T's Trek Trivia Tuesday: "Mom's the Word"
Jennifer Sisko, Amanda Grayson, Beverly Crusher, and T’Les are just some of the loving mothers in Star Trek
MAY 3, 2022 - We’re coming up on Mother’s Day here in the United States (on Sunday, May 8th), and lucky for us, according to the writers of Star Trek, there are some pretty terrific moms in the future. From Beverly Crusher bringing up her son on a starship to Jennifer Sisko who, tragically, left her son too soon to Seven of Nine, the surrogate mother figure for four Borg children, the moms in the Trek universe are strong, intelligent, and fantastic role models. Let’s take a closer look at a few mothers from the 23rd century and beyond…
In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Friday’s Child”, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy end up in the middle of a power struggle on planet Cappella IV when High Teer Akaar, leader of the Ten Tribes, is assassinated by his rival, Maab. The only thing standing in Maab’s way of taking Akaar’s place is the late leader’s unborn son. It’s now up to the three Starfleet officers to protect Akaar’s widow, Eleen (played by model and Catwoman actress Julie Newmar), and the child she’s carrying. It’s a good McCoy episode as he earns Eleen’s trust and delivers the baby.
What did Eleen name the child upon its birth?
“Say to yourself, ‘The child is mine. It is mine!” “Yes, it’s yours.” -McCoy and Eleen, one trying to get a point across, the other being obstinate in “Friday’s Child”
Eleen lived to give birth to her son, thanks to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. They spend the episode protecting her from her enemies and, in McCoy’s case, providing prenatal care. It hurts our Vulcan friend a little bit, then, when Eleen names the newly-born teer Leonard James Akaar after McCoy and Kirk. Admittedly, it would be hard to add Spock’s first name into the mix, since it’s unpronounceable. Of course, if the rumors are true, we may all need to learn how to pronounce it when it’s revealed in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Lieutenant Commander Data was always trying to be more human, and nothing brings out one’s humanity more than their mother. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Inheritance”, actress Fionnula Flanagan (who also appeared in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise) visits the starship in the role of Dr. Juliana Tainer, once married to Noonien Soong, and therefore Data’s mom. Throughout the course of the episode, a number of secrets come out, and one of them even she doesn’t know.
What do Data and the crew of the Enterprise discover about Dr. Tainer?
"Some of the colonists objected to having an anatomically correct android running around without any clothes on." -Juliana Tainer, proving even an android's mother can tell embarrassing stories about him in "Inheritance"
Among other revelations, Juliana tells Data that she’s the reason he didn’t evacuate Omicron Theta with his parents. “I was afraid if we reactivated you, you’d turn out like Lore,” she admits. “I made Noonien leave you behind.” But when an accident befalls Juliana, the crew learns that she, too, is an android. A hologram of Data’s dad, Noonien, appears to inform him that Juliana Soong, his beloved wife, died from injuries sustained during their escape. Unable to stand the thought of living without her, the scientist built an robotic version of her. She eventually left the egocentric Soong, anyway, but he had programmed her to shut down if she ever learned the truth. After much soul-searching, Data decides not to tell his mother about her true nature, thus avoiding committing matricide.
In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, we meet Quark and Rom’s activist mother, Ishka (or, as they refer to her, “Moogie”). She gets herself into trouble by going against Ferengi laws and traditions. She hated pre-chewing food for her kids, for instance, and she wears clothing, a strict no-no for women in Ferengi society. Obviously, the Ferengi need a change and she has a major hand in making that change.
What circumstance allow her to radically alter Ferengi society?
"...when it comes to making profit, this female is a better Ferengi than you'll ever be!" -Ishka, supplying Quark with some tough love in "Family Business"
The leader of the Ferengi, Grand Nagus Zek, meets and falls in love with Quark and Rom’s Moogie. He and Ishka soon marry and, per the 188th Rule of Acquisition, “Whisper your way to the top,” she whispers sweet somethings in his ear. By the time DS9 comes to an end, Zek has made a number of reforms for Ferengi society, including allowing females to wear clothing. As Zek is getting older, she also suggests to him an unlikely successor, and that’s how Rom eventually becomes the Grand Nagus.
In the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Deadlock”, Samantha Wildman gives birth to her daughter, Naomi. The birth becomes complicated and the Doctor has to perform a fetal transport procedure, beaming the unborn child out of Samantha’s womb. The newborn suffers from hemocythemia, a condition where the osmotic pressure on the cell walls is unstable. How’s that for technobabble? Despite the Doctor’s best efforts, Naomi dies, going on to become a recurring character in the series.
Wait, what? How is that possible?
"You push, dammit! I'm sick of pushing!" -Samantha Wildman, on giving birth in "Deadlock"
Ready for more technobabble? Well, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) Naomi Wildman is born as the Voyager encounters a spatial scission, an anomaly that literally duplicates the starship and its entire crew. The other version of the ship is ultimately destroyed, but that version’s Ensign Kim (who was also killed on this version of the ship) escapes the destruction with baby Naomi Wildman and they resume their lives on the first version of the ship, as if nothing ever happened. Because they’re identical in every way, so clearly Samantha’s loss of a baby has no real emotional stake at all.
Mother-child relationships can be difficult at times, doubly so when the child is under the mother’s command. Ensign Beckett Mariner and Captain Carol Freeman of the USS Cerritos can relate. In fact, for most of the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks they kept the fact that they were related a secret. It was in the season’s penultimate episode, “Crisis Point,” that Ensign Bradward Boimler discovered the secret.
How did Boimler discover Freeman’s relationship to Mariner?
"...I didn't want anyone to know that the most demerited officer in the fleet was my daughter!" -Freeman, showing a mother's pride in "No Small Parts"; Photo from “Crisis Point”
Boimler, ever ambitious, wants to attend a workshop in advanced diplomacy, but to be selected, he must pass an interview with Captain Freeman. The ensign likes to be prepared, so he creates a holodeck program that allows him to interact with a hologram of Freeman. He’s a very thorough chap, so he’s loaded every log entry, official and personal, that the computer had stored into the holodeck, giving the hologrammatic captain as close to the experience and personality of Freeman as it can get. Near the end of the episode, he boots up the program, only to find himself attending Freeman’s eulogy for the deceased Mariner. The revelation comes when hologram Freeman talks about how privileged she felt to be Mariner’s mother. This leads one to wonder, what’s the point in keeping a personal log, if even a lower decks ensign can access it? Maybe it should be called an “impersonal log.”
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
T is the Managing Editor for Daily Star Trek News and a contributing writer for Sherlock Holmes Magazine. He may have been the last professional Stage Manager to work with Leonard Nimoy, has worked Off-Broadway and regionally, and is currently the union Stage Manager for Legacy Theatre, where he is currently working with Julie Andrews.
