Main Characters (Jean-Luc Picard) | Recurring Crew | Other Recurring Characters
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay
Played By: Dwight Schultz
"Being afraid all of the time, of forgetting somebody's name, not, not knowing... what to do with your hands. I mean, I, I am the guy who writes down things to remember to say when there's a party. And then, when he finally gets there, he winds up alone, in the corner, trying to look comfortable examining a potted plant."
Cloud Cuckoo Lander and social basketcase who serves aboard the Enterprise as engineer. Has logged more holodeck hours than even Riker himself; in fact, Barclay practically lives on the holodeck, which renders him useful whenever some quirky Holodeck Malfunction happens. Barclay later turned up on Voyager, where his holodeck OCD somehow led to a communications breakthrough, allowing Starfleet to detect Janeway's stranded crew.
It can be safety said that Barclay is more at ease around computers than people. Unsurprisingly, his closest friend ended up being Dr. Zimmerman, taciturn and antisocial creator of the EMH.
- Almighty Janitor: He's a low-level member of the general engineering staff, but he's good when the spotlight's on him. This is even more apparent in his appearances on Voyager. Years after leaving the Enterprise, he's still just a lowly lieutenant, but he's also the head of an entire division of Starfleet Communications and in charge of finding a way to bring Voyager home. He reports directly to a four pip admiral.
- Brain Critical Mass: In "The Nth Degree," Barclay's brain is taken over by an ancient race from the center of the galaxy, greatly increasing his intellect. Under their influence, Barclay seizes command of the Enterprise, controlling the ship with his mind.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Extremely good at his job on the Enterprise, whenever they can keep him out of the holodeck.
- Character Arc: Barclay grows from being a guy too scared to leave the holodeck and reach out to new people to being the guy who reached across 70,000 light years of space to give Voyager a connection to home.
- Covert Pervert: His private Fanservice simulations of Dr. Crusher and Counselor Troi in "Hollow Pursuits", and adding a bordello into Alexander Rozhenko's western holoprogram in "A Fistful of Datas".
- Daydream Surprise: His first scene. And then he exits the Holodeck.
- A Day in the Limelight: Several including his introductory episode "Hollow Pursuits". Also "The Nth Degree" and "Realm Of Fear". This even continued when he crossed shows, notably the Voyager episode "Pathfinder" is basically entirely his episode, with the main cast of the show only appearing as holograms and in a short scene at the end.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Ensign Wesley Crusher dubbed him "Lt. Broccoli" in his introductory episode. Eventually abandoned, but not before Captain Picard uses it in a Freudian Slip directly to his face. He corrected himself, but the damage was already done.
- The Everyman: Arguably the source of Barclay's Ensemble Dark Horse status among the fans; while his collection of neuroses didn't exactly make him "normal", they made him much more flawed, down-to-Earth and relatable than the main cast. Dwight Schultz himself claimed this was the intention with his character.Dwight Schultz: I think they thought, 'Hey, why don't we write a character who is just like the rest of the human race and put him on the bridge. I bet our fandom will identify with him.
- Face Your Fears: In "Realm Of Fear", Barclay confronts his fear of transporters and rescues several missing crew members in the process.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Single-handedly manages to come up with the plan to recongfigure the "MIDAS" subspace telescope to send a signal through a nearby passing pulsar, with the sole intention of creating a micro-wormhole which he will aim at the estimated location of Voyager.
- Gibbering Genius: A natural side effect of being a Shrinking Violet with a brain that functions faster than his mouth.
- Hero-Worshipper: In Star Trek: First Contact, he has a bit of this going with Zefram Cochrane (along with everyone else, much to Cochrane's ongoing frustration.)
- Hypochondria: Did an attempted self diagnosis in "Realm of Fear" due to something he saw when in the transporter, and how it affected him. "Genesis" shows it hasn't gone away entirely two years later, with him visiting Dr. Crusher for a second opinion after a quick check on the Starfleet Medical Database confirms he's about to die in a horrible fashion. (He's not. Her expert medical opinion is that he's got a good seventy to eighty years left.)
- Kicked Upstairs: From his previous assignment to the Enterprise; his former CO had been giving him glowing performance evaluations specifically to bait another captain into requesting him. This is revealed to be an unfair assessment as time goes on. Barclay really is a skilled engineer, but has crippling phobias and social anxieties that prevent him from interacting with others properly.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: So much so that he's one of the few people that Spot likes. His later Voyager appearances would show him with a cat of his own.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At the end of "Ship In A Bottle", the self-aware holographic Moriarty is contained in a specialized computer programmed to give him enough adventures for a lifetime... all stored in a small cube on Picard's desk. Picard ruminates on the possibility that their own universe is just "an elaborate simulation running inside a little device sitting on someone's table". After everyone else leaves the debriefing, Barclay nervously utters "Computer, End Program", to close out the episode.
