Ensign Ro
Skulduggery, Cardassians - and introducing the Bajorans, who have finally provided us a replacement for Wesley
This episode introduces a brand new character that everybody loves. Yes, I’m talking about that loveable Bolean barber, Mr Mot. Oh, and also another brand new character, whose name is in the title: Ensign Ro. It seems our newest recurring enemy, the Cardassians, have their own recurring enemy, the Bajora, who are so destitute at this point in Trek history that they cannot afford an ‘n’ to finish off their name. There follows a story of terrorists, skulduggery, and intrigue with a conflicted Starfleet officer who needs a little help from Guinan to realise who she has to be.
Words
This is one of the most consequential episodes in TNG, since it sets up the conflict between the Cardassians and the Bajora (or Bajorans - this episode uses both), which is the foundation of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That show is still over a year away as “Ensign Ro” airs, and there’s no evidence whatsoever that Rick Berman and Michael Piller had such lofty intentions when they came up with this story together. This is also the first episode to have a story credit from Berman and Piller - and thus marks the beginning of a new era in Trek history.
Gene Roddenberry passed away just a few weeks after this episode aired, and he had already handed the keys to the kingdom to Berman. With this episode, Berman cements his partnership with his head writer, Piller. Together, they will create two further Trek shows - DS9, of course, and also Voyager, along with Jeri Taylor. And although they’ve been working together since season three, this episode truly marks a milestone on their journey together, as they gain the confidence to boldly go beyond where Roddenberry would ever have taken the show.
The biggest sign of this, of course, is the introduction of a character who exists to clash with the rest of the cast. This was expressly against the wishes of Roddenberry, who had always wanted to show his future Earth and its Federation pals as being beyond conflict - much to the annoyance of every showrunner under his watch. With Roddenberry’s star now setting, Berman and Piller are willing to open up new possibilities for the franchise. The introduction of Ensign Ro is a significant part of that transformation.
Piller considered this episode a great success:
It’s one of the season’s greatest accomplishments. Not just by Rick and I, but by the acting of Michelle, who is just a wonderful performer. You don’t just throw in new people because this audience is really particular about who they’re going to make part of the family, but I’ve heard almost no resistance to Ensign Ro.
Much of this success, Piller suggested, was due to the use of Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan to clear the path:
I think Guinan embraces Ro in a very personal way. She basically took Ro by the hand and said she deserves your attention and deserves to be embraced by you. When she took Ro to Picard for that very reason, in essence, she was doing that to our audience. It was not a very easy show to write; it was not until we found that relationship between Ro and Guinan that I was personally satisfied that we really had done something magnificent.
The screenplay in some respects is not terribly satisfying, and by focussing on the new character it sidelines almost all of the main cast. But all in all, the story works, and more importantly, the character works.
Acting Roles
The entire episode rests on Michelle Forbes’ performance as Ro Laren, and Forbes is brilliant throughout. The character was expressly created a someone who could, as Berman later put it, have “the strength and dignity of a Starfleet officer but with a troubled past, an edge.” As mentioned in “Half a Life”, Forbes’ casting happened because the production team was so impressed with her bit part of Dara in that episode. Adding Forbes to the cast gives the show new angles for new episodes, and represents one of the best aspects of season five.
This episode is also the debut of Ken Thorley’s Bolian barber, Mr Mot (sometimes written as ‘Mott’). This is the third Bolian barber we’ve seen on the Enterprise - and before the end of this show we’ll have seen four. Thorley is extremely enjoyable as Mot, although you have to feel for him, spending hours and hours in make-up for just a few seconds of screentime. Still, he’s a memorable addition to the show!
This episode is heavy on the guest cast. Cliff Potts plays Admiral Kennelly, who is effectively the villain of the piece.
Sci-fi fans might recognise him as Andy Wolf from the classic 1972 film Silent Running - he was also a villain there, and gets killed after trying to blow up one of the domes.
Another villain is Frank Collison’s Gul Dolak (isn’t that the kingdom where Shrek lives….?).
He gets one brief appearance on a screen, but they get him back twice in the same prosthetics in DS9. He has a long career of bit parts and a great deal of voice work, but what stands out for me is his small role as “Wash” Hogwallop in the Coen Brothers O Brother Where Art Thou, who reports the escaped convicts to the local sheriff.
We also get Scott Marlowe as Keeve Falor, the respectable Bajoran, and Jeffrey Hayenga as Orta, the Bajoran terrorist.
Marlowe I know from his one appearance as Michael Steadman’s father in thirtysomething, but in a career that starts in 1951 there’s every chance you recognise him from something else. Amusingly, Orta appears on a wanted poster in Odo’s security office in DS9.
Lastly on the guest cast this week, there’s no Colm Meaney in the transporter room, and instead we get Harley Venton as Transporter Officer Collins (according to the screenplay).
He gets two speaking lines here, but comes back later in this same season to play a different character, this time promoted to the rank of Transporter Chief. Why they didn’t keep him in the same role is a complete mystery.
Models, Make-up, and Mattes
Welcome back to the shot of the Enterprise-D arriving at a starbase, introduced back in “11001001”, and used last season in “Remember Me”. Here it’s called ‘Lya Station Alpha’, which makes it sound like it’s not a Federation starbase. It still looks cool though.
Once again, there’s location shooting at Bronson Canyon nearby the Paramount Studios, not far from where “Darmok” was shot.
We’ll see this location used a lot for the planet Bajor in DS9 too (note that Bajor does not exist in TNG yet, only the people are added to the lore in this episode). Allegedly, the production team hired Birds & Animals Unlimited to provide two animal handlers and twelve Guinea fowls. It takes nerve to work with animals, especially pushy buggers like Guinea fowl, who are anything but tame and not at all like chickens (except that they do indeed taste like chicken). I’ve scoured the locations shots closely, though, and found no Guinea fowl. I wonder what happened…?
Also, remember the scene where Forbes’ Ro takes off her jacket and gives it to the young Bajoran…?
This turned out to be very difficult to achieve, because the uniforms had been designed without any kind of fixtures on the front. Director Les Landau had to liaise with costume designer Robert Blackman, the King of Biege, to modify the uniform so it could be taken off.
Welcome back to the Husnock ship, reappearing here as a Bajoran transport, a role it will reprise six times in DS9.
We’re not done with this model in TNG yet, though, as we’re going to see it three more times this season, including in the very next episode.
Finally, let’s enjoy the reappearance of the Cardassian warship model, which is now officially ‘Galor class’, thanks to Worf’s ability to look things up on the tactical console.
They shot all new footage for this episode, and it all looks great. Indeed, those Galor class scorpions are the majority of the Cardassian presence in this story. A great showing for the SFX team, but of course its the introduction of the two new characters - and the creation of the Bajorans - that is the real legacy of this episode.