed to be sexy. And that goes back to the original series. Look at the costumes originally designed for those women. It's like the joke, something you threw on and almost missed. The decontamination stuff got a little out of hand. I admired what they were trying to do with the T'Pol/Trip relationship. I thought that was interesting." 

T'Pol and Trip began to form something of a romance during their intimate massage sessions, and that element of the series, at the very least, interested writers more than stripping the actors down and slathering them up. Black said that the T'Pol/Trip romance would reflect the romance witnessed between Spock's father Sarek (Mark Lenard) and his human mother Amanda (Jane Wyatt). "A marriage with one person who can't be demonstratively passionate or emotional," Black pondered. "What is that like?"

But Black admitted, "[I]t became what it was. A little lurid," adding that "the actors weren't hugely enthusiastic."

The inherent illogic of future salve

Executive producer Manny Coto, who also served as the series showrunner in its third and fourth seasons, recalled the decontamination scenes as not just being lurid, but also technolgically unlikely. Even if "Enterprise" was set at a time before humans were regularly using transporters, surely there was a more efficient way to decontaminate someone than by literally rubbing goo on each other. Of the decontamination scenes, Coto said: 

"I thought they were silly; it was less about the obvious attempt to get hot bodies on there, but are you really going to be decontaminated by spreading this gel all over your body? It doesn't seem like a very efficient way to decontaminate. I would rather have them strip and get hit by a beam. Not, 'We're going to spread gel all over each other.' What if you missed a spot?" 

So far, no one has accepted blame for the obvious need to cram erotic gel massages into "Star Trek." 

Of course, the regular injection of sex-fantasy material into "Star Trek" might be considered an artifact of the 1960s when Gene Roddenberry was in charge. Roddenberry was an infamously horny dude. Starfleet officers wore miniskirts. One needn't look too far into "Star Trek" to find a woman dressed in an impossibly revealing outfit (compliments of costume designer William Ware Theiss). One can see, hiding inside "Star Trek," a definite streak of free love advocacy that Roddenberry was clearly very excited about. As such, there was a thought that "Star Trek" characters might be comfortable with their bodies in the future, and that being naked in front of peers, rubbing goo on their bodies, was not necessarily going to be sexual. Think of the group shower scenes in Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers." 

This was the view affected by writer/producer David A. Goodman.

In Star Trek, all clothes should be off

David Goodman's issue with the decontamination scenes was that they should have read as nude, but nonsexual. The problem is any kind of nudity on TV is usually presented as sexual, especially when it's being filmed the way it was on "Enterprise." Also, Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock were model-attractive people, adding that prurient element to their gel scenes. To Goodman, it was the clothing that made the scenes lurid and not the nudity. He said: 

"I didn't like the decontamination chamber scenes mostly because what those scenes show you is what you can't do. If everybody is good with the stuff and Trip isn't going to get an erection being with T'Pol, then they take their clothes off and they rub it all over themselves, but instead, because it's network TV, they have to stay half-dressed. What about the parts of their bodies that are covered by their clothes?" 

He continued, linking to Gene Roddenberry, saying:

"All of the things you can't do because it's TV and we're suggesting something really sexy, but if we want to show the future, we're going to take their clothes off. If Roddenberry's idea of the future is accurate or possible, that's what would happen." 

However one might want to justify it, the fact remains that "Enterprise" regularly featured scenes of attractive actors rubbing each other with a petroleum jelly-like substance while wearing Starfleet-issue underwear. Because it was so obviously lascivious, the scenes rarely came across as sexy. There's an irony to that. 

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7 Surprising Facts About STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE T'Pol Costume

Here are some things you didn’t know about T’Pol. The most controversial part of Star Trek: Enterprise was the revealing costume worn by T’Pol, played by former model Jolene Blalock . Some called her a “ sexpot “, a “ glorified nookie girl ” and “ the most hated actress ever to appear in any Star Trek .” We already talked about what Jeri Ryan  (who played “Seven of Nine”) went through in her costume and what Marina Sirtis went through with Deanna Troi’s cleavage . Now, we’ll talk about the reasons for Jolene Blalock’s many changing uniforms.

T’Pol is a Vulcan on the fifth Star Trek television series television series,  Star Trek: Enterprise.  She served aboard the Earth starship Enterprise NX-01 in the mid-22nd century. The show was a prequel to the original Star Trek series, and she was the first Vulcan to serve aboard a long tour of duty on a Human ship. T’Pol originally served at the Vulcan Embassy on Earth before she was temporarily reassigned to the Enterprise with the rank of sub-commander. After the mission, Captain Jonathan Archer persuaded her to take the position of science officer and the title of first officer of the Enterprise NX-01 . She was later promoted to the rank of Commander.

Jolene Blalock was born in San Diego, California and is a huge fan of Star Trek: The Original Series . Her favorite character is Mr. Spock. She loved “the relationship, just the sense of loyalty,” she told Star Trek Monthly . “I watched these three characters – Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones – and their relationship with each other and how loyal they are, and that was intense. They would give their lives for each other.”

She became a model at the young age of 17 and modeled in Europe and Asia. Blalock also appeared in various magazines like Maxim, FHM and Playboy. She got tired of modeling and began taking small acting roles saying, “I’m jaded by my experiences in the modelling industry. You’re never skinny or perfect enough and it was difficult mentally making the transition to acting.” When Blalock was offered the role of the Vulcan T’Pol, she initially turned it down since none of the spin-off shows interested her. To persuade her to take the role, her agent gave her the script for the pilot episode, “Broken Bow”. Blalock loved it so much she took the role. Co-creator and executive producer Rick Berman said, “We read hundreds of actresses and Jolene [Blalock] was in the last group we read. And she just blew us away.”

But she said the role was a challenge . “It’s been challenging for me [to play a stoic Vulcan] because I’m very expressive,” Blalock explained. “But it’s opening up avenues that I didn’t know I was capable of doing well. It’s taking things to such an acute level, where it’s just all in the eyes. You can say everything that you need to say in the eyes, because language itself is so limiting. There’s so much to say in words, but how much can words really express?

“[As T’Pol], if you can just be present, say what you want with your presence, with your eyes with your intention, the message gets across more potently, because when you’re talking to someone, there’s not really much you can say that they don’t already know. I love the fact that T’Pol can just say every thing with her eyes and her presence.”