- Mission Control: On VOY. Eventually they just start making Skype calls to the Federation. Reginald Barclay is the point man for the Voyager rescue effort, answering directly to Admiral Owen Paris.
- Mr. Imagination: Mostly through holodiction as he's always generating new fantasy scenarios.
- Namesake Gag: His cat is named Neelix. One suspects Reg and Neelix himself would get along.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It's implied that Reg worked as one of the Beta-Testers for the EMH Mk I. Combined with his creator's ego, no wonder the Doctor had such bad social skills at the beginning, hence why the line was eventually recalled.
- Odd Friendship: Most of his closest friends are holograms.
- Off the Wagon: He relapses into his holodeck addiction while serving at Starfleet Communications. He explains to Deanna Troi that he misses the Enterprise so much because he has a hard time making friends at his new posting. He kicks the addiction again with the help of Deanna, his boss Commander Harkins, and Admiral Paris.
- Only Friend: On Voyager, he's the only friend that Lewis Zimmerman (creator of the EMH) has that isn't holographic.
- Reassignment Backfire: Originally moved to the Enterprise just to get rid of him, Barclay came into his own as a Starfleet officer under Picard's command.
- Shout-Out: Barclay's middle name is Endicott, a nod to the character of Clayton Endicott III on Benson, played by René Auberjonois, who would later play Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
- Shrinking Violet: Discussed in his introductory episode. When Geordi tries to downplay it, saying that Reg is "just shy," Barclay responds by telling him just how painful extreme shyness can be.
- Straw Fan: Although
Word of God denies it, Reg is commonly seen as the stereotypical fan of Star Trek: divorced from the real world and obsessed with fictional characters.- Comes closer to being reality on Voyager. When Earth gets first confirmation that the Voyager crew is still alive in the Delta Quadrant, Barclay creates a simulation of the ship and becomes familiar with it and the crew, which leads him to use a remote array to reestablish communication with the real Voyager, against Starfleet's wishes.
- Stuttering Into Eloquence
- Took a Level in Badass: In Voyager, where he's single-handedly responsible for getting Voyager home.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: He is one of the rare individuals that views holograms as alive, once stating that they are more "real" to him than most people. This is in stark contrast to everyone else who considers them to be Just a Machine.
Guinan
Guinan
Played By: Whoopi Goldberg
"If the Borg know everything he knows, it's time to throw that book away. You must let him go, Riker. It's the only way to beat him. The only way to save him."
Wise and mysterious bartender with a big hat. Guinan manages the Ten Forward lounge, but her history with Picard goes back way further than that. Contrary to appearance, she is one of the last survivors of an ageless and inscrutable species who were scattered by the Borg. Most of her past remains murky; she harbors no love for Q, and is possibly the one person he truly fears. In the TNG films, Guinan is revealed to have once been trapped in the Nexus.
- Almighty Janitor: In "Yesterday's Enterprise," Picard sends 120 people to their deaths on the word of a bartender who can tell that the timeline is out of sorts.
- Badass Bystander: Calming down a brewing barfight in Ten-Forward by firing an impressive-looking phaser into the ceiling.note And there are hints that she has some sort of hidden power that could let her go one on one with Q of all people.
- The Bartender: To many characters, but frequently to Jean-Luc. If anybody ought to be worried it should be Marina Sirtis because Guinan approaches the counseling role in a more constructive way than Troi.
- Many of Guinan's appearances were originally written as Troi episodes, and adapted for the character whenever Whoopi was available for filming. It was only later in the series that Guinan-specific episodes were written.
- Berserk Button: For as patient and calm as she is, dealing with the Borg truly upsets her, to the point where she refuses to even listen to any positive comments about them, despite coming from a race of "listeners." It's justified in that the Borg decimated the El-Aurians through assimilation, leaving Guinan and the few surviving others in her race scattered and alone throughout the galaxy.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In "Deja Q," she takes pleasure in tormenting the de-powered Q, stabbing his hand with a fork, and later simply saying "How the mighty have fallen" after he gets attacked by the Calamarain, another race Q bullied.
- Her first interaction with Q: when he raises his hand to vanish her, she raises her hands up in a defensive posture, implying that she has some way of actually harming him. Or at the very least being able to counter his power.
- BFG: Keeps one behind the bar to break up particularly nasty bar fights. She's actually a better shot than Worf, which makes some amount of sense given that she's had centuries of practice.
- The Confidant: Her species is known for listening. Makes her an excellent bartender.
- Consistent Clothing Style: Guinan changes her clothes, but she'll usually be wearing a long-sleeved dress, round hat, and baggy pants that are all the same colour.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Rosalyn to Q's Calvin. Q recoils in something approaching fear as Guinan stands there with her hands clawed, talking of a centuries-long feud with the alien. She looks ready to zap him like Palpatine in "Q Who".
