By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Star Trek is a franchise set in the distant future, but many of its best moments were inspired by the distant past. For example, Captain Picard’s Enterprise in The next generation is a ship where people relax by playing classical music or experiencing literary adventures (from Shakespeare to Sherlock) on the holodeck.
Things were very different New deep spacebut this Star Trek spin-off still draws inspiration from the past. For example, in the episode “The Forsaken”, writer Jim Trombetta deliberately modeled Odo after the archetypal idea of a Renaissance gentleman.
Even if you’ve watched this episode of Star Trek countless times, you probably haven’t noticed any references to the Renaissance because nothing about that period is explicitly mentioned. Instead, Trombetta drew on the idea of a gentleman from that era to flesh out Odo’s very unique plight.
The episode shows the shapeshifter stuck in a broken turbolift with a very smitten Lwaxana Troi. Odo is ashamed at the thought that she will be the first person to see him return to his liquid form.
Like Troi herself, we can hear what everyone Star Trek fans reading this are wondering: what does Odo being stuck in an elevator with a crazy Betazed have to do with the Renaissance? According to Jim Trombetta (who wrote the story but not the screenplay), Odo’s fate mirrors that of Renaissance “gentlemen” who “had to be tough warriors with a hard form, like armor.” The metaphor here is very direct, as Odo’s solid form shatters in the turbolift and he is in danger of melting, something he desperately wants to hide from Lwaxana Troi.
Star Trek writers tend to be history buffs, and as Trombetta helpfully points out, there was “a worry” in the Renaissance that gentlemen were “going soft.” Men of the time feared transforming from fierce warriors into someone “helpless” and “baby-like.” Odo had to return to his liquid state every day, and after stubbornly trying to hide his pain. After a kind gesture from Troi by removing her wig and showing the constable a vulnerable side of herself that no one else had ever seen, he turned into a pool of liquid retained inside the hem of her dress.
Even though some Star Trek metaphors tend to be a bit tortured, Trombetta is convinced that the Renaissance gentlemen angle “works very vividly” in “The Forsaken.” As he said: “Odo is a police officer and a very tough guy, but he has to go through this process and allow someone else to help him. » Odo learned a valuable lesson that, frankly, many fans watching at home could learn: that, ironically, it takes a lot of strength to be vulnerable in front of others, even those (perhaps especially those) that are close to your heart.
It’s fun to see Lwaxana Troi in all her glory, but for some it was difficult to see her scenes with Odo as much more than equally middle-of-the-road comedy. Now that we know that even their silliest moments were inspired by the Renaissance, we can’t help but look at the episode with newfound respect. In addition, for real discussions, we are always up for any excuse to see again New deep spacewhich remains the best show in Gene Roddenberry’s long-running franchise.