Why did she have to go to a tattoo parlor? Was she given a sexier costume because of the ratings? Why was the show almost banned in the US? Here are some facts you may not have known about the sexiest Vulcan in space.

1. She had to Remove Her Belly Button Ring

In the first few seasons, Blalock wore a skin-tight suit, but her belly was exposed in several episodes. The problem is that Blolock had a belly button ring and Vulcans don’t wear jewelry. So they had to take it out. It was a disaster.

Blolock  later said , “Before one scene we were trying to get my belly button ring out – at one point we had two pairs of pliers on it and I was in agony. And finally the producer sent me to a tattoo shop down the road, so I went there in my ears, wig, and a pink bathrobe. No-one gave me a second look in the street and when I walked into the tattoo shop, the guy didn’t even bat an eyelid. He just looked at my pointy ears – and they look very authentic – then started talking about the belly button ring. That’s LA for you.”

2. It Took Hours for the Make-Up, But Minutes for the Costume

Jolene Blalock regularly spent two hours in the morning getting ready for her role as the Vulcan T’Pol. While her costume looked complicated, getting into her suit took “minutes” but it was the make-up that took the most time. They added prosthetic ears, a wig and eyebrows.

The makeup changed to a more Vulcan-style look in the third season. Michael Westmore was the makeup designer and supervisor and said, “Jolene was a Trek fan and she hated that they didn’t give her usual Vulcan ears and eyebrows. So in season three, she and her makeup artist just went ahead and made the change. When she appeared on the set with her new look, no objections were raised.”

3. T’Pol Did Not Wear a “Catsuit “

Original series costume designer William “Bill” Theiss or Bill Theiss was known for his provocative costume design. He came up with what is known as the “Theiss Titillation Theory” which claims that “the degree to which a costume is considered sexy is directly proportional to how accident-prone it appears to be.”

Enterprise costume designer Robert Blackman felt strongly that the men and women on the shows should be fit and sexy. He also recognized that no one has a perfect body. So, he consistently puts the female actors in body-molding stretch jumpsuits to help mold and shape the body in various proportions. For example, Seven of Nine’s costume had enhanced “breast mounds” . But he hates the word ‘catsuit’. “It’s still provocative, still ‘T&A’,” Blackman says. “But I do look forward to a time when we get rid of the very male notion of female sexuality.” 

Blalock told Maxim that her costume made sense for her character. “I have a holster for my gun, but that’s it,” Blalock said, “I guess T’Pol is just so low-maintenance that she doesn’t need anything else. She’s very feline in her movements, so really, the cat suit works.”

4. They Added Cleavage to Try to Save the Show

By the third season, the ratings were in decline. For the first time since the Star Trek: The Original Series, a Star Trek television series was in danger of cancellation.

 Fans rallied to save the show using a letter-writing campaign like the one that helped Star Trek: The Original Series . TrekUnited, led by Tim Brazeal, started “The Enterprise Project” and raised the funds to place an ad in The Hollywood Reporter . The ad was an “Open Letter” to Dawn Ostroff, UPN President, and Les Moonves, president/CEO of umbrella network CBS. It said, “We are representative of the millions of viewers from all over the world who faithfully watch Star Trek: Enterprise, support its sponsors and highly value the series as a superior dramatic program.” Other organizations like SaveEnterprise.com encouraged fans to write letters and call UPN urging renewal of Enterprise . EnterprisePostcards.com helped fans send postcards to network and corporate executives. The show was in real danger and everyone knew it.

During this time, the producers ordered massive changes to T’Pol’s uniform. Why? “Obviously, there’s the ratings,” co-creator and executive producer Brannon Braga said . “But the primary reason was a creative one. Last season ended with T’Pol leaving the Vulcan high command, so she would no longer wear the same uniform. And, after two years, our leading lady needed a change. She had been in that brown uniform with that little bowl haircut … and Bob Blackman came up with some dynamite costumes.”

Costume designer Robert Blackman gave a different explanation. “The ratings dropped,” Blackman explained. “That’s the frank, real answer. If you want the show to run seven years, you have to think about demographics.” The show was trying to appeal to the key 18-34 male demographic and “there wasn’t enough raw sex appeal” according to Blackman. 

Blalock was not happy about the costume changes telling SFX Magazine, “You can’t substitute t*** and a** for good storytelling. You can have both, but you can’t substitute one for the other, because the audience is not stupid. You can’t just throw in frivolous, uncharacteristic… well, bull and think it’s gonna help the ratings!”

5. T’Pol Has Star Trek’s First Nude Scene

While Star Trek is known for pushing boundaries, like the first interracial kiss between Kirk and Uhura , but there was one episode that crossed the lines for US television. The third-season episode “Harbinger” had the first non-sexual nude scene in Star Trek television history. In the episode, T’Pol is with Tucker and lets her clothes fall to the floor displaying her fully nude backside. 

The US FCC guidelines clearly prohibits material that lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” They define indecency as “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities” between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time. US television networks were allowed to censor the rump by zooming in and cropping out her bare bottom. However, in other regions, like Canada, the scene is shown without any changes.

We don’t know the exact reason for the change, but the episode aired on February 11, 2004, just ten days after Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at half-time during Super Bowl XXXVIII . The unedited version is available on the DVD and streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu.

6. T’Pol Had More Costume Changes Than Any Other Character 

While many Star Trek characters had significant changes to their wardrobe, no character had more major changes to their costume than T’Pol. She wore over 40 costumes over the four seasons. Besides the grey, teal, purple, orange and blue colored “catsuits” she wore a wide number of casual uniforms. She also appeared nude in two episodes of season three -“Impulse” and “Harbinger” – coincidentally when the show was first in danger of cancellation.

7. T’Pol’s Uniforms Are Expensive

A massive letter-writing campaign by fans convinced UPN to renew the series for a fourth season. The average episode of Star Trek: Enterprise was $1.2 million an episode for the first three seasons and the budget was slashed to $800,000 to cut costs and try and save the show. This was half the budget of shows like Stargate: Atlantis . Unfortunately, the series was canceled during the fourth season. It is the only other Star Trek to be canceled in the middle of its run. 