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Her colorful clothing, large hats, and backstory (member of a dark-skinned racenote which lost many of its people to destructive, assimilating invaders) are deliberately designed to reference the people of African nations who were scattered by the diaspora of colonization and enslavement.
- The Dreaded: To Q, who is put immediately on guard the moment he realizes she is in Picard's employ in "Q Who". He's clearly the more powerful being — he's supposedly omnipotent, and definitely can do things she can't, like send the Enterprise back to where it started with a snap of his fingers — but he's wary of her, and she holds her hands as though preparing a defense against his powers, or perhaps a counterattack.
- Fake Guest Star: From Season 2 to Season 6, Guinan appeared in 29 episodes and was featured in two official cast photos.
- Fantastic Racism: While she does come to accept Hugh, she really hates the Borg, who assimilated/killed almost all of her species.
- Fear Is the Appropriate Response: When asked for her advice about the outer fringes of Borg Space she says with ominous foreboding 'If I were you I'd start back now.'
- The Gadfly: "Ensign Ro" has Guinan manage to irritate her way into being Ro's first friend on the Enterprise.
- Genocide Survivor: The Borg (cyborgs with a Hive Mind who turn you into one of them by "assimilating" you) tried to assimilate Guinan's whole species, but there were a few who survived un-assimilated, such as Guinan herself, and her immediate family.
- Good Is Not Nice: Her wisdom, kindness, and practicality place her firmly on the side of good. However, she's not afraid to use a phaser to quell a bar fight and can get physical when necessary, as her dealings with Q show. In the episode featuring the Borg Hugh, she and Picard practice fencing as they discuss the alien. Picard mentions that he feels sorry for the Borg; Guinan then falls down. The captain goes to help her up — but she was faking, and instantly has her sword at his neck:Guinan: You pitied me. Look how that turned out.
- I Have Many Names: Implied by her dealings with Q. When the Reality Warper meets her and hears her name, he remarks "Guinan...is that your name now?"
- Have We Met Yet?: 19th-century Guinan meets first a time-displaced Data, then Picard, while in San Francisco, both of whom (obviously) know her.
- Human Alien: She looks completely like a human female. No rubber head or pointy ears. It's established that aside from a much longer lifespan, El-Aurians are virtually identical to humans.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: She's a crack shot with a phaser and can hit multiple fast moving targets as if it's the easiest thing in the world. In fact, target practicing with Worf on Level 14 is almost boring for her.
- Inexplicably Awesome: Because she's several centuries old, she's always surprising the crew with some previously-unforeseen skill or unlikely-sounding story.
- Last of His Kind: She's one of the few surviving El-Aurians who escaped the Borg, in her case because she wasn't on the homeworld when they came a-calling.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: While Guinan is certainly long-lived, she's shown repeatedly to have a perception and awareness that borders into the outright mystical. For example, when the time-displaced Enterprise C arrives in the future and changes history, Guinan is aware that everything about the setting isn't what it's supposed to be; that the Federation and Klingons aren't supposed to be at war, that there should be children and families aboard Enterprise, and that Tasha Yar should be dead. No one else aboard the ship has even the slightest inclination that the timeline is wrong.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As described above, Guinan occasionally gets vague feelings that things are wrong. For example, when Picard starts dealing with Q again, she's uneasy throughout the day, and when they materialize in Ten Forward, she immediately rushes at the trickster and snaps "I knew it was you." The most common fan interpretation is that her time in the Nexus has given her some form of limited precognitive power.
- Mysterious Past:
- Guinan often refers to adventures from her past, several of which become important plot points, but many more of which remain mysterious.
- Q refers to her as an "imp", and suggests she's not actually an El-Aurian.
- Never Bareheaded: Guinan is always wearing a hat. Even when she's been shot in 19th-century San Francisco. Even when she's a Living Memory in the Nexus. The only time she's seen without a hat is in her quarters in Generations.
- Noodle Incident: Both Guinan and Picard make references to the fact their relationship is (in Guinan's words) "beyond friendship, beyond family", but what happened that led to such a relationship is never explained. The "Times Arrow" two parter shows how Guinan first met Picard due to time travel shenanigans but it's pretty clear this isn't the inciting incident. We're never shown how they each earned the intense trust of the other, and they don't seem inclined to tell us.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Guinan's bond with Picard can only be described as one of pure love, but it's not sexual or romantic in any way.
- The Power of Friendship: Guinan's word (and friendship) is enough for Picard to give Ro Laren a chance, because Guinan is very selective about whom she calls friend. And she turns out to be on the money.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: When TNG debuted, Whoopi Goldberg had been recently nominated for an Academy Award for her turn in The Color Purple (1985). She was also known for her stand-up comedy, and would go on to make funny films, including Ghost (1990) and Sister Act, during her tenure on the show. All told, it was rather surprising for such a rising star to be willing to relegate herself to the
Sci Fi Ghetto: when LeVar Burton, who was a friend of hers, relayed her desire to appear on the show, everyone thought he was joking. But Goldberg cited Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura in the original series, not only as her acting inspiration, but a personal hero who helped her realize that her race and sex would never limit her: "Well, when I was nine years old, Star Trek came on, I looked at it and I went screaming through the house: 'Come here, Momma, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!' I knew right there and then I could be anything I wanted to be." As such, Goldberg went to Gene Roddenberry personally and asked for a role on TNG, offering to play a janitor in the background just to honor Nichols. Guinan was the result.- Goldberg's busy film schedule often left her unable to be on set, so the writers scrambled to include her in plots whenever they knew she'd be available; as such, many Troi-centric episodes were hastily rewritten to give Guinan a starring role whenever possible. It wasn't until later in the series that episodes were written specifically for Goldberg.
- Really 700 Years Old: Guinan looks exactly the same in the late 24th century as she does in the late 19th.
- Shout-Out: Named after famed speakeasy owner and entertainer Texas Guinan.
- Whoopi Epiphany Speech: Trope Namer. Her most noteworthy speeches include those to Picard in "The Measure of a Man" and Riker in "The Best of Both Worlds: Part II".
Keiko Ishikawa O'Brien
Keiko Ishikawa O'Brien
Played By: Rosalind Chao
A botanist who worked in the Enterprise arboretum. Later introduced to her eventual husband, Miles O'Brien, through matchmaker Data. As the most stable family unit on Star Trek, the O'Briens nonetheless had their share of problems. A majority of "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes revolve around Keiko and/or Molly being placed in imminent peril.
When O'Brien left to join Deep Space Nine, Keiko and their daughter Molly came with him. Keiko opened a children's school on the station.
- Born in an Elevator: Gave birth to her daughter Molly in the ship's lounge in the midst of a crisis. With Worf delivering the baby.
- Put on a Bus: To Deep Space Nine along with her husband Miles.
Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien
Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien
Played By: Colm Meaney
Perennially unlucky Irishman, put in charge of the transporter room. A veteran of numerous never-seen wars, most notably the Cardassian conflict, which lands him squarely on the ideological side of the Maquis. Unlike Ro Laren and Wesley, though, he stayed true to the uniform.
O'Brien later transferred to Deep Space Nine as its chief engineer. Though his character growth was limited, he was featured much more prominently on a show in which even an extra got his own episode at some point. He's also one of the few members of Starfleet ever depicted to be enlisted.
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode "The Wounded," about his and his old captain's experience in the Cardassian war.
- Ascended Extra: Colm Meaney looks so young in "Encounter at Farpoint". He went from an unnamed speaking bridge officer in the pilot to a recurring minor character to a main character on Deep Space Nine. Ironically, Meaney was never interested in pursuing a regular role because the loose TNG schedule afforded him time to do other things. Alas, he was much too talented to waste in the transporter room. (Shades of Robert Picardo.)
- In fact, he really was just an extra in "Encounter at Farpoint": the character is not named and is just the Red Shirt manning Navigation, wearing the rank of Ensign. He would later appear in his more familiar role in the Transporter room, as a lieutenant, but referred to as the "transporter chief". He wouldn't get a full name or his more familiar rank of Chief Petty Officer until several seasons into the show. All that said, it is Miles O'Brien in each appearance and not just Colm Meaney playing several characters, as "All Good Things" retcons his first appearance in "Encounter at Farpoint" as specifically being O'Brien.
- Butt-Monkey: The Antikans are natural enemies of the Selay, but that doesn't stop Picard from inviting delegates from both races onto his ship. Poor O'Brien is stuck between two bitter enemies when they come face-to-face in a corridor!
- Chekhov's Skill: In "The Wounded," it's mentioned that he was tactical officer aboard the Rutledge. When Worf resigns in "Redemption," he mans the tactical station in his absence.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: It took a while for the writers and costumers to settle on O'Brien's rank; although later episodes establish that O'Brien is a non-commissioned officer, early episodes see him wearing the uniform of an ensign or lieutenant.
- Fantastic Racism: Towards Cardassians, due to them being responsible for the first time he took a life.
- Good Old Ways: Mother O'Brien still held on to the old-fashioned way of cooking with her hands, an oddity in a time when most people use the replicator for their food needs. Miles himself occasionally does the same, much to Keiko's alarm.
- Happily Married: To Keiko, during an otherwise Data-centric episode.
- Implausible Deniability: Riker telling O'Brien to "take a nap" so that Data's transport in "Pen Pals" is off the record. "I'll just be over here, nodding off."