Today, T’Pol’s costumes sell for over $3000. One of her civilian outfits sold for $6500.99 on eBay . Her highest priced item is her original Vulcan uniform which sold for $8,400 at Chrisities back in 2006. Obviously, guys would love to have the clothes that wrapped T’Pol’s curvy body.

What did you think of T’Pol’s costumes? What did you think of Star Trek: Enterprise ?

You Might Also Like

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• 6 Horrifying Facts About STAR TREK: TNG’s Uniforms
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Probably the best thing about DS9 was no one wore a catsuit. I see why they do it but it's pretty cheesy.

I've seen that episode in all its nakedness. I was still bummed when they cancelled the show.

The Tattoo artist must have seen some stuff in his time…

I don't like prequels, so coudln't get into Enterprise so much. There's no suprises, because we know how things go later. I think they're limiting. And I'm tired of a show selling sex. Why not just write a great story? Then I'll watch.

Wow, what a funny story about the tattoo parlor.

I want to bugger Jolene Blalock (as the bird was in 1993 when the bird was 18, not as the bird is now obviously).

M Pax is very pretty, i`d like to pull her knickers down.

I can only imagine what the guy has seen before that would make a Vilcan seem normal

I'll bet he has great stories

I've read some complaints about Kira's outfit but nothing like Seven's or T'Pol's.

The concept had promise Alex.

She was an excellent actress, one of the more subtle performers in Star Trek history.

Mirror Kira's costume.

Very subtle indeed Tony.

The writers shoulder most of the blame, but Shakespeare couldn't have made Bakula interesting. Google "Star Trek Enterprise Cast" http://goo.gl/6r7rju No other captain gets second billing on their show. I just hope whoever cast him goes to bed every night knowing they ruined Roddenberry's dream.

Episode: 15 – Shadows of P'Jem

T'pol was NOT the first Vulcan to serve on a human starship. Just ask Dr Phlox

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I've truly viewed of which instance in all of the it is nakedness. When i seemed to be however bummed whenever they terminated this indicate.

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Published Sep 21, 2023

Star Trek: Enterprise's Hoshi Sato and T'Pol Deserve Another Look

Both women deserve more after 20 years.

StarTrek.com

Look. I say this as a fan; you don’t have to look very closely at the Star Trek world to find sexist moments. It is over 50 years old, after all, and the franchise’s early offerings include sexism that’s very much of its time. That’s what makes this new wave of Trek so exciting; its women characters are more often than not getting their time in the sun. You have to look no further than Captain Michael Burnham to know that sultry fan dances just don’t fly anymore.

Star Trek: Discovery wasn’t the first of the Trek franchises to step away from outdated perceptions of how womanhood should be portrayed either. I know for a fact that if I don’t point out that Star Trek: The Next Generation had its share of powerful feminist moments (“ The Outcast ” is a brilliant example), I would be rightly corrected!

I won't go so far as to call Star Trek: Enterprise the red-headed stepchild of the Trek universe, but calling it the water polo-obsessed member of the Trek universe isn't a far stretch. Making my way through the series, I was struck by the level of specificity dedicated to the characterization of the men on the crew. There's Captain Archer with his passion for water polo and Star Trek 's only beagle, his dog Porthos. There's Reed's pineapple allergy, and there’s Tucker’s obsession with black-and-white movies.

"Vox Sola"

Unfortunately, the women of the series aren't painted with such a fine brush. Hoshi Sato can speak more languages than I could conceivably name, but ask me one detail about her personal life and I come away blank. T'Pol spends much of the series making sour expressions at her human crewmates, seemingly, because she is Vulcan and sourness is the primary characteristic required of Vulcans.

When Hoshi and T'Pol come into focus in the series, it is as lust objects or to play the starring role in a morality play about believing in oneself — which, frankly, feels somehow worse. In canon, Hoshi's contributions to the evolution of the universal translator can't be ignored, but her skills aren't what often takes the forefront. Instead her storylines center around her flubs and the insecurities she carries about her own abilities.

In my humble estimation, Hoshi gets off easy. In fact, in “Two Days and Two Nights,” when the crew visits Risa , it’s Hoshi who evades storylines A and B to engage in casual sex with a hot alien, no strings attached, and no apologies in either the performance or the writing. That’s heavenly! Sadly, it’s probably such a memorable moment because of how it seemingly stands in such stark opposition to how the sexuality of the series' women is usually employed to drive storylines.

The real martyr on the cross of femininity was T’Pol. Let’s start with the costumes. Look, I know that Star Trek has a history of sexy little ensembles for its lady cast members; but a costume so tight and rigidly constructed that, on the occasions T’Pol takes the helm, she can't actually fully sit down on the captain's chair is a far cry from Deanna Troi’s Prince-purple stirrup pants or Uhura’s inexplicable space skirt. One cannot miss T’Pol’s crop top pajamas either. Perhaps it's a little known truth that all Vulcans sleep in crop tops, but I have a funny feeling that's not the case.

Any Trekkie worth their weight in trellium-D will tell you that Vulcans are different from humans when it comes to sex and sexuality. For a race who is only supposed to experience pon farr once every seven years, T'Pol finds herself crazed with lust at least once a season and that's if she's not being rubbed down gingerly with decontamination gel in the medical bay or massaging Tucker free from insomnia using special Vulcan techniques — techniques that require her to be in the aforementioned nighttime crop top.

By their accounts, the women on Enterprise enjoyed their time on the show. They have both spoken about the positive environment on the set, so it’s not as if sexism was any more pervasive during the filming of this show. That is, any more pervasive than, you know, it always is if you stop and really look at it — a bleak proposition indeed! But then, Enterprise was not a show that backed away from the bleak or the topical.

"The Expanse"

In the wake of 9/11, Enterprise begins their storyline in which much of Earth is destroyed by the Xindi. It’s a global tragedy rather than an American one, but an obvious metaphor nonetheless. It’s also one that affects everyone on Enterprise personally, including Commander Tucker who loses his architect sister in the attack. It’s a story handled deftly, one that could’ve been perceived by the powers that be as “too soon,” but the show took the risk. So why not risk more on storylines with its women ensemble members?

There are a lot of potential answers to that question and not one of them is good enough. In the case of T’Pol, it could be that there were doubts about Jolene Blalock’s abilities. Enterprise was a big break for the actress who prior to this role had mainly worked as a model. Watching Enterprise with this knowledge allows one to see a young actor learning, and she only gets better as the show goes on! For Linda Park, well, we must acknowledge the reality that women of color have always been marginalized.