- Minored In Ass Kicking: From time to time, he gets to leave the transporter room and save the day, something that would happen more often on DS9. Justified by the fact that, unlike just about anyone else on the Enterprise aside from the dedicated security officers in Worf and Tasha, O'Brien is an actual combat veteran.
- He has no qualms about getting involved in putting down those who make ruckus in the Transporter room, as Roga Danar can attest.
- My God, What Have I Done?: During his time on the Rutledge, Miles was present at the Setlik III Massacre. While there, he grabbed a phaser to defend himself from a Cardassian officer, not knowing the phaser had been set to "disintegrate". The man vaporised in front of his eyes.
- Retcon: Over the course of the series, O'Brien's Starfleet rank fluctuated from low-ranking officer to high-ranking NCO. "All Good Things" officially retconned Meaney's nameless helmsman character into O'Brien.
- Put on a Bus: To Deep Space Nine. His family left with him.
- The Engineer: Specializing in transporter technology.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Occasionally displays this, due to his experiences in the Federation-Cardassian War.
Molly O'Brien
Molly O'Brien
Played By: Tadeski twins (1991-1992); Hana Hatae (1992-1998)
O'Brien's first child. Had the dubious honor of being delivered by Worf. (Her baby brother, Kirayoshi O'Brien, is born under similarly weird circumstances.)
About the most exciting thing to happen to Molly was her Plot-Relevant Age-Up on Deep Space Nine, quickly undone by the Reset Button.
- Put on a Bus: To Deep Space Nine along with her father Miles.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Went from a baby to a toddler quite quickly, but not an especially egregious case of the trope, as Hana Hatae played the character during this show's sixth season and then all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's run.
Nurse (Ensign, later Lieutenant) Alyssa Ogawa
Nurse (Ensign, later Lieutenant Alyssa Ogawa)
Played By: Patti Yasutake
Dr. Crusher's assistant in sickbay, and a frequent Mauve Shirt (though she survived each ordeal).
- Ascended Extra: Many of her initial appearances were as an unnamed medic helping Crusher.
- Creator's Pet: Ron Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias used the character often, especially in "Lower Decks", because they really liked the character.
- Fake Guest Star: She appeared a lot during the series.
- Genki Girl: She's one of the most bubbly characters in the series.
- Lower-Deck Episode: Of the (non-main-characters-who-do-everything) group of friends in "Lower Decks," she's the only character to appear in more than two episodes.
- Mauve Shirt: But never killed off.
Doctor (Commander) Katherine Pulaski
Doctor (Commander) Katherine Pulaski
Played By: Diana Muldaur
When Gates McFadden quit the show in its second season, Pulaski was brought on to replace her. An expy of Dr. McCoy, Pulaski was meant as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, including having an adversarial relationship with Data, whom she's uncomfortable with for being a machine. Long story short, her intended dynamics weren't received as well as McCoy's, ultimately leading to everyone wanting Crusher back.
While Pulaski was dropped from TNG with little fanfare, and replaced with Gates McFadden again, the tendency has been for fans to never let her live down her worst moments, and act as if her earliest characterization is her only characterization.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
- When McFadden returned for Season 3, Pulaski dropped off the face of the galaxy with her last episode being a Clip Show. She is mentioned in two further TNG episodes and the finale of Voyager (being paged at Starfleet Medical), and shows up in the Star Trek Expanded Universe more than once.
- What's surprising is that when the holographic Moriarty returns in Season 6, he doesn't ask where Pulaski has gone. She was the one he spent the most time with, after all, so you would think that if anybody would mention her, he would.
- Corrupted Character Copy: An example where the "corruption" was accidental. Dr. Pulaski was intended to be an Expy of Dr. Leonard McCoy, and her jabs at Data were designed to recreate the Spock/Bones dynamic. However, Spock did have human emotions, he just repressed them, and was very vocal about how superior he believed himself to be to his human crewmates. By contrast Data was not capable of emotions but desperately wanted to be. Despite technically lacking things like compassion, he was also a wide-eyed Nice Guy as opposed to Spock's somewhat frosty Jerk with a Heart of Gold personality. So where Bones came across as an everyman taking an insufferably smug person down a peg, Pulaski came across as a fantastic racist bullying the sweetest person in the galaxy.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Pulaski cajoles Data into taking on the ultra-smug Kolrami in a game of Stratagema because she knows he will kick his ass. When he loses and refuses to serve on the Bridge because he thinks his judgement is now "impaired", you can count on Pulaski to head straight to his quarters and demand to know how long he is going to keep sulking. Besides, losing is character-building, and Data has come that little bit closer to being human by experiencing it.
- Dr. Jerk: Her heart is in the right place, truly, but her bedside manner is brutally direct.