"Sleeping Dogs"

When I watch Tilly and Burnham and Georgiou chewing up the scenery in their own distinctive ways, making a meal out of richly developed (and developing) character arcs, I absolutely revel in it. It’s a Star Trek for all of us, not just a Trek for the white men, and it’s about time.

But when I watch, a small part of me feels almost wistful if not a little sad, sad for the women of Discovery ’s predecessors like Enterprise , sad for them that it took us this long to get here when the Federation has been espousing these values since its fictive inception — finally, Star Trek is consistently enforcing them!

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This article was originally published on May 3, 2021.

Rebecca Stokes (she/her) is a writer and podcaster. Follow her on Twitter @beccastokes and find her podcast Becca After Dark wherever you listen to podcasts.

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• Episode aired May 6, 2005

While attending a conference on a proposed interplanetary alliance, Trip and T'Pol find out from a dying woman that they have a baby. Investigation shows the woman was a member of the xenoph... Read all While attending a conference on a proposed interplanetary alliance, Trip and T'Pol find out from a dying woman that they have a baby. Investigation shows the woman was a member of the xenophobic organization Terra Prime. While attending a conference on a proposed interplanetary alliance, Trip and T'Pol find out from a dying woman that they have a baby. Investigation shows the woman was a member of the xenophobic organization Terra Prime.

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

• Capt. Jonathan Archer

• Cmdr. T'Pol

• Lt. Malcolm Reed

• Ensign Travis Mayweather

• Ensign Hoshi Sato

• Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

• Nathan Samuels

• Daniel Greaves

• Colonel Green

• Gannet Brooks

• Coridan Ambassador

• John Frederick Paxton

• Alien Miner
• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia In The Savage Curtain (1969) , Colonel Green is featured as one of the 'evil' combatants. It is explained here why he is considered evil a century into the future. Originally, the makers wanted to establish him in Borderland (2004) as one of the key figures in the Eugenics Wars, which resulted from an attempt to genetically enhance humanity. He was re-written as a notorious military leader during World War III, who killed off victims of radiation poisoning afterwards in order to keep humanity "pure".
• Goofs It makes no sense to send Tucker and T'Pol under cover. Even if they were not very well known on Earth (as they almost certainly would be) it would be likely that the faces of both Tucker and T'Pol would be known to the group they are attempting to infiltrate. It is their child that tips them off to the existence of the terrorist plot.

Commander T'Pol : Trip, the moment Phlox said that the child was ours, I knew it was true.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III : But you said you'd never been...

Commander T'Pol : I haven't.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III : Then what are you saying?

Commander T'Pol : I can't explain how it exits, but I know it does. There's a child out there, and it's ours.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III : How do you know that?

Commander T'Pol : I'm Vulcan.

• Connections Referenced in Star Trek: Legacy (2006)
• Soundtracks Where My Heart Will Take Me Written by Diane Warren Performed by Russell Watson Episode: {all episodes}

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• claudio_carvalho
• May 3, 2010
• May 6, 2005 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (studio, also Paramount Theater as Starfleet assembly hall)
• Paramount Network Television
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 43 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Star Trek: How Do Replicators Actually Work?

W hen we think of obstacles to interstellar or even just interplanetary travel, problems like fuel and cryosleep immediately come to mind. But one of the most significant problems humanity must overcome is how to provide nutrition for an entire crew during the months, years, or decades spent with nary a soil sample in sight. In the world of "Star Trek," there's a simple solution for feeding a ship's crew: replicators. Contrasted with today's world where most people toil away endlessly to keep up with the ever-inflating costs of food, clothing, and housing, the replicator represents the mark of a post-scarcity era, freeing humanity to focus on exploration and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. The future's answer to microwave ovens, replicators are small enough to be installed in every room and accessible enough that a child can use them. Crucially, they are capable of creating just about anything a Starfleet officer could want (just as long as Starfleet's safety protocols and regulations allow for it). By the 24th century, replicators have become so ubiquitous that cooking has become more of a hobby or art form than a necessary life skill.

The ultimate recycling machine, replicators are the evolutionary successor of the protein resequencer technology seen in "Star Trek: Enterprise." Using transporter technology, they work by completely deconstructing matter and then reconstituting it into a desired product. But unlike Starfleet's existentially frightening transporters, which rely on molecular imaging scanners, replicators use a quantum geometry transformational matrix field to fill an order based on a stored pattern matrix — which is why if the ship can only create things it has a recipe for.

Read more: The 21 Best Sci-Fi Movies Of 2023

Replicators Evolved From Protein Resequencers

When Starfleet first takes to the stars with the NX-01, they haven't yet developed replicator technology, instead relying on a combination of food from their hydroponic greenhouse, resupplied galley food, and food generated from the protein resequencer. Exactly how fundamentally world-changing replicator technology is to the world of "Star Trek" is driven home in the "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode "Dead Stop." While checking out an automated station, the crew encounters what T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) calls a "molecular synthesizer" similar to one she'd seen aboard a Tarkalian vessel, describing the device as "similar to a protein resequencer but far more advanced" and "capable of replicating almost any inanimate object." 

After Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) orders a pan-fried catfish, T'Pol surmises that the technology must have scanned the Enterprise database to access a recipe stored in Enterprise's computer along with a copy of the catfish genome. Trip immediately observes that such a technology would revolutionize parts fabrication for the engineering department.

By the time of "Star Trek: The Original Series," the technology has advanced quite a bit, even if has not yet attained the standards Picard's crew will one day enjoy. How far they still have to go is referenced in "Charlie X" when Kirk (William Shatner) comments that he wants the crew's synthetic meatloaf to at least appear like turkey for their Thanksgiving celebration. Sometimes referred to as food synthesizers, these earlier models of replicator technology worked by using diet cards or tapes like those demonstrated by Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) in the "TOS" episode "And the Children Shall Lead."

Replicator Food Is Recycled Poop

Just like today's astronauts recycle their urine, Starfleet saves space by recycling other types of matter, even the kind we don't like to think about. Responding to a "poop question" from a curious group of schoolchildren in "Breaking the Ice," Chief Engineer Trip Tucker explains that like just about everything else aboard their starship, human waste is recycled in the biomatter resequencer. "The waste is broken down into little molecules and then they get transformed into any number of things we can use on the ship — cargo containers, insulation, boots — you name it," Trip specifies.

While the resequencers would eventually be replaced by replicators, the basic principle behind the technology remains the same a millennium later in the 32nd century, as emphasized by Fleet Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) in the "Star Trek: Discovery" episode "There is a Tide..." to Osyraa (Janet Kidder). After revealing that he had never eaten a real apple, Vance tells the Emerald Chain representative, "It's made of our sh**, you know. That's the base material that we use in our replicators. We deconstruct it to the atomic level and then reform the atoms." And although some audience members might find this "Star Trek" revelation somewhat horrifying, Vance is quick to add that all things considered, their reconstructed waste actually tastes "pretty good."  

The mechanisms behind the replicator waste recycling system is further outlined in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual," which explains how the ship directly recycles anything it can. Anything that cannot be directly recycled gets broken down first including waste. As Michael Eddington (Ken Marshall) tells Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," they both know they're really eating replicated protein molecules and textured carbohydrates ("Blaze of Glory").

Read the original article on Looper

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Star trek: enterprise was “magical” but “could have done better” with t’pol & trip, says jolene blalock .

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T'Pol's 10 Best Star Trek Enterprise Episodes

Sam & nia today: where they are after the ashley madison scandal, star trek: discovery revealed season 5’s true villain (& it's not the breen).

• Jolene Blalock considers her time on Star Trek: Enterprise "magical" but believes the show "could have done better," particularly in developing the relationship between T'Pol and Trip Tucker.
• As audiences reevaluate the series on streaming platforms, Star Trek: Enterprise is now viewed more positively than during its original broadcast run on the UPN Network from 2001-2005.
• The cast of Enterprise praised Scott Bakula for his leadership on set and his mentorship of younger actors like Connor Trinneer and Linda Park.

Jolene Blalock called her time on Star Trek: Enterprise "magical" but takes the prequel series to task because it "could have done better," especially regarding Subcommander T'Pol's relationship with Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer). Enterprise was canceled after 4 seasons, although the consensus is that the show greatly improved in seasons 3 and 4 when it took a more serialized approach that began to fulfill Enterprise 's true potential. Audiences began to reassess Star Trek: Enterprise on streaming services like Netflix and Paramount+, and the prequel is now seen more fondly than it was during its 2001-2005 broadcast run on the UPN Network.

As a special feature of the Star Trek: Enterprise season 2 Blu-ray release in 2012, the entire cast of Enterprise gathered for a rare group interview hosted by executive producer and showrunner Brannon Braga. Titled "In Conversation: The First Crew," the Enterprise actors' reunion was especially notable because Jolene Blalock, who usually shies away from speaking publicly about Enterprise , participated. Indeed, Braga said if Jolene said no to the reunion, he would have called it off. Read Braga, Blalock, and Scott Bakula's segment about Star Trek: Enterprise (from the 19:00 time stamp) and watch the entire 90-minute video below:

Brannon Braga: Do you miss the show? Did you enjoy the show? We have never really talked all that much.

Jolene Blalock: (laughs) No, we haven’t. I did [like Enterprise]. I feel like it could have done better. But it was a really magical moment… And I thank you, Scott, also, for being such a character in my life.

Scott Bakula: You’re welcome.

Jolene Blalock: But you do have that gift. You are a great leader, and I appreciate that. And I appreciate you fighting for us and trying to get us to where we needed to be, and I know that the odds were set against you. But I know you were always fighting for us.

Brannon Braga: I thought you were great as T’Pol. I really thought you brought something special to it. Were you happy with the way the character was written? I’m not sure you liked the whole thing with Trip. You can be candid because I’ve always wanted to ask you this.

Jolene Blalock: I think, honestly, I was a little judgmental about it. I think we probably should have gone there. See, the thing is, we never really went there. We kind of touched on it. We played with it. Nothing really…

Brannon Braga: It was neither here nor there.

Jolene Blalock: It was middle ground, so I didn’t really know what was happening.

Star Trek: Enterprise 's cast universally praised Scott Bakula for his leadership on set, and how he taught the younger actors like Connor Trinneer and Linda Park how to conduct themselves.

The Science Officer and First Officer of the NX-01 Enterprise, T'Pol shines in episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise that challenge her Vulcan values.

Star Trek: Enterprise Didn't Go Far Enough

Enterprise's cast agreed the star trek prequel needed more 'grit'.

Beyond Star Trek: Enterprise walking the "middle ground" with Trip Tucker and T'Pol's relationship , the actors and Brannon Braga agreed that Enterprise did not go far enough and should have had more "grit." John Billingsley started the discussion by pointing out his disappointment that Enterprise didn't explore the conflict between the crew of the NX-01 starship since, as a prequel, they had the leeway not to be as 'perfect' as the later Star Trek casts who have more experience in the final frontier. Braga agreed Enterprise could have been "more violent" and said that Enterprise season 4 showrunner Manny Coto's sensibilities were better suited for the show.

Brannon Braga explained some of the limitations imposed on Star Trek: Enterprise by UPN and Paramount . The network wanted an episodic Star Trek show in space that hewed to the prior series' established format. Braga also said that controversial aspects of Enterprise like the Temporal Cold War storyline were added to appease the network, which didn't want a Star Trek prequel series, to begin with. Further, Braga agreed with the actors that Enterprise shouldn't have premiered right after the end of Star Trek: Voyager , but that was a fight executive producer Rick Berman lost with UPN. Jolene Blalock speaking about Star Trek: Enterprise and Trip and T'Pol's unfinished love story is one of the more fascinating aspects as the cast looked back on their four years as the first Starfleet crew.

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: Preserve Entertainment YouTube

• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)

Court is the final frontier for this lost ‘Star Trek’ model

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In April, Heritage Auctions heralded the discovery of the original model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the iconic starship that whooshed through the stars in the opening credits of the 1960s TV series “Star Trek” but had mysteriously disappeared around 45 years ago.

The auction house, known for its dazzling sales of movie and television props and memorabilia, announced that it was returning the 33-inch model to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr., son of series creator Gene Roddenberry. The model was kept at Heritage’s Beverly Hills office for “safekeeping,” the house proclaimed in a statement, shortly after an individual discovered it and brought it to Heritage for authentication.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Roddenberry’s son posted on X , (formerly Twitter).