- When he is slighted by a new officer on board his ship, Picard heads off to give them a lecture on protocol, but to his chagrin, Pulaski manages to shut him down before we hear too much dribble about Starfleet etiquette. Is more friendly in the second half of Season Two, but still wasn't averse to pulling rank on Picard and threatening to declare him incompetent. His is an ungrateful reaction when he realizes she saved his life (in "Samaritan Snare") because he realizes she'll be lording it over him for ages to come.
- Troi thinks her greatest medical skill is her empathy. Pulaski scoffs at this, obviously not wanting to plant ideas in the crew's heads about evading or underestimating her. Instead she chalks it up to her PCS training (Pulaski's Chicken Soup).
- This might have something to do with the airing order of the episodes. A third of the way into the season, Pulaski is still hurling barbs at Data and Picard which is probably unfair at this stage, which even she realizes and apologizes for. In "Unnatural Selection," we discover as soon as she found about an opening on the Enterprise-D, Pulaski put in for a transfer because—though she is loathe to admit—she has been an admirer of Picard's for some time. Picard's used this episode as an opportunity to assess his "new" science officer which probably means it was intended to air in week two.
- Establishing Character Moment: Refusing to introduce herself personally to the Captain, forcing Picard to schlep all the way down to the canteen to greet her. On the other hand, she was there to help Troi deal with her sudden alien pregnancy, establishing that she prioritizes being a doctor above protocol. Although why, exactly, one would hold a confidential and quite serious medical consultation in a bar, as opposed to her private office in Sickbay is a question that caused many fans to wonder if she shared McCoy's advocacy for self-medicating job stress with liquor.
- Expy: If McCoy ever had a character more blatantly patterned after him, it was Dr. Pulaski.
- Fake Guest Star: Always a guest through Season 2, despite being in most episodes and being such an important role on the ship. Diana Muldaur was actually offered main cast billing, but she turned it down.
- Fantastic Racism: She is openly condescending towards Data (at first) because he is an android. He doesn't react, but it infuriates Geordi and Wesley.
- Her attitude often felt like the writers were trying to emulate The Original Series, writing Pulaski as the hot-headed and emotional McCoy to Data's level-headed and logical Spock, with her comments likely being intended as trading snarky barbs about each other's nature. Unfortunately, Data, not having Spock's sense of humor and (suppressed) emotions, was unable to snark back at her and it came across as questionable.
- The Gadfly: As soon as she learns that Mrs. Troi is all sexed up and ready to straddle the Captain, she forbids Deanna to warn him of her condition, considering it an excellent exercise for his reflexes and agility.
- Gallows Humor: In "Where Silence Has Lease", the cosmic entity Nagilum has selected 50% of the crew for Mengele-like experimentation on death. Her response? "Why do I get the feeling this was the wrong time to join this ship?"
- Informed Attribute: Everyone tells us about how dedicated and caring she is, though it doesn't really match up to the actual evidence, outside of perhaps her insistence of helping the wounded no matter what.
- Ludd Was Right: Pulaski lectures her subordinate about the time-honored method of practicing medicine with your head, your heart and your hands! rather than relying on technology all the time.
- Though, this occurred in "Contagion" when the Enterprise was experiencing widespread computer failures affecting systems across the ship. In this instance, the bone knitter the subordinate was using was not working so Pulaski suggested a splint, to which he scoffed as "not practicing medicine." Her lecture was partly a rebuke and partly an encouragement.
- The McCoy: She was put in Season 2 by Executive Meddling to be even more like McCoy than Dr. Crusher — essentially McCoy's Gender Flip. Naturally she gives the middle finger to the Prime Directive when it comes up in "Pen Pals".
- And the actress appeared in two episodes (in two different roles) with the Original Series.
- Odd Friendship: Towards the end of her tenure, the writers gave her some Character Development that included her and Worf becoming friends, and risking death together in a Klingon tea ceremony. Alas, just as she was getting interesting, Pulaski left again and nothing came of it.
- People Puppets: Pulaski doing the Mr. Roboto dance across the Bridge as Nagilum tries to figure out why she is of "a different construction" than the males.
- Serial Spouse: She has been married three times, and each was a good man and they are all still good friends. She also had a fling with Kyle Riker but she doesn't have time for his overtures anymore because their affair is best left in the past. Overt sentimentality is not one of this Doctor's failings.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Dr. McCoy.
Ensign (later, Lieutenant) Ro Laren
Ensign (later, Lieutenant) Ro Laren
Played By: Michelle Forbes
Bajoran officer and child of the Cardassian occupation of her homeworld. Has a chip on her shoulder the size of Wyoming, as well as a rebellious attitude toward protocol (indicated by her traditional Bajoran earring, which clashes with Starfleet dress code). Basically, a Breakout Character if ever there was one.