But the journey has been far from smooth. The starship model and its celebrated return is now the subject of a lawsuit alleging fraud, negligence and deceptive trade practice, highlighting the enduring value of memorabilia from the iconic sci-fi TV series.

The case was brought by Dustin Riach and Jason Rivas, longtime friends and self-described storage unit entrepreneurs who discovered the model among a stash of items they bought “sight unseen” from a lien sale at a storage locker in Van Nuys in October.

“It’s an unfortunate misunderstanding. We have a seller on one side and a buyer on the other side and Heritage is in the middle, and we are aligning the parties on both sides to get the transaction complete,” said Armen Vartian, an attorney representing the Dallas-based auction house, adding that the allegations against his client were unfounded.

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The pair claimed that once the model was authenticated and given a value of $800,000, they agreed to consign it to an auction sale with Heritage planned for July 2024, according to the lawsuit. However, following their agreement, they allege the auction house falsely questioned their title to the model and then convinced them, instead of taking it to auction, to sell it for a low-ball $500,000 to Roddenberry Entertainment Inc. According to the suit, Eugene Roddenberry, the company’s chief executive, had shown great interest in the model and could potentially provide a pipeline of memorabilia to the auction house in the future.

“They think we have a disagreement with Roddenberry,” said Dale Washington, Riach and Rivas’ attorney. “We don’t. We think they violated property law in the discharge of their fiduciary duties.”

The two men allege they have yet to receive the $500,000 payment.

A surprise discovery in a Van Nuys storage unit

For years, Riach and Rivas have made a living buying repossessed storage lockers and selling the contents online, at auction and at flea markets. In fact, Riach has appeared on the reality TV series “Storage Wars.”

“It’s a roll of dice in the dark,” Riach said of his profession bidding on storage lockers. “Sometimes you are buying a picture of a unit. When a unit goes to lien, what you see is what you get and the rest is a surprise. At a live auction you can shine a flashlight, smell and look inside to get a gauge. But online is a gamble, it’s only as good as the photo.”

Last fall, Riach said he saw a picture of a large locker in an online sale. It was 10 feet by 30 feet, and “I saw boxes hiding in the back, it was dirty, dusty, there were cobwebs and what looked like a bunch of broken furniture,” he said.

Something about it, he said, “looked interesting,” and he called Rivas and told him they should bid on it. Riach declined to say how much they paid.

There were tins of old photographs and negatives of nitrate film reels from the 1800s and 1900s. When Rivas unwrapped a trash bag that was sitting on top of furniture, he pulled out a model of a spaceship. The business card of its maker, Richard C. Datin, was affixed to the bottom of the base.

A Google search turned up that Datin had made “Star Trek” models, although the two men didn’t make the connection to the TV series.

“We buy lots of units and see models all of the time,” Riach said. He thought they would find a buyer and decided to list it on eBay with a starting price of $1,000.

At once, they were deluged with inquiries. Among Trekkies, the long-lost first starship model had attained a mythical status.

The original “Star Trek’’ debuted in 1966 and aired for three seasons. Although its original run was brief, the show has generated numerous films and television spinoffs and is one of the most lucrative entertainment franchises, with an enormous fan base.

In 2022, at a Heritage auction of 75 props and items, a Starfleet Communicator from the 1990s series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” sold for $27,500 while a pair of Spock’s prosthetic Vulcan ear tips from the original series went for $11,875, more than twice the amount they brought when they were sold in 2017 for $5,100.

The starship’s design was crucial to the series’ success. “If you didn’t believe you were in a vehicle traveling through space, a vehicle that made sense, whose layout and design made sense, then you wouldn’t believe in the series,” Gene Roddenberry said in the 1968 book “The Making of Star Trek,” according to the auction house.

For years, the show’s creator had kept the 33-inch model on his desk. It became the prototype for the 11-foot model used in subsequent episodes. That version was later donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. But that first model disappeared around 1978 when the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” borrowed it.

A missing starship model

In 1979, Roddenberry wrote to then Paramount executive Jeffrey Katzenberg stating that he had “loaned” the model to the studio more than a year earlier.

“My problem is simply that of getting my model back,” Roddenberry wrote, according to a copy provided by Washington. “It is a fairly expensive piece of model making but its real value to me is what it represents.” He added that no one he had spoken with “had the slightest hint as to who got it or what happened to it.”

Roddenberry died in 1991 .

After the massive interest sparked by the eBay listing, Riach and Rivas pulled the sale and began researching the model more intently. They discovered the connection between Datin and the TV series but also learned that the original model was the same size as the one they had found and it had gone missing. “I said wow, do we have something here?” said Riach, and then reached out to Heritage.

Riach admitted that “Star Trek” wasn’t really on his radar. He was a die-hard “Star Wars” fan, having collected vintage memorabilia from the space films since he was 8 years old.

But given the treasure he unearthed, he now says, “I love ‘Star Trek.’

“There are people buying storage units for 20 years and you will never find anything this great,” he said. “It’s like buying a lottery ticket. It was a very great find.”

Things took an unexpected twist, Riach said. In March, he and Rivas signed an agreement to sell the model for $500,000 after it was pulled from the planned auction and they were told Roddenberry Entertainment had a “strong claim” to the model’s title and “would tie them up with its ‘powerful legal team.’” But then they were given a new transfer agreement to sign with a new set of terms. Riach declined and, instead, he and Rivas called Washington.

Heritage “moved the goalposts,” said their attorney. Under the new agreement, Riach and Rivas would be paid a “finder’s fee,” which Washington called a “reward,” converting it from a transactional payment to a potentially voluntary payment.

They claimed that by April, when Heritage announced the model had resurfaced, the pair came to believe the house failed to disclose the item’s value was much greater than they had been told.

Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president, made public statements calling it “priceless.” “It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he told the AP . “It is truly a cultural icon.”

They also had not been paid.

On April 28, 10 days after Heritage announced it had returned the model to Roddenberry, Riach and Rivas’ lawyer sent a letter to the auction house’s attorney outlining their claims and asking for the payment promised; they also proposed mediation.