When the Maquis started attacking Cardassian settlements in open violation of Federation treaties, Ro was hand-picked to infiltrate their group. She had just returned from Advanced Tactical Training and received a promotion to Lieutenant. It soon became clear that her fondness for Picard did not measure up to her hatred of the Cardassians.
Ro Laren's popularity made her the subject of not one but two Suspiciously Similar Substitutes. The creators of Deep Space Nine tried to write her in as a regular, as did Voyager, but in both cases Michelle Forbes was unwilling to commit to a television series. The character was reworked into Kira Nerys and B'Elanna Torres.
- Action Girl: Her character was often used whenever the situation called for fighting.
- Anti-Hero: Her distinctly un-amiable attitude is particularly noticeable, even with Worf there.
- The Atoner: Before joining the Enterprise, she was in prison for an incident that got a number of her comrades killed.
- Back for the Dead: Commander Ro returns in the Picard episode "Imposters", 29 years after her last appearance in TNG: "Preemptive Strike". Sadly, she doesn't survive the episode.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Spends most of the series being yelled at by Riker, due to a tendency to ignore procedure. When the crew of the Enterprise has their memories blocked, Ro concludes that they were having an affair and acts on it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Although TNG renders the Bajoran occupation far less harshly than DS9, it's still clear that growing up there was terrible. For starters, when she was seven, she got a front row seat to her dad being tortured to death by Cardassians.
- Death by Irony: A variation with Ro. She survived the Dominion's purge of the Maquis, only to still end up getting killed by the Dominion (albeit rogue Founders) decades later. Adding to the irony, Ro — a Starfleet officer who infiltrated the Maquis (i.e. a Federation Renegade Splinter Faction) and ended up defecting — is killed by another Renegade Splinter Faction that's infiltrated Starfleet.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She slowly becomes friends with some of her crewmates, and particularly Picard.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Ro seemed to get a lot more respect (which is to say, any) from the Enterprise crew after she returned from Starfleet Advanced Tactical Training. This was also around the time she was promoted to Lieutenant.
- Face Death with Dignity: In "The Next Phase," she decides that she and Geordi are both ghosts and urges him to accept it.
- Fake Guest Star: She gets a significant amount of screentime and Character Development.
- I Did What I Had to Do: In regards to secretly working under the admiral's orders when she first came aboard, and her later defection to the Maquis.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ro rams her shuttle into an opposing ship in order to give Picard time to escape.
- Hidden Depths: In "Rascals," she recognized a rare plant, much to Keiko O'Brien's surprise. Then tries to deny it:Ro: (indicating a plant in a basket Keiko is holding) Is that a Draebidium Froctus?
Keiko: Draebidium Calimus actually. You can tell by the shape of the leaves.(beat) I didn't know you were interested in plant biology.
Ro: I... took a class at the Academy. I just remember a few things. - Never My Fault: Ro still feels that she made the right choice defecting to the Maquis thirty years ago — though deep down, and despite her anger and resentments towards Picard, she does still regret betraying him.
- Put on a Bus: Ro Laren never reappeared in Star Trek after "Preemptive Strike". (This is not for lack of trying on the part of the writers to keep her. They tried to transplant her character to Deep Space Nine and later to Voyager. Forbes kept declining, and roles intended for her became the characters of Kira Nerys and B'Elanna Torres, respectively.)
- The Bus Came Back: Depending on the source, but whether you chose the Star Trek Novel 'Verse, or Star Trek: Picard she will eventually find her way back into Starfleet.
- Rank Up: After returning to Starfleet, Ro Laren has now advanced to the rank of Commander.
- Redemption Equals Death: While Ro still firmly believes her decision to join the Maquis was the right one, she does reconcile with Picard. Just before her death, he tells her he finally sees that she never betrayed him as a person or her beliefs in doing the right thing. Her final act is to save his life and everyone else on the 'Titan'.
- Shoot the Dog: She advocates separating the ship in "Disaster," under the logic that it's better to lose half the crew to a warp core breach than all of it because they were busy trying to find a way to fix it. Troi overrules her.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: There are a few times when she shows a more sensitive side, like when she thinks she's dead, or when the crew is struck with amnesia.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Alternately played straight and averted. Ro was very similar to Yar in terms of history and personality, occupying her niche in the emotional dynamic of the show, but she was nothing like Wesley, whose position she took in the bridge crew.
- Take Up My Sword: Explicitly stated by Macias when he's killed by Cardassians.
- The One Who Made It Out: She left the Bajoran refugee camps as soon as she could get into a Starfleet uniform and didn't look back until "Ensign Ro".
- Trading Bars for Stripes: She was serving time in Starfleet stockades when she was called into service again.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The fifth season of DS9 would see the Maquis wiped out almost to the last man by the Dominion, though Ro's fate was never revealed. Star Trek: Picard will reveal that after some time with the Maquis, Ro turned herself in to Starfleet authorities and was imprisoned. Due to her experience with terrorist activities, Ro was recruited by Starfleet Intelligence, who subjected her to an intensive rehabilitation program. By 2401, she had advanced to the rank of commander.