Vartian, the lawyer representing Heritage, said that Riach and Rivas became “impatient” about getting the transaction done, and disputes the house had a fiduciary duty to them.

“This is an arm’s-length business relationship,” Vartian said. “They bring something to the auction house and are trying to get the most possible amount as quickly as possible, that is [Heritage’s] position and what they did.”

Still, Vartian is confident that they will soon conclude the transaction, saying, “Various things including scheduling have taken longer than it would.”

For his part, Riach says this experience is much like that of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise — “a strange new world.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’ve sold fine art at auction and other places, I got my check and went on. I’ve never had this roller coaster.

“Storage is a hard game. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose,” he added. “We’ve bought a $10,000 unit and everything was complete garbage. But if you play long enough, you can get lucky.”

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• View history

Lorian was the commander of a version of Enterprise NX-01 from an alternate timeline , in which Enterprise was thrown back in time from the year 2154 to 2037 . He was the son of Vulcan science officer T'Pol and Human chief engineer Charles Tucker III , a conception made possible after Doctor Phlox found a way of combining the Vulcan and Human genomes . Lorian was influenced by both of his parents, and over his lifetime, he was able to balance emotion and logic.

Lorian's father died when he was fourteen, but Lorian taught himself engineering by reading his father's old logs. While Captain Jonathan Archer was on his deathbed, Lorian promised the captain he would continue his mission to stop the Xindi probe from attacking Earth . Upon Archer's death, Lorian became the captain of Enterprise .

However, Lorian was unable to stop the Xindi probe from reaching Earth when it launched in March of 2153 . He had planned on ramming the probe with Enterprise , but hesitated, unable to give an order that would kill his entire crew. The moment passed, and by the time he had made his decision, the probe was gone, en route to Earth. With no other alternatives, he was forced to wait until Enterprise once again entered the Delphic Expanse in search of the Xindi weapon , in order to prevent it from entering a subspace corridor that would send it on its fateful journey through time.

In February of 2154 , Lorian took Enterprise to meet the present version of the vessel just before it entered the subspace corridor. However, Lorian needed to provide an alternate way for the ship to reach its rendezvous at the Xindi Council planet , so he provided the present- Enterprise with Haradin schematics that would allow the ship's crew to modify their plasma injectors and increase speed to warp 6.9 for brief times. However, Archer rejected Lorian's plan on a recommendation from the elder T'Pol, who demonstrated that there was a risk that if the ship exceeded warp 5.6, the injectors would overload and destroy the vessel.

T'Pol's alternative was reconfiguring the impulse manifolds so they would not destabilize the corridor and send the ship back in time, but Lorian was not convinced it would work. He stole the plasma injectors of the present- Enterprise so that his ship could make the rendezvous (as his own injectors were too old), but Archer talked him into assisting with T'Pol's plan. With help from Lorian's ship, Archer's Enterprise made it past a group of Kovaalan ships which were between them and the entrance of the corridor. Lorian attacked the Kovaalan ships and kept them busy, allowing Archer's Enterprise to safely enter the corridor and successfully rendezvous with Degra , who proceeded to escort Enterprise to the Xindi Council planet.

Lorian's ultimate fate, as well as the fate of the rest of his crew, remained unknown. It was speculated by Archer and T'Pol that his ship was destroyed, was able to escape, or even that, due to both crews' success in changing the timeline, his ship might have been erased from history. ( ENT : " E² ")

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

Lorian was played by actor David Andrews .

According to episode writer Michael Sussman , the name "Lorian" was an homage to the Elvish forest Lórien, found in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring . Sussman speculated that Trip was a big fan of the film adaptations , " so when he had a kid with pointed ears, it made perfect sense. " ( NX-01 File 09 , ENT Season 3 DVD special features)

In the final draft script of "E²", Lorian was described as " a Vulcan man in civilian clothes [...] (late forties, with light hair) [...] He's a commanding presence, but he also has an edge. Although he appears Vulcan, he is half human, and at times can be emotional and impulsive [...] His human half emerges unexpectedly sometimes. "

In an ultimately omitted line of dialogue from the final draft script of "E²", it was established that, according to the elderly T'Pol, Lorian "struggled with emotions all [his] life" and occasionally became overwhelmed by them.

The Pocket ENT novel To Brave the Storm revealed that Lorian was born anyway to T'Pol and Tucker, along with a sister named T'Mir ( β ), as of 2186 .

External link [ ]

• Lorian at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

• May 17, 2024 | Inside How ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Transformed A Toronto University Library Into The Eternal Archive
• May 17, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Climbs Streaming Top 10 Chart
• May 17, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Won’t Be Silenced In The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Library For “Labyrinths”
• May 16, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Navigates Its Way Through In “Labyrinths”
• May 14, 2024 | IDW Celebrating 500th Star Trek Comic With Big Era-Spanning Anthology

Preview ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Episode 508 With New Images, Trailer, And Clip From “Labyrinths”

| May 13, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 45 comments so far

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery continues on Thursday with the eighth episode, and we have details, new photos, and a clip WITH SPOILERS .

Episode 7: “Labyrinths”

The eighth episode of the season, “Labyrinths,” was written by Lauren Wilkinson & Eric J. Robbins and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour. The episode debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, May 16.

When Captain Burnham is trapped within a “mindscape” designed to test her worthiness to retrieve the Progenitor’s powerful technology, Book, Rayner, and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery must hold off the Breen long enough for her to escape.

Co-showrunner Michelle Paradise previously teased this episode saying, “Oh, just an incredible gorgeous location, incredible scope and a singular journey for Burnham.”

UPDATE: Efrosian!

The episode includes an Efrosian character, as confirmed in the comments below by co-writer Eric J. Robbins:

She is indeed Efrosian — I’m a big fan of STVI. I hope you all enjoy the episode, it’s a fun one. Our director Emmanuel knocked it out of the park!

Elena Juatco as Hy’Rell in Star Trek: Discovery, episode 8, season 5, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Marni Grossman /Paramount+

NEW photos:

Tony Nappo as Primarch Ruhn (Michael Gibson/Paramount+)

Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham (Marni Grossman /Paramount+)

Dorian Grey as Lt. Arisar (Michael Gibson/Paramount+)

UPDATE: Episode trailer

You can see a clip from “Labyrinths” from the latest episode of The Ready Room below …

The fifth and final season of  Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+  in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria.  Discovery also premiered on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuted on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.