- What the Hell, Hero?
Alexander Rozhenko
Alexander Rozhenko
Played By: Jon Steuer (1990); Brian Bonsall (1992-1994); James Sloyan (1994, as "K'mtar"); Marc Worden (1997)
"I don't want to be a warrior!"
Illegitimate son of Worf and K'Ehleyr, a Klingon ambassador. Worf was not even aware of Alexander's birth until he was grown. Worf sent him away to be raised by his foster grandparents on Earth, no doubt scrambling Alexander's sense of identity even more. A year later, he was shipped back off to the Enterprise.
Worf, who had suppressed his Klingon tendencies for most of his life, perversely wanted Alexander to follow the honorable Klingon tradition. Though the pair always end up reconciling, their relationship stays more or less tumultuous, even on Deep Space Nine.
- An Alien Named "Bob": Downplayed. Alexander is only three-quarters alien.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Does this in a very child-like form in TNG, but graduates to a full-on armed confrontation in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, to Worf's alarm and confusion. It takes him a while to figure out why Alexander is so angry.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: When he's grown up in DS9, Alexander owes a lot to this trope. Although he is very intelligent, his head is always partly in the clouds and he is a bit of a klutz, and a lethal one at that, which is an odd thing in a Klingon warrior but which also means that despite nearly destroying Martok's ship a couple of times, the Jem'Hadar seem to be the beneficiaries of his actions more often than not - enough that the crew of his ship consider him a lucky charm. That he is a Fish out of Water with regard to Klingon culture doesn't help either, but with his father's stubbornness, his perseverance earns him respect nonetheless.
- Half-Breed Angst: Alexander Rozhenko is a young boy who is three-quarters Klingon and one-quarter human, so he often has trouble deciding whether to have a Klingon culture or a human one.
- I Have No Son!: Worf essentially renounced Alexander when he sent him to live on Earth. This decision would haunt them both.
- Ironically, Worf did this in the first place because he thought that he was unable to guide Alexander on a path that wasn't warrior-centered; that he was doing the boy a disservice by dragging him around with him and that Alexander would have the opportunity to follow the career-path he wanted on Earth. Then when Worf was made an outcast and caused the downfall of the house of Mogh, he cut all ties with Alexander so he would be spared the dishonor. Of course, Alexander just felt neglected and abandoned because his father has problems with communication.
- Intergenerational Friendship: He shares this with Lwaxana Troi. She acts pretty much like a grandmother to him, offering advice and spending time with him.
- Irony: He is 3/4 Klingon, has been exposed to Klingon knowledge for most of his life, but is pretty much the village idiot among other Klingons. Contrast Miral Paris, who is only 1/4 Klingon, knows very little about her minor heritage, and yet she at one point was destined to become the Klingons' next Messiah.
- Like Father, Like Son: Although he has nowhere near the fighting skills of his father, Alexander and Worf are very much alike in personality, particularly their Determinator stubbornness. Even Martok remarks on this a couple of times.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He is the most un-Klingonlike Klingon you will ever meet. Even after he enlists in the Klingon Defense Force in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he's still a Non-Action Guy and basically becomes the IKS Rotarran's village idiot.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Sometime in the future, Alexander (after becoming an ambassador instead of a warrior) looked on as Worf was killed while someone was trying to assassinate him. So he went back in time to try and convince his younger self to become a warrior instead, so once he grew up he could save his father from that fate.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Alexander was born in 2366, but when he arrives on the Enterprise in 2367, he is played by 6-year-old Jon Paul Steuer. Upon his return a year later he's played by 11-year-old Brian Bonsall. And when he shows up again in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it's 2374 and he's 8 years old... and played by 21-year-old Marc Worden. Maybe being 3/4ths Klingon does crazy things to your physiology? Will Miral Paris age super-slowly?
- The Star Trek Chronology notes that Worf is considerably younger than his fellow bridge officers. This, plus Alexander's rapid aging, implies (it was not explicitly stated) that Klingons reach maturity much faster than humans, perhaps as early as age 8-10. Makes sense for a warrior species to spend as little time as children as possible.
- Uneven Hybrid: 3/4 Klingon, 1/4 Human.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Alexander is always craving his father's approval and acceptance. In DS9, this comes to a head when Alexander actually makes it onto Martok's ship to help fight the Dominion, much to Worf's horror and dismay. Though they both eventually manage to get over it.
- When he was young, Worf wanted to raise him as a warrior, but he rejected it. Worf sends him to live with his grandparents to accommodate this wish. When he shows up on Martok's ship determined to be a warrior (but still eminently unsuited to it), Worf has no idea how to deal with it.