Find more stories on the  Star Trek Universe

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I guess Hy’Rell is a Efrosian.

Interesting. I was thinking Klingon.

Why not both? Maybe she’s half-Klingon, half-Efrosian…

Same.. I couldn’t tell if it was Klingon ridges or not. Wait… did I just racially profile a character over ridges and hair?

We definitely need to see 32nd century Klingons before the show is over. As much as I’l like a STIV deepcut, I hope she’s Klingon…

we will, some stunt guys leaked it before the season started said they’d be playing Klingon and Breen soldiers

I expect that they’d have the same basic make-up as in Strange New Worlds season 2.

She is indeed Efrosian — I’m a big fan of STVI.

I hope you all enjoy the episode, it’s a fun one. Our director Emmanuel knocked it out of the park!

That’s cool!

Woohoo!! I’m excited for this episode. Awesome to see an Efrosian again after all of this time!

It looks like you were in the Writers Room for S5. Can you tell us anything about that experience? Now that DSC is completed, what are you working on?

It was a great episode. I really liked it!

That’s awesome, considering I was the director of a couple of fan films in the ’90s that had an Efrosian character! (My friends and I really mined that Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update for aliens for the characters we played.)

My money is on Klingon…… Change the Hy to L and you have L’Rell.

Should be Klingon.

Er, a Discovery writer just told us here that she’s Efrosian.

Cool that one of the writers replied and let us know.

Brave soul to post on a trek site though. We can be a rowdy bunch at times.

I always loved the Efrosian in Voyage Home. “Here it comes now-”

Great voice on the actor, Nick Ramus, who I’m just learning was a member of the Blackfoot tribe.

Wow, I always thought he was an *Asian* Indian.

Same here, though with all the makeup it was hard to tell.

Looks like Ramus was in quite a few westerns. He passed away in 2007, age 77.

“…singular journey for Michael” this whole show has been only about Michael.

the only parts of this season i’ve enjoyed are Moll / L’ak and the Breen

“ this whole show has been only about Michael”

Just because you don’t like an African-American woman in the lead role doesn’t make this true.

Saru for example has had a major character arc over the course of the series. If you don’t see that, you can’t be helped. Also Culber/Stamets have gone through major, even soap opera level of stories with their relationship.

You could criticize the series for being too much about the characters. But the series being about the main character is a silly criticism. Or can I see your criticism about Kirk doing everything in TOS? Would like to see a link to that.

And before you come with the trite “but we don’t know nothing about the bridge crew!11!”: Tell me the names and character arcs of the people working in Ops of Deep Space Nine. I’ll wait (actually I won’t, I have better things to do).

If you don’t like a black woman lead, just say so.

This comment right here is why it is so difficult to get people to take actual issues around racism and misogyny serious.

Jan, your comment is completely unwarranted. Nothing in Sean’s comment suggested a racial component to his critique. I dislike the entire series as a matter of fact. Not because of the genders, racial origins or personal lives of the characters depicted or the cast – I just don’t like it Especially compared with Strange New worlds. An apology is in order.

Where did you get a racial dislike from what he said? All he said was “this whole show has been only about Michael” which is accurate (also the way the show was designed from Day 1, but I don’t see where he’s disputing that). So not sure where this criticism is coming from. I’ve been very critical of the character, but it has nothing to do with her race… I don’t think she has been written very well. My dislike of how they’ve written her has nothing to do with who is playing her. Sonequa is a wonderful actress and has elevated the writing because of it. The fact is, she and the character deserve better than they’ve gotten. Knock on wood, so far this season she has been written much better, where her character is concerned. None of that has anything to do with her race. But I have to defend Sean here, because I just don’t see where you get that from anything he said, and it’s unfair of you to project that on to anyone without knowing.

Wow, I just realized something beautiful. All the five clues are hidden within the worlds of all five classic legacy shows.

Fred, the Soong-type android = TNG Trill = DS9 ISS Enterprise = TOS Denobulan weather station = ENT Badlands = VOY

Well spotted!

Whoah, I really like this. Nice catch! That’s awesome!

Awesome observation Garth!

Excellent catch!!

I wonder if Hy’Rell is even a real person. The uniform looks very 23rd/24th century. Maybe it’s a projection of what Burnham expects to see.

Re: a closed thread below:

There’s a solid case to be made that Discovery has focused primarily on one character more than any Trek show before it.

Sure, the other shows sometimes gave the captain more attention than other characters (although I’d argue that Spock, Data, Worf, Kira, the Doctor, Seven and T’Pol often had the spotlight), but Discovery has been The Michael Burnham Show from the get-go, by design.

Nope. Solid character arcs for Saru, Stamets, Culber, even Book and Adira… Michael is the lead character but not to an extend any of the other characters get sidelined…

I think that’s true of any show centered around one central character. With TOS, there was the Troika of Kirk, Spock, Bones, all others were support with some occasional focus on them. Disco is no different, it’s just much more focused on one person, rather than a triumvirate.

I think the issue is the low episode count per season and length of time between seasons, combined with Discovery’s identity crisis and needing to reinvent itself every season, that prevents any meaningful connections to any of the supporting characters. The show was designed to be about Burnham’s journey, even if they seemed to be in a rush to shorten that journey by making her captain as fast as possible in my opinion.

The Berman era shows had more episodes to include the supporting cast than the new era of Trek does and there wasn’t that long of a wait between seasons to forget about what happened before.

You’re contradicting yourself. All of the other live action shows had as their primary focus the person in command as well. No exceptions. Yet Discovery sets off some people. Gee, what is the obvious difference between Discovery and all other live action Trek…..

Please don’t try to continue a contentious topic that we closed for a reason.

Dorian Grey chose a good role. No way he sees the portrait through that helmet.

Ha! But that was Gray. :-)

He’s good, he won’t see it burn either.

The production is amazing. That efrosion looks terrific. Wow! The make up artists and the costume designers are fantastic and deserve awards.

Perhaps it is just me, but I was thinking — not for the first time in modern Trek — that the latex on the Efrosian looks very latex-y, not like natural skin. I had the same reaction to Sneed in Picard and sometimes to Saru, especially this season.

An Efrosian, cool. Shout out to Mel Efros, the namesake and creator of the design.